2020 Year in Review

Hi friends,

Well, the year is finally coming to an end!

As we all know, 2020 has been a bombshell of a year. We’ve seen our worlds flipped upside down with the virus, isolation, masks, extra cleaning, deaths of loved ones, births of new loved ones, new teaching/learning models and more time online than ever before.

Here’s how our 2020 looked:

At our home, we’ve had birthdays (we now have a 10 year old, 8 year old, 4 year old and a 1 year old!… funny how no one ever mentions the adults’ ages…)

In September we started another year of homeschooling, though we’ve said our sad goodbyes to swimming lessons, soccer and wall climbing practices, Sunday School and regular get-togethers with our kids’ friends and cousins.

Franklin is still busy working at Superstore. We’re thankful he has a job in the essential services and hasn’t had to deal with any loss of pay or work because of covid. We always pray he stays healthy and that nothing comes home with him, and we fortunately have had no fear each day that he goes to work. We are at peace.

I am keeping busy with homeschooling the kids and raising the little ones. I keep our website up-to-date and plan and organize our outgoing newsletters. I’ve also been connecting with other artists within GEM and those within Rome (some of which are part of other mission organizations), which has been very exciting and keeps me motivated in raising those funds so I can join in on the fun on the field!

We have all heard a lot of negative news throughout the year, so let’s not dwell on that here, let’s look at some positives!

Firstly, each year Greater Europe Mission hosts an Annual Conference which missionaries within the organization are encouraged to attend. This conference serves as a time of rest, reflection, encouragement and fellowship for those on the field. It takes place in a specific country within Europe, with the location changing every couple years. Because covid had made hosting a conference impossible, GEM decided to have it done virtually. This year the conference was supposed to be held in Slovenia, but because it went virtual, our family was able to attend! This was an amazing experience for us, as we were able to meet other missionaries serving in Europe - especially those with similar interests. It has been encouraging to hear how they’re using those giftings/skills in serving abroad. Our children were also able to take part and meet with/talk to other children of mission families! We were so blessed to be able to ‘attend’ this year. Hopefully we’ll be able to attend next year’s as well!

Secondly, because we haven’t yet been able to go to Italy, I was able to attend my close friends’ wedding! When she had told me she was engaged a couple years ago, I was anticipating that I’d have to miss the wedding because we’d be in Europe, but fortunately this was not the case! I am so blessed to have been able to attend it (she was the maid of honour at my wedding… I did NOT want to miss her big day!).

Thirdly, we have been close to family during the pandemic. We often wonder why it’s taking so long for us to get to Italy, but we continually see little blessings here and there that make us appreciate the extra time we have here in Canada. If we had gone to Italy at the beginning of 2020 like we had wanted to, we would be isolated in our home, not knowing the language or people around us (aside from our team). We are blessed that we can still have these moments here in Canada, especially with our little ones, to spend with those closest to us (in person!). We still have some time here to treasure before the borders open and travel normalizes once again.

Although we don’t know when we’ll be in Italy, we are still slowly pressing forward and pursuing it.

The last couple months we held fundraisers to help fill up our launch fund. Because the results of our fundraisers were not as successful as we had hoped, we’ve decided that for the months of November and December we would reach out to churches and especially businesses who might be interested in giving an end of the year donation for their charitable giving (tax purposes).

If you know of anyone who might be interested in giving an end of year gift (or better yet, committing to monthly donations), please let them know about us, or let us know about them!

Although we don’t know when we’ll move, we do want to be prepared to go as soon as we can, especially given the state that the world is in right now - we can all use a little hope!

What do we expect 2021 to look like?

We certainly hope to be in Italy in 2021, but of course with the pandemic we can’t be 100% sure this will be the case. In the meantime we’ll continue moving forward, trusting that God will have us there in His perfect timing.

We hope to attend the spring session of Pre-Field Training - something that is required of all missionaries before they land on the field. To attend it, we need to be at least 50-70% funded (monthly). We are currently sitting at 34%, so if you’re a prayer warrior, this can be something you can pursue alongside us!

Have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2021,

Franklin and Leanne Monge Barrera