Animal magic

Dave with Polly and Martin at Hillside Dams

Our friends Polly and Martin have just left to visit friends in Marondera and then Harare. We will miss the the connection with home. It's been so nice to be able to talk about people and places at home in proper English! We had a lot of fun (I think they did too) and it was a little break from the stresses and strains of living in Zim!

Elephants drinking at the waterhole

We managed to take them to the Hwange Wildlife area where we saw an abundance of animals in their natural environment. A great experience for us all, as was sleeping in the car for the night as the accommodation was full of school children! I honestly think Dave and Martin should have suffered most being so tall, but they seemed to manage by encroaching on Polly and my spaces!! I need to add that Dave and I were in the back of the truck and Polly and Mart in the cab on the reclining seats. It really was worth it though...

The wildlife at Hwange was amazing (no not Dave, although he and Martin were a bit wild at times!)

We also took them to Hamara school where they enjoyed playing with the children and had a glimpse of the education system here and of course they came to church with us.

Unfortunately its back to work today.

The men have cleared 3 acres of ground now and it is exciting to think that in a few weeks we could have the church plot planted, The only trouble is .... We still don't have zesa which we will need to power  irrigation for the site. Please keep praying for the authorities to do the cheaper option as they told us originally it would be $3,500  to install a transformer!

The plot at Lewis' is progressing well and the beans are looking good despite some frost lately. Hopefully frosts are finished now and the temperature will gradually rise with the onset of spring.

The broiler project has had a bit of a rough time as we had a lot of fatalities in the last batch as well as some very small chicken, due mainly to the weather, we think, but the next batch are looking good and hopefully will make a profit, so we are trying not to be too disheartened. Edmund is working hard at marketing, but unfortunately, as no one has any cash he has to spend a lot of time collecting money, especially at the end of the month!

Sarah and Graham Giles, who Alison and Andrew Berry know, have decided to join Thembalezizwe Church. Sarah was the one who originally set up the school at Trenance and will be invaluable in getting approval for the new school. She and Taurai (our pastor) visited the head of the local primary school this week and had a very positive response from her regarding the Thembalezizwe school. So the next step is to talk to the local councillors and the education department.

One of the teams playing the eating the chocolate game!
They loved this although it took a while for them to catch on

We had our second Kidz Klub last Saturday and I was very impressed as to how the helpers were so keen and able to take responsibility for large parts of the programme. (no arguments this time!) So hopefully they will be able to continue running for many years to come... Martin and Polly joined in too.

Well thats all folks! Will be in touch again soon. Please continue to pray for us. We are concious of the huge job to be done out here and the weight of responsibility resting on our shoulders! We are trying to keep a sense of humour, which always helps and are adjusting to the slow pace of life...We keep reminding ourselves that.. 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me' and know that we are not alone and supported by your prayers in so many ways.