On Our Way to Chaba

Well the last couple of days have seen a little more on the maintenance front and Deane has also helped on Lucy Chama’s house which is being built. We have replaced a good amount of rotten perlin timber trying to get a few more years out of deteriorating buildings. Today we had time getting to the bottom of power bill issues. The Bible School struggles to pay power and water bills because most of its funding is for dedicated areas and not power and water! Plus the power board made a ruling that backdated additional charges for 4 years!!! Africa is an interesting place.
We also went to pay the bill for use of the boat for our weekend at Chaba. We found that the boat is in the swamps and it “should be back tomorrow.” Levy said we must find plan B and so we found the council has a new boat and they agreed we could use it. There is no hirage fee, and we pay the petrol and drivers fees, plus this boat has a 150 horse power motor and will at least half our travel time!! So we are all smiling and feeling much more secure in a bigger boat.
Sherrilyn has continued her meetings with the ladies which are going very well. Donald and Deane went to a service this afternoon from 4.30-5.30pm at Hudson’s church – he is the most enthusiastic pastor that you have ever met! Donald taught from 1 Thessalonians 4 and we will go back there next week and have another session. We are so warmly welcomed and it is a blessing to share God’s truth with our brothers and sisters. While this was a smaller group for a mid week meeting, this church has 200 in Sunday School, 85 in youth and 280 in adult attendance. They just baptised 15 people this last Sunday – what a blessing to see God working in the lives of so many people.
Tonight we had a fantastic meeting with the three teaching staff and the Chairman of the Bible School board. We sat and talked for 1 ¾ hours about developing a master plan for the Bible School site. They are excited about the potential of getting EMI (Engineering Missions International) to work with them in this plan. Deane and Sherrilyn had dealings with this group in Uganda and were thoroughly impressed with their professionalism and providing excellent plans and ideas for the future. It was good to help our brothers think through the priorities that lie ahead for them.
We will not be back from Chaba until Sunday evening – we will really value your prayers for our time in this swamp area. We will be working with leaders from 6 churches. Please pray for wisdom in our teaching and encouragement, that we will meet the real needs of these church leaders and see them blessed as they do the work of the ministry in this remote area.