IT’S OFFICIAL!

Last month we shared many prayer requests about our move from Malawi to South Africa. We’re excited to tell you how God has answered many of those prayers!

Last time, we told you we didn’t know which country we would be in after May 27. At the time, we had tickets to spend 3 weeks in South Africa. In God’s providence, we spent an extra week in Malawi, and two unexpected weeks in California. We're thankful for some precious conversations we were able to have with people we wouldn't have seen if we'd followed our original plan. 

Thank you for praying that we would get Abigail's passport quickly. We got it in time to fly out, but there's more: Just a few days after we picked up Abi's passport from the US Embassy in Lilongwe, a huge riot broke out at the political party headquarters on the same block. Later, the embassy moved to limited services, then closed completely. Currently, all consular services are being diverted to Zambia. We're so thankful that we were able to pick up Abi's passport when we did!

Many of you have told us you have been praying for South African visas for Rachel and the kids. That has been a huge encouragement to us! Soon after our last update, Matt was able to speak directly to the visa supervisor in Malawi, and learn that he was unlikely to approve everyone else's visas. So we flew to Los Angeles three weeks ago and went to the SA Embassy first thing the next morning. We were grateful that we were able to submit our applications in less than 2 hours, which we'd not been able to do in Malawi in 2 months.

We're currently participating in a missions conference at Grace Community Church. On Tuesday afternoon, we were sharing prayer requests with about 25 of our co-laborers serving the Lord across Africa. I asked for prayer for our visa situation, to which everyone in the room could relate. But a few minutes later, I raised my hand and asked if I could change my prayer request to a praise: I'd just received an email that our visas had been approved! It was especially sweet to share our joy with a room full of people who’ve walked that road before. We're officially going! Lord willing, we will be flying to South Africa on July 7th. 

We're so thankful for all these answered prayers, and for your participation with us. Here are a few ways to continue to pray:

• Praise God for reminding us of His faithfulness so much in the past weeks, and pray that we don't forget it even when (if?) things get more stable. 
• Please pray for us as we look for a house, car, bank, phone, etc. 
• Pray for wisdom as we jump into new ministry opportunities in Johannesburg. 
• Pray for our new teammate Robin Brown, who is currently on sick leave from his service at Antioch Bible Church due to kidney disease. 

We're so grateful to be able to share these prayers and praises with you.