A quick trip and school starts soon

Since the start of the 2018 school year was postponed, four of us single ladies decided that if we had potentially three more weeks of cooking for ourselves, we may as well head to Solwezi for a supply run. So, we gathered up lists for others on stations, wrote our own, and set off in the Patrol Sunday morning. There were some pretty awful parts on the sea of mud road before we reached the pavement, but with four-wheel drive, 8 years of experience driving on rainy season roads, and a lot of prayer we made it through. At one point there was huge piles of ‘gravel’ down the middle of the road and a truck stuck in the detour down each side. I had to off-road on the raised bank above the road; thankfully there wasn’t anything unpleasant lurking in the grass! We bought non-perishables, then headed back to the lodge to enjoy a lovely supper and a quiet evening. After breakfast we were greeted by this:

We’re still not sure exactly what happened, but obviously we couldn’t head into town like that! So, the cook and the gardener at the lodge changed the tire for us; thankfully we had all the tools in the car, and the spare was in good shape. That adventure over we went into Solwezi do visit a hardware store and get our perishable items. We checked the air pressure in our tires before leaving town (a good thing too—the spare was pretty low!) and headed back up country. The sea of mud road was actually a little drier than the day before, so we made it through with no problems. I have to admit I was pretty thankful to be back—as much fun as driving over swiss cheese roads and in hubcap deep mud is!

Today I helped with the Upper School bathroom renovation project; I finished the first coat and put the second coat of paint in the boy’s bathroom. I managed to not make too big of a mess, but my hands looked almost as Pollockesque as the vehicle had after driving to town.

Just as I was finishing up, I caught these rainbow clouds over Upper School; while there are frequently rainbows in the east this time of year, this delicate shimmer in the clouds to the west is more unusual.

School opening update: The government passed on a few days ago that private schools can open earlier, so we are looking at having our students arrive on January 22 and have classes start on the 23rd. I started working in my classroom today, but there is quite a bit more to do before the 2018 school year can start! Prayers for wisdom as we re-arrange our first term schedule, for the health inspection we need to be cleared to open the school, and help to finish up the big projects we started would be appreciated.

Parting shot: A little view out the window of the mission plane when I flew up to school a week ago.