Visit to the US

We are rounding up the end of our 6 week trip to the US to visit family. This has been a very fun and refreshing trip, and it came at such a great time for Mapile and I. It had been two years since I had been to the States, and it's been so wonderful getting to see my friends and family! If you have traveled over seas much, you can imagine it's also been an emotional roller coaster for us (especially me) - so many feelings of: happy to see family, missing things about Swaziland, overwhelmed about all the stuff in America, uncertainty about the future, excited to experience more of America with Mapile, exhausted keeping up with a 8-9 month old through jet lag and different schedules each day... Yes, roller coaster of emotions for sure.

My entire immediate family

We were able to connect with my entire immediate family while being in the States. We took a camping trip out to Idaho, where we also met up with a lot of extended family. We camped up there for 7 days, with a 3 day drive there and back! On the way to Idaho we drove up to Minnesota so stay with my brother Matt and his family, and we stayed there for a few days before driving all the way to the camp site in Idaho. It was so nice to be with family, but very tiring as you can imagine camping with a baby. It was a neat experience for Mapile because he got to go on excursions with the other guys and ride on four wheelers and motorcycles into the mountains where they all went fishing. Mapile learned how to fly fish in the mountains of Leadore, Idaho. He also touched snow for the first time! I spent most of my days at the camp with other ladies, which was fun because I spent a lot of time with my mom, sisters in law, and nieces and nephews. I also soaked up the time I got to spend time with Simo, just resting in the hammock together, taking naps in the tent, or going for walks with her in the baby carrier.

Mapile fishing

Mapile and Nathan

Scroll down for more Idaho photos...

After coming back from Idaho, we have been staying with my brother Nathan and his family in Marion, IN. We have been busy doing stuff like getting my name changed on my US documents, shopping for stuff to take back to Swaziland with us, catching up with friends from the area, and continuing to spend time with our precious family.

Summer fun with cousin Caleb

Mapile with our nephew Isaiah in their Zambian soccer jerseys

Mapile learning how to ride a dirt bike in the field by my brother's house

We are also in the exciting and beginning new stages of raising a base of supporters for a ministry God has called us to do in the southern part of Swaziland! We have partnered with an organization called The Cause to help us in the fundraising aspect and financial accountability aspect of mission work. You can check out www.thecause.org and click on The Vilakati Journey under "Partners" to see more. We'll also be talking a lot more about this in the weeks and months to come.

We fly out this Wednesday to go back to Swaziland, and we'll arrive back there this Friday. We are excited to get back to our home, but also a little anxious as we will both hit the ground running. We both go back to work on Monday, August 28th. Mapile will start teaching his New Testament class that day, and I'll drive out to Project Canaan with Simo to start back with the kiddos again.

Please keep us in your prayers:

- Pray for our travels and transition back to Swaziland

- Pray that the Lord would continue to guide us as we follow hard after him - particularly in the journey of starting to raise some financial support

- Pray for us as we handle the emotions of leaving family again, and all that goes with that

- Pray that God would protect our family and help us to grow spiritually

On the way to Idaho!

Simo went swimming for the first time at a hotel on the way to Idaho, and she loved it!

Check out that morning face!

Mapile with our nieces, Amelia, Audrey, and Annabelle

My 3 brothers, and our family friends, Silas and Stephanie Clark

 

 
 
 

Simo with Jeanne Argot, a dear friend of mine from my time at IWU

 Simo with Melissa Jo, a friend from Brookhaven Wesleyan Church in Marion

At my Alma Mater!

Lily and Maribeth - these are two friends I lived with in college.

We got to spend a long afternoon together during this trip.

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." - Hebrews 11:13-16