DiaryMay2010

Update 5/10/10

Love from Zambia!!

Little Known Facts: When Paul & Lori were dating their senior year they went to occasional movies. Always, when they went, Paul would fall asleep before the movie was half over! I must tell you today that has not changed.

Once again it was a busy week. Pastor John Collier from E. Free in Ankeny, IA was done teaching at Noon on Friday and then he left to spend the weekend in Lusaka with a sponsored Pastor Friend and share in his church. We miss Big John; he was a wonderful visitor and brought a lot of his fun spirit to the college.

Kevin treated Paul and me to an evening at a very nice Safari Lodge that had many different activities. While Paul took a much needed nap, Kevin and I went on a horse back trail ride and it was such fun. I loved being on a horse again and Kevin was fun to watch as his horse “Cindy” had a colt back at the barn, so Cindy always wanted to run—Kevin had his hands full. We saw some wildlife as we rode around so that was cool.

Later that same day the three of us took a two hour safari drive and saw many different kinds of wildlife. I cannot name all the critters we saw but they were all beautiful. My favorite would have to be the giraffes as they are just so unique in their design. I think God must have had a lot of fun painting the giraffes and the zebras. We were able to see one of the bachelor giraffes run off when a bigger giraffe entered his territory. It is something to see a one of these beautiful animals running across the field. As we drove off they followed us for a short way and I like to think they looked sad to see us go.

This lodge has one of the biggest art collections in Zambia. The paintings, masks, sculptures and other art pieces (I don’t know what to call them) were unique and new exposure to us of more African art. The food was wonderful. We enjoyed three meals, each served by young men in uniforms and the presentation of the food was very professional. Paul & Kevin love the coffee that is served here as it is very strong I guess. It all looks like battery acid to me—give me a cold Coke lite any day. It is a shame Paul and I am such dudes as these are some of the things that were available at the lodge: Tennis, pool, ping pond, snooker, fishing, boating, hiking trails, swimming and a hot tub.

We are saying some prayers for our son Ben as he is having one or more wisdom teeth removed this week. Please pray for easy healing process for him.

We attended Miracle Life church again in Lusaka, groceries, market and then back to the college. It was a wonderful, relaxing time away. Thank you Kevin!!

Paul drove some of the ladies to the highway so they could catch a bus the large Baptist convention about an eight hour bus ride away. The ladies are back now and said they were very encourage at the convention and over 300 women came forward to give their lives to Jesus!! Amen, Amen.

I called my brother, Dwayne in Phoenix to wish him a happy birthday this week and was able to visit with Debbie one of my fun sister’s (Dwayne’s wife) and she promised to pass along my birthday wishes to Dwayne. My nephew Cody graduated this week from high school and goes into the National Guard training. He has already gone through basic training, so whatever comes after that. We are very proud of him.

This week the ladies bible study met under a tree in the shade as the classroom was being used by Randy and the students. We were around 40 ladies as so many were gone to the convention. One young lady translated for me who had never done it before. I was proud of her as she did a great job. If any of you ladies have ideas for craft projects that I could do with the ladies please let me know. I am not crafty but the ladies enjoyed the doll making so much I would like to see us do some other projects. Cost would need to be minimal, but I am sure we can purchase some things here we would need. If there are any Sunday school classes that would like to take this craft idea on, purchase supplies and send them over that would be awesome.

Lewis is here meeting with the staff and students going over how things are going and what changes could be made to make the college even better. It is wonderful to have the Director of Gospelink here for longer period of time as he sees the progress and is just so encouraging to everyone. He even took time to play some horseshoes with the student’s and I must say he was pretty good. Lewis and the teachers are always invited to share some meals with the students so that is pretty cool. The students all do their own cooking with groups of three that cook for the rest. The usual fair of the meals are, Nshema, cabbage, beans and chicken or fish if it is available. As an American it is hard for me to comprehend eating basically the same thing for two or three meals a day almost all of my life. This is all they know and I have never heard anyone complain about it. Their attitude of gratitude is very humbling to me.

I was able to visit with our son Ben on Mother’s day and that was a wonderful visit for my Mother’s heart. There is nothing better than hearing him say “I love you” before he hangs up. A mother’s heart is always soft toward her children, no matter how old they are. I praise God for our only child Ben who allowed me the gift of being a Mom. God rescued this young man from a premature birth and I cannot wait for Ben to re-commit his life to Jesus and discovery God’s plan and purpose for his life. Thank you all for your prayers for our Ben. I was also blessed to visit with my “older” sister Gayle, and my Step-Mom Arlene on Mother’s Day. My dear friend Norma and my sister’s Carol and Jolene I was unable to get a hold of. So, belated Mother’s Day wishes to all of you.

Yesterday we had a big event here at the college. The biggest rabbit I ever saw ran down the road in front of our house. Some of the student’s and all of the children were running, yelling and chasing after the rabbit. When Jess saw it, she joined in the chase. Well, then three large bush dogs appeared out of know where and they captured the rabbit. Needless to say, the rabbit was their supper. I have never heard such yelling and laughter as the students and children chased after the rabbit.

Paul, Chad & Kevin continue to work on the clinic as time allows. Kevin will be flying out Thursday and our friend Dick will be flying in on Friday. God continue to bless us with visits from friends and from new friends we just haven’t met yet.

God Bless you all as you walk with Jesus and grow in His grace and knowledge.

Update 05/21/10

Little Known Facts: When Paul was in high school he would stop by church and pick up a bulletin and give it to his mom and tell her he went to church. Then Paul’s mom would ask me if he really went and I would tell her no. He was just so cute but I still told his mom the truth.

Love from Zambia to all our faithful readers!!

It is so beautiful now with the season changing and the colors of the landscape forever changing. Now the rainy season is over, the crops are getting harvested and the tall grasses are turning hues of yellow, gold and brown. The winds are starting to arrive so the tall grass looks as beautiful as it waves to us.

The biggest news is progress on the road from the college to the highway. The company was able to get the road over half done from the college to past Kazemba school before the big grater they were using broke. Well, the men decided they would need to spend the night with the broken grater so no one would strip it of parts. Well, let’s just say a male bonding party was held and they all had a good time spending the night on the road cooking nshema, veggies and some peanuts. The company was very generous to us and we are so sorry that their equipment broke. They just took it in stride as part of doing business and we hope they will be able to finish sometime in the future. Would you please pray for the road completion and improvement for us? The grater made the road twice as wide so that is way cool. It some spots it is really sandy so Paul, David and Henry have made the white truck into a water truck and have watered down the parts that needed it the most. We just praise God for the improvement that was made on the road.

Well, at our last stay at the zebra lodge Paul did find a gecko on the toilet seat, so he had to call me in and show me. I am glad he saw it first and not me. Randy C. had his picture taken on the Zebra statue out front of the lodge so he is an official member of the Zebra lodge tourist club. In the past we have had some team members try to climb up on the zebra only to land on the other side of the hard ground. Some of us just aren’t as young as we think we are. I will mention no names here. You know who you are.

Well my 54th birthday was a very nice day. Paul dropped me off at Manda Hill mall and I was treated by Paul to a manicure, pedicure, haircut and eyebrow trimming!

Agnes, who did all this, gave me the eyebrow trim as a gift for my birthday. She was just so sweet. I bought the ladies a soda and they were able to fill in for my girlfriends back home whom I would of went out with and celebrated. Oh, in case you are wondering about the eyebrow thing. They used this piece of thread and looped it a certain way and pulled out the eyebrows. IT REALLY HURT! I think I may have permanent scars. I like the good old fashion wax method. I hope this is not too much information for some of you gentle souls. Amber made me a pretty scarf and helped me feel very loved and special. It was a great day. Paul bought me a red rose bush for my birthday and mother’s day and it looks great planted on the backside of the house.

I don’t know if I can begin to do justice on the process it took us to get an ink cartridge for our new copier/printer. It really is funny if you were not the person going through the trauma, yes I say trauma!! It may be one of those experiences we will remember for the rest of our lives. We bought the machine in January. We started the process of getting a new ink cartridge in February. It took us until May, many calls, stops at the store where we bought the printer from and this store was suppose to be getting us the ink cartridge. Well they continued to lie to us and say they had it on order and it would be in next week. Well next week just turned into another next week. So, on my birthday when we were in town Paul went in alone as I was a bit afraid of what he would say and the man, once again said if he came back at 2:00 pm he would have it. Well, we went back at 2:00 and they still did not have it, always with a ready excuse of why not. Well, we had enough. Paul told them they had been lying to us for three months and we wanted our money back. Of course there was no way they were going to do that. They called their manager and Paul and waited in the store one hour until he arrived. The employee kept asking us to go do some shopping while they worked this out. We said, NO, we will sit right here until we get our money back or some black ink cartridges. Well, I did send Paul out for some errands and I sat in a chair inside the store and just crocheted all the while smiling at the employees who didn’t know what to do with us. Well, finally the manager sent one of the employees to a warehouse and half an hour later he returned with, what do you know four black ink cartridges for our machine!!! It only took us three months to get what they should have had in stock. I do not think we will be buying anymore items from this store. Sigh. Another fun day shopping in Lusaka.

While we were in town we check out three different motels as we thought it would be nice to stay in a little nicer motel for my birthday. We found a very nice one and had a nice evening after a very frustrating day. We were the only ones in the dining room as we go early and then they brought ice cream to our room for a birthday treat. It was very nice and I let Paul have the ice cream as it all tastes like sand to me. We were refreshed the next morning and were ready to do more errands and head back to the college. We had our first ever fast visit to a bank and were so shocked and God continued to bless our day with one of the smoothest visits to the grocery store we have ever had. We have learned to be very thankful for little things. On the way back to the college we stopped at our usual veggie stand and the two ladies that have it just smile when they see us. They especially liked it when Kevin was with us as he usually bought them out and gave all the goodies to the students.

Paul and Chad left at 4:30 am to go into the airport and pick up our friend Dick Strickland from our home church. Dick will be staying with us and helping to some work on the clinic for three weeks. We are so blessed to have friends come and help with the work and to encourage us along the way. Dick has been on many mission trips with our church and has a real heart for missions and to help serve in any way needed. Dick jumped right in and has all the window frames painted and the glass installed on all the windows except for one piece of glass that fell and cut his leg. We sure wished the clinic would have been open to see to the cut in his leg, but since it was not Dr. Lori brought her medical bag and with Dick’s help cleaned and covered the cut. It wasn’t too long but was deep and it looked like it hurt a lot. Dick, being a manly man just walked it off and went back to work. We were very grateful to God that it was not worse.

I do apologize for the problems with the phone number listed for my phone. It seems my sim card in my phone is very weird and two totally different numbers work on it. Here is the new number that seems to work: 011260977710637 We are still leaving the old number on as some people have great success getting through on that number. Who knows why, but I am sorry for you dear family and friends who have been faithful in trying to call me and have not gotten through. I do hope this new number solves this problem as I love hearing my phone ring, as it does not ring too often.

When we get back to the college from a trip to town little Jess just goes nuts. She runs around in circles and makes the most unusual noises I have ever heard from a dog. I know she is shouting in dog tones that she loves us, she is glad we are home, and why do we ever leave her. She is just the bestest little dog ever.

Jess gets to stay with Uncle Chad, Aunt Amber and their cat Vera when we are gone. I think Vera and Jess have come to some kind of understanding as to whom the cabin really belongs to and who gets to sleep where.

Chad and Amber just belong here. They have taken on more responsibility with the student’s and are doing a super job working with them, keeping track of their work scholarship hours and planning for the work that needs done. This has been an enormous help to the staff and we again are so grateful they are here. Amber wears a Chatanga like the ladies do all the time and she is now even wearing a stocking cap like a lot of the ladies do. She looks very cute and very African. Chad is also learning to use the backhoe so this frees up Paul to do some other work. Paul and some of the student’s have been digging out stumps in the new football field area, so progress is being made.

Wow, do I have a great new praise CD. I received it from Brad & Maureen Brush from our home town and I have been so blessed. There are just too many songs on it to pick a favorite, but music just fills my bucket up and I thank you Brad and Maureen for this special treasure.

May 16th was the official first English service at the college. We are having a 9:00 am English service, and then start at 10:15 with Sunday school and the Nyanja service. The students attend both services and a special praise team of six students led the worship at the English service. This was a wonderful change for everyone as now the new people coming to church can attend the Nyanja speaking service and not have to listen to the translation or to songs in English. Without the need for translation in each service this as helped the flow of the services, and of course everyone is invited to attend either or both services if they choose.

Paul, James, Chad & Amber headed into town for a night at the Zebra as the new team and 3 teachers are arriving the next day. Lonnie & Sharon Hoofer from Omaha, NE and Billie from Dover, Delaware all arrived at the college Monday around 1:00 pm and Lonnie and Billie were teaching their first class at 2:00 pm. I tell you things are running like a fine oiled machine! Lonnie is teaching the book of Daniel and Billie is teaching a course on Christology. I have just met these teachers and love them already. What a heart of service they have. Sharon is a full time art teacher and brought over with her A LOT of art supplies to use in teaching the students. The entire students have expressed their gratitude at having this opportunity to be learning from a gifted art teacher from America. I have seen some of Sharon’s work and she is a very gifted artist, not to mention a very sweet lady who helps me do dishes. The students will all get to select one piece of the artwork they complete and the rest of their work will be given to the college gift shop for visitor’s to purchase. Sharon has some great marketing ideas for the student’s art work that could help raise money for the college student fund. Please pray for God to bless our endeavors in using the time and talents of the students to provide revenue for the student fund. We will have lots of original student artwork done in cards that will work great for any occasion. We will let you know the easiest way to purchase these in the future.

One day Henry invited Dick to go visit an area headman and his family. Dick had a wonderful experience and was able to share his story and the story of God’s love in saving him and picking him up out of the miry clay and setting his feat on the solid ground of God’s truth. We are so thankful Dick was able to share with this family in their home.

Paul and I are doing most of the cooking for the teachers until the rest of the team arrives then the ladies will cook all three meals down on the #3 compound. Once again, God is showing me that I can cook, clean and bake with a smile and everything always works out when I keep my eyes on Him and not get my shorts into a knot, or my panties into a wad.

Today I got to clean up inside the container where the sleeping bags, tents, extra clothing, bibles, tracts and other misc. items are stored. Boy did I have some fun; well maybe I better just say the job that needed done got done and an inventory of everything in the container was completed. I am riding around on a pretty blue bike that came over on one of the containers and that is really helping me get where I need to be quicker. The nationals all just laugh when they see me fly by. It has a nice basket on the front, so I can haul things around and they don’t see many ladies riding a bike; it is almost always the men. Of course I have little Jess running beside me where ever I might be riding the bike too. Jess does not like it as well as when I walk as she can’t keep up with me. I ride like the wind—well maybe more like a gentle breeze.

We are all preparing for a special visit from the area Chief Bunda Bunda. He wanted to visit the college and see the progress on the garden’s and the medical clinic. We have two nurses on this team from Dover and they will be running the clinic when the Chief comes for his visit. It is an honor for the college to have the Chief come and visit as it is unusual for the Chief to go out as most people need to go to the Chief’s palace to see him, not the other way around. It will be a great day when he visits next week.

Last evening the teachers went to the girl students for their evening meal. I was as proud of the girls as they made a special attempt to serve food they knew that American’s would like. It is just so wonderful to see the heart of the entire students here and the giving, sharing spirit they all seem to have. We all continued to be blessed by their beautiful singing throughout the day.

At bible study this week we had 41 ladies in attendance and we finished up our study in Philippians. Next week we plan a craft time again as Sharon brought some supplies for the ladies to all make a necklace and earrings that they can keep for themselves and she brought a lot of extra supplies that the ladies can get together and make some to sell at the gift shop. Opps, did I say “Gift Shop”?

We are moving up in the world as we have moved the gift shop from one of the cabins to the former office area in the shop. We are looking pretty snazzy if I do say so myself. We have a nice variety of items and as we have proceeds from the sales we will be able to buy more supplies for the students to make more items. We have some pretty quilts and shirts that one of the national area missionary pastor’s wives is making. This is a great way to support one of our area pastors and his family and give a wonderful variety to our gift shop for the visitors.

Paul & Dick were able to bless some of the men working at the college with some corn meal and veggies from the garden as they had nothing for lunch but an ear of corn. We try to keep some extra bags of corn meal on hand so when there is a specific need we can help out with it. These men of course were very grateful.

Well, I guess I have rattled on long enough, and I best go as Amber and I need to get the cabins ready for the Dover team that will arrive this afternoon. Who knows, may even a chocolate on their pillows and their sheets turned down????

You just never know what awaits you when you come to serve at the IBC, (International Bible College). Be sure and check with Gospelink for any upcoming opportunities to serve here at the college. We all would love to see you and make some more new friends. God is so Good. Thank you to everyone who has visited us here at the college and is now a part of the history of our lives. You have all touched us in your own unique way. What can we say?

Rejoice, again I say rejoice!!

You are all loved by Jesus and us.

Update May 31, 2010

Little known facts: Weight Loss

Paul never had trouble with weight until age 50, then when he decided to lose weight he just did seemed to be able to lose it.

Lori – has been on every diet every introduced and lost the same 60 lbs to many time to count. The “Lose it for Life” has been the best program to include, Spiritual, Emotional and Physical.

Love from Zambia!!

It seems like forever since I have done an update. As usual I report that it has been really busy around here.

Lonnie & Sharon Hoffer, Billie Rosano are working hard teaching the students.

Chuck, Jeremiah, Stacy, Evelyn, Joyce, Tina and Susan are all working hard.

Stacy, Evelyn and Joyce are painting the inside of bathhouse #3. Chuck and Jeremiah are doing mortar and block work on #13, Tina and Susan are using their nursing skills at the clinic.

I want to say that Lori and Amber just continue to be pretty faces around here, but they found out our hiding place and we are working too.

Dick, Paul & Chad made a big fire pit on compound #1 so the coffee club fellowship could begin again.

I received a box from my Fun Sister Gayle and my work buddies from home. Wet wipes, lens cleaner, rubber fingers to count money, drink mix, a BIG pen, motorcycle magazine, candy, newspaper articles and birthday wishes. My friend Diana sent me the some of the wonderful light weight gold toed socks and I love them.

Pastor Lonnie Hoffer preached at the English service this morning with the praise team leading us in some great choruses that I have not sang since we left the states. It was wonderful. All the visiting Americans were blessed by the music.

Sharon Hoffer is a wonderful, gifted art teacher and teaches MANY students in her home studio at Omaha, NE. She continues to teach the students in watercolor and has reported great progress in the projects they have turned in. We have already mounted a lot of their pictures and do we have a super collection of original artwork by the students on note cards to be purchased at the college gift shop. Sharon has showen Amber, Stacy and I how to make the beaded necklaces and bracelets out of paper. We hope to make them with the ladies who come for Bible study on Thursdays. Sharon brought all the supplies needed to make them and I know the ladies will love learning how to make them.

Last evening we had the first official fire in the new fire pit. Great fellowship around the fire and the night sky was so beautiful and declared the awesome handiwork of our God. I will continue to say the night sky here is worth the price of the ticket.

Today 5/24 is our 35th wedding anniversary. My how time flies when you are having fun. Busy day around the campus with Tina & Susan seeing a steady flow of people at the clinic, the ladies continue painting on the bathhouse and Dick, Paul and Chad all working on getting the plumbing completed to the new water towers. All the trenches have been dug for the water pipes to go to all the compounds!! This was a big job, with many national workers helping. The plasters poured the cement squares that will protect the water valves at each compound. They look really cool I think and they did a super job on them.

Amber has started tutoring one of the area children and we can see this as yet another way to minister to our neighbors.

The nurses on the team, Tina and Susan, were working hard at the clinic from 9 – 5 each day. We only saw them at lunch and then they knew people were waiting for them. I know they treated many different things, but a lot of health education was done to every patient. Dr. Mark Stines, an Optometrist from our church, sent over 60 pair of reading glasses and a great kit of tools so glasses can be adjusted. This was a big blessing to many of the patients, so thank you, Dr. Stines.

Today was a big day with our area Chief Bunda Bunda, his wife, son and guard coming to the college for a visit. The chief and his wife were both examined by our nurses Tina and Susan. They were given a good report and some tips on improving their nutrition. The visitor’s all ate with us in our home which was an honor for Paul and me to be asked to host them. Lucy & Christine prepared the meal as they knew what the chief would like. Enshema, rice, chicken, cabbage, beans and a banana for dessert. The only error I made during the meal was after the meal I offered the dessert to the chiefs son before I offered one to the chief. He was very forgiving and if the guard had not corrected me, the chief told me later it was ok. After the meal we all had a time of fellowship in our living room and Paul and the chief were able to discuss the progress at the college and the medical clinic. The chief was very proud to have the college under his territory and he said “This is the first big development in my territory and he said he was looking forward to seeing the clinic open more often and for our gardens to continue to produce so our neighbors would not have to walk so far to buy vegetables. We are already starting to sell veggies and have taken some into Chongwe to sell. We praise God, the Lord of the Harvest. The chief was very grateful to Gospelink for the improvement on the road to the college. The chief’s wife asked him to see if we would give him some paint for their new house. Paul said, “Yes” he would load it right up in the vehicle. Then of course the chief was wondering if we would want to come over and paint, well let’s just say we might be headed down the road for some more painting.

The Delaware team—Pastor Billy, Joyce, Chuck, Jeremiah, Stacy, Tina, Susan and Evelyn—were very supportive of our gift shop. They were the first people to be able to purchase the original students’ art work of the here at the college. They were all very happy with their purchases from the gift shop. Besides the student art note cards here are a few other items the team members purchased; Jewelry, Zambian crocheted scarf’s, hats, quilted shirts baskets, sling shots and carved boxes and statues.

We saw all the Delaware team off at the airport except for Stacy as she gets to stay with us another two weeks and help us with more projects. We are very grateful she is able to stay longer as I get some more girl time in and we get to be enriched with the story of her life and learn about her family and home church.

Lonnie and Sharon were taken to the bus stop by Henry as they were going on to meet other missionary friends and to see Victoria Falls.

BIG NEWS, BIG NEWS, the water is now running into the new tanks and all is ready for water to all the compounds and to the new big garden area!! This is big, really big as more water means more gardens, more food for student’s and guests and more veggies to sell. Paul was so excited when he turned one of the valves on in the new compound area and the water just gushed out. Dick said he saw tears of gratitude in Paul’s eyes. Yahoo, to God be the glory. Paul was so proud he took Stacy and me on a tour of the garden and compound area where all the new water pipes and valve boxes were. I must say the new spigots in the garden area looked very pretty. Nice new blue handles!

Dick, Chad and Paul worked really hard the past two weeks to get this project done, so a big thank you to these hard working men.

We have lost the cabin (we as in the people on compound #1) that we were using for some storage. With larger teams coming over we needed this cabin prepared for painting and more beds. Paul has made the four beds; the girls have painted the cabin, so just the mosquito nets need to be hung. The suitcases and some boxes with misc. items all had to be moved to one of the gloomy storage rooms down at the shop. I guess I will just have to put plaster and painting down for this one storage room that I want to keep stuff in so it won’t be so gloomy. You know, there is nothing worse than a gloomy storage room. What if the neighbors were to come over and see it!!! We would be the talk of the villages :)

Lots of laundry needed to be done with the team’s departure. Each team member always leaves clothes and misc items behind to be used for the greatest need. The three female students, Serah, Mildred and Faith all did this laundry and this work was credited to their work scholarship hours. Doing all the laundry by hand is a big job, and gets it a lot cleaner then I do using the machine. They are amazing how fast they can get it done.

A big thank you goes out to the Delaware team for all the extra items they brought over for us, such as; watches, candy, brownie mixes, flavored drinks mixes, puzzles, Hormel chili (no beans) batteries, slim jims, cookie mixes and other things I am sure I am forgetting. Joyce was so nice and left behind some “Icy Hot” medicated roll up sheets. These are wonderful for my painful knee and below my knee pain. Thank you Joyce!! Here is an awesome testimony of service to Gospelink from Delaware. Chuck, Evelyn and Stacy have all made this trip to the Bible College for six years!! I am so blessed by their faithful service to the people of Zambia and to the staff at the college.

Paul and Chad have taken turns using the backhoe for removing stumps and clearing out small trees to enlarge the garden space. Once this is done the students go through and pile up the brush, stumps and dead grass and burn it. With each step more garden space is made available. The students work very hard and the campus are showing the results of their efforts.

Volleyball is still one of the favorite free time activities and the girls now join in the game which I am sure makes it more fun for the young men One night one of the student’s came to the door and asked if Paul could get them a new volleyball? I told them I would try my best to sweet talk Paul into buying them one. Well when we got home from our last trip to town we saw the student’s riding back in the truck from a soccer game and Paul threw the new volleyball in the air toward the truck and the boys caught it and laughed and shouted all the way back to their cabins. The students are just so much fun and remind Paul and me daily of why we are here. These young men and women all have a heart to hear and obey God. They humble me with their hunger for God’s word and growth.

When Lewis was here he challenged the students to memorize 3 separate sections in the New Testament on the Deity of Christ, it was 40 verses altogether. Well I thought it was a pie in the sky kind of a challenge. Wrong. Eleven or more of the student’s have recited these versus with only one error allowed. Each one who recited these verses, with only one error was awarded leather bound Greek study bible. They all continue to work hard hiding God’s word in their heart.

Each week in church we are now being challenged to memorize one verse each week and then the student leading the service calls on someone by random to stand and recite the verse!!! Yikes. Neither Paul nor I have been called on yet, but if the student’s can memorize 40 verses I like to think we can do one a week. Pray for us.

Stacy has been helping Amber and me out in a lot of ways. We helped Amber organize her cabin one day as she was feeling a bit over whelmed. Then Stacy helped me do a good cleaning of my house as it had been neglected for a few weeks. Stacy has been willing to help with things that might not seem to mission trip like, but she has helped us in so many practical ways. As Dick told us women need to get in a lot more words per day then men do, so having Stacy here has helped me get all my words in.

Stacy and I got to spend a lot of time with the student art work, mounting their work on colored paper and then mounting them on to the note cards to sell. It was really more like playing than working. While we were doing this Dick was off on the gator helping the workers with getting water, quarry dust, cement and other manly stuff. Dick has gotten nice sunburn and a new hair cut since he has been here. So beware: who knows what a mission trip will allow you to experience.

Well, I best sign off so I can start on the next update.

Here is the verse we are to memorize this week; Phil 1:18 – But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice yes, and I will continue to rejoice.

Remember dear readers, you are loved by Jesus and us.