One week out...

The big trip is upon us! Its hard to contemplate all that will be happening over the next 30 days...in many ways it is very surreal. But with God the surreal is real, and the unlikely is very likely going to happen.

• One week from today we will be en route to Africa.
• Two weeks from today we will be finishing up our first marriage conference in Uganda.
• Three weeks from today we will be finishing up our second marriage conference in Kenya.
• Four weeks from today we will be back Charlottesville, living out the truths of the gospel in our marriage here in the states.

Yesterday we attended a Bible study at Advancing Native Missions out in Nellysford that our team leader, Phil Smuland, was leading. In addition to the great teaching on Romans 1 we received, there were a few VIP's in the room whom we greatly admire:

1. Mike Carderelli, a missionary who has spent the last ten years in the field of the 10/40 window giving all of himself to the work of the Lord. When we saw him Sarah and I were both brought to tears...
2. Beau Barado, another missionary who has spent much time in the 10/40 window ministering in a very difficult environment. We don't know him as well, but have a great respect for he and his family because of the stories we have heard over the years.
3. Four pastors from around the world (Africa, Israel, India, and Viet Nam) who shepherd flocks in places that have many wolves.
4. A young lady from Brazil who appears to love the Lord deeply and is seeking him daily while she spends the year in the states.

Sarah and I have always, since our conversions, admired and respected foreign missionaries in a way very similar to the way young men admire athletes and young ladies admire ballerinas...to be in the room with these men and women was awe-inspiring.

Pray for our last minute preparations...there is a lot of excitement and nervousness about where the Lord has brought us so far and where he will be taking us in the next weeks.