Raley Family Blog

Relaxing in Winter Park with Familiy and Friends

2012-01-30T17:06:00.000-08:00

January 20th we headed back to my cousins house in Winter Park for the week. We originally had this scheduled because we were going to speak at Fraser Valley Baptist Church on January 22nd. Long story short ...the pastor that was there last year set up for us to speak at the church and then he had to move in July. Before leaving for the States in November we knew that it was not going to work

How He Loves-David Crowder (w/ Matt Chandler & John Piper)

2012-01-30T15:16:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest

2012-01-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

We wanted to update everyone on what we have been doing for the first part of January. Time is sure flying by. We arrived back in Amarillo, Texas on January 4th. The kids started school on the 5th. This was the first time for them to work on school since arriving in the States. They had worked hard all last semester to get ahead and we all enjoyed having the month of December off. My mom

Resolutions

2012-01-01T20:25:00.000-08:00

We went to Fraser Valley Baptist Church tonight. This pastor at this church recently had to move and they do not have a pastor at this time. We met Tim, who is one of the elders in the church and he was the person preaching tonight. He spoke tonight about Resolutions and took us to to three different people in the Bible to look at and to challenge us. First, we went looked at Joshua and

December ... where did it go?

2011-12-31T19:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I can't believe December has come and gone already. We are in Winter Park with family and we have already celebrated the South African New Years and now we are waiting to celebrate Texas and then Colorado New Years. We praise the Lord for all He has done in our family during 2011 and we are looking forward to seeing what He has planned for us in 2012. Here is a quick update

Merry Christmas from the PaulAnn Baptist Church Missionaries

2011-12-29T10:44:00.000-08:00

Check out the is video our sending church put together from the missionaries that were sent out from PaulAnn. Merry Christmas from our Missionaries

Nine Days with Two Special Friends

2011-12-12T21:20:00.000-08:00

A year ago the Lord brought two new friends into our family's lives and we are so thankful for the friendship the Lord has given us with Ken and Nancy. They have become like family. There is a special bond and love that we share with them that ONLY THE LORD can do. If you don't know the story of how the Lord brought them into our lives check here. When they left our home last January they

10 Days Already!

2011-11-30T21:55:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe we have been in the States for 10 days ... we landed and hit the ground running. Here is a quick recap Diana picked us up at the airport in Dallas and we were also surprised by my 83 year old granddad. He had been waiting at the airport since it opened because he couldn't remember what time our flight arrived (which was 10 am). After we left the airport Diana took us

Heading to the States ... bittersweet for sure

2011-11-18T10:01:00.000-08:00

We leave for the States tomorrow and begin our journey with the drive to Joburg in the morning to catch our flight tomorrow night. I must say we are TIRED here... we spent all day yesterday and today in our year end staff meetings and now we have suitcases 90% packed, pizza in the kitchen, Brit at youth, Luke on the couch relaxing after a fun day at Jr. Youth and Mark is outside on the front

Annual Mozambique Pastor's Conference

2011-11-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

Last week Mark, along with Josh, William, Gabriel, Derrick, Member, Joseph, Andrew, Charlie, Doug, Debbie, Aaron and Nehemiah headed into Mozambique for the Annual Pastor's Conference. This is one of the missions favorite times of the year as all the pastors and leaders from both training hubs meet together. This is a great time of teaching, fellowship and celebration of all the Lord has done.

Little of This and That

2011-11-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

Over the last month we have realized that are departure date for our visit to the States is coming really fast. Mark and I have both had lots of little and big things we need and want to get done before we leave. We are making huge progress on our "to do" list and managing to keep up with daily things as well such as school for the kids. Brit and Luke have both committed to working extra hard

Christ Baptist Church Outreach to Dumela, Mozambique

2011-10-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has taken me so long to get caught up on our blog. First things first, for those who haven't heard we were able to collect our Visas at the H.A. office this week on Tuesday. After 6 months they were ready and we are good for 4 years! Praise the Lord. These pictures are from our outreach to Dumela with Christ Baptist Church. Samaria Mission is a ministry of CBC here in

Visas, Blogs and Facebook

2011-09-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since we have been able to update our blog. I am not sure where the time is going! It seems like yesterday we just starting our busy outreach season and months away from our visit to the States. Now we are getting ready for our last outreach of 2011 and we are only 7 weeks away from arriving in the States. Crazy how fast time flies ... Some have asked for an update on our

Unexpected and Last Minute Holiday Botswana

2011-09-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

Yep, you read the title right ... this was a very unexpected and last minute holiday to Botswana. First, I need to fill you in on why we had to go to Botswana. When we moved to South Africa we arrived here on a 2 year visitor visa and then we would be able to apply for an extension when the time came. Well, our two year Visas expired on May 30th. We made a plan to apply before the required 30

Family Camp

2011-09-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14: 2-3 We just returned from a weekend at Family Camp. Dr. Doug Forsyth was our guest speaker and the theme was heaven. Our weekend consisted of 4

Salani Outreach

2011-09-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

This was our last outreach from the States this season. It was a smaller team with 4 people from May, Texas and 4 people from Centerview, North Carolina. These two teams blended so well and we had a great time serving the Lord with them in Salani. The team held men, women and children's ministry as well as hut to hut visitations. We also held evening services with worship, testimonies and

Layover in Dumela

2011-09-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 27th Nathan took the PaulAnn team to the border in the MAN truck and the rest of us stayed behind to break down camp and move to Salani to prepare for the next team form May, Tx and Centerview, North Carolina. Nathan returned much later than expected and we found out the MAN truck broke down in Dumela. Praise the Lord he heard a sound and stopped. Apparently the outer bearing

Tchale Outreach

2011-09-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it is late here and I was almost finished with this post and something happened and it disappeared. So, here I go again but it will mainly be pictures ... what's that phrase "a picture speaks 1,000 words" so here we go .... We went back into Mozambique on the 15th of July to set up for the PaulAnn team. We were really excited since this is our sending church. It was great to spend time

Burger Bash and More

2011-08-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on things ... We returned from Mozambique two and a half weeks ago and it has been non-stop. I am planning on sending our newsletter out next week as well as updating our blog with Tchale (PaulAnn team) and the Salani (May/Centerview team) outreaches as well as other things that have been going on in the short time we have been back. For now I will leave you with pictures

Matsilele Outreach

2011-07-05T04:34:00.000-07:00

Mark left Mbeti with the Owasso team and his dad and uncle so he could spend a little more time with them before they flew back to the States. Then Mark returned with the Airline team to Matsilele. The kids and I stayed in Mozambique for 7 days without him. We missed him but it went fine. After the Owasso team left on Wednesday we stayed in Mbeti til Friday with the 4th year students to

Mbeti Outreach with Owasso and the 4th Year Seminary Students

2011-06-27T03:51:00.000-07:00

We headed into Mozambique on May 20th to set up for the first team which would arrive on Sunday, May 22nd. Since this was the first team of our outreach season we took all of the equipment in. Sean drove the 7 ton, Gabriel drove the MAN truck, Mark drove our bakkie and Joseph drove the Land Rover in. Mark's dad and uncle were also with us. The trip in went well. We left at 5:30 am and got to

Luke's 11th birthday

2011-06-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Luke turned 11 while we were in Mozambique. We were in Matsilele setting up camp for the next team to arrive the next day (Mark was also coming back to Mozambique with the team). We celebrated that day by having donuts, yes I made homemade donuts in the bush, and we had a braai (steak, potatoes and onions) along with roasting marshmallows. Since we were still on set-up and the team hadn't

Our time with Mark's Dad and Uncle

2011-06-23T05:44:00.000-07:00

Mark's dad and uncle came for a visit and they wanted to make sure that they could go into Mozambique with us and see what we do with the mission. They arrived on May 13th and left on June 5th. They had a week with us here in Polokwane and they were a huge help in all the last minute preparations for our first outreach. Along with preparing to go into Mozambique we managed to find time to

Back in South Africa for 12 days

2011-06-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Just a quick word to let you know that we returned from Mozambique on Thursday and we will be here for 12 days preparing for the next team that we will be with. We have been busy washing clothes, bedding, towels etc. and in a few days time we will be doing the shopping for the next team we will be with. There is a team that arrived today from West Frankfurt and they will be heading into Moz on

way too long since the last update

2011-05-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

Things have been BUSY here (as usual) I am not sure where time goes. Not much time to update so I thought I would just post pictures of our last few day. Here is the update on our Visas and we wanted to thank you for praying and ask that you continue to pray for us as we are in the beginning of our busiest time of the year. As of today, we still do not have our new Visas. Mark called the home

A Few Words from Mark plus Leader Training Pictures

2011-03-31T10:34:00.000-07:00