Exciting news!

Zenzo at 1BD

Meet Zenzo, a young man who has been working at 1BD since we started clearing the site. At first he lived in the building but now he and his wife live 2 hours walk away, but he is always at work by 7.30 when they start. Last week he asked if he could be born again and X, the site manager led him to the Lord!! A great encouragement to Dave and all of us and hopefully the first of many. He is such a hard worker and so appreciates having a job after being out of
work for so long.
                                                                                            The house is being wired and plumbed this week and is progressing well. The children have been meeting there for the past few weeks just to get them out of the sun, but now a start has been made on the children's building so hopefully they will soon have their own place to meet. 

We had an amazing time today, Sunday. Firstly we had our first meeting at St Peters, where the families have been relocated from the shacks. Taurai and Tendai, Graham and Sarah and Diva and Noma went over and they had a great time with 17 adults and 10 children there. So now Thembalezizwe has 3 congregations!

In Trenance, we had a guest speaker, an old friend of Taps, from Harare. The Holy Spirit really fell on people and many were set free and impacted by the message about healing of the heart. many people are bound by jealousy and by things from their past, so it was encouraging to see God moving so powerfully.

 

Sophie and Hannah outside their school

On Friday we were surrogate grandparents for Hannah and Sophie. Their Dad is an elder in the city church and each year their school has a grandparents day. We had the privilege of standing in as their grandparents are all in the UK. We were treated to tea and cakes, a short concert and then were able to look at their books. It was quite strange to see them still using the old fashioned desks with lids and to be sitting in rows, but it is a good Christian school although the fees are very high. All children have to pay fees each term here in Zim and they seem to go up all the time.

 

Kidz Klub number 5 went well on Saturday, although we have lost quite a few children to St Peters.

About 5 children brought friends for the first time so we keep encouraging them with extra sweets!!

The helpers are great but I am having a bit of an issue with reliability, so we will have to work on that!
 

We are well and doing fine. Please keep the comments coming!

Each One Reach One. Teach One

 Sunday 23rd was Vision Sunday for Thembalezizwe and everyone was very excited as both congregations met together. Dave went the extra mile and picked up the people from St. Peters where the squatters are being re-housed. a journey of about 30 k along very rough tracks. It turned out to be a very interesting journey as his brakes failed on the way to church with his loaded truck!! (it turned out that the brake pads had disintegrated in less than 3 months) Thats Zim roads for you!

Taking Communion and praying in groups at Vision Sunday

Despite that we had a great time, where the leaders summed up how far we had come in the last 18months and where we are asking God to take us in the next year or so. They had felt at the beginning of this year that God was putting in front of the church, an open door and there were testimonies of personal breakthroughs as well as a summary of the doors God had opened for us as a church.

All night prayer at Hamara

The congregation over the two sites is now 200 including children. Just 15months ago, when we first visited, it was about 60! God has been so faithful.. Whilst praying, the leaders really felt that God was saying we should be looking to be 400 by Christmas 2013 and in order to get there, Taps was encouraging us with the slogan 'Each one, reach one, teach one'.

This past Friday night we had another all night prayer meeting from 9pm to 5am. I must confess we don't always look forward to these.. It is probably our age! But it was a really powerful and blessed time and the hours just flew past. It was very much focused on reaching out and everyone is really excited about the prospect of another new congregation in St Peters!

The families that have been moved there are desperate for us to start a Sunday meeting there as it is so far out it would cost them too much to come by combi (public transport) and the church does not have the finances to pay for it.

Basically World Vision have put them in tents (plastic draped around poles with a corrugated tin roof) out in the bush with the promise of their own house. The houses haven't been started yet and there are no facilities there. So it is very grim but the people are happy as it will be their own home eventually, but with the rains on the way, we can see disillusionment setting in quite soon.

Taurai is going out tomorrow to see if it is possible to hire a building or the school in the village which is about 3k from where they are living at the moment, to enable us to set up a church meeting on Sundays and on Wednesday Dave is taking him out on a pastoral visit as several of the church members are ill, which isn't really that surprising. There seems to be a lot of sickness around at the moment, probably due to the water cuts. Last week we had water for 3 hours Monday morning and it was then off until Wednesday when again we had 3 hours in the afternoon. Off then until Friday when a trickle came through for 2 hours but it was so brown you didn't even want to wash in it! Then it was off until Saturday lunchtime but on all day Sunday. That was a real blessing as we had a life group BBQ (Dave refuses to call it a braii!) With hangers on and children there were 29 here altogether. It was for Dolly who is in our life group and is leaving to take up a scholarship in the Netherlands to study for a Masters in water management.(or what to do when water eventually comes out of the tap! (joke) ) She is an environmental health officer here. She will be away for 18months and leaves her husband and 6 year old son behind which is very brave. We are thinking of planning a life group outing to visit!!

 

 

This Sunday (30th) was Gift Day. The leaders are looking to buy a vehicle for the church (a small truck) in which people can be transported as it is so difficult for the two, let alone three congregations to get together. We often have 20 or so bodies in our Navara but as the church grows the problem will only get bigger!

 

Spring has arrived now and many of the trees are in blossom, particularly the Jacarandas which are purple and stunning when fully out. All the roads are tree lined here so it is very pretty and amazing to me that things continue to grow after 8 months without water!

 

A few prayer points.. That we have good rains this year, that we can secure a venue to meet at St Peters and for protection for the families there while the houses are built. Thank you for all your support in prayer and communication. Look forward to your news and comments.

Winning and Losing

I must say, it still feels strange to have reached the beginning of September and not be thinking about a new term, new class etc. I guess that comes from a life-time of teaching and working on a September to July school year. The kids here went back to school on the 11th but their year ends in December. We are still hopeful of starting the Early Child Development Centre in January and are pressing ahead with the application and meeting with local ministers.

Our immediate concern is for the church children on a Sunday, as they have to meet out in the open at the moment and the rains will start in October. (we actually had some drizzle last night!). We have had an increasing number of kids on a Sunday, since we started Kidz Klub and would really like to split them into different age groups. The material they are doing at the moment isn't suitable for all of the children and means basically they sit and listen for about an hour or more in the blazing sun! So the plan is to put up a simple structure that will give them shelter from sun and rain but won't cost the earth. (quite a challenge as materials are so expensive here). This building will be started as soon as the house for Taurai is finished

The house at 1 BD

The house now has a roof and this week the men will start the plumbing. It will be so lovely for Tendai and Taurai to be able to turn taps to get water instead of having to fill large containers from the bore hole and to have hot water and a shower. That is assuming there is water in the taps! The cuts continue and it can be very frustrating as you can't plan showers/hair washing or even clothes washing. I will definitely appreciate these things a lot more when we get home! We are so spoilt in England...


Ears to be proud of!

I have been spending more time at home recently so am pleased to have Izzy for company, although we are having to discipline her a lot at the moment as she has completely made herself at home and thinks she's the boss! She has been waking us up several times in the night knocking at the door to come in and crying most pathetically.. As she is still only 10 months, she is still chewing things and has eaten one cushion from the veranda sofa already, so she is not always too popular with her master and is often compared to Toffee. I try to cover her ears so that her self-image isn't destroyed by these comparisons, but as you can see that's a challenge too as they are the biggest ears I've ever seen on a dog!!

Being at home, has meant that I can also spend time doing some admin. for Taps which I hope will be helpful to him and also the church as a whole. We are counting numbers on Sundays to monitor growth and have devised follow up forms for visitors. We are also asking Life group leaders to fill in attendance forms so that the Elders can see who is and who is not attending, as commitment can be a problem here. Next Sunday is Vision Sunday when we will be joined at Trenance by the Hamara congregation. This will be the first combined service since they planted out last September and we hope we all fit into the building!

Wayne and Wonderman playing with cars

Although the congregation at Trenance is growing and we had 5 people respond to the gospel on Sunday, we are also loosing quite a few families over the next few weeks, as World Vision are re-housing the squatters from the shacks. They are to be re-housed to the West of Bulawayo so most won't be able to afford to travel back on a Sunday.

You may remember Anna with the 9 children, who had a baby a few months ago. She is one of the families to go, but is determined to start a Life group as soon as possible and is praying for a church plant to start there. We will miss her. While Gary and Jess were here we visited her and gave two of her boys (Wayne and Wonderman) some cars that Jake had sent with his sister to give away. They were really happy to have some toys as the weather at the time was too windy for them to play out as it's so dusty here.

Well I'd better sign off here for now. More news soon. Please keep praying for us as we try to serve these lovely people, we appreciate yuor prayers so much. We are now counting off the weeks until Christmas!

More Animal Magic!

What a handsome trio..

No I'm not referring to my son and grandaughter who have just returned to the UK with this title, but the fact that we have seen more amazing animals while they were here! On a trip to Hwange National park, we saw all the usual animals plus a pride of lions with quite young cubs who had made a kill of an elephant just by the waterhole. Jessica loves animals and really enjoyed spotting them with her binoculars. I was so proud of her as she is only nine, and to leave her Mum and brother behind was quite brave of her. It was lovely for me, though as I sometimes became Mum substitute having to 'do' hair and give snuggles as required!

The amazing falls

We also took them to Vic Falls which was a first for us as well. The falls were awesome and we were not disappointed! We also got very wet even though they are not in full flood at this time of year. It was great fun, though. It sounds as if we are one long holiday but believe me it was a welcome 3 day break in a very busy lifestyle, especially for Dave.

Jess not quite enjoying a cold shower!

The house

The house we are building on the site for Taurai is well under way now and Dave is employing ten or so men now..

They are using a self-build method called Finn builder, so they are all learning new skills at the same time. One of the most skilled guys is an ex- prisoner and has been lent to us by 'Second Chance' a charity that helps to ease ex- prisoners back into society. The building has been hampered by lack of water. Although we now have municipal water at the site,( the well pump broke several weeks ago) we are experiencing major water cuts as the dams are so low after 3 years of little rain. Here at home we don't have water for 4 days a week but in the rural areas the situation is worse and people are being driven to break into pipes, so there is a lot of water still being wasted!

 

Here is Dave hoeing at lewis' plot. We took Gary and Jess there to help plant some beans. The rape crop is almost ready to harvest but unfortunately we lost some beans and butternut in the last frost earlier this month.                                              Lastly, we have a new addition to the Dean household. No I have not miraculously produced offspring! After having the motor of the electric gate stolen one night while asleep in our bed, we thought a dog would be a good idea. So we went to the local SPCA and here she is...(but please don't tell Toffee. She is purely for security!). Her name is Izzy and she has settled in sooooo well

Sadly Google the cat had to put to sleep the day Gary arrived. He had always had a funny walk and we suspected that he was gay, but his walking deteriorated and while we were in bed with flu (another story) he hid away and was obviously not good. I took him to the vet and he suspected a brain tumour or similar that was affecting his nervous system, poor Google, he was such an affectionate cat! But also a real scaredy cat, afraid of everything. Hopefully Izzy is not!! That's all the news for now, but please send comments. we love to hear from you with your news too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Buildings and finance

Zesa is on and, although I have a mountain of washing up to do, after a dinner party last night, I'm choosing to write to you, our faithful followers! Zesa may well go off in the middle, so be warned this post may end very abruptly.. Supplies have been very erratic this past two weeks as the weather is distinctly cold in the evenings and mornings. We managed to track down some coal and have lit the fire a few evenings, but the chimney smokes so badly, its not a pleasant experience!!

The days are still quite hot so its a problem to know what to wear if you go out and are going to be out all day (common to you in England too).

Dave has been getting his hands (and everything else) dirty this week as he has been with the men putting down the concrete slab of Taurai's house. He had to sack the builder as he was pushing the price up all the time, so now it is a do-it-yourself build... Poor Taurai (joking)

They are going to try a new method of building using a thing called Finbuilder. Its a good thing we have Brad on board as the only thing Dave has built is a barn!!

I think he is enjoying doing something practical, although he says he is feeling his age.

I have somehow got roped into helping Taps and others develop workbooks for Foundations 4 Finance for use in life groups. (Finance is a big issue here as nobody has any money, people live by borrowing from friends, family etc.) Gottried Hetzer, who is an academic has written the books and my job is to try to bring the content down several levels for the ordinary man in the street and down again for the rural folk who possibly can't read at all. Quite a challenge, especially as I'm having trouble understanding some of Gottfried's material. Still its keeping me busy and out of mischief!

Taps and Flora are away for a well deserved holiday, without the children for a few weeks.

We are looking forward to a break when Martin and Polly arrive on Thursday and will fill you in on their visit later, hopefully with photos. Until then.....

Kidz Klub and winter has arrived!!

Well winter weather has arrived and it is much colder here, though still with cloudless skies (sorry England!) Most of the trees are bare of leaves, although there are still some colourful flowering bushes around. As we don't have a bore hole here and water is expensive our lawn is completely dried up, but will recover as soon as the rains start in October.  I've just listened to Grahams latest sermon on 'Integrity'. Brilliant, as always, and so helpful. This is a key element missing from society here and, I guess, most places.  People seem to find it easy to lie and so it makes trust a difficult issue! Reliability is also an issue here, so its hard to plan. Despite all this there are some real gems in the church and we love them anyway!

Ma Pirri doing her object lesson

It was exciting to be able to do the first Kidz Klub at 1BD on Saturday. As they had never heard of Kidz Klub or seen anything like it out here, I was a little concerned as to how it would come over, to say the least. But the team came up trumps and it was a great success with about 120 kids there by the end!!( African timekeeping !)

The only problem arose when the three team captains (middle aged ladies) disagreed over the result of a race and had a stand up argument!! It would never happen in Eastbourne...

One of the races

I think it happened because they were all soooo involved! I'm hoping that they soon get hold of the vision and take on more and more responsibility for planning and running the club. We are not officially doing home visiting at the moment as many of the kids live in tin shacks, scattered over a large area, but I'm hoping the helpers who live nearby will keep motivating them and encourage them to come to church. Also home visiting sheets would not work as the kids don't have crayons and we need to get things photocopied at a shop and it is very expensive. I'm sure it will evolve over time.

Yesterday Dave preached at Trenance on 'How to pray' as Taps is doing a 'How to' series at the moment. He based it on the Alpha talk and made it very visual and interactive, because that works best here. Last week Flora and Samanga (the wife of the elder at Hamara) did a tag preach on how to read your Bible which, again was very practical and a couple of people gave a testimony this week of how it had changed their quiet times which was very encouraging.

Next week Martin and Polly arrive for their visit, which is very exciting for us. We are looking forward to hearing how things are going in the Seaford church and how everyone is..We miss friends and especially family, but we know the joy of the Lord is our strength and we hold fast to Him.

Look forward to receiving some messages. (Thank you Ted, you are a star, even if your comments are a BIT CHEEKY!)