jon and layne heller | Casa Ahavá and our Family

We have made it to Windhoek, Namibia

A Layne Post

We have made it to Windhoek, Namibia. Again, the Lord has blessed us immensely with members of the body of Christ who have been willing to host us along the way, and going above and beyond what we could have imagined. We remain humbled and full of thanks, encouraged to take these next steps into Angola and confident in the provision of our faithful God.

Yesterday we had an 12 hour drive, in which my husband drove like a stud. He amazes me how he can stay so alert; all the while my head is bobbing around trying to be good company for him. A little pathetic, I know but honestly I feel I have no control. =)

Here is a glimpse into our car:

We started the day in Botswana with lots of clouds and even a little rain. You would have thought me ridiculous if you could have seen me… our air conditioner in the car is quite cool and with the cool weather outside, I was freezing. I had to put on socks, drape my pea-coat over my legs, and put on a fleece. I think this warm African weather has ruined me!

Early afternoon the sun emerged, bringing with it the normal heat, as I shed my layers. I wish you could have been in the car with me. For hours our drive in Botswana was lined with beautiful yellow wild flowers on either side of the road. Swarming above were thousands upon thousands of white and light blue butterflies. Beautiful! ( *clear my throat* We won’t talk of the ones that were plastered to the front of our vehicle.)

Ah! And the birds! I love the birds of Botswana. Especially the lilac breasted roller, which I have yet to spot since being back… until yesterday. I have become an expert at scanning the trees, knowing where to look, and finding the little bright colored beauties. For I while I would tell Jon every time I spotted one, but eventually, for his sake, I stopped.

Also, along the way, we watched patches of rain move across the African sky. I kept hoping we would pass through, but they kept missing us! Finally, just a few minutes after crossing the Namibian border, we went through head on. The rain drops were so large and falling so hard. It was glorious! Huge streaks of lightening danced in the distance, and stray beams of sunlight would force their way through the dominating darkness.

Again, I was humbled, this time at the grandness of our God and the privilege for us to be here on the mysterious continent.

Tomorrow we leave for Angola. We will not actually cross into Angola for a couple of days, as we have a few stops along the way. We anticipate being without internet for a time. Worst case would be about one month, though we will desperately look for options. It is a priority for us to remain connected to you, and we will connect as soon as possible. We are excited to report on Menongue and show you pictures of “the promised land”. ;)

Thank you for your ongoing love and support. Thanks for rising to help us with our needs getting into Angola. We love you, we love you!

February 15, 2010

Jon

Angola, Travel

5 comments

Ways you can help

Well we’re getting ready to start our journey to Angola and with that journey comes quite a few supplies. Because we are preparing to live out of a tent for at least 1 month and live without most basic cooking/living things for the other two months, we went out and made some purchases to try to give ourselves the best shot at success we could get. We realize that we are stewards of the support so many of you give us, so we did our best to go bargain hunting and keep these supplies as affordable as possible (for example, we bought sheets that are 50% polyester, 50% cotton… really? Polyester sheets? OOOk… they’re the cheapest we can find)

We decided we would ask for help with this, since these purchases put us over our normal monthly budget. I know many of you who read this blog already support us financially and, honestly, this request is not aimed at you. I also know that many who read this blog have considered supporting us financially, yet have not made the decision on how much/how often you would like to give. If that is you, we are asking you to consider helping us with these supplies. We’ve added pictures of the things we’ve purchased, and we would ask you to consider “sponsoring” or buying something with us. Can you do that? Would you help us in this way? Below we’ve listed different items and their prices.

Tarp and Ropes – $32 – SPONSORED! THANK YOU JESSICA!

Water Can and Water Bottles – $42 – SPONSORED! THANK YOU OBIDIAH PINNER!

Mosquito Net and Repellent – $59- SPONSORED! THANK YOU STEPHANIE!

Mattress and Pump – $42- SPONSORED! THANK YOU SARAH!

Recovery Spade, Hatchet, Mallet – $57- SPONSORED! THANK YOU STEPHANIE!

Chairs – $80

Bedding – $63

Cooler – $120 – SPONSORED! THANK YOU STEPHANIE!

Tent/Home – $740- SPONSORED! THANK YOU LASSITER FAMILY! THANK YOU PRESCOTT FAMILY!

Yes we realize that some of these things are very expensive. The cooler, for example, can be bought at Wal-mart in the USA for just $36. Unfortunately, here in Africa things like that are pretty expensive. (probably because they’re shipped from America!) The tent is quite expensive as well, however it is made of highly durable canvas, incredibly strong zippers and is one of those things that you buy knowing that this will last as long as you will.

Here is the process to help us with all of this.
Check the comments on this post to see what has already been sponsored. If what you’d like to sponsor is not mentioned, leave a comment telling us what you would like to give. This will prevent overlapping and extra money coming in. You can even sponsor part of an item (such as “$30 towards the cooler” or “$50 towards the tent”).

You have two ways you can get us the money:
1) Make a check to “Voices Of The World” and send it to

Voices Of The World
20595 S. 187th Way
Queen Creek, AZ 85142

2) Click on the “Support Us” tab at the top of this page and make a one time donation via Paypal for the amount you would like to give.

All checks or paypal donations to Voices Of The World are tax-deductible.

Thank you to all of our regular supporters. With your faithful support we were able to purchase all of these items in advance. We could not be here without all of you, and we know that well. Your love, your prayers, your encouragement, your support keep us here. We do love you all.

February 11, 2010

Jon

Angola, Travel

6 comments

Oops, a day late post

A Jon Post

Sorry this post is a day after the weekend. We went to Lobatse, Botswana to spend some time with some good friends and watch the Superbowl. It’s about a 4 hour drive from where we are staying now and we think well worth the time we got to spend with the sweet Walker family.

We’re getting ready to start our (very) long drive to Angola this coming weekend. It seems like the days/weeks go by so fast and I often find myself trying to find the time to just remember. I heard a sermon recently, mostly focusing on communion, which stirred my heart about remembrance. When Layne and I went to Mozambique in December I had thought we would be waiting there for at least 4-6 months (again, at least) and maybe up to a year or more. We ended up spending just over 7 weeks in Mozambique and I ended up marveling at how much the Lord exceeded my expectations in those short 7 weeks.

With the life we’ve been living it’s been so easy to let myself simply move from one thing to the next as this whirlwind pushes us along. But I think it’s important, and I want to take the effort to remember the moments God stamped my heart, and the hearts of those around me, with His presence.

Invitation to a Christmas party at the Hospital oncology ward. Layne smiling, touching, kissing faces. Me… laughing and getting to play my violin with a group of laughing, clapping people around.
Meeting a man named Joaquim. Praying with him. Holding his hand. Saying goodbye. Hoping with him for eternity.
Meeting a child named Jose Manuel. Hugging him, picking him up and swinging him around. Holding his hand as I walk the grounds of the hospital.
Christmas with men and women in the oncology ward. Them, hundreds of miles away from their biological family. My wife and I, thousands of miles away from our biological family. All of us, finding that “Christmas with Family” can still be had in those circumstances.
A phone message as I am driving to South Africa to meet with potential partners in ministry in Angola. Joaquim died last night.
Hours of moving a satellite dish millimeters at a time until I find the “sweet spot” where we can pick up the reception to broadcast soccer games to thousands of people as a way to connect them to local churches planted in their villages.
Watching with awe as my wife displays the sacrificial, unconditional love of God to a dying woman in the Hospital. I have never witnessed such beauty. I wish you all could have seen what I saw over three days of the torturous death of Emilia. Emilia crying out for her God to be with her, Layne whispering softly in her ear the name of Jesus while wiping a cool cloth on a sweaty, tear-streaked face. You would have been so proud. Emilia did not die alone. Love’s promise was fulfilled.
Incredible family of Christ found in Jorge and Alice Pratos, missionaries from Portugal. We were welcomed and loved by them in so many ways. They introduced us to ministry at the hospital and entrusted us with making sure the soccer games were shown. Good, good friends.

There are so many more memories but those are the few that jump to my mind when I first start thinking about our time there over the last 2ish months. Thank you all so much for trusting us with ministry there.

We have applied at the Angolan Embassy here in South Africa for our visas and we are praying, praying, praying that they will be ready this coming Friday the 12^th. They told us to come back that day, however we have heard that they are prone to delaying those original dates.

I may have injured my shoulder in the showing of the final soccer game in Mozambique. It’s been bothering me since then and, as of the last few days, been getting a little worse. I had surgery on it 7 years ago because of an injury I got in Botswana that year. When you think of it, I’d ask that you pray that it heals back up. I’ve had some trouble with it of and on since the surgery. The doctors expected it and so did I but these past couple weeks have been a little more trouble than usual.

That’s all. I know this is long so I’ll just finish with a quick bulleted list of things we would ask you to partner with us in prayer.

Visas to Angola process and are available by this Friday.
Finances as we get ready to go to Angola and make some purchases in the preparation.
Our vehicle would stay problem free and make the 10,000 kilometer round-trip drive from Maputo (Mozambique) to Luanda (Angola) to Maputo.
My shoulder would heal up sooner rather than later. I can’t hug my wife very tight and I really like to hug my wife tight.
My wife and I would draw close to each other in this stressful, highly active, trusting heavily on God season.

February 8, 2010

Jon

Personal

4 comments

We’re on the move…

This past week has been a whirlwind. After speaking with the missionaries from Angola on Monday, we decided we need to head to South Africa to hand in our paperwork for our visas in person, as well as stick around to make sure they process. If we do that, it should cut the process time to one week as opposed to one month, and we can still make it to Angola by the middle to end of February.

What that means is that we are leaving Mozambique tomorrow.

This news was shocking. We thought we would have almost a whole other month here. We were not prepared to begin our ‘Goodbyes’. Nonetheless this is an opportunity that we cannot pass up; it is the open door we have been praying for.

Our schedule looks like this:

Feb. 1 – Drive to Pretoria (Stay at Operation Mobilization base)

Feb. 2 – Hand in visas at the Embassy

Feb. 3-4 – Get our vehicle tuned up and ready for Angolan roads

Feb. 5-8 – Drive to Botswana to visit Mike and Heather and watch Superbowl with them

Feb. 8-12 – Drive back to Pretoria. Wait on visas and buying things for life in Angola, which includes being prepared to live in tents for months at a time.

Feb. 13 – Drive back to Botswana

Feb. 14 – Drive to Namibia (Happy Valentines Day!)

Feb. 16 or so – Drive with missionaries to Menongue Angola. Stay about 4 weeks in their shared missionary housing.

Mid-March – Drive to Luanda and visit Operation Mobilization missionaries and current running programs. Stay about 4 weeks, most likely in tents.

Mid-April – Drive back to Menongue. Stay about 4 weeks.

Mid-May – Drive back to Mozambique for at least a couple of weeks.

If we decide to partner with Operation Mobilization and them with us, we will need to leave Angola for 3-6 months to wait on our long term work visa, which will then be good for 2 years. That time is a little up in the air right now, but we trust that the Lord will guide us as He always has.

For now, “Goodbye” Mozambique. Who knew we would grow so attached?

We can look back over our time here and see nothing but the hand of God. I am humbled beyond belief. I feel like we have grown leaps and bounds in a mere 7 weeks. It makes me excited to see what lies ahead.

This week has been __________ for me. Humm… I am without a word to fully describe it. Horrific. Hard. Beautiful. Stretching. Traumatic. I have blogged a few times about this week, and I do not feel the need to rewrite it here. You are welcome to read about it at: www.africangypsy.blogspot.com

This morning we said our “Goodbyes” at the hospital… well we spent four hours with them, but eventually said “goodbye”. It is hard to leave them. I stayed in the hospital visiting with the women, while Jon was able to wrap up his relationships with the men by going to church with them at their home church, a neat opportunity. Boy are we going to miss them…

Here is how you can pray:

Pray for safety while traveling
Pray that our visas would process quickly while we are in Pretoria
Pray that our vehicle gets in perfect condition without spending too much
Pray that our hearts remain open to God’s will. We want to hear clearly from Him, and not just decide based on desperation. We are asking for a ‘Yes’ from God rather than not a ‘No’.

: Francisco, Belvindo, and Edna… sweeties.

: Ladies. They crochet beautifully!

: Mommy, Francisco, and baby

: Where they normally sit

: The Guys

January 31, 2010

Layne

Angola, Mozambique, Visas

8 comments

Jon and Layne’s Newsletter

Hello all faithful blog readers. We wrote and sent out a newsletter this weekend so we’re just going to post the opening paragraph and give you a link to download it if you haven’t already got it in your email. We don’t want to overwhelm you with things to read and our newsletter is plenty. Blog readers may already know most of what’s in our newsletter but there’s some extra in there too so go ahead and give it a read. Thanks all!

Dear Friends and Family,

Every day we remember how blessed we are that you believe in us. Every day we remember that we are not here alone. There is a beauty in the breath that comes from that knowledge. The first thing God said that was NOT good was to be alone.
Some of you may feel alone right now. Know that God says that is NOT good. And know that you are not alone. We are together in this. You are choosing to be a part of this with us.
Together.
Christ, us, you.
Together.