When Velda and I set out on this journey, one of the questions we were asked the most was,"So, where are you guys going to go?" Our answer has always been the same," We don't know. We just want to go where God wants us to go." Basically, we had it narrowed down to this planet. We know we love Africa. We know we love Zambia. We know we love the Tonga people of Zambia, but what we didn't know was, is this where God wants to use us. We knew we had to proceed with caution and try and be neutral to where we would serve. We did not want to go to Zambia and work among the Tonga people, because it was what we wanted to do, if we were to end up there, we wanted it to be because God put us there. We made inquiries with the SIM personnel in Zambia about opportunities to serve there, but after gaining some information and praying about it, we realized that Zambia was not the place God had for us. Why is that? We had already been there, we were familiar with the people and the land. We had a burden for reaching the people there. Why would God not send us there? My answer is I don't know, but I do trust Him. I do know that we have to be desperately dependent upon Him to figure out where in the world He wants us to go. I do know that He wants us to passionately pursue Him, that He will make known His will. So Velda and I sat out on that pursuit. We looked at different countries and the needs listed in each one. I have to admit, it can be quite overwhelming sometimes. Velda kept telling me that she didn't want to pick a job, she wanted God to pick it. I kept searching and reading various opportunity descriptions, but nothing really seemed to be a fit for us. Then Velda suggested we go away for a day and just be with God. No seeking placement, no agenda, no supplications, just seeking God and His presence. I knew she was right. We went away for a day and just spent the day with God in prayer, in His word, and in worship. It was when we quit seeking "where", and just sought "Him", that He gave us what we had been seeking. Through a remarkable chain of events that we see His sovereign hand behind, he opened the door to us to serve in Malawi as pioneer church planters to an unreached people group known as the Yao. It is not yet official, we are planning a trip to Malawi to meet the SIM team, Yao people and seeking affirmation from God. We will continue to seek Him and we know that if it is to be Malawi, that is where we will be, if it is not Malawi, we have learned much about seeking His will. His will is for us to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." and you will be where he wants you.
Please continue to pray for us as we seek His will for us, SIM, the Malawi team, and most of all for the Yao people and that they would be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.
http://malawi.sim.org/
http://sim.org/index.php/country/MW
