Redirection and what’s to come
A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. - Proverbs 16:9
Our last two months in Colorado have been incredible. We have seen God open doors and opportunities that we couldn’t have ever planned. We have helped family and friends move, watched nieces and nephews while their parents took a much-needed vacation, attended a wedding, and met with many friends, supporters, and churches, helped ministries dear to our hearts... The time has been full and very rewarding.
Why are we delayed? It comes down to a couple reasons! The first is that we are taking the opportunity to switch bases in France to a location that is more focused on outreach and evangelism, with a special focus on reaching Muslims. Our time at YWAM Bridges of Life was an intense time of settling into both life and ministry in France, but YWAM Provence has a much greater emphasis on getting out into the local community, working together with local Christians, and reaching out into the North African nations that God has long put on our hearts. Our new base also has a much greater emphasis on learning, speaking and living fully in the French language, which we both need and are greatly looking forward to. The application and transition period between bases took a little longer than anticipated, which pushed back our original flight dates from mid-September. They also do not have any housing space available for us to land there during this quarter, and tent-camping until we find an apartment isn't very reasonable with a newborn just around the corner. :)
The second reason has to do with the timing of Cheri’s pregnancy. Being in her third trimester, we knew the timing of our original flights would be close to the cut-off for international travel, but with having to push back our flights, it also pushed us out of a safe window to travel, move, find a new apartment, etc. With the onset of some early contractions with all the stress of transition, it became clear that the best and least stressful option was to remain in the States for the delivery of the baby to avoid the possibility of a massively pre-term delivery (and the complications that would present in a French hospital!). Our doctor visit today confirmed that it was indeed the wisest possible choice - they told us that we are definitely out of the “safe zone” for any international travel.
So what are we doing now? Making the best use of our delays! :)
We have been able to enroll Daniel in Kindergarten, and his classes include some immersion into French which will help him retain and even grow in his ability. Jeff is helping family build a house, assisting a local ministry with website development, jumping in with another ministry for their technical needs, and generally pouring in whenever he can. Cheri has been mostly trying to recover and get as much rest as possible during this season, and of course helping care for the kids.
Now on to the plan. Right now as we are looking to return to France around February. This will allow baby to be born in December, enough time to have her new passport in hand before we land, and the base will then have enough space and ability to receive us as we land. One thing we know is that we will need to find an apartment fairly immediately upon our return. This will also mean finding furniture (since we have been previously renting furnished apartments from YWAM) and figuring out some form of transportation, since it is a much larger town than our last location. Bikes are a good option but we will probably need to get a car relatively quickly. With that in mind, we have greatly reduced our monthly expenditures while we are back here in Colorado to be saving for home furnishings and transportation needs once we are back.
More to share to come, thank you for reading this far! We SO appreciate all of your prayers and support, please let us know how we can help support YOU!
All of our love,
Jeff and Cheri Willecke
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