I have been on internet silence since we moved into the new Ninth Hour missions base last week. Oh the joys of moving. I have only been able to get online a couple of times from Rocky and Margaret Gathright’s house and from our next door neighbor’s house, but I haven’t been able to write a blog post until now. We are eating dinner tonight at David Vandeput’s house (Jon’s brother), so I’m posting from there. The internet is supposed to be hooked up in a couple of days at our house, and we are SO ready. It’s amazing how dependent we’ve become on the world wide web. I don’t even know what’s going on in the world.
Just wanted everyone to know we are still alive and well. Life is good. We are getting settled in the house, and eagerly awaiting the arrival of my precious husband from Israel. He has been tying up loose ends in Jerusalem for three weeks and has worked so hard. He had to move out of our apartment without me and Preston, and I’ve really felt awful that we haven’t been there to help him. The hard part of the move is behind us, and we can’t wait for him to get here!
We got word yesterday that everything is worked out on the lease of our new ministry base house in Waterloo, and we will get the keys Monday afternoon! This is such an answer to prayer! We have had our eyes on this house since last September, and God kept it vacant just for us. He knew we wouldn’t be able to move in until now, so he kept it empty and didn’t let anyone else rent it. His timing is SO perfect! I will post pictures after we get all our stuff moved in, but here are some “before” pictures.
Living/Dining Area
Kitchen with TWO dishwashers!
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Since we arrived in Israel almost a year ago, our volunteer visa process with the Ministry of Interior has been a virtual rollercoaster. I won’t go into the sordid details now, but just believe me. It has been crazy. When we re-entered the country after spending the month of November in the States, they said we could not stay any longer. They gave us two weeks and we stretched it out until an appeal appointment on Feb. 3. At the appointment we were told we must leave the country by Feb. 17th.
We were expecting to be told we had to leave, but we weren’t expecting two weeks! Gary has a one-year visa that is good until July 2010, so he can stay. It’s just Preston and I who are having to leave. They don’t allow family members to come under the umbrella of the head of household visa any longer. So…Preston and I are leaving in two weeks and Gary will be leaving on Mar. 12th. Our one year lease is up on our apartment on Mar. 31st. Good timing, huh?! God’s leadership in our lives is so perfect!
After many confirming words, we have now set our sights on Brussels, Belgium! Even before we left the States last April, our hearts have been drawn to Belgium. There is no functioning house of prayer in the whole city, and Brussels is the capital of the European Union. Brussels is a very dark city spiritually. For that matter, Time Magazine states, “Europe is the world’s spiritually darkest place.“ USA Today says, “ Islam is Europe’s fastest growing religion.” Operation World: “80% of the French population has never seen, read or held a Bible.” Christianity Today: “Anti-Semitism in Europe is now worse than at any time since 1945.”
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