Still Leaving

We had a wonderful prayer send-off from our brothers and sisters at Southside. 

We loaded one truck and two cars with bags and people, and made our way to the Kansas City airport bound for Washington DC - Frankfurt - Johannesburg - Livingstone - Kalomo - Seven Fountains.  Everything was right on schedule, until we learned that the flight to Dulles (DC) was cancelled.  At first, we were told that we should return on Tuesday because there was no way to get to Frankfurt tonight.  You can imagine the shock and disappointment.  Fortunately, God had gone before us and placed a marvelous customer service agent, Mary B, behind the counter.  She spent almost an hour on the phone making the best arrangement possible under the circumstances.

 We were in the air headed for Chicago as the sun was setting somewhere over Iowa or Illinois.

The next hurdle was getting 14 pieces of checked luggage, 6 carry-ons, and 6 backpacks from baggage claim to the hotel shuttle.   Everyone pitched in, and we were safely in our lovely hotel having our evening devotional by 11:30.

Did I mention that God provided the hotel rooms when normally, hotels are not awarded for weather delays?  Did I mention that although this schedule puts us one day later arriving in Livingstone, it gives all a little more time to rest before our international travel?  I am convinced that God knows just what we need.

Nothing like an experience like this to remind us that we are on God's timetable and this is HIS work, not ours.

~ Marti

Packing Day

Eleven of us gathered in the Southside fellowship hall to pack 14 suitcases with gifts and food and supplies and toilet paper and plastic bags and curriculum and....  Well, you get the picture.  Thanks to J.L., Lorene, Susan, Nontalie, and Helen: Many hands make a burden light!

Rachel packs shirts which will be gifts for the teachers in the community schools.

Grayson powerlifts jelly as he awaits instructions.

Fourteen suitcases?  We were planning to take 18, but were able to pack efficiently.

Angie and J.L. may have filled this one too full?

Victoria Falls

Chris Newton showed this photo during his sermon at the Southside church of Christ today, shortly before calling us to the front to pray for our team.  (Thanks for your prayers, Southside!)

While the photo was on the screen, Marti leaned forward, looked down the row at me, and mouthed, "That's Victoria Falls." We'll be visiting the falls shortly before we board the plane for our return flight at the end of June.  I then pointed to Marti and back to myself and then up at the screen as if to say, "Let's do what those guys are doing!"

Yeah.  Right.

How many suitcases?

 Looks like we are taking 24 suitcases full of stuff...cuz the folks there don't have much stuff...so here's what's going in those bags... or just a few things :)

baby clothes,  frisbees, candy, lotions, 135 ladies scarves, soap, pens and pencils, notepads, bandaids, winter coats, bibles, bible curriculum, paint to paint the bible timeline on the wall, markers, hot chocolate mix, tuna/chicken packet, clothes, quilts, granola bars, nuts, pbj fixings, happy meal toys, and sooooo many more things i can't even think of all the things we have been placing in ziplocs, ready to be packed on Monday morning...

So thanks to all of you who helped with the gathering...so encouraging to see God at work in so many lives as people are moved to help advance the kingdom!

sweet friends…and puppy dogs…

-by Angie

• our precious friends, Geoff and Beth, are keeping two of our furry family members during our trip to Zambia, so Chris faithfully drove to Dallas on Monday this week to deliver them…Otis is the our aussie, and Yancie is our dobe… I keep thinking, where are they, and keep heading to let them in, or out, or feed them… missing them already.
  thanks G and B for the gracious loving friends you are to us…God has blessed us richly thru u!  20 years of friendship going strong :)  At least this trip won’t be as long as our year long stay in Costa Rica!! (“Unless, of course, the Lord decides we’re to stay!,” said Chris, smiling.)
  
  
  
  
  
  

 spent some time with Mary Beth today…she traveled to Zambia in 2010 with Marti so she knows the ropes, and so Emma and Rachel and i went to Lawrence to sort and bag lots and lots and lots of stuff…y’all know what i’m talking about, you helped me get it:)

we bagged pens and pencils, baby clothes, lotions, scarves, band aids, toys, neosporin, food, snax, and sooooo much more!

here’s a sample of our yarn collection, pretty colors and pretty amazing amount.  God has been so generous through you all, I have been humbled to see him move so many people to help us get to Africa.
wish you could come with us…

Faith Comes By Hearing

Three Proclaimers arrived via UPS today from Faith Comes By Hearing.  A Proclaimer is a battery operated Audio Bible device.  It plays the New Testament in the language of choice, and can be recharged by using either the solar panel or the hand crank.  Ours play the New Testament in Chitonga, the tribal language in the region where we'll be serving.