Tomorrow's the Day!

Tomorrow's the day, folks! Bright and early tomorrow morning we will head for Chicago and finally land in Mali sometime Thursday morning. While in Mali we will secure our Guinea visas (pray we get them in a timely manner!), buy some basic supplies and then head to Guinea.

The last few weeks have flown by. We've spent every square inch of time we have fitting in friends and family; shopping for 12 volt fans that are compatible with our solar powered house, stocking up on our favorite foods to take with us, and eating our last few food cravings while we are here. We've found renters for our house and an amazing sitter for our dog. We feel like everything really came together at the last minute, which was no doubt God's provision for us!

We cannot believe how fast time has flown since we returned to the states in April. And while there are mixed feelings about saying goodbye to those we love and mourning leaving our own culture behind, we know we are following God's vision for us and trusting in Him to get us through the transitioning and rearranging of our lives. 

Continue to keep us in your prayers as we travel over the next week. And as always, we will do our best to keep you updated as internet allows! 

Our west coast tour in pictures:

Day Hike around the Bay.














The reason for our trip: Jenni's wedding! (One of the most Christ-centered ceremonies we've ever been to-taste of Heaven!)

We drove down the coast to LA 

and stopped at Venice Beach.

We spent the night at my 7th grade History 

teacher's house in LA before visiting 

Hollywood on the way out of town.

Next stop, two nights in Vegas











And the Hoover Dam

Hannah made a new friend at the Grand Canyon...
















...and after 6 hours, 1 runway turnaround and a mid-flight turnaround we made it out of Phoenix and back to Mishawaka. Aside from a trip to the world's largest art competition in Grand Rapids...

Silverware Eagle

Used Tire Pandas

We've been busily planning our return to Guinea. We have confirmed our flights out of Chicago and plan to arrive in Bamako on Halloween. We will spend a couple days there getting visas and groceries before heading for Kankan.

Here's what the next few weeks still holds for us:

We are collecting USB memory sticks for the Center in Kankan.
We plan to take a printer system back with us for Image Africa.
We're packing cereal, tupperware, 12v fans, cheese powder, M&Ms, toiletries, and clothes into our bags to haul with us.
Our house still has no one to live in it while we're gone. We could really use someone to keep it homey and help out with our mortgage. Know someone? Our house...  ...and basement. Tell them!
Fenley also still needs a home. We'd prefer to take him with us but he'd make travel much more difficult (and expensive), is likely to lick something poisonous,  and would make us look even more "outside' to our neighbors. Know someone who's considering getting a dog and wants a trial run?

Lucas and Bekah will be moving out next week and plan to head to Senegal the end of November.
We have definitely enjoyed our time at home and though we're excited about our ministry, we're a little reluctant to return to our life in Guinea. But as I read yesterday, "If your dreams don't scare you, they're too small."