Neil, Tendai and Vuyo in South Africa/Zambia #5
Hello again!
More news.......
Crispin Kazaka, Zambia
At the beginning of May I had the joy of meeting up with Crispin again, this time in Somerset West, Cape town during a visit he was making to see Gary. Crispin, if you remember, is the guy leading the Newfrontiers church plant in Livingstone, Zambia. We in Guernsey, made a significant financial contribution to the planting of this church, when I participated in the church planting celebration in April 2008.
Since then, the church has grown to total approximately 200, although the going is very hard, with poverty hindering most activities. Personally, it was a great opportunity to renew our acquaintance and indeed to develop our friendship, whilst discussing many church issues, one key area being the management of expectations. Traditionally, when a white man intimates he may help in certain ways, the firm expectation is that he will deliver. Unfortunately, as I was able to explain, a desire to help expressed when standing together in prayer does not necessitate automatic provision, especially these days where funding is not so easily available during this current world recession. Oh, that we could do more! But as I explained to Crispin, we can only make known their needs to the church at large and wait to see whether God will prompt hearts.
On leaving for his two day bus trip back to Zambia, Crispin expressed his sincere gratitude for the time we had spent together, saying that from his point of view, it was definitely of God. Thank you Church on the Rock for making this all possible, if we hadn't been here, Crispin would not have been able to make it to Guernsey, so who knows what would have happened to the Livingstone Church plant!
Zimbabwe trip
Since our last update, Tendai has spent 2 1/2 weeks in Zimbabwe, pursuing a driving license and making use of the time to catch up on family relationships. The last time Tendai visited was 13 years ago, so it was an extremely busy time for her. We eventually finished up with the desired driving license, but not before Tendai came face to face with the blatant corruption all too evident on the ground.
Work
The long-term objective was always to do a little "tent making" as we cannot afford to carry on ad-infinitum without some new source of income, but how that is going to pan out has always been a bit of an unknown. Last week, the first chink of light appeared after a long time of no doors opening. I was offered a few hours booking work for a peer education charity in Somerset West, starting in July. It is a long way from making us self-sufficient, but for me it was the cloud on the horizon to refer back to Elijah's encounter with the prophet's of Baal. I am therefore expectant that on our return to South Africa in July further doors will open to supplement our increased expenditure as a family and our call to develop the churches in Zambia.
Issues to pray for are:- personally, for an improved pound to rand exchange rate for when we pay the balance on our house in July, currently it is getting more expensive by the day as the rand weakens! That the business VISA comes through so we can live in the house and for a save arrival of Ariella in September, so far so good as far as scans etc. have shown. But also for trips to Zambia, the relationships continuing to develop and the unfolding of the strategy for the future.
Until next time, our love to everyone
Neil, Tendai, Vuyo & Ariella (bump)
PS The new house still has loads of room for visitors...wink, wink etc.
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