Easter in the USA

I had planned to spend this holiday in South Africa but due to an unexpected medical problem with my artificial hip, I made an emergency flight back to Iowa to see my orthopedic surgeon. I just received wonderful news from him that my x-rays appear stable and show no new damage to my hip or pelvis. He did remind me that my 24 year-old joint replacement will not last many more years, but for now I can head back to Africa and get back to work. I will be heading back on Tuesday after just 5 days here in the US, quite a whirlwind trip, but exactly the news that I was praying for. I will just have to use crutches for a few weeks and then should be back to normal. Enough about my personal medical problems; I really do not like sharing them with all of you, but it is part of life, and I especially wish to thank everyone who has been praying for me. I am really blessed by and believe in the power of prayer.

A big blessing in being in the USA over Easter will be in getting to reconnect with my parents who are in their mid-eighties. Every time I head overseas these days I pray that the Lord will protect them until I return. I have been so blessed to have such great parents and to be able to enjoy them for so many years. My three grandchildren and two of my three children will all be gathering in Mt. Ayr, IA on Sunday. My youngest daughter, Kelsey, and my wife Beth are back in Africa and I will be with them later in the week. God is so good.

I was able to get an amazing amount of work done in my office in the short two days that I had there. I was able to review our budget and strategic plan with our office manager, Becki, and made good progress in getting all of that ready for our board meeting coming up in May.

I also had a good meeting with the mission’s director at Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, Brad Krehlik, and finalized plans for their team who is coming to South Africa later this week. They have 11 people signed up, and one gentleman is scrambling with his schedule to see if he can also join the team. These last minute changes are some of God’s best blessings, and I am really hoping that he will also be joining our team. We planned a special foot washing worship service that we will do on the mountain top at Shikwaru on the final Sunday of this team. We had a communion service last week with the team from Des Moines First Assembly and everyone really seemed to enjoy that. I just reviewed the team feedback reports from that team and they all basically reported a mountain top life experience for their recent mission trip. It is such a blessing to me to be able to work with so many people so excited about doing mission work.

We have had 4 teams so far in 2009, and each team seemed to have a richer experience. God has really blessed us with connecting us with such beautiful children with needs that we are able to meet and to make a significant difference in their lives. The joy of being able to experience a safari game lodge is always a pleasant surprise to the team members also.

I just heard from Beth and Kelsey that they had a good holiday experience at Victoria Falls. I am happy that they had a great time but also relieved to hear that they are safely back at Shikwaru again. I was feeling a bit guilty at not being with them to help protect them and also to enjoy this experience with them.

I am hoping to soon be able to add some photos and videos to this blog, or at least find a way to send you to a site where you can view them. So as soon as this tech-impaired doctor figures that out, you will be able to have a more colorful blog to look at. Thank you for visiting and please come back often.