Heaven Calling

Today Drew and I attended the Celebration of Life of Heidi Swenson.  I had mentioned her in a previous blog (Keeping Balance).  I didn't know Heidi well, her family moved to New Mexico several years ago, just as I was getting to know her.  I had every excuse imaginable why I didn't need to attend this funeral today, but all of them fell short of what I knew I needed to do.  I felt compelled to go because I am friends with Heidi's sister-in-law Wendy and I wanted to show her my support.  I also felt a connection with Heidi because she too was following the call to homeschool her children.  I remember years ago when my children were young, talking briefly in the fellowship hall at Evergreen Community Church with Heidi.  What struck me was how different she is than me.  She is meek, humble and mild.  I am not.  As I listened today to those close to her, sharing about the Mom, wife, sister, friend and child of God that Heidi was, I was struck with 2 completely different thoughts.  My first thought was one of wishing that I had known Heidi better.  She really was a remarkable woman and I would have loved to have had her for a friend.  She kept journals and wrote the most beautiful thoughts to leave for her family.  She would have been an incredible blogger and I would have enjoyed following her on the web.  My second thought was the joy that was evident in Heidi's life even as she was facing the end of her days here on Earth.  She saw the day to day caring for her 7 children as a ministry and a calling.  She understood that it was because of God's amazing grace that she had all these people to love around her.  She didn't demand her right to continue on living but accepted the days God had given her as a gift.  She looked forward with JOY to being in the presence of her Savior, even while mourning the fact that she would not be there in flesh to watch her children grow older.  She understood that this world is not our home, and implored those who are left behind to pursue a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Heidi had every reason to be bitter and yet her last words were encouraging those around her that God is faithful, loving and full of mercy.

I walked away from that joyful but sorrowful event today touched by the hand of God.  It was as if I was given a gift just by being there today.  In all the running around from event to event in this busy Christmas season, I was not finding joy in the simple everyday moments with my family.  I want to live each day in a way that will count for eternity.  I want to be remembered as a Mom that is connected to my kids and my husband.  I want to inspire others to grow deeper in their faith and to live for a higher purpose.  Help me Lord to make my days count as Heidi has done.

Below I have included a song that was sung at the funeral.  Come to Jesus, won't you?


Chris Rice - Untitled Hymn (Come To Jesus) Lyrics

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden's lifted
And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain, so
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby
Don't be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk
Sometimes we fall...so
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely
And steep and filled with pain
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live!

O, and when the love spills over
And music fills the night
And when you can't contain your joy inside, then
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live!





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Petersen Christmas Letter 2011

Merry Christmas 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

 I’m sitting here thinking about our past year and marveling at God’s hand in it all.  At the beginning of the year, God put it on my heart to go to Africa as a family.  This is something Drew and I had thought about doing years ago and the time seemed perfect with the ages of our kids.  We knew that the only way this could happen would be for God to intervene because we just did not have an extra $15,000 lying around.  After much prayer we pursued this adventure and found out there was a need for construction work through Wycliffe Associates in Cameroon, West Africa.  Wycliffe Associates is near and dear to our hearts, not only do we have friends that work for them, but we love how they come along other missions groups and offer support to those in Bible translations.  If you want to know more details about God’s provision please check out our blog (http://marieanddrew-petersensinaction.blogspot.com/2011/11/gods-provision.html).

 Despite our busy work schedule over the summer, we were able to make some awesome memories.  Drew’s parents brought us all (including Drew’s sister Deb and her son Parker) out to South Dakota, first to Mount Rushmore, where Drew was able to join us.  After a long weekend camping in the Black Hills, Drew headed home and the rest of us went further north to a ranch near Lemmon, SD.  We spent a week on a dinosaur dig.  Waking up early every morning to the most beautiful sunrise, we would be out to the dig site most mornings by 7am.  We found some enormous toe bones, vertebra, hip bone, jaw bone and leg bones of the Edmontosauras dinosaurs.  It was an amazing experience.   Afternoons were spent swimming in the Grand River, visiting the museum in Lemmon or just hanging out with our new friends.  Right after a quick supper we would all head out once again for more digging until the sun started setting.  It really gave us all a greater appreciation for God’s awesome creation.  Thank you Harlan and Rosie for the memories!

 While Drew was working hard, the kids and I went up to Story Book Lodge for a week.  Ellie and Levi were campers, Kyle was a junior camp counselor and I went to do some cleaning.  It ended up being like a retreat for me, since I stayed in a little cottage by myself and had time for reading once I was finished with my tasks.   It’s a beautiful camp; I can see why my kids love going up there each year.

 Kyle turned 15 this past summer but still loves climbing trees and going off jumps with his bike.  His passion is in music, he is still taking piano lessons, plays guitar, ukulele and is quickly learning drums.  He has been writing songs like crazy but is hoping someone else will add the words to them.  They are actually very good, he has quite a talent.  Kyle and I spent 4 days at a High School Leadership Training at St. Olaf College this past summer.   It’s been wonderful seeing Kyle grow to be a young man that loves the Lord.  Kyle was baptized in April; this was a huge step of faith because he had to share his testimony in front of our whole church congregation.  Kyle also auditioned and started playing guitar and piano in our churches band on the same rotation as his Dad.  He is definitely following in his Dad’s footsteps.  Kyle has become quite the hard worker this year, doing yard work to help raise money for our trip as well as buying more musical equipment.

Ellie turns 14 this week and is still as sweet as ever.  She is a very hard worker, in addition to her regular babysitting jobs; she has been cleaning a house with me to help raise money for Africa.  The 2 of us have also done some volunteer cleaning through Love Inc.   Earlier this year, she started a girls Bible study after church (called Girls Growing in God – or GIG).  These girls had a bake sale to raise money for Kids Against Hunger and raised nearly $1400!  We recently found out that Ellie has scoliosis and her attitude about this amazes me.  She has a very strong faith that I admire.  Ellie was in a musical this past spring at Faith Baptist Church.  This is definitely her passion and she hopes to do more in this area.  She is still taking piano and we have seen a big jump in her abilities – I love to listen to her play.  Ellie has loved having her cousin Kaley right next door to her bedroom; this is almost like having a sister!

 Levi is now 12 years old and continues on his quest to be the comic relief in our family.  Between him and his Uncle Al (who also lives with us), we get our fair share of laughter around here, that must be why we are so healthy.  Levi went to the emergency room twice this year, once because he couldn’t breathe due to his tonsils swelling so big.  The second time was when he dove into a friend’s garden while playing night games and a metal stake went into his neck.  We are thankful that even though it was quite deep it missed his vocal chords and larynx by ¼ inch.  He is my child that loves to sing and has a beautiful voice – that truly would have been tragic.  Levi used his voice in a musical this spring (the same one Ellie and his Dad were in), and did a wonderful job.  This year was Levi’s turn to go on a vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Petersen.  They went to Duluth and saw all the sites, camping on the end of a pier, and then headed over to camp at the headwaters to the Mississippi River.   Levi has been working hard on his French, hoping to use it while in Cameroon.  We laughed though when he called the peninsula where they were camped a “Pierre”.

Chris is 24 now and is renting a house just around the corner from us in our neighborhood.  He has been working doing cement and pavers and often working with Drew.  He will be snow plowing again this winter if it ever snow.  He just recently broke his wrist while snow boarding.  We will miss him while we are in Africa but he'll have Uncle Al here to visit if he gets lonely.

Drew and I have been married 18 years now and were able to spend a weekend at a friend’s cabin to celebrate.  We are blessed with the most wonderful people around us.  This year we have been humbled and thankful for all the gifts given to us towards our trip.  It blows our mind how so many of you have been excited for us and want to be a part of this adventure by praying for us as well as all the money people have invested in us.  Thank you for believing in what we are doing and encouraging us in our faith.  We leave for Cameroon January 5th for 10.5 weeks, please keep us in your prayers.  Have a blessed New Year! 

Love, Marie and Drew Petersen (Kyle, Ellie and Levi)

2 Thessalonians 1:11 -12a  “We keep on praying that our God will make us worthy of the life to which He called us.  We pray that God, by His power, will fulfill all our good intentions and faithful deeds.  Then everyone will give honor to the name of our Lord Jesus because of us.”

Teen House Church

Last night we had a whole bunch of teens in the house for Teen House Church (THC).  As I looked around our crowded basement I was so impressed with the people involved in my kids lives.  Our THC rotates between homes and is lead by the Dads of the teens who attend.  We also have a young couple that lead THC as a whole, getting to know the kids, challenging them, praying for them and being consistent role models in the lives of the youth of our church.  Joe is an amazing man, he recently finished law school and is now a lawyer.  He is an extremely intelligent man.  I admire the fact that despite having to study hard while he was in school, he put memorizing the Bible as a higher priority.  I love how he shows these kids that God honors and blesses us when we put Him first.  Joe's wife Katie is as sweet as they come and makes everyone feel as if they were her best friend.  She is so quick to share her story of straying off the straight and narrow path, and the fact that God rescued her.  They are both so real and transparent, not sugar coating life in any way.  I'm so thankful my kids have a chance to see up close and personal the results of living for Christ in people outside of our immediate family.

The other thing that struck me last night was the fact that 8 Dads gave up their Saturday evening to spend with a bunch of teens.  The Dads rotate who is teaching, if you are hosting the teen group then you are teaching.  All of these men have so much to offer in the way of their unique experiences.  It would be easy to just opt out of coming to THC when it isn't your turn to share, but rarely do they choose not to come.  Besides teaching when it is their turn, they help prepare the communion cups, play bongo drums during worship, serve by cleaning, lead in prayer or just hang out and have fun getting to know the friends of their children.   The kids don't seem embarrassed or annoyed that their parents are here with them.  To most of the teens it's quite normal to have a conversation with any of the parents in attendance.  It's encouraging to me as a Mom to know that my kids have a safe environment with many caring adults that they could talk to if they wanted or needed.

One other important feature that makes the THC a success is the fact that the teens really do own this time.  Each week 2 different teens will share from their own personal quiet times about what God is showing them.  Ellie shared this week about reading a verse that said to pray 7 times a day because that is more important than the law.  This challenged her to put God first and to pause several times a day to pray, also to read her Bible even before tackling her school work.  Kyle shared about reading in Revelation where it's talking about things to expect in heaven, like getting a new name.  He thought this was really cool and looked forward to these benefits of heaven, but as he was reading he noticed that all these things came to those who were "conquerors".  To be a conqueror requires more that just sitting around letting life go by, it requires action.  He shared how this challenged him and hopefully that challenged others who were listening to his thoughts.  There are quite a few kids that show up so after worshiping and breaking bread together they have a chance to go into "tiny" groups to share prayer requests on a more intimate level.  These smaller groups are lead by some of the older teens, girls in separate groups from the boys.  I love that the relationships built here are across all ages.

Relationships is really the key feature in the THC and how it is structured.  A meal is served each time they meet,  what better way to fellowship then over food.  There is a time for worship, with a few of the teens leading singing and playing guitar.   There are 30 + teens crammed into a small space, singing praises, sharing communion and reminding us of the ultimate relationship we are needing with God.  The families are in relationship with each other and have an interest in encouraging each others kids in their walk with the Lord.  When the "official" youth group time is over, it's not uncommon for everyone to just stick around and play games or watch a movie.  These are the people we do life with, and what a blessing they are.

Keeping Balance

I've been thinking quite a bit lately about balance.  Maybe it's because I feel like things are so out of balance and I'm not sure how to get it back.  It seems that for the past 11 months I have been single minded, focused on our upcoming trip to Africa.  Even though this is a good thing, taking an immense amount of planning and preparation, it still has swung us out of balance.  Drew has worked long hours, the kids and I have devoted more hours to outside work than we normally would have.  Our school work has been increased so that we will be free to travel without all our books.  Our thoughts are constantly on how many days we have until we leave, what we need to pack, what else needs to be done, how can we avoid getting sick, how exactly do we use SKYPE?  Even our Christmas presents are all revolving around the theme of traveling.  There are many days I feel so overwhelmed that I just can't wait to be on the plane and done with all of the preparations.  In addition to all that leads to us to Africa, life still goes on.  I still need to pay the bills, feed my family, wash clothes, clean our home, correct papers, spend some time with my husband, family and friends... the list seems endless.

I'm sure many of you can relate.  Maybe it's not Africa exactly, but it could be a number of things that pull us off balance.  Maybe it's hockey, or drama, or some other sport that has your family feeling anything but united.  I envision myself at times on a balance beam just trying to get to the other side.  One way to keep your balance is to find a focus point and just concentrate on that.  One of my favorite verses is in the book of Hebrews, "Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our Faith."  I even have this verse stenciled on my family room wall so that I will be reminded of this every day.  I try to make Jesus my focus point when life starts to get crazy, at times it feels like I'm balancing on the beam, making my way across, only to be bombarded with water balloons trying to knock my off.

  Just this week, I had lunch with some college friends.  The subject came up of one of my friends daughters who both have scoliosis.  Ellie and I had just been at the hospital visiting her friend after surgery for scoliosis.  I  went home and was talking to Drew about how strange it was that 2 of my friends were going through this.  Ellie walked in the room and I had her bend over to check her spine, I was just curious.  Drew and I were shocked to see that her spine was VERY crooked.  I slept little that first night, wondering how I could fit this into our already busy days and yet feeling this fear that I couldn't just let it go.  I had to remind myself to get my eyes off the circumstances and the "what ifs" and trust the One who formed my little girl in my womb.  Today I was able to get her into our chiropractor for an x-ray and he confirmed that she does have scoliosis.  He assured us that even though her spine is in the shape of an S, she is still very healthy and he does not see FEAR when he looks at her x-ray.  He was so encouraging about moving forward in having a base evaluation and checking her again to see if anything has changed once we return to the states.  It's funny how freaked out I was feeling but actually nothing had changed in God's eyes.  He knew her spine was growing crooked and yet He was still leading us to go to Africa.  Ellie is the same young lady she was before we looked closely at her spine.   I realize when we return, we will have to make decisions that will be for Ellie's best interest.  Today I can rest, knowing that I don't have to have everything figured out all at once.

I think balance is really about recognizing when we are off balance and putting our focus back where it belongs.  I'm going to share a journal entry from a Mom who just yesterday went to be with Jesus.  Heidi Swenson left behind a husband and 7 young children.  Even in her final days, she could see that her family was getting off balance.  Not that anyone would blame them, but it is so beautiful how she brings their eyes to the future glory of meeting Jesus.

09.01.2011

Would you mind dear family and precious friends if I go on ahead of you to help Jesus prepare a place of exquisite beauty, tremendous joy, and radiant love for you?  I am exhausted and weary from all this mourning.  I feel the mourning day and night, in your presence and away.  I hurt as I cause you to mourn.  I am exhausting those nearest to me.  I sob every day at being able to do less and less to care for you.  I imagined myself helping you lovely grandparents in your old age, not this.  I hurt so much over what I am causing you to feel and sacrifice in your tender care of me.  I must change my perspective.

So, would you mind if I focus on the joy ahead of all of us--a time when we are all re-united at the feet of Jesus?  Then it won't feel so much like I am deserting you, rather going on ahead where I shall lovingly and eagerly await your adoptive arrival into my Father's heavenly family.  As I prepare my/ our wedding gown for Christ, know I forgive you any shortcomings and humbly  I beg your forgiveness for the hurt you hold from my existence.

With an everlasting joy, Heidi (taken from her Caringbridge entry)

The things that I am balancing are nothing compared to what this dear family is going through.  I hope her words challenge you like they do me, to remember to fix your eyes on Jesus too.  

Hebrews 12:1-3  "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Blessings from Friends

Last night I got together with some neighbor friends from our previous home in Robbinsdale, MN.   We try to get together at this time of year and catch up on each others lives.  We all have kids in the junior high and high school age and have been friends since they were all just little.  My friend Val, who happens to be the quietest one of the bunch, was feeling disconnected as a stay home Mom of small children.  She took it upon herself to make up little invitations and walk around the neighborhood delivering them to any home that looked like they had kids living there.  I was also home with my 2 young ones in diapers.   Val invited us all to her house for a play date and a chance to get to know other Moms in the neighborhood who were home with their children.  We have been friends ever since that time (about 12 years) and what a blessing these women have been to me.

I have such fond memories of living in Robbinsdale and the friendships we developed during that time.  One Mom loved celebrating Valentine's Day and Halloween and would always have a fun party for the kids.  She was so good about having crafts, games and snacks all revolving around a theme.  Had it not been for her, I don't think my kids would have done some of the fun (but messy) craft projects they did while in her home.  We had alley "Polka" dance parties at another friends house with a real live polka band.  We decorated bikes for 4th of July and had our own parade on the parkway.  We spent countless hours at the park,  the kids playing and the Moms all gabbing.  We had picnics and went on field trips.  We hung out and enjoyed root beer floats before the fireworks during Whiz Bang Days and then walked to the park together to watch the display of lights.  We signed our kids up for t-ball and cheered them on  even when they ran the wrong way around the bases.  We encouraged each other by listening and sharing the day to day struggles of being a Mom.  We walked together at times, we prayed together and even had a Bible study at one point.  Even though we all had different choices of churches, or even schools once the kids became of age, we all were on the same quest of being the best Moms we could be.  I know my experience of being a stay home Mom may not reflect what most people experience, but for the Moms of our neighborhood it was a wonderful community to raise our kids in.  Over the years many of us have moved away but those friendships will always have a special place in our hearts.

At our Moms get together last night, we exchanged blessings and prayers with each other instead of gifts.  Just reflecting on the memories we share together was really a blessing in itself.  As we age we have experienced the heartache of parents dying and relationships that have ended.  We have also experienced the joys together of seeing our children become these amazing and talented people, making a difference in their world.  The focus turned from our children  to my family and our upcoming trip to Africa.  These dear friends all gave me a blessing, a prayer, letter or verse to carry with me on my journey.  They know that missions have an important place in my heart and it was so amazing to have them excited that this dream of mine is about to happen.  I felt so humbled by their encouragement and their faith in that which is not yet seen.  Candles were lit as a symbol of the difference one light + one light + one light etc can make if we just step out and do the task God has given us. 

 I'm proud to know these women who have influenced me in many ways.  I think of the courage that Val had long ago to invite a bunch of strangers to her home in hopes of filling that feeling of being alone.  What if she would have ignored that prompting?  My life has been richer because of the friendships made that day.   What is it that God is asking you to do today?  The blessings that may come from just a simple task may be more than you can ever imagine.

Experimental Cooking

I have had so much on my mind lately that I just shut down and do nothing.  My house is a mess because I have started projects and then got distracted and never finished them.  We have one more week of our Homeschool Co-op.  I teach a Critical Thinking class so there are papers to be graded and I need to come up with a final grade for the 14 students in my class.  Thankfully, Drew has decided that helping me grade papers would keep me sane.  Last week I was stressing out trying to get all of our visa applications organized, it was not an easy task.  The visa application is sent, along with our passports, so now we just wait for them to return.  I have had numerous blogs fly through my mind but have not had time to capture them, so unfortunately most of them are gone forever.  With 4 weeks to go until our departure, I am attempting to take one day at a time.  That being said,  I am very distracted by thoughts of Africa and preparations that need to be made.  My brain is divided by what needs to happen to function today and my daydreaming about my future reality.

One of the great unknowns about our trip has to do with what happens once our team heads home.  Usually when you are with a team, a cook is provided and you are well cared for.  I was anticipating that I will feed my family as I do here in Minnesota.  At first I was getting a little distressed about what this would look like and thinking I might want to hire a cook for our family.  It could have to do with the fact that Kerry Bender has been to Ndu and told me about buying a lamb at the market, walking it home, feeding it for a few days and his daughter naming it.  Then one day, they (the locals) slaughtered the lamb and that was supper.  I love to cook from scratch but I have never gone that far back to the "natural".  The thought of killing my supper does freak me out a little.  I dealt with it by assuming there will be no way they could possibly expect me to cook under such conditions, so they must be providing a cook.  That would not be an unusual thing at all in Africa and it would actually help whoever we hired to earn some money for their family.

About a week ago, in the same email that gave the wonderful news that our housing would be half of what we had expected, there was a short note about me "not needing a cook".  Those words left me trembling.  I was talking to my computer even - "What do you mean, I don't need a cook?"  When I had finally composed myself, I simply replied that I couldn't possible kill my supper.  The answer I received left me somewhat relieved when I was advised that indeed I would not have to kill my supper.  After breathing a sigh of relief, I started wondering exactly what that means.  I envisioned how my cat leaves his "treasures" on our door step and wondered if I would find a carcass of some kind waiting for me to skin it and make stew.  I'm guessing not, but that is how my imagination goes.

Once I got over myself (again),  I started thinking about how our full house has been preparing me for this all along.  I would say most of the meals I make are what I call "experimental cooking".  I love to throw things together and use my favorite spices.  My family is very encouraging and most meals get the thumbs up.  Their biggest complaint is that I can't usually make the same meal twice.  Kyle keeps telling me to make my own cookbook.  I haven't had that same response from people outside of my home but I'm thankful my kids will eat anything I put before them.  I've been flipping through magazines and cookbooks feeling very inspired and excited to try my hand at African cooking.

As with most things concerning our upcoming trip to Cameroon, I have had to process and in the end I've come to a point of embracing that which I feared.  I think at this point I will be very disappointed if I am not cooking at least for my immediate family.  I look forward to finding unique treasures of local vegetables and fruits and creating some amazing meals.  The best part is, I will have my family surrounding me, hopefully with double "thumbs up".

Perfect fit for Drew

Going on a missions trip is always a lesson in flexibility.  You may go into it thinking you have an idea of what you will be doing and it won't look anything at all like you imagined.  That is part of the excitement of it all.  I'm a planner so this is not easy for me.  It's interesting because you send your information out of all your skills and talents and then you wait.  Every now and then I get an email that lets me know that they are working on what we will be doing and give me just a hint of what is to come.  Drives me crazy as I try to read  between every line to see if I can eek out just a tiny bit of  information that isn't being said.  In the end, I'm left trusting the people in charge - most whom I have never met.


As the days get closer to our departure I have had to ask a few questions about the plans for our family.  A little over a week ago, we still needed about $3000 in our account.  This was a lot of money to have to take out of our savings.  We could do it but it would leave us with very little upon our return.  I emailed to find out more specifically what we would need to pay for housing while in Cameroon.  The email I got back just made me smile at how well God takes care of us.  Found out the housing where we are going (Ndu) is half of what we were thinking.  That was a savings of $2000!  Shortly after this we were given gifts in person and more deposited into our account.  Financially it is all falling into place - Praise God!


The other cool part of the story is also evidence of God's hand in this whole journey.  Our family has been part of an AWANA program at Faith Baptist church in Minneapolis.  Over the years we have heard about missionaries that they support in Cameroon and their church has also sent short term mission teams to Cameroon.  I was thinking about one family in particular that homeschool their children and work full time as missionaries in Cameroon.  In one of my emails to Wycliffe I asked if we would be able to get gifts to this family from their support church in Minneapolis.  I was informed that we probably wouldn't see them because they lived in the mountains but the gifts could be sent on to them. 


 I guess within an hour from that reply, the person in charge of our assignment received a request from the Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary (CBTS)  in Ndu.  The request was for a job through Wycliffe Associates to do construction work - mainly concrete.  My husband has been finishing concrete for 20 years.  It ends up that this is the same place the missionary family I had just asked about lives and works.  She too saw this as God's hand and forwarded our name on to  Eric Hagman, the Africa Area Director of Wycliffe Associates.  Eric and his wife Tracey were long time members of our home church before moving to Africa, not to mention good friends of ours.  Eric immediately replied that our family would be a perfect fit for the job.  I still don't know what part I will be playing while in Ndu but I'm convinced it will fit me just as well as this job fits Drew.  


This kind of thing makes me so excited.  It's obvious that God cares about the details and was working out the pieces to the puzzle far before I ever even had a thought of actually going to Cameroon.  Now here we are just one month before leaving and a few more pieces are revealed to me.  I have no doubt we are right in the middle of God's plan for us as we prepare to live for 10 weeks in Ndu.