"My Grace is sufficient for you..." PRAISE The LORD! We are here having arrived late Tuesday afternoon. What a glorious trip we had as God poured out favor and grace all over us.
 
Marian had been sensing for sometime that the open door(s) prophetic word spoken over us would really begin as soon as we got on an airplane bound for Africa. Well, it began at 4:30 am the 7th of October as we were the first to walk up to the American Airlines counter in San Diego. Karen, the agent at the counter, looked up at Joe's hat and exclaimed, "Praise the Lord!" Here we were with 8 bags in tow, 4 of which we would have to pay extra as excess baggage. Money was never mentioned as the counter agent booked all 8 pieces through to Dar es Salaam. God's grace! Before we left for the gate, she came out from behind the counter, took our hands and prayed for us in front of all the people in line behind us and our trip then gave us each a hug. Oh the joy of it all to see God's hand on us opening the first of many doors on our journey.
 
Flying time wasn't so bad but we logged in almost 30 hours waiting in three different airports; O'Hara in Chicago, Heathrow in London and Dar es Salaam. A wheel chair was made available for Marian at every airport. Along the way we met several people who were drawn to Joe's hat. A Polish couple in Chicago came over and we became instant friends. They have a Polish church in Chicago and a vision for church planting in their home country.
 
We arrived in Dar pretty much sleepless. It was good to get off the airplane after nine hours of flying. God delivered Michael, a young Tanzanian airport employee with a wheelchair. He would then take care of us until we left the airport, either himself or through other staff he sent to us. He guided Joe through the baggage area and grace was poured out again as Joe paid out only $120 for what could have been several hundred for our excess baggage. We were missing one smaller bag and were informed it was in London and would catch up in a couple of days.
 
While waiting for Joe, Marian met a married couple leaving Dar to fly home to see their first grandchild, recently born. They are Southern Baptist missionaries, Paul and Kathy, who have been working in Tanzania for 26 years. It was great fun sharing back and forth.
 
We also met a young African Catholic priest and had a great time laughing as we talked about doctrine and relationship with Christ versus religion, etc.  He kept insisting one day we would visit him at his mission in So. Africa and be his guests.
 
Having arrived at 6:30 am, we would not depart for Pemba until 4:30 in the afternoon. When the time came to board, we went out to our plane across the tarmac. This was the only place where we had to board via a stairway, and it looked steep from where I (Marian) stood with crutches at the bottom of what looked like in impossible climb. Ok, let's do it, I thought but it didn't "do it" as I tripped a bit. I couldn't make even the first step. To Joe's and my surprise, my escort turned to Joe and asked for permission to carry me up the stairs. He took my crutches and gave them to Joe, then picked me up and carried me all the way up and set me down in my seat. The other passengers didn't seem as amused as I was. Thankfully, we were off for our last hour and ten minute flight that would take us to our final destination, Pemba!
 
It was so good to arrive in Pemba at long last. Getting off the plane meant going down the stairway and it was accomplished with a crutch under the left arm and the right hand on the railing. Success! A wheel chair was brought and we went to the very small terminal and were taken directly through the small baggage area where I waited and Joe went to get in line for customs and immigration. Right away we saw Elizabeth and Don, directors of the Iris Pemba center waiting outside for us and for a church group of 16 people from Canada. It was good to see familiar faces. While waiting for Joe in the baggage area, I noticed on the other side of the baggage carousel a young couple from the same flight as they were obviously stressed over some sort of mishap in the airport. The young woman, Laura, was crying and extremely distressed as they were talking to immigration officials and her companion was unable to calm her. His own frustration only stressed her more. I asked one of the men from the church group if he would like to go with me to pray for her and he happily pushed me over to her. Laura explained that when immigration stamped her passport it obliterated her visa and it was now unreadable. This was the first stop of their vacation and now she didn't have a usable visa for continuing their journey. When I asked to pray for her she immediately said she was Jewish, to which I replied, "Good, Jesus is Jewish." She readily, through her tears, received prayer. God's peace fell on her and she stopped crying and began to smile thanking me for praying. I shared with her how much God loved her and that He wanted her to experience His grace and love in this situation. We do not know how the problem was resolved but we have prayed that God's Spirit would draw her to seek Jesus and know that He is her Messiah.
 
After all the passengers had been checked through customs and our 7 bags (loaded with vitamins and stuff for a year) were lined up beside us, the customs officials simply asked if we were also with Arco-Iris and having confirmed that we were, they simply told us to go! Thank You Jesus!
 
After the short drive to the center we received a warm welcome from staff and were placed in a house with Linda a nurse and Tanya, both long term staff. We quickly looked through luggage to find what we needed for the night, prayed and thank God for the incredible grace He had poured over us on this trip. We then crashed into bed and slept for the first time in three nights. During orientation on Sunday we saw a familiar face from our visit to Maputo in 2005. Martin from Australia was also here for school so we spent the rest of the afternoon sharing events that have reunited us in Pemba.
 
We are doing extremely well and adjusting to life with only screens and bars on the windows, climbing in and out of mosquito netting at night, using bottled water to brush our teeth, reddish sand/dirt everywhere, tiny black ants that have a nasty sting and seem to love the taste of Marian, hot sun but cool sea breezes through the days and nights from off the bay of the Indian ocean just across the street, quiet like you can't believe even though we are on the main road, beans and rice very day for lunch and at times with added vegetables for variation, homework and lots of reading, language issues with Portuguese, limited choices of food products, no TV or radio (Yeh God), sometimes having water and sometimes not, occasional smoke from wood burning fires from the native village next door separated by a big concrete wall, housed in a secure area with guards at the gates including the main gate, and surrounded with lots of very friendly and happy black faces of the children here.
 
We are very blessed that our house mates share Anna who comes and does laundry and simple cleaning. She will hand wash our clothes once a week and does miracles with stains!
 
We are 100+ school mates from 16 countries, most from England with the USA second; Canada, Russia, So. Korea, So. Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Israel, Finland, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Mozambique, Ukraine. How perfect for a multi cultural experience and all of us here to learn how to truly love God's way by spending time with the people of Mozambique. The school is amazing and Holy Spirit is messing with our heads as we look more closely at what mission really is and how all of our different cultures speak into our view of the gospel and how we share it. The whole of the Word of God was written in a culture that definitely was not Western. We are being stretched mentally, spiritually and culturally and loving it.
 
The teaching is awesome and straight out of God's Word. Leslie Anne Lieghton is our main teacher from New Zealand who developed this course after spending years of her life as a single woman on the mission field of her home country, China, Russia, and other places. One more thing, Marian's ankle is healing nicely and has three nurses and two doctors on site if needed. We thank you and bless you for all of your prayers that have sustained us and brought us here to Pemba, the place of God's choosing for this new season of ministry in our lives.
 
God gave us a verse the other day for life in Mozambique from Psalm 37: 3, "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness," Oh what a wonderful word for us in this place! His faithfulness is what has brought us here and His faithfulness will keep us here. Bless you for believing with us for this miracle and praise God with us for His provision, goodness, grace and mercy. With joy in our hearts and much love in JESUS! AMEN!

Because of Jesus!
Joe and Marian