Postscript

We’ll be sharing briefly about our ministry with Wycliffe at several Wycliffe Associates banquets in southern California.

- April 16 at 7pm at the Embassy Suites in Temecula
- April 18 at 7pm at the Hyatt Regency Suites in Palm Springs
- April 19 at 7pm at the Westside Baptist Church in Fontana
- April 20 at 7pm at the Courtyard by Marriott in Riverside
- April 22 at 7pm at the Ambassador Hotel in Victorville
- April 23 at 7pm at the Holiday Inn in Ontario
- April 25 at 7pm at the Holiday Inn in Torrance
- April 26 at 7pm at the Airport Holiday Inn in Long Beach
- April 30 at 7pm at the Courtyard by Marriott in Monrovia
- May 2 at 7pm at the The Castaway Restaurant in Burbank
- May 3 at 7pm at the Odyssey Restaurant in Granada Hills

If you can come to one of these, go to this link, find the banquet you want to attend and follow the instructions for making a reservation. We’d love to see you!

These banquets are a great opportunity to learn more about what God is doing through the ministry of Bible translation. Admission and your meal are free. An offering is taken to cover expenses and raise funds for Bible translation projects.

These banquets are held all over the US. Is there a banquet in your community? Go to this link and click on your state to find more information about banquets near you!

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.

We spent a good portion of January and February this year back in our home areas in the US.  It was time spent reconnecting with family and friends, time to connect with some work colleagues based in the US, some time for connecting with ministry partners…and some time to reconnect some of our favorite American foods…and to do some shopping…

It was a whirlwind that took us from the west coast, to several places in the mid-west and concluding on the east coast before we returned to our home in South Africa. Here are a few highlights from our trip:

On January 23 we spoke at Orcutt Christian Church in Santa Maria, California.  Shortly before the service started, Jeff looked into the congregation and saw a couple of familiar faces from his past–two people who he knew from youth group at his home church. Marcy was a youth leader when he was in youth group, and Liz was in youth group with him.  It was great for me to get to know them both, and Jeff enjoyed reconnecting with them.

We shared a little bit of South Africa with our families and friends by making a typical South African meal for them–bobotie and yellow rice (served with spicy chili chutney).  We also shared some of our favorite boxed cookies from here.  Food and fellowship are a good combination .  It was a new meal for everyone, but they all seemed to enjoy it.  It’s something we enjoy, too, so we didn’t mind having it a few times while we were home.

Jeff spent several days helping his dad dig out and dispose of rocks from their back yard.  It was a huge project that between the two of them they were able to complete quickly.

I brought my sister to New York City.  It was her first time there.  We visited with one of my friends, and she was able to see a good portion of the city in our short time there.

We were also able to be with my dad on his 69th birthday for a celebration with our immediately family and for another celebration with friends.

It was wonderful to be home and to see and visit with everyone.  It was the longest we’ve been in the US since we left for Africa more than two years ago.   Skype, facebook and other tools of technology have keep us up-to-date with everyone, but none of those replaces face to face time…even if it’s compact!

This package of tortillas has traveled the world.  Really, it has…and, I’m not talking about its journey to the store shelf.  It traveled from North America to Asia and then to Africa to its final destination in our kitchen.  We really enjoy corn tortillas, and in Kenya and now in South Africa they are pretty much impossible to find.  Getting to eat them is a special treat.  They wouldn’t exactly last in a long trip through the mail, so we’ve had some colleagues bring them to us once in a while.  This time some friends brought them from the US to Singapore where I met up with them for the meetings we all attended there.  Then I brought them back home with me.  Tonight we ate some.  Mmmmm. They were very good.

Mail systems in some countries may be unreliable, non-existent, and in some cases theft is a risk.  Shipping expenses can be high.  Fees for customs can be high or may be less flexible on mail than if something is hand carried, and sometimes mail delivery can take a long time between countries.  For these reasons people living oversees often rely on networks of people to hand-carry items back and forth for them. We learned fast to utilize these networks.

Wonder how it works?  Usually we find out the travel schedule of friends, colleagues, even acquaintances that are either coming from someplace where one of us will be, or going somewhere where we want to send something.  We find out if they are willing to carry some things for us and if they have available space in their luggage. If they are coming to us from the US, we might arrange for our US mail or special treats to be sent to them in the US so they can bring it to us.  If they are leaving from where we are, we might arrange for them to take packages to the US to mail when they get there. These hand-carry networks have been very important to us.

Tortillas haven’t been our only globe trotting items.  My sister recently sent two t-shirts to me via a friend that I met up with in Singapore.  We sent some African clothing to my nephews and niece via a friend that we met up with in Johannesburg who was heading back to the US.  I sent back Christmas presents with my sister who saw us in Kenya. I brought a vuvuzela from South Africa with me to Singapore and gave it to a colleague traveling to Japan who will put it in the mail for our nephew who lives Okinawa, Japan.  We’ve also had people take back our US taxes and bring us banking documents and credit cards.

Considering going on a short-term missions trip to help some missionaries from your home country, are you planning a trip to visit a friend or relative who lives outside their home country, or will you be meeting up with some business associates that live abroad?  Find out if they need you to hand-carry anything for them.  Consider leaving some room in your baggage to carry some things to them or take some things back.  Your willingness to do this can be a blessing.  We have been so grateful to those who have been willing to do this for us.

I spoke at my home church on Sunday, despite being sick and having laryngitis! Somehow, I had enough of a hoarse voice to get through it. I wore the African outfit made for me in Benin, and my brother’s three kids came to church in outfits I bought for them in Ethiopia. They served as examples when I shared about Ethiopia. They are so cute! (but…I’m biased!)

When we were on our speaking tours while we were raising support, so much of what we shared was what we hoped to do. Now, I had stories about what we’ve actually done, people we’ve met, things we’ve seen, etc. I put together a powerpoint with photos and videos. What I enjoyed most was exposing everyone to aspects of Africa that they may not have known about before. There are a few African families in the church, which made it even more neat to share–they got to see a little taste of home.

I am looking forward to being reunited with Jeff soon. This has been a good, but long trip. We were really thinking that my father wasn’t going to live long. I thought that I was going to be coming out for a funeral, and we anticipated that Jeff would come out here after me for that event. However, God had a different plan in mind, and my time with my family has gone quite differently than we had expected. I had considered leaving for Africa early, but I guess God wants me here because he’s let me be sick with the flu and bronchitis for almost 3 weeks. I don’t think I’d be allowed to fly with these illnesses, but I should be well by my scheduled departure date.

We know many of you are praying for us, We are so thankful!