Hello world!

You are here because we are going to Africa and you want to know all about it.  I can’t blame you, I would too, and I am more than happy to share everything!  I am going to take the opportunity of my very first blog post to try and answer the most popular questions.  A sort of FAQ, if you will.

Many of the questions I’ve heard so far can be answered by a simple timeline of events.  When are we going?  When are we leaving Alaska?  How long will we be gone?  Hopefully this timeline will help sort it out for you…or for me, at least:

2010

Oct – Apply with MAF

Dec – Find out we are invited to interview; extend WA trip to include side trip to headquarters in Idaho

2011

Jan – Interview and be accepted; assigned to Kinshasa, DRC

Feb – Announce publicly, begin fundraising efforts

Mar/Apr – Begin process of selling house

Mar – Jun – Fundraise in Fairbanks area, sell house

Jun – Leave Alaska (providing house has sold); arrive in WA

Jun – ? – Fundraise throughout WA and wherever the Lord leads

Jul – Attend candidate training in ID

Sep – HAVE BABY!

Oct – Jan 2012 – Fundraising is done…off to Africa!

We have committed to one year, the minimum for this particular job assignment.  We can’t pretend to know what the Lord will have for us after that…whether it’s staying on indefinitely, or coming back to the US to start another adventure, or something yet unknown, we are doing our best to prepare for anything.  What that mostly means is downsizing.  Matthew likes to call it a reset.  Anything that can be replaced and isn’t deeply sentimental is getting sold or given away.  We actually began today, packing eight plastic totes with books, games, and photo albums.  Strange to think I really won’t see those things again for at least two years…perhaps longer.  It’s also strange to think that I don’t mind so much because, really, there is so much else to see and do in those next two years!

I don’t think doing this only five years into your marriage, when you’re only 26, is considered normal…but, then again, when have we ever done anything normal?  I remember when many thought we were “crazy” for moving to Alaska (our Alaskan friends will chuckle at this sentiment).  Moving to Alaska simply required an adjustment to climate and culture.  How different is that move from this one?  Of course there is Levi and baby #2 to consider – that certainly changes how many comforts can become critical.  The climate is not really more extreme, but the culture difference will probably make up for it.  However, I also think that, having made a “similar” (but not really, of course) move just five years ago, I can do it again!  But bigger!!  Well, honestly, I cannot, except by the Lord’s strength.

So, why are we doing this?  Matthew and I had separate thoughts, beginning about a year ago.  I would say we began to feel restless.  Just that feeling that you’re not doing something you should, or, to be even more precise, that you’re about to do something very different.  We prayed and researched like crazy!  The world was open to us, but what did God have in mind?  Finally, this fall, we began to rehash our experiences in mission work and how much we both enjoyed them.  Suddenly, talking of just doing a “quick” summer mission trip became, well, this!

I hope that answers some of those preliminary questions about what we are doing.  Feel free to ask more!  In upcoming posts I will talk more about what we’ll be doing there, what we know so far about Kinshasa, and the processes of becoming a full-time (even if only temporarily) missionary.  Also, I hope to talk more about the amazing work of Mission Aviation Fellowship and their incredible history.  Of course, I will be sure to update you as to what life is like in the Lind household trying to move, be pregnant, fundraise and still go about our busy daily lives…or maybe you don’t want to know!

While you’re reading these posts over the next few months, and then once we’re in Kinshasa, perhaps you’d like to assist us!  Missionaries cannot do what they do alone, it’s more of a team effort and we are looking to build our team.  We need LOTS of prayer support and, of course, the finances to get and live there.  Please consider donating; every small amount helps.  I hope that these posts, on occasion, will inspire you, even if you can’t drop everything and go be a missionary (who would WANT to??), to help those of us who are called to do so.

I hope to post often, so check back as we update you on, errrr, everything!

– Lisa