Monday, June 25, 2012

More snippets.

*My puppy got her ear caught in my screen door when she tried to crash through it the other night--maybe that will teach her to have more manners! The yelping she let out made it sounds like she was being devoured by a lion or something. I guess you really can't blame her, but STILL! *I had a nice long, newsy chat with my mom last night. It was good to hear about what's going on in our homeschooling friends lives, and just to hear her voice. E-mail is a huge blessing, but nothing can compare to the sound of a loved voice. I also got to talk to my dad who is in Germany this weekend; technology is so crazy! He could call from a computer in Europe to my cell in the bush! *We had joint prayer meeting with Kalene over here yesterday, and there were THREE babies present! Ha--no lack of aunties who were quite happy to take them off their mother's hands for a while... *Those of us who were off this weekend went to Ikelenge for church--I hadn't been to 'town' for awhile, and was interested to see the continued improvement work going on there. Since we are a boma (official market town), we are getting more government officials and some effort is being put into upgrading the roads and some buildings. We are the African equivalent of Siberia for government officials--we are so far out in the bush that the people we get out here tend to be 'exiled' rather than called. We are praying that all these new people and all the changes going on in our community will be for the best, and that the local Christians will stand out in their honor of the Lord. *The fire break around the school is pretty much finished now, but there are still fires all around. The other night the ridge across the valley was on fire, and it looked so beautiful. The little bits are black ash are all over, and there is a constant undersmell of smoke. That's how you know you're home when you step off the plane here--it always smells like smoke!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Still alive...just very tired

Just a quick note to say that

A. I am alive!

B. I had a fairly nice half-term--I didn't get as much as I wanted to accomplish done, but it was a nice break from the classroom.

C. My puppy is growing very fast--she might be a bigger dog than anticipated!

D. It is very dry here. So dry, that I have had to resort to Vaseline for the first time to heal a big crack under one of my toes. Nasty stuff, but it gets the job done... I don't intend to go whole hog and start smearing it in my part though...

E. The end of term is racing up like a tidal wave--I'm trying to get all the way up on my board before it comes crashing down.

F. The kingfishers outside the hall make me happy.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Please Pray

This weekend has been tough as we deal with a tragedy in our missionary community. Saturday the Chitokoloki plane went down into the Zambezi river and the young pilot and his wife were killed. It sounds like the plane was having trouble--witnesses say they saw it swerving as the pilot was following the Zambezi from Chavuma to Chit. Apparently they went under a cable that is across the river for the pontoon ferry, and the tail of the plane got caught, flipping the plane backwards and smack into the river. The Zambezi is very deep there, and as it was about 4:30pm it was shortly before sunset so there wasn't much that could be done yesterday. Today they have been shooting into the river to keep the crocs away while they dive to recover the bodies--by late afternoon they had both J and K's bodies. They were in pretty good shape, so it doesn't look like they suffered. They are leaving behind two little girls aged 3 and 1. The funneral is on Tuesday, and they will be buried here in Zambia; arrangements are being made for the two girls. I did not know them personally--I just saw Jay in passing for the first time on Friday when he stopped over on his way to Lusaka with another missionary from Chit. The couple were out here short term, and they had been out since February. There are several people here who met Jay and have a connection with the people who are dealing with the tragedy right now--it's very sobering to be reminded that no one knows the time when they will be called to glory. It must be really hard for Gordon Hanna at Chit in particular as he is overseeing the recovery operations and no doubt feels somewhat responsible. It doesn't look likely that the plane will be salvageable. Thanks for your prayers--I'm sure the families back in North America also really appreciate them.