Howdy y'all!

Another great road trip is in the books - we had a good time in Racine Wisconsin at Trinity, Christ the King, and Redeemer Lutheran  churches.  We drove home to Saint Louis Sunday and apparently brought the wintry Wisconsin weather home with us.  Not exactly our plan!

It is great to be home again.  Maya and I spent some time talking and thinking about the upcoming transition to Botswana and looking at some of the various supplies we may need to procure here before going to Botswana.  I also read newsletters from colleagues in Botswana, the Beckendorfs and Veiths and it really helped to refocus me on our upcoming mission.  For both of them they are starting to hit their stride in their projects, both after some period of time on the field.  Vision is good, it helps through the times of waiting.

The next two weeks are times of cleaning and organizing, whittling away at what we have and what we will take to Botswana, making contacts with JAARS, an organization that helps with missionary logistics that has indicated they can help get stuff to Botswana for us.  Still feels like a lot of loose ends at this point, but there's a good bit of time too so that is good.

We hear that in Botswana there is quite a bit of flooding especially in the Northwest so pray for folks affected by that as well as attendant health problems with an increased mosquito population (malaria), the potential for water-borne illness (cholera), and also increased cases of unpleasant people and wildlife confrontations as ecosystem borders have been thrown into disarray by the flooding. 

The Lord's blessing on your holy week - the savior lifted on the cross is truly hosanna in the highest - given for you to save you now.  May you find joy in him who was crucified and who left the tomb empty that first Easter morning.  He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!