Arrival in Johannesburg

On Sept 1st we boarded WestJet Flight # 254 after saying a tearful good bye to family and friends at the John G Diefenbaker International Airport, in Saskatoon. This was the end of a busy two weeks of packing up our earthly goods into a 8' x 8.6' x 20' Container, saying goodbye to many friends and family and preparing to move into entirely new roles. On August 24th our congregation of Wildwood Mennonite Church held a commissioning service to send us on our way with their support and blessing. We are deeply grateful for that support and encouragement.

Being able to stay with Allison & Jason while we cleaned out our house made the transition much easier while also allowing us to spend more time with them and talk about what this separation would mean to our family. Our youngest daughter, Melanie kept in touch via Skype from Guatemala, where she is doing a CIDA internship.

The first leg of our journey took us to Toronto and then Niagara-on-the-Lake where we said goodbye to Bruno's mother. At 92 this was a difficult parting. Lois' mother had said her farewells in Saskatoon.

Subsequent to this we boarded a British Airways 747-400 which took us to Heathrow, London and eventually to the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. There MCCer, Carl Stauffer met us and took us to the Baptist International Guest House nearby, along with some foodstuffs and groceries to welcome us to our new place. We will be staying at the Guest House until we find some longer term accommodation.

New Beginnings: getting over jetlag, waking up to see an African Hoopoe in front of our door; renting a vehicle to get around to look for a permanent vehicle and accommodation; venturing onto the busy streets of metropolitan Jo-burg (as it is known) to try to find our way around; buying our first groceries at a local supermarket known as SPAR... So we begin all over again to set up a home, make new friends, find a new place of worship, and engage in a new land.

In all this we trust that God will lead and guide and that whatever we do will be part of Kingdom building. A big thanks to all of you who helped to make this transition happen and who will live with the implications of such change.