Check it Out!

I'm blogging over at the Angola Team's website today about our recent presentation to a church in the Lisbon area about our plans for Angola. Click here to read all about it. It was my first time to speak publicly in Portuguese, but thanks to a lot of preparation and practice, I was able to get through it without too much difficulty.

Then, while you're over there, stick around for awhile and check out the website... read an article or two... and sign up to receive our e-updates if you haven't already.

And, just in case you haven't heard the news via Facebook, Twitter, or email, our teammates all received word that their Angolan visas were approved last week! Well, all except for Robert... no one is quite sure what is going on with his, and we are all praying hard that he receives it soon so he can travel to Angola with his family. Please join us in praising God for this wonderful news and in our continuing prayers for Robert's visa.

Partnership Tour: Portland to Helena

We are winding down the Partnership Tour -- by this time next week, we should be on our way back to Nashville. Our time in Portland was a real whirlwind of activity. We blocked out a few days for family time with Ronda, Robbie, and Johnny. The rest of the time, we were spending time with friends and extended family (my grandmother and cousins as well as some of Rusty's cousins all live in the Portland area), taking care of some business related to Rusty's mom's estate, and visiting with churches and missions committees about our plans for Angola. Fundraising in the Northwest is especially difficult right now, due to the economic downturn as well as Cascade's recent closing. However, we are getting the word out; now we will wait and watch God work -- after all, he is bigger than all of the limitations we perceive.

Although we enjoyed our time in Portland immensely, it was a crazy busy time since both Rusty and I know so many people and have so many connections there. We were almost glad to get back on the road again! We left Portland a week ago Tuesday, stayed the night in Vancouver, WA with our friends the Onsomu's, and on Wednesday, headed west to Coeur d'Alene. We stayed Wednesday night with old college friends Ben and Christina Heater and their kids and were able to visit with some folks at the Dalton Gardens Church of Christ about Angola.

On Thursday, we drove to Helena, Montana. We have enjoyed the last few days here with Uncle Roy and Aunt Margaret Ramsey, former missionaries to Kisumu, Kenya and teammates of my parents. It has been fun reminiscing about the past with them -- the other night, we even watched some of their old family movies! There are not many people anymore that I can connect with when it comes to my childhood in Kisumu, so I have enjoyed that aspect of our time with them.

For Alex's part, he has enjoyed the experience of four-wheeling! The other day, we took their two ATV's up into the hills near their house. Rusty and I rode one, and Uncle Roy and Alex rode the other one. (Aunt Margaret stayed back at the house with Stephen.) We had such a great time and saw some gorgeous scenery. Alex keeps asking when we are going again!

This past Sunday, we presented about Angola to the church in Great Falls on Sunday morning and the church in Billings on Sunday night. Then, on Monday, we drove back to Helena, stopping to visit friends David and Alison Ellis in Bozeman (David and Rusty were at Harding Grad together). We will be here in Helena for another week, and then we'll begin the long journey back to Nashville. Please continue to pray for us as we travel and fundraise!

Note: I have been meaning to post some pictures of our team time in Colorado last month. Teague, however, beat me to it. Rather than post many of the same pictures on my own blog, I'm linking to her post here. For Facebook users, Katie uploaded a bunch of pictures there as well.

Partnership Tour: Colorado Springs to Portland

The Partnership Tour continues... a week ago Tuesday, we left Colorado Springs, headed for Rocky Mountain National Park. We camped there for two nights with our team, enjoying great food and conversation amidst the beauty of God's creation. We took a hike one day through the mountains up to Lake Haiyaha and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the boulders at the water's edge. I will put some pictures up soon.

On Thursday, we said our goodbyes and began the drive westward over the Rockies. We spent Thursday night in Glenwood Springs, CO with my former college roomie, Amy, and her family. It was so great to see them again, and Alex really enjoyed playing with their two girls.

On Friday, we drove as far as Salt Lake City, UT, where we stayed the night in a motel. Then, on Saturday, we drove to La Grande, OR. We stayed with a lovely older couple, who, we found out after we arrived at their house, were none other than the grandparents of our friend and former fellow AET, Shawn Phelps! It's such a small world, especially in the Church of Christ in the Northwest!

Rusty presented about Angola and also preached at the church in La Grande on Sunday. On Monday, we drove to Central Oregon and visited some of Rusty's friends and family there. And yesterday, we drove over the mountains and into Portland. We will be here in Portland for about two weeks, visiting friends and family and talking about Angola with various area churches. Please continue to pray for us. So far, we have all been healthy, but we are beginning to feel a little worn down. All the moving around and the long days in the car have been especially hard on Alex. It will be nice to be in one place for awhile.

Almost 37 Weeks

I will be 37 weeks pregnant tomorrow. This is another big milestone, because it is considered "full-term." So, it is pretty much a waiting game at this point. Will Baby Dois be early, as Alex was? Or will he decide to stay where it is warm and comfy a few days longer?

I continue to feel fine, although I tire easily and find it more difficult to sleep comfortably at night. I have been having some issues with low amniotic fluid volume, so they will be monitoring that from here on out. This means I have to go into the office twice a week for an ultrasound and a non-stress test. I have also been given orders to rest as much as possible and drink lots and lots of fluids. There was talk last week of inducing labor if fluid levels continue to drop. I do not want to see it come to that, so I have been downing the water and the Gatorade -- and running to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so! Today when I went in, my fluid level had jumped from a 6.7 all the way up to an 11, putting me back in the normal range. My doc is happy -- and so am I.

Please pray for a healthy conclusion to this pregnancy and a safe and short delivery of Baby Dois!

Over and Out

I am too tired to write much tonight... It has been a busy week, and we are leaving tomorrow (or today, rather -- it is after midnight) for our survey trip!

I am hopeful that we will be able to blog some while we are in Angola. Of course, that is dependent on two things -- having electricity and having a reliable Internet connection. So, we will do our best, but we may have to wait to post pictures until we return to the States.

Please cover us in prayer as we travel. Pray for our health and safety, especially little Alex! Pray that our "surveying" will be productive. And pray that we can be an effective witness for Christ during our time in Angola.

And There Was Much Rejoicing

Well, another semester is at last behind us. Rusty took his finals last week, turned in his last paper on Tuesday afternoon, and now we wait, with bated breath, for grades to be posted.

This has been a frustrating semester for several reasons, which I will not delve into here. Suffice it to say that Rusty is weary of school and hoop-jumping, and I am weary of being the wife of a stressed-out graduate student. We have both been stretched very thin over the past several months with the multiple hats we each wear. The light at the end of the tunnel is visible, though -- Rusty is just a few hours away from his master's degree. One class this summer and one class this fall and he will be finished. And then, there will really be rejoicing!

So, for now, we put aside school and turn our attention to other things -- namely, our survey trip to Angola this summer. We leave the country two weeks from this coming Monday. Yikes! Lots still to do and a good bit of money still to raise... Thank you to all who have given to our cause so far -- you have no idea how much each contribution, no matter how large or small, encourages our hearts. Please pray with us that God will provide the funds we need and that we will continue to have faith in him.

The Quest

What to say about Quest? It was... emotionally exhausting... intensive... draining. It was, in the words of Danny Reese, "a 2-day cross examination of every aspect of your life." Each couple and single on the team was interviewed in a round-robin style by 2 people from MRN as well as four experienced missionary couples. Over the course of 2 days, we sat through ten 1-hour interviews (no wonder we were tired)! We reviewed some of the assessments we had taken in the weeks before. We answered questions related to our physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, financial, and marital health, our ministry experience, our response to stress and trials, our theology of missions, and a variety of other topics. I talked until my mouth was dry and my throat was hoarse!

In addition, we (meaning the Angola Team) prepared lunches and dinners for the entire group (shout-out to Teague for coordinating this), and had a group project to complete by the end of the second day. Each couple and single also had to prepare a 20-minute self-introduction (Rusty and I did a Power Point of pictures to tell our story) and a 20-minute devotional.

Although we were tired at the end of the 2 days, I have to say that it was a good and helpful experience for us as individuals and couples, and for our team. During our "exit interviews," each couple/single was given a list of strengths as well as growth areas and recommendations. They had some really wonderful and encouraging things to say about Rusty and me that just brought tears to my eyes! Then, we met all together and they gave us a list of team recommendations.

We look forward to continuing our relationship with MRN in the coming months and working through the team formation and preparation process with them. For right now, however, our thoughts are focused mostly on the upcoming survey trip to Angola this summer. I am really starting to worry about how we will raise the necessary funds in the next few months as well as the more practical aspects of traveling in Africa with a 2-year old. Please pray that God will calm my anxious heart!

And while I am asking for prayers, please also lift up our trip to Texas this weekend. We will be traveling to Denton, TX to meet with a church that is interested in our plans for Angola and possibly supporting us. This will be our first presentation to and interview with a missions committee, so we are understandably a bit nervous. We are thankful that teammates Danny and Nathan will be accompanying us to help with the presentation and to lend their emotional support.

Group photo from our Quest weekend below:

Back row from left: Greg Brooks, Henry Huffard, Robert Meyer, Rusty Campbell, Danny Reese, Evertt Huffard, Paul Schwartz

Middle row, from left: Dottie Schulz, Jane Huffard, Roger Pritchett, Nathan Holland, Ileene Huffard, Mary Lane Schwartz

Front row, from left: Laura Campbell, Karen Pritchett, Katie Reese (and baby!), Teague Meyer, Jordan Yarborough

Not pictured: Alex Campbell

Holiday Travels and Current Events

After Christmas in Michigan, we spent several days traveling back to Memphis. We stopped in Clarksville, TN (to see Uncle Dennis and Aunt Diana Campbell), Huntsville, AL (to see Rusty's cousin Linda and her family), and Dechard, TN (for Uncle Lyle and Aunt Shirley Starnes' family get-together). We had a great time with everybody, but it sure was nice to get back to our own beds again! Pictures below.

Alex and his second cousin, Naomi.

I'm a big boy now!

I can go down on my tummy, too!

After we got back, we enjoyed a few quiet days at home before I had to go back to work. We spent some time rearranging, organizing, and decorating Alex' room. Rusty began another semester of school. And Alex has started attending a Parents' Day Out program one day a week. We have also been busy preparing for our intensive Quest weekend with the Angola Team and Mission Resource Network. This included taking numerous psychological tests and personality profiles (oh, the joy). Quest is next weekend, so please keep us and the rest of the team in your prayers!

Please Pray for Kenya!

If you follow world news at all, you have probably heard about the recent violence in Kenya. The situation sounds very scary, worse than any I remember facing during the years my family lived there (and yes, I know the media hype tends to make things sound worse than they really are). Still, things could spiral out of control very quickly. Reading stories of riots, looting, shootings, and church burnings just breaks my heart. Kenya is, after all, the land of my birth and where I grew up. A part of my heart will always think of it as "home." Please, please pray for Kenya, that this situation can be resolved and the violence will come to an end.

Click here to read a report from CNN.

Scroll down for a recent post on our Christmas activities.

Doors

When we were forced to return to Portland a little over a year ago, our lives were in limbo for several months. After the initial crisis had passed and life began to take on a semblance of normalcy again, we started praying about and discussing the question "Where do we go from here?" We considered settling in the Northwest for a time. Rusty could get a ministry job and work on his degree long-distance. Several discouraging months passed... letters of interest were sent... and letters of rejection came back. No doors opened, not even a crack. Never even an interview.

Okay then, maybe I could get a job. Rusty could keep his part-time job at Starbucks (and the awesome benefits), and finish his degree quicker since he wouldn't be working full-time. I applied for the same job at Cascade College (my alma mater) twice... and was turned down both times. The second time, I was actually invited to apply (I don't think I would have done so otherwise). I was given an interview and had high hopes... but then the rejection letter came. A door had barely cracked, then slammed shut.

Settling semi-permanently in the Northwest didn't seem to be an option. We began to wonder if maybe God had other things in mind. Maybe "settling" was not something we were meant to do just yet. Maybe we are never meant to "settle," but that's a discussion for another time.

We began to discuss our goals, and found that they boiled down to two things. Goal #1 - Rusty needed to finish the degree he started five years ago. Goal #2 - We needed to realize our dreams for doing mission work in Africa. When we began focusing on our goals, the answer to "Where do we go from here?" seemed obvious. We needed to move back to Memphis.

Almost immediately, doors started opening left and right. We made a trip to Memphis in April and found out... that Rusty could finish his degree in 1-2 years... that there was a 2-bedroom apartment available on-campus for us... that Rusty could transfer to a Starbucks in Memphis. I was even offered a job, pending that the current employee found a teaching job (she did).

So we made the move, and now here we are in Memphis. Rusty is working, being a part-time stay-at-home dad, and taking classes. I am working, being "mom," and keeping the house. Life will be busy for at least the next 18 months, but I for one am so much happier (even though I don't necessarily enjoy being a working mother) because I feel like we have a focus and a direction.

Now for some discussion about Goal #2. Some may be wondering... Africa? Why Africa? Why not go back to Japan? Let me first say (so there is no doubt) that WE LOVE JAPAN! We spent four years there and will always look back on them as some of the best years of our lives. We forged deep friendships with special people, both Japanese and gaijin. We had some unique experiences and made many wonderful memories. We will always have a special place in our hearts for Japan and pray for the kingdom work that is being done there. (And there is not a day that goes by that we don't miss onsens!)

Well, Africa is something that has also always been on both our hearts. There is such a wrenching and tugging that goes on inside us when we think of choosing between Africa and Japan. Because, try as we might, we simply cannot be in two places at once. Several years ago, we thought we had made Africa our final choice. We made some promises. We didn't keep them. We went back to Japan instead. We have some regrets -- not about going back to Japan, because God used that year for good in so many ways -- but about not keeping our word and letting people down.

Now, nearly three years later, the doors in certain parts of Africa that once stood wide open appear to be closed, at least to us. We are disappointed... but not surprised. Life moves on. The doors God opens to us will not always remain open indefinitely. So we have spent this last year praying that He will open another door and direct our hearts to another people, another work. And He has answered in a surprising way, a way that has definitely required a major paradigm shift for both of us.

For the last several months, Rusty and I have been in prayerful discussion with a group of people who are forming a team for mission work in Angola. If you don't know much about Angola, don't worry -- we didn't either! Not many people do. That's because, for the last 40+ years (longer than we have been alive!), Angola has been embroiled in civil war. However, peace has finally come to this African nation that is twice the size of Texas, and as history has shown us, often the years of highest receptivity to the gospel are the initial years of peace following a long conflict. For more information about Angola and the team that is forming, I hope you'll visit the Angola Team website (a permanent link will be posted in the sidebar under "Mission Teams Around the World").

Rusty and I have not made a 100% firm commitment to the team as of yet. We are trying to take it slow, be prayerful, and learn from our past mistakes! However, at this point, all the signs look promising, and the door seems to be cracking ever wider. At this point, we are committed to going on the survey trip with the team next summer (2008), which in itself feels like a pretty major commitment seeing as we will have to raise over $10,000 in order to go! (Oh, me of little faith... I know God will provide as he always does. Still, it is a daunting figure.)

Please lift us before the Father as we consider this door, this amazing opportunity!

(Photo courtesy of David Schauer on stock.xchng)

Change in Plans

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." - Proverbs 16:9

I've been putting off writing this post because somehow, "putting it down on paper," or in this case, on the web, makes everything seem more real. As long as I don't put into words what we are about to do and why, I can pretend that life as I know it will go on: working, playing, eating, sleeping, going to church, raising a family here in this quiet little neighborhood in Hitachi, Japan.

When we came back to Japan last July, we intended to stay for... well, we weren't exactly sure how long we wanted to stay. But certainly longer than a year. I mean, we shipped 37 boxes full of "stuff" from America. You only go to all that trouble and expense when you intend to be somewhere for awhile. But here we are, almost exactly one year later, pulling out the boxes and filling them up again. Is there any sound more synonymous with moving than the sound of packing tape coming off the role?

We are leaving Japan. We are moving back to Portland. Under normal circumstances, I would be excited about returning to the one place in the United States that feels more like home to me than any other. But these are not normal circumstances. And the reasons for this unplanned return are anything but happy.

Rusty's mom, Mary Campbell, has been diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a very aggressive, malignant brain tumor. At the end of June, she underwent brain surgery, and the prognosis is not good. To read more about this particular kind of tumor, click here.

So, we are moving back to Portland to be close to Rusty's family during this very difficult time. This move will happen soon, probably by the end of the month. In fact, we had purchased tickets to leave today, July 11th, but then I came down with the chicken pox! Yes, it is a childhood illness. And yes, having it once usually provides lifetime immunity. Apparantly, it is still possible, although rare, to contract it a second time -- lucky me! Although I am feeling better this week, now Baby Alex is almost certain to contract the chicken pox as well, so our plans have been put on hold until he is well enough to travel.

We would like to ask for your prayers for our family during this time. Please pray for us as we sort, pack, sell, clean, say our goodbyes, and leave Japan. Pray that Alex will have a mild case of the chicken pox and feel better soon. Pray for Mary and Ronda and the rest of Rusty's family -- for God's peace and strength and comfort to be made very real in all their lives...

Blogging may be a bit sporadic for the next few weeks as we make this transition, so please be patient with us. And to all you Portlanders out there, although we wish it were under different circumstances, we're excited about seeing you very soon!