Preparing to leave the USA and arrive in South Africa

Time has gone by so fast since we received our mission call on February 6th. There is so much to do to prepare for a mission. The church does a really good job of giving you a check list of things to do before you leave for the Missionary Training Center. They have a wonderful website that you can use to keep track of all the things you have accomplished on your check list. I was checking the website for some information and this little note was blaring at me.

Sister Kinghorn

Johannesburg South Africa Welfare Country Office

You report in 21 days

 

It's not that I didn't know we were down to 3 weeks but 21 days sure did get here fast! The wonderful thing about preparing to do the Lord's work is he ALWAYS provides a way. We have seen the Lord's hand work many tender mercies on our behalf to make this transition to the mission field a smooth one.

My To Do list has looked something like this

• Find my mother a new home close to my sister and my niece who will be my mother's primary caregivers while we are away. The day my niece took my mom to see the apartments that were a mile or so away from my nieces apartment my mother was told that an apartment would be available that was located on the ground floor within the next month, AND that the monthly rent was $200.00 less than anything else they had previously looked at.(Tender Mercy)
• Get the house ready to rent: The first step was to hire a painter. A young man we had hired in the past to paint for us had just been laid off from his painting job and was available to work for us right away and gave us a really good price. (Tender Mercy) 
• Find a renter  We were approached by another couple who is selling their house so that they can go on a mission in 8 or 9 months and they mentioned that they needed a place to rent. They would LOVE to move into our home completely furnished. Which meant that we wouldn't need to put ALL OF OUR FURNITURE IN STORAGE! (Tender Mercy)
• Sell the Hyundai Elantra and get out of the lease early. When Bruce sold the car to CAR MAX he was told that he payoff was much less than we had previously been told. (Tender Mercy)
•  Sell Bruce's scooter  A family member offered to buy it before we even had a chance to list it. (Tender Mercy)
• Get Immunizations  Bruce required 5 shots and I needed 7, one of which was a shingles shot and that was not covered by my insurance and would normally cost $200-$300. We felt prompted to check with Travis AFB medical clinic and we were told we could get them there for FREE. (Tender Mercy)
• We needed to sell our second car and  just when we were about to take it to CAR MAX our son offered to buy it for his girlfriend. Then our niece who was driving to Southern California offered to drive it to him. (Tender Mercy)

We have truly felt the Lord's hand in our lives each and every day as we have prepared for this mission. We know that the Lord truly does provide a way when he calls us to do his work.
  "I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" 1 Nephi 3:7