Postscript

On March 1 we completed packing, moved all of our belongings out of our apartment, and boarded a plane to head back to the USA.  After four years in Africa, it’s time for our home assignment.  It took almost a full day of travel (a 16 hour flight followed by a six hour flight), and we touched down at our destination in the USA.

Every three to four years staff with our organization return to their home country for home assignment (also called furlough).  This time is designed for reconnecting with ministry partners, family, and friends, rest, working on next steps with our ministry, and also continuing to do some work for our organization.

Home assignment is not a vacation or an extended break.  While we will have some vacation, much of the next few months will be quite busy. Our time will be split between both coasts of the USA with stops in the northwest, southwest, southeast and northeast. I will be doing at least a portion of my work leading the Wycliffe News Network.  We’ll both be involved in sharing about our ministry in various locations.

If you’ve been praying for our ministry, here are six topics for prayer for this time:

• Transition:  Many people upon return to their home country after an extended period away experience reverse culture shock.  Pray that God will help us connect with the resources we need to handle this transition well.
• Housing and Transportation: We need to find affordable housing and a vehicle to use in each of the locations where we’ll be staying.  Short-term, furnished housing can sometimes be difficult to find, and finding a vehicle to use for 2 to 3 months can also be hard. Pray that God will help us find the housing and transportation we need in each location.
• Connecting: We’ll be connecting with many of our current ministry partners.  Pray that we’ll have good times to share with them and that God will use us to encourage them in their participation in missions.  We’ll also be connecting with friends and family we haven’t seen in a while.  Pray that God will give us good times of reconnection.
• Sharing: We’ll be sharing about our ministry with many people over the next few months.  Pray that our stories will glorify God and clearly show how he has been at work in our lives and in the lives of those we’ve served over the last few years.
• Finding more partners: Our ministry budget is increasing, so we need to find additional ministry partners for our ministry team.  Pray that God will give us guidance as we plan our activities – that he will lead us to the right places and the right people at the right times.
• Balancing: Our home assignment time will be very full.  Balancing our work to develop new ministry partners, connect with existing partners, doing some of our regular work, and trying to find times to rest will be challenging. Pray that God will help us balance all of our various activities and that he will help us find times of refreshment.

We are beginning our time in the USA on the west coast.  As our plans for time in other parts of the US come together, we’ll keep you informed.  You can find a schedule of all of our public meetings on our calendar.

Thanks for your prayers!

* Photo provided by iStock photo.  To use this photo yourself, purchase it from iStock.

Diane Lovell is a Bible translation consultant-in-training working with The Seed Company, a Wycliffe Global Alliance partner organization.  She serves southern Africa, and she has been balancing her work with her role as a new mother.  Take a look at this video to learn a little more about her.

This is our first completed piece after our Wycliffe News Network meetings in South Africa in December. Great job Rodney and Elyse!

It’s been more than a year since the Wycliffe News Network team met together for the first time.  Since then members of the team have traveled to the Kingdom of Tonga, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Solomon Islands, Japan, and Brazil.  Some of the stories have already appeared on the Wycliffe Global Alliance web site as well as the publications and web sites of other Alliance partners and members.  Other stories from those trips are still in progress. It’s been exciting to see this coming together and building momentum!

We’re meeting again this year.  This time everyone came to South Africa, and we’re meeting for two weeks.  Week one has been focused on gathering four stories in South Africa as a training exercise.  Everyone is getting some instruction in story gathering while producing some real stories for the Wycliffe Global Alliance web site.  In a couple of months we should have four new complete stories.  Week two will be team building, more training, a review of the year and a look ahead to next year.

Our team isn’t all together very often.  We are based in five different countries usually communicating by skype, email and facebook.   It’s been great to see everyone together in action – conducting interviews, doing photography, and transcribing interviews.

You can continue to pray for these meetings:

• For smooth logistics – there are still a lot to coordinate for our remaining week.
• For a great time of learning and team bonding.
• For God to guide our time.
• For God to give me His wisdom as I lead these meetings
• For God to provide times of refreshment during these busy weeks.

 Top photo by Diane Lovell 

When you think about Africa, you might not think about entertaining television advertisements.  There are some good ones.

These are a few that I enjoy.  Have a look!

What are some of your favorite commercials?