The Achterbergs Arrive in CONGO
"Floored"

February 2003

FLOORED IN BAGGAGE CLAIM

As I (Jay) stood beside the luggage carousel of Brazzaville's Maya Maya
Airport Thursday night with all 24 of our trunks piled together at our side,
along with our two suitcases, one stroller, one duffle bag and one box of
auto glass, all of which we checked in at JFK airport in New York on
Wednesday, I looked at the many missionaries, pastors and baggage handlers
that were helping us at the airport and thought, "Floored."

The look on all of our faces was one of being floored, amazed, and
praise-filled at the way God made all of our checked luggage come through
today (except for a second, simpler stroller that we were given to help move
our carry-ons and kids through the New York and Paris airports). I beamed
with the realization that God made this happen, in response to the prayers
of so many of you, and particularly in response to our church's fasting and
praying on our behalf. Getting two and a half dozen packages through at the
same time that the passengers arrive on a trip to a third-world nation with
a layover in between? That doesn't happen! But it reminds me of the trip I
made here in October, where all 15 of our checked bags made it. Please keep
praying for us, God is answering!

FLOORED IN PACKING

I shared this with Crystal, and we considered the many other times we have
been "floored" recently by God's goodness in our lives. The clearest time
was in the packing process back in Connecticut. We knew people would come
help us on the big "Moving Day" last Saturday, and we figured people would
help with other things like shopping trips, watching the kids, moving some
of the boxes prior to Moving Day... But as Moving Day came and went, the
help from our church intensified. Every day we had at least 4 people
working at our house, some of whom stayed most of the day, and many of whom
stayed late into the night! On the last two days there were ten to twenty
people each day! Overall, in the final week leading up to our departure, no
fewer than 39 adults helped--and the majority of those helped on multiple
occasions! We knew before all of this that a lot of work needed to be done;
but it wasn't until the final days, seeing just how many people God had
prompted to help us and how much work they were doing, that we realized it
would have been completely impossible for us to do this job with only a few
people. We were floored at how God made it all happen, in spite of our
INability to make it happen.

We were also floored (in a different way) by the extra crisis God allowed
just 27 hours prior to our departure. Crystal and I arose for the day,
leaving the air mattress that had replaced our bed and mustering up the
energy to start our final day of packing. Suddenly Jack, (a.k.a. "wild
man") ran across the mattress and fell, smacking his forehead on the
radiator. We stopped the bleeding and looked at his head. It had a 3/4
inch gash that was deep enough to need stitches. "We didn't realize we had
time for this," we thought, as Crystal took him for a 3 hour visit to the
emergency room. Humpty Dumpty would have appreciated these doctors, who
glued Jack's head back together again. Jack appreciated not having to get
the needle and thread treatment, too. He kept playing "Boo!" with the
doctor all the while that the glue was being applied. He is doing fine
now--it's amazing to see how fast his wound is healing up, and incredible
that all the packing got done in spite of Crystal's unplanned 3 hour
"breather" in the hospital waiting rooms.

FLOORED IN THE SENDOFF

Shortly before our departure, our church and our cell group held send-off
parties for us. Each time, they shared how they had seen God at work
through our lives. Each time, they prayed for us. Each time they prayed
for our children. Each time they described how blessed they were to be
sending us, and how they were filled with joy through the many, many ways
they were helping us prepare. Wow. We are floored at the love of God's
people toward our family.

Many of you were praying for our extra baggage to be accepted in New York at
no cost. We are pleased to report that your prayers were answered! Though
not in the way we envisioned. AirFrance charged excess baggage fees for 10
of our 30 packages (waiving fees on 8 items, when all was said and done).
Yet we didn't pay a penny. A wonderful friend met us at the airport to say
goodbye, and surprised us by paying the tab in full! Praise God for His
many unusual (and flooring) answers to prayer.

FLOORED IN THE RECEPTION

Our trip was long (30 hours) and exhausting, especially after spending all
our energy over the past couple of weeks in the packing process. The kids
took turns being active, bored and asleep. We had to do a lot of walking
and bus-riding in the French airport. We caused some major roadblocks at
the security checkpoints with all our carry-on bags and screaming kids.
(Natalie and Jack feared that walking through the metal detectors would be
like walking into a fiery furnace.) As we neared the airport in
Brazzaville, weary from the trip, we wondered if anyone would be there to
receive us. We hadn't heard from anyone in Brazzaville confirming that they
knew what flight we were coming in on, but were guessing that the
missionaries in Impfondo had communicated our arrival information with those
in Brazzaville. It was going to be a lot of work moving through customs,
receiving our baggage, and making about 6 trips by Toyota Corolla (the car
of choice for taxis here in Congo) to the S.I.L. facility where we would
stay the two weeks here. What "floored" joy we experienced as we suddenly
met three other missionaries exiting off our plane with us; as we entered
the airport terminal to find a handful of missionaries waiting to help us
through customs; and as we exited the airport to find even more (9
altogether in addition to the 3 that had been on our plane) waiting outside!
God knew what we needed (a large, warm reception and lots of help), and He
provided.

KIDS

Our kids are doing very well here. (Uh, "flooringly" well?) They love this
concept of playing outdoors all day in the 90 degree weather of February.
(Don't worry, they play mostly in the shade and drink plenty of water.)
They have met new friends, both missionary kids and native kids. Faith
enjoyed her 6th birthday today with presents and cake and all. Tonight (our
second night here) they all went to bed at a pretty good hour (10:30 here)
and fell right to sleep. They (like Crystal and me) are happy to be in
Congo.

Now that you have seen these many ways in which the word "floored" can be
presented, I'm sure you will all rush right out and put it into active
practice for yourself. Hmm... OK, we've probably just ruined that word for
you for some time to come, and every time you hear it now you'll cringe and
remember this letter. If that's you, please turn your problem into a
blessing: pause and pray for us whenever you hear someone use the word
"floored." We sure would appreciate it!

Praying you'll be floored by the number of times someone uses the word
"floored" in your presence...

---
Jay and Crystal van Achterberg

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