Missionaries plan relentlessly

We've found that the missionary life involves much more long-term planning than most people in our home country seems to have to deal with. And probably missionary families probably have to do more than those without children.

This was a farewell picnic (winter in Queensland!) in 2015, where we
were saying, "See you in three years."

For example, one day I talked with John* about his three children and their various educational needs. At the time he and his wife were trying to look ahead 2 ½ years and seeking to predict what the best plan for the education of their three children will be then.

Another day this year I talked with Rose* about her two children and she too was thinking about the future, and especially 2021 and the several months they were planning to spend in their passport country. Where would they send their children to school? What would be best for each? What would the government regulations permit? What would they require to have done, if they were to send their children on to tertiary education in that same country?

These are not uncommon discussions in missionary families. We've been asked for years by people about where our kids will go to uni and how that will work with an American, international school education. Even this year we've been asked what our longer-range plan is: when will we be back in Australia next time for a longer stretch (answer is: we're not sure).

We ourselves are currently planning the latter six-months of this year, which we will spend in Australia. We've just this week been working on booking flights for November and meetings in Perth at that time.  Most of our Sundays for those six months are already accounted for. We've had to tell the school here when we'll be back. We had to tell our mission when we plan to return too. And way back in 2014, we were already telling people in Australia that we were planning to be back there in 2018! We've been budgeting for this home assignment since 2015 too.

Long-term planning. Not that everything that we've planned comes to be. For example, up until the middle of last year we'd been planning on spending 12 months in Australia from this July, but for various reasons we changed that plan. Many of our expat friends have had to move or return to their home countries when they weren't expecting to do so. So while missionaries make long-term plans, we also have to be flexible to change them.

It's ultimately it is up to God whether those things come to pass.

In their hearts humans plan their course,
    but the Lord establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9 NIV

But, back to what I started with: I think many missionary families end up doing more long-term planning than many people in our home countries. It's forced upon us as we frequently move between countries and have to take more factors into consideration when making decisions about our children's education. What do you think?

*Names changed for privacy.