The Container is Here!

Look what arrived at our house today:

This is the container that will transport our stuff to Africa. It will travel from Virginia, over the Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope, up to Kenya, and overland to Uganda. In other words, our stuff will be more well-traveled than we are!

Silas was quite thrilled to have a real trailer sitting in our driveway:

Now to get it packed by end of the week!

Tropical Medicine

Last week, Mark participated in a tropical medicine course held at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He was one of two civilians in the class, but all the army folks were very kind and welcoming. Not only was the class really helpful, but he learned lots of new army lingo like snake-eater (special forces guy) and fatpill (donut) :-). While Mark was in class, the boys and I enjoyed touring around Washington DC. Here are some pics:

At the National Zoo...

Relaxing at the hotel...

At the World War 2 memorial...

Some details .....

We have had a lot of great questions about our upcoming move to Uganda and what we will be doing there. So I thought I would post some excerpts from an email we sent out earlier. 

What is the Orthodox Presbyterian Church?

The OPC has been our denomination for the past 10 years. Here's the website: www.opc.org.

What do you need to do before you go?

At this point we are packing..... Our shipping container will arrive in our driveway in a couple of days. We then pack in everything we will be bringing to Uganda and it will head out for its journey on June 5th. On June 7th we will close on our house then on the 8th we will head out to western NC for missionary training at CIT. We will be at CIT for 6 weeks. After that we will have a few weeks to travel around and visit family. We then hope to fly out to Uganda around late August. 

What will you be doing in Uganda?

Mark will be working as a missionary deacon. In that capacity, he'll be doing a variety of things including maintenance work, vocational training, orphan and widow care, and general mercy ministry.

He'll also be using his skills as a nurse practitioner. As most of you know, Mark works as a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner (like a physician's assistant) in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Duke. In God's gracious providence, the only pediatric intensive care unit in all of Uganda is in the town we'll be living in! Mark will be working there on a volunteer basis to keep up his skills :-).

The boys and I will be doing a lot of the same things we do here, although I'm sure it will look different: homeschooling, playing with friends, showing hospitality, etc.

How long will you be there?

We hope that Uganda will be our home for many years to come, but we are committed to a 4 year term, with a 6-9 month furlough back here in the states. 

How do your kids feel about it?

Excited and nervous at the same time. Josiah, age 11, has had the hardest time adjusting to the idea. It has been hard giving away pets, and packing up Legos that can't come along with us. It is sad thinking of saying goodbyes to friends. But we know there are new friends ahead of us...not to mention a plethora of fascinating wildlife, including lots of snakes :-).

Do you need to raise support?

No. The OPC fully funds its missionaries. We do not need to raise any financial support, but we seriously covet your prayer support!

Have you shared this with Mark's work yet?

Yes. Since we are going to training earlier Mark has let Duke know that he will soon be leaving. 

Thanks for reading my ramblings and for praying for us! We are super excited, but definitely feel overwhelmed at times. The boys and I are memorizing Psalm 91 right now, and its words are a huge comfort.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust."

We hope to see many of you this summer as we travel around! We'd love to hear from you. We will still have access to our gmail account, skype and facebook while in Uganda. 

Great news!

We have had a grace-FILLED week here at the Weber house! On Monday, we received two offers on our house, of which, we accepted one. Being scheduled to close on the house June 7, our plan was to find a rental to house us from June-September. In September we were scheduled to go to 6 weeks of cross-cultural training at the Center for Intercultural Training (CIT) in Union Mills, NC, and then depart for Uganda. 

On Tuesday, we received an email from CIT informing us that there was a slot available in the June/July training. It would start June 8 (the day after we close on the house). Would we be interested? We could not believe how perfect the timing of this email was. If we had gotten the email a few days before, we would have turned it down, because our house wouldn't have been sold. If we would have gotten the email a few days after, we would have turned it down, because Mark would not have been able to give adequate notice at work. The offer came on the perfect day! We accepted, and are now scheduled to go to training in June.

I have been humbly reminded that God cares about ALL the details, and has EVERYTHING in His Hands. While I would readily profess this, my heart is prone to doubt and wander. Thankfully, "if we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself." (2 Timothy 2:13). 

The task now is to figure out what to pack into our 20' container that will be shipped to Uganda, and to get rid of the rest. We'll then live out of our suitcases for 3 months while we attend training, and then travel around visiting with friends and family.  We hope to leave for Uganda in late August. 

In no particular order, please pray for:

1. Wisdom regarding what to take and what to leave.
2. Grace and willingness to be flexible.
3. Freedom from fear and anxiety.
4. That we would think, talk, and act in a way that demonstrates how good Jesus is.