On our way back home!

It's really bittersweet when leave Jako, Amber, and the boys. We can't wait to get back to our loved ones, but so sad that it might be a year or two before we see our friends again.

We have a six hour layover in Joberg which gives time to have dinner with another African missionary, Johannes Beukman, and his family at a restaurant that serves wild game (can you say Kudu steak?).

Back in Livingstone

We made it safely and uneventfully out of the bush and checked into a motel named ZigZag. Thank you Lord for ice cold drinks and air conditioning.

Tonight we wind down on a sunset cruise and enjoy each other's company. The team this year was firing on all cylinders and worked super hard to meet the tasks that will not only save Jako months of work, but will further God's kingdom here in Zambia.

Tomorrow, Kerry, Jako, and Bill are going Tigerfish fishing.  The rest are going on a wild game drive through Chobe National Park.

Blessings, Bill

Just a quick update.

Today was a nice relaxing day after yesterday's seriously hard workday. The steel that arrived was cut into 6 meter pieces to fit on the truck that delivered it, so we spent all day stitching the pieces back together to make 15 meter (about 50 feet) sections. 

Just when we thought we couldn't go much further because of the intense sun and heat, the Lord saw fit to provide some very heavy cloud cover that made it doable to keep going.

Today we enjoyed a much less charismatic church service and we sang a couple of classic hymns for the Tonga congregation.

Tomorrow, the goal is to erect the new water tower in the morning and start constructing the roof trusses in the afternoon. Please pray for endurance for us.

Everyone is doing and feeling great.  We leave the bush Wednesday morning.

The steel man is here, the steel man is here!

Had another terrific day in the bush.  Weather was warm and mostly comfortable.  Kerry’s stomach was giving him issues, but he’s starting to feel better.

The water tower has been completely welded, and Bobby and Bill will be painting it in the AM and probably putting it up Monday morning. Please pray for that, it's very heavy and awkward, and it's being mounted on top of an old termite mound by the orphanage.  We'll show you pictures when we get home.

The Lord blessed us with a morning delivery of lots of steel to construct the roof trusses for the school building, so tomorrow morning we’ll begin the very major task of cutting, welding, and piecing together the trusses. 

It’s been great reading your responses to the blog, please keep them coming!

Message from Bobby:  Hello Mom and Dad, Laura, Naomia, Seekers class, CBTP, CR crew and sorry that I forgot you guys last blog but Hello Hannah class also.  I am really having an amazing experience here in Zambia. We have not started on the roof yet because of the fuel shortage but we did get the metal delivered today, Praise God. As soon as we finish painting the new larger water tower for the orphanage and installing it, I’m sure we will be getting started on the roof project. Hopefully we will have enough time to finish, or at least get the trusses up. I have been busy with plenty of other projects at the orphanage including fixing some of the toilets, getting some doors working again, installing all new lighting and sanding, painting the frame for the solar panels and installing the panels as well. Just need to do all the wiring and hook it all up. I also have been fixing some of the equipment in the playground at the orphanage. Well that’s all for now, see you all real soon.

Another wonderful day

We all started the day with the seasonal ritual of tilting the very large solar array at camp toward the sun - that thing is seriously heavy.  Jako, Steve, and Bill were about to continue welding up the water tower when the welder we were using gave up the ghost, followed closely by the backup welder.  So tomorrow, we're headed to Choma (about an hour away) to pick up a new one so we can continue our construction projects.

 

Jako is still trying his best to get the metal for the school roof transported out to the bush.  Apparently there's a nation-wide fuel shortage, many towns are completely out of diesel and petro (gasoline).

There's still a lot to do around camp, so several smaller projects got moved up and accomplished.  Kerry and Bobby revamped the "custom" tent door on the large camp tent. 

Candi and Amber are still going through all of the clothes and stuff we brought over with us, about 400 pounds of stuff!

God is being so very good to us here, and we know you all are praying for us.

BTW, we really enjoy and covet your responses here on the blog!