Daily Samfya Life

The last two days have seen us evaluating some maintenance needs and begin doing some needed work. We have found out that the need to pay power bills has meant that Maintainance issues have been unable to be dealt with. There is the need for a number of outside toilets at staff houses and near the student accommodation.
We have been replacing termite eaten perlins today and tomorrow as well as one corrugated iron sheet that had a large hole in it from a tree branch that had crashed through. Nothing goes fast here, and acquiring materials to work with can be a Major headache - but we are learning to go with the flow!
Sherrilyn has been having great meetings with the staff ladies and the student ladies for the last two afternoons. They are asking lots of questions and digging into the Word.
There have been very profitable meetings for Donald with the Bible School teachers, with much more to follow in the days ahead. Deane meet with two of the care taking staff today and worked through Romans 1-2.
Roger continues to be our eyes and ears around the community and providing us lots of laughs! The local economy seems to be really growing and there is a lot of construction happening.
The site here is in desperate need of infrastructure renewal - please pray with us as we look at this further and endeavour to get expert help in master plan development.

A Sunday In Samfya

This morning we all went to Mwamfuli CMML (Christian Missions in Many Lands) church. We arrived at 9am and we were some of the very few there, by 9:30 after singng a number of songs the church was filling. Three choirs sung brackets of two songs each - all accapella. The main choir was amazing!! The harmonies and volume and passion was fantastic. Donald preached about the Worthy Walk from Ephesians 4:1-3, all translated into Bemba. After this there was another bracket of six choir songs.
During this bracket Roger, Deane & Sherrliyn left and visited with the English speaking church that were have a baptism of five people at the lake (no crocs fortunately). They really enjoyed seeing the testimony of faith in these young men & women. They then went back to the English church and Deane introduced the communion time (teaching ion Romans 5)the newly baptised believers.
Donald remained at Mwamfuli and also lead their communion, teaching from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 11. A very full morning with the service finishing around 1:15pm.
We all then enjoyed a cold drink and cake and fellowship with the English speaking congregation.
Back to our accommodation we had a brief rest and then at 4pm had an introduction time with all the students of the Bible School. We were able to tell them about ourselves and our church and they all introduced themselves and their families and where they came from and what ministry they were involved in. This was a very encouraging time and we look forward to encouraging the students during our stay and also welcoming a new baby int he next few days!!
Tomorrow the boys will begin some Maintenance work and Sherrilyn hopes to be with Agnes (Levy's wife) and later work in discipleship with the women. The men will also be arranging study times with various staff - thank you for your prayers.

Arrived in Samfya

We have made it to Samfya!! Thanks for your prayers and support for us here in Zambia. As we discussed as a team, when we get to Africa everything will change in regard to our plans! Here’s a description of some of the changes that have happened already:
- Before we left NZ we found out our accommodation at Samfya was changed. This has worked out OK as it brings us closer to the Bible School
- Arriving in Ndola we were told we could not acquire a multiple entry visa, just a single as they were no longer allowed to issue multiples from Ndola. This is despite what the website says!! We took the single entry and tried the next day with two different officials to make it a multiple entry, but to no avail!!
- This has meant that we have not been able to travel through Congo and instead took the long route today to Samfya!! It was a quick route however because the driver kept creeping up to 140kph – we constantly asked him to slow down!
- The meeting with the MMM director was changed because he had gone to Honk Kong as a late replacement on a team! We still got a good overview of MMM and some building issues.
- Our training seminar this weekend has been put off due to some double booking with the churches!! Not sure what will be replaced with this now, but no doubt we will find out in due course!!
We value your prayers for all the ongoing changes that will come!! Welcome to Africa!!!

Samfya Short Term Team 2009

Deane & Sherrilyn Grainger, Roger Wharrie & Donald Stevenson will be back in Zambia on 22nd September - 15 October. Deane & Sherrilyn have one week before this in Uganda, catching up with Friends and encouraging Alex & Simon. We get together in Joburg on 22nd and head to Ndola. We stay here for 3 nights before driving to Samfya. Our stay will include researching infrastructure issues, building materials etc. In Samfya we will think through the need for new buildings and how we can encourage the work along. We have three leadership training weekends with graduates and their church leaders and we are looking forward to seeing the progress that has been made in agricultural training and course development.