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.  

Things are getting pretty crazy around here.

We move out of our house in 3 weeks.  We fly in exactly 24 days.

I'm at THAT point - you know the one - where you have been sorting, packing and cleaning for at least 63 years, and you are certain that there cannot be a SINGLE item left in the entire house, and then you turn around and realize that all your stuff has either been multiplying behind your back, or sneaking back into the house in the dead of night.

And then you find yourself staring at a half-used pack of mini post-it notes for about 10 minutes because you simply cannot decide whether to pitch it, yard sale it, bring it with you, store it in the attic, or give it to someone who might need it.

And then you just want to cry because your gorgeous, precious 5-year old digs her little heels in and simply refuses to go and spend the day with a dear friend who has kindly offered to take her for several HOURS so that you can actually get stuff done.  (And whom she has spent the day with before on several occasions, and had a great time, I might add.).  It seems that the transition craziness is getting to all of us.

Which brings me to the subject of trying to balance all the other aspects of life as well, ALL AT THE SAME TIME.  My kids still need to be hugged, read to, time spent with.  (Daniel said to Kevin last night, "Mum just seems to be really busy all the time at the moment."  Um, yes.  I do.  But apparently I need to try to pull it back a notch.)
And, these people want to eat!  I mean, EVERY day!  Plus, two of them had the nerve to have their birthdays last week.  Including cake.

I need to remind myself to KEEP relinquishing it to Him.  Giving it back to Him, over and over again.  He's got this.  God does actually know how to pack up a house.  And keep my children sane.  And in just over 3 weeks we will be stepping onto an airplane with nothing but our 5 suitcases (and 5 carry-ons, and a couple of backpacks, perhaps some jackets we weren't able to fit in.  And probably a stuffed animal or two), and looking at each other and saying, "we DID it!", and probably crying a little because, good grief, we will MISS this place and these people.

So, for the next three weeks I will try to hug my children and my husband more, be thankful for the GREAT house I'm packing up, this perfect house that has served us so well for 8 years.  I will enjoy the Ellensburg sunshine, I will relish being around people I have shared history with, people who know me for who I am.

Because, for better or for worse, this season is almost over.

The Wonderful Thing About Icebergs

"(The disciples had) all the people sit down in groups on the green grass....  and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.  The number of men who had eaten was five thousand."  - Mark 39, 44-45
Those verses are pretty compact, but it sounds like the disciples had to work pretty hard that day.

I have been thinking recently about how much work is involved in order for wonderful things to happen.  God moves and does amazing things, and sometimes those things just seem to come out of thin air and fall in front of us, and BAM! there it is.   But more often, I think, there is a lot of elbow grease involved.

This is definitely true of our moving preparations.  By golly, there is a LOT to do:
Deciding whether to bring, sell, store, give away, or throw away this sofa and this paper clip.
Figuring out immunizations, budgets, and health insurance.
Applying for FBI checks, travel visas and International Drivers Licenses.
Determining how to get money from the USA and the UK to South Africa without inadvertently donating a large percentage to the bank.
Scrubbing our house from top to toe to make it potential-renter-friendly.
Printing our prayer cards, school registration forms, and Green Card Renewal forms.

And of course there's the usual stuff:  handling meals (why do these people insist on eating every day?), homework, laundry, piano practice, soccer practice, lice (yikes), dog-walking, tear-wiping and game-playing.

But, I am so thankful.

We are definitely getting there:
We now have renters lined up - a family that checks all our boxes and that we feel comfortable entrusting with our lovely house.
Thanks to our tax return, our dog Perry will get to stay in our family by moving to England to be a companion to my parents.
And, this week we sold some furniture, after 5 years of use, for $125 profit.  (Insert smug grin.)

What I am thankful for most of all, though, is that we do not have to do this alone.  We will be representing a whole team of people behind us and beside us - not just in this preparation phase but also while we are in South Africa.
It can be humbling to admit sometimes, but we need help - practically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially.  I am gradually learning to ask for these things without feeling like I shouldn't.

We have an amazing church and some amazing friends.  I have been so struck by that in the past days and weeks - people who are willing to offer help and support in a myriad of different ways.

Kevin voiced this team-concept when he said that we are the tip of the iceberg - and without the rest of the iceberg we would melt.  As we were praying with some of our church-members this week, someone prayed, "Thank you, God, that we get to go to South Africa."
We are not alone.

"Do the kids know?" - by Rachel

"Have you told the kids yet?" 
This was one of the first questions people asked us when we first started to share the news of our move to South Africa to do missions work.  Our response was "Yes, they've known about it for several months now, and the boys have  been an integral part of our decision-making process right from the start."

It all started with a family conversation over a back-yard barbecue in August.  At this point, Kevin and I had long had a desire to staff YWAM's counseling school, and we'd just become aware of the existence of the YWAM base in Worcester, and it interested us - but we hadn't yet mentioned it to the children.  Actually, over the years we'd talked with them about the possibility of landing up in Hawaii, as that's where YWAM's main campus is so it seemed like a logical possibility. 

So, as we downed our burgers and grilled zucchini, I happened to ask the boys if they could be praying about what God might have for us as a family - whether that might be staying here in Ellensburg, or going somewhere else in the world.  
Zaden's response was, "Well, why don't we just ask God about it right now?"  
So down went our knives and forks, and we spent a couple of minutes just listening.  
After a few seconds, Zaden piped up, "I got something!" and proceeded to tell us how God had told him:  "We need to go to Africa, and we're going to meet some special people and we'll be friends for life".     
Um, Africa??  That was unexpected.  So at that point we started to seriously consider YWAM Worcester.

Meanwhile, Daniel was not excited about the prospect of South Africa - he felt sad at the idea of leaving friends behind, and if anything he saw himself surfing in Hawaii...  And, in case you don't know Daniel, he is not one to give up on an idea once he's got his teeth into one.
But 2 days later he approached me and said, "I think God has changed my heart about this... we need to go to South Africa."

Around that same time, Zaden said to me, "You know when God told me we need to go to Africa?  I think he was saying to go just for a visit, not for a long time."
So I said, "Well sweetheart, maybe that's something you can ask God about again, because Dad and I feel like God is asking us to go for longer."
"OK!" Zaden said, and disappeared into his bedroom.  20 seconds later he re-emerged:  "Mum, I guess you were right.  God did say we need to go for longer."

Honestly, THE most exciting aspect of our process thus far has been seeing how God has spoken to and encouraged the boys, and increased their faith through it.  And now Daniel is making noises about wanting to get baptized.  
As a parent, it doesn't get much better than this.


If you would like to help us with transition costs, please click on this link:
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Would you step off a cliff? backwards? - by Kevin

How about if I gave you a thin strong rope to hold onto - would it then change from a crazy idea into an adventure?
Moving to South Africa feels like the first time I rappelled off a cliff.  I have been asked, "are you excited"?  Yes I'm excited and terrified, I swing from one to the other.  But then I remember I have to trust in the thin strong rope that is my faith in Jesus.  Sometimes that rope does not seem like much but I've learned that I can place my complete trust in it and it will save me from falling.  I remember rappelling off a cliff for the first time when I was in college in Colorado.  You have to hold onto a rope and then walk backwards over the edge.  All my senses were screaming at me, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!"  My climbing partners kept telling me to lean back and trust the rope.  I was scared, but my ego pushed me over the edge.  As I moved down the face of the cliff (that was well over 150 feet high), the more I trusted the rope the more my terror turned into excitement. By the end I was letting go of the rope and free falling, because I trusted the rope would hold me when I grabbed it again.  When I arrived at the bottom I could not wait to do it again.  Moving our family to the complete unknown in South Africa is the biggest leap of faith God has ever asked of me, but he has always been faithful, so over the edge we go.  We just bought non-refundable one way tickets.  I'm scared and excited and holding on to that thin strong rope.

(yes, that is me, and yes I do have a mullet.  It was 1991-so cut me some slack)