I am writing you from Johannesburg – which is a surprise to us! When we drove down on August 3rd, we honestly thought that we'd be here for two weeks, then head back up north again to start building our home in Zambia. Now that we've been here a month, the question we hear most often is "when are you heading back?" and we can honestly say – we don't know.
We are incredibly sad that our next group of Advanced Missions Training Students have now not only arrived in Zambia, but are now on their first mission trip into the bush and we are not with them. We are covering them in prayer long distance and look forward to meeting them, but it is clear that at least for this short while, we'll remain down here.
We have been delayed, but we definitely have not been bored or without things to do! If we have to be "stuck" anywhere in the world, at least we are having fun with friends, supporters and former teammates, we know our way around the city and we have made tons of headway with all the official details of our move to Zambia. To be honest, we have one vehicle, so our time here has been primarily Dan running around all of creation researching and purchasing things for our home or the Zambian base and Janell and the kids are staying in the apartments at the church all day, then we see friends in the evenings.
There is also an element of Divine Delay in this process. Our friend Laura (Overland Missionary) got news that her Dad had been killed in a tragic auto accident and I was able to spend a couple hours at the Johannesburg airport processing with her on her layover back to the states. She told me like 10x, "thank you so much for coming" and how she really needed a friend right then. It was good to be here at just the right time. Also, my closest friend from our OC team, Heather, just got news that she has cancer. Getting to hug her in person has been incredibly special and we hope to continue to be able to support their family in the upcoming days.
Moving from one country in Africa to another isn't for the faint of heart. We have hit opposition and challenges at multiple turns, but we trust in God's timing and although sometimes we have bouts of frustration, for the most part we are resting in peace. We are currently waiting for Dan's official paperwork to be returned from Customs allowing us to export our household goods from SA to Zambia. We just received delivery #3 of building supplies that we ordered 3+ weeks ago, but it now looks like there will be at least one more! Our guess is that we'll be here another 5-7 days…but the best answer is we'll stay until everything for our move is ready.
Some of you may be thinking "I thought you already moved to Zambia, you've been there over a year" but the reality is we were on a temporary visa while we went through training for three months, then we were in the states for 4 months, and upon returning to Zambia in May we applied for a 2 year visa which would allow us to bring our container with our household goods over the border. We've now received that 2 year visa and have until Dec 6th to import our things into Zambia. Since we had extra space in our container, we have been purchasing things like windows, sinks, toilets, shower, exterior paint, and more because the quality is better in South Africa and about 1/3 the cost as in Zambia. Once the paperwork here is finally sorted, everything we own should follow us over the border on a big truck within a few weeks and we can finally begin building.
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| Happy 3rd Birthday Titus! |
We had a fun birthday party for Titus yesterday and had a fun group of people to celebrate his life with us.
Also, the month of August was very exciting for Overland Missions. There were short term teams to Argentina and Angola – both with amazing reports of God's goodness and with many people responding to the gospel.
Macubi Tribe Research click here to read a blog about Angola!
This is what the team leader said about Argentina - "WOW! Crazy week or so. Have preached 13 times in 11 days! Trekked through the Andes Mountains from 6000 to 12000ft in elevation, about 35 miles in a week straight up and down hill! The presence of God moved and hundreds of people were saved, healed and set free! Thanks for the prayers!"
A team is in the Democratic Republic of Congo and will be there for 2 weeks and another team is on their way to Cambodia right now. Exciting times!
Please pray with us for
- patience and peace as we wait to head up to Zambia
- the AMT students as they minister in the bush for ministry this week and the teams to DRC and Cambodia to be a blessing and encouragement to the people they meet and that many will respond to the Gospel message.
- timely delivery of the paperwork and supplies we are waiting here for and for the remaining details of our move to come together easily.
Thank you for your love and prayers for our family!
Janell for us 4
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