The big 4-0

After a few hectic months, in which we rarely had time as family alone, we finally got to celebrate Carl's big birthday. We did so just with the 5 of us in a quiet corner.

We pray that there are still many fruitful years ahead of Carl. Years of Godly wisdom, health and joy. We are endlessly thankful for the time He has already blessed us together.

Tractor

So, Carl was finally able to get the tractor over the border. She is now here, and I'm not sure who's most excited.

Newsletter August 2015

The last few months of our lives, we have been doing many new things. One of those ‘new things’ has been actively going around telling people about our work, with the goal of fundraising. Sounds like such a simple thing, but it does not come all that naturally, to be honest. One of the hardest parts, is being introduced: “We would like to introduce you to our missionary Carl/Ilne Paalman.”

It honestly does not fill me with the joy, maybe it should. Because every time I hear my name in the same sentence as the word missionary, it is meant as a compliment, but all I hear, is RESPONSIBILITY.

The Lord has trusted us with His Good news, and all the good works He planned for us (Eph 2:10). But my question is: is that more true for the person sitting in the bush in Zambia, than for the teacher in a public school, or the mom in the line at the supermarket? So, I’d like to propose a theory that we are all missionaries, and that the only difference is our mission field.

At least then, I can share my responsibility with you.

So, myself (Ilne) and our oldest daughter took on the flight to America. I was thinking of all those long ago hero’s of the faith who got on boats with no return ticket. And I took off my hat.

We were constantly aware of God’s leading. In the first place I got to stay in my mom’s house. Now as I mentioned last time, I have been struggling more with this pregnancy. And it was such relief to let my mom worry, and me just lay there. Nice and selfless, won’t you say. But no truly, it really did me well to just relax. It took my almost a week, to just feel strong again, and I thank the Lord for that week. Sorry, to all the people who had to listen to me babble in that week.

                                          My father organized several speaking engagements.

Rashelle came back, with every intention of returning to the ‘promised land’ as soon as possible. She had a great time with her cousins. She came back with lots of stories of fireworks, and big supermarkets to tell her brothers.  It was also great to meet my youngest niece, a sweet little soul of nine months.

                                                                    Tea party with cousins and grandma

                                                                    Tea party with cousins and grandma

God graced the efforts, through many generous people, and it is now possible to start the project in all seriousness. As I’m writing, Carl is on the border waiting for a tractor to arrive from South Africa. It’s happening in true African style- he has been waiting for four days. Meanwhile he has invested in a toothbrush, because he left with nothing, since it was suppose to be a quick trip. I guess some donkeys do hit their heads more than once.

Seriously though, thank you so much for all the people who have contributed in the last month. It is exciting to see things starting to happen. And as things progress, we hope you get more excited with us.

Here is some of the progress:

I’m keeping the pictures big enough to see. So, one of our first implements has been a ‘sheller’- to remove the kernels from the cob. The sheller is run from our little two wheel tractor’s diesel engine. Carl estimated that they did about 1000bags. People pay in maize, and in this way we are saving up the ‘payment’ for the use of people’s land in the coming rainy season.

 The walls of the maize storage has also been finished. This enables us to store people’s maize safely for a few cents per month, so that they don’t lose their crop, and also we can store our own supply for the program.

All in an effort to help our community farm more effectively. The big push will come November, when our rains arrive. God willing.

And as I’ve mentioned, Carl is awaiting the tractor that will also be used in that effort.

Meanwhile, we also had our first guests for the year. Some friends looking to relocate to Zambia visited just before I left for two days, and it was such fun to have them here. Trying to tell them as many stories as possible, to convince them what a great place this is. I never took a picture L, so you”ll have to wait to see their faces, plus I need their permission before introducing them.

Then Carl came down to South Africa to come get me, Rashelle and my father. We celebrated my grandfather’s 90th birthday, what an honour. I saw some family I haven’t seen for more than a decade (there is the only resemblance between myself and those missionaries from long-long ago). And it was good.

We drove up and then had some more friends come out for the European summer- escaping tropical weather by coming to Africa, there’s irony for you. Again, the children had a ball. They were seriously considering hiding in the luggage. We met the two girls while working at Goeie Hoop, and they were curious to see how things run here.

 To be honest, there’s not so much touristy things to do around here. But we tried to take them to the few things available. Gave us a days rest too.

So, if you plan to come see us, expected to be dazzled by dust and cows. And we might even throw in some chores for you to do.

Anyway, we loved it.

There you go, you’ve just about caught up with our lives. I’m in the home run of this pregnancy, and still do need some prayers. I’m doing well, but need to be doing superwell, to make sure that the gynae is willing to do my c/section here. So, will you please pray with us. We have 6/7 weeks to go. I decided to postpone my nursing exam, since me stress tolerance at the moment is about zero.

This afternoon I was called to our front door. There was a little two year old girl with a cloth wrapped around her hand. Turns out there’s not much left of her thumb.  Not one single tear. It’s a tough world, in desperate need of a Father’s love. And it is needed just as much in the grocery store and schools all around the world, as it is in the bush in Zambia. So, you go, missionary…

Blessings,

Real gifts

It was my birthday recently. And it is the first year that my children were truly excited for me, much more than me, to be honest. So they made me something:

The coins were Tim's complete earthly treasures currently. And somehow these little tokens meant more that the most expensive bottle of parfume.

And then their father added his own bit of magic:

My first warm bath in our own home. It's winter, it was beautiful!!

Field trip

One of the nice things about homeschooling is that it is very family geared. We recently had a field trip to a 5000 hectare farm. It was suppose to be Rashelle's but her brothers were welcome with and I think they had much more fun.

Here we are on a combine watching up to eight lines being harvested at the same time. Comparing it to at home where one cob is harvested at a time. Quite amazing!

Hope this gets Simon excited about school.

News June 2015

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (fear), but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”  (2 Tim 1:7)

I’ve been reminded of this verse so often the last while. And then I ask myself, do I still have the passion, the strength to go the extra mile or do I listen to fear. I’m not sure every day, as each day gets filled with the little details of humans. Monotonous and unexciting. Can I be faithful and focused? We’ve been asking ourselves lately, why did God bring us here? For what specific reason? Because we want to keep focusing there, and not get side tracked, but truth be told, it’s not always easy. Meanwhile we try to be faithful.

Carl is working very hard at the moment. He is busy with: road works, running a shop, expanding our chicken colony, building a storage, fixing broken pumps, generators, and whatever else ceases, growing sunflowers, bathrooms, a warm water systems, preparing land for next season, building another chicken house, setting up new businesses and a multitude of other little things. The people around us are farmers, they’ve never laid a tile, or plastered. So, Carl has to have his hands and eyes everywhere. Honestly, he passes out at night. Crack of dawn, the voices come from outside.

“Want God heft ons niet gegeven een geest van vreesachtigheid maar van kracht liefde en bezonnenheid.”  (2 Tim 1:7)

Ik ben de laatste tijd regelmatig herinnert aan dit vers, Dan vraag ik mezelf af, heb ik nog steeds passie, kracht om een extra kilometer te gaan of luister ik naar de geest van angst. Ik weet het niet altijd zeker, als elke dag komt met menselijke problemen, eenzijdig en niets opwindend. Kan ik getrouw blijven en gefocust? We hebben ons de laatste tijd afgevraagd, “waarom heeft God ons hier gebracht”? voor welke specifieke reden. We willen gefocust blijven, en niet afgeleid worden, maar om de waarheid te zeggen, dat is niet altijd makkelijk. Toch proberen  we getrouw blijven

Carl werkt hard, o.a. weg reparaties, het bouwen van een mais opslag ruimte, repareren van een diverse dingen die allemaal tegelijk kapot gingen., een badkamer voor gasten, een extra kippenhok, een warmwater stelsel, land schoonmaken voor volgend jaar, proberen om geld te genereren met andere zakelijkheden. Dat hij zoveel doet heeft te maken dat er rondom niet veel mensen met zijn die zulke kunnen. Het is niet de moeite waard om mensen zulke dingen te leren want het zijn meer de “white man” dingen. Zo aan het einde van de dag is klaas vaak niet nodig om in slaap te komen. 

 Some new chickens

Carl tiling

The new maize storage

Sunflower crop

That is not to get sympathy, just the reality. And I think he actually really loves it. He is free to help, to care, to talk, to try. And slowly we watch the project becoming more and more profitable and beneficial to the people around. Hopefully soon, we can turn away from here and also start with the helping of the existing orphan and widow projects under the pastors involved with Hope Builders Ministries, Zambia. We are getting closer and closer.

At the same time, he is setting up for longer term help in the area around (with Nongo Farms), so it is not that we want to forget our immediate community, just expand a little wider.

Dit is niet gezegd om sympathie te krijgen, net de realiteit en hij houd van wat hij doet. Hij is vrij om te helpen, te zorgen, te praten, te proberen, en langzaam groeit het project in een meer duurzaam zelfstandig iets wat ons de mogelijkheid geeft om andere plekken de weduwe en wezen projecten te ondersteunen bij de lokale pastors die betrokken zijn bij Hope Builders Ministeries

Op hetzelfde moment is hij bezig met het Nongo Farms Project om de lokale gemeenschap helpen te ontwikkelen. Een van de projecten is een gemeenschappelijke mais molen.  Op dit moment is een lokale smit daar mee bezig. 

This morning we were reminded of another verse:

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12)

A close friend came to confide in us that the people who practice witchcraft, which is really strong in our area, have been trying to get a hold on us. We realized that we’ve become lax in our putting on of our armour, picking up our weapons. Because God has given us what we need: our helmet of salvation, our breastplate of righteousness, our shield of faith, our belt of truth and our shoes of willingness- our defence. But also our weapons: prayer and the Sword of Truth, the Word of God.

We have seen lots of attack around: really lots of things breaking down, our dog getting really sick, our other dog being spit in the eye by a snake, false doctrine going around, even our own health. But we were just reminded this morning. Never give up, because we are on the winning team, not because of who we are, but because of who our Father is.

I mentioned health: I’m afraid I’m not as young as I use to be, so the pregnancy is catching up with me. Small niggling problems have arose that had me in bed the last few days. So frustrating as I watch Carl run! But the beauty that arose from this situation: our children had to step up to the plate. It is such a proud moment for a parent, to see your children answer the challenges of life.

Deze morgen warden we herinnert aan een ander vers.

“Want wij hebben de strijd niet tegen vlees en bloed , maar tegen de overheden, tegen de machten,  tegen de machthebbers of deze wereld. van de duisternis van dit tijdperk, tegen de boze geestelijkheden in de lucht..” (Efe 6:12)

Een nabije vriend vertelde ons vertrouwelijk dat mensen die hekserij beoefenen proberen om ons te raken. We realiseren dat we gemakzuchtig zijn geworden in het aantrekken van onze wapenuitrusting en oppakken van onze wapens. Maar we hebben de helm van zaligheid, en de borstplaat van gerechtigheid en het schild van geloof, en de gordel van de waarheid en de schoenen van bereidheid van het evangelie nodig voor onze defensie, als wel de wapens van de aanval gebed en het zwaard van de waarheid. Het woord van God.

We hebben verschillende aanvallen gehad, een van de honden die erg ziek was en een ander die door een slang gespuugd was in zijn oog, valse leer, en ook onze eigen gezondheid en verschillende dingen die allemaal in een korte tijd kapot gingen. Maar we zijn in het winnende team en we moeten niet opgeven want we weten wie onze Vader.

Ook voor onze gezondheid hebben we God nodig als ik een lage bloedwaarde heb op dit moment. Als wel andere problemen, gelukkig dat de kinderen opgroeien en een handje mee kunnen helpen soms. Toch vragen we voor dit gebed special ook voor de lange reis die voorligt.

Cutting the chickens wings 

Children teach us so much of the way God looks at us. I am sure He smiles when we stop feeling sorry for ourselves, and face the challenges of life, with a smile.

“Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise

                                                Risking more than others think is safe

                                                Dreaming more than others think is practical, and

                                                Expecting more than others think is possible.” (Kris Valloton)

We serve a God that gives us compassion, guts, dreams and expectations. The question is:

WHAT IS OUR RESPONSE?

Nongo Farms

For more information on Nongo Farms, and the progress: visit www.nongofarms.blogspot.com

Voor meer inligting over het project Nongo Farms: www.nongofarms.blogspot.com