The above photo is of our IMB team in Costa Rica. We were gathered for a despedida (farewell party) in honor of Lloyd and Wilma Mann, seated in front. They will be leaving the field in December and will actually retire a year later, after having served with the IMB for 38 years. (We had the despedida early because two of our families are going on furlough for a year in July and didn't want to miss honoring the Manns.)
Lloyd and Wilma have served in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Actually, they have made full circle. Lloyd started out in Costa Rica as a Journeyman (a young person with a two year assignment), where he met Wilma, a Tica (term for a native Costa Rican lady) Yes, they had a mission field romance, which was a little difficult because Journeymen aren't allowed to date. They swear they didn't date, and I believe them, but at the end of Lloyd's term, they got married.
Lloyd's responsibility in the last few years has been to promote foreign mission involvement by Latin American Baptist churches...in other words, to try to motivate and mobilize Latin Churches to send missionaries to other countries. Wilma has been responsible for testing language students and newer missionaries as to their proficiency in Spanish and helping them increase their abilities to communicate. Our joke is that I have only gotten to know Wilma in the last two years because before that, I was always avoiding her, hoping she would somehow forget to test me if she didn't see me. (Not completely untrue.)
Wilma and Lloyd are precious servants of God. Their faithfulness has been evident in their work and family. All their children serve the Lord, some as foreign missionaries in challenging places. It's been a blessing to know them and work with them for this short time.
