With Sandy’s citizenship journey coming to an end on January 16th, we are in our final weeks here in America. There is a lot to do, we’re busy with passports, visas, packing, booking plane tickets and more. We’re also trying to find partners to help us return. We’re still in need of monthly support and one-time help to get us back.
First, we will need some start up funds for our return. We had to get rid of much of our furniture, appliances and one of our cars before leaving last year. We’ll also have airfare & visa expenses when we get back. Our total estimated return expenses are $16,600. We have been saving toward this & have had some very generous friends and churches help already. We currently have $11,525 set aside, leaving us with a remaining one-time need of $5,075. To see the details of our return budget, you can find it here.
Next, we are still a bit short on our monthly needs, but we are getting close! We just need another $597 in monthly commitments! This would mean a full ministry budget as well as the ability to begin a retirement plan. We really hope to reach this goal before returning to the field in the coming months. To request a detailed breakdown of our budget, click here.
Please consider getting involved. If you would like to give a one time gift to help get us back or would like to join the team with a monthly contribution, you can give online today! Click here
To all of you, we thank you for the support throughout the years! Your prayer and financial partnerships have been such a blessing and have allowed us all to be a part of what God is doing in Namibia!
Hello Prayer Partners!
There is much news to tell! First of all thank you, thank you, thank you! We have been quite blessed by your generosity in giving and in praying for these dear families. I have been able to take 12 care packages to the families already! This includes things as small and simple as a lunch package to things like a week’s worth of groceries. Usually we don’t really engage in a lot of relief work, since the need is so overwhelming and never ending, instead we have focused on development, but in bringing these relief packages to people we have been able to really show them that they are loved and not alone.
The opportunity came for me to go on a mission trip to Haiti with my youth group. They went annually, and I was going to go after I finished my senior year of high school. Actually, now that I think back I can remember being hesitant on going to Haiti because I wanted to go to Africa instead. Regardless of the hesitations I started planning for our trip. My entire senior year was spent preparing for this trip. I even skipped my senior prom because it was too expensive and I needed to save money. (Which was really more of an excuse to get out of going to prom.)
sand boarding, while we were putting on our gear, and getting a brief rundown of what the day would look like. The instructor told us that while walking up the dunes, we should step in other peoples footprints to make it easier. When you step in someone else’s footprint, they have already pushed down the sand for you so you don’t slide back as much. As soon as I heard her say that, I couldn’t help but think of all that I am learning here. I am able to step in others footprints to be able to go forward, without going backwards first. Let me testify, it is NOT easy hiking up the sand dunes. The boots are heavy, there’s sand rubbing your skin raw, the sun is hot, and the air is dry. Imagine hiking up a mountain while running in soft sand, that is what it is like going up. But having the footprints of others to walk in really does make it easier. I tried to walk off the beaten trail for about 5 steps, and ended up going further down than I went up.
The feeling of being alone in a crowded room is a haunting spine chilling phenomena. This daunting feeling was my biggest anxiety preparing to come to Namibia. I was anxious because it would be the first time traveling across the Atlantic Ocean, and I would be alone. It was going to be the first time living in another country, and I would be living alone. (Something I also have never done.) The fear of loneliness was my biggest anxiety without a doubt. I was so anxious of being alone that I did not even know what to pray to combat the loneliness. I simply prayed that I would learn to be dependent on God.