Hey All, Again I find myself apologizing for a lack of posts! We have been so busy lately, and its only going to get busier! Ive chosen some of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks to give you an idea of what we have been up to, but the highlights include, orphan food delivery, a ridiculously quick and busy trip to South Africa for house supplies, and to apply for Tendai's Canadian passport, starting the ceiling boards on our house, orphan home visits, taking orphans to the hospital, finally getting electricity at our house site, prepping for the teams arrival and prepping for the unique christmas gifts they will be delivering in a week and a half and a few hours of "zamboni" driving on the side.
Here are the pics and a few sentences to with em!
This month even with a trip to South Africa thrown in, I have been visiting quite a few of the orphan homes! This is a mother who is receiving three months of emergency help for her and her children, at which point their situation will be re-evaluated. She was so grateful for the assistance being given, I really felt for her, as she is a single mother, who is struggling with illness and trying to raise a family at the same time.
As we were leaving her home, storm clouds rolled in and the rain started. Strange for this time of year, but thankfully it was just enough to keep the dust down, not enough to destroy the crops everyone is trying to get off their fields.
At the Chitundu orphan home we found this "guitar" hand made by one of the older orphan program boys- Pastor Mariano had a great time pretending to play and sing.
Just this weekend Rick had to take little Joao and his granny to the hospital in Vanduzi after Joao fell out of a tree. He was trying to get high up in the tree to see what Rick was doing (you'll see pictures of that later).
Leaving the hospital in Vanduzi.
After one day with the hospitals gauze wraps on, Joao had managed to nearly destroy parts of them- plus his one had was still pretty swollen and the tight gauze was very uncomfortable.
Celestino and I took off the gauze wraps and replaced them with more comfortable tensor bandage type wraps. Joao seems to be in much less pain now which is awesome! Praise the Lord his wrists seem to only be sprained and not broken as we had originally feared.
Mae Liria laughing as she shares with us Joao's antics.
In other news,.. THE CEILING IS GOING UP!!!
It was all hands on deck to help get the first boards cut so they were ready to go up. I got to use the skill saw- which all the guys thought was hilarious.
Mattias, a volunteer from Switzerland, who happens to be a general all-round handyguy, connected the farm's generator power to our house lot. WOOHOOO! This makes our work there soooo much easier.
Gabriel and Pindurai have been buy putting in the window and door frames as well! It seems like there is lots of work going on at the house, which is nice. We cant wait for the team to get here so we can put the roof on as well!
The guestroom bathroom is the smallest room so it just happened to get its ceiling done first. Doesn't it look nice?
Door frames going in!
More ceiling boards!
Here is what Joao was trying to watch- Rick went with the mission's tractor to the community to grade the soccer pitch. Our little community of Mucombedze is hosting the Independence Day celebrations for our district and will have a big soccer game in the afternoon. The pitch was covered with clumps of grass and thorns since it has been a while since any games were played. The tractor helped to clear the thorns and debris and get it ready for a game. As Rick drove by he shouted "This is as close as Ill get to driving a Zamboni!" He did look like zamboni driver out there, just without the ice!
This is what little Joao had climbed up in the tree to see! Thankfully he wasnt hurt any worse when he fell out!
This is Lovemore and Tendai helping to prepare for the teams arrival by washing all of their blankets. Tendai LOVES to help wash clothes in the bucket, even though she usually ends up SOAKED (which she does not love).
And finally, after all the Zamboni driving, Rick was missing Hockey a little bit, so he fashioned two mini hockey sticks (complete with tape) for him and Tendai to play ball hockey with! She loves it!
Weve had a very busy month, and its only about to get busier! Your prayers for our energy levels and health are greatly appreciated. We pick up the team from our home church in one week, and head up north with them in Ten days! We will be doing work projects to help orphan families, assist local churches, childrens outreaches, and delivering the orphan care packs from the Unique Christmas Gift campaign last year. Once we return to the farm we will be helping at the Amigo Orphan homes sponsored by people from our home church, as well as volunteering at the school, and working on our house.
Specific Prayer Requests for the next little while:
-Health and Safety for us and the team
-Travel safety as we drive to pick them up, travel up north, etc.
-For the team as they fly here. Many of them have never flown before and this is a doozy of a first trip!
-That the teams luggage will arrive with them and there will not be problems with customs.
-For a good time of ministry and that lives will be changed (both on the team and the people they visit)
Thanks so much!
God Bless, Rick, Heather & Tendai
