Happy Easter…Here’s What’s Been Happening

Happy Easter!  Isn’t it great that God loves us so much that He sent his son to die in our place, so we could be restored to a relationship with him?!  We hope you have an an enjoyable Easter.

Things continue to move forward in high gear for us.  Let me catch you up on some of the highlights from the last couple months.  In February and March we did several presentations including a some for elementary students at our church in Ankeny.  We gave an update to our supporters at Saint Mark’s Lutheran Church in Marion, IA.  We got to share briefly on a Sunday morning during the services, with the elementary students’ Sunday school class, and again later in the week with their 50+ (years-old) group.

Presenting an update at St. Mark's Lutheran Church

Doctor visits, dentist appointments, and travel immunizations have also kept us busy as we’ve tried to get all those things completed before we leave.  We’ve filled out passport and visa applications, ordered, inventoried, and packed things for our shipment, and reviewed and rewritten our checklists.

On a trip we recently took out to the Omaha area to visit supporters at Wildewood Christian Church we met a couple and their teenage children, and instantly connected with their family.  Tim has a military background doing similar to mine doing many of the same IT work.  It was great to talk shop with someone who really understands what I will be doing.  His daughter Lorrin does her high school classes and works at the zoo in Omaha.  She is particularly interested in Okapi, the strange looking “forest giraffes” that are found only in D.R. Congo.  We had planned a vacation day at the zoo while we were in town, and Lorrin was able to take a few minutes to give us a small tour of the animals she works with and tell us some interesting facts you don’t get from the placards.

Looking ahead, we will be having our commissioning service at First Family Church in Ankeny, IA on Sunday.  Larinda recently decided to make Jesus her lord and savior, and we are excited that she will also be getting baptized that day.  We are so thankful for her decision!

On Monday the 16th we will hit the road for MAF headquarters in Nampa, ID.  We will complete two weeks of pre-field orientation, and I will have an additional week of IT training.  It’s about 22 hours of road time each direction, but we’ve done it before.  We’ll survive!

On May 19th we’ll have a farewell party.  It will be an open house style party from 4-8 pm.  We’d love to see you, so please drop in for awhile!  1204 W. 4th Street N., Newton, IA

On May 30th we leave for Africa.  We plan to check 12 bags, and then somehow get through the airport with four young kids, four rolling carry-ons, two backpacks, two car seats, and maybe a little sanity.  Our flights will take us from Des Moines, to Chicago, to Brussels, to Entebbe, Uganda.  From there we’ll hop a plane over to Bunia, DRC where we’ll live and serve.

It’s been quite the adventure getting to this point, and as the Carpenters would say, “We’ve only just begun!”

After considering several options, this seems like the best way to get through the airports.

Tags: presentations, travel