HERE WE GO!!!

The first group of American summer teams arrived on Tuesday. It was quite a day as the red bus was still being worked on so we had to use the white truck and our vehicle to pick up the team. The flights arrived at different times and there were some pastors who came in on the bus, and a few things to get done during the day…so it was a little crazy. Lewis and his family arrived around 4 pm; Brian arrived with the rest of the team around 5:30. We all ate supper and the team pretty much just tried getting settled in for the night.
Wednesday morning all the craziness and running in different directions began! The students and the three men from the US began work in the woodshop on beds and picnic tables. I think all the Americans had actual beds in their cabins by the time the day was over. They will work on a few more tomorrow I believe, and Kris will take a little time to work in the solar house so he can’t see if he can get the lights back on.
Two of the ladies (both 79 years old!) sat up a medical clinic in the clinic building. No electricity or water in their yet, but it worked out just fine. Rozeene is a nurse and brought some supplies. As you can imagine, the line was long! They are also passing out hygiene kits and sharing the Gospel with them.
Jennifer and Suzanne went down to Kaziemba Basic School, where the headmaster called the students back from break for a type of VBS for lack of what else to call it. They will be there for five more mornings and brought school kits for all the children. We didn’t think they started until Thursday; so needless to say, we were late getting them there (or on African time??). Brian or I will have to drive them the five kilometers down there each morning and pick them up (we’ll probably end up with a backseat full of kids too!).
Lewis and Henry went into town for supplies, more lumber and to pick up the red bus. It is mechanically repaired, but there are a few welding things that need to be done. They will also be bringing out some more national pastors. They are arriving from Malawi, one from Cameroon, Nigeria; some are here already from Congo and Mozambique. They are going to be finishing some training with a pastor from Florida using the BTCP materials for a few days. I understand some of them graduate on Saturday.
For the most part I haven’t felt it has been too crazy. Each morning we start school in the hopes of being done before noon. Some days we get sooo close…then I have to drive or run something somewhere, but it’s okay. My new washing machine is coming in VERY HANDY!!! We eat lunch and dinner with the teams, so not much for cooking and before bed we make sure the house is all picked up so we can get up and get going right away in the morning.
Brian was helping find things in the shop most of yesterday and getting that set up. He got replacement parts for the John Deere tractor so was trying to put that together. There was one “o” ring they couldn’t get, but we had the old one to use. Of course, that broke as he was trying to put it on. Argh! He jb-kwik-welded it; hopefully that will work; otherwise it is order a new one and wait for three weeks for it to arrive.
Lucy asked me to speak some at the Zambia Baptist Women’s Conference as she is the main speaker-has 6 or more hours to cover. I started looking at the theme verses yesterday- Revelation 3:11 and 1 Peter 5:10. If I remember the theme is “A Year of Dramatic Increase and Taking Back What Satan has Stolen from Us.” Should be interesting…I will see where it goes! I keep teasing Lucy because she hasn’t had time to start much preparing yet either!