In the weeks and months prior to accepting the call to take a short term missions assignment to Kenya, I remember sitting in my living room and reading Matthew 19:29, 30 where Jesus told His disciples, “Everyone who has left houses or father or mother or brothers or sisters or children or farms for My name’s sake shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life.”  I memorized those verses because I wanted them to be burned on my heart so that if the time ever came for me to have to “give up” something for the Lord, I would have the grace and strength to do it.  I remember a particular day in the spring of 1984 when I felt prompted in my spirit to walk through the house and lay hands on my most precious antiques and family heirlooms and give them to the Lord. In that moment I felt courageous enough to whisper, “You can have this, Lord!…and this….and even this…”  It was quite a process for me to finally reach the point of relinquishing my worldly possessions to the Lord, and even more so, trusting Him with my children and family.  At last my heart was at peace and I could say with confidence, “You can have it all, Lord!” Little did I know that those words would set in motion a series of events that would eventually lead us to accepting a two-and-a-half year special missions assignment to Nairobi, Kenya. Miraculously, God provided everything so quickly, that we landed in Nairobi on January 1, 1985 and celebrated the New Year with our new missionary family.

Chicago Airport Departure Day for Kenya December 31, 1984 for a 2 1/2 year special assignment

At the conclusion of that assignment in June of 1987, we returned to the States at which time we felt the Lord calling us to commit to full time missionary work. We then began the year-long process of raising funds and making preparations to take a container back to the field with our household effects and supplies.  Back in the 80’s, many of the basic household items were either not available or were very expensive so it was customary for the missionaries to stock up on certain things and ship them in their containers.  In addition to furniture and appliances, these items would include pots and pans, dishes, bath towels, a four year’s supply of shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toilet paper, paper towels, and especially brown sugar, chocolate chips and of course, Heinz Catsup, etc. etc. etc.   We also spent the year stocking up on shoes and clothing that would last us and our two growing daughters for four years.  We also packed four years worth of Christmas and birthday presents, Easter baskets and special candy and decorations to make our holidays as much like American tradition as possible.

It was a hot sunny July day in South Bend, Indiana when we were scheduled to pack our container to return to Kenya. Mark and I had finished packing everything we “needed” to set up our new home in Nairobi.  Finally, the last item was checked off my list and the shipment was inventoried and ready to be loaded into the container. I was getting very excited knowing that soon we would be in Kenya enjoying our life on the mission field.  We discovered that packing a container was much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together and having no previous experience with this, we were definitely at a disadvantage.  Naively, we agreed to let other missionaries ship some of their items on our container because we thought an 8 X 8 X 20 foot container had plenty of room—no problem.  We would soon discover that was definitely not a wise decision on our part.

Leading up to the day we were scheduled to pack the container, we had put out a request to our church family for volunteers to help us pack the container and hoped we would have plenty of able-bodied men show up.  By the time the container arrived at our house, five men from the church showed up to help us. Unfortunately, they were all over 60 and half of them had some physical limitations.  Mark lovingly called them the over-the-hill gang.  The next thing we knew our front yard looked like a gigantic garage sale and boxes were flying and furniture was getting shoved in every direction.  It was utter chaos.  From time to time, I would catch a glimpse of two or three of the men standing around talking and drinking coffee.   To them, this was like a social day at the Hayburn house and they were having a great time.  After a few grueling hours, Clint and Ronda, a young couple who were good friends of ours came by to see how things were going.  When Clint saw the disaster unfolding, he immediately jumped in to help. All I can remember is seeing Clint and Mark sweating bullets with blood vessels popping out on their foreheads trying to get everything in the container.

When it was about to reach its capacity, they started asking for anything small to fill in the gaps.  Unfortunately, all my remaining items were too large and that’s when I started to panic.  All the other missionaries’ boxes seemed to be just the right size and when we got to the end, all their items were on board and I still had two living room chairs (seat cushions were already in the container), lamp table, two side tables and a half dozen large boxes of household effects sitting on the lawn.  Because we were paying the moving company by the hour, Mark and Clint began ripping open the boxes and throwing everything from drinking glasses, dishes, pots and pans, clothing, bedding, linens and even Christmas decorations into big black garbage bags and jamming them into the nooks and crannies remaining in the container.

That’s when I lost it. I don’t remember what I did but Mark told me it wasn’t pretty.  Suddenly Mark and Clint looked like two baboons throwing my carefully packed and inventoried treasures into the container like garbage collectors on trash day. Then suddenly God sent an angel to my rescue. Right when I started to launch into a major meltdown, Sharon, my senior pastor’s wife and best friend, pulled up in her little red car to see how things were progressing.  When she saw me, she immediately talked me into leaving with her and let the men finish the packing without my valuable assistance.

As we drove the short distance to her house, I was crying like a baby.  I remember the feelings of anger and fear spilling out from deep inside over the fiasco taking place with “my stuff”. It literally felt like everything that was precious to me was being wrenched from my fingers.  By the time we arrived at Sharon’s house, we sat down in her family room and she encouraged me to put my trust in God and then she prayed for me.  As I began to regain my composure, the Lord helped me put the whole situation in the proper perspective.

Then the Lord brought to my remembrance a story that a veteran missionary couple told me about how their first container had sunk to the bottom of the sea on route to the field.   I remember thinking how awful that must have been to lose everything and wondered how I would handle something like that happening to me.  I believe the Lord allowed this experience to test my heart and reveal to me how tightly I was holding on to the very things I had told Him He could have.  Then my mind went back to the day when I walked through my house laying hands on everything I loved and telling the Lord, “You can have it all.” I just didn’t realize how painful letting go would turn out to be.

Looking back over the past thirty-three years on the mission field, I think about all the subsequent moves Mark and I have made back and forth to Africa.  Today as we prepare to return to Kenya for a six month special assignment and then on to South Africa for another year, I constantly have to remind myself again and again that my most precious treasures are in heaven and that all of my earthly belongings will one day turn to dust.  I thank the Lord for His faithfulness and especially His patience with me down through the years. Now that we are in a retired-active status, we continue to look with eagerness to the future and to whatever God may call us to do. I know that I must remain utterly dependent upon Him for His grace and strength to face whatever comes my way.