Tucker Times Vol 25 September 2019

September was busy with Thad wrapping up all the visits and a few speaking engagements in the US. Here, Elie and I had a mostly uneventful month just working on the homeschooling and looking forward to Thad's return. Thad and I also had our 30th anniversary on the 26th! He was traveling and spent most of it in the airports on the way to Indiana! We are so blessed to have enjoyed our years together and one more day apart is bearable. While it is never easy, he had to say good bye to the kids and granddaughter in Alaska and then the quick ten days in Indiana with his mom and family made another sad good bye.

I know he so enjoyed the moments he was able to connect with our church family and many of your our supporters. He had a long layover in Atlanta and then the over 15 hour flight back to Johannesburg South Africa. He has recovered well from the Jet lag with a few days of well deserved afternoon naps. Now we are ready to start thinking of the next steps to getting set up in our new Botswana missions work.We will be here for the month of October as we have a training and meeting at the end of the month and Elie is looking forward to a birthday party with the other American missionaries here.

1. Praise the Lord for Thad's safe return

2. Praise for the blessing of visiting with the friends, family and supporters.

3. Pray that the truck can be sold and we can find an affordable 4x4

4. Pray for our finances as we move and set up in Northern Botswana.

5. Pray for us as we have training and transition time.

Thad's Thoughts

While we are in this transition time we will be learning more about the Word To Africa model of missions and discipleship. We will be doing a cultural training and some more Every Nation training. For every believer it is important to continue to study. Since our missionary journey began we have been learning about South Africa and now will be seeing the new culture of Botswana. Especially since we will be in a rural setting the customs are much different. While we expect that each of you reads your Bible and we pray you attend a fellowship with other believers, do not neglect the true study of God's Word. Nothing can bring you closer to God than discovering what he wants for you through prayer and his Word!

Sara's Sayings

I keep telling the kids that they need to invent a teleportation device! If only we could travel so quickly and easily between our loved ones state side and here to the mission field! It was a challenge to be apart from Thad while he was there with them, It was a challenge to not get to see them myself, and It is a challenge yet again to be separated from loved ones there! But we are so blessed that true love doesn't stop just because we are separated physically. Know you are all loved......

We have had many people express interest in joining our monthly support team! While Thad was there in the States I know many of you gave donations to him personally or in the church love offerings, Thank you so much! We are so glad to have you as a part of our mission team! This month donations were lower than our budget but we have had many of you mention that you would like to donate in person or directly to our account. We have made arrangements for that and if you need more details please send us a quick email and we will be happy to give you our personal details. We have an account in Tok Alaska, a Wells Fargo account as well as an Absa Account in South Africa. Do remember though if you chose to do that we are not yet set up as a nonprofit ourselves. If you require a tax donation receipt please use the Foundation for Missions link below.

Click here to donate/ link to past Newsletters

Elianna's Escapades

Elie and I have been cracking the books! We have been enjoying learning about China this month and finished it off with a true Chinese dinner! We invited a guest and she shared her favourite points of what we learned over homemade egg rolls, egg drop soup, lo mein noodle stir fry and rice! It was a challenge for mom since we had to make egg roll wraps from scratch! But we have decided that it was worth it and we will do it more often!

If you have tried to contact us and find we are not a quick to respond it is probably because we have less internet access while we are staying here in Lobatse. The small (flat) guest cottage we are blessed with is not blessed with good connectivity and we don't have internet service. We often go to the Word to Africa coffee shop (Kalihari Koffee) just a short walk away. But talking and video chatting has been more difficult. Be patient with us and we will try and get back to everyone as quickly as possible!

Our temporary address while in Lobatse Botswana is:

Thad and Sara Tucker
P.O. Box 1161
Zeerust, Northwest province
South Africa 2865

ptnstucker@yahoo.com