[Assignment: Write about 650 words to let us know about your work
Items to include (in no particular order): The history behind your decision to become a m-person; How long you have been in your current position; What your job involves; Family updates]
You know, it seems hard to believe we've been emailing TEAMspinella updates for more than 11 years. We were sent out for ministry from NJ in 1991, when our 3 emerging young adults were all preschoolers and we were in our 30s. I still remember sending Laura off with her mom and the babies, two under 1 y.o., then packing out the house with the help of a band of brothers and driving to our first assignment in CO in a Ryder truck towing the car by myself. Of course, we didn't invent the internet and we only began sending email updates around 1995. I think we sent out our last paper update over 3 years ago.*
For the last 11 years, we've lived in Taiwan in order to care for people in international ministry and their families. To understand how we got here, I have to take you back even further. When I was 6, my parents traded their house at a loss, my father quit his job, and we moved from California to Texas so he could attend seminary and they could focus more fully on ministry. When I was 12, we moved to South America--first Costa Rica, then Venezuela--so they could mentor developing Christians there. So I got a heart for mentoring ministry, but also a close-up look at the stress on a family that leaves their comfort zone to reach out to others. What I didn't get was roots in one local community!
In Laura I found a life partner who was willing to go with me wherever, prepared by hosting people in international ministry supported by her family and faith community in Houston, TX, and by her family's international (European) roots. So when we got the invitation to come to Taiwan to provide counseling and care, we were willing to say "yes." We arrived in February 1996, by now bringing two kindergarteners and a second grader with us. Since then I've been the director of the Center for Counseling and Growth, a summary statement that lends an air of stability to an ever-changing cast of caregivers, coworkers, clients, and friends over the past 11 years. We have, though, kept the same 1200 square foot apartment for that whole time, in the midst of a city more crowded than New York City on the island republic of Taiwan, containing the world's current tallest building and a whole lot of Chinese people.
My schedule revolves around lots of meetings with individuals, small groups, and families. Everything else gets fit in around that (including these updates!) Sometimes people come to me in crisis, others meet for mutual encouragement. Almost all, though, are under lots of stress. Some people come from the community, either international or local. Many, like Laura and I, came to Taiwan or Asia specifically to care, some to shepherd the like minded, some to teach, and some to reach out to those in need. We offer words of encouragement, sharing of stories from our own journeys, and insight from our training and experience that helps to make sense of things that can be overwhelming and confusing. Most of all, we represent the one who sent us as ambassadors of reconciliation, with people and with the creator.
Laura's schedule revolves around all of us. She teaches a class of seekers, meets with other women for mutual care and encouragement, serves on a school board and a couple other ministry boards, and still coordinates our family life, including a nightly time of sharing with each other and the creator that has become central to our family in a way I have never seen before.
Right now the big family challenge is launching kids into American university. Sarah has finished one year at Rice University, and her twin brothers Joey and Robby hope to join her there after one more year of high school. Will they make it? Will it work together for their good? We are continually aware that our time with them is now shorter than it is long, but we're enjoying every day and minute we have--especially since Sarah got back last week. Next month we plan to take a three week vacation together, but it already feels like times are changing with the weather getting hot, AP and SAT exams over for now, and Sarah back home.
With love from the far side, Steve and Laura
*If you really want to receive these updates in the mail, let us know. We actually do get Laura's mom to send out a few each time to ministry partners whose email addresses we don't have! Otherwise, to get on (or off) our email update list just email us or check the yahoo group below. Though it's been a long time since we left NJ in 1991, our journey continues!
Dr. Steve and Laura Spinella, Sarah, Joey, Robby
Da Yi Street, Lane 29, #18, 2F-1, Taichung 40454, TAIWAN
011.886.4.2236.6145, of 4.2236.1901, fx 4.2236.2109, cell 9.2894.0514
USA: 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920, 719.528.1702, cell 719.360.6485
TEAM, PO Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60189, 800.343.3144 <www.teamworld.org>, <www.team.org.tw/spinella>, <www.team.org.tw/ccg>, <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TEAMspinella/>,
<spinella@alumni.rice.edu>, <lauraspinella@alumni.rice.edu>
