Plans are moving quickly

For those who may not have been able to read between the lines, here is a quick update of what is happening in the coming months. 

After much discussion, conversations with supporting churches and prayer we have decided that it is time to return to the US. While we first thought that we would make this step in early 2027, everything has been moving much more quickly. Our house sold within 2 weeks and we will be out of the house at the end of November this year. The shippers come on or around November 17 and we purchased our tickets to return to the US already. 

So on December 7 we will fly to Indiana where we will for the first time ever be able to spend Christmas with our son’s family. We will also immediately start looking for houses in the Indianapolis area so that we can get set up as quickly as possible. Our things may show up some time around Christmas, or later. We would like to be in place already, although things may not move quite that quickly. 

In getting ready for the shippers and turning over our house, we have been cleaning pout - discovering what we have had in the cellar and attic for many many years. The bedrooms and living room already look quite different, since we have passed on a good bit of our furniture. But what do you do with all of the memories? They remain, firmly locked into some things, some pictures and mostly in our minds. 

And while all of this is happening, we continue trying to keep up with our various activities with the church. We have our weekly Bible studies, singings and are planning on helping with a marriage workshop near the end of November. Soon we will be looking at how we can continue some of these activities online as well as pick up new ways to serve wherever we end up in Indiana. 

We know that we will have a good bit of culture shock to work through. We know that we will miss the people we have been with for more than 30 years here in Belgium and the Netherlands. But we also know that God will bless us with new relationships where we are going. We know that we will be in a position to build even more on our relationship with our boys and their families. 

But it sure is moving quickly!

(Photo of our living room with just one couch and 2 chairs from the other room - so that we have somewhere to sit).

Where oh where Wednesday: the center of Africa

Depending on how old you are, you might know this country as Zaire or Congo. If you know it as Congo, you might have to ask yourself which Congo. This is the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC. 

The country started out in history books as a free state, a private “country” owned by Belgian King Leopold II. The atrocities that took place there have continued to shock people throughout the decades that followed - as they became known. The Belgian government took over the colony because of many of these atrocities. But they continued the exploitation of the country until its independence in 1960. 

Names like Lumumba (who was assassinated), Mobutu and Kabila are perhaps well known, each for their own reason. Mobutu was the one who changed the name of the country to Zaire, attempting to return to a more original name. The Congo river was also known as the Zaire. The name came from a Portuguese adaptation of a local language name. 

Kabila changed the name back to Congo. But there are two countries named “Congo”. The Republic of Congo is on its border, which is why it calls itself the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its capital is Kinshasa and it is the 2nd largest country in Africa, the 11th largest in the world (according to Wikipedia). Over 124 million people, mostly French-speaking, call this country home. 

Most recently, the DRC was one of the surprise darlings at the World Cup held in the United States. They reached the knockout phase after having kept Portugal to a tie. In the knockout phase they went ahead against England before finally losing 2-1 and dropping out. Their play was exciting and inspiring. 

Memories

We are busy cleaning out the house. The house has sold (within 2 weeks) and we are preparing for movers to come in November so that we can return to the US in December. This is sooner than we first thought, but will work out well. It just means that there is still a lot that needs to be done in a shorter amount of time. 

Most of this is going through all the “stuff” that has accumulated. You notice I don’t say we accumulated it - it just somehow appeared. However it arrived, it now needs to be gotten rid of. Some of that “stuff” is stuff that people can use and we are trying to find good new owners. We have people who have already taken a good bit of our furniture. Other things have found their way to the recycling store. They take book, clothes and anything electronic. 

The hardest thing to deal with is all of the paper. You know the things - all those papers that you saved because it was important (like bank statements from 30 years ago, ALL of the kids school papers and much more). There are also some papers we brought with us when we first arrived. I found them in the cellar where they have been these past 30+ years. And still, we will be taking some of that with us. The rest is going into the trailer to go to the container park with all the clothes that have gotten wet in the cellar and are not useable any more. 

Coming across pictures brings back memories. It is fun to take some time to look through all of those memories - as long as it doesn’t take too much time. Today I also found the letters we sent each other when we were just dating. Airmail letters, the thin paper covered in the tight scrawl so that as much could be said as possible. We came across pictures of us both very young, attending a banquet at York College. There is even one of the concert which was the moment when we first met. 

It is amazing to come across some of these things. But it is also exciting to know that there are still memories to be made. We are sad to be physically leaving our church family, but we are also excited to see what new things will come in this season of our life. 

(Dave Rampton, Keenan McClellan, Scott Raab, Brett Osborne, Bret Carter)