Home Sweet Home

1 House

A Poem from Marie

We say “Home Sweet Home” with gusto,
but recently I asked myself “Is that so?”
Signing our contract was a miracle form God,
being foreigners, living off the Rand, was such a slog.
But the Mighty, Faithful One came through,
He is always to be trusted through and through.

Unpacking was so bitter sweet,
Finding our things after 10 months was a treat.
But unpacking was also a reminder that we are staying,
We are not returning from vacation or playing.
Connected the cable, electricity and water,
we are now Floridians with our very own “gator”.

Every new furniture piece has a story,
a gift from God for His glory.
Our children are on cloud nine,
They now have rooms they can call “mine.”
We happily say “thank you for our Home Sweet Home,”
Knowing you prayed and gave and we were not alone.

Please go and see some of our latest Photos

House signed

House SigningAt 9:15 pm we walked out of the Title Company Office, exhausted, overjoyed and homeowners! It has been a roller-coaster day. At 2 pm our mortgage was approved and we could get all the contracts signed this evening.

God worked so clearly that the estate agent asked about all the people praying. Thank you for being present through your prayers!

Tomorrow is another big day for us with our presentation at our Headquarters. We covet your prayers, especially since we are so tired. Pray that our testimony will bring others closer to Jesus.

Your Grateful Missionaries

House Problems – Continue to pray

We could not finalize the sale of our house Friday but hope to do it Monday afternoon (30 Sept.) at 4 pm. One reason is that we are awaiting a document from our bank in South Africa.

Please continue to pray for the underwriter as they conclude our mortgage application and for all the logistics surrounding the process. The time delay is putting strain on our contractual agreement.

We have experienced supernatural patience and peace throughout, and can only attribute it to your prayers for us. Thank you!

Rat Attack?

Micky

“From the interactions this week I have made more progress on my project than I’ve made in months!”

Someone commented after our time together in Budapest as technology leaders of Campus Crusade. It is so true that collaboration and inspiration from others spurs everyone on to greater heights for the Lord’s glory. Thank you for praying for meeting in Hungary.

Please pray for:

  1. Continued progress in the many projects our team is working on for God’s glory.
  2. Our Mortgage approval so that we can receive the keys on Friday (27 Sept.)
  3. Wisdom and stamina for Stefan in a number of big meetings the next 10 days.
  4. A presentation we, the Dells, are doing on Tuesday (1 Oct.) to all the Headquarters staff members about our journey of faith. We feel privileged to tell the story of God’s grace in our lives.

On a lighter note, we received Disney World tickets as a gift and it was everything and more than what we expected!

Mickey Mouse greetings!

Slow but Steady

13 09 01 Fuel

Slow, but steady best describes our settling-in process thus far. And the word “queues” paints a picture of how I spent most of my time this past month. Every task to make us Floridians has required standing in a queue. The good news is that we now have driver’s licenses, insurance, license plates and registered vehicles. We have uploaded some new photos here.

Give thanks for:

  1. God’s calling that is confirmed every day.
  2. Our ongoing progress with our paperwork.

A big disappointment was that we could not move into our new home due to problems with the mortgage application. A new date for our move is now 26 September. Our colleagues, Keith and Kay, have been amazingly patient by allowing us to continue to stay with them.

Pray for:

  1. The mortgage application to be successful.
  2. The children as they learn the new system at school. It had a few surprises.
  3. Stefan and his team will be in Budapest from 6-13 September for their twice-a-year Technology Leader’s meeting. This time of collaboration is strategic to help our missionaries spread the gospel.

Standing in the queues gave me extra time to pray for you and I thanked God for your part in enabling us to be here.

Your queuing missionary,

Marié

Modern Missions…

Hudson Taylor sailed to China.
William Carey sailed to India.
The Dells flew to Orlando.

As we reflected on how different our lives are to the “Fathers of Modern Missions” we have much to celebrate this first month as missionaries serving away from home:

  1. We have Skype – not a single week has gone by without connecting with our families and we can see & hear them. Contrast that with sending a letter by ship.
  2. We have email/whatsapp/sms – instant communications with our partners
  3. No language barriers (although it would help if we could speak Spanish)
  4. GPS & Google Maps!
  5. Google – to search for information about our drivers test, insurance quotes and the stationary needs for our children at school. Everything available on the internet.

What we have in common with Hudson and William:

  1.  A deep commitment to see people come to know Jesus – seeing how technology is helping people hear about Jesus, thrills us
  2. Missing our friends & family at home
  3. Faithful partners that pray for us and remember our financial needs
  4. Stress as we learn to adjust to our new country and culture

Driving Signals

Driving on the other side of the road requires training.

Pray with us for:

  1. Our drivers licence test on Monday, 19 August
  2. Kenneth & Monica start school on Monday, 19 August
  3. Finalisation of our home purchase
  4. Wisdom for Stefan as he takes on his new role. He is flying to San Diego today (15 Aug) for meetings regarding mobile phone training for pastors.

Do you have a home yet?

The House

Many of you have been asking, “What is happening with your house?” so here is a quick update.

  1. Our Social Security numbers were available on Wednesday morning – only 3 days after we applied. Most American’s say it is an incredible miracle! We KNOW you prayed for it.
  2. Having Social Security Numbers, and being foreigners confused the Mortgage companies and they didn’t quite know how to proceed with our mortgage application. Two finally got it figured out, so pray that we will get a good interest rate etc.
  3. Our offer for purchase was accepted on Friday.
  4. Pending the final mortgage approval we should be able to move into our home by the end of August. Pray for every person involved in the approval process – especially for Roxanne & Michael.
  5. You can see pictures of the house here and some Maps

It is easy to feel overwhelmed with all these details (and many more, like studying for our drivers licences :-)) but in it all we are experiencing the Lord’s presence and peace. We know your prayers are vital to our survival. Thank you!

Home? Sweet Home?

 

Kenneth Monica House HuntingHouse-hunting – how they wished we could buy in this price class….

We think we may have found the right house today as nearly all the boxes are checked with what we need. We are signing the offer to purchase at 13:00 (19:00 South Africa time) on Wednesday. Please pray for the following to complete the transaction:

  • Wisdom to know that it’s the right house
  • Social Security No. (Application completed, now waiting for the number)
  • Mortgage Approval (Agent is confident but needs prayer and extra paper work because we are foreigners)
  • Cash for all the upfront cost’s

Thank you for standing with us!

We arrived …

Greetings from Orlando!

We received a warm welcome – both from our co-workers and the hot & humid climate. We are nearly over our jet-lag and have started on our list of “Settling-in to-do’s”.

Today the children had a medical examination, a requirement for school admission. They were given a clean bill of health. The huge amount of paperwork we had to complete for the doctor’s visit explains why it was so expensive – just imagine the cost of all that printing!

Prayer Requests:

  1. Praise the Lord for our safe arrival & for His favour on us. We had some extra bags and the airline did not charge for them.
  2. Pray for our house hunting! We need an address to register for school due to zoning restrictions here. Registration is before 7 August so we would love to have everything in place by then.
  3. We need to be re-tested for our drivers licences within 30 days. Please pray for favour and calmness to get it done in the midst of all the other changes.
  4. Pray for stamina, wisdom and good prices as we re-build our lives here. We have to make 100’s of decisions every day and it is quite overwhelming 🙂

We are so grateful that we are not walking this road without your prayers and support! Thank you!