Our First Week Back

Sorry about the unexpected break in blogging.  Well, I’m not sorry, really – we have been quite busy!  A little foray into our last week…

We arrived completely out of it last Wednesday night.  My (Lisa’s) parents met us at the airport…well, they met the grandkids and we were merely accessories.  We spent the weekend recouping from a very long time traveling, unpacking and sorting our bins, and regrouping – gearing up for the next several months of travel.

Of course, we embraced real American life right away, too.  I have already trekked to Target three times, and once to Old Navy.  We watched a bit of much missed TV.  We went to a steak restaraunt.  We still have not embraced the drive through for Levi, though…no need to push it, since a life on the road will make it an occasional necessity soon enough.

Sunday was a highlight of our time back because we got to worship at “our” church here in Nampa.  The United Reformed Church of Nampa has been our place of worship each time we’ve been here since joining MAF two years ago.  We were able to present our ministry last time and this week we were happy to give an update to the congregation.  Levi was extra excited to be going to church in English!  However, the traveler’s colds, continuing jet lag, and the quiet unfamiliar church environment (not hot and loud like in Congo), led to a bit of disruption by Amelia.  The pastor, mid-sermon, who is also a friend, was able to sweetly remind the staring congregation that children are a part of church, too.  And no one held it against us.  We feel quite at home there, especially now.

Monday morning we said goodbye to my folks, as they left to head back to WA to their “regular” house, and went in for our big interview.  The panel interview is to formalize our intent to move forward in MAF and to seek a management role.  It went well (we think!) and we reconvene on Friday to finalize MAF’s decision.  The rest of this week is full of appointments with various MAF departments to close out our short-term status, review our year in Kinshasa and debrief us, and to work on our Ministry Partnership goals for this summer and fall.  We are busy busy!

Please pray for us as we move forward.  Pray that God will be glorified in what we are doing and that our focus remains on Him.  Pray that those who are called to partner with us will feel God’s leading in that.  Pray for the logistics of being on the road for five months straight.  And continue to pray for DR Congo – both the country as a whole and the MAF team we left to continue the work.