Sunday, March 30, 2008

Back Home!


We are home! After nearly 2 years in Nampula, Mozambique, we are finally back in the USA. We are so excited to be back in our homeland and to be with the friends and family that we have missed so much! We had a wonderful reunion at the Las Vegas airport and appreciate everyone who came to welcome us back to America.
It wasn’t easy though to say our good-byes and then to travel half-way across the world. In fact, it was awful. Our most difficult good-byes were to the orphans at the orphanage and to our great friend Choveque. We dreaded doing this for the last few months and once the time came we shed many tears. We praise God though for these tears as He allowed us to be a part of some wonderful things He is doing at the orphanage and through the life of Choveque. Here is a funny picture of us in our new African outfits that we received as part of our good-bye gifts. It seemed like everyone wanted to give an African outfit before we left.
Besides the sad goodbyes we had to make we also had to deal with Mozambique Airlines one more time. Our plan was to leave Nampula at 10:50am on the 19th of March to arrive that night in Johannesburg. But instead we got to stay in the beautiful Nampula airport for 6 hours as our flight was delayed until 5pm that night. So we never made it to Johannesburg that night but instead stayed the night in Maputo and got up at 5am the next morning only to have our last flight with LAM delayed an hour. Let’s just say we’re happy to say that we don’t have to fly LAM for awhile.

The next day we, and our 8 pieces of luggage, boarded the plane in Johannesburg to make our trip back to the States. This flight was brutal! It took about 19 hours in the air to finally make it to Atlanta and then another 4 ½ to get to Las Vegas. It was 100% exhausting! Now we trying to get over our jet lag from all the lack of sleep we experienced. Plus Jenni has caught a bad virus that has totally wiped her out. We can’t really leave the house for fear that she will infect others….her mom has already received this wonderful illness. Please pray for God to heal her so that she can start feeling herself again. We have been anticipating coming home and sharing our experience with everyone along with enjoying family, friends, food, and shopping! Nothing is worse than having to stay in bed during such an exciting time.

In other news, JENNI IS PREGNANT! Are you surprised? We are! But we are also very excited for this gift that God has given us! We found out the day before we left for the States and we couldn’t believe it. In fact, it is still quite surreal to think that we will have a baby and that we will be parents before the end of the year. Please pray for us!

So now that we have found this out, our plans have changed a bit. For now we plan on staying in Salt Lake for a little while, at least until next year. Then Lord willing, we will move to Kentucky next year to obtain a degree in missiology from Southern Seminary. We’ve got a lot on our plate now, especially with our new little baby on the way. Please pray for us as we seek God’s will for this next chapter of our lives.

Thank you again for all of you that joined us in our journey through Mozambique. We cannot express how much all of your support, prayers, and love have meant to us! Thank you and we love you!!