Anyone up for a Vegemite sandwich?

Well we’re on to plan C, move to Brisbane Australia. It’s really been quite the process to get to this point but we feel strongly that this is what God is leading us into. So a quick review of the path we took to get to where we are now.
Sold everything. Moved to Malawi for a job. Got to Malawi no job. Moved to Uganda for potential job. Got to Uganda found out job was not a good fit. In Uganda praying about why we are in Uganda and what’s next. Feel like God is leading us to move to Brisbane. And now you are up to speed and as of now we are just waiting on a few details but we will fly out on the 23rd of December. We’ll have Christmas Eve in Dubai as a lay over and arrive in the beautiful country of Australia on Christmas morning. I guess you could say we took the scenic route to get to Australia but there you have it.
Actually, some of you might have known this, but our original plan after working in Malawi for three years was to move to Australia for Graduate school. So as we said we are bumping up the plan a bit and moving on with it now. Since Rachel is a citizen of Australia things are a bit easier for her in the move and she will start working and hopefully start school in the middle of 2008 if things go as planned. She wants to study International Political Development in hopes to someday work with governments and the UN to advocate for the developing world. Joel on the other hand has to work out visa stuff a bit first but will probably be able to work a little at first until he can become a permanent resident. But his dream is to become a writer and in the future write novels but for now work on getting articles published.
We both have learned so much in the past few years with our travels and studies. Specifically on this trip we have been seeking the lessons that God wants us to learn. First of all we know now more than ever that God is faithful. He has provided for us this whole time and we are so grateful. Second we have a little clearer picture what we want to be doing and what we don’t want to be doing with our lives. Third we have discovered that we love living in other countries but we think God is calling us back to our own cultures (well Rachel’s at least) for now to advocate for people in developing countries. Everyone likes simple answers, especially when it comes to poverty. We want to be able to feel good about ourselves by seeing some tangible result from our simple solutions. Unfortunately this attitude has literally plagued the developing world and still is today. The answer to poverty is multi-faceted and extremely complex. Our simplistic mindset has to change if we truly care about our poor neighbors. Therefore,we want to advocate for justice in the third-world not merely charity. We want to stop wasteful aid that creates dependency and doesn’t help them stand on their own two feet. We want to change political and economic policies that favor the rich in the west and ignore the plight of the poor. Lastly we want to provide an example of simple living, not to be copied by others, but to challenge the Western consumer mindset and live a life of necessity, contentment and generosity. We’ve learned a lot from this trip and obviously have a long way to go, but we must all do what we can, and this is what we feel called to.

P.S. We are extending an invitation for anyone to come visit and stay with us in Australia. We know a beach paradise is more enticing to visit, than an impoverished African country☺