Making Progress

Thank you to all our followers. It is so encouraging to know that we are not forgotten! We often think about you all and miss you, although we are definitely beginning to feel part of the church here. Everyone is so friendly.

Last Friday we had a new experience. The Hamara church plant were having an all night prayer meeting. When they say all night they mean it!! We started at 8pm and went through until 4.30am. When I say we, that included children and babies! They were all lined up on the floor with their blankets and slept when they had had enough! What commitment. I'm pleased to say we managed to stay awake (the last hour was tough) and were really encouraged. There were about 150 there and many had travelled from Trenance by minibus and cars. We had 10 in ours.

Last week we also visited the Hamara School. This is a school that the church have taken over and are hoping to extend to include more year groups. At the moment it caters for grade 0 to grade 3, but they are all squashed into one building so they have a building project in progress. The school reminded us of our school days. Very formal and strict. (they use corporal punishment when required). The resources they have are non existent so it is all chalk and talk! The children seem to love it though. Here they are singing a song with actions in assembly.

This is the Grade 0 class (reception to us). They are squashed into this little room but were still full of life and smiles! The lady sitting at the back is Martha who is the main initiator behind getting the school functioning under the oversight of the church. We had a great time at the school and it gave us a good idea of the govenments expectations for these year groups. The elder of the Hamara church is Mike and his wife Smanga is the grade 1 teacher. She is a great character and is trying hard to liven things up!

Today we are trying to finalise our application for residency. They love bits of paper here so it has taken a while to gather it all together but we hope to submit it tomorrow.

The builders return to the church site today to start the plastering. Hooray... We hope the building will be ready to use for the church's 5th anniversary next month. What a celebration that will be!!!