jon and layne heller | Casa Ahavá and our Family

A Time to Give Thanks

A Layne Post

As Jon and I sat around a table full of old and new friends enjoying turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, pies, etc., I could not help but be overwhelmed with gratitude.

About a week and a half ago, I remember lying in bed crying as I thought about the fact that I would have no kitchen to even attempt anything “Thanksgiving-ish”. But the Lord so graciously provided a blessing in disguise: our broken into vehicle. Not only have we gotten a vehicle that is loads better, we have been given precious time with sweet friends.

There are so many things to be thankful for this year…

– Each other. Traveling and ministering is so much better together.

– Family that loves us well, even from so far away.

– Supporters who have joined us in our effort to bring the love of Christ where it is not

by not only giving financially, but also prayer and encouragement.

– Friends and connections all over the world, who provide us with advice and wisdom.

– An awesome truck.

(I could keep going, but I will refrain for the sake of length.)

Thanksgiving day pictures… I forgot to get in one!

Pretty table!

After dinner chatting

Young guys table

Here is a picture our “Home 2”, which has been graciously lent to us by new missionary friends with an organization called “Word to Africa”.

Lobatse, Botswana

We have a fridge and kettle!

And this is our new truck, which with the help of Jon’s dad and brothers, has been named:

The Bison

Meet "The Bison"

Canvas seat covers... rough and tough

We love you guys, and thank God for you every time we think of you… which is often!

P.S.

We will start travels to Mozambique December 7th and arrive on the 8th! We are getting excited to get there and get plugged in.

November 27, 2009

Layne

Personal, Travel

10 comments

Long Truck Story

A Jon Post

I think this might be a long post. I know some times it’s hard to read these long ones but I feel like there’s a lot that I need to tell everyone. So if you have a few minutes to read, jump on in. It’s a fun story.

We’ve had quite a ride. It’s funny, we prepared our hearts ahead of time for some of the hard circumstances that might come but we didn’t really expect it as SOON as we landed in Africa.

Sunday the 8th
We arrived in Botswana. We expected to pick up our truck that evening or the next morning, Monday the 9th.

We found out our friends Botho and Faith, who had been taking care of our vehicle for the past two years, left town in to attend an extremely unexpected funeral of a dear family member.

Wednesday the 11th
Botho and Faith returned to town and found out that thieves had broken into the hood of our truck and stolen engine parts. Botho took it to a shop to be repaired and we waited.

From Wednesday the 11th to Sunday the 15th
We were unable to get in touch with Botho because of phone problems. We spent these days praying and hearing the Lord say “Trust Me. This is out of your control and in Mine. Trust me.”

Kroll

Monday the 16th
We finally connected with and sat down with Botho. Grim news. Our truck had considerably more damage than we expected. Repairs had been going on for nearly a week and there was no end in sight .The cylinder head had been stolen, the pistons had been stolen, the engine block had been damaged by the thieves as they took things out and, even if all the missing parts were replaced, there was no knowing if there was other undetected damage to the engine that could leave us stranded if we were to take it into remote regions of Angola.

However… the thieves had been caught. Here in Botswana the police and laws work differently and through … ahem… a bit of “coercion”… the police were able to get confessions and the thieves even showed them where they had taken the parts and the car shop they were funding with the stolen parts. Apparently these guys were professional thieves and did this all over the city and then resold the stolen spares from a repair shop. This meant that the (considerable) cost of repair of our vehicle must be handled by the thieves and their assets.

Tuesday the 17th
We decided that we could not trust this truck any longer (a very sad moment for me as I’ve driven that truck MANY thousands of kilometers across the entire Southern-African subcontinent) and we needed to look into selling it and purchasing a new one.

Botho, who has been looking to buy a good 4×4 SUV for his family offered to purchase it from us because he could essentially get unlimited free engine work done on it to ensure the engine was in as good shape as possible. He offered us a good price for it and we asked another friend, Leslie, who runs a vehicle repair shop to help us find a new 4×4 quickly.

Here’s where the timing of the Lord and His hand shows dramatically what He had planned all along.

Wednesday the 18th
Leslie recently purchased a Toyota Land Cruiser, not because he especially needed it, but because the price was simply too good to pass up. This truck was built in Africa, for Africa and has been outfitted to make the long grueling haul that punishing African roads can give. Leslie had been fixing it up for himself (thinking, “Maybe I’ll just keep it and sell my other vehicle”) but when he heard about our plight his generous, missionary heart immediately offered it to us for his unbeatable price. For just a little more than what Botho has offered for our old vehicle we will be purchasing this truck from Leslie that meets every need that we have FAR better than the truck we had before.

With a brand new suspension, tires, shocks, canvas interior, and all the fine tunings and tweaks that a mechanic does for a truck he expects to keep for himself, this truck has been offered to us for a GREAT price and God has pulled back the curtain that he asked us to trust He was behind.

He was.

Thursday the 19th
We’ve delayed our trip to Mozambique while we wait for a few final upgrades and all the paperwork to be finished for this new vehicle (1-2 weeks). Great missionary friends who live in Lobatse, a town 1 hour from the capitol Gaborone where we were staying, have invited us to stay with them while we wait. They are Americans and have invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them.

Indeed God was behind the curtain the whole time.

We anticipate arriving in Mozambique the first week of December.

Your prayers work. Your love is real. We can feel it from here. Thanks for reading.

Here in Botswana

November 21, 2009

Jon

Travel

9 comments

Rolling with the punches

a layne post

When I was a little girl, I was in gymnastics. I remember doing the event called the vault. You run as fast as you can, bounce off a springboard, and do some sort of “trick” over the vault. Well sometimes it did not go as planned. I distinctly remember a few times running as hard as I could, not bouncing off the springboard; instead running right over it and directly into the vault, knocking the breath clear out of me. My family could attest to these moments of agony.

This is a little like how I feel this week. All the anticipation, the gearing up, the good-byes… I was (and don’t get me wrong, still am) ready to give it all; to make a difference, now only to wind up stuck without a vehicle, waiting in a lodge we did not plan to pay for, unable to get in touch with the people who have our car.

You know, with all my missions experience, I know it is not glamorous. I know that is not all “people getting saved and sharing the gospel”. I know there is a lot of behind the scenes work and complications. I don’t know… maybe I just didn’t expect it to be hard the first day.

Our current home (for the week)

Here is the update:

Upon arrival, our friends who were caring for the car had had a sudden death in the family and had to leave town. We would not have our car for a day or two, until they got back in town. When they got back in town, a little later than originally expected, there had been a break in. Someone had gotten under the hood of our vehicle, taken our radiator, cylinder head, and other things. Because it was reported quickly, the thieves were caught. They were taken to the police and beaten until a confession was made. (how it works here) The parts were recovered, but now the vehicle is having to be put back together. So we wait.

Plan once we get the vehicle:

We will travel to visit some friends about an hour from here. Fellowship and be encouraged. This next weekend we plan to make the drive to Mozambique and start living there until further notice of Angolan visas, of which there is nothing to report.

We appreciate your prayers. Your comments on the last post were fabulous. We love them! Thanks so much for sharing with us, for being a part of this with us. We love you.

Short fun story:

In a taxi on our way back to the lodge the other day, we were sharing with the driver where were we from and what we are doing. (I always love to share with them that Jon and I met in their country!) The man was enjoying the story and proceeded to ask if we could drive to our country. Jon explained it is very far and there is a big ocean between. “Ahh,” the man said, “so a bus would get stuck.” Jon replied, “It would sink!”

I love Africa. I love the boisterous laughs of the women. I love the friendly smiles and the constant greetings. I am happy to be here.

A bit of "holiday" for myself

November 14, 2009

Layne

Personal

15 comments

From Botswana

A Jon Post

Well we said all our goodbyes and left all of our friends and family in the USA and we got on an airplane Friday afternoon.
It was very hard. There were many tears.
We kept going.

It’s never easy to say goodbye. Especially to the people who deserve all the credit for what we are doing. But we did and we traveled and last night we arrived in Botswana where we will spend the next 1-2 weeks. We’ll get our truck tomorrow. I really miss that truck.

Angola visas? Naaaahh… We don’t have them. Is that a problem? Well I guess that depends on who you ask. If you ask me I’d say “Yes, a big one”, but if you ask God, He’d say “Nope. I’ve got it under control.”
I’m still asking Him to get us those visas soon. I’d like to ask all of the people who read this to do that too. Please ask God to get us those visas soon. If you have a second right now… please pray.

We miss and love you all. We are here. We are safe. We are loved.

November 9, 2009

Jon

Personal, Visas

14 comments

Is this real?

a layne post

Jon and I keep looking at each other and asking, “Are we really moving to Africa on Friday? And by the way, where are we going?”

Maybe it is because we do not know exactly where we are going, or maybe it is just our current, crazy, unsettled life, but it all feels a little unreal. There is this part of me, that is currently buried in the extreme emotions that accompany “good-byes”, that is excited and filled with anticipation. I have moments, normally fleeting, when I can grasp this feeling and remember, “Layne, you love this. You love Africa. You love serving.”

It is during these moments that I gain the strength, once again from our gracious Lord, that enables me to board that plane on Friday and leave my family… my precious, precious loving family.

Prayer Points

We still do not have an invitation or visa to Angola. We still are holding onto a small hope we could get some paperwork together before we leave, yes, in 4 days. Please pray with us! No matter what happens though, we believe the Lord has a plan laid out for us, and as long as He guides us for the day, we’ll be alright.
Pray for emotional strength on Friday.
Pray for wisdom and direction upon our arrival in South Africa.

Thank you all your support and love while we have been in the States, as well as commitments for the future! We have felt so loved. My spirit has been refreshed. We look forward to posting reports of our (that is you too!) work from Africa!