Hi! The 19°F (-7.6°) weather we had a couple of weeks back means everything is BROWN! All the bushes and even our citrus trees got burned by the frost! Only the largest trees have some green on them. We have truly a winter picture – the white sand even looks like snow in the moonlight!
The first bush threatened to enter last night. The men were able to stop it at the border with a back fire!
On Saturday we begin a 10 day trip to the east of Angola! We are going to visit the herd of cattle which The Menongue Bible Institute (IBM) bought some years ago. Apparently quite a few have been eaten by crocodiles . . . . we shall see! Please pray for safety in travel. Pray that we will be an encouragement to those we meet!
We arrive back in Lubango on 7th September. Back to Tchincombe on 8th. Then Meghan and I begin our travels to the USA on 13th.
We were able to sell the 15 heifers at the fair for a good price so we are content!
Pray for Firmino, Tutyiale and Paulo as they hold down the fort here. There’s always SO MUCH to be done – the foremen work very hard. Pray for strength, encouragement!
Pray for Toiya (13-ish) and her family – she’s the daughter of the family at Imbondwe where we meet. She was stricken some years ago with malaria and as a result has epilepsy as well as some residual motor deficits. For some reason she was alone last week and had a convulsion and fell into the fire and got burned quite severely. Epilepsy in itself is a hard burden to bear for the family – there are not the supports that we have in the west. Infection is the worst enemy of the burn patient.
A team from here will go to Imbondwe this weekend. Steve Foster will come from Lubango to preach.
Pray too for Teteiko Andre – a member of the Tchincombe Church. He’s has some health issues that are keeping him from being able to work.
Last week we weaned 237 calves! Lots of lowing from the corral! This week we are injecting the cows with vitamin A which is essential for reproductive health and which they don’t get much of when the grass is not green! We have also been getting together financial and cattle number reports for the annual executive meetings of the church. On top of all this we have been preparing for the trip – e.g. cooking all the food – there are no fast food places to stop! Preparing the vehicles, etc. So life has been full and we are a little weary! I wanted to share something that has been good for me to remember AGAIN – this from Andrew Murray:
“Many people want to take the Word and believe that, but do not think it is so necessary to fellowship with God. Ah, no! You cannot separate God from His Word. No goodness or power can be received separate from God. If you want to get into this life of godliness, you must take time for fellowship with God.
People sometimes tell me: ‘My life is one of such scurry and bustle that I have not time for fellowship with God.’ A dear missionary said to me: ‘People do not know how we missionaries are tempted. I get up a five o’clock in the morning, and there are the natives waiting for their orders for work. Then, I have to go to the school and spend hours there. Then, there is other work, and sixteen hours rush along. I hardly get time to be alone with God.’
Ah! There is the need. I pray you, remember two things. I have not told you to trust the omnipotence of God as a thing, and I haven’t told you to trust the Word of God as a written book. I have told you to go to the God of omnipotence and the God of the Word. Deal with God as that nobleman dealt (John 4:50) with the living Christ. Why was he able to believe the word that Christ spoke to him? Because in the very eyes and tone and voice of Jesus, the Son of God, he saw and heard something which made him feel that he could trust Him. And that is what Christ can do for you and me. Do not try to stir and arouse faith from within. How often I have tried to do that, and made a fool of myself! You cannot stir up faith from the depths of your heart. Leave your heart, and look into the face of Christ. Listen to what He tells you about how He will keep you. Look up into the face of your loving Father, and take time everyday with Him. Begin a new life with the deep emptiness and poverty of a man who has got nothing, and who wants to get everything from Him, - with the deep restfulness of a man who rests on the living God, the omnipotent Jehovah. Try God, and prove Him if He will not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there will not be room to receive it.”
I guess really Jesus said it first in John 15:1-8 – Meghan and I are memorizing for her school . . . “I am the vine, you are the branches . . . . “
THANK YOU so much for you love, prayers and gifts of support!
In Him,
Donna
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