It has been some time (too long) since we checked in with all of you to let you know what we have been up to, but things here are going well and we are excited to catch you up on all the happenings!

What We’re Up To

 We arrived back in America at the beginning of August from Portugal.  We survived language school and definitely learned a ton. The number one question has been if we are fluent yet and the answer is definitely not; however, we have come very far and will be prepared when we get to Angola where the language will be solidified by the constant daily use in a country where no one speaks English. 

As of right now we are in the States until further notice. We won’t able to leave for Angola before the end of the year because of the current travel restrictions.  Angola has not yet returned to issuing visas so we have not even been able to start the application process, but in the meantime we still have a lot of fundraising to do to reach our goal for the vehicle that we need to buy.

It is a big goal that we are asking for all your help with! If you know of anyone that may be interested in hearing about the work that we do with Overland, please let us know if we can contact them. You can direct them to our website below if they’d like to know more before meeting us!

We have also been staying busy continuing to study Portuguese and speaking at a couple local churches when the opportunity arises, doing some hiking, and helping with some projects around the house.  It is a very unusual time, being separated from the place where you are called to be can be difficult sometimes.  But no time or season is wasted, God is in control of all of it and it can all be used for his glory regardless of where we are. While we haven’t yet at arrived to the place where our hearts are calling us to be, we know that there are things that God wants us to accomplish now in the place where we are and we always want to be diligent in following whatever He is leading us in now on the way to the larger vision. 

In other news, for some reason we have decided to start running. Not for the presidency, but just for fitness. So if anyone out there is a runner and wants to have some company on a run let us know so we can all suffer together. Or if you just want to grab some large quantities of coffee and catch up we would love that too.  We are in Pennsylvania until October 9th and then we will head down to Texas, so reach out to us wherever you are by email, mail mail, text, pigeon, or some kind of voice call and we can get together as close as you are comfortable with.

Check out our Website!

As always that you so much for your support, both financially and prayerfully.  We could not do what we are doing without the larger body of Christ that is sending us and walking with us constantly.

With love,

The Benders