As we are nearing the end of our time in the U.S., we are exhausted physically, but energized emotionally. 11,000 miles of U.S. travel in two and a half months has taken its toll, but we are so thankful for the blessing of being able to see and visit so many people. The travel has tired us, but all of you have strengthened us. Tomorrow, we fly from Boise to Chicago to pack up. Then, fly from Chicago to London next Monday. Soon our 37,000 mile journey will be complete, but there are so many good things from just the last two weeks which we want to share.

The conference at Boise Bible College was very enjoyable. Yolanda's workshop on "reaching the least of these" went really well. The main speaker for the week was excellent and it was also a good week being able to catch up with supporters from the area, as well as some friends we hadn't seen in a couple years.

From Boise, we drove 8 hours to Eugene, OR. Our time with the people at Santa Clara Church was wonderful. This was JM2Z's first supporting church 6 years ago, so it was kind of like going home. Yolanda updated the church during the main service and then we spent time with several adult small groups that evening. We were blessed with amazing hospitality from not just our hosts, but the entire church. We were invited to dinners and desserts most evenings. There is an American Heritage girls' group who meets at the church and they had collected money and presented us with a check (pictured above). How exciting it was to see God at work in the hearts of children for missions.

​Last week was also the conclusion of the auction for the blanket that our ladies crocheted. After we announced it at Santa Clara, some individuals in the church decided to combine their resources, which resulted in the church as a whole winning the blanket for $500! We are very thankful that we will be able to take that back to benefit those who made it. We knew the people at church were scheming something since they had already started to plan where they were going to display the blanket in the church before the auction was over :-)

After that week, we drove 7 hours South to Willows, CA. This was our first visit to Willows Christian Church and we were welcomed with open arms. After Yolanda presented JM2Z in the main service, we had a question/answer time during the adult Sunday school hour. Multiple individuals expressed that they would like to support JM2Z monthly and many said they would be in prayer. We won't know until October if the church will pick us up as a monthly partner, which is when they meet to discuss their following year's missions support. We really enjoyed meeting everyone there!

​During the question/answer time, we brought up our electricity issues and our plan for a solar system (which will cost $10,000), but that it would need to wait until after the next time we come back to the U.S., as we haven't raised anything for that yet. At the conclusion of the time, a lady approached us and said that she would like to give toward it. We told her that would be great if she would contribute to it. Every bit helps. She said, no, you don't understand. And she proceeded to tell us that she was going to write a $10,000 check for the entire solar system! We were in shock and disbelief. It was so unexpected! 2 hours earlier, we hadn't met this congregation and now we are hearing this news. But why should we be surprised? God continues to bless JM2Z time and time again through generous people. Remember when He raised $22,000+ for our ministry vehicle in 48 hours, 2 years ago? How could we forget? So God's hand is all over this ministry, reminding us that it is His and that He will continue to provide in His timing and in manners in which we don't expect so that He will get the glory, not us. What a blessing it will be to have consistent power at the house so that we don't have to pull all-nighters to get our work done when the electricity is off during the day. We can get the rest we need at night to be energized for the day when we meet with the ladies.

From Willows, we drove 11 hours yesterday to Bruneau, ID. We have had the opportunity to spend the night with friends and partners in ministry (including our forwarding agent). Tomorrow we make the short drive back to Boise to fly to Chicago. Please be in prayer for safety during the rest of our travel. We have been blessed immensely so far and trust God that He will take us the rest of the way without incident.

​We can't express how incredibly grateful we are for YOU. Every person/couple who has hosted us, fed us, paid our transportation or lent us a vehicle have all been amazing. We are extremely thankful for your graciousness towards us the last 9 weeks. Thank you for welcoming us back briefly and energizing us emotionally. Thank you also for your many gifts. We praise God for His many mercies and blessings through YOU. We look forward to visiting with all of you again the next time we are back, hopefully within 2 years time. Please pray for us as we prepare to leave within the week. We'll close with a quote that says it best. "Goodbyes are not forever, and are not the end; it simply means we'll miss you until we meet again."

Since our last blog, we have continued to meet with and update supporters. In the last couple weeks of April, we met with ones in the Chicago/Wheaton area. We were also blessed to be invited to a family's house one evening and do a JM2Z presentation to a brand new group of people. It was great to meet people who were interested in missions in Zimbabwe. This week, we have been in Wyoming (driving through a snowstorm from the airport), where we have several supporters. Yolanda got to speak for a few minutes in the church service on Sunday, where she invited people to a home JM2Z presentation and fairtrade gathering. We enjoyed seeing friends and familiar faces, as well as some new ones. We had a good time updating those who attended and were blessed with over $1,300 of donations from fairtrade items.

We will be in Boise this coming week for Boise Bible College's Spring Conference. Yolanda will be leading a workshop and we will have a JM2Z booth set up in the display area. This will also give us time to meet with other friends and supporters in the area throughout the week.

​The rest of our stateside schedule includes updating Santa Clara Church in Eugene, OR on May 15 and presenting at a new church in northern California on May 22. We fly out of Chicago on May 30 to visit Yolanda's mother and brother in London before landing back in Zim on June 6.

There are less than 2 weeks left for our blanket auction.  We have had several bids and it's currently up to $70. Go to our Facebook page, by clicking here if you would like to make a bid. The auction will end on May 20 at noon (Central Time). Please help support the women we work with by making a bid today!

Zimbabwe is continuing to experience problems. The drought that we wrote about awhile back is still going on. The devastation is continuing to spread, with many affected. The other recent news involves Zimbabwe's use of the U.S. Dollar, which is in short supply. People aren't trusting banks to put money into and cash has not been available at times at ATM's. Restrictions have come into place limiting the amount of cash withdrawn. In some cases, people have received South African Rands in place of U.S. dollars. The most recent news, which you never really know is true until it happens, but we believe this to be accurate, is that with dollars in short supply, Zimbabwe is in process of printing what they call a "local U.S. dollar." They will come in $2, $5, $10, and $20 bills and have "the same value as U.S. dollars." They did this with coins at the end of 2014 because they didn't have any change, but now they are doing this with paper money. I'm not exactly sure how they can do this, but the consequences are yet to be seen. We pray and hope that there won't be another inflation problem like they had several years ago. We will see.

We know that God is in control and all we can do is follow His will as best we can. Please continue to pray for the people of Zimbabwe, that they would experience God's love in a time when they are dealing with lots of adversity. Please also pray for our continued safety in travel, as we complete our trek around the U.S. in the next few weeks. We are so thankful for our visits and meetings with friends and partners of JM2Z the last couple months and are looking forward to the ones to come.