{"id":4700,"date":"2014-02-15T18:20:26","date_gmt":"2014-02-16T01:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thatallmayknow.org\/?p=4700"},"modified":"2017-10-11T10:09:55","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T15:09:55","slug":"tricked-ya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/2014\/02\/15\/tricked-ya\/","title":{"rendered":"Tricked Ya!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_3329\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our co worker Aimee LOVES surprises.\u00a0 She just loves them.\u00a0 Because I love her, it has been a dream of mine for quite some time to give her what she would love, a mega surprise!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

God is so sweet to me.\u00a0 He gives me things I do not deserve and really brings things together in ways that I could never ever have imagined! Recently I had the joy of doing the thing I had always hoped for, surprising Aimee.<\/p>\n

To make a long complicated list of details short, we did not think we would be seeing Aimee for a very long time because of our one assignment plans and Aimee had even\u00a0 a lot of you know Aimee had left Papua New Guinea for her much deserved and long awaited home assignment last July.\u00a0 At the time we thought we would be in PNG for another two years and we wouldn’t be seeing Aimee until her return to our village home.\u00a0 And then life happened.\u00a0 Iris\u2019 eye problems were diagnosed and we knew we needed to take a hasty medical leave so that she could get the surgery she needed.<\/p>\n

\"mersinMI\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazingly we had just missed Aimee here in our home state of Michigan!\u00a0 Aimee had taken the trip out only a short month prior to our return to the U.S. to spend time with my family, visit friends and share at our church.\u00a0 We were so thankful that she did that trip but when it turned out that we were on our way back it was a little frustrating to know we had just \u201cmissed\u201d each other!\u00a0 He we were, both in the good ole USA at the same time (something we never thought would happen) and we would never see each other!<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a><\/p>\n

Its very difficult to explain the kind of relationship we have with our co workers in ministry.\u00a0 We are a group of people devoting our lives to the one thing we feel most passionately about.\u00a0 Its just us.\u00a0 Three \u201cunits\u201d of white people living together in a culture that is not our own and working hard toward a goal we are quite literally giving our lives for.\u00a0 Our coworkers become our everything.\u00a0 They are our only \u201cones\u201d to agree with, to fight with, to love unconditionally, to encourage, to walk through life with, to lean on and to grow with. In many ways, our coworkers become like our family.\u00a0 Through the good and bad.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0 Aimee is not only my coworker in ministry but she is also like my sister.\u00a0 If there is something I know I could do to encourage her, I will do it.\u00a0 When we had arrived in America and were trying to settle in, I began thinking and praying a lot for Aimee as I knew she was about to face a difficult time.\u00a0 At the end of Jan Aimee would be leaving her family to return to Papua New Guinea.\u00a0 It felt very clear in my heart that THIS would be the perfect time to go see her and try to encourage her right before she had to face this difficult transition back to our village.\u00a0 With Tom\u2019s blessing and willingness to stay with the kids so I could go (can we say super Dad? :D)\u00a0 I began to plan!<\/p>\n

\"sheri\"<\/a>Thankfully we know Aimee\u2019s family and several of her close friends so I had plenty of options of people close to her that I could contact to help me. Choosing to go with Aimee\u2019s bff Sheri,\u00a0 I contacted her and shared my idea. In no time at all she and I had a plan in place to pull this off!\u00a0 After a good deal on plane tickets were purchased our plan was in place. Sheri was going to ask Aimee to come along with her to pick up a \u201cfriend\u201d at the airport late in the evening because her husband didn\u2019t want her going alone.\u00a0 Aimee, being the helpful friend that she is gladly agreed to help Sheri out with no clue what was going on.\u00a0 Yeeesssss!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"DSC_4975\"<\/a><\/span>I landed in San Francisco close to midnight and headed to the baggage claim where I knew Sheri was waiting with the unsuspecting Aimee.\u00a0 I rode down the escalator and spotted them right away.\u00a0 Aimee glanced my way and saw me as I grinned.\u00a0 She had THE FUNNIEST look on her face ever!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t take a picture but there will be a mental one in my head forever. I wanted to burst out laughing!\u00a0 She was so confused and turned to Sheri with a look of total and complete bewilderment and said, \u201cUh, Beth is here!\u201d\u00a0 She slowly stood up as I walked toward her and she still wasn\u2019t even smiling she was SO confused and shocked.\u00a0 Haha.\u00a0 As I came closer I just said, \u201cTRICKED YA!\u201d.\u00a0 Then she started freaking out of course and we hugged and she just kept saying all kinds of explanations of disbelief and excitement as she jumped up and down.\u00a0 It was awesome.\u00a0 I hugged Sheri too and we had a great \u201chigh five\u201d for a surprise executed perfectly!\u00a0 YESSS! \u00a0<\/span>\"Tricked<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
Tricked Ya! The surprised Aimee and I.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

\"funinusa\"<\/a>While living in the village together we had often slipped into day dreaming together and asking ourselves, \u201cIf we were in America right now, what would we do?\u201d The answers to this question were always entertaining as we all conjured up visions of restaurant food and experiences we missed.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 It may seem like we would think up some pretty extravagant things but we really wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 The things we dreamed of were just normal things!\u00a0 Now that I had surprised Aimee and we were BOTH in America at the SAME TIME, it was our chance!\u00a0 This was our chance to just experience what we had missed, together. \u00a0 The three short days I spent with Aimee and her family and friends were wonderful and simply flew by.\u00a0 I was so completely encouraged by all the conversations Aimee and I had, that we had waited months and months to have!\u00a0 It is a gift to be able to have fellowship with the person you are in ministry with when you are out of your specific ministry \u201ccontext\u201d.\u00a0 We can (and were able to) help each other process through things like very few others ever could because we can truly relate and the deepest level. To be honest it\u2019s therapeutic and I for one wanted (and needed) those conversations for myself! I knew that Aimee would be blessed by them too.<\/p>\n

\"st\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There were so many things about the time we had together that made me so sure God had been in the details!\u00a0 For instance, I had no idea when I chose the dates for my trip that I would be able to be there for Aimee\u2019s last \u201cSending Team\u201d meeting.\u00a0 This is a night when members of the amazing group of people who have committed to support and encourage Aimee in her ministry come together.\u00a0 They meet to share updates of Aimee\u2019s needs and life as well as to pray for her and Tigak people\/Tigak church!\u00a0 I was incredibly blessed to be a part of this meeting, share a bit and be encouraged by the faithfulness of this group of brothers and sisters in Christ who are standing with us before the Lord for the Tigak people!\u00a0 Amazing.\u00a0 It was a touching and emotional night.\u00a0 Oh, and it was fun.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"Playing<\/a>
Playing Bingo with the sending team!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"DSC_5015\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Aimee and my time spent together was a mixture of just spending time with each other and also with her family and friends (who feel like they have become ours as well).\u00a0 It was three days well spent and a great blessing to me.\u00a0 A rare time and opportunity we both enjoyed together. \u00a0 Now, just feast your eyes on the wonderful things about America we enjoyed together!<\/p>\n

\"family\"<\/a>
Spending time with Aimee’s Parents, Brother and sister in law and two nieces and friends!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"playing\"<\/a>
Going to her church together, playing with her nieces and spending time with more friends!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our co worker Aimee LOVES surprises.\u00a0 She just loves them.\u00a0 Because I love her, it has been a dream of mine for quite some time to give her what she would love, a mega surprise!\u00a0 God is so sweet to me.\u00a0 He gives me things I do not deserve and really brings things together in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1124,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1628],"tags":[55179,3,123,55319,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-4700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-usa","7":"tag-aimee","8":"tag-family","9":"tag-friends","10":"tag-michigan-aimee","11":"tag-ministry","12":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tom-carlton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}