Skavdahl Update June 2021

 From our apartment in Switzerland, there are many great paths to take a walk or run. We can go east to traverse vineyards and have an open view of Lake Neuchâtel, head west through a forest to a river gorge with its sculpted rock and crystal clear water, or descend to the (free!) public beach along the lake. It doesn’t seem like there is a bad choice. So too with the paths God has given us. We have many options, we don’t have to feel stuck on any one road, and He will meet us on all of them. The advantages of being a missionary include the adventure of travel, providing opportunities for our children to see the world differently and knowing we are fulfilling what God has called us to. A big disadvantage is being so far away from our friends and family, but I am trying to see this as part of the path God has us on.

This reality was made very clear to us over the past 2 months and April 1st was not a joke. That morning, my mom, Lorna (Vandenberg) Squyer, was supposed to be boarding a plane to visit us in Switzerland. She called from the airport to say some piece of documentation was missing and she was not allowed to board the plane. While this was very disappointing, it was clearly the providence of God, as mom then told us about a large mass growing in her abdomen. Initially, she had postponed surgery in order to visit us. After her trip to Switzerland was cancelled, she underwent surgery and what we had assumed to be cancer was removed almost entirely. Initially diagnosed as metastatic breast cancer, it was later determined to be ovarian cancer. Knowing that mom was alone in a hospital in Panama while I was in Switzerland was terrible. I ended up going to Panama and convinced mom to temporarily relocate to my sister's home in Idaho. I spent 6 weeks with mom between Panama and Idaho where she started chemotherapy, but David and the kids were still in Switzerland. Again, I felt torn between two places. I am now back in Switzerland, and we have plans to see mom again before we head to Africa, but this feeling of being stretched between multiple places and people has been the biggest challenge so far in our missionary career. I am so thankful for all of your prayers, support and encouragement. I am also very thankful for David (nominated for the dad of the year award) and his willingness to take on any challenge. I am thankful for the time with my mom and sister, and pray we have much more.

While I was gone, David and the kids visited a 1,000 yr old castle, went to the zoo in Zurich, went rock climbing and enjoyed many hikes. While they were happy to have me back, it sounds like they were able to survive. The other missionaries learning French here and folks from the local church helped watch the kids while David went for a run or grocery shopping, they brought meals over and were a helpful distraction. God has certainly provided a community for us here that we will be sad to leave, but grateful to consider part of our lives. One of the most beautiful things these last few months have taught us is the depth of love and unity brothers and sisters in Christ can have for one another. We have received much prayer, support and encouragement from our church family here in Switzerland and in the United States. It reinforces what Paul concludes in Ephesians 3:15-16: 

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. 

We have certainly felt "built up in love" and we pray it is a powerful witness to Christ in our community.

We have 8 weeks of language school left (yikes!- so much to learn) and lots of site-seeing we’d still like to do. David has discovered that the Tour de France will be as close as a 2 hour drive from us, so he’s plotting to get to see part of it in person. We have both been able to get Covid vaccines and travel restrictions are finally lifting. Restaurants in Switzerland only just opened June 15th, after over a year of being closed.
We will also be happy to head back to Maine and do a Midwest tour to visit as many people as possible before we head to Gabon in the fall.
Thank you so much for your financial support and prayers. We appreciate all of you!
We pray you all are doing well and staying healthy,
With love,
Josie (& David) Skavdahl 

Bonjur, depuis le magnifique village de Bole!

Sunrise in the village of Bole

If you are wondering, Bole is the small village where we live, just outside of the city of Neuchatel. When I last wrote, we were still in quarantine in our apartment and everyone was very excited to get out and explore. We have certainly had that opportunity and Switzerland is a beautiful place to learn French. We have been able to take hikes and runs in a beautiful gorge that is less than a mile from our apartment. In January we visited the city of Bern and were able to see the magnificent Bern Cathedral. This past month we celebrated 3 birthdays in our family: Noa (8), Anica and Micah (3). This included a trip to Grindelwald, a beautiful village nestled in the Alps, where we did some sledding, skiing and a pretty incredible train ride to the Jungfraujoch (see pictures). 

Noa has been doing very well with school (all in French) and has made a number of friends even though she is frustrated she is not able to communicate as well as she would like (We think this may actually be helpful in getting her work done). We have also learned that the gradeschool game of "chasing boys" is an international one. 

Maria, Micah and Anica are adapting well, although they complain their homeschool teacher (David) is too strict, takes them on too many hikes and is definitely not as good as their Grandpa Peter.

Maria and Noa are learning the ancient art of letter writing and are delighted when they place letters or postcards in "La Poste" dropbox and of course are thrilled to receive letters from their friends back home.

To give a little background, the Swiss government put some restrictions in place on January 18th that required our language school be moved into an online platform, so Josie and I have been doing our classes from our apartment. Josie attends the morning session while David watches the younger kids and visa versa for the afternoon. Thankfully, Noa has still been able to go to school 5 days per week. The other major part of those restrictions does not allow more than 5 people to be gathered together indoors which has significantly affected our ability to meet with French speaking families and practice French. We were initially concerned, but God has provided richly through La Rochette, our church community here. So far we have worked out a schedule in which David and Josie are able to have one-on-one practice a couple hours per week and Noa receives a couple hours of tutoring each week. All of this is provided by volunteers from La Rochette. We have also been able to physically attend church services which encourages our spirits and is good for our French. We trust that by August 20th (our last day of classes) we will be able to efficiently communicate in this language and look forward to a lifetime of continuing to learn it.

This past couple of months have also included a lot of planning for our move to Gabon later this year. Along with the hospital team at Bongolo we put together a food order and furniture which will be loaded onto a container in April and arrive before we get there in September. We have also learned that Christian Missionary Alliance (the "sending agency" of Bongolo hospital) has hired a teacher for Bongolo since there will be a large influx of children in 2021. Both Noa and Maria will attend the co-op school at Bongolo next year. This is a huge answer to prayer and very encouraging to us. We also learned that we have been exempt from an orientation in Colorado Springs which means we will be in Bongolo at least one month earlier than we initially thought. God willing, we will be there at the end of September 2021. In the meantime we will be working as hard as possible to become fluent in French and make sure that we don't leave any portions of Switzerland un-explored.

Some have asked us how they can be of support and we want to reiteratewe have had significant financial support which we are thankful for. As it stands at this time, with your financial support and the support of Samaritan's Purse, we are in a good place for the next 2 years. If you would like to provide something extra, the school co-op that will be at Bongolo sent a wish list of items they are asking to help equip the new school. Most of these are non-essentials, but will be loved by the kids at Bongolo (including our own). The Amazon link is provided here:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1KKZ66CY6AIQ0?ref_=wl_share

Please note that if you decide to order something it will automatically ship to the address of a Bongolo team member who will bring it to the transport container company. Items need to arrive at her house no later than April 10th. 

Praise and Prayer:

• Praise for all of the support we have received from La Rochette and the opportunities we have to practice French
• Praise for all of the logistics coming together for our arrival in Bongolo
• Praise for the opportunity to enjoy God's beautiful creation in this country
• Prayer for continued wisdom and patience as Josie and I learn French: as much of a privilege as it is to learn a new language, it is also quite challenging!
• Prayer for continued patience with our younger children as they have little outlet for interaction with others and it has been difficult for them.

Thank you all for your prayer and support. We love hearing from you and would love to know how you are doing and how we can be in prayer for you. It has been humbling to experience how God's community has come around us to help us realize the vision God had placed on our lives many years ago. We know we serve a God who is faithful to His promises and are blessed to be part of a faithful community.

Soli Deo Gloria.

The Skavdahls

On the "Top of Europe" Jungfraujoch

Waiting for the train

Old stone bridge in the gorge

Hiking in the Gorges de l'Areuse, a mile from our appartment

Bienvenue a Neuchatel!

A view from our apartment in Neuchatel

 We made it to Switzerland (with all 4 children and 15 checked bags)! We flew from Boston on January 1st and are very thankful to be here. Our travels went smoothly and we have felt incredibly welcome here in Neuchatel. We want to acknowledge and thank the local church here and the director of the language school (Inlingua). They have done an incredible amount of hard work behind the scenes in order to make this happen for not only our family, but at least 2 other families needing to learn French. Logistics such as childcare, school for Noa and housing have been arranged by Inlingua and the church. In addition, members of the church have been grocery shopping for us while we have been in quarantine. What we thought was going to be a difficult transition has actually been quite smooth. 

So far we have survived 8 days of quarantine (and none of our neighbors seem to be moving out of the building yet). The kids are excited to get out and explore, but have overall been doing quite well with reading, school work, legos, some movies and quarantine workouts - they all find it quite amusing when Mom and Dad are doing burpees.

We start language school on Monday, January 11th and Josie and I are both looking forward to it. Josie will be going to school in the morning and taking Maria, Micah and Anica with her so they can go to childcare next to the school. David will take Noa to her school in the morning (2 minute walk from our apartment) and then go to language school in the afternoon. 

Thank you for all of your prayer and support. We feel very grateful to be here and have the opportunity to start learning French in midst of a global pandemic. God has certainly opened doors for us and is continually re-assuring us of His Providence over our lives and the deep grace He extends to us all. 

Some things you can be praising/praying for:

• Praise for smooth travels and our children's flexibility with the move
• Praise for peace during quarantine (perhaps pray for our neighbors who have to hear us)
• Praise for our local church and the Inlingua school director who have been very supportive
• Pray for Noa as she transitions into a fully French speaking public school
• Pray for wisdom and knowledge as we start learning French - especially the ability to manage time outside of school so we can study and master the language in the next 8 months
• Pray for opportunities to share and live the gospel in Neuchatel

with sincere gratitude ,

David (& Josie) Skavdahl

Unicorn ring toss was a big quarantine hit!

Swiss Visas Approved!

Good news!

As we begin the season of Advent and anticipate celebrating the miracle of the incarnation, we are also getting ready to move to Switzerland. Our student visas have finally been approved to attend a French language school located in Neuchatel. It has been a slow start to our adventure: as many of you know, our student visas for France were not approved in August which delayed starting language school. However, we know that God is working all things in His perfect time for His glory and our good. God willing, we will be in Gabon in October/November of 2021. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We are very grateful to be sharing this news with you. 

We have been enjoying our time in Maine and our children are happy to be so close to the beach, even in December...

There and back again: a Volvo's tale

You’re back in Maine?! 

Yep. It goes something like this.

We sold/donated/gave away most of our belongings, including Noa’s bunny, at the end of June. We then packed up a Uhaul trailer with the rest, and drove our 2007 Volvo from Maine to South Dakota to spend time with Josie’s Dad. In the midst of this we flew to Washington DC to apply for French student visas and two weeks later flew to North Carolina for Samaritan’s Purse orientation. We were back in SD for 3 days, saw Josie’s Mom, and then drove to Idaho to visit David’s family. We hiked and biked, swam in the pool and enjoyed the lovely setting of Sun Valley before driving to Boise to visit Josie’s sister and family, the zoo, and more hiking trails. During all this travel, we learned that we would not be going to France, or anywhere for that matter, before January, so we found a furnished seasonal home in Maine and drove back. Now the poor old Volvo has 238,000 miles on her engine, and has pulled a trailer of our luggage back and forth across the country. Our sweet Beau dog is staying in South Dakota with Grandpa Peter and his dog Spike, two horses, two chickens, a pond and lots of woods to play in, though we miss him and his big paw prints everywhere.

So, where does that put us now? Currently, we are applying for student visas for Switzerland. There is a language school in Neuchatel, Switzerland where Samaritan’s Purse usually sends single missionaries to stay with host families for French language training. I don’t think even the best Christian host would want our family of 6! Needless to say, other logistics would need to be worked out for childcare and elementary school if we went with this option. Another option would be the original school in Albertville, France if the French borders open to US travelers by January. While there are online and in person options for learning French here, the hospital in Africa really wants us to do an immersion program. So, we are living on the Maine coast, homeschooling the kids and trying to live in the tension between patiently waiting upon God and yet being pro-active about moving forward in what he has called us to. 

In all of this we must remember shalom: the peace that God provides. We know that he is using these minor bumps in the road to create a deeper dependence upon him and also showing how richly he will provide in ways we would never think of. While things certainly don’t seem to be going our way this year, they are going God’s way and we are grateful for his provision. We would never have chosen to live by the beach for 3 months without one (or both) of us working full time. We would never have picked homeschool over the skilled educators our children had previously. We wouldn’t have taken the summer off just to visit family and play outside. Maybe we needed this time together and God was the only one who could see that. We know this time is a gift, that hard work and crazy schedules are going to return, but are trying to enjoy this without feeling guilty or lazy. We are thankful for all of your support and prayers and we pray that you all are staying healthy and doing well!

Here are some things you can be praying for specifically:

• Pray for peace as we navigate multiple options for language training in January
• Pray for patience as we homeschool our children
• Pray for wisdom as we seek to redeem the time God has given us
• Pray for David has he takes his American Board of Surgery board exams on October 19th
• Praise for the time we have together as a family
• Praise for work for David in November and December
• Praise for an incredibly encouraging and beneficial orientation with Samaritan’s Purse

With love,

David and Josie Skavdahl

To France or not to France...

The world feels completely different since I last posted. We are still trying to get to Africa, via language school in France, but as you can imagine, travel has become increasingly tricky. What is usually a pretty straight-forward visitor visa process to go to our language school in Albertville has become a more complicated student visa process. Only 5 centers (of the usual 9) are open right now, so we flew to Washington DC for the first visa appointment we could get. We paid 3 different fees in 3 different places and brought stacks of paperwork, but still they have requested more. Proof of student status for two year olds?! Aren't they constantly learning? Then we were told the average wait to find out if the visas are granted takes an average of 4 weeks. We were hoping to be there in 4 weeks. Thankfully, our program was supposed to start September 1st, but has been moved back to the 14th. If our visas are approved, and if we have to quarantine for 14 days, we could still make it, but I feel like Cinderella preparing for the ball- very unlikely that I will get to go. This is why trusting God makes all the difference. This was all His idea in the first place. He has a plan for us. So, as I am trying to stay positive while collecting even more documentation for the visa process to go to France, I would appreciate your prayers! Pray that God would reveal His plan for us, and give me endurance to follow through with it. Pray that we all remain healthy while traveling, when we do get to go somewhere, and prayers of thanksgiving that we have been so well loved and supported. David is still working in Maine, so we are financially doing well. Friends have graciously accepted him into their homes since we gave up our rental, and the kids and I are enjoying family time in South Dakota. All in all, good places to be stuck for the time being.

We are truly thankful for your support and prayers and will keep you posted when something (hopefully) changes!

We're still here?!

The Skavdahls are still planning on moving to Africa, but our plans have changed slightly. I keep teasing that this seems to be God's plan for us, but that I never would have agreed to it ahead of time. We found that a temporary job for David was harder to come by than we thought and that we wanted to take care of as much debt as possible before we begin missionary life. God has graciously provided David with a job at Southern Maine Medical Center for one year, so we get to stay in Maine! Noa will get to complete first grade at Longfellow, instead of moving in the middle of the school year, and Maria gets to go to our favorite preschool. I will be home with the twins, so stop by! We are continuing to raise support that will be used to fund our travel to Africa and for future years as missionaries. Tax deductible contributions can be made through Samaritan's Purse online at samaritanspurse.org/wmmgiving with our account # 006102. Our blog is skavdahlsinafrica.blogspot.com and you can always message me if you want!

Best wishes,
josie