Hello!
Alicia and I have been meaning to catch up the blog since we arrived back in Zambia but each day has presented new challenges and business such that we find ourselves here for 2 weeks without an update!
We arrived the first of March and everyone was happy to be back in Mwandi! The kids even enjoyed (?) the plane flight a bit this time! We flew through NYC and went to Times Square for dinner and to rest up before the 14 hour flight to Johannesburg. I was happily surprised that each of the kids were looking forward to returning to Mwandi. Mostly I think they were all excited to see the cat they had been missing for 3 months and we were happy she still remembered us!
Immediately we had car trouble and I spent a couple days going back and forth to Livingstone as that is not an easy thing to take care of in the rural areas. Once working we took a trip out to survey the country and catch up with the farmers. I saw several of the new calves from the AI program and many happy farmers. Inside I hoped the numbers could have been higher, but I kept that to myself as they were nothing short of elated in each area we visited. The real excitement on the trip however came with the drive. There has been drought all year- until just before we came back when it started raining every day. This is awesome for crops, animals, and just life in general- but not awesome for the roads into the bush. Thankfully the land cruiser is awesome and we made it out and back in spite of the roads and endless water. I’m not sure how we didn’t flood the engine but at one point we had water lapping over the front of the hood.
The water on the east side made us completely change plans to start with the west side and all of the difficult communication and logistics ensued but seem to have worked out so far…I have a good friend and classmate coming next week to help with the breeding and while the plan is constantly fluid we will have a great time!
We moved to our new house a couple days ago- not so hard when you don’t have many things and it is only 100 meters down the road. With several helpers it only took a couple hours and Alicia and I reflected on how nice it is to live simply (which is embarrassingly not simple compared to the life possessions of the Zambians helping us move). Our new house is very big and also embarrassingly nice! It is right on the river and has an upstairs and 3 bathrooms! We never dreamed of staying in such a place when we signed on here but now feel so blessed to have a place where we can accommodate the many visitors planning on coming this year. We are also excited about the new ministry opportunities that come with the house including assisting with senior care, baby formula, gardening, and sewing ministries (separate ministries!).
The kids brought a small TV and their Wii and have made the house a bit more American too (worked great until we ran out of power that night!). The boys brought their bows and we are planning to make a ping pong table and get some guineas for the yard. Home school is back in full swing and we have some catching up to do to finish by ‘summer’.
We will not be so long before the next update. Thank you to each of you for reading, caring, and supporting us in so many ways. We could not be here or do this without you- we are your servants as well as for the people here. Please pray for us to see clearly each day what God has for us and to keep His big picture first in our lives. As always, let us hear from you and how we can help in your ministry and life.
Love,
Paul, Alicia, Isaac, Ethan, and Rachel
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| Kids reunited with Kaze |
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| 2 month old AI calf in Magumwi- same size as 5-6 month local stock! |
