We wanted to share a few pictures with you from our trip and first couple days back in Zimbabwe. One of the advantages of traveling far distances is that you're bound to have an extended layover somewhere. And if that somewhere is an interesting place, then you want to explore. We had a 14 hour layover in Dubai after a 13.5 hour flight from Chicago (during the flight, we got to see the northern lights out the window while we were between Canada and Greenland). Thankfully, the airline provided a free hotel, shuttle, and meals. What is there to do in Dubai? One thing we did was to go up the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.

After leaving Dubai the next morning, we flew 6.5 hours to Lusaka, Zambia. We sat in the plane at the airport for 1.5 hours, letting some people off and others on, before flying the 45 minutes to Harare. As we were nearing Harare, due to everything in the news and messages from friends and family, we weren't exactly sure what the conditions would be when we landed. About 15 minutes before we reached Harare, we saw a rainbow (pictured below) out the window and really felt God's presence with us, that we would be ok no matter what was waiting for us.

Janeece picked us up and we stayed overnight in Harare. The following morning, before driving to Chinhoyi, we stopped at a grocery store. Due to the 3 day shutdown before we arrived, all the stores had been closed. They had opened by the time we arrived, so everybody rushed to load up on as many groceries as they could while they had a chance. Below is a video of the line from one of the checkout registers. Each of the other 8-10 lines were just as long. Janeece had gotten a few things for us previously, but we got some staples just in case we wouldn't get another chance for awhile.

Janeece's flight back to the US was the next day, so we drove back to Harare to drop her off at the airport. We wished we had gotten a few more days with her, but she was ready to get back home. We are soooooo incredibly thankful to her for all that she did for us while we were gone. Things really went haywire in the country and she did an amazing job keeping everything under control and taking care of the women's groups, the house/ministry base, Western/Elizabeth/Baby Western, keeping gas in the cars, and soooooo much more. We very much appreciate her and all that she is willing to do!

Zimbabwe is never in a great condition, but things really went downhill while she was here. We kept apologizing that she had to deal with all these things on the ground by herself. She told us that she had no idea things would get so bad during her time here, but even if she would have known ahead of time, she still would have come. She sure is amazing! I know she doesn't like people singing her praises and she probably wishes I would finish writing about her, but she definitely deserves recognition for her service to the Lord and missionaries around the world and to truly go anywhere and do anything! Before she left, she was already talking about the next time she comes back to Zim. What a blessing to have a willing heart.

After we dropped off Janeece, we stopped by another grocery store. It is a more expensive store normally, but we go there because they always have lots of fresh produce. We didn't really need anything, but we wanted to check on the prices. Oh my word! Below is a slideshow of a few items and take note of the prices. They are ridiculous. Prices are in US Dollars and it seems like a small fortune is needed to get anything. All we walked out of the store with (as can be seen below) is one cucumber. Haha. We are able to change USD into local currency, which will make things much more affordable for us, but we hadn't had a chance to do that yet by that point, but we will soon.

We have been unpacking and organizing things at home, personal and ministry items. Even though we heard that there were supposed to be more repeat activities from last week, it has been quiet in town here in Chinhoyi and in Harare. Everybody seems to be going about their normal business. Anything could happen again in the coming days or weeks, but we are thankful things have settled down for now.

As I have been uploading these pictures and videos, I've been reacquainted with our slow WIFI. It's taken hours to get them loaded. We are thankful that internet services have been fully restored (at least for now).

Of course Baby Western (who is no longer a baby) has been keeping things interesting. I went to use the bathroom earlier and found an entire toilet paper roll in the toilet. He walks around and says his gibberish. Although he does clearly say mama and daddy, which is pretty good for his age, especially since he's hearing multiple languages. While I was waiting for some pictures to upload, he came over and so I tried to get him to say my name. I think he did pretty well! You be the judge :-)

Our list of praises was in an email we sent out a couple days after arriving and even since then we've seen many more, like filling up on gas in the truck multiple times without waiting in a line, having things in the freezer and fridge upon our return to make meal planning easier, fresh vegetables in our garden, rainfall as I type this, and the list goes on. We do however have a list of prayer requests too.

Prayer requests:
- Continued rainfall since it is needed
- Provision for us personally and for the ministry as a whole
- For peace within the country
- Continued internet access since it's our lifeline to the outside world, including family and supporters
- Protection since people are more desperate now than ever
- For the ladies as they manage micro-enterprises in this chaotic economy
- For a quick recovery of jetlag (Yolanda struggles terribly with it for well over a week)
- For electricity because we've already experienced power-cuts, but our inverter stopped working a week before we left last year and won't get it fixed/replaced until we head to SA

​Thank you for your prayers, we have truly felt them and we have no doubt they have been the reason for the many blessings we have received upon our return back to Zimbabwe.

We hope you have had a great start to the year! The beginning of our year has been spent getting things ready to head back to Zimbabwe. Our departure from Chicago (this Tuesday the 15th) and arrival in Zim (Thursday the 17th) is quickly approaching. Unfortunately, we will not be able to stop and visit with Yolanda's mom in London on the way. Instead, we are taking a different airline (which was cheaper and offered more free bags) that will go through Dubai. We'll have an overnight layover there on Wednesday the 16th.

​Janeece will stay with us for several days after we arrive before she returns to the US. This will give us a good time to debrief together. We have been in regular contact the last few months, but of course being able to talk in person is always better than being 8-10 time zones apart. She has been swamped from the moment she arrived, so we're sure she will be glad to have us back.

Last Saturday, we gave our last formal update to a small group of local supporters. What a blessing it's been to see as many of you as we could throughout the last few months. Thank you again for welcoming us so warmly everywhere we went, whether your home, church, or a restaurant. Although it will be another 2 years until we see you in person again, how thankful we are that we can send regular updates on this blog so that you can continue to know what is happening!

Within a few weeks of our return, we plan to make a trip to South Africa to stock up on supplies. With prices in Zimbabwe continuing to skyrocket and availability of goods in question, we feel blessed to have the option of purchasing items in SA. Things are still getting worse for the average Zimbabwean, so please keep them in your prayers. People have had it hard for quite awhile, so please pray that there would be some relief for them!