Sunday, April 17, 2011

Africa, Here We Come

Well, it is that time again and we are getting ready to go. Our container which has sat here for over a year is nearly full. Jason and Frank worked on it last year around the time of ASI filling it up with all the things Janet and I had set aside. Janet, if you remember, did not come home for ASI and so the job was left up to the guys. They did a good job, but is was incomplete. Since we have been home we have gathered more stuff to put into the container to make it as full as possible. We have room for about 5 more boxes and we have about 8 plus an exercise machine for one of our friends at Kibidula and also some wrestling mats. No they are not for Janet's and my wrestling matches. We will be using them at the day care. Anyway, we will see about getting everything in. Where there is a will there is a way - and if Janet wants it, her will will get it done.

I have started to pack, but have a lot more to get together. Upon getting our tickets, Janet and one of her granddaughters and one of her grandsons ended up on a separate flight then myself. They will be leaving on the 8th of May with an overnight layover in Washington DC and then going thru another country in middle east and arriving in afternoon on the 10th. I leave on the 9th and have about a 6-7 hour layover in London and arriving at 7:00 the morning of the 11th. She will meet me at the airport and I think Jason will have been there to pick her and the kids up so they will probably be there and more that likely we will leave from there to head back to Kibidula than onto Mago.

I am looking forward to going and getting some much needed work done. As soon as the container comes we will unload some pews that EVI Church gave us. I want to get them ready and installed in our little church over there. It will be so nice to actually have padded pews instead of boards to sit on. Also we would like to get water to the houses, Janet's kitchen set up, pipeline dug for our hydro-plant, and a couple of buildings built (1 staff house, 1 pole barn for the wood for the carpentry class, and maybe a garage). We also have our tractor on there which will be used to get the ground ready for planting this year (maybe) if we have time.

Mariam (our translator's wife) is due to have her 3rd child at the end of April first part of May so we will have another little one to "play" with upon arriving or shortly there after. We have 50 students enrolled in the school over there with 30 living in our dorms. I am so glad we were able to get the dorms built and as ready as we could for them.

Please pray for us as we head back and hit these projects head on. We need to finish this year if possible and I know all things are possible with Christ who strengtheneth us day by day. I have been memorizing Bible promises about strength for that is something I am lacking in my life - that is spiritual strength. One quote from EGW - (paraphrased) is that the power we have available to us from above is more than all the power of Satan and his angels combined. All we have to do is want it and believe we will get it upon asking for it. And I do, but we have to die to obtain it, that is the hard part. Then again, that is where faith comes in.

And this is where I go out....

Signing off from EVI, Loveland CO

Deniece