It's Official!!!!

I won't name any names or anything, but we're all immunized and two of us took it like champs. :)  Tickets have been purchased and it is official!  In one week from today we will be landing in Zimbabwe, Africa.  I have been to many different contries in my life, but never with kids.  It adds a whole different stress!  I am excited, though, to introcuce Maida and Skogen to another culture and another place.  It is going to be eye-opening and life-changing.  I can not wait for all the adventures that await!  I'm very hesistant, though, to leave Klaasen and Toresn behind.  I have hired nannies to help, but my parents will also be pitching in, too.  It's so hard to have your heart in two places at once and especially difficult when communication between the two places is sporatic and unpredicible.  I have done everything I can on my end to make sure things run smoothly while I'm gone and God is going to have to take care of the rest.

Erik, the kids, and I will spend 15 days in Zimbabwe at Nhowe Mission, taking in all we can as we plan for our longer stay.  I'm hoping to serve and help as much as we can and be an encouragment to everyone there.  I have never been there, so I have no idea what to expect.  I think Erik has it a little easier because being a doctor (and being there previously), he's able to just jump in and serve with his skills and comfort level.  Being just a mom, though, and especially one who will have two kids tagging along, I just don't know what to expect!  It will be a learning experience and it is my prayer that God will be our guide and lead us to what is needed or where we could be of help there.

Kara

On Erik's first trip to Zimbabwe, a Zimbabwean carpenter taught Erik the meaning of Jehovah-jireh.  We have taken the phrase and extended it throughout our mission plans.  "The LORD will provide," has taken on a much bigger meaning as we plan to take four eager little hearts (with eight great big eyes) across the ocean to one of the poorest countries in the world.

Last month we took this phrase and used it to design and print some t-shirts to help fund our trip to Zimbabwe.  To our surprise, the t-shirts were way more popular than we ever expected and we sold out of them in just a few days!  We now have the t-shirts for sale online until September 22nd.  100% (minus the shipping and handling fee) of the cost of the t-shirt goes to support us in Zimbabwe.  It is so much fun to see our friends wearing these shirts out and about!  The shirts have also served as a teaching tool and conversation piece when we've been stopped and asked what "Jehovah-jireh," means.

To order a shirt, click here.  Thanks so much for supporting us!

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34

I never dreamed of being a missionary and if you would have asked me 10 years ago, there was no way I would have agreed to move my kids across the globe to one of the poorest countries in the world.  However, on a trip to the Congo in 2014, God began to change and mold my heart in ways I would have never imagined.  

On February 4, 2014 as I sat at our dining room table in the missionary's house in Congo, I wrote: 

"Tonight as I sit in front of a computer screen that seems so foreign in this setting, and with internet that is only really available at night when there isn't as much energy required to run lights for the operating rooms, I am overwhelmed.  My heart has been touched and I am slowly processing everything I have seen and done.  

I have fallen in love with this culture, with these people, and this hospital.  I find myself awake before necessary in the morning, eager to start the day and what lies ahead.  I long to know about the patients, their families, the hospital, the town, and the missionaries.  I love watching my husband in his element and I am so thankful for the gift God has given to him to practice medicine and save lives.

Amazing."

Congo was just the beginning.  From there my heart was touched and molded even more as we returned to the states.  There was no way I could not go back to Africa, where I seemed to leave a little piece of my heart, and serve more long-term. I can't think of a better teammate than my husband and I can't imagine better little helpers than our children.  I have never heard God's voice or felt directly "called" to do something, but I have seen and felt first-hand the transformation of God's hand and there is no where else I'd rather be or nothing else I'd rather be doing than fulfilling the Great Commission.

This website is still a work in progress, but I hope you check back soon.  We will plan to use this as a way to communicate to others our prayer requests, fundraising opportunities, and keep everyone updated on the status of our trip before and while we're there.  

~ Kara

"Whenever He asks us to do something, it is almost always out of our comfort zones.  It usually doesn't make sense ("Hey, Noah, build an ark").  It most often involves a lot of change ("Hey, disciples, leave everything you know and follow me").  It always stretches our faith ("Hey, Esther, go before the king to save your people even though it may cost your life").
What makes you afraid?  I don't mean the, "Eek! A spider!" kind of fear.  I mean the idea that pops into your mind that makes you heart start to pound and your skin begin to sweat, and yet you are strangely drawn to it anyway.  That just might be your God-sized dream.  The moment that changes everything is when we decide to fear God more than we fear what may happen."
You're Made for a God-Sized Dream
by Holley Gerth