Looking Forward To The Future....

I have a tentative timeline for departure, a job description, and a budget in the works!  Woohoo!  This is getting real!

I can't wait to see this beautiful landscape below the airplane again!

The LM Canada director, Mark Outerbridge, and I have been pursuing a missionary placement for me with LM Malawi.  It looks like I will be going to work in the southern city of Zomba as the Malawi team administrator.  This will involve bookkeeping, budgeting, reporting, government office stuff such as visas, and project/missionary support for the village-based team members i.e. purchasing materials.  I love organizing things, running around the city doing errands,  spending time driving in gorgeous Malawi, and visiting people!  I am so looking forward to this job!  It will also equip me perfectly for a lifetime of service in Malawi - knowing which government office to go to, who to speak with, and where the office is located are all crucial to making sure that missionaries can continue to operate effectively.  

My first year back on the ground will be essentially shadowing the missionary who is currently doing this role, Michael Volz.  I actually got to visit the Volz family in Zomba a few years ago on an Easter break trip.  I will also be focusing on language learning.  I am excited to get to know a whole new city and find my place in it.    

We are looking at a timeline of me leaving for the field around the early fall, after my brother's wedding.  Before that happens, I will spend a month in Germany being trained in the specifics of Liebenzell accounting and bookkeeping, attending the huge fall Missions conference that Liebenzell hosts, and squeezing in some visits with family.

Michael & Connie Volz - Liebenzell missionaries in Zomba, who I will be training under.

My date of departure is contingent on my health being back to normal, and completing my fundraising.  On the health side of things, I have been encouraged this month - I switched medications, and a whole list of symptoms have disappeared!  So we are on the right track - now just to get the new medication to the correct levels.  In regards to fundraising, that is a huge goal that I am confident my God will make possible to reach!  At this point, my monthly support (salary, flight costs, ministry costs) is at about a third of what I will need.  I will also most likely be fundraising for a vehicle (a big truck... I might require a stepstool to get into it!), as my tiny RAV4 will not survive trips to the village missionary sites during rainy season.

Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your support and prayers throughout this lengthy process of getting healthy and ready to go back!  I have been so blessed by family and friends while in Malawi, and even more so while here recuperating.  I so appreciate each of you being a part of my life, and am blown away by the kindness and generosity of the people who support me.