Only 3 weeks to go - time really flies!

It is now only 3 weeks till we will leave for Zambia. The time is flying by and with the Christmas holidays coming up, time seems to go even faster. God has been good to us and things are slowly but surely falling into place. The amount of paperwork to go through is quite astounding and we're not even sure that we have covered everything yet. It is a good thing that Anneloes will still be home for the first couple of months so she can capture some open ends for us.

Anneloes is finishing her co-op in Toronto this week and will go back to University of Guelph in January for the second semester of her third year Economics and Finance. Elise will be done with her last exam on Wednesday and we'll pick her up from Redeemer on Thursday so that she'll be home as well. Lucinda is hardly home since she is visiting a lot of her high school friends who are coming back from university for the Christmas holidays. Machteld is still working this week at the Holland Shop but after that she has one more day and then she will be done. Gert is almost finished helping the Maple Avenue Baptist Church in Georgetown and is running the last errands in regard of all the paperwork.

We want to thank our church family for an absolutely amazing offering for the Zambia Mission a few weeks ago. It is very encouraging to see and experience how involved and supportive our church family is of our mission. Without your support and prayers we would not be able to do this. As we have sung many time at Camp Hope this past summer "God is good all the time" and we have certainly felt that this last couple of weeks. The excitement and tension are increasing but also the realization that we will leave Anneloes and Elise behind in Canada. Leaving them behind is the most difficult thing for us at this point, especially since it will be the first time that this happens. Please continue to lift them and us up in your prayers.

We also want to thank every one for the encouraging emails and comments that we received over the last couple of days. It is great to see that many have taken an interest in our mission. Again, God has been good and we are humbled by His faithfulness.

In all the busyness around the Christmas holidays, may we never forget the real meaning of Christmas!

Blessings to all of you.