What This Week Has Brought Us

Wow, what a difference a week can make, huh?  I apologize for not mentioning this earlier, but Joe, one of the guys on our team, found out on Sunday that his mom passed away in her sleep.  It was not expected at all, which makes it a double whammy.  So Christina and I would really appreciate if you would keep him in your prayers.  He also found out that he’s the executor of her will, as she was still in the process of divorcing Joe’s dad.  So he got home on Tuesday afternoon, and I’m sure has had some not-so-easy decisions to make in the past 48 hours. 

We also found out on Tuesday morning that Gail and Virgil, our ministry coordinators and a key part of our leadership team, will be moving to Cape Town next week to begin work with a church plant about 45 minutes outside of the city.   We knew that was on their radar, but I would have loved to have had them finish out the year with us.  But we know that the Lord will do great things with their ministry there and are excited for that. 

As if that weren’t enough, we’ve been spending the past couple of days furiously getting ready to leave for Swaziland.  I just got back from dropping half of our team off in PE, where they caught a bus to take them to Jo-burg, and the rest of us are taking the van and will be leaving tomorrow morning at 4am.  A lot of my buddies at Fuller always poked fun at me because they thought I got up early, but this is ridiculous. 

We’ll be there for two weeks, and I’m trying to get psyched up for it, but honestly, it’s difficult to get psyched up for squatty potties and bucket showers with cold water.  I don’t do well without basic American creature comforts, but I’m trying to get better.  We’ll have some incredible opportunities for ministry at the care point where we’ll be staying (read: kids everywhere all the time), the nearby hospital, and just around the village, so I’m trying to focus on those.  There has been a common voice around the team that the Lord has something huge planned for us, so I’m also trying to go with open eyes and a sense of expectation. 

I’m not sure what kind of access we’ll have to internet while we’re there (there’s not even power on the base in Swazi, much less an internet connection!), so contact over the next two weeks might be a little sketchy, but we covet your prayers and are excited to share with you everything that God has done!