a week's worth

So Brian and I have talked A LOT this week. Like a lot, A LOT. We have had some things to discuss about our house here, and trying to figure out customs on the container at the border.

So, you are going to get the summary version of it all. Let’s see…

THE CONTAINER: On way to Salalah, Oman today or tomorrow and then to Dar Es Salaam on the 25th. We didn’t know we had to have a clearing agent working with us to do the clearing at the Zambia border. Really long story short, I think I have one. Brian may need to meet with him Monday or Tuesday, but hopefully we can do most, if not all of it by phone or email. We should be able to get new residents rebate! PLEASE PRAY WE DO! It will save us some money! While we have to now pay an agent, which we didn’t know about, it should still be cheaper. And, we can get final clearance at the border and have container delivered right to school, instead of Lusaka, then back out to school, which also would have increased our cost. Our clearing agent should be able to arrange for crane service to meet container at school. PLEASE KEEP PRAYING THAT THE CONTAINER WILL BE AT SCHOOL BEFORE BRIAN LEAVES ON JULY 11th!!!!

Brian is soon to be the only one insured to drive the Gospelink truck, which means he will be running to town often. Not so good, considering all he wants to get done at the site. But at least he will be in town to get anything done with the paperwork for container if need be. The problem with going to get supplies is that sometimes they have stuff, and sometimes they don’t. And even if you ordered it, if someone else wants it, they may sell yours. So you may have to go back and back and back until you get your stuff.

Brian is also the only one who can drive the backhoe now. It is off limits to everyone else. He got in the other day and all the gears were stuck. Somehow he managed to get it working.

Brian has been spending some time with Paul’s Nebraska team. This is the team that paid for, built, and will help staff the medical clinic; which, by the way, sounds like it is done! Paul was finally able to get his steel. It cost twice as much as what it would have cost us here, and it isn’t as good, but it’s there. Brian said Paul’s wife Lori seems easy going, happy/giggly type of person. We’d of course love to have them there! Brian said Paul told Lewis he wouldn’t make a decision on coming for 8 months. It may take less time to decide, but that way he won’t feel pressured. So continue praying for Paul & Lori.

The tribal chief is coming out to the school on Thursday to see the clinic. He had heard it was done, so he is coming to check it out. I guess the Nebraska group has been talking to Brian about some of the things we did/are doing to prepare. He has talked to them about our time at MTI, how you can’t meet everyone’s needs all the time, how the clinic can not be free. This is hard for the group to hear, but they have heard it before-it’s hard to hear, they don’t like to hear it, but know it is true.

Brian has been having a few headaches this week. He stayed one night at the Barn, and the beds aren’t so good. He feels as if his neck may be out. Add to that working from 6:30 am to 5 pm just trying to keep up with all the bricklayers, and dealing with them telling him he can’t do certain things because they don’t understand it… He definitely sounds more tired at night. But three weeks from tonight, he will be home!

He also missed some sleep the other night since the dogs were chasing a neighbor’s cow through the school. Daniel is looking forward to Brian bringing his gun; he’s already told the neighbor if his cows eat up his garden again, they will be having roast beef for dinner!

THE HOUSE: I should be getting emails from various team members sometime after next week with pictures of progress on the house! That should be good. He said all the block should be up by Wednesday of next week, depending on if he gets the angle iron and lumbar he needs to finish around some areas. They will be able to start plastering a wall as soon as it is done. So they will be laying block, plastering, doing roof trusses and everything all at once. He thinks the house should be done minus steel for roof before he leaves on July 11th. He is making adjustments as needed as they go, has all the block he should need, all the lumbar for rafters he should need. They haven’t done anything with the patio/cooking area, which may end up waiting until September. He will probably use rocks from the mountain to form up the pad. He added a fireplace area between the family room and Kitchen area. We were just going to use bookshelves to divide the areas. But we never really thought about a heating source. And this summer (winter) has been cool enough that Brian figured we better add something in! The septic tank is completely done.

Pray for the Gospelink container in bond (in a warehouse) in Lusaka. It sounds like they may need to start everything over again with a detailed manifest. See, you want to say enough, but not too much, to avoid paying too much in taxes. It seems some numbers were needed that they were told weren’t needed. Problem now is the company has to go through the contents of the container, in the warehouse. Please pray everything is still there when it actually makes it to the school-and please pray that it does make it! There is a tractor in there that would be most useful to us!

THE HOUSE HERE: We ended up lowering the price some on our house here. No, it is not because we are desperate yet-it’s only been a month! We just found out about another house, nearly the same but with a double garage, that was listed at $15,000 cheaper. Now there are always pluses and minuses for each, so they are hard to compare…but we knew we had listed on the highest end of what we thought we could get for our house. So we dropped some. Please continue to pray for our house to sell.

A FEW MORE CULTURE LESSONS: Brother/sister may not necessarily mean real brother/sister, it could be a cousin.

Almost everyone has a few orphans that are either in their home, or they help support.

Last winter Daniel almost died from malaria I guess. The truck didn’t have any fuel in it, so he couldn’t get to a doctor. I am not sure if he would have gotten there if he would have had the $40 needed for medication either. You see, as serious as malaria is, if you have the money for the medicine, you will be okay. Most of the people who die from malaria die because they can’t afford the medicine.

Henry told Brian they get BBC, Air France, and the Armed Services Radio network out at the college. Brian has also seen TV antennas on some huts. They can get satellite TV in the city, so I wonder if they can’t get it out there. And I just reread that the Rodgers “next door” in Chongwe now get wireless internet. It is slow-but it’s better than paying by the minute! We will definitely have to look into that!

The nationals understand that our culture is different from theirs and that we will need time away from them and to be alone too. One of the guys suggested they build a little pool on the mountain for Paul and us. Brian and Paul were like, no, no, that would be a bit much…but this guy said they understood we would want to be away. Brian or Paul asked what others would think. The national said they expect us to have some thing nice, to need time away.

Please pray for both Paul and Brian as they need to discuss some serious things with Lewis before Lewis and Paul leave on Thursday for the states.


Okay I am done. Comprehendible? Hopefully!