We had quite the journey getting here and are thankful to say that we made it safely! On the 13th, my (Andrew's) parents drove us to O'Hare in Chicago. The airline we used was British Airways, so my dad dropped the three of us off with our 6 suitcases, 2 carry-ons, and 2 backpacks at the international terminal and went to park the car. We got inside to the front of the line, and the lady told us that even though our flight from Chicago to London was through British Airways, it was being operated by American Airlines. This meant a completely different terminal. By this time, my dad had come inside with us. So the four of us each took 2 suitcases, Yolanda and I each had our backpacks, and we headed down to take a train to the correct terminal. To do this, we had to take multiple elevators and escalators and we were thankful that my parents were there, so it wasn't Yolanda and me with 8 suitcases by ourselves!

British Airways has always had an agreement with missionaries that we are each allowed 3 free suitcases, which has been a blessing. However, since our return trip to the U.S. last December, they have discontinued that. The agency we went through for our tickets wasn't even aware of it. Now, we are allowed only 2 free suitcases for each of us, meaning that we would have to pay extra for our 5th and 6th ones. The last 6 months, we have been accumulating things and laying them in the suitcases, so we would be sure not to take too much. All of our clothes combined into one suitcase, and the rest were items that we got for this next year that could be bought more cheaply and more quality in the U.S. We had also received some more donations and literature we could put to use, which is heavy but we had planned to bring it all. Since we had everything already and our plane tickets were cheaper than budgeted, we decided to bring the extra suitcases on this trip, but in the future, we will just need to take 2 each.

Even though we weighed each suitcase at home before arriving at the airport, each one was overweight. The scales were certainly different. So we had to rearrange and leave a few items with my parents. But knowing that we were missionaries and that the woman's daughter had just done her first mission trip, she turned a blind eye to us still being minimally overweight. The prices for the extra suitcases came up differently in her computer, and instead of $200 for each additional suitcase, she let us through with only $100 each!  The Lord certainly put her there for us.

We had a wonderful visit with Yolanda's mother and brother. It was nice to have some time to breathe before arriving in Zim. While in England, we found out that all of Yolanda's hard work paid off, and she received an excellent grade in her final class! Her graduation took place last week as well, and we were able to watch it online and hear her name called, AND hear that she graduated with honors! We also celebrated Yolanda's birthday on the 22nd, and were glad to be able to be with her family on that day. The rest of our time there was low key, and we were thankful for that period to be able to transition to where we are now.

We are definitely back in Africa! When we landed in Harare, we saw the sign on the control tower that says, " elcom  to  mbabwe." Obviously some of the letters on their Welcome to Zimbabwe sign were missing. When we collected our luggage, there was a line to get it x-rayed and then they went through each suitcase. An airport worker helped us through the x-ray and then took our carts with luggage and bypassed the station where they were inspecting each one. I told him that I could take it, but he insisted on wheeling it out of the airport. Again, I said that I could take it but, he wanted to wheel it a little farther before letting us know what a favor he did us by keeping our things from being searched. And he did, however, he was looking for a handout for his "services." So a couple dollars later, we officially felt back in Africa!

After 6 months of emails and skyping, it was great to see Janeece in person at the airport. We enjoyed catching each other up on what has been going on lately and all that has been happening. Janeece has definitely become accustomed to driving in Zimbabwe! There was an intersection we went through that was downtown Harare, and I mean DOWNTOWN. There were what seemed like a hundred people roaming up and down the street and crossing right in between cars. There were, as always, people selling things in between lanes. At this intersection, there was no traffic light, but plenty of traffic. When that is the case, they don't do as we do in the U.S., where we take turns like a stop sign. No. Everyone goes at once from all four directions. Each car is inches from touching. There were random people attempting to "direct" traffic, not police of course, just random people. As Janeece went through, she didn't even have to slow the conversation as she maneuvered her way to the other side. She has become quite a pro.

When we left Chinhoyi last year, the ground at our house was all brown, very minimal grass, and zero garden. We returned to find that Janeece had been very busy in this area. We have green grass throughout the yard, looking very neat, along with beautiful looking flowers. There is also a new garden going as well. There is everything from peppers, to tomatoes, to cucumbers, and so on, and so on. There is a lot out there! We didn't have time to get that started while we were here the last time, but this will save us lots of money on vegetables, as well as being able to maximize the herbs for the natural medicine side of JM2Z.

Janeece has done a tremendous job of taking care of things around here, overseeing some construction projects, maintenance, updating, and keeping the bills and finances organized on the Zim side. She was also able to get involved in the community in various areas, teaching a Bible class, being in a small group, involved at the church she attended. It sounds like she has made quite a few friends, but at the same time, she is now ready to go back home. She will be back in Indiana for 6 months, before heading out on her next assignment. What a blessing it was to have her here!

We are now getting back into the rhythm of things. We have seen some changes with slightly lower gas prices, improved sections of roads, even two new road signs. The biggest shock is that we have had electricity for ALL but a couple hours of the three days we have been here. I'm not sure what the deal is, but we'll take it for as long as we can! Of course we have other issues, a leaky toilet, a short in an outdoor light, a pressure tank for our water supply that is acting up. However, things are night and day from when we arrived a year ago. We are unpacking our suitcases and also all the boxes we brought a year ago that are still sealed. Please pray for us as we continue to get settled and reacquainted with life in Chinhoyi. We are excited to see how God uses JM2Z in this next year in this community.

Last month, we mentioned in a blog that we are leaving to go back to Zimbabwe the second week of May, and that time is now upon us! We fly out of Chicago this Wednesday (5/13). Just as the 6 months in Zim flew by, so did our 6 months in the U.S.!

Let's back up first. The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind. Yolanda has been living in the library. She has been working so hard to finish her last class. Much of her work is translating and analyzing different portions of the Bible, from both Hebrew and Greek. Her countless hours are going to pay off, as she will be done today! It will be very exciting to have her degree completed. Quite an accomplishment (I say as her husband)!


Yolanda here ;-) Andrew was about to write down what he had been doing and he looked at me with a blank stare asking me what exactly that was? I had a good chuckle explaining to him how much he has been doing and gotten done (because he has); however, when one is used to a 9 to 5 job, ministry looks a lot different. Our schedule is more fluid and yet not any less busy. I remember a few months back when we first arrived back in the US, someone was surprised to hear how long back we would be. They then said, "Wow, what a nice long break you guys will get." Andrew and I looked at each other and smiled, clearly this person had no idea what furlough entailed. Of course we had scheduled in several "mini' breaks, and yet some how very few of them ever took place. With fluidity comes a necessity of flexibility as planned schedules constantly go out the back door and one must be ready to change at the drop of a hat. Again, these are not complaints, just mere realizations of the missionary life. Andrew has done such an amazing job picking up the slack when it comes to ministry, these last few weeks. Since I've had my nose in books and needed to give a big push during this last stretch, due to getting behind (due to ministry), Andrew really took on both our loads so I could just focus full-time on getting done 7 research papers, dozens of pages of reading and an exam, all in just in 13 days. He has been so encouraging through this whole process as I really wanted to give my best as I finished up my years of education. Andrew has been running all the errands, sending out all the thank you notes and getting receipts done, budgeting and re-budgeting as we look forward to a new assignment in Zim and keeping you guys updated in the process. He also has been the one taking care of all the paperwork related to all the legal red tape for visas, green card etc., which has been a huge load off of my shoulders. Andrew has become such an integral part of JM2Z and I am so grateful God knew best when he brought him into my life, not just as a life partner but as a ministry partner as well. JM2Z has surely benefitted from having two completely opposite people make decisions, do the planning, set goals and accomplish tasks. Our polar opposite personalities has resulted in a more well rounded ministry because we make up for each other's weaknesses and we carry the workload together. I have no doubt that a single person can be just as successful in missions/ministry but I sure am glad that my journey involves the support and partnership of another. I'll pass you back to Andrew now ;-)

Schedule
So what does our foreseeable future look like?

• May 13 - Fly from Chicago to London
• May 14-24 - Spend time in England with Yolanda's mother as we catch our breath before arriving in Zim
• May 25 - Land in Zimbabwe
• May 26-June 2 - Debrief with Janeece and thank her profusely for doing an amazing job for us these last 6 months
• June 3 - Janeece flies home to Indiana
• Early April, 2016 - Return to U.S. for about 3 months

Goals
What will we be doing during this assignment?

• Continuing consistent Shona tutoring lessons 3 days each week and studying every day
• Cultivate and grow relationships in the urban community that we made last year, and develop new relationships
• Continue to improve the security of the house/ministry base (i.e. raising the height of the outer wall, etc.)
• Depending upon the political climate, we plan to engage in making rural relationships. If at any point this is not an option, we will continue to foster the new relationships built with the women's small groups that Yolanda attended last year. Therefore, the goal would be to get more involved in that arena.
• Plan a trip to South Africa in order to purchase our first shipment of Shona Bibles.

Thoughts

I (Andrew) have been asked how I am feeling about living in Zimbabwe for my longest period so far (1 year). How am I feeling about it? What am I thinking at the moment? My answer is that I feel that we are returning to a very familiar place. Zimbabwe, Chinhoyi (our town), and our house are very familiar surroundings at this point. In some respects, it doesn't seem nearly as far away as it did 3 years ago. We will finally be able to put our pictures on the walls and unpack all the boxes we took last year. Due to the construction projects, we never completely unpacked. We also won't have to live out of suitcases. All of that makes it feel like our house (even though we are renting). That being said, these months in the U.S. have allowed me to realize things that I enjoy or take for granted living here. The following is a list of things I either did or did not experience the past 6 months while living in the U.S. as compared to life in Zimbabwe:

• The electricity never went out.
• I didn't have to take a malaria pill daily
• I only needed to carry one house key (compared to 15)
• I never drove through a police road block
• I never had to put a lock on the steering wheel when parking my car
• I never had to look through bars when I looked out a window
• I never had to carry cash
• If I needed to purchase something, I could search online to see which store had the best deal and where it was, or I could just have it shipped straight to me
• I never felt the need to look out the window at night when I heard a sound
• I could use coupons
• Any candle lit dinners we had were for romance, not out of necessity for light
• I could always drink the water
• There was no need to dust the furniture every day
• No one ever offered me better service for a bribe
• The temperature inside every building was controlled by a thermostat, not the weather
• I never had to take a bath (I am not a bath person), as opposed to a shower
• I didn't have to wait for someone to pump my gas. I could just do it myself.
• I didn't have sticker shock every time I saw a price tag (prices in Zim being 3 times more expensive than the U.S.)

Experiencing different cultures is an interesting phenomenon. Living a different way isn't good or bad, but it can sure be different. Different isn't always hard, but sometimes it is. And that's ok. I'm learning. Yolanda is so patient and understanding when something is difficult for me to adjust to. We know this is where God wants us, and where better could we be than in His hands? We are not going alone though, because we feel like we are taking each of you with us. Whether you support us with prayer, finances, or spread the word about JM2Z and Zimbabwe, you are the ones who are making it possible to serve these women and children. Thank you for all that you do! We are excited for what the Lord has in store for JM2Z in the upcoming months. We will once again write regular blogs (every other week), so that you can stay updated on what and how we are doing. We want you to have ownership in JM2Z and all that we do because like I said, YOU help make this possible.

Praises:

- We literally just SOLD our car (Andrew's car that he always had. We leant it to friends during the 6 months we were gone last year)

- I (Yolanda) finished my exam early hours of this morning (also a research paper) so I am officially done! We will be in the UK when my graduation will technically be taking place (May 16th).

- Two weekends ago we were able to make a weekend trip to Lincoln, IL to visit several friends who we haven't seen in awhile and some who we hadn't seen in 2 yrs (since we left Lincoln) 

- This past weekend we were able to see Andrew's sister and grandpa one last time before leaving. It was an unexpected visit and my in-laws covered all our expenses

Prayer Requests:

- In the next 48 hrs, we expect to get very little sleep. Please pray for times of rest for our minds to be alert. Pray that we do not forget to pack anything or leave anything behind here at the house

- Pray for smooth travels as we fly, have layovers and commute between 3 continents once again

- Pray for our emotions, and especially for our family and friends as we leave for a year

- Pray for our bodies as we struggle with jetlag, lack of sleep, and stress in general

- Pray for rest and relaxation while in England and a good visit with my (Yolanda) family; as well as renewed energy when we finally get to Zim

- Pray for all our supporters and their continued commitment to partner with us throughout this year