Graduation (again again)

After the Christmas service in Iringa, we drove up to Kilolo the next morning as we don't like driving at night. It takes longer now because the road is full of corrugations and our shock absorbers are spent. Getting spare parts is a challenge - prayers please!

I sat with the students that morning (Wednesday) as they wrote their Old Testament exam, and then spent the rest of the day marking and having a rest. I fell asleep in a chair while Kevin did all the work in the house! On Thursday we made a Christmas cake in our wood-burner stove, which was hotter than expected. It's the first cake I've cooked in it, though we bake bread every week, so we should be more practiced than we are!

Yesterday was the graduation, and some happy students have now finished their three month course and gone home for Christmas. It is the last of its kind, because next year the Diocese of Ruaha hopes to move the six month course from the Amani Bible School in Iringa up to St Michael's in Kilolo.

Christmas service - Iringa Christian Fellowship

This evening we sang and laughed and shared a meal together in Iringa with some good friends, thinking of the birth of Jesus and the message of peace that he brings to us all. The children took part in this nativity scene as part of the service.

Recently at the Secondary School in Kilolo someone read the verses from Isaiah "How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news; proclaiming peace, announcing news of happiness - our God reigns" (Is 52:7). That is the Christmas message, and there's another place where it says "it is close to you, not far away, in your heart and in your mouth".

How amazing that we have this message so close to us. There's no need to go overseas to find it out! Have a look at Deuteronomy 30:12-14, and Romans 10:6-8. Happy Christmas right where you are!

He lost the ring but he won the game

It happened last week! We were playing volleyball, and during the last game Kevin bruised his finger. We went back to Kilolo the next day, hoping it would get better, but after a few days he agreed that I should cut it off with a hacksaw! I cut a metal guard out of an empty tin, put it under the ring, and started hacking. We had to have a few minute breaks, but eventually it came off and I didn't even injure him! Where it had been on the finger was white, but it's now looking a lot better.

During the same week I was not well either, with a stomach bug, but I was all right to set a test for the Bible School students and mark it. They graduate next week, so please pray for them as they go back to their homes for Christmas. The Secondary School students have already gone, and teachers will have a break soon as well. We hope to celebrate with our friends in Iringa.

On Thursday we had electricians in to our house to get the wiring finished so power can be connected. The wooden post, which has been standing outside the house for two and a half years at last has wires attached, though it has yet to be connected! It will make a big difference having a fridge, electric kettle and lighting. Planning our food will be easier, and we might even get some variety! At the moment we have to eat beans and rice when all the fresh produce runs out at the end of the week, and it's hard to plan exactly how much of everything we need to cook on the wood burner.

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!