Almost time

As we approach two weeks until we leave Clinton I am amazed at how much still needs to get done.  We are still finishing up the touch up's on our home that we are trying to sell.  If we could get that done it would be a huge load off. We need to sell our home!  We've had people looking but no offer yet.  We also still have to load the container.  We thought it would go in early April.  One container did go but the container with most of the missionary stuff on it was delayed until the end of May.  So that means it won't arrive in Lilongwe until the end of August probably.  We are currently trying to find a vehicle that we can buy over there.  It's very hard to try to find/check out/purchase large ticket items while we aren't even on the same continent.  Thankfully we have some friends who've said they would help us through this process so that when we arrive we may have something to get us around!  It seems little, but really it all adds up.  Insurance has been the biggest pain recently.  Jeremy has spent so much time researching and talking with insurance agents trying to find what will fit our family best overseas.  We think we've found the one we want to go with though so that's a huge load off.  Goodbyes, that's the most difficult "to-do" left.  I'd really prefer to sneak out in the middle of the night with no one knowing.  We've told most of our close friends that we just don't do goodbye's...so hopefully I can make it through the next two weeks without breaking down in tears every time I see someone.  But what I'm reminded of is that these trials and concerns that we still have are for a purpose. They are to grow us, to mold us into who the Lord wants us to be.  This has been one of the most difficult years of my life and yet I've grown so much closer to my Savior!!! It's a very lonely road we've been asked to travel and we have looked around many times and realized that God is all we have.  And He is all we need.  And our little family has grown so much closer to each other!!!!  As we begin our goodbyes we do so with a heavy heart yet we are so very excited at the same time.  We know for a fact this is where the Lord wants us and we know that He will give us the strength to get there!! Now, back to that "to-do" list!

If you don't believe in miracles you should come to Clinton!

This past Thursday, April 14th, Jeremy and I took our final load of furniture to the ABC warehouse.  Our house is almost completely empty except for a few things we need to give away/sell/throw away.  We were going to move our items on Friday but rain was in the forecast. Little did we know the Lord was leading us out of harms way!

Friday, April 15th Princess and I were cooking lunch in our home (the church's mission house).  The other two kids were at their Friday Enrichment school for homeschoolers.  I knew the rain was coming so I'd gone to Kroger earlier that morning to get it out of the way.  All of a sudden around 10:30am tornado sirens started going off.  I thought this was weird since the sky had just started turning black.  I immediately turned on our t.v. to listen to our weather men.  I saw that bad weather was indeed on its way and that it was about 20 minutes away. I didn't get too panicked.  We have severe weather quite a lot but as far as I know we've never had a tornado.  I don't get nervous during tornado sirens.  I've even been known to NOT wake my kids up during a siren because the weather man pretty much has the path of the tornado or storm right there on screen for all to see. But for some reason, this was different.  I was nervous.  I didn't know why.  And yes, the weatherman did have the path laid out for us...and he was right.  It was headed straight for Clinton.  Mind you, there was no tornado yet.  But David Hartman said he didn't like the look of the clouds that he saw on the weather camera.  The first set of sirens stopped.  And then about 15 minutes later they went off again.  Then stopped.  There was a very eerie quiet that came.  David said there wasn't indication of an actual tornado on the ground but that he was worried about the clouds still.  I'm sitting there watching the skycam on t.v. look out over my city and I see pops of light flashing on the ground all over. I learned later that those were our transformers.   I hear David say, "there is a tornado down on the ground in Clinton", and then all went dark.  The power went off.  I heard a very loud boom (the power substation behind our house).  And then, yes, you guessed it...I heard that dreaded train.

Now, we live within throwing distance of the railroad tracks and my first thought was why was a train coming through here during this horrible weather.  Then I remembered that a tornado was supposed to sound like a train so... dummy me...I tried to open my front door to look out and see whether it was a train or not.  Not the brightest decision, I know.  But I couldn't get the door open.  The wind was too strong.  It sounded horrible, like the train was on top of us (much louder than the trains we hear daily on our tracks).  Princess was crying and I was freaking out.  I called Jeremy to see if he could get any info on the internet (he was at work in Vicksburg, about 45 minutes away).  He told me to go to the church's day care center across the street.  I told him it was too late for that.  Then all was quiet.  The wind stopped, the rain stopped, there was no sound.  It was eerie.

I got off the phone with Jeremy without either of us realizing what had just happened.  I texted the kids' teacher to see if they were ok.  I texted my mom.  Then the sirens started.  This time it wasn't tornado sirens.  It was ambulance, police, fire, and rescue sirens.  It was constant and it was all around us.  Princess and I were scared but I was worried about Tink and Prince.  The cell services were down, no power, no internet.  I was walking out the door to go check on the kids when I miraculously received a text from their teacher saying that they were all ok. That was the last text I would receive for over 3 hours.  Fearing what was outside, Princess and I stayed put and decided not to get in the way.

I didn't realize the devastation until we left 1 hour later. And even then we didn't see the true devastation until we walked around our block the next day.  There was chaos everywhere and we had to go the back ways to get to the kids.  But my only concern was getting us all back together. Still no cell service, still no communication with the outside world.  We made it back home and started realizing what had just happened.

Mom called and she was already over half way here from Picayune (2 1/2 hours away).  She told us what she knew and helped spread the word that we were ok.  With no power we were still clueless as to what had occurred.

So here is what happened: an F3 tornado put down on one side of Clinton and traveled in a line to the other side of our city.  In its path was our church's day care center (across the street from where we live) and Eastside elementary housing over 800 kids.  The tornado miraculously jumped over our church and the elementary school.  Many many homes were destroyed but by the grace of God NO ONE WAS KILLED!  Storm catchers caught our tornado as it crossed I-20.

(scroll to the bottom of the blog and push pause on the music in order to hear the videos)

Here is what God taught me.  HE IS IN CONTROL!  He is all-powerful!  He will protect us!  He is our strength!  That tornado literally came right over our house.  Yet the first thing Jeremy said when I finally got him 4 hours later was, "I knew you'd be ok.  I knew we wouldn't get out of going to Africa that easy!"  haha!  We are following Him and are so very excited about it.  People try to scare us or try to make us think we are insane.  But we have the peace of the Lord that surpasses all understanding.  Honestly, our hearts ache for our new home.  The Lord's will will be accomplished ultimately and we are just as safe in Africa as we are in Clinton, MS.  We refuse to allow fear to control our lives because we have faith in our Lord who is stronger than any tornado that might come our way!

Jill

Loading ABC container #1

The warehouse before we started loading! Pretty much everything you see must go!  

Another view from the other end of the warehouse.  The aisle is the only open space left.

The first thing on the container, carpet for the new EE (Evangelism Explosion) building being built on campus.  At least I'm pretty sure that's what that is.  haha!

The view of the container a little after lunch.  Oh, it was a LONG day!

Jan hard at work keeping the manifest sheet up to date.  Gotta love Jan!!!

Josh helping to load!  These guys all worked their tails off (well, the ladies did too!!!!)

Helping to get some of the last few things onto the container.  We had a little extra room at the end so we started pulling whatever boxes/tubs we could find to fill up the extra space.  That's where some of the missionary stuff was able to fit.  The rest will come on container #2 that will load in the next 2 weeks!  We gotta do it all again! ugh!

The empty space is STILL driving my OCD husband crazy!  But by this time I think everyone was ready to go home!

Locked up and won't be opened until it hits Lilongwe, Malawi!

Off to the port of New Orleans!  I'm told it was put onto a barge the very next day.  Since he left at 4:30pm I'm hoping he made it.  But it's only 2 1/2 hours to N.O.

It was a long and exhausting day!  I can tell you that we worked our tails off and tried our hardest to get items onto the container that we knew HAD to go which was the Academy, College, and Clinic stuff.  Then we worked to get as much missionary stuff as we could.  It was hard because a lot of the missionary stuff hadn't been manifested (measured, weighed, numbered and added to a list).  We got a lot done though!  I'm excited that I'll see it on the other end!!!  Wow!  Only 2 more months before we leave!!!

to be continued....


Jill

Good old fashioned pounding!

What a blessing our church family has been over the past few weeks.  Well, they've always been a blessing to us but they are really showing out now! ;)  A sweet friend asked a couple of months ago if she could host a pounding for our family as we prepare for the mission field.  I honestly had to ask what a pounding was.  I learned that it's an old tradition of "pounding" a new pastor and his family when they move to a new church.  The idea is to bring a pound of sugar, a pound of flour, etc.  You get the idea.  I was excited that she would want to send us to Africa with some of our supplies that we were trying to collect.  What a blessing.  I sent her a list of about 25 ladies that I thought might like to come.  Well, she called a couple of days later and told me that it was going to be a little bigger than first thought.  Our church wanted to be a part of it and what started as a few ladies in a home turned into a church-wide good old fashioned pounding!  What a blessing!  An overwhelming blessing!  We were showered with so much that we honestly didn't know if we could get it all home.  Not all of the items are going to be used by our family.  We will be sharing with other missionary families at ABC as well as the clinic, college, and academy!  Thank you Morrison Heights Baptist Church! 

The above picture is my favorite.  I have a picture just like this from 13 months ago at the college superbowl party at our church.  While Jeremy and Thad were grilling burgers-Jeremy was grilling Thad about missions.  The Lord was speaking to us and we just weren't sure what to do. Thad and Jan were there to pray with us through the process and lend an ear or give words of encouragement when needed.  God truly blessed us by putting them in our lives! Here we are one year later preparing to leave for Lilongwe, Africa. 

 To God be the Glory!!!

We need teachers!

African Bible Colleges Christian Academy is looking for teachers for the 2011-2012 school year. What a wonderful opportunity to share the love of Christ with children from over 23 different countries. You can literally teach the world about Christ right in Malawi, Africa. College graduates, married couples, families, and singles are all welcome! Housing is available. Check out the link above for more information.

Current needs:

Kindergarten

1st Grade

3rd Grade

PE Teacher/Athletic Director

Financial Controller

Middle School Math

Please let me know if you have any questions or need more information. God bless!

Jill

Our house for the first year

Here are some pictures of the house that we will be renting the first year we are in Malawi. The family that lives here will be home on furlough in the States and we are blessed to help take care of their home while they are gone.

ABCCA 4th grade classroom

These are pictures of my 4th grade classroom at ABCCA next year. This will also be my daughter's classroom. I'm so excited that I will get to teach her and I can't wait to begin decorating the room. We've been collecting items for the children and we can't wait to share with the precious class that we are blessed with.