A Bumpy Start

On Saturday December 2, 2023 we boarded a plane for the other side of the globe. We’ve done this so many times that I’ve lost count. We were blessed to be dropped off by sweet friends who gave up their Saturday morning for us. We flew from Charlotte, NC to Atlanta, GA with no issues. We waited a nice long wait (we missed a connection once and had to sleep in an airport, so I prefer to play it safe and have a longer than needed stretch between flights). Around 8:30pm we boarded our long haul flight from the US to SA and settled in. We knew they’d feed us right away, and then we’d get the kids down for the night.

Well, it was rather bumpy once we got up in to the air. And then it was bumpy longer, then longer. Finally by 10pm things leveled off enough for them to serve dinner. After dinner and the clean up we got Caleb settled in for sleep, he was out in no time after the long day. Joshua took a bit longer, as we were still facing a good deal of turbulence, but then finally he settled in to sleep too. At some point I looked up the flight map, bad idea, we had a lot of hours over water, not my favorite! Finally about 7 hours in it settled into smooth sailing. The boys slept about 5 or 6 hours of the flight, Alex and I dozed a bit but never really sleep too much on the flights. Praise the Lord, we safely landed in Cape Town, SA around 6pm here (we are currently 7 hours ahead of EST). We were warmly greeted by friends who brought us a car to use and saw to it that we made it to the hotel for the night, then we were on our own.

Our hotel had a restaurant, so we went down for a quick dinner, we were soon reminded that quick is not the way meals work here. Caleb’s food and some salads came, we all filled ourselves with those and when our pizza was ready, we took it to our room to munch on while getting ready for bed. Caleb was concerned about his little make shift bed, but it suited him well and when he finally stopped talking he was out like a light! The rest of us were not too far behind. Alex and I were awake from about 3-4am but then back to sleep until 7, the boys made it until 8:30 when we finally had to wake them. We needed to get breakfast, pack up, meet up from a friend, and then get on the road for a 4ish hour drive.

We made it to George smoothly, praise the Lord, as driving on the opposite side of the road is no small challenge. Alex mostly drove, but I did take a pretty straight stretch. We again were warmly greeted and fed and went to bed soon thereafter!

Tuesday we were up and ready to face the day, we just didn’t know what it was going to hold. The boys swam, I did laundry, we did shopping, and I made dinner. By dinner time I was feeling so beat, assuming it was jetlag and the day catching up with me. After dinner, when the lights went out (scheduled power outages called load shedding) and we were sitting around talking with our host I knew I was coming down with something and I woke up Wednesday morning with a fever, I can’t remember the last time I had a fever! So I spent the next two days doing, well not very much. Alex and the boys had a touch of whatever it was, but praise the Lord they were not as uncomfortable as I was, I’m also thankful to report we are all back to “normal” now….I say it that way, because what is normal anyway?

Thankfully while I was down on Wednesday, Alex and Joshua were fine at that point. They were able to go meet with the doctor at the local Cancer Center here. The meeting went well and it seems as though they will be able to meet the follow up needs for Joshua. We praise the Lord for that!

Friday night there was a youth event that Alex helped out with, while I was trying to rest and listening to Psalms. When Psalm 20 played verses 4&5, I could not help but praise the Lord for all He has and continues to do. 

Psalm 20:4-5

May he grant you your heart's desire

    and fulfill all your plans!

May we shout for joy over your salvation,

    and in the name of our God set up our banners!

May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

Thankfully, by Sunday we were all well and able to attend church at Life Fellowship Church. It was so sweet to see so many familiar faces, and many new ones as well! The work here continues to grow and flourish and we praise God for what He is doing in the Body! They are finishing a study from Daniel and Sunday was a recap and reminder of the sovereignty of God, what confidence we have when we trust Him to lead and guide us day by day!

Tonight, there is a Young Adults Christmas gathering, please be praying for our time together with these sweet young people. On Sunday evening our church will host a Christmas singing event at the estate of a family from the church.

Even thought the start to our time here might have been a bit bumpy, we are confident that the Lord will continue to smooth out the days ahead and grow us and others over the next few weeks while we live and serve here.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

If you'd like to see some pictures so far, here is a link to an album we've started on Facebook: “Souf Affica” (Caleb’s pronunciation)

Ready, Set, Fly - Lord willing!

I've (Bethany) had something on my heart and mind to write for about three weeks now, but I haven't the time or the brains to process it this morning, so you are going to get a big run-on sentence, brain dump kind of update...sorry, a more thought out one is coming soon, I promise!

On November 15 Joshua had his scheduled 3 month ultrasound and chest x-ray, as well as some labs. Praise God with us for a clear report on all fronts! Whew...a sigh of relief must have been felt across our home when that news came in!

Back when we scheduled the November scan, we also got the ok from the Doc to plan a short trip to SA to iron out some future details, given the November scans were clear. Alex booked flights so we had them ready, but could cancel if needed.

I worked on tracking down and lining up an oncologist to review Joshua's case and discuss what follow ups can happen in SA moving forward. It took about a month to get that all sorted, but in God's kindness He directed messages back and forth.

I could not get my head around packing until I knew the scan results on the 15th. There was a large mountain in the corner of our room that was the catch all for potential packing.

Needless to say, once those scan results came back my packing brain kicked into high gear. Throw in Joshua's birthday week and Thanksgiving week and now we are down to the wire with packing and getting things done because we leave on SATURDAY!!!!! (Lord willing).

This is a trip of faith for sure, last week Alex wrapped up preaching a two part series from Mark chapter 13 (listen here if you'd like, Part 1 and Part 2) and at the end he talked about how we are called to be on guard for the coming of the Lord. That is so much more real to us these days, being on guard, having our eyes open, trusting God's plan. We are in no way perfect in this area, but we are much more keenly aware of how God's hand moves and changes plans for His honor and glory.

Please pray with us as we take this trip. Pray for safety - we fly out on Saturday, December 2. We arrive in Cape Town Sunday evening SA time and stay over night, then we drive to George the next day. Pray for good sleep on Sunday night and alertness while on the opposite side of the road on Monday. Pray for our meeting with the oncologist on Wednesday December 6, pray for clarity of what he is able and willing to do in collaboration with the doctors here (in theory Joshua should need an ultrasound, chest x-ray, and labs once every three months for about another year). Pray for renewed relationships there in George. Pray for usefulness to the Lord for the approximately 6.5 weeks we will be there, and pray for safety for our travels back mid January.

Thank you for the love an support we have received from each of you these past months (years!). Your prayers and encouragement are such a gift to us!

We pray as James did in chapter 1:2-8

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

and chapter 4:13-15

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Joshua update September 20 - Bell ringing!

Today was a fun day and we wanted to share it with you all. Sorry, not sorry, if you've already seen it on social media!

On Monday this week, Alex and Joshua were up at the hospital practically ALL day for appointments, but we knew that today was coming so it was worth it. On Monday his numbers looked great, the GI doc said he's looking good, and the kidney doc said lets start cutting back on the blood pressure meds with the hope of taking those off. Today we got to go in and just celebrate!

Joshua and I (masked up b/c there are colds floating around in the house) and decorated a variety of cupcakes to share with our friends. A few weeks back the boys and I went shopping to provide bags of toys for Child Life and Happy Wheels, and we also packed some thank you bags for our friends in the Cancer Clinic and 5th floor (we dropped something to PICU a while back). Sharing a little joy with our friends at the hospital was such a blessing. They have shared so much with us over these past months!

We would love to share the video of the bell ringing with you, if you'd like the link to it please email us at TandonsinAsia @ gmail. com (no spaces).

As we sat and waited to go back today I was chatting with one of our dear nurse friends. We were reflecting on how surreal it feels to be on this side of things. So many times over these months I've said I felt like we were like Philip who was taken to meet with the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40), we don't know why things have gone the way they have, but we trust God had us here for a reason and when he's ready He will have us serving and speaking for Him where He wants us next. Our hearts desire is that we be vessels useful to Him, however He sees fit! For now, we are so very thankful to have a "normal" healthy 10 (almost 11) year old!

Thanks again for all your prayers!

Bethany, for us all