What’s Going On With Us

New Arrivals

We welcomed a new family to the field, which means getting their apartment ready.  This begins with moving the family currently living in their apartment, the apartment that we use for our new arrivals usually for the first 6 months they are here.  So we first had to find a host church and family for the family who had arrived in August.  The first church we had asked ended up not able to do it so we were left scrambling at the last moment with asking another host church.  Yet God worked it all out at just the right moment.  Then we had to find an apartment as close to their host family as possible, miraculously we did this in a span of 3 days and the apartment was actually move-in ready!   Finally we had to get them all moved into it and the other apartment ready again.

We also prepared for Linda to arrive.  She is from one of our home churches and will be helping nanny the kids of this new arriving family as they begin language study.  It has been fun to have a familiar face around and I know she will be a huge blessing to this family.

Time With Our Host Family

Being part of a family here comes with responsibilities.  When we are not traveling we try to be part of that family as much as possible.  This time brought me on an adventure to go claim a bride the night before her wedding.  Cecil and I left at 4pm and came back with the bride at around 2am.  Oh the stories I could tell…

Death and More Death

November brought the the death of Joel’s grandma on his dad side.  Soon after Joel’s parents returned the news of the declining health of Joel’s grandpa on his mom side reached us.  Joel’s Mom is now in the states again to be with her family during this time.  We had known that this could be a reality, but it is still never easy to be far away from family during times like this.

Ready or Not Let the Traveling Begin

We have had two months off from traveling and it has been much needed, however that break is coming to an end.  We are now preparing to leave tomorrow for the Southern Part of Senegal to help a new family who is getting situated by doing official introductions from our field leadership to the Officials there.  We also will be helping another couple get situated in to a host church in a near by town.  Really that is what Joel and Norbert will be doing, while the boys and I minister to the family by playing with their kids and providing some good fellowship.  To get there we have to cross over the Gambia which is the country in the middle of Senegal.  This process is not always easy.  So pray for safe travels and not too much hassle at the boarders.

Upon returning we get a few days here before we hit the road again.  Joel will be leaving for about 3 weeks on a road trip through 3 countries with other members of our field leadership team.  Joel has been working the last week on the 3 visas he will need for the trip and is now down to 4 pages left in his passport.  Yes we are becoming one of those peoples who cares about where the official stamps our passports as our space is limited.  Who would have guessed that our life would bring us this much travel.  At the same time I will be traveling down to another village in Senegal to help consult on their language and culture learning.  I will hopefully only begone for about 6 days, but one never knows where an adventure here might bring me.  These past few weeks have been all about preparing logistics…reserving guest houses, planning driving routes and talking with all the teams to work out the details.  It is quite a puzzle to put together, but all the pieces are slowly but surly falling into place.