dr. exhaustion or: how i learned to stop worrying and love the ministry

We have been extraordinarily busy the last few weeks. Pastor Willie has been in Australia (his fourth trip since we've been here) and we have been doing his job and our jobs all while hosting a team of Maoris from New Zealand at the Mission House. Preaching and teaching and feeding and banking and basically running ourselves into exhaustion. In fact, I've gone a little bonkers under the stress. I now look like this guy:

Friday night, we pick up 4 of our friends who are going to be helping us with the work around here for the next 10 days. This is a very good thing, although they will join the Maoris at the Mission House and we'll be a total of 12 folks trying to use one shower. Should be interesting. And cold.

Regardless, this busy season has been among the best of our lives. We are being stretched and pulled and shaped into more loving, tolerant, and patient people. I realized this at the end of a long day, after preaching on Ecclesiastes 3. After telling the people about a time for peace and a time for war, a time for weeping and a time for laughing...I was able to really own the fact that the last few weeks have been a time for falling short and a time for running out of ways to meet needs. It has been a time for tempers and grated nerves. It has, above all, been the most poignant example that without the sour, the sweet has very little meaning.

Exhausted, used, abused, and taken advantage of, we are learning to love the ministry here.

With all of that said, we will probably not be able to post anything for a few days. Or maybe we just don't want to. Maybe we're just sitting by the computer eating popcorn...

Either way, email us at theburkholders@gmail.com and we'll be back soon enough.

"Wheeeere could I be?" - For your enjoyment.