We continue to fall in love with the Zambian people. We are devouring everything we can find and with the help of Jeff and Danette Johnson feel we are getting to know the people already. God is doing wonderful things in Zambia through the orphan trust program, please check out the WHI website and see for yourself! www.worldhope.net, click on Our Work tab and then click on Community Orphan Trusts. Jeff and Danette will be back next week to share more of Zambia with us. In Zambia many people speak English but the majority of people also speak Tonga. This is the native language in many of the villages. We haven't been able to find a "Tonga for Dummies" book but have found a couple of phrases. "How is the Morning? " translates to Mwabuka buti (Mah-wah-boo-kah boo-ti) and to reply "Fine" is kabotu. (Ka-boo-tu)
We are hearing wonderful things about homemade ginger cakes and my mouth is watering already.
What a journey this is…. David wasn't feeling well and actually took a sick day (which he never does), still felt bad so I finally got him to go to the Dr. The Dr. put him in the hospital and they diagnosed him with two bleeding ulcers. They transfused him with four units of blood. He's doing much better now but it was very scary. After a round of medication, he will be fine. He returned to work yesterday.
We shared Sunday evening at our church and Pastor Rick gave us (me) a great verse to pray. 2 Timothy Verse 7 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self discipline." I seem to confuse what may be apprehension with fear. I think it's normal to be apprehensive of totally changing ones' life, but it's not God’s choice to have fear overwhelm us. Fear is not from God. I pray that I continue to use the power of Gods' love to conquer many of my concerns.
We have been busy traveling to Dryden and LivingStone churches during the past few weeks. Pastor Wilson and his congregation were wonderful and we enjoyed getting to know them better during a nice lunch. Please continue to lift up Pastor Monaghan and his wife of LivingStone. She recently had surgery and is home now. Pray for her continued healing. The congregation was very gracious to us. We had a great time sharing and meeting new people. It's wonderful as we continue to meet the people we have seen for years at family camp in their church homes.
The young people in our district are stepping out and sharing with us their call to missions. It's exciting to see God working in their lives. We need to encourage them and not let that fire go out! These young people are the future of our church and we need to guide them.
Mom is continuing to receive hospice care. She's comfortable for now and that's all we can ask. Please continue to lift her up in your prayers.
Our dog Moses left last week for his new home. That was emotional! Lucy, our remaining dog, seems lonely but I have been taking her to work with me and keeping her busy. She's enjoying being spoiled!! We still haven't found a home for Sam, our house cat but I'm certain we will.
One last moving sale is coming up and then we will donate what is remaining to Goodwill. Need to clean the barn out before it gets cold. Funny to think this could be our last fall here. The leaves are falling and I have always loved the smell of fall. We closed the pool, for what will probably be the last time, and that tugged at my heart. The pool was always my refuge from stress, put my big floppy hat on, dip myself in sunscreen, get on my raft with a good book and tune out the world. Now I’m thinking of standing next to Victoria Falls in Zambia and drinking in the beauty of Gods’ creation. I'm sure all these things are part of Gods' plan to assist us in gracefully moving from one phase of our life to another. It all takes time, we get so impatient but this is Gods' plan, not ours.
Our prayer partner list is growing and we have had a number of new financial partners join our team! Thank you so much for stepping out in faith to support Gods' work in Zambia. If you could say an extra prayer for the churches we haven't contacted yet that they would be open to having us share with their congregations. Also, please continue to pray for our health and strength. Thank you for your continued support!
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