They say things are always better in the morning, so yes, I am feeling much better today (and yesterday). Thank you for praying for me and for your continued prayers.
Here are some more updates:
A HUUUGGGEE Praise the Lord! John has told Brian that his son has had no more episodes since they were there and prayed for him last week!
Much has gone on this week that I can't share about, but it hasn't been good. It is not directly related to us or our house necessarily, but there are definitely some things that will need to be run differently for the school once we get there. Brian has had a lot more stress, so has been having some headaches.
Brian has really loved the group at the college this week. They are from Iowa and Illinois. Bill from Iowa brought the MP3 player I asked for; only I asked for the wrong one! Zack (who had been at the college for 9 months last year) had sent an only computer over for Henrich, and Bill had the adaptors needed so that another of the guys could do the computer stuff to get Brian's music on the MP3 player Bill brought. So things turned out well. Of course Daniel somehow managed to get Brian's MP3 player working now... Bill had sent out this blog address to his whole team, so they have been reading getting ready for their trip. Kara brought over some stuff for Brian and was so happy to meet him and give him a big hug despite Brian being covered in wood preservative. Bill also brought over our first house warming gift-a plague that says "FAITH" and a handwritten message on the back. Bill has expressed interest in heading back to Zambia in September to help Brian finish the house, and also didn't let Brian give him anything for the MP3 player. Bill- you are awesome! This whole group has been! Brian said there were a few people they had to tell to go laid down and rest they were working themselves too hard. An older farmer from Iowa has spent time doing some welding for the rings for the beams on the veranda.
The plan in these last 3 1/2 days:
-work on setting up rock around veranda and pour floor;
-finish building & painting preserve on roof trusses-put them up (the 36' ones were done);
-finish building beams for veranda and putting last of top plate in;
-finish plastering walls (on Thursday they had 4 bedrooms done, and were working on the bathrooms, then just had main area inside house. After that there is the outside. Brian will have the 2 plasters and 2 guys to assist them, so hopefully they will be able to finish up this week).
There was a rumor going around on Thursday that the President of Zambia died. Thankfully, he just had a stroke and is doing well. Brian said the whole mood of the place was down that day. Depending on which report you read, either the V.P. would have taken over, OR they would have had to had elections in 90 days. President Mwaansana has been an outspoken critic of things in Zimbabwe, so I caught some of the irony that the South African guy (who has been an ally/supposed mediator for Zimbabwe & African Union) is the one who asked for a moment of silence for his death. Things are still not great in Zimbabwe, please keep praying for that country.
Brian has had to take lots of pictures for the pastors this week. One of the pastors from Malawi I think it was, wants the plans for our house. He walked around and decided that was what he wanted for his house.
I got an email back from another missionary couple about their satellite Internet. They paid $3500 for installation, and now pay $150 a month for 1 GB of download. I still am not sure what all that means, but at least we have some prices in our mind now. Otherwise, I think I mentioned that you pay about $300 for a USB type of device that gives you so much download-but I don't remember how much. We definitely need to keep researching this. I have an analysis thing on the blog that tells me how many people look at our blog each day, about how long they stay and read, and where they are reading from. It goes back 30 days. At one point this last month, i had over 23 different countries that had checked it, and almost 250 different cities! In any one month, there are around 950 or so visits for the month, an average of out 30 or so visits a day. Many people have asked if we will keep this up in Africa, and yes, we will try! This has been a great tool for us to share and process "out loud" with you and have you pray for us.
Brian has two new nicknames (that he knows of!). Most of the pastors that come for training and to work for the week call him "Brian the hard worker", and tell him to slow down. Henry has also now named him "Headman Kaziemba", and tells him he is Sulu man now-he's not a weak American who has to drink bottled water (all year and even last year, he has been drinking water from the cistern and been fine).
Well, not as long of an update today, we just ramble a lot when we talk now. One week from right now, i should be at the airport picking him up!!!
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