Or - Who reads blogs anymore, anyway?
The other day, we had a short-term visitor in Kapsowar who was trying to explain Substack to me. (No, I don't really get it, and no, I haven't actually looked it up yet.) The conversation turned to other forms of social media, and eventually we were talking as medium- and long-termers about how much time we spent "blog-stalking" before moving to Kapsowar. This month, I thought I would write about you, my real or perceived audience!
Family and Friends: I assume that the largest percentage of the "tens of readers" of this blog are friends and family. Since I don't use any other forms of social media (although maybe Substack is in my future?), this blog and our emailed newsletters are probably the main source of pictures and information about what's going on in our lives. If you read this and have a question or comment, feel free to send a text, WhatsApp, email, or leave a comment on the blog!
Potential Visitors or Volunteers: As I mentioned before, we read through a lot of blogs of long-termers in Kenya before we moved to Kapsowar. It's helpful to see how people live life in a context that is a bit different to the North American lifestyle that we grew up with. Part of the reason that I write a lot about the mundane here is that it might be helpful for others to get a glimpse of some of the joys and challenges and everyday practical realities of living cross-culturally.
Supporters: We are supported financially by about 90 individuals/families and 6 churches. We have also developed relationships with a small number of people who donate toward specific programs at the hospital and school of theology. We want to express our gratitude to these donors on this blog, and also show what is happening in our lives and in the lives of our patients/students through your generous donations! We feel incredibly privileged to do what we love, to feel that we are serving others in the ministry God has called us to, and we are so blessed that the financial side of our ministry has never been a major stressor. We know that this is not true of every family who support-raises, and we are thankful!!
Ourselves - To be perfectly honest, reading through this blog is a way that I sometimes remind myself of God's faithfulness to our family and to our community; a way of encouraging myself that we have come a long way and that the challenges we face today are not any bigger than the ones we faced five years ago. I haven't made a photo album for quite a few years, but if I ever get around to it, this blog provides a bit of a timeline of family's journey.
The unknown reader - I'm sure there are groups of people who I have missed! If you belong in another category and want me to know about you, please leave a comment!
Thanks for reading!
