Since our last update, many things have happened I will try to be brief as we tell you of all the blessings we have received from God.
God provides before we ask!
Chris was scheduled to leave for Africa September 21st. Four weeks prior, I mailed Chris's passport to the Chadian embassy with an $150 dollar money order in order to get his visa prior to traveling to Chad. We had plenty of time and took all the right steps this time (some of you might remember that we had a snafu with Chris's passport and the Chad embassy last time he flew there from the states) so that he should get the passport back in time no problem. Well I'm not sure what happened but the US postal service lost his passport by delivering it to the correct address but in Washington DC rather than Washington State. So to say the least, it came to 1 week prior to Chris leaving and no passport. The US postal service was looking for the passport but was unable to recover it. Two days prior to his flight, we had to change plans. Chris rushed to Seattle to get a new passport and then, in that one week, he finished working on several planes he had committed to fixing for friends. So he flew out to Africa on October 5th for 3 weeks of hard 10 hour days of work. Where God provided is that after I sent in his passport we received some airplane parts for his Africa trip and after our son and nephew opened the package and hid the contents (I eventually found all the contents), I found an envelope addressed to our ministry for $426 dollars. After getting the new passport, and paying for a new visa and all the travel to get to Seattle and back etc, we spent $430ish dollars. God gave us the money we needed. Praise His Holy Name! Also, he ended up doing more work their then planned, and was able to earn a bit extra to put toward our move to Guyana.
Shipping our Belongings
To ship a barrel from Seattle, Wa it should cost around $220 dollars per barrel. I was given a phone number for a company based in Florida, so I tried the company. It took them a little bit to realize I wanted to ship from Washington state rather than Washington DC but they finally found a drop off center in Seattle. I asked for a quote and they said $42 dollars a barrel. I couldn't believe it. So I booked the barrels and shared the info with the other missionaries in the area. The other missionaries got a quote of $216 dollars per barrel. I was stunned. I expected a small increase in price as it was prime shipping time but not that much. So when I called to book the next two barrels, they said $204 dollars per barrel. Then when I got the quote in the email it was $46 dollars per barrel. I called the guy back and asked if this was for real. His response "it sounds like you want to pay more". I immediate told him I was ok with the price and booked the barrels. Apparently he was giving me a personal discount. Our final two barrels ended up being $116 dollars per barrel. God blessed us. Insead of paying $1200 dollars total we are ending up paying $410 total. To God be the Glory!
The final leg of our US tour
Traveling with two little kids is hard. After Chris returned from Africa, we had to get from Washington state to Minnesota before November 14. This final leg was hard. We had 2 very long days traveling to Kansas to visit friends and drop off our dog. We spoke at the church there and made new friends and were able to visit the offices of Garmin to make contacts for getting new equipment for the planes in Guyana. We ran a half marathon (which we did not train for) and finished before 3 hours. We then drove to Nebraska to see family and then onto Minnesota to visit more family. God was with us the entire way. No accidents, no injuries, no problems. The Lord is good.
Saying Goodbye to a member of our family
We had planned to take our dog, Ben, to Bolivia with us. It was cool there, it would be great and he would love it. This summer I watched Ben struggle with the heat in eastern Washington. We decided he would not have thrived here in Guyana where the temperatures are in the 90s on a regular basis with high humidity. We had to give up our cats last summer, now we had to say goodbye to our dog. We were sad. No one in our immediate family could keep him. However we didn't know who else to ask. We had determined to take our dog back to the breeder. I keep hearing a little voice that said, "mention it on facebook". I finally gave in and posted it on facebook. Well to God be the glory yet again. Good friends of ours that we went to college with agreed to take him if we could deliver him to Kansas. We agreed. We could not be more happier. Ben has settled into their family as if he was with us. He is loving it there and that makes us happy. It also makes us happy to know that we can visit him anytime we are in the USA.
 
Ben is so relaxed with them.
This is Bens soon to be 8 foot dog house. He is going to love it.
Ben is Hard at work in the Carpenter Shop.
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