That Naughty Copper!

Today (Tuesday) Katie and I head out for our walk. Copper decides he is going to come too! I know that I can’t control him so we try to get him back, but would he go. NO! Morgan (the gardener) sees him and calls him back and off he goes. We are not even two minutes away and here comes Copper charging down the hill right between us! We both got a fright and of course screamed. We tried to get him back but no his mind was made up. There were these men coming along the road. One was carrying a bag of fish. Copper decided that he liked that smell and went up to the man. Well... do I need to say more. The man dropped his bag and ran so fast. Ohhhh thinks Copper he is playing with me and chased the man!!! By this time I am calling Morgan to come and get the jolly dog. This other man was so scared! I told Katie to pick up the bag before Copper got it. We tried to give it back but every time Copper saw him, well... he chased him! One of the men working at the resort came and tried to help, but kept pulling Copper by the collar which he doesn’t like and so Copper kept trying to bite him! In the end Morgan was able to trick him into going home. The man that Copper chased scratched himself while running away and tried to get ‘compensation’ as he called it. I just told him ‘silly dog’. Well all this and not even 8am yet. What will the rest of the day bring!

Partnership Affirmed

It is now Monday night, the wind is blowing very strongly and our dinner visitor has gone home. It is time to reflect on the weekend and the interaction with the Samfya Bible School (SBS) board. The board are made up of men and women from around the Bemba areas of Zambia. Since last meeting them in 2008 there are a number of new members. Again I have been impressed by the calibre of these people and their commitment to the gospel and their desire to see positive change implemented in the Bible School training and in village church life.

The meeting discussed the Memorandum of Understanding between SBS and RBC. It was passed unanimously and the document was signed at the close of the meeting. This is a good step in clearly outlining the responsibilities that we both have in our partnership and will provide a firm foundation for our future working together.

I have also been able to have much personal time with the chairman of the board, Wathabu Simfukwe. He is a godly man with a passion for rural church ministry and a desire to see the Bible School become more effective in its training. Quietly spoken, Wathabu demands attention as he speaks with the wisdom of many years walking with our Lord. There are some people in life that you have an immediate bond and relationship with - Wathabu is one of those. He speaks with clarity and passion and will lead and guide the final decisions on curriculum development in October.

One area we talked of is the development of Bemba studies to enhance rural church life. There is very little available and a real need to see good material written as well as updating some other work. Graduates and church leaders desperately need material that is simple and yet solidly based on God’s Word, resources that will build into the lives of rural Christians.

Back to the board - they affirmed the desire that no infrastructure building begin before the arrival of Engineering Ministries International (EMI) on 2nd September. EMI will have a team of 10 here to develop the new master plan for SBS. They all bring areas of expertise that will be applied to establishing the most excellent use of the Bible School property. Please pray for the preparations for their visit that all will go well (we are having little success in finding any boundary markers for the site!).

The photos above are of the board and Chairman Wathabu signing the Memorandum of Understanding. This week Donald is teaching at the Bible School, working through 1 & 2 Timothy and on Friday we all head off to Kasenga in the Democratic Republic of Congo for meetings with graduates and their church leaders from this area. Donald’s brother Murray and his wife Joy will also meet us there and Gwen and Katie will visit the projects that Murray & Joy’s ministry partners with in this area.

Our Place

Well I thought it was about time I told you about where we live.
We live at the top of a hill and have an amazing view of Lake Bangweulu. Sometimes the lake looks like the sea. It is very beautiful. It is fresh water. Fishing is a big part of the way people live. At night time when you look across the water you would think it was a city out there not a lake as the fishermen are out and all have a light on their boats.

As Donald has told us many times Lake Bangweulu means ‘where the water meets the sky’ and let me tell you that is exactly what you see.

The house we are in belongs to Mark and Carmen Brubaker. They are missionaries here and work with the orphan project. The house has 4 bedrooms, lounge, formal dining, 2 kitchens (I will tell you about that later), and an upstairs loft (which has a tv with our equivalent of sky on it!), 2 bathrooms (with flush toilets yay) and for the moment 2 dogs. The house itself isn’t completely finished but is very liveable. Things like the breakfast bar needs to go in and some more painting done, but as I said very liveable.

Now by two kitchens I mean that there is the main kitchen and then opposite the formal lounge there is a long kitchen bench, which is also where the breakfast bar is to go and is to have a sink in it! For the moment however all the water is in the main kitchen behind the wall. Most of the dishes are not in the main kitchen which means when you are cooking you are constantly going backwards and forwards and also when you are doing the dishes. The oven is in the other kitchen – not the main one. I think the main kitchen is called a butlers Kitchen.

The two dogs. Well one belongs to Mark and Carmen and his name is Copper. The other one belongs to Mr and Mrs Fuller who are missionaries as well, but are on furlough and her name is Spice. Spice is the one who attacked the village dog that Donald wrote about! She is actually a very loving dog! Both these dogs are used to being inside. They are very big! Well we have moved their food and water outside and they are not allowed inside during the day. At night they sleep in the lounge! That is for security – however it means that we have to have all the other doors in the place closed as copper likes to visit everyone during the night. He also loves our bed and if he happens to come inside... well he loves to lounge on our bed!!! Naughty dog!!!!

We are about 15 minutes walk away from the Bible School. Katie and I walk there 3 times a week for the ladies Bible Study. They don’t want to come here because of the dogs! The Bible School has a great veggie garden which is where we buy, silverbeet(they call it spinach!), rape, and now carrots. We also buy our chickens there but we get them to ‘dress’ it before we get it! Donald is constantly bringing home fresh fruit which he buys from the ladies on the side of the road. Ohhh the fruit here is amazing. It tastes so great! Bananas and pawpaw are just wonderful! They taste so different to home!

Katie and I try to go as often as we can on the big walk and that takes about half an hour and also some of it is uphill. There are stores up this end of Samfya and Katie and I will go there to get groceries that we need. The other end of town is where you would buy whatever you need (as long as they have it!) including a fish market. The smell there is ... well I am sure you can use your imagination. There is no refrigeration! Katie and I don’t like going down there. It is a very sleezy part of town! However Katie and I feel safe when we are out walking. Most people greet you as you go.

Now we have a housekeeper whose name is Rosemary. She is great and gets rid of all the spiders, lizards and stuff like that. She also does the washing if I haven’t done it first, hangs it out and when it is in does the ironing!
Then there is Morgan and he is the gardener but will do anything and when Rosemary isn’t here. He will do dishes and even the washing and washing the floor – I don’t ask him. We just come home and it is all done!

Well finally there is the night watchman - Bwalya! He is really funny! The other day we were showing him photos of home and he told me “madam you are fat!” Yes that is what he said. Well I got the giggles and he said “yes you are”. Well what do you say to that. He then saw a picture of my Mother and told me that she was very beautiful. He saw a photo of Donald’s Mother and I told him that she was beautiful and he asked me if she was fat too!!! He is so funny. For a lot of Zambians being fat is a good thing. It means that you are wealthy and healthy. Being skinny means that you don’t have enough food and possibly are even sick. Donald remembers when he lost 22kgs and then came here no one said anything about the weight loss in case he was sick! So by telling me I was fat – he was trying to tell me I was beautiful ohhhhhh how lovely (I think!).

Well I hope you are able to see in your mind where we are. It is really nice. We have been really fortunate to be living here. We wouldn’t be if Mark and Carmen weren’t back in the USA and Canada.
Love to everyone
Gwen

Board Meeting, Boys Update, Next Week

Today is the day of the Bible School board meeting when we hope to formalise our partnership relationship with the board through an official document. This will be a helpful step as it clearly outlines both parties’ responsibilities in the partnership. I will report again about this meeting.

The two young boys that we reported on earlier have come back to give us updates. Gullivers had his eyes treated and is doing much better. He must have monthly checkups and so the Bible School’s medical clinic will take this over from now on unless he gets worse. What a blessing to see his eyes improving. Unfortunately the local hospital just does not have the right people to deal with such issues, so the trip to Mansa was a necessity. Gullivers mother even returned some cash that was not required and she also wants to study at the Bible School next year.

Godfrey and his dad travelled to Mambalima and he has been accepted at this school starting in August. The problems his family will have are getting there and back each term (probably by bicycle - about 200kms or more), fees and food requirements. We are working with the family to see if there is the possibility of a micro loan that will enable them to increase their income through extra business/farming. These loans are working very effectively in the community and making a big difference for many impoverished families. The capital must be repaid, however they get a help up to being more productive. The fees and food for one term are only about NZ$50 but we do not want to create dependency by paying these things when families need to work hard to provide what they are able. We may assist with a small amount this term until the family are able to provide.

Please pray for this next week at the Bible School when I will be teaching through 1 & 2 Timothy. We have had all the headings for my notes translated and copied which will make class time much more efficient. The following weekend we are off to Kasenga in the Democratic Republic of Congo for leadership training with graduates and their leaders. We value your prayers.

Please also pray for Donald’s Mum who is waiting for surgery to place a stent near her heart. She is very breathless and can’t do much at all - very unlike her. The surgery was due on 14th but now 28th - pray that it will happen then!

Kasanka National Park

Well we left home at about 8:30am and went to send our emails from Samfya Basic School before heading out to Kasanka National Park. There were the usual people selling their wares and also some children with a huge catfish! It was almost bigger than they were!

We arrived at Kasanka at around mid day. On our way to reception some baboons ran across the road right front of us! Then we checked in at Wasa Lodge and had some lunch then headed out to explore.

First we had to cross the river so Donald drove the car onto a pontoon and off we went.

Katie was the first to spot some Puku which is a type of antelope. They are average in size, red and fast. We also saw some monkeys. We went to Luwombwa (another lodge down the road a little) and went on a boat for a ride up the river to see what we could see! We saw a hippo, a small crocodile, and some water monitors. Donald was also fishing and caught 3 bream fish. Two were small so we put them back but one we are going to have for dinner. On our way back we saw, wart hogs, a common gray duiker, sable antelope and lots and lots of Puku. We also stopped at Fibwe Hide. Fibwe Hide is a place you can go to spot some of the rare sitatunga (another type of antelope – we didn’t see any). Fibwe Hide is up a tree with a look out at the top. Needless to say Gwen who is scared of heights got a little way up and then chickened out! We are having a Brie (BBQ) for dinner with beef and Donald’s fish.

Well the beef ended up being chicken and South African sausage, roast potatoes and pumpkin, boiled beans and carrots, and Donald’s fish! Not what we were expecting but very nice anyway.

Having a warm shower was another unusual time! They came and asked us when we would like our hot water. It was to be at night or not at all! The men arrived with the hot water, climbed up the ladder and poured it into the containers on the roof. Once it was finished it was literally finished – not even a cold one! It was done, all the water gone!

This was the end of our first day!

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all!

Day two at Kasanka, started with our cereal and then off to explore. What would today bring after all the amazing things we saw yesterday. Our first stop was the airstrip and we saw 3 zebras! They were quite far away but at least we got to see them! It is even the first time Donald has seen them in the wild as well. Gosh these darn flies I wish they would go away. Owww that one bit me!! Turns out these flies that bite can also give us sleeping sickness. Let’s pray that we don’t get that. Symptoms won’t show until we are in the UK!

We saw lots and lots of animals they certainly showed how amazing our God is. He made all of these things! We went down this dusty road wondering what was down there. Well there was bush, bush and more bush, not even a puku in sight. It took us the rest of the morning. Finally we found we were back at the pontoon so we crossed the river, parked at a spot we knew we had seen some puku the day before and had lunch. It was a nice picnic lunch the only thing missing was the bluebird chicken chips! Oh well back to the lodge to see if we could find some coffee! At the lodge we got talking to a family who had just been out (in a different direction to us). They had seen hippos and crocodiles... so off we went again in the hunt to see more of the African wild! Wow we saw 4 hippos, 7 crocodiles, and lots of the rare sitatunga antelopes! It was so wonderful. The sitatunga are a lot different to a normal antelope. They are a lot darker and as Katie put it when they run they look like my bunny hopping! They are not graceful at all but there were quite a few and were playing in the water.

Ok back for dinner. Tonight we are supposed to be having sweet and sour pork – we will see!

Well they still told us it was sweet and sour pork but it was more like a beef casserole! Dessert was really sweet so I only had a couple of mouthfuls – Donald ate the rest! All in all a wonderful day! Back for our showers, now where is that hot water man!

So here is a list of the animals we saw:

Antelope:

Puku,Sable, Common Gray Duiter, the rare Sitatunga

Birds:

Saddle Billed Stork, African, Fish Eagle, Bat Hawks, White Egrets, Sacred Ibis and many, many more but we didn’t know their names!

Other Animals:

Water Monitor (3), Wart Hogs (heaps), Lizards, Zebras (3), Hippos (5), Crocodiles (8), Vervet monkeys (heaps), Baboons (heaps), Termites, Ants, Bats, Bream, Flies and Frogs!

Ok Time for bed and it is only 8:30pm, we must have had a hard day as we are all tired.

Thursday Morning- Time to go home.

Well you would think this would be straight forward wouldn’t you. We had our breakfast and Katie went to brush her teeth. In the jug of water (that had a lid on it!) now had a frog in it!! Of course Katie thought it was cute but hey true to form I screamed! Yep just can’t help myself!!!

Ok in the car now. Where is Donald? He is trying to pay the bill but it has been close to an hour that he has been in reception. Now just to add to all our excitement two families who had come to the park decide to have a big arguement - time to move I reckon!

It is now 8am. We are hoping to be back in time to do some emails etc so off we go!

On our way Donald notices that he doesn’t have brakes! The pipe has been leaking brake fluid, oh well we still have the hand brake so we keep going. We can get that fixed in Samfya! Ummmm now we are about 20 minutes away from home yay. Oh oh what now!!!! There seems to be a blockage in the fuel line and the car won’t go anymore. Donald tries to fix it but we have to end up calling Hoggie! We have such a big audience outside the car. Just lots and lots of kids! I decided to take some photos of them. Oh my goodness you should hear the noise when I show them the photos on the camera!!!

Hoggie has arrived with a mechanic yay! There isn’t a fuel blockage it is one of the pumps! Anyway to cut an even longer story short, they get us going and when we get back to Samfya they will fix it all properly! We have no idea how much it is all going to cost! Hopefully not too much but it does sound expensive to me!

Oh well we are now home thank goodness. We have unloaded the car and are ready for the rest of the day, and now Donald is taking the car in. At least while we are in Samfya we don’t actually need a vehicle but next weekend Donald is heading off to the Congo so it will need to be done by then. Oh well everything is in God’s control. At least we were able to make a whole lot of children happy today.

The rest of the week will be school work and ladies study. This weekend the Samfya Board is meeting for the whole of Saturday. Donald will be tied up with them. He will give you his report later.

Bye from Gwen

Leadership Training in Kalalushi

We have just returned from our first leadership training weekend in Kalalushi. We were able to stay with one of the Samfya Board members Oliver Mulenga. There were four graduates and two GLO graduates working in this area and they are quite widely spread geographically. Unfortunately one of the men was in hospital having been diagnosed with diabetes. We visited him on Friday night and we were able to give him some good advice on how to manage his diet (thanks to Gwen), as well as leave a small gift to help in paying for his treatment. The open ward that he was in would have had 60 beds in at least and looked like a very sad place indeed.

We travelled to the church where the conference was on Saturday - long potholed roads. We started with a general teaching session from Titus 1:9-16 with the call for the leaders of the church to hold firm to God’s Word. For the rest of the day we worked through the principles about leadership from the booklet [produced by John MacArthur and Grace Community Church] on Elders. This booklet has been translated by the Bible School staff as they have found it so helpful in teaching their people. We copied this booklet off in Ndola on the Thursday (what a long job that was - everything in Zambia tests your patience!!).

The response to the teaching was fantastic! It was as if we were opening up new concepts - we truly take so much for granted in our church in NZ. On Sunday we had another general session from 1 Timothy 3:14-16 on what the nature and purpose of the church is and the central message of the gospel that we must hold on to. Again this was well received and we pray will resonate in the hearts of our brothers and sisters as they focus on what the church should be doing.

Our visit here was a timely one. Two graduates were trained in 1994/5 and this is the first ongoing training that they had received (prior to coming to Christ these men were Angolan Freedom Fighters!! - not to be messed with, but God changes hearts!). One of these men, Alex has started a new church plant in 2008 and had just baptised 10 new believers. He and his wife start walking to church on Sunday morning at about 5am so they can get there by 9am - we are going to send funds to purchase bicycles for some of these men. Well it was a timely visit, because this visit has become an impetus for these men to work more closely together. They intend now to meet at least twice each year for ongoing training and encouragement in the work that they are doing.

It would be fair to say that these men have struggled with their work, often due to the traditions of church leaders where the Word of God has not been upheld. Please pray for them to be even more effective in this work and make the changes that are necessary in their own leaderships so that the churches can grow both spiritually and numerically.

We left three boxes of bibles for these men. One will be used to help raise funds to send another student to the Bible School. The other two boxes were split among the graduates for distribution to their church people. They will sell these Bibles at less than half the price you can buy them from the city stores. This makes them affordable to their people and the money raised is used to support their church ministries.

This weekend was a true blessing! It was way out in the bush, difficult roads and difficult conditions, but this is where so many people live. Again we have affirmed to us the need to train men and women for this work. You should have heard the song of thanks that the women led as we finished the teaching - they were so grateful. Please keep praying for this work and for what we are doing. Our seven hour journey home with a vehicle full of Bibles for distribution just about ended in tragedy when we hit a very unexpected pot hole - God protected us, thank you for your prayers. Please read Gwen’s three blogs below that give you all the details of our time away.

We have just returned from our first leadership training weekend in Kalalushi. We were able to stay with one of the Samfya Board members Oliver Mulenga. There were four graduates and two GLO graduates working in this area and they are quite widely spread geographically. Unfortunately one of the men was in hospital having been diagnosed with diabetes. We visited him on Friday night and we were able to give him some good advice on how to manage his diet (thanks to Gwen), as well as leave a small gift to help in paying for his treatment. The open ward that he was in would have had 60 beds in at least and looked like a very sad place indeed.

We travelled to the church where the conference was on Saturday - long potholed roads. We started with a general teaching session from Titus 1:9-16 with the call for the leaders of the church to hold firm to God’s Word. For the rest of the day we worked through the principles about leadership from the booklet [produced by John MacArthur and Grace Community Church] on Elders. This booklet has been translated by the Bible School staff as they have found it so helpful in teaching their people. We copied this booklet off in Ndola on the Thursday (what a long job that was - everything in Zambia tests your patience!!).

The response to the teaching was fantastic! It was as if we were opening up new concepts - we truly take so much for granted in our church in NZ. On Sunday we had another general session from 1 Timothy 3:14-16 on what the nature and purpose of the church is and the central message of the gospel that we must hold on to. Again this was well received and we pray will resonate in the hearts of our brothers and sisters as they focus on what the church should be doing.

Our visit here was a timely one. Two graduates were trained in 1994/5 and this is the first ongoing training that they had received (prior to coming to Christ these men were Angolan Freedom Fighters!! - not to be messed with, but God changes hearts!). One of these men, Alex has started a new church plant in 2008 and had just baptised 10 new believers. He and his wife start walking to church on Sunday morning at about 5am so they can get there by 9am - we are going to send funds to purchase bicycles for some of these men. Well it was a timely visit, because this visit has become an impetus for these men to work more closely together. They intend now to meet at least twice each year for ongoing training and encouragement in the work that they are doing.

It would be fair to say that these men have struggled with their work, often due to the traditions of church leaders where the Word of God has not been upheld. Please pray for them to be even more effective in this work and make the changes that are necessary in their own leaderships so that the churches can grow both spiritually and numerically.

We left three boxes of bibles for these men. One will be used to help raise funds to send another student to the Bible School. The other two boxes were split among the graduates for distribution to their church people. They will sell these Bibles at less than half the price you can buy them from the city stores. This makes them affordable to their people and the money raised is used to support their church ministries.

This weekend was a true blessing! It was way out in the bush, difficult roads and difficult conditions, but this is where so many people live. Again we have affirmed to us the need to train men and women for this work. You should have heard the song of thanks that the women led as we finished the teaching - they were so grateful. Please keep praying for this work and for what we are doing. Our seven hour journey home with a vehicle full of Bibles for distribution just about ended in tragedy when we hit a very unexpected pot hole - God protected us, thank you for your prayers. Please read Gwen’s three blogs below that give you all the details of our time away.

Back to Samfya!

Today is Sunday and we are on our way back to Samfya today but we have to go to church first. We need to leave the house at 7:45am to be there by 8:30am. Back on the bad roads and we are actually 15 minutes late. We were thinking that they would all be in the church building waiting but no one was there! Where are they all? The service didn’t end up starting until 9:30 and then they wanted Donald just to teach one session and then have a break so that they could have some breakfast, then he could teach another. Well he ended up just teaching one, then after the break giving out the Bibles and explaining what they are for.

When we were waiting for everyone to arrive Donald bought an older lady to me. She wanted to ask me some questions he said. Well she told me she had pains in her hip and in her leg. I told her that I wasn’t a doctor. I had been talking to some about diabetes as it is such a problem here, and told her that I knew a bit about that because I am a diabetic but I don’t know about other things. Francis was interpreting for me. Then he just started talking to her. Obviously I did not know what he was saying but later said that she really just wanted money for the orphans that she looks after and didn’t need medical assistance. He told her to go and see Oliver and Emily as this is the ministry they were in. I thought it was a bit deceitful but Donald said that it is the way things work here. I would rather they just asked straight out. You know me straight to the point.

It is now after 11:00am and we are just about ready to leave and Francis is called to the side of the chapel. We have been given a chicken – a live breathing one. We are supposed to take it to Samfya with us! Now being given a chicken is a great honour. It means that they have really appreciated what we have done and hold us in high respect. So now we have a chicken but we give it to Oliver. He will have it for dinner tonight.

Back to Oliver’s for lunch – goat again. We have had goat in NZ and have liked it. It was very yummy! Load the car up and we are off to Kitwe and pick up Agnes and back to Samfya. Going through customs this time was really easy. They remembered us going through before – I guess we are an attraction!

We have picked up Agnes and we are on the road to the pedicle again. There are police stops everywhere here. They usually just let us through, but this time they tell Donald that he has committed an offence. Apparently he has overtaken on the bridge! He is told to park the car and come back to them. Oh dear here we go again!! Donald and Francis (he got out to interpret) get out and by then Francis told Donald that he actually passed the truck after the bridge. Donald gets to the police officer and he says that he is going to charge him for the offense! Donald tells him that he didn’t do it and the guys says ok you can go! Francis says that sometimes the Police here just want to show you that they are the boss! Ok lets get going again!

The road is still bad. Sometimes potholes and how deep they are can’t been seen until you are almost on top of it because of the shadows on the road. Donald hit one and nearly lost control of the car. The people on the side of the road started running to get out of the way and a man who was riding a bike rode off into the long grass!! Hahahaha it looked like something out of a movie!

Thankfully we didn’t crash. We were going fast but thankfully we were kept safe – the angels were working overtime I think. We keep going everyone is laughing so much! When you are on bad roads like these you have to use the whole width of the road avoiding potholes where you can. Sometimes you are actually on the wrong side of the road! Oh did I tell you that in the DRC you drive on the other side of the road! Just another thing to remember when you are driving here! Anyway we are going along quite happily and Donald is avoiding the potholes and drives to the other side of the road, well.... this man on a bike saw it and thought he was out of control and rode his bike straight into the long grass. Donald and I just looked at each other and then cracked up laughing! The poor man. Now let me tell you the long grass is taller than Donald, so when they ride off you can’t see them anymore!

We are now in Mansa and looking for a place to have some dinner – there are no takeaways here. We ended up finding a bakery and having bread and pies – not too good for the diabetes but at least it fills out tummys. Off again and we arrive safely in Samfya.

When I saw Levy I shook my finger at him and when we told him about the loos and the shower he laughed and laughed.

Well that was our weekend – a bit more eventful than we have at home but a lot of fun! Tomorrow we are taking two days off and are going to Kasanka Wildlife park! It will be fun and nice to have some rest.

Talk to you later

Gwen

Ps sorry it is so long!!!