Hello everyone! I think we start almost every one of these newsletters surprised at how quickly time has passed. We're already a month into 2021! We hope things are looking up for you, here's how they're going with us. |
|
|
Most of January we spent in Florida for Overland's annual One Tribe Conference. This is an awesome time where all of us who are in America come together to worship, to hear from our leaders, to be poured into by various ministers, and to recalibrate around the vision of the gospel for the ministry ahead! This was our first time to meet the latest Advanced Mission Training class, about 40 of them joined staff and are in the process of support raising. It's so exciting to see the team growing, even in a year of unusual inconvenience! Keep these guys and gals in your prayers as they raise support and get to their teams around the world! If you want to watch or listen to any of the sessions from the conference, you can do that by clicking here! |
|
|
Paper work things are happening!! I know we've explained the process to lots of people lots of times, and it is extremely confusing. But it's moving along! We now have our official letters of invitation from the Angolan government and a church organization there. This means the rest is up to us to get everything authenticated by our government before we take our applications to the Angolan Embassy in Houston. Pray for quick turn arounds of documents in each step! Our goal is to get to Angola in March! Before then, we plan to make a trip to Pennsylvania as we wait for documents to be authenticated. We're so excited to get back to Africa, and we're so thankful for all your support and prayers and encouragement (and patience!) through this long process! |
|
|
This guy. Wow you've all seen this photo so many times by now. The good news is, we reached our original vehicle goal!! The less good news is, the import costs to bring in a vehicle to Angola have significantly increased. This means it's no longer the best option to import a vehicle from Dubai as we planned, and we will instead purchase a vehicle in Angola. It's slightly more expensive to purchase vehicles there, so we are looking to raise about $3,000 more. We're so close! Thank you all so much who have given so generously! |
|
|
If you supported us financially in 2020, you should have received an End of Year Report in the mail from us! It has awesome photos and stories from our team. As reports go, it's one of the least boring (and most beautiful). If you'd like to check that out online, you can do that here. We still have a few extra hard copies, so if you want one for yourself, your church, your small group, or a friend, let us know and we can send them your way! |
|
|
| | We had a very cool opportunity to do an interview with Pastor Jerry Vincent of Central Baptist Church here in Marshall! This has been our church home while we are here, and we are so thankful for them. Check out this three part interview if you want to hear more about how we ended up in missions in Angola and what it's like! | | |
|
| | If you just love us, bless our hearts, but you really don't know what it is we do over there, our website is a great place to find more information. It's hard to share so much information in a few conversations, so we spent lots of time trying to add resources and clarifying here! | | |
|
|
We love you all, we're so thankful for you. We would love to see you, or chat with you on zoom, or hear from you by email! Let us know how you are, how we can be praying for you, and when you're coming to Angola to hang out with us. Love! The Benders |
|
|
|
|
