April 20, 2010

April 20, 2010

Dear family and friends

I hope this brief communication finds you well! More rain here last night. Not so great weather for the drying of maize that is still standing in the field.

Once again, e-mail has not been cooperating – so communicating with loved ones has been so poor! I apologize! I seem to run from one possible working network to another…and then the power fails and then…as in last night – we are visited by a big storm. I guess, its good to know that at least sometimes we have at our disposal the ability to e-mail!

Last week was very full! We housed 8 young men and conducted a week long Discipleship and Servanthood class.

Here is how the week went:
Sunday – the guys arrived in the morning and accompanied us to Simakakata where Richard and the “boys” participated in leading the service. Lunch – a feast of chicken and rice!

Monday – Friday – rise at 05:45; breakfast of samp with farm milk and sugar and then to the farm by 07:00 to do “service work”. The boys assisted with building a sheep corral and a few other farm projects. Meghan Morton, our niece visiting from BC volunteered at the various orphan homes in the mornings.

Lunch –menu: nsima and beans/veggies or kapenta. Afternoons (13:00 – 16:30) consisted of Richard teaching the guys, Meghan and a few others. Supper – more nsima and either veggies/beans. A couple of times I cooked some “makuwa” food i.e. curried lentils, etc. Thursday was the “banquet” of spaghetti, meat sauce and for dessert – poppy seed sheet cake. Meghan has adapted wonderfully to the Tonga culture and has feasted on nsima, kapenta and beans along with the rest of us!

After all this activity the guys still had enough energy for a daily, energetic game of soccer. Thursday was the “final” with some fantastic shots and lots of sweat! Meghan was the “official” photographer!

After supper and dishes, each evening was filled with games – i.e. “greedy”, spoons, the bowl game and then devo time, lots of quite deep sharing and wonderful singing – in Tonga and English. And then sleep!

I just love to discover the wonderful personalities that God has created and this week was certainly another reminder of God’s amazing creativity as we spent time with these very sweet young people. We have known all these kids for a few years (and Meghan even longer!) – and quality time with them has confirmed how special each of them is.

All of the Zambian participants are “leaver” grade 12 pupils who have been sponsored by ZMF-C and have scored the highest marks of all the kids in the program. These 2009 grade 12 graduates wrote their final grade 12 exams in Nov/Dec 2009 and have just received their marks in March 2010. They cannot apply for college until approximately June, July, August or Sept of this year – so they just sit in their villages and wait.

Must go and get ready for the rest of this week – until next opportunity to communicate,

Sue K
Aka: mom/aunty/even grandma (baby JonasJ!)/friend/sister/zmf-c board member and volunteer!