A couple good friends have told me that they follow my blog...this, of course, would be a great and exciting thing if I actually wrote on it I think! So I will try to be better.
I assume that as our trip to Zimbabwe draws nearer we will have more to journal and also a much greater need to keep loved ones informed. From what I have heard, we won't have our cell phones there and won't always have the internet either; so I think that maybe still we won't get information on here as often as we would like... At any rate, this shall be hopefully the first of many entries to document and keep you updated on our Zimbabwe travels, and we are both excited to be able to share them with you in this way.

The pastor and his wife leading the Zim_2010 team in June traveled to Zimbabwe for a two week preliminary stay in January. They went to solidify contacts and ministry opportunities that the rest of the team will be doing with them when we go in June. They came back with so many stories of how excited the people there are to know that we're coming. They are already fasting every Monday for our arrival, and these are people that already only get one meal a day usually. The ministries we will be doing include: teaching them how to homeschool, teaching them how to build churches, water and sanitation, evangelism, and feeding the starving.

We heard a story from the Pastor R and his wife that they visited a garbage dump to feed people but only had enough for about 50 people (and there were more than that there). They told the people how many they could feed and the men happily stepped aside to let the women eat first. But that was good enough for God! The sadza that they were feeding them never went dry! They fed all the women AND the men until they were satisfied and then even had more left over! :) ...An amazing story of God's ability to still perform miracles.

They also met with Africa University for me while they were there. It seems to be a slow process getting to a position where I can do the research I want there, but I'm sure that it's coming. There are professors there that would love to have me work with them, but I first have to come up with the money to do so. Tyler and I are presently waiting to hear from UT in knoxville if I've been accepted and admitted for the fall term to get my masters in Hydrogeology. They're currently doing research on water in Bangladesh that I think is exactly the research I want to pursue in Zimbabwe. So it would be great for me to learn from them and then be able to develop my own in a couple years... the only problem with this plan of course is that it means waiting a couple years to do research for Zimbabwe...
But God has a plan, and right now we're just walking it out.

We're very busy with all this life stuff! ...sending letters and information to UT knox, sending out support letters for people to partner with us in our trip to Zimbabwe, and still trying to concentrate on each other in our very first months of being married! It's very interesting and very fun. Having so many things uncertain helps us to keep our eyes securely on the Lord... the craziness of our lives constantly reminds us that we can't do it on our own and it helps us to stay in prayer and hold each other accountable to that. :)

I'll try to update again sooner next time!
-Kati