Goodbye Chipata

Well it was sad to leave Chipata, our home for 2 years. Bethany left over a month ago so I was on my own to close up the house, give our cat away and say goodbye to our friends. We have felt the peace of God making the transition back to the US and we know He will provide for us as we follow Him daily. I am wrapping things up with Partners Worldwide at their office the next couple weeks and then Lord willing, we are moving to Grand Rapids August 7!

Here are some pictures of our last month in Chipata.

Before Bethany left our friends threw us a farewell pizza party. It was a fun time as we enjoyed homemade Italian pizza! Here is a picture of all of us. It was at night so its a bit dark. These were mostly our ex-patriot friends in Chipata.

Also before Bethany left we decided to climb the tallest hill/mountain in Chipata. Here is our group at the top. Many of the people in these photos we had the opportunity of sharing the gospel of Christ with them and praying for and with them. It was an unexpected ministry that the Lord gave us.

Here is our cat, Shumba on our last night together. I found her sleeping in this bag. We will miss her, but she is in good hands now with our German/Brazilian friends.

The big event in Africa the past couple months has been the World Cup. It was fun to watch it with our international friends who included British, Italian, German, Brazilian and South African. Here is Marco singing the Italian national anthem with the two Italian boys that Bethany taught.

As we left Chipata we saw a lot of development projects going on, both private and public, like tarred roads, a shopping mall and a large hotel. Below is the hotel which is going up quickly and the shopping mall, which should be opening very soon. (I took them while driving so they are not very good quality:).

Finally, I gathered with friends once more before I left. We all ate Mexican food as a Zambian friend of ours who lived in Arizona prepared us quesadillas and burritos. It was the same night the US got knocked out of the World Cup :(. Here we are about to enjoy our meal.

And here is my last Sunday at the church we were a part of in Chipata. I finally can post a video since I have a good internet connection.