STEAM IX - Trumble Missionary Update - Departure for Africa (or NOT)

A funny thing happened on our way to Africa…we didn’t make it out of the country.

Yesterday morning, the six Trumbles, along with Beth’s brothers Doug and Bill, and Bill’s wife, Julie, piled into Bill & Julie’s 15 passenger van (modified so it only fits 11 now but has more storage space in the back) with a bunch of our junk. This is the vehicle I refer to as “The Prison Transport” but Julie prefers to call it the “Party Transport” or something like that. Anyway, we piled in and drove the approximately 300 miles from Oskaloosa, Iowa, where we’d been staying with Beth’s folks, to Minneapolis, Minnesota where our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:45 pm on Monday night, January 11.

We arrived at the airport and got our enormous volume of stuff inside and worked on adding labels and stuff and then when I went to check in, a funny thing happened: They wouldn’t check me in.

Leah, the agent we were working with, didn’t like the fact that we had one-way tickets to Malawi but no visas for entry into Malawi. Her system told her this was a requirement. At some point, Leah’s supervisor was also brought into the discussion. So, what to do? I called Malawi between about 2:00 and 2:30 am Tuesday morning in Malawi. Apparently I was supposed to have a letter from African Bible College stating that my Temporary Employment Permit paperwork was in process. I didn’t have the letter but the president of ABC (who lives in Malawi) someone with the home office in the United States and I eventually received the letter via email. The airline people didn’t really care about the letter. Jan Harper from the ABC home office spoke to Leah’s supervisor but the airline folks still were not satisfied. Eventually, the supervisor’s manager also weighed in on the situation but the song the airline people were singing really didn’t change. Apparently this basic process has worked frequently in the past with other ABC missionaries but perhaps after the recent attempted terrorist incident on Christmas Day or for some other reason, the enforcement of the rules has been changed.

In the end, we did not resolve the issue in a way that would allow us to board our flight and thus we returned to Iowa. The Trumbles arrived back at Dad & Mom Boender’s house at about 2:00 in the morning after stops by Doug’s and Bill & Julie’s houses to drop them off at their homes.

Donna Palmertree, one of the ladies that works in the home office in Mississippi, sent a message today and part of what she said is quoted below:

I’m so sorry about the little hiccup in your plans … we were all blindsided but ultimately, we have to know that God’s in control and He sees things we don’t. What an extreme blessing that you have family that you get to enjoy a few more days before leaving the country and as I was told on one of our mission trips to the Ukraine about a situation we were in “It just adds to your mission testimony!” It will be cool and encouraging to see how God works this out.

Well said, Donna. God IS in control. We do not know exactly what His purposes are during this time but we can trust that He knows what He is doing. So, we have a bit of an adventure on our hands (and a bit of extra time which is also a blessing)!

Please pray that we would be able to obtain the necessary visas quickly. I am told that the processing of the Temporary Employment Permit can take months. Please pray for miraculously quick processing of my application and that approval for our full family would be given quickly. As long as we are able to use the tickets within a year, we will not forfeit the cost of the tickets so that is a blessing. We might face some change fees for the tickets but that is a much better situation than if we had to walk away from the full cost of the tickets.

Elizabeth was running the camera for much of the time and did a pretty good job of capturing some of the events. Below are a few pictures but if you want to sort of see the progression of events, You can view pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141443&id=650243390&l=b9bca7b3ce


Thanks for your prayers for our family during this time!


Dan


Here's me with Leah (the agent) in my left ear and someone from ABC in my right ear.

I bought internet access and sat there working with stuff. Fun times!



Stephen taking a break

STEAM VIII - Trumble Missionary Update -- Imminent Departure

Today, Sunday, is our last full day in the United States for a while. Tomorrow we drive from Oskaloosa, Iowa (where we’ve been staying with Beth’s parents) to Minneapolis where we will board our flight to leave the country.

This morning during the service at Beth’s old home church (and the church where her parents and her 4 brothers are members), we had a few minutes to share about the ministry of the African Bible College and that went pretty well.

We left Colorado on December 23 and have had a nice time in Iowa. Stephen (our 8-year-old) and I took a trip to South Dakota where I visited my Aunt Dorothy and four of my cousins. We also spent one night with my friend Blair Andrews in Omaha. It’s cold in South Dakota. The last night of the trip we spent in Sioux Falls. The morning that we left the internet said the temperature was 28° below zero. We will soon be experiencing temperatures 110° (Fahrenheit) warmer.

It would be nice to have a few more days to wrap things up before we depart but that’s kind of the way it goes. We will leave Monday morning to drive to Minneapolis and we will fly from there to Amsterdam where we will have a long layover on Tuesday. We will hopefully leave the airport and see a bit of Holland. From Amsterdam we fly through the night to Nairobi, Kenya and after a short layover in Nairobi, we fly on to Lilongwe (perhaps with a short stop in Lusaka, Zambia on the way).

In the Christmas Day update I sent out, I said the following:

We will finally have some down time over the next couple of weeks and I will be sending out some more details related to our Washington D.C. trip and the packing/shipping adventure. These will be sent under the TOAST heading rather than the STEAM heading under which this message is being sent. (TOAST = The Outstanding Adventures of Six Trumbles ).

As it turns out, there wasn’t as much “free” time as I might have hoped and I still have not sent any TOAST messages on this trip. One may still go out today or tomorrow but that may be it for a while.

Thanks for your prayers for our family! Please pray for travel safety, our adjustment to life in Malawi, and our general sanity throughout the process!



Missionarily,

Dan

For the Trumble family

Beth’s 40th birthday was Monday (January 4). The night before her birthday she spent some time with some old high school friends (Beth, Julie, Gwenda, Kathy). On Beth’s birthday, we visited some of Beth’s aunts. Pictured are Aunt Marilyn, Aunt Bernice, Mom Boender, Aunt Dorothy, Aunt Kathy, and Beth.


The first picture below is Stephen and Dan at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The second picture is from Orange City, Iowa later the same morning that it had been -28° in South Dakota.



First picture: Pastor Dale Visser and Dan. Pastor Visser is the pastor of Beth’s home church in Iowa where we shared this morning. Since this picture was taken last Sunday I have shaved and so we don’t look as similar anymore. The second picture shows me with the boys (with some snow) on Friday.
The approximate route of our travel to Africa (if it goes as planned)

STEAM VII -- Merry Christmas from the Trumble Family! 25 Dec 2009

In John 1:45 Philip finds Nathanial and says to him, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” This is the very Jesus whose birth we celebrate on Christmas day: The promised Messiah!

Merry Christmas to each of you on this cold (at least it’s cold in Iowa!) Christmas day! Let us remember that God gave us the greatest gift ever when Jesus came to Earth as a human. Let us also remember that Jesus was born so that He could ultimately die (and be raised to life and thus conquering death), providing a way for us to be saved!

Trumble news:

We have had a busy few weeks. In late November, just before Thanksgiving, we drove to Iowa where we spent Thanksgiving with some of Beth’s family and then we drove out to the Washington, D.C. area with a stop in Pittsburgh along the way. We attended a wedding for Dan’s niece and returned to Colorado on Tuesday, the 8th of December. We moved most of our household goods to a warehouse on Saturday, December 12, and then on the morning of December 14 we loaded the container and shipped it off. We had a lot of wonderful help from friends and family and survived the ordeal. We celebrated Christmas in Colorado on Saturday the 19th. On the 20th Will and Elizabeth played piano in church and both Beth and Elizabeth sang. On Wednesday, December 23, we departed Colorado to head toward Iowa and we arrived yesterday, Christmas Eve where the Iowa family Christmas get-together was already underway.

This morning in church, all of Beth’s immediately family were together. Counting Beth’s folks, her siblings, and all of their families, there were 43 family members (including two unborn babies) in church this morning (if my count is correct). There were a few missing but that represents a large portion of this part of her family (she had oodles of first cousins and other relatives).

We will finally have some down time over the next couple of weeks and I will be sending out some more details related to our Washington D.C. trip and the packing/shipping adventure. These will be sent under the TOAST heading rather than the STEAM heading under which this message is being sent. (TOAST = The Outstanding Adventures of Six Trumbles ).

In less than 3 weeks, on January 11, our flight departs from Minneapolis and we will be on our way to Malawi, Africa!


Last Sunday, December 20, was our last Sunday in Colorado before the move to Africa. Some of our family participated in the service and you can hear and see some of that by following the below links:

Elizabeth singing O Little Town of Bethlehem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS-836TEixw

Will playing Angels We Have Heard on High: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5aMplRrLs4

Elizabeth & Beth playing We Three Kings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TorWtPMceRE

Please respond to this message with any questions you may have about any of this stuff. It’s fun to hear from people.

Prayer Items:

Praise

· Successful packing and shipping process and that the container is on its way!

· For the great help of friends and family (especially Merle & Marty) in the shipping process

· For Dan’s folks who hosted us in their home after we shipped moved most of our household goods out of our house.

· For safe travel, even in wintery driving conditions, to Iowa

· For Beth’s folks who will be hosting us during most of our last 2.5 weeks in the States before we move

· For God’s faithful provision

Requests

· For some rest and good fellowship with family during these last days before we depart.

· Financial Support - Our ongoing committed support (that has been communicated to us) puts us between 50-60% of our full support level. We know God is faithful and will meet our needs but some additional financial partners in this endeavor would be very welcome.

· Container - That our container which contains most of our worldly possessions would travel safely and speedily to Malawi. The estimate that was given by the organization we’re working through said the estimated time of arrival for the container is February 28, more than 6 weeks after we are scheduled to arrive in Malawi.

· House - That our property manager would find good renters for our house soon.

· Dan’s Malawi employment permit – That it would be approved without any problems.

· Health – pray that God would keep us healthy as we work through the process of getting to Malawi.

Thank you for joining us in this ministry through your prayer and financial support!

Dan for the Trumble family

email: Trumble.STEAM@gmail.com

blog: www.trumble-steam.blogspot.com

phone: 719-238-3995 (for a short time longer while we’re still in the States)


On Sunday the 13th of December, our church commissioned us as missionaries being sent by the church. Here is a picture of our family during the commissioning service.

Loading the container to ship stuff to Malawi.


My last day of employment at Compassion was December 11 and my colleagues threw a very nice going away party for us. Pictured here are Beth and me with most of the folks from the Finance division at Compassion

STEAM VI - Happy Thanksgiving from the Trumbles! 26 Nov 2009

Happy Thanksgiving from the Trumble Family!

Our family has very much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. We left on Tuesday night to come to Iowa and drove through the night, arriving in Oskaloosa, Iowa on Wednesday morning. During the church service this morning I made a list of several things for which we can be thankful. Below is that list (with a bit of added commentary in blue).

· Dogs – Both of our dogs have new homes. Maggie ended up with a Compassion colleague’s family and Oreo is now living with Beth’s brother Doug’s family

· Car Battery – On Tuesday, Beth was scheduled to take Maggie to her new home. At some point in the morning she moved our van and backed it up in the driveway, then when she went to leave to take Maggie to her new home, the van wouldn’t start. My Dad came over and jumped the battery and Beth took Maggie to her new home. Then, when she went to leave, the car wouldn’t start again and she got another jump and I talked with my Dad about taking the van into the place where we had recently purchased the battery. Dad took it to the store and they looked at it and said, “That’s not our battery” (or something along those lines). Dad called me and as I thought about it, they were right. We’d put a new battery in my truck recently but NOT the van. Poor Dad. Anyway, the battery in the van was old and bad and a new one was put in. Thankfully this all happened before we left on our trip later the same day. God is good. From Iowa we’re heading east. We’ll spend a night in Pittsburgh and several days in the Washington D.C. area (plus a night in Delaware). Anyway, it’s a long road trip and car troubles would be very nice to avoid.

· Container Stuff – The process of moving overseas can be quite daunting. I was in Nicaragua the week before last and was ready to move ahead with paying the shipping company for the 40 foot container we planned to load on Monday, November 22 (last Monday). I got some pushback on going with a 40 footer rather than a 20 footer and in the end, we did go with the 40 footer but delayed the loading date to December 14. This will allow other people in Malawi time to get stuff sent to Colorado Springs for loading on the container. As these other folks purchase space on the container, this will also help defray our costs. Also, Marty, one of my stepbrothers is allowing us to use his place of business as a loading site. It will be great to get this part of the whole process behind us but in the end, things are working out well.

· Family – Our immediate family is a blessing. Beth and I have four neat kids. God has blessed us richly.

· Extended Family - in laws – It is a blessing to have large, extended Christian families on both Beth’s side and my side of the families. It would be harder to move overseas without their support!

· Friends/supporters – we now have over 500 names on our list to receive our STEAM updates (such as this one) and over 100 people who have contributed financially (or indicated that they will do so). Our ongoing communicated support level is at 51% but we know additional support will still be forthcoming.

· Safe travel – we had a safe journey out to Iowa, even as we drove through the night.

· Opportunity to take trip – this is going to be a neat trip. We are in Iowa for Thanksgiving and then will be heading east (as detailed above). The kids have never been to Washington D.C. and this will be a neat time to see some of our national treasures before we move to Africa

· Appliances – We have ordered appliances (washer, dryer, range, refrigerator, microwave, air conditioner) to ship to Africa and they have all arrived at this point (or at least most of them have arrived). In Malawi, the electricity is 220 volt in Malawi and hopefully everything is working out with all of that.

· Peanut butter (Jim was sitting next to me in church and suggested this addition).

Pastor Dale Visser delivered the message this morning at Beth’s old church, 1st Christian Reformed Church of Oskaloosa. His sermon was titled “Sweet Peas” and was closely patterned off of Johnnie R. Bailey’s sermon of the same name (http://sermons.logos.com/submissions/85585-1618#content=/submissions/85585). In 1904, Howard Morgan, the young son of G. Campbell Morgan, D.L. Moody’s success as manager of the Northfield Bible Conference Center, was very ill and asked his mother, “Sing to me about the sweet peas…You know, the sweet peas, gift of God’s love.” She realized he meant Sweet Peace, the Gift of God’s Love (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/s/w/sweetpgg.htm). Pastor Visser read from 2 Peter where in verse 4 it refers to the fact that God “has given us his very great and precious promises” and he went on to share seven of God’s Precious Promises that begin with the letter “P”. These are things for which we can be thankful:

Pardon – for those of us in God’s family, our guilt has been placed on Jesus Christ and we are pardoned!
Purpose – Jesus died for me and I now have a reason to live
Precepts – God has given us His Word to guide us
Providence – God is in control
Provision – God provides care and guidance
Presence – God is with us
Peace – Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
Of course, we also have many other things to be thankful for. Here are some additional “P” things for which we can give thanks:

Presence of God in our lives

Preaching

Prayer

Pastors (Can you imagine a tougher job than that of pastor? Perhaps Christian school principal would be similarly difficult).

Play – Isn’t it wonderful that God allows us to have fun? Wouldn’t it be nice if the Denver Broncos decide to actually show up and play tonight against the Giants?

Plans (God’s plan for our lives)

Pilgrims

Priceless (The gift Jesus gave for us: His life)

Pork – the other white meat

Pizza

Parmesan Cheese

Peppers (especially the crushed red variety)

Packing (such as for a move to Africa)

Pain

These last two on my list are not as pleasant as the other things but we are to give thanks in all circumstances .

Some addition news (and prayer) items:

I went to the doctor’s office this past week and had lost 16 pounds since about late June or early July. I also had some blood work done and my diabetes is doing much better. For those who understand such things, my A1C was down to 5.8 from 7.0 this past summer. This is a really positive development. I could use some help with blood pressure and cholesterol and I still need to drop more weight but there is some movement in the right direction on some health issues and that’s something to praise God for.
My final day at Compassion is scheduled for December 11. One month later, on January 11, we board our flight to leave the country and move to Malawi.
Packing & Shipping – after we return to Colorado on December 8, we have just a few days to finalize things before we pack our container. We will be moving stuff to our loading place on Saturday the 12th and will have 2 hours to load the 40 foot container on the morning of Monday December 14. If you live in Colorado Springs and are able to help on one or both of these days, please let me know. We need help.
Anyway, happy Thanksgiving! Let us remember how greatly we have each been blessed.

Thank you for your support!

Dan

for the Trumble family

email: trumble.STEAM@gmail.com

blog: www.trumble-steam.blogspot.com

phone: 719-238-3995





A note our daughter Elizabeth prepared.





We had Thanksgiving dinner at Steve & Jan’s new cabin (Steve is Beth’s oldest brother). Pictured below are sister-in-law Julie with Beth, Dan and nephew Luke, Steve & Jan’s farm, and the cabin where we had Thanksgiving dinner.





There are those who think that Pastor Visser and I look similar. Here is a picture of Pastor Visser and Dan.

STEAM V - Trumble Missionary Update - 11 Nov 2009

Greetings!

Today is November 11. On December 11, one month from today, I finish my employment with Compassion. On January 11, two months from today, we depart from Minneapolis and arrive in Lilongwe, Malawi on January 13 where we will be living on the campus of the African Bible College. After more than 16 years working at Compassion this is quite a big change for all of us but Compassion has treated me very well through this separation process and that has been a blessing. We will be shipping major appliances as well as furniture and other household goods. We were going to try to ship goods before Thanksgiving but that may not happen now. Figuring out how to ship this stuff overseas has been one of the least pleasant aspects of this whole process. Please be in prayer for us as we continue to work through those details.

We need to find a good home for our two dogs. Oreo & Maggie are about 3 years old and we’d like to place them with a family before Thanksgiving. They are free to a good home and would come with some “dog accessories” (kennels, leashes, etc.).

We continue to see God’s provision for our financial needs and even though our support level is only at about 50%, we are moving forward trusting that God will meet our needs. We know that there are some additional commitments coming so this 50% number will go up some..but even if it doesn’t, at least we’ll be able to eat every other day! (just kidding). Seriously, though, if you have been sitting on the sidelines wondering if we’re really going to go (we are!) or whether we might reach our support goals without your help (we haven’t!), please pray about whether God might be leading you to partner with us financially.

We are planning to spend Thanksgiving in Iowa with Beth’s family and then will be driving to Washington D.C. We’re going to visit Brian & Debbi Dutton in Pittsburgh along the way and we will be staying with Chris & Julie Keller some while we’re in the Washington D.C. area. Anna Chambers, one of my nieces, is getting married on December 5 in Washington D.C. We will then be back in Colorado for about 2 weeks and after an early Christmas celebration with my family we will leave Colorado and go to Iowa where we will spend the Christmas holiday and enjoy a time of fellowship with people from Beth’s family.

I am sending this update from Nicaragua where I am for a brief trip with Compassion. It is a real pleasure to have this final opportunity to visit a Compassion country and spend some time with Compassion colleagues from several different country offices before my departure from Compassion. I fly home tomorrow.

Beth submitted some of Elizabeth’s artwork to Kainos Cards (www.kainoscards.com) and a couple of her pictures were accepted to be offered for sale on their site. Kainos Cards offers the ability to order a personalized card online and to then have it printed and mailed through the postal system to your intended recipient (so your work is all online but the person to whom you send the card actually gets it in the physical mail). Follow this link to see the card that is being offered using one of Elizabeth’s pictures: http://www.kainoscards.com/previewcard.php?cardid=204

I had the opportunity to record a segment for Compassion’s ‘My Best Day in Ministry’ series. You can hear the audio recording by following this link and clicking on the pink button: http://blog.compassion.com/dan-trumble-best-day-in-ministry/

Prayer Items:

Praise

· For God’s constant care and provision

· For better health in our family after some sickness in the kids

· For Compassion and the wonderful way they have worked with me through this process


Requests

· That all the details would come together with shipping our container

· For good health and safety in travel over the next two months

· For the kids to feel peace about the move to Africa

· That we’d find a good home for both dogs before Thanksgiving



Thank you for your support!

Dan

for the Trumble family

email: Trumble.STEAM@gmail.com

blog: www.trumble-steam.blogspot.com

phone: (719) 635-5109


Jim turned 13 in October. Below is Jim as well as a special card that Elizabeth made for him.

Yesterday Nicaragua became the 17th country in which I’ve eaten Chinese food. Fatima & Yamileth, two Compassion colleagues, are also pictured. Yesterday was also my 39th birthday.

STEAM IV - Trumble Missionary Update - October 22, 2009

Greetings!

13 years ago last night we were in the hospital giving birth to Jim, our firstborn (actually, Beth was giving birth and I was just standing there doing the “supportive husband” thing). He was born at 5:26 PM which was right about the same time as the beginning of Game 2 of the 1996 World Series between the Yankees and Braves. We are now the parents of a teenager! Yikes! Stephen, our youngest, turned 8 earlier in the month.

Plans continue to roll for our move to Malawi. Yesterday I talked with my boss about my departure from Compassion. My final day could be as soon as November 24 or I might end up doing some work still into December. However it works out, I’m down to my last few weeks at Compassion before departing for the mission field. It will be quite a change after 16 years! God willing, we plan to go to Iowa for Thanksgiving and then travel to Washington D.C. for a wedding on December 5. The boys will finish school on December 18 and we will depart for Iowa sometime during that next week (hopefully after celebrating Christmas early with family in Colorado). We will depart from Minneapolis on January 11 after spending some time with relatives in Iowa. Someone at work directed me to a travel agent who has obtained some outstanding prices for the six of us to fly to Malawi for less than $6000. If you have much experience with paying for airfare to Africa, you will appreciate this excellent price.

I have been in contact with an organization that will help us ship a container with household goods. We haven’t finalized those arrangements yet but hopefully will fill and ship the container within the next few weeks. There is a real chance that we will arrive in Malawi before our goods so we may have the opportunity to exercise some “missionary flexibility” right off the bat.

There are still some questions about our financial support but we are confident that we are in God’s hands and that He will provide for our needs. When we look at the committed (and communicated) ongoing financial support, we are at about 45% of our overall goal but there are still people out there who have said that they will support us financially but for whom we do not yet have an amount. We have received some encouraging news on the fundraising front over the last couple of weeks. Thank you to those of you who have already agreed to provide financial support!. Of course, additional support would be very welcome. Please pray about how God might be leading you in that regard. We also face some significant up-front costs including the airfare, the shipping of household goods, and getting set up once we are in Malawi (including the purchase of a vehicle). The jobs we will be filling in Malawi are full-blown missionary positions. We will receive no salary for the work that we do. We need faithful prayer and financial supporters like you!

On the evening of September 20 we did a presentation to people at church. On October 1 I had an opportunity to briefly address some church leaders and I have done several presentations to people at work. Tomorrow, Friday October 23, I am the speaker at the Grace Presbyterian Church annual men’s steak fry (if you are a man and are in the Colorado Springs area, you are welcome to join us…contact me for details). It looks hopeful that we may be able to present our ministry to another church on November 15. If your church would be interested in hearing about our ministry in Malawi, please let us know!

Finally, let me encourage you to follow these links to learn about “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”. He is an amazing young man from Malawi and several years ago he spent some time at ABC Christian Academy (the Christian school that is part of the African Bible College ministry in Malawi and where Beth will be teaching).

Video Clip: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-7-2009/william-kamkwamba

Article: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/05/malawi.wind.boy/index.html

Prayer Items:

Praise
· For God’s sovereign plan. He’s in control. We are not in control. And it’s okay!

· For the faithful prayer and financial support that God is raising up for us. We now have more than 450 names on our update list including many Compassion friends from all over the world.

· For four pretty neat kids.

Requests

· Please continue to pray for Jim. As of yesterday, he is a teenager and that can be a tough time of life. If your parents move you to Africa in the middle of your 7th grade year, that can be cause for some anxiety.

· That the details for everything would continue to come together. This is a pretty daunting process!

· That our hearts would be focused on doing what God wants for us and that we would find joy in obedience to Him.

· Health – pray that God would keep us healthy as we work through the process of getting to Malawi.



Thank you for your support!

Dan

for the Trumble family

email: Trumble.STEAM@gmail.com

blog: www.trumble-steam.blogspot.com

phone: (719) 635-5109

STEAM III - September 21, 2009

Greetings from the Trumbles!

We are rapidly approaching the time when we hope to depart for Malawi, Africa! The 2^nd term of the school year begins 18 January 2010 and we want to be there by then. Our fundraising continues to progress and we know God will meet our needs but we are still short of a level that makes this huge commitment seem comfortable. Perhaps God does not wish for us to feel comfortable!

We are currently aware of specific commitments that put us at about 31% of our total support level. We are prepared to go to Malawi at a level less than 100% but it sure would be nice for the number to be higher than where it currently stands! So, let me be bold: If God is leading you to support us financially but you have been waiting because you feel like there is no rush since there is lots of time before we depart, please let me urge you to tarry no more. Please let us know your intentions and please prayerfully consider going to Africa with us by supporting us in prayer, or by supporting us in prayer and financial support.

We will have some up-front costs for moving and will have ongoing expenses but it is true that I continue to work at Compassion and thus our immediate need for support funds is not great. However, the time for purchasing airline tickets and making some other commitments approaches rapidly. It is fine if you don’t wish to start sending support until December or January but we’d like to know what to expect for planning purposes.

If you are interested in setting up a regular withdrawal from your checking account or a recurring credit card payment, let me know and I can send you the necessary form.

If you do choose to support us financially, please drop us a quick note by email or give us a call at 719-635-5109 to let us know your plans. It can take quite a while for us to get the information from the ABC home office so it would be helpful to us if you could keep us informed of your plans. Let me also take a moment to say Thank You! to those who are already praying for us and for those who have already provided financial support or agreed to support us financially in the future.

Beth and I really desire to depart in January and the need in Malawi is real. As a reminder, a key finance guy, Eckton, who had been working with the ministry of ABC, has moved to the United States to go to school and thus there is currently a key vacancy. Let me share a few comments from some people who are already in Malawi serving at African Bible College:

In a message to Grace Presbyterian Church (our local church which supports the Steve & Marion Spencer family), Steve Spencer said this:

Dear Grace,

Warm Malawian greetings to you from the Spencer Hut. We appreciate you making time for the Trumbles. They are a wonderful family answering the call to missions in Africa. And they couldn't be coming to Malawi at a better time. Our CFO just left and we are desperately in need of a new finance guy. Dan will fill that void perfectly. And as you know, we are always in need of teachers at the Academy and are looking forward to having Beth there. Thank you again for supporting the Spencer and Dehnert families. Thank you for prayerfully considering the Trumbles. Please note: any family willing to dress the entire family in red for their prayer card is surely worthy of support! God bless you and we're still waiting for you to visit us iin Malawi. Blessings from our hut to yours, Steve and Marion.

Connie Dehnert wrote the following (I'm pretty sure she's joking):

We desperately need you here!! did I tell you the new accounting system since Ekton has gone? When the students pay their tuition, we put a big barrel in your office and throw in the money. When we need some we dig it out! Not too easy to go into debt that way, right??

On another occasion Connie wrote this:

…we are in DESPERATE need of you and this is no joke…the more days that go by without you here, the more days it’s going to take you to FIX all the messes we are making in the absence of anyone who knows what they are doing in finance.

Finally, attached you will find a neat story from one of the young men who had recently moved to Malawi to serve at ABC. I encourage you to take a few minutes to read about his experience. Thank you for your prayers for our family as we prepare for this adventure that God has for us.

Prayer Items:

Praise

1. For the ministry of ABC and the way that God is using the ministry to shape lives to be used in His Kingdom.


2. For the faithful missionaries who have responded to God’s call on their lives and for those who are joining them in ministry through prayer and financial support.

Requests

1. Please pray for our whole family that we would be passionate to do exactly what God calls us to do. Jim, our 7^th grader, still is not thrilled with the prospect of moving to Africa. Please pray that God would work in his heart to make him excited for this adventure.


2. That additional people would choose to go to Africa with us by supporting us financially


3. Details – there are a bunch of details to be worked out before we leave. Pray that we would be diligent in tackling those details and that God would smooth the way for things to come together well.

Thank you for your support!

Dan, for the Trumble family