We had almost made it into our car and out of the parking lot after church before somebody asked us the question we have heard so often lately: “Oh, are you back from Africa already?”

“No,” Maggi replied, “we have not left yet. We are waiting for our house to sell.”

Of all the challenges and difficulties we have experienced since signing on with AFM, this period of waiting is by far the hardest of all. As we read about others whose houses sold before they have even attended AFM training, we just wonder what the Lord has in store for us. We have no doubt that He wants us to go to Benin. He has made that abundantly clear through the peace in our hearts, the matching of our gifts to the needs there, and the providential ways in which our funding has been provided. So, now we just wait to see how His timing will unfold in the sale of our house.

During this time of waiting, we have not been idle. We are learning some French, preaching in various churches and seeking to be missionaries in our little neighborhood. I had an opportunity to teach some classes on missions and worldview at a nearby Bible School, which was a blessing to me as well as to the students. In preparation, I listened to recordings of the classes we took last summer and re-learned so much that we need to know to be successful missionaries.

Perhaps the most important thing I have learned from the classes is the same thing we are learning in our lives right now. As missionaries, we need to be in constant contact with God, to learn to trust in Him when all seems to be going wrong, to learn to walk with Him at all times.

We wish we could say we will be in Benin by the time you read this article. However, we do know that when you read this article, wherever we are, we will be in God’s hands.

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