Lately, the days have been such a contrast to the rest of the year. We've been in Zambia now since November 2nd. So far, since being overseas in 2024, this is the longest period of time that we've stayed in one place. This year was filled with sweet times with family on a road trip all the way up the east coast of the States and back and then adventures in ten different countries visiting our teams in Asia, The Middle East, North Africa, and Africa. As full, fun, and exciting as this year has been, I couldn't be more relieved to finally have some downtime after 11 months of the wild nomadic.
Currently, we are staying at our Rapid-14 base, Overland's main logistical base in Africa, located in Zambia. We have the lovely privilege of staying in our sweet friend's home as they visit the States to see family for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and, of course, for Overland's yearly conference. Our next few months will hold a lot more downtime than we've seen all year. We are with a small group of people as we stay on base to upkeep it for the next few months. Almost everyone on the team is in the States right now, so we are on the rotation to stay back and help support. Upon that, we will also be trying to continue making monthly trips out to Itezhi Tezhi.
A few friends have told us to set some spiritual goals for our time here these next few months, as we have more time to focus and refine. I had already been praying about a few things and was glad to hear people saying that it was a good time for that here. It's also a lovely opportunity to spend more intentional time together, Ethan and me. We've done a lot of working and playing together, but now we can have more sweet quality time. It's been a difficulty to navigate that in the busyness with an ever-changing schedule and constant movement. Here we can create consistent patterns to hold onto for when the busyness picks back up again next year. We can dismantle past habits to rebuild stronger, new ones.
Our responsibilities on the base during this time are really just to support in any way we can. For me, Victoria, every Tuesday I go to town to do some shopping and run errands. Livingstone town is about a 30-minute drive on a bumpy dirt road, that passes through a nearby village called Nsongwe where most of our employed base workers are from, so we always try to capitalize on any town runs from the base. The fewer trips, the better. I do errands like grocery shopping for upcoming base dinners, which involves stopping at four different places, as the ingredients we need are spread out between different shops and markets. I run other errands like going to a hardware store to pick up a hot-water heater switch and a cable with a couple of grommets for our friend who is working on a big building project on base. Something else that was fun to work on was to purchase and put together Christmas bags for our workers on base. These are just a few examples of what I get up to. As far as Ethan goes; he is in charge of Sunday and Wednesday morning worship as well as running errands or giving rides. This week he drove a few of our workers from Nsongwe to SES, a doctor's office in town. With that in mind, keep one of our worker's babies in your prayers as she had some first-degree burns on her legs due to an accidental hot water spill. Ethan has been bringing the mom and her to SES every day, for the next week, so that the baby's bandages can be changed.
Well, we hope, that those of you who are Americans, had an amazing Thanksgiving! We had a killer spread of food and company here. Also, we hope that everyone is not too stressed about the upcoming Christmas parties and plans. I pray that the rest of the year ends strongly and peacefully for you and that the New Year brings excellent new perspectives and gentle refining.
Keep Ethan and me in your prayers as Christmas comes and goes. We are happy to spend our Christmas with our team here and create new memories together, but our hearts also long to kiss and hug our families back in the States. During this time, we are reminded of Jesus as He came to earth, leaving His Father, to give His life for us. There is no greater honor than to serve our King, especially if that means a Christmas or two being missed Stateside.
With extra love and a Happy Christmas,
Ethan and Victoria
P.S. Yes, we decorated our base for Christmas!
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