Bees, buckets and marmalade

Look at the beauty of the bees! They moved in around a month ago, and already the honey is almost dripping from the combs. They've built a house for themselves which blows me away! It is in our store. This has implications, because we keep things there. I wake up at around 5am to put things away and take them out for the day, like our jembe for digging in the garden, dry wood and sticks for the fire, and the hose pipe for filling our tank with water. When they first moved in we wondered, but it didn't take long to decide to let them stay. We just have to move softly without banging around too much, and eventually, perhaps they'll give us some honey!


This past week we also managed to make some marmalade. Maybe it will lead to an identity crisis, or perhaps one of us will just have to be Pooh and the other Paddington. It was like a full production line using the wood burner stove to soften the peel, then chopping and boiling it all up. Mmmmm.

Cleaning the water tank involved one of us climbing in to it and the other lifting out buckets of leaf-mould-polluted water until it was all swept clean with a dustpan and brush.

The electricity lines have almost reached our house too, so we may well have our fridge working soon. And we had a visit from some old friends who have been involved in building the school since its first foundations in the year 2000. So much excitement, and lots to thank the Lord for. Pray for safety for the Secondary School students as they go away on holiday until January.

New Bibles in two languages

These Bibles are for use by the students of St Michael's Secondary School, and have been given by one of the supporting churches of the Diocese of Ruaha, St Michael's, Chester Square. They are in the 'Good News' translation, and its equivalent in Kiswahili. What a step forward; to be able to learn not just the Bible but the language as well!

We have had a few challenges recently: Last week the fire, and this week a hail storm. I've never seen one like it in my life! The rain started with big drops and suddenly the roof was echoing with multi-gun-shots, or that's what it sounded like.

It went on for around an hour; long enough for me to get myself soaked as I carried the lunch from our outside kitchen to the house. Juggling an umbrella, a kettle of boiling water and trying to avoid the torrents off the roof while I opened the back door was an Experience never to be forgotten!

There was not much warning - just a black cloud coming towards us, and then suddenly the rain. Afterwards it stopped and tried to pretend it had never happened, except that the ground was covered with white-pebble hail stones. As we don't have a fridge, I gathered some of the icy stones to cool the milk :^)

Bush fire, empty tap!

That's our house in the background; one a group of five staff houses in a small area behind the school. The bamboo and eucalyptus trees around us are very dry.

Kevin arrived back from Wales last Sunday morning in Dar es Salaam, and traveled to Iringa by bus - a long journey. We had a night in Iringa before going on to Kilolo, and the following night we woke at 1am to the smell of smoke coming in through the bedroom window. It was all a panic, as we thought it was right on us, but in fact there were 50yards to go before it got to the house. The staff and students came out to fight the fire with branches, and water from the tap. Thankfully the wind changed direction, but then the water ran out. We did have a little water in a tank which I had filled the week before with a hosepipe, so that was used to completely damp down the remaining cinders which were being reignited by the wind for around 2 more hours.

We are tired but very thankful, so please continue your prayers!

Isimila Stone Age site

Yesterday I went with some friends to this amazing place near Iringa. It is like going to a fossil area and walking through the mists of time. The erosion has left these pillars of sandstone all down a gully - perfect for dramatic photographs.

Since my last post all the CMS Africa people have been to Nairobi for a conference. I found it very inspiring to see a new mission experience being generated in Africa. If was hard going, both the travel and some of the encounters, but it did leave me with a knowledge that God is at work here, and will continue to be, praise him.

Kevin flew from Kenya to the UK for just a week for Rachel's graduation, and he is arriving back today. Meanwhile I drove back from Kenya together with Ben and Katie who have taken over Neema Crafts, and the long journey grew even longer when we ran out of both money and fuel. No cashpoints were open as it was Sunday, and the pumps were empty, so was our tank. When we pulled out of an unsuccessful petrol station we were waved down by a man who told us we could buy petrol in liter bottles. Wow. I eventually bargained with him to sell us thirteen of these for a twenty dollar note. That took us far enough to get both money and petrol in Morogoro.

We were so tired by then that we decided to stretch the journey to three days instead of two. God gave us a beautiful place to rest on the way - with enough money to pay for it. We're not short of money - just a cash-flow problem!