This page contains updates on our life here in Zambia. Please check back often for news of us and our mission. Scroll down for older entries; there are also links to other months on the home page.
Greetings from the land of the hot sun and high humidity :)
We are melting here, but not a complete melt as we have 2 fans to move around the house and keep the sweat off of us. We are thankful to Kris and his team who came last year and left the 3 fans. We are using one, Lou & Iris are using one and the teacher’s cabin has one.
Well here is the latest news!!! Gospelink has received their VAT number from the government and they will save thousands of dollars when the shipping containers come in and also for some larger purchase here in Zambia. We are so grateful to our God for this gift.
Saturday I cleaned really well and did 5 loads of laundry, the sweat pouring off me all day. I hope I am able to lose some weight during this hot season so I can see a reward in getting through it. We have had some nice rains this week and again our yard looks just beautiful and the college campus is nice and green. The students are busy planting peanuts this week in the freshly plowed fields that were done by the college tractor and plow.
It was an exciting evening as I put up our 2 strings of battery operated Christmas lights. I really enjoy them. Sunday, Pastor Lou gave an excellent message on the four danger signs of backsliding down to sin and away from God. The weekly memory verse for the college is:
Psalms 139:23-24, Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.
For those of you who don’t’ get our weekly prayer updates I will list of few of them, and if you do want on our email list to receive weekly prayer request please let us know. We know we are held up by the power of your prayers.
Please pray for the staff here to have the support they need to serve here at the college, for continued safety here at the college, for the planting to go well for the college and our brothers and sisters here in Africa, for God to continue to provide the sun and rain to make for a bountiful harvest, for the right nurse to be hired for the medical clinic, for smooth going for Paul as he tiles the clinic floor, for the provision of a vehicle for Gospelink to have here at the college for trips needed to town that do not require the truck or bus. This would save much wear and tear on the truck and bus.
Praise: For the progress Kris and his team made on the Library roof and for the continued progress the workers are making, for the Optometrists who came with Kris and did many eye exams and fitted many village neighbors with eye glasses, for Lou, Iris and Luke being able to move into staff house 13, for the coffee and orange trees doing so well, for the many student sponsorships that God has provided, for the ladies who attend bible study regularly and are growing in God’s word, that the number of cabins needed for students in 2011 are ready for the students, we praise God that all the college vehicles are running well, and a BIG PRAISE for our faithful supporters who have allowed us to serve here and support us enough that we are able to help with special needs when they arise, for the tire on the backhoe to be repaired so quickly, for the maintenance on the road being done with our tractor and backhoe and for the new solar water heater that has been installed on our roof, it is working great!!
Lou, Iris and Luke are all moved into to staff house #13, and they have already had us over for a nice supper. Luke cooked chicken on the grill; we had rice, green beans, sweet beans, and a fruit salad. It was great and the fellowship was even greater.
Pastor Davis Daka was out this week visiting with all the staff. He and his family are doing well. His one son is getting married soon, so the Daka household is preparing for the celebration.
I made some drop biscuits for the first time and I must say they turned out good, the only bad part of that deal is then I want to eat them allL, but Paul was very grateful the them. I had called my friend Diana and my sister Carol to get some guidance how mixing the biscuits and I am glad I did.
On this hot day, when Paul and Lou went to town, Jess and I sat in the chair with a fan on us and worked on the Beth Moore bible study on Daniel, crocheted a little, cleaned up some of my paper pile mess and did the cleaning that always needs done. I must say I am losing the battle with the bugs. We need to find some kind of fogger to use in the house, maybe next week will get some of these.
The ladies on staff are meeting every Thursday morning for devotion and prayer. Iris taught bible study again this week and the ladies were very attentive and really like the two songs she sang and worked on teaching the songs to them. When it was time to get up and dance to the music, Iris and I joined right in, even if we could not understand the words. Someone always tells us what the words are. I invited four ladies to come to my house next week an hour before bible study starts to do a craft project together. I plan on letting them each decorate two cards that they can use for any occasion. I have some stamping supplies, glitter and glue so it should be fun. Each week I will invite four more ladies to come and do a craft. I am sure all of us will have fun and be blessed. I continue to go to cabin #7 that we are using for temporary storage until the teams start to arrive, and then I will just find another spot to use for storage. I am hoping Paul will be able to build a small storage building behind our bathhouse.
Guess what??? Come on go ahead guess. Well did you guess?? It is big, I mean really big in our lives. O.K. O.K. I’ll tell you. When Paul came home from town this week he brought a BIG box from the post office and inside was a beautiful 3 foot Christmas tree, colored ornaments, gold/red wire ribbon, plus pretty red, green and gold round ornaments. I cried and cried as I didn’t have a tree last year and this year I have a great tree with colored lights and everything. I have never felt so loved. Our friends Murry and Marylyn Christenson sent it to us. They even put some Folgers coffee packets in for Paul. I don’t know how they knew how much a Christmas tree would mean to us; maybe we said something about it when we stayed with them in October. Well anyway, the Christmas tree is my favorite decoration at Christmas time. I cannot tell you how much it means to me to have one. The little lights don’t take much power at all so I can leave the lights on during the day when I am in the house. I mean to tell you it is so wonderful to have it. I just sit in my chair and look at it and smile so big.
Paul just keeps looking at me smiling and then he laughs to see me so happy with a simple little tree that I am so grateful to have. Bless you dear friends for sending it. Well then it felt like Christmas to me so I went down to the shop where I had one box of Christmas stuff that was sent to us last year. Well, I had a small angel in there for the top of the tree; I had 6 bigger ornaments to put on the tree and a small snowman to put under the tree. I put our 3 Christmas movies under the tree and it looks so special. I also had some window sticker things that my Fun sister Carol sent me last year with a manger scene and snowflakes so those are up in our front window. I just let my little girl out and we had so much fun decorating the house. The tree has a neat tile plaque that I had already that say “God so loved the world …” it is placed right in the center of the tree to remind us that is why God sent His only son Jesus to the earth, because He Loves us so much.
I even had a pretty Christmas vinyl tablecloth to put on the table and use for the month of December, and you should see the pretty snowmen placemats I have. I have been listening to one of my Christmas cd’s while I enjoy the lights on the tree. Most of these items were sent to me last year by one of the ladies bible study groups from our church back home. Getting them out once again reminded me of how wonderful our church family is.
I told Iris that they could come over and enjoy our Christmas décor anytime they want to. The first Christmas on the mission field is usually hard.
It really clouded up today about 2:00 pm and cooled off nicely. Paul is sitting on the patio reading his “All about tiling book”, does not sound too exciting to me, but he seems to be enjoying it. He has a great start on laying the tile in the clinic. He almost has one of the big rooms done. Being down on his knees doing this is harder now that he is not 49 anymore. Opps, I mean he is still 49, what was I thinking :)
This weekend is the opening weekend for the “Singing Christmas Tree” program at our Evangelical Free home church in Grand Island, NE. Paul and I were both involved with this ministry and we miss it so much. If there is any way you can get to Grand Island to see one of the performances be sure and make the trip. I can guarantee you will be blessed. This ministry has been held every year during December for over 35 years, telling the old, old story of Jesus and His love. The performance show the entire of life of Christ portrayed with a full choir standing in a tree frame that reaches the church ceiling and over 250 people in the drama cast with live animals. Many people go to this each year as a tradition for the season, but many, many lives have been changed from darkness to light as they have given their lives to Jesus through God’s Holy Spirit using this program. Please keep the entire church body in your prayers this month as it take hundreds of people to provide this ministry. I am sure you can tell this ministry is near and dear to our hearts. Some of the proceeds from the “Singing Christmas Tree” have gone to help build the medical clinic here on the college campus and we are so grateful.
Hope you all had as much fun decorating your Christmas tree as I did :) We miss all of you and thank you so much for your prayers, love and support.
You are loved by Jesus and us.
Update 12/11/10
We greet you all in the name of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.
We are well and this once again has been a safe, busy week at the college.
Pastor Arnot gave the message at the English service on Sunday about our relationship with our God. His three points were we need to have (a) A working partnership with God (b) A corporate partnership with God and (c) A dependent partnership with God.
Gideon gave us Second Samuel 24:15 for our memory verse this week.
We had Lou, Iris and Luke over for supper. Paul made pork kabobs and baked potatoes and veggies on the grill, but I did open up a can of peas and warmed them up :) I am just such a gourmet chef and proud of my skills. No one can open up a can like me. Iris brought over an apple crisp and that was a wonderful treat. Iris also helped me with the dishes while the men had some male bonding time. We gave Luke some puzzle books and he was having fun checking those out. We did send Luke home with one of the strands of battery operated lights so he would have some Christmas lights for his room. We also sent him home with a CD player and some Christmas CDs so the whole family could sing along with some Christmas favorites. It is hard to remember it is Christmas when it is so hot, unless you are like us and have a really pretty Christmas tree in your house. The kids and students are stopping by to see the tree and of course I give them all a “sweet” when they stop by. Little Fred, who stays with David & Christine is just over two and he already knows not to walk by our house without getting a cookie or a sweet. We just love that little guy. He is built like a Semi truck and loves to ride the motorcycle or gator with Paul.
Paul & I went to town on Monday and the guys did some errands that needed done that took most of the day. I stayed at a new internet spot at Arcades where you can be on the internet for as long as you want for no charge. It was great. I was able to send the last update, but I continue to struggle with getting pictures sent. This time when I clicked on attachments it only let me go to one group or folder of photos and wouldn’t let me pick the folder I wanted. I didn’t think I was computer illiterate but I guess I will need to revisit my thinking on that. I do have some great pictures so I will continue to work on my skills. The last two weeks it seems the internet has been more erratic than ever. Another internet company bought out the big company we were using, so hopefully it will get better when they get the bugs worked out. Speaking of bugs, Paul & I still need to find the foggers a person can use for the whole house. The bugs continue to stay ahead of me, although I am a fierce competitor.
I took a taxi to Manda Hill mall from the Arcades and I don’t think I will ever get use to the fact that NO one in Zambia ever seems to have any change. It doesn’t matter if it is a big business or the individual taxi driver, but it does get frustrating when they act like it is no big deal. It was raining when the one driver dropped me off, so we had to go into a store and I had to get change to give the right change. Then in one shop I went to pay, guess what, she didn’t have the right change, so she took it out of the “tip” jar??? I just don’t get this, and I am sure it will probably continue to frustrate me. I am just so spoiled by the Americans who give great customer service. We are getting us to the fact that when we do business with the people in Lusaka most of them are rude and could care less if we give them our business or not, because there are LOTS of people waiting in line behind us. If by chance someone does help us we go out of our way to thank them for their service.
Someone from our home church sent with us 4 sets of the old Navigator’s memory verse system. I shared it with Gideon & Sandwell and they are planning to start using it after the first of the year for the verses they give us in church. It was something new for them and they appreciated getting to keep the books with the schedule and great suggestions for memorizing scripture.
Henry & James were off to Lusaka today to pick up lumber for making beds for the new students who will be starting in January and they also picked up the new mattress’s for the beds, it was a truck load. It has been raining lightly for the past 3 days and not much sun shine, but the crops are really growing.
I prepared for teaching the bible study tomorrow and I plan to teach the Christmas story from Luke 2 with a reminder to us all that it is Christmas and that God has given us the best gift ever, Jesus, and all we have to do is receive the gift. No amount of good works will get us the gift; it is a gift from God we receive by faith. We do pray all of you are having a special time preparing for celebrating the greatest gift ever given.
For supper tonight I made baked fish over sliced potatoes and onions, the I had left over milk and egg mixture from French toast so I added that to a can or corn and I must say it tasted pretty good, but once again you noticed I did have to open a can :) It rained all night and we received 2 inches. We have a nice rain gauge out in the front yard that we brought back with us, so that is nice to see the amount of rain we are getting.
Pastor Davis Daka was out and Paul & I helped prepare the bank report for the pastor funds. It is really nice now as the quarterly amounts can be direct deposit right into the individual pastor’s bank account. This is working out well and the process is quicker with easy to follow records. I am just the flunky who types what I am told to :)
Today, before bible study started I did a craft with four of the ladies I invited last week. Each lady got to make two greeting cards with envelopes. Two of the ladies were older, one of them was the headwoman and her eye-sight is not the best, but she had a blast. We used decorative rubber stamps, glitter, jewels, buttons, ribbons and such to decorate the cards and envelopes. We were just like a bunch of little girls with coloring books only this was even more fun I think as we got to be a little messy. One lady had to make her card out right away and she was giving it to a friend at the bible study. I had to help her with what to right in the card. She really had nice hand writing. I don’t think these ladies get to give greeting cards out to often so they had fun making them and were grateful to have something they made. I picked out four more ladies for next week and we’ll make some more cards. I am having one lady translate for me so it goes a little smoother.
I wish I would have planned ahead and brought more rubber stamps with me, but I am just so grateful for friends who donated stamps and stamp pads for this craft project. It is really nice as anyone can do it, and it doesn’t take a lot of time. If anyone has some cards, envelopes, rubber stamp supplies setting in your closet you might think about sending them over with someone :) Some of the ladies in our church sent me home with a few other craft ideas and that really helps. If any of you crafty people reading this have some good, inexpensive idea’s just let me know. Keep in mind I am not too crafty (talented) so it is like the blind leading the blind when I do a project. We had 25 ladies at the study this week. It seems like with the rainy season this had been about the average number of ladies. I am very impressed that any of them venture out when you just never know when the heavens will open up the flood gates. They all seem to take the rain in stride and don’t seem to think anything about walking a distant in the rain. Of course, this lily white girl has to have her rain poncho and her umbrella, as she thinks she is just so sweet she might melt :) Hardly…..
Paul’s teaching has gone well this week and all the beds have been made by the freshmen class and put into the cabins on #6. They plan to make all the beds for cabins on #8 next week. It looked really cute seeing the freshmen students carrying the beds they had made across the campus to put them in the cabins. Of course they were all singing as they crossed the campus :) Paul starts the class at 8:30 and it ends at 11:30, and if you know Paul part of the class is cleaning up the shop and putting everything away where you found it. I have gotten to walk through the shop a few times while they are all working and I must say it looked to me like a finely oiled machine as a group of students worked on different phases of the bed making process.
Well, guess what??? Come on guess??? Oh all right I’ll tell you. Paul made for me some new shelves and put them up in the living room. They are the height of the top of the door frame and I have been able to place some of my treasures from home along with some pictures of family and friends. It is just another step in making our house a home, and one more thing for me to be spoiled over. Paul painted them a deep rust color and they look really nice. When Rich Opsata sees them he will think Paul has just gone too far in spoiling me, as he thought Paul putting the long handle on my broom was just quit enough. Well, Rich you just wait until you see these :) This is just a friendly reminder for all of you to be praying and saving for your trip over to see us next year. Our friends Bob & Nancy sent back with us 4 jars of super crunchy peanut butter and we are down to the last jar, so we will need some of you to come over for a visit and bring that good old peanut butterJ
Today, Saturday, seemed to go by fast. I washed some of the mosquito nets and hung them out to dry which took like 10 minutes as the sun was shining today and that was great. James, Lou, Iris and Luke all headed into town early but got stuck on the road. Paul hauled some students down the road and helped to get them unstuck. The road is just pretty nasty now with all the rains. Moses and I got ambitious and put up two mosquito nets for Lou, Iris and Luke. I had fun working with Moses and he loves it when I call him, “Son Moses”. All the students are our sons and they are also uncle’s to Jess :) Paul made Iris two shelves for over her sink and got those put up so she will be surprised when she gets back. I took their clothes off the line while they were dry before they could get rained on again. Getting the laundry dried during the rainy season can be a bit tricky, it’s all about timing :).
Some of the students have been doing some of the water color painting on cards that will be sold in the gift shop next year. The girls are making some of the cutest African baby dolls that we know will sell well in the gift shop. We are always looking for things the students can learn to make and have some fun in the process. We just want to continue to thank all of you who love us so well. It is such a gift having so many friends from all over the United States who love and support us. We love ya lots.
You are loved by Jesus and us.
Update 12/19/10
Merry Christmas to all of you, as we remember & celebrate the birth of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.
This past week has been a blur as all the students prepare for their holiday break. Sunday, Isaac one of the sophomore students gave a message on restoration and God’s mighty power to restore us to Himself. He sent His only son Jesus to pay for our sin and restore our relationship with Himself.
It rained all day Sunday and we were watching Luna for Luke so we keep her in the house with us most of the day. She is a sweet little puppy and she is trying to make Jess her friend. It is wonderful to see how much Luke loves this little puppy and the fun the two of them have together. Guess what I did?? Go ahead guess?? Well I locked Lou & Iris’s house and Paul & I don’t have the key so Paul will need to break in as the solar company people are coming tomorrow to install the solar water heater on their roof. It does seem like I am very talented in doing things that make more work for Paul, but then I just join the club with the others on the campus and pray for God to give Paul strength and endurance.
Very quiet day and I started writing some of my life story: sixteen pages, so it was a good start. I think I do have this hidden idea I could be a writer, but then all it takes is to write so I guess I have arrived I know all of your grammar experts out there think I would need a full time editor for anyone else to read what I write. The good thing about this is you all love us so you read this even if the writing is not so good. Thank you all for doing that and for letting us knows how much you miss the updates when I miss a week. It really does encourage us when you nag us and wonder what is going on with us, makes us feel loved so keep it up.
This was the second week of Paul teaching the basic woodworking class to the freshmen class. The students finished making the beds needed for the new students and they also made four nice shelves for the temporary library so we can use the bedside stands that Kris and his team made last year for the cabins. The shelves give a little more room in the library but most of the new shelves are already full. Please keep the progress of the new library in your prayers as much work is still to be done. Dr. Cliff Morris will be here in January to teach and a team is coming with him to work on the library and some plumbing projects. Please pray for the safe travel for this team and for God to bless their hands and keep them safe as they work. We praise God for all your prayers as this past quarter we have had excellent health at the college and everyone has been kept safe.
Lucy and her cousin Phoebe and David have been gone for over a week doing the planting at their farm in Menaka. The rains are coming well and God continues to supply the needed sunshine in between the rains. It seems this past month that there have just been so many little things that have needed to be done that Paul has not had time to work on the clinic floor. I remind him he is just one man, even if he is my marathon man.
Marathon Man you say?? Well here comes the story of how he got that name. In 1980 our town was hit with more than five tornados. They did MAJOR damage throughout Grand Island and the surrounding area. We had horses at a family acreage outside of town and the area was hit hard. Well, to keep a long story short, lots of work needed to be done to get the place cleaned up and fixed back up. All of my family pitched in to help as they always do. Dad, Mom, brothers, sisters and spouses all worked very hard to get the place back into shape. A beautiful BIG barn sat on the grounds with a BIG silo next to it. The barn was completely blown away. It was as sad as it was one of those neat old barns with a hayloft across the whole second floor and stalls and storage for farm equipment on the bottom, it was a thing of beauty. (Can you tell I love old barns and the smell of hay, grain and horses?) The sod house on the land that my brother lived in at the time was shifted of the foundation but was still usable and did not receive much damage. Well anyway, back to “Marathon Man”-- my brother in law Rod Meyer gave Paul that name because when the rest of us were just dirt tired and worn out for the day, Paul keep going, just like the energizer bunny. The name stuck and he has been my Marathon Man ever since.
Here is another story, Paul & I used to do a lot of long distance bike riding. 25-100 miles rides many times. Lance Armstrong was winning his first Tour de France and we cheered him on. One these long rides most people do a touring pace, but not my Paul. He always had to race and be one of the first to finish. I on the other hand stayed in the middle of the pack at a nice pace and was able to visit with other riders and enjoy the scenery. It is wonderful how God puts two opposite people together (35 years) and allows them to help balance one another out. I know sometimes we are lopsided, upside down and sideways but God has been with us each step of the way. I know you may find this hard to believe but I was young and it shape at one time. I started running in 1982 (the same year I rededicated my life to Christ) and I participated in 5 & 10 K runs, bike-a-thon, half marathon, marathons and 2 tri-Athlons. Once again I was always in the back of the pack but I did finish and ran the race with endurance. First Corinthians 9:24-27. They were some of the funniest times I can remember. My friend Diana Cook was by my side running each steps of the way with me and we even had our kids doing the l mile fun runs. We had a blast. My friends, Kathy Lewis, Nancy Lunn, Helen Seymour and Vicki Davis ran together for years and then I joined them in 1982. We met every morning at 5:15 am, rain, sleet, snow or ice and did our running. As the years passed we did slow down to walking but continued solving the world’s problems as we walked. We considered each other the “Board of Directors” of our lives. Some of the girls continue this tradition today in Grand Island. Helen who was 80 this year continues her walking in Lincoln, Nebraska where most of her family lives. Thank you dear “Morning Glories” for the memories.
Paul & Lou spent an entire day in Lusaka and not much was accomplished. They both look worn out and a bit defeated when they arrived home. They were able to bring pizza so we all ate together and had some good fellowship until I noticed Paul and Lou were starting to fall asleep. Iris brought over this great vegetable salad to go with the pizza and most of it was gone at the end of the meal.
I had some fun today as I made up little Christmas boxes for the ladies and girls on the campus. My sister Carol had sent me some cute little tin and cardboard Christmas boxes last year so I was able to use them for the gifts. I made sure everyone got some candy, jewelry and some pastries. I had fun driving around on the gator handing out the gifts. This was really kind of bittersweet as I love to give gifts and I didn’t have a lot to give and I didn’t get to hand wrap the gifts (which I love to do), but I was so thankful I did have something to bless the ladies and the girls here on the campus with.
Bible study this week had an attendance of 28 ladies and once again I had four ladies do the rubber stamping craft. Peggy, Mandoline, Gertrude & Ella, they each decorated a card and envelope and we all had fun. I can sure see how the ladies are more creative than me, but then again I never claimed to have such a gift. One of the ladies at bible study came and gave me the card she had made the week before. Here is what it said, “Over to you Lori” - “Thank you to teach us the story for the birth of Jesus Christ. I want you to be my neighbor in heaven. Luke 1:35 Merry Christmas. Well I have to tell you that will be one Christmas card that I keep. The week before I taught the ladies and shared the Christmas story. I also shared that Christ had gone on ahead to prepare a place for His children who received the gift He offered to them of eternal life. I told the ladies I hoped they all had made this commitment as then we could even be neighbors in the mansion God had prepared for us. That is why she put that in the card. I just think that is the sweetest thing ever. This past week Betty taught the class and focused on the sin in our hearts and how God wants us to “give it back to Satan”. Genesis 31 the story of Laban & Jacob. She taught in one of the native languages so I did miss a lot of it but the ladies seemed to be really listening well and following along. I praise God for Betty, Iris, Lucy & Christine who are all willing to take turns teaching and leading the singing. God is so good to bring this Godly woman to the campus. Right after the bible study the wind came up, lightening, thunder and the rain started to pour down. Some of the ladies had started home already but a lot of them just stayed in the classroom until the storm blew away and then walked home. I was thankful the storm didn’t last too long. The thing is, none of them ever seem upset about anything. I would have been mad that it rained before I had gotten home, or complained about walking in the mud, ruining my shoes or something. Maybe the ladies do complain to one another some, I just know I never hear anything negative from them. That same evening we walked down to #13, Lou, Iris & Luke’s as Luke had tried some frozen ice cream and wanted to share with us. Well, it had good flavor but it was more like strawberry yogurt. Next time Luke will try to freeze it longer, but we really enjoyed it.
Friday morning Paul & I were up early and headed into Lusaka by 7:30 am. We stopped in Chongwe to drop off pop bottles and pick up the mail. Just a reminder that we are not getting much mail, and for that matter not too much “love” in our email inbox. We miss hearing from you and enjoy so much to hear about your families, prayer requests you have and maybe even what is going on in the states. Please keep those, cards, letters and emails coming
Our time in Lusaka was productive, but long. We spent the night and were going to see a movie but the times the movies were showing didn’t work out with our schedule. That was ok. We had our little DVD player and a John Wayne movie with us. Never leave home without it :)
Progress is being made on remodeling and updating the Manda Hill Mall. They actually have a working escalator and elevator in the mall!!! Very modern. A lot of new stores are in but mostly very overpriced clothes, shoes, jewelry and such. I don’t know who can afford to buy that stuff but I guess there is a lot of big money in Lusaka, as my Mom used to say, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer”. We are just so thankful our riches our found in Christ Jesus and nothing or no one can ever take that away.
Pastor Lou gave a Christmas message and blessed us all from the word of God. We had a combined church service as the students were gone. There were only 10 adults and some of the children. The biggest news is that David & Christine are the proud parents of a new baby boy. The baby was born shortly after midnight and mother and baby are doing well. It is exciting this close to Christmas to celebrate the birth of another special little boy.
Please keep this new baby and Christine in your prayers to continue in recovery and health.
As you celebrate the special gift from God let us remember how much God loves us and that He longs for you to be a part of His family. His Child.
You are loved by Jesus and us.
Update 12/27/10
Greetings in the name of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.
We are well and life at the college is quiet right now as the students are on break. Paul continues to lead the way in getting the physical work done on the campus. We have four men hired do a lot of the slashing to keep the weeds down. We have had a lot of rain the past week and everything is really pretty green. It is getting hard for John to keep up even keeping compound one up.
We are waiting expectantly for the short term mission team to arrive. In January we have a team arriving so that will be fun for us, and work for them We pray for each person coming over to work at the college and do evangelism in town that they will be drawn closet to the Lord and will be blessed at the they share their gifts and talents with the people of Zambia. It will be fun to meet new friends and see our friends who have been here before.
12/20 We set off 2 foggers in our house to try and get rid of the cockroaches. While the foggers did their thing we needed to keep the house closed up for three hours. Jess and I worked in the teacher’s cabin and got a lot of work done. Jess did not understand why we were working in another cabin, but she was ok with it Well, it is a week later after the fogging and I must say it did kill a lot of bugs but not all of them. I continue to see some and I kill them as I see them, but I think we will need to do even more foggers again. The pesky varmints. I have never dealt with them before and I am finding out they might be harder to get rid of then I thought. Boo, hiss.
We would like to put out a call for skilled labors to make a trip over to help Paul out. He could use carpenters, plumbers and electricians to help work on some projects. If you have these skills please pray about joining us for a few weeks or more
It has been a little tricky getting the laundry dry; it can stay on the line for a few days or more, depending on that old rain. I remind myself that water is life, and we can always wait for to get the laundry done.
I call little Jess our Velcro dog as she is just my little shadow and stuck to me When I thought of this I thought God would like me to be HIS Velcro daughter and be HIS shadow and stick as close to HIM as Jess does to me. This is a good visual reminder for me as Jess is at my side during the day. Jess and I have to sleep in the second bedroom when it is thundering as she shakes and pants so much there is no sleeping for Paul This past week we had a BIG bolt of thunder and it stuck Lou’s house and burned out the new solar inverter. The company will replace it as they did not install the grounding rod that they should have. They even had it with them but just did not install it. I was working on the computer at the time and there was a spark out of the computer when the lightning struck but the computer seems ok so far.
Paul went through all the cabins on 6 & 8 to plane off the doors so they would all shut well and he checked the locks to make sure they were all ok. He is now continuing the work on the tile floor in the clinic. We both say THANK-YOU to Tim Dunagan for the really nice tile saw he sent back with us. Paul says it works great and makes cutting the tile go really smooth. Paul keeps trying to tell himself he can do the same work as he could 20 years ago but as he is tiling the floor his legs and knees are telling him a different story.
We had a really nice meal at the Mancari family one night. We are finding out Lou is also a good cook, so it is nice Iris has some help in the kitchen. One night Luke made us some chicken that was great so they are all good cooks. Iris, Luke and I sorted through all the “stuff” I have stored in one of the cabins. It is amazing how things can just accumulate things I need to keep track of. We all worked together and it didn’t take long at all.
We were able to send our son Ben a cash gift for Christmas thanks to all of our supporters. We had Paul’s sister Lori pick up two gift certificate for Ben so he would have a gift to open. This week before Christmas has been kind of sad, just missing family, friends and the special activities going on at church back home. We have not had much sunshine so that does not help in keeping our moods up. I was able to bake Paul some sugar cookies and we both enjoyed that treat. We received a few calls on Christmas and we were able to visit with Ben on the phone for a little while. Again, we want to thank all of our supporters who monthly support us so we can work here at the Bible College. We pray for you and thank God for you every day, as we know we could not be here without you. Bless you. We had the Mancari family over for Christmas dinner. Paul cooked a ham and chicken on the grill, Iris brought the veggie and dessert. We even had mashed potatoes and gravy; this was a great treat as we only have those on special occasions. After the meal we all watched “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie is told repeatedly he will shoot his eye out if he gets the Daisy Red Ryder for Christmas
A big thank you to my Dad, Brother Glenn, Sister’s Gayle and Carol for the calls on Christmas. The was very special and meant a lot to us.
Paul & John continue to do special touches to compound one to make it look good. Just when I think it looks great, they come up with another idea and make it look even nicer. I think they both love landscaping so much they kind of have this contest going on as who can think of the next neat thing to do
Pastor Lou gave the Sunday message from the last chapters of Revelation on Sunday. We were a small group of 7 adults and 7 children. Henry & David have gone to South Africa to pick up a truck David had bought and Henry bought a truck for his brother. This appears to be a two week project. They were planning on 5 days but that is just the way things go. Lucy is still gone to her home village doing some planting. Christine and baby boy are doing very well. They are waiting for David’s return to name the baby. Many names have been suggested to them by almost everyone
Today I took down the Christmas décor and packed it away. It was hard to put the tree away especially. I kept out the strings of Christmas lights I had as I will continue to use them to brighten up the house in the evenings.
I listened to the CD that was made at our church when the students visited our church. It is wonderful to listen to it again and remember what a special time that was. The students, Henry and Lucy all did such a super job of sharing the love of Christ with the people at all the churches they attended. I continue to be humbled how greatly God provided the funds through churches in Iowa & Illinois for the students to make the trip to America. God used the time the students were in America in a great way. Thank you all for praying for the students and the success of their time in America.
Please pray for our bug problem to be taken care of and all those pesky bugs to be gone.
Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. Gal 6:9 To God be the glory for upholding us as we all serve Him.
