We have arrived!

Here we are folks, it's our new home!!  We arrived in Worcester yesterday evening (having sprinted to make our connection in Johannesburg and JUST made it).  After picking up our vehicle, bought with BIG help from friends in Cape Town, we drove to Worcester on the beautiful N1 highway (right up there with Snoqualmie pass).  

We arrived at the YWAM base 30 minutes before a 2.5 hour scheduled rolling blackout.  These occur twice a week here, from 6pm til about 8:30.  The sun sets at 6:30, so unpacking in the dark was... interesting.

Thankfully we have some friendly neighbours who lent us some candles, so Zaden was able to carry on with his origami as usual.

Being winter-time here in South Africa, it is COLD here.  And there is no central heating.   Last night we all slept with our clothes and sweaters on, under duvets and fleece blankets.  Today I (Rachel), in a moment of weakness, bought a fleece pajama-onesie.  (That's an adult-sized baby-gro, for UK folks.)  Zaden told me I looked like a pink bunny with no ears, but I don't care - at least I'm warm. 

Our accommodation consists of 2 adjoining rooms - one for the kids with 3-tier bunkbeds, and one for us with a king-sized bed.  We share the bathroom down the hall with other families, and eat meals cafeteria-style.  We also have the option to buy our own food and cook in the shared kitchen, which is a tempting idea.

Today we spent a gruelling 6 hours at the shopping mall, getting blankets, bedding, towels, plates, food items, shampoo, and the list goes on.  It's kind of funny that here in Worcester there is better shopping than in Ellensburg!!  The kids did very well but were ready to be done:

We will need to go back tomorrow to get a few items we forgot, like cockroach traps and candles.  Yes, this is South Africa which contains many first-world areas, but we have been reminded very clearly since arriving that we are in AFRICA - and that comes with barbed-wire fences around the compound, cockroaches, blackouts, and hot water most of the time.

We have started to meet some people here on the base, and we are looking forward to figuring out what our days will look like.  The children start school on Monday, so that is definitely a prayer-point.  We would love for them to feel "at home" straight away and make friends easily.  Also for Ashani to transition smoothly into her new school and 5-hour school days 5 days a week, which she is not used to.

Another big prayer-point is for accommodation.  We would love to be able to move into a house here in Worcester soon, preferably at the beginning of September.  We have been told that there are very few rentals available here, and they are hard to find.  It may also be harder for us having just arrived here as we do not yet have a bank account or rental references.  We know we serve a big God and we would love a miracle in this area!

Transitions

I would like to thank all those who helped us transform our 5 bedroom house into 5 suitcases.  It was and is a season of letting go of what we have, and what we know, for the unknown.  It has not been easy, but I know it is only the first part of this new journey as we continue to follow Jesus as a family.  

Our enormous yard sale

Today I feel mostly sad and very tired.  But I am also very thankful that we have some time in England with family before flying South for winter in the southern hemisphere.  If we would have flown straight to South Africa from Ellensburg it would have been 20 hours on 2 planes, 9 times zones and 11,300 miles.  God knows I would have been an ugly mess, with bad breath and a short fuse.   

So in his wisdom and mercy he made a good plan for us, and let stop over on this lovely island.  We have so far stayed with Rachel's parents and her aunt, and we are currently staying in the house of some friends.  All have been really good times.  But we find that we are now starting to process some aspects of this huge transition we have undertaken, and it can be tough!

God has asked us to trust him.  To fully receive a gift sometimes you first have to let go of all you're holding onto. With heavy hearts we have said goodbye to Ellensburg, our home, friends and church family.

It is the right thing, even though it hurts. 

From "Beyond the Blue"

And wisdom will honor everyone who will learn
To listen, to love, and to pray and discern
And to do the right thing even when it burns
And to live in the light through treacherous turns
A man is weak, but the spirit yearns
To keep on course from the bow to the stern
And throw overboard every selfish concern
That tries to work for what can’t be earned
Sometimes the only way to return is to go,
Where the winds will take you
And to let go, of all you cannot hold onto
For the hope, beyond the blue

-Josh Garrels  (my new favorite artist- thanks Ryan, just kidding, Rachel B)

Kevin, on behalf of The Yangas Clan

Currrently in the UK

Farewell, Ellensburg

We are finally out of our house and ready to leave town and fly to the UK tomorrow.  We are exhausted but SO happy to be at this point at last.  And we are so thankful for all the wonderful people who helped us in so many ways, given of time and finances, and prayed for us - we have really felt those prayers!!  For example, we have been amazed at how well the kids have done - not a single incident of "Hey, they're taking away MY TOY!!" at the yard sale - and we have had such a sense of peace in the midst of the chaos, even when things didn't go the way we hoped!

We have loved living in Ellensburg for the past 8 years, and will miss this place tremendously.  But we are also ready for new horizons.  We will be in the UK for almost 4 weeks, before flying to South Africa at the end of July.