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It seems like several months that we were rushing through the airport on the 16th trying not to be late to our flight. It was delayed about an hour, so we had time to catch our breath and prepare ourselves for the next 32 hours. Picture 2 adults, 3 sons, and 2 daughters carrying, pulling, and pushing 14 ‘carry-ons’ and 2 strollers. Andy showed that he was becoming a young man, by pushing a stroller, carrying a backpack and pulling 2 carry-ons latched together. I am not sure how we did it all. But, incredibly, we made it, our luggage made it and we are now mostly unpacked, settling in and the boys have started school.


The boys started school the Tuesday after we arrived back in Mmabatho. Their classmates and friends were happy to see them again after an almost 7 month absence.


We arrived back at the house Saturday afternoon and just kind of walked through with a sense of not knowing what to do. The house wasn’t in the condition that we left it and neither was the yard, so that was kind of disappointing. The phone wasn’t working, so we couldn’t call anyone. We cleaned a little, unloaded everything and the house was a disaster for about 5 days with suitcases everywhere. We went to church the next morning and it was good just to worship.
One minor miracle is that we now have ADSL – I was thinking it would take 3-4 weeks to get it, but here we are. Another event that brought tension to our lives was the power shortages that South Africa is experiencing right now – rolling blackouts. The first week that we were back, the power would be out 2-3 times a day for 2-3 hours – no schedule, no warning no nothing. It brings nothing but frustration because you can’t plan anything – you don’t know when the power will be on or off. Now, we don’t have it as bad as others, but it just wasn’t good to experience right after come back – to a foreign country, you’re jet-lagged, your house is dirty, and there are no missionaries 2 doors down that we had the luxury of in the previous term. Fortunately, the electricity has been on for the last 5 days.


As I contemplated this electricity situation – they said it will 5 years to fix – the thought came to me to use these power outages as a reminder to pray. I thought that when the power was out that it would cause me just to have a concerted time of prayer – for the people, their spiritual darkness and for me to be able to see what God is doing and what He wants me to do.
God is good and he is blessing us. The temperatures have 10-15 degrees cooler than it was last year. It has not touched 90 degrees since we have been here. I believe we’ve had more rain in the last week than we did in the last term. Everyone is healthy and we getting back into a routine.


Thanks for your prayers over these last 2 weeks – we definitely have felt them. God is good. Please continue to pray as we just seek God’s direction in our ministries.

...and we are here

It is unbelieveable how long 32 hours can be - but we found out!!

All of us made it - safe and sound - all luggage - 10 pieces at 50lbs, 4 pieces at 70lbs, 14 carry-ons, 2 strollers and a partridge in a pair tree.

We spent night in Jo-burg and are heading to Mmabatho today - Saturday.

Thanks for your prayers and we'll talk later.

And away we go.....

Well, we are about 45 minutes from leaving to drive to DFW. We board the flight at 4:15 pm - fly for 10 hours - play around in the airport in Germany for 12 hours and then get on another flight for 10 hours to Johannesburg. We arrive in J-burg at 10:00 am Friday morning (2:00 am CST). So, about 32 hours of fun.

Please pray.

See you on the other side!!!!!

Hello 2008

Well, this post was started on the 1st and now I am just now getting a chance to finish it. I am finding out that with 5 children, things are getting a little harder to complete. I guess it doesn’t help with other extended family members in visiting.

I trust that you had a great Christmas time and a happy New Year. Ours was definitely busy. All of Jody’s family was in – that means a total of 2 parents, 4 children, 4 sons and daughters-in-laws, and 13 grandchildren. It was a houseful to say the least. We were up at 4:45 to open presents. There were some who weren’t too happy that it was so early. I won’t say who!

We were scheduled to return to South Africa tomorrow – the 4th. Unfortunately, tickets were not available until 16th – so we are delayed until then. That is a point of prayer for us because we have a 12 hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany. Some people are saying that we should go and sightsee – yeah, that sounds fun with 5 children – 2 strollers and 14 carryon’s – I guess we could rent 3 taxi’s!! I just checked the forecast and it looks to be in the high 30’s – boy, that sounds like a lot of fun. So, just pray.

We leave DFW on January 16th at 4:15 pm and we arrive in Jo-burg on the 18th at 10:00 am. So you are talking about 34 hours of traveling. Then we’ll drive to Mmabatho on Saturday and then school for Josiah and Caleb starts that next Tuesday.

Jody’s dad is doing really well. He has been out of the hospital for about a month and is working on regaining his strength and weight. (and hair) The doctors are encouraged by his progress and feel that his stem-cell transplant was a success.

Since the end of July, I have been in the naturalization process to become an American citizen. My forms were finally entered into the computer on the 10th of December. The official receipt said that I would get a call for an appointment in the next 240 day – so unless something happens in the next 10 days or so, I will be returning here to complete this process. You can pray that I will get an appointment before we leave and I can be naturalized before we leave.

A special thanks to all our new friends, prayer partners, and the churches that we had an opportunity to speak in these last 6 months. What a joy it was to meet you and spend time with many of you. We certainly appreciate your prayers. You make our job possible by your support. We would not want to return to the field without your prayer support. Thanks, also for your support of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering - I have heard many encouraging reports of goals being met.

Christmas Greetings

Have a great Christmas season - laugh a lot!!!

Follow the links for a personal greeting to you.

This holiday greeting is from Dennis, Jody and the Girls: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1294795800

This holiday greeting is from the boys: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1295022485

October's and November's Events

October came in a hurry and left just as fast. We have been busy with school, athletics, church and Missions Events.

I went a Missions Celebration in Hot Springs, Arkansas, by myself because Jody was unable to go with me. We had originally planned at attend together with the girls, but because of Jody's father's cancer treatments, they were unable to keep the boys as planned.

I had a good time in Hot Springs - the church was wonderful and the people I stayed with were great hosts. A friend from Botswana was there also - Paul Cline. We had a good time together as we had not seen each other in the last 16 or so months. Paul and Sally retired from Botswana after 28 years on the field, but now they are doing some consulting work with the IMB and the True Love Waits sexual abstinence program as it relates to Southern Africa. The HIV/Aids infection rate in South Africa stands at 25% and Botswana is at 40%.

We left for Muskogee, Oklahoma, after school on Thursday, October 25th. We wanted to spend a long weekend with Jody's grandma. We also had an opportunity to talk to the WMU at a Friday luncheon and then we were able to share in Sunday School and in the morning service. It was nice to be a grandma's for the first time in 4 years. I think that everytime that I have visited grandma's house, there was something different about her house - either on the inside or outside - so you can imagine all the changes that have taken place over the last 4 years. Everything looked nice. That Saturday evening was the family "Fall-Fest" (halloween) Party. Grandma went as a church mouse with Groucho glasses, nose, and moustache.

The first Sunday in November, I spoke in the morning service at FBC, Ore City. They are a small church about 25 minutes from Longview. We are scheduled to go back on the first Sunday night in December for their evening service. We'll show our pictures, share, and answer questions. For a church that run 45 in Sunday School, they exceeded the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal of $5000. That is fantastic for a church that size.

This last weekend, Nov 8-12, we drove to Chicago for a On-Mission Celebration. We left at 2:00 am Thursday morning where we spent the afternoon and night in Marion, Illinois -with my brother (AutoTuner1) He has a son that is 3 days older than Caleb named Jacob. The cousins had a good time playing together. It was good to spend some time with my brother and his wife. We hadn't seen them since we watched a Mudbug's hockey game in Bossier City in 2004.

While in Chicago, Jody and I had the privelage to speak in 4 different churches; Saturday night, Sunday morning and night. Jody's sister lives in Rockford and we stayed with them. It was a full house with her 6 and our 4 - Andy didn't make the trip - chosing to stay in school - he didn't want to miss a party they were having!! We left Monday evening at 7:00 pm and drove straight through, arriving home and 11:00 am Tuesday morning. It was a long drive!!

What happened in September.

It is hard to believe that September is gone and here we are in October, already. We are half way through out STAS - Stateside Assignment. We are planning to return to South Africa in the first week of January. Let's start with the first of September and tell you what we have done.

STONEWALL, OKLAHOMA

We had a fantastic time as we returned to Stonewall for the first time as a family. The boys and I went to Stonewall three days after we were back in the States to take Andy to Falls Creek and enjoy a Shrimp Boil at the Newports. It was over the Labor Day weekend so we enjoyed a very long weekend. We spent late Saturday morning and early afternoon at Billy and Laura Steele's. They have a swimming pool and 4-wheelers and a golf cart. The boys had a blast swimming and riding the 4w'ers and g-cart. When we lived in Stonewall, Jody babysat Addy, Laura's 10-week old baby during school hours. She called Andy, Josiah, and Caleb her "bubba's"




I had the privilege to preach the morning service at First Baptist - Stonewall. They built a new sanctuary after we left and it was just beautiful. Jody and I were able share during the evening service of our work in South Africa. It was a wonderful time to see everyone and everyone seemed to be equally excited to see us - well, most people?!?!



We stayed with Lee and Shirla Sweat - and they treated us like royalty. Before we left for South Africa, while we were there, and now getting ready for school, they supplied the boys with shoes. What a blessing! (Those are Nike's that wouldn't come from my wallet!)



The boys are actively involved with their school activities. Andy is playing on the school soccer team at Longview Christian School. He scored his first goal last Thursday. Jody and I missed it while we were at a Mission's Conference. Josiah is playing soccer on a city-league team. They are are Screamin' Eagles. They are undefeated. His coach really likes that he picked up this temporary player. In the league, they can be on the same team for 2 years or 4 'seasons'. We tried to get Caleb on a team, but they were all full. He came home from school with a Karate flyer. He said that he wanted to do Karate - so we signed him up. He should be a green belt after this first semester. Bethany couldn't be left out, so she is doing gymnastics. She looks so cute in her pink leotard. Melody is involved with crawling and climbing - she's getting quite the little personality.

Unfortunately I will not be able to get up to the Northwest to see my mom and brother and his wife. I tried to 'piggy-back' some speaking opportunities in conjunction to getting up in that area, but nothing worked out. God worked some things out that enabled her and her husband to come down and see us. Also, my brother from Florida came up to her and I got to see him and his wife and my niece, Christina. It had been 8 years since I had seen my mom and probably that with my brother and his wife and more for Christina.





Bethany had a birthday this month and she turned 3 years old - already. She had a full day. She opened her presents in the morning before the boys went to school. Then she wanted to go to lunch at McAlister's Deli with her Nannie and Papa. After going to one of Andy's soccer game's we all went out eat at McDonald's. She has been asking to go there every time we see one since we arrived in the US. You know we see one on every corner. Jody said she didn't want to eat at McD's or KFC because we can eat their in South Africa. We had to have some cake, so we went to a BR31 (Baskin-Robbins) and ate an Oreo Ice Cream cake.

The last weekend of the September, we were at First Baptist Church, Fairfield, Texas, at a Global Impact Celebration. What an incredible time it was for us to share our stories and for them to love on us. The showered us with incredible hospitality and wonderful gifts of love. We stayed at the Wilson house - a family with 6 boys. We felt right at home. Two of the boys were already out of the house. They had a ping pong table, pool table, XBox, and a Gamecube. We didn't need to worry about the boys and their boredom level. Shelly loved having 2 baby girls in her house and she spoiled them royally. They loved on her like they knew her for years. We had a great time!

PRAYER REQUESTS

n Jody's dad is dealing with cancer again - multiple myloma - God healed him 4 years ago of this same uncurable cancer.

n Dennis' naturalization and passport situation. We need it by Dec 15th or sooner.

n Travel grace and mercy. We are doing a lot of traveling in October and November.

n The boys - their schooling and walk with Christ. We explained a little bit about the permanency of Hell just tonight at Whataburger. Andy was asking some questions and making some comments and that's what got us talking. Hell is not a normal dinner conversation item.

n The girls - whatever and 3-year old and almost 1-year old needs.

n Our work in Mmabatho and love for the Tswana People.

Sunny Southern California

Well, I was in Southern California over the weekend of August 18th. I arrived on the 17th and left on the 21st. I was a guest of Immanuel Baptist Church in Ridgecrest, CA. The church and the people were just wonderful - it was just not how I pictured southern California. When I was younger, we traveled several summers down to Orange County, CA., to visit cousins and family. That was my impression of where I thought I was going. I knew things would be different, when after driving 3 hours from the LAX, we passed the Ridgecrest city sign - it read "Welcome to Ridgecrest - the gateway to Death Valley!" I thought there would not be a breeze of salt water in the air tonight!!!

However, the environment did not determine the happiness of the visit. I had a great time, met a lot of wonderful people and preached and shared at a great church reaching out to its community. They definitely filled my schedule starting Saturday at noon.

We met at the Harris' house for lunch and I shared with a small group there about our work in South Africa. Later that evening, IBC has a Saturday night contemporary service, in which I shared and preached. We then went out to eat at the Texas Steak House. It was an early Sunday morning at 8:00 am that I preached again. I was chauffeured to their educational building for the Sunday school hour where I shared again about what God is doing in our work. I was then taken back to the Sanctuary and preached again. We went for lunch at a Mexican food restaurant. Later that evening was the a mission Safari where I talked, shared, and showed 'slides' about our time in S. Africa. Just before that, I talked to some children for about 15 minutes. I allowed them to ask question - boy did I get some doosies!!! So, in about 24 hours time, I preached, shared, talked 6 times in 5 different locations. I was great!!

The next day, Rich and Kay Fowler, took me into LA and dropped me off at some of Jody's cousins house. They are LA Angels fans and they took me to the Angel-Yankees game. Before we went to the game, Jessica and Jenna took me to downtown Disney. We walked around and was able to go into the ESPN-Zone. They have restaurant, studio, and shop there. I got Bethany and Melody a shirt that says - "You can't spell princess without ESPN" on the front. It was good to see them and to be able to go to the game. They do not like the Yankees at all. I told them that I had Alex Rodriguez on my fantasy Baseball league - Julie did not like that at all. I didn't have the courage to tell them that I also had Cano and Matsui also - so I was silently cheering as they played. (they went 5 for 14, 3 runs, 5 hits and 1 HR) I also have Vlad Guerrero, who went 1 for 5 and 1 RBI. We were also spotted on the JumboTron TV at Angel Stadium. The Angels won the game in 10 innings with walk-off hit to center field.

The only disappointment was that I was the only one that was able to go. Everyone else stayed in Longview. It would have been a great experience for everyone to be able to go.

A Wonderful Time at Onion Creek

We were back preaching at Onion Creek Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. I preached there almost 4 years ago when we were appointed as career missionaries. When we started getting the news out that we were coming back this year, Onion Creek's request was one of the first - I guess they enjoyed Jody and the boys so much.

They gave us a two nights stay at a very nice hotel just down the street from the church. We had a game night/social night for us on Saturday night. I was good just to relax and enjoys some fun with the church. I learned how to play 42 - a domino game. We had a great time there and their hospitality was fantastic. They provided drinks and snacks in our hotel room and took care of us in every way.


I was good to be back and share with the people the things God did while many of these people were faithful to pray for us. It is really a humbling experience to meet so many people praying for us each day.

A LIttle Vacation Time

The weekend of August 12 we left a couple of days early and spent some time with Jody's parents in Ft. Worth. We were going to a Wild West Show in the Ft. Worth Stockyards, but calling on the way, we found out that there was no show. We had to change our plans. We found a Star Wars exhibit and went through it. The boys loved it.

After the exhibit, we drove to Hillsboro, TX, and spent the night on our way to Austin and Schlitterbahn. We checked into the hotel and went swimming. The boys thought it was the greatest - they love to swim. We got up early Friday morning to leave for Schlitterbahn. The boys had a blast at the park. Jody and I quickly learned that this was a place for a 9-month old and a almost 3-year old. Bethany did ok, but she needed constant supervision, as did Melody. Andy and Josiah were able to do some things by themselves. After the water park, we drove to our hotel in Austin where we would spend the next two night, just down the streeet from Onion Creek Baptist Church - where I would preach Sunday morning.