Closing in on Departure

Over the past couple weeks, we have sorted through all our belongings and decided what to pack, what to store, and what to sell or give away.  We like to think of ourselves as minimalists, but the amount of "stuff" we brought to the Salvation Army and threw away surprised us both.  The house is looking very bare, and we officially move out tomorrow morning at 8am.  Thank you to everyone who helped us sort, clean, and move!

Owen still has 2 more days of work, and then it will be a whirlwind of goodbyes with friends and family.  We are blessed to have a very nice place to stay over the next week here in Manhattan, but we will miss this house very much.  We have really enjoyed our last 5 years here in Manhattan, and we will take a lot of memories and lasting friendships with us.

We are now 10 days away from our flight to Philadelphia.  We will be in Philly for two days, and then leave the hotel at 2am on the 12th to fly to Botswana!  We will have two months of training, and then find out our placement for where we will be living and what our jobs will be.  We need your prayers as we finish up preparations to leave, and as we enter the training period.  We are excited to start the process, but we are apprehensive of the steep learning curve ahead.  We are looking forward to settling into our place of service in October!

Owen and Becky

Jumping Off

Owen and I are not thrill seekers…despite our bungee jumping past. Our next life change should be easy as these types of things go, but the process is slow and scares us silly.

As most of you know, we have felt drawn to work in HIV/AIDS relief, to serve people with physical needs in Botswana (first me, then Owen, then me again). We have prayed for the desire to go away, but instead, it has only been refined into a desire to serve while supporting ourselves through normal jobs.

We have been offered positions through the Peace Corps, working for the Botswana Ministry of Health! So, we plan to say goodbye to the Little House on Pierrie and this beautiful chapter of our lives for this new endeavor on August 10^th.  In October, we will finish training and begin our new jobs. Despite five extra years of job experience, many development sociology books, an arguable smidgen of maturity, and a realization that our calling is not that different in Manhattan and in Botswana we feel less prepared and less knowledgeable about our new jobs than we would have if we had never experienced Botswana before.

Still, we could not be more thankful to be working under the supervision of a local boss, to be back in a country where we already have a support network of church and friends, and to go where we (sort of) speak the language. God is good. Life in Manhattan has been wonderful. Being close to you all has made newly married life rich and extravagant. We will miss you. We are not asking for financial support, but we desperately need your prayers---and we would love a picture or two of you to put on our fridge (or wall) in Botswana.