Our Time in the States

This post contains much joy and much sadness, as I write to you about our 2-month experience in the States.  From the moment we arrived back in April, we were showered with love and generosity, as many reached out to us and offered a place for us to stay and a vehicle to drive.  We spent the first 2 weeks helping our friends, the Gager Family, get moved out of their house and prepare them for the transition to come to South Africa with their two children: Eric (17) and Abby (14).  Aside from that, our highest priority was submitting our visa applications, but we ran into some roadblocks with that from day one of arriving to the States.  Clearly, the Lord worked it all out, as we are on our way back to South Africa with visas intact.  However, it is not without much sadness in leaving our oldest daughter, Jade, behind.

Within weeks of being back, we were served court papers.  Jade’s birth mom wanted full custody of Jade and was backing out of her original agreement for Jade to live in Africa for 2 years.  As you can imagine, this was very frustrating and a complete shock for us, although the Lord had already been preparing me for this battle in my own heart before we even came back to the States.  To stay in a place of honor towards those involved, I won’t go into details of the events that took place regarding the court case or spiritual attacks that Jade came under, but in the end I will say that Jade made the personal choice to stay with her birth mom instead of returning with us to South Africa.  It’s hard to watch your children battle with discerning God’s voice vs. setting aside their emotions to make wise decisions, but we have chosen to honor Jade’s heart in this matter and pray that her desire to get to know her birth mom better will be far better than she ever expected.  Even when the enemy tries to have his way and thinks he has won, we know that all things work together for His good to those that know and love Him!  Even though it is heart breaking, Josh was finally given peace to surrender Jade into the Lord’s care.  We said our “see you laters” with much tears and look forward to when Jade visits us again in South Africa next summer.  Through this storm, mine and Josh’s hearts remained pure and we walked in integrity when others did not.  It could have been so easy for us to manipulate, lie, guilt, buy Jade’s love and get our way in this situation, but we chose to take the highroad and not seek vengeance.  In our hearts, we won and are victorious in the Lord’s sight!  We ask for and appreciate your prayers as we all adjust to Jade not being with us.  In all her life (almost 13 years), she’s never been apart from us for more than 2 weeks, and that’s only when Josh and I went to Micronesia.  She’s got a tough transition and journey ahead of her, but we pray it’s one of beauty, peace, joy and love and that her identity continues to be strengthened in the Lord.  Many have reached out to us in this situation and offered to keep in touch with Jade and take her to church and youth group, and for that we are grateful!  We pray that the Lord continues to surround her with people that walk a life with Him and can pour godly wisdom into her life while we continue to do so from a distance.

During our time here, we were able to meet with a couple that was preparing to head to Mozambique for Iris Harvest School of Missions.  We didn’t know them much personally, but it’s like our hearts were already knit together.  We were able to help pave a “realistic” path for them of what to expect based off our experience in Mozambique back in 2012.  They blessed us in return with encouragement, love and support.  We enjoyed much eating, fellowship, prayer and worship with many of our old friends and new friends.  Pastors, church staff and prayer teams from various different churches met with us and released encouragement over our family.  The Lord expanded our pastoral covering, which had been the desire of our hearts for some time now.  God worked wonders in building the foundational structure for the ministry He has called us to in South Africa.  We were given opportunities to speak and share our hearts for what is to come, and many have shown interest in wanting to support us through prayer and finances.  We’ve even spoken to people whom are praying into serving in South Africa with us for short-term and long-term missions.  How exciting!  We were gifted with a great amount of funding during our 2-month visit, which helped us with court costs, visas, living expenses, return flights and other necessities.  The Lord has been so good to us as we continue to step out in faith and obedience no matter the cost!  Some might say it cost us our daughter.  Some might say we’re crazy and foolish.  In the Lord’s eyes, we have chosen Him and KNOW that God will restore everything that has been taken from us in His perfect timing.

My glasses broke almost 2 years ago, and God laid it on someone’s heart to buy me 2 new pairs of glasses while we were in the States.  Josh and I were also gifted with an overnight stay at the Anniversary Inn, which included $50 towards dinner.  When ordering homeschool curriculum, some friends gave us material for free, which was a huge blessing!  We also received a gift card to a restaurant, personal cards and warmer clothing/shoes for our children to take back with us, as we’ll be entering the winter season (50-60’s).  It’s definitely not like winter in Idaho, but the homes have no insulation and heating, so it will be a whole new experience for us.  Our family, along with the Gagers, were blessed with free accommodations at a beautiful home in McCall for 3 nights.  It was a great time for our families to have fun together and get away from all the busyness.  While there some people from a local church body, along with our amazing friends, prayed over us and spent time in worship together.  We were also able to spend time with my family in Eastern Idaho, along with 2 visits with my brother in jail, and help my mom do some restoration work on her home in Wendell to prepare to sell it.

Matt and Josh were able to complete what was needed to setup our non-profit organization: Four18 Ministries.  We have 3 great board members and mighty men of God that are taking this responsibility full on.  You can check out the Web site at www.four18.org.  We are not about “starting our own ministry.”  This is primarily an avenue for those that have shown interest in wanting to support us financially and through prayer.  Donations can be submitted online and go directly into our joint ministry account.  Key prayer points will also be listed on this site.  It is a work-in-progress as the Lord continues to show us what He wants done.

Days before us and the Gagers were scheduled to fly out, we still didn’t have visas.  On Tuesday, June 2 Josh said he was going to make a phone call to the SA consulate.  Matt happened to suggest that, in his experience, no one typically answers until 1:30pm.  It was around 10am and I encouraged Josh to try calling anyway.  Sure enough, someone answered on the first try.  At first the lady was a bit short with Josh and asked why we were going to South Africa.  After he shared with her our hearts, her tone and demeanor took a 180 and she said that she wants to partner with what we’re doing and connect us to others within the government that can help.  This person with whom he was speaking turned out to be the VICE consulate – 2^nd in command at the US consulate for South Africa.  God completely set us up with this divine phone call, of which we are completely in awe of His mighty work!  We will be in touch with the vice consulate in December, as she will be traveling to SA around that time.  For those that may not understand the significance of this phone call, in order for us to purchase land, we must have sponsors within the government.  Well, the Lord has connected us with 2 people now within the government.  He knows our needs and walks before us every step of the way!!

For months the Lord has been speaking to me about entering into a greater season of faith and trust for our family.  That season has begun.  This journey has not been without mountains to climb, but we have climbed the mountains with our hearts wide open for the Lord to use us and minister to us in whatever way He wanted.  We continue to trust in Him and look forward to learning more about the depths of His love in greater measure!!