Click....click....click....click

You know the sound you hear as you head towards the sky on the biggest roller coaster you've ever been on -- as you hear that sound it usually evokes some emotions :-). We leave two weeks from tomorrow. Two more weeks! It's real and it's coming so fast! Here are some of my (Krista) thoughts and feelings at the "two weeks to go" mark:

I feel like I am on that huge roller coaster - each day I experience a plethora of emotions....excitement, anxiety, confusion, frustration, sadness,etc. I feel like I'm on that very slow huge hill of the roller coaster, clicking up and up and up before the real ride begins....the anticipation is killing me!

Of course there is a part of me that is sad to leave family and friends and looking forward to soaking up any time I can get with them in the next two weeks, but a large part of me just wants to be there!! I want to be on the ground in Zimbabwe, getting ready to head out to all the villages we are going to visit in the first few weeks, instead of planning and thinking about what to pack in order to do this. I want to get on the flights that we have been planning for months. I want to use the visas that we have been working on getting for the past few weeks. I want to just jump up and leave our house with a magical finger snap that packs everything up and cleans the whole place. I want to be on the ground seeing what kind of counseling training I can bring to the orphan caregivers instead of putting together training materials that might not be effective. I want to face the challenges we are going to experience head on instead of sitting here getting anxious about the potential problems we might run into.

With all this, however, I know God's timing is perfect and He is preparing us every day even up until that last minute. So despite my feelings, I know His plan is better than mine. Even in the past few days we have done some things we wouldn't have been able to do: we have been able to apply for a secondary passport in order to get our Russian visa processed while we are in Zimbabwe (something we found out we would need to do when our passports and visa applications were denied at the Russian Embassy on Friday because we attempted to get them to early for traveling there in March). We have been able to communicate with our partner in Zimbabwe, Tatenda, and obtain some things for his ministry such as educational books they are in need of for teaching their 5th grade orphans. I get to see my sister this week, who gets back into town from working at a Young Life camp all summer.

So, really as a reminder to myself, I write this. To remind myself that God's plan for this year is perfect and that I need to trust and go along for the ride. He is molding and transforming us into who He wants us to be. It's going to be an awesome roller coaster, much like the Superman at Six Flags Darian Lake that I rode as a high schooler :-), and as we slowly start up that monster hill, the anticipation builds with every click, and it must be embraced, not run from. Join me in praying for strength to embrace the challenges in all of our lives instead of running away from them. Thanks for coming along side of us in this!

Zimbabwe Visa is in!

We have our Zim Visa! One down and two to go... Kenya and Russia! Thanks for your prayers!

...with sleeping bags.

That was a last minute comment from our partner on the ground in Zimbabwe! I quote: "please get yourself a note book and pen, and bible WITH SLEEPING BAGS. When you get to harare I need to take you around before rain season to visit a number of our churches especially those that are far." Needless to say, we have added sleeping bags and pads to our packing list, and we're calling our doc to up our prescription of Malaria medicine! Oh boy. We'll take pics. :-)

One month and counting....

Here we go....One more month and then we leave the country! Oh man, are we experiencing every emotion in the book on a daily, sometimes hourly for Krista :-), basis. On October 13th at 8:15 pm we will be boarding a flight from Denver to London which, after a couple more stops, will land us in Harare, Zimbabwe on October 15th at 12:00pm!

A few new developments for us:

Praise!! We have renters!! We have found a super awesome couple to rent our home for the year while we are gone. This was a huge concern for us and we really didn't want to start advertising on Craig's List. So thanks for your prayers! Through a good friend of ours, we found an amazing couple that is going to take such good care of our place (and they don't have pets which is a bonus :-)). And, because they are so great, we are able to store all of our furniture in the basement which saves us a ton of money and time, since we won't have to pay for storage or move everything out. We are so thankful that this burden is taken care of!! God is so good and has provided for us so well in this!

We have purchased our first flights! So there's no turning back now (at least to our first destination :-)). We have our flights to Harare, Zimbabwe and also from Harare to Nairobi, Kenya. We'll be in Zimbabwe from October 15th to December 29th, and then we're planning on taking a little rest in between those two places, probably in Cape Town, South Africa. And then we'll fly to Nairobi to meet up with an EPI short term team. Actually purchasing flights does make things that much more real, which is both exciting and scary at the same time.

We are continuing to work on our visa applications and general travel itinerary for the rest of the year. We are still unsure if Nepal is going to be a safe option for us, but hopefully we'll know that pretty soon. With that in mind, we have changed a few weeks of what was going to be Nepal to Russia (another really super safe place, we know :-)). We are planning on spending 3 weeks in Russia, with our friends who are missionaries in Nalchik. This won't be until after our time in Nepal (late March to mid April). We are excited to see what God is doing in Nalchik and help in any way we can.

Prayer Requests:

Please pray for our last month here. We still have lots and lots to do! Packing for a whole year (which is a very daunting task, especially for Krista who does like to be comfortable sometimes :)), packing up our house and getting it ready for renters, getting our training materials prepared, and seeing friends and family before we leave. Yesterday we talked through our "To Do" list and with only 4 weekends left, both of us got a little sick to our stomach :-).

On Wednesday we both are flying to Nashville for the American Association of Christian Counselors World Conference. Please pray that this time will give us some beneficial training that we can use overseas. Krista will be going to a lot of international counseling workshops, and Justin will be going to some of those and some spiritual discipleship and business training workshops. We are looking forward to the conference (some of the big speakers are John Piper, John Ortberg, Richard Foster, etc!), but pray that we can really soak it all in and not worry too much about all the other stuff that needs to get done back at the house.

I think that is it for now. Thanks again for joining with us on this adventure. I (Krista) will leave you with a couple of pictures that I look at when I am in one of those "why am I leaving everything comfortable and going away for a whole year again?" moods. I look at these and remember that I get the chance to work with kids who remain joyful amidst traumatic experiences and dier circumstances - kids that God loves so much and wants nothing more than for them to know who He is and how much He loves them. And since I know that my big, compassionate God will take care of us too, I am simply overjoyed at the chance to be a part of it all and share His love with someone else. Then my fear fades away (well it at least gets a little smaller) because with God as my foundation, no matter what the circumstances, I know it will work out for good!