Newsletter August 2014

And yes, another two months flew by. We are slowly moving out of our first winter in Zambia (and yes, I was bitterly cold) as many of you are starting to cool down after a lovely warm summer. Everything is very dull and brown around us, as the August winds stir-up the African dust. It is the ideal time to work outside, so we are spending many hours outside, before the expected and dreaded October heat.

 

 One of the hardest things for ‘missionaries’ is the loss of feeling connected. It is the same for anyone leaving their own ‘home’. You arrive in a new environment, and you are ‘unconnected’. In today’s life people are less connected, but still feel the need, making social media so successful. And so too, we did as we arrived here. We have now been here for one year. As I was driving the other day, passing by people (leaving them in the dust), I could wave. Not just because I’m friendly, but because I know who they are. I still do not speak tonga, I still do not understand all their customs, but slowly we are getting connected. We know who is family of who (easy, they are all related), we know what they do for a living, we know their needs, their daily routine, their laughter, their questions. And they know us. They still don’t call me by name (I’m always Mrs Carl, or mother of Rashelle, or simply madame), but they know us. And accept us...   

 

When we can’t find Simon, he is enjoying his n’shima with the neighbours

Anyway, for those who are reading to know how the work is progressing. Slowly. But at least mostly forward.

 

Last month ended with us showing the Jesus film on the soccer/football field behind our house.Over the last year we have done a lot of physical work and talked to a lot of people, but now we wanted them to know, that we are not only here to do good things, but also because God brought us here for a eternal reason. And we will not be quiet about Him. What touched me, is one of those men I placed a photo of last month, sat next to Carl. As the crucifixion was shown, he dropped his head in his hands. We pray that God will soften his heart, and show him that Jesus did that for him.

The next week, our first guests arrived. My father brought them, and they moved around with the local pastors in the areas around. They told the Good News as they were walking. Many people responded. Now it is up to the local pastors in who’s areas they were moving to follow up with these people, getting them connected to a church. It’s not about the church, but inside a church it is possible to disciple them with truth. I had a good conversation with one of our guests. She told me, she no longer feels sorry when she thinks of those photo’s of the children in the dusty streets of Africa. Because she realizes, many of them are happy and free. It is their souls we need to pray for.

 

On the day they left, my mother and another missionary arrived in Zambia from Mozambique. They yearly come and do woman’s conferences, teaching the wives of the pastors, and then some others. They did a series of conferences in the north of the country. This is not our story, for more information, see http://www.hbmin.org/programs/program/6.html. After they finished, my mother came to us, for a few days with the grandchildren. We made her work too hard, so we owed her a break. We took her down to the Kariba, so she could rest, and Carl could look for his next big fish. 

Meanwhile, we finished the tomato harvest. I am now preserving the last, and freezing what is left. I promise this will be the last mentionJ We have learnt, amongst other things, that tomatoes like water and a lot of effort. Carl’s next plantings (maize, sweet maize, butternut etc) never made it to germination. We had a terrible mice plague in the whole area, eating every last seed.

For the faint of heart, don’t look, the spade is full of dead mice. Carl’s record was 40 in one night.

Carl then replanted with the one seed that the mice seemed to not eat. Ocra. They are germinating, but still not up to the standard Carl is hoping for. We will see how it goes. The bricks are still being made for all the building that needs to happen:

This will include the chicken house, a small shop, a wall around our ‘front garden’ and ‘walls’ for our vegetable beds, so we don’t continue to lose the good soil.

 

Carl has been promoted to head petrolboy. He has been selling petrol to the locals, instead of them having to cycle the 17km to town. It is a roaring business. So, along with charging telephones, and selling airtime and ice, he has now officially changed into a business man. The point of our project, is to pinpoint ways to start earning an income without having to have a huge amount of capital. This is definitely a winner. But selling it out of our home, means the first people are at our door between 6-7 and some have come around at 22:00. Not great for dinner time. So, we want to open a little shop, with set times, and to give us a place to sell other produce too, such as the bread I sometimes bake, the vegetables we grow, and whatever else people need to go a far way for now.

Further, Carl has been doing some work for the church, Simon has been learning to talk, and becoming naughtier by the day, Tim is preparing to start crèche in September, Rashelle working hard on her athletics skills and I passed my driver’s license (again).

Please pray with us, as I am sure many are already doing, against the spread of the ebola virus in West Africa.  At first we thought it would just blow over, but it just keeps coming closer. This last week, the American doctor from the compound where we lived in our last weeks in Liberia, has been diagnosed with ebola and evacuated to America. Our friends are very close to the danger. Some can escape, others not. Only God can stop this monster.

May God bless and carry you, till we meet again