Last Days in Owatonna (for now!)

It is early Tuesday morning on our last week in Owatonna for now.

The last month has been absolutely hectic.  We dealt with preparing and operating a moving sale (I had no idea there was such a subculture of people who go to those things but that could be a blog post all on it's own!!!) and are now in the finishing throws of packing up what remains.  Much of what we are keeping will be stored in one room here along with some storage at Denise's parents place (Thanks Jim and Geri!!) The basement is empty, Josh and Jake's rooms are empty, piles of stuff awaits final sorting for donation, dumpster, or storing. . . this is what the next couple days holds!!

In the midst of all this, there have been the goodbyes and farewells.  We have spent time with many of our friends, but will miss many more.  It is incredibly heartening to know how many  really good people are out there supporting us.  Your thoughts and prayers mean more than you could possibly know.

Here is the schedule for the near future.  We will leave Owatonna some time on Thursday and stay up closer to the airport.  Our flight to Texas departs Friday morning at 8:40 am, through Dallas to Tyler, Texas.  Then on the Mercy Ships International Operations Center for the next five weeks of training.  In early March we will fly to Conakry, Guinea, where we will participate in a ground based mission for a couple weeks to help us acclimate to the culture.  Then, near the end of March we will be on to the Africa Mercy.

We can be reached through our cell phones while we are in the states (Denise, 507-676-1106, Matt, 507-213-7128).  After about March 1, we will be out of touch via phone until we are on the ship.  At that time, we will be able to provide a US based number for you to call us.  Our email, mtveite@gmail, will be available to us all the time, except perhaps while we are participating in the ground based mission.  If you prefer regular mail, you can reach us at:

Matt and Denise Tveite
Mercy Ships   (when in Texas add -IOC, when in Africa, add -AFM Crew Mail)
P.O. Box 2020
Lindale, TX 75771-2020

For packages, if they are not urgent, please clearly mark them "Container" and they will be shipped to us on the regular cargo containers as space becomes available.  If they need to get to us right away, just address them, but keep them light as we will be charged $8 per pound for the shipping.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we go through the roller coaster of emotions that come with a move like this.  We experience love, stress, fear, trust, and many more as we go day to day (OK, minute to minute!!). 

Blessings!!!