Suzie

Although Celebration was a great opportunity to get closer to people from our Care Group, we were also encouraged to get to know other people from our church outside the Care Group and from other churches too. For a while, Laura had been praying for a mentor-type friend - someone who was older, who had been through some of the things she was experiencing.

As our children got older and Laura could get out more at Celebration, she came across another lady from our church named Suzie. Her daughter, Jennifer was doing a YWAM DTS in Australia. Suzie starting asking Laura all kinds of questions about the DTS experience and Laura gave her advice on what to expect when Jennifer got back.

Jennifer was going to East Timor for her outreach and would be seeing some pretty rudimentary conditions. Oftentimes, when Westerners are exposed to extreme poverty, it can be hard for them to come back to a land of such plenty. They might feel sick and angry at the gluttony and waste compared to what they have just witnessed or feel guilty that we have so much compared to those they have seen with so little.

There are also people constantly around in a DTS. While that can get annoying at times, it also creates a bond of togetherness that can be hard when you lose it back in regular life. DTS’s also give you an intensive sense of purpose that can make it feel like you have no purpose when you get back home. So it’s good to be prepared for these things after someone does a DTS and Laura was able to fill Suzie in on them.

Although Suzie’s children were older and she was in a different stage of life, she and Laura’s ages weren’t too far apart. From that day on, they became fast friends. Laura then became friends with Jennifer when she got back from DTS and Suzie’s other daughter, Libby, who would both become babysitters for us. 

Laura’s prayers had certainly been answered for a good friend but Suzie would say that Laura became as important in her life as well. Laura became like family to them. Our girls would be flower girls in both Suzie's daughter's weddings. And later, when their family suffered some agonizing tragedies, Laura suffered through them as if they where her own. 


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