please pray for rain!!

Greetings from Tchincombe! The gray/brown landscape of the cold, dry season has begun to be sprinkled with vibrant greens, whites and pale reds as the trees & bushes respond to the hot, dry season! Temps are rising – the heat is on! We are definitely longing for the rain! Our young stock especially need some nice new grass – please pray for rain!!

Stir went to Lubango yesterday and is driving the 12 hour trip to Menongue today for a week of General Assembly meetings. (It’s only 500km).

Please pray for wisdom and patience as reports are given and things discussed. Pray too for a spirit of unity, enthusiasm and joy. That God’s will will be everyone’s top priority!

This is slightly pessimistic but I’m waiting for something to break down – you know how it goes! Let the husband go away and something always breaks! Pray that I will let my breath out and relax!!

THANKSGIVING - Our friend, Brent from MAF, was here for a week. He and Stir accomplished quite a lot. They put the HF in the brown car (so we can be in communication with Stir from Menongue), got the 4 wheeler going so it can be used for outreach at the corrals and made a drag from old tractor tires to help level out the airstrip that Jerry cleared. Brent also got our dryer going and even put a light in the laundry room! (The dryer was donated from the USA to friends working in Namibia – but Namibia is 220v and the dryer is 110v; Brent heard of it and told them that we had a 110v system at our house – so now we have a dryer!)

Pray for the $156,000 we need to buy fencing and to buy 10 km of water piping!

We have cut our workforce by 30% so that we could raise pay for the workers that stayed. Pray for us to be able to encourage and motivate the workers. Pray for those that aren’t followers of Jesus that they will see their need of Him!

Pray for those workers who were let go that they will be able to find other work!

Ongoing requests:

Last weekend of month – meetings at Imbondwe – the children and I will be going on Saturday – we will take a team from here.

Every Wednesday – ladies’ meeting – we are studying the catechism in Olungambwe!

Every Sunday afternoon – literacy class

Pray for a Bible in Olumhuila/Olungambwe!!

Pray for a teacher for the kids!

THANKS so much for your love and prayers!!!!

Donna for all of us!

September is the end of SIM’s fiscal year.

Greetings from Tchincombe!

September is the end of SIM’s fiscal year. We want to say a HUGE THANK YOU for your faithful support !!! We stand at 97% – isn’t that AWESOME!

Pray that this month we will receive full support and that there will be extra so that we will be at 100% for the year !!!

Pray too for funds to cover the negative balance in our ministry account (shipping of vehicle).

Can it be that the rains might come early? We PRAY it would be so!! Pasture is getting marginal since we have not been able to sell the cattle that we needed to sell. PRAY for the rains to come early and well!!

Your Partners in Angola,

Donna & Stirling

New Pictures!

Gabriel, Meghan, Lucas and Jeffrey!

Our family with Stirling's mom and dad.

Our most recent dairy calf- a heifer!

Jerry dozing!

All the family that could make it to the reunion.

Sani Pass!! Ice in Africa!

Day trip to Sani Pass- Mountain pass between South Africa and Lesotho.

Louise preparing to separate cream from milk.

Greetings FROM Tchincombe!

Greetings FROM Tchincombe! After one month and 7,000 km we are home! We arrived home at 12:30 AM – having left Windhoek at 5 AM – it was a LONG day and uneventful except for locking the keys in our car while we were fueling up in a place called Kamanjab. Stirling was able to take the seal off one of the small windows in the backset of the car and Meghan squeezed in to unlock – 45 minutes of hot work for Stir!

The night of our arrival the big generator had stopped running owing to a fan belt that broke! The guys replaced the fan belt but the engine didn’t want to start. So they came got Stir – we were all a little bleary eyed still – Stir went down and came back to get WD40 and starter spray stuff – he managed to persuade the generator pistons that they weren’t stuck and so the generator did start!! Whew! The generator has over 40,000 hours of op so is due for an overhaul. We hope it holds out until the rains come so that we can get by without it for a few days.

We are so grateful for the time we had with Stir’s parents, Peter, Shelley and Sheila in Windhoek. It was a very sweet time!

Mum and Dad Foster, Peter and Shelley as well as Jerry and Louise all arrived back on that side of the ocean safe and sound!

Summer has come all in a rush! We have just finished the cold dry season and are now in the hot dry season – everything is thirsting for the rain! Pray that it will come well and on time this year!!

Last update we told you that there were 65 people at Imbondwe – there were but ½ were from Tchincombe as a team from here went in the Unimog (farm truck)! Please begin to pray for 28 September when we will go and spend the weekend at Imbondwe – pray for open hearts!

Meghan, Jeffrey and I start school again on Monday. Please pray for patience and a willingness to do the work set before us. Please do pray for a teacher for the kids! It was so GREAT having Helena here doing school with Meghan – Meghan really enjoyed it! If you know of a teacher who would like an African adventure send them our way!! A teacher would also free me to do language and literacy!

PRAISE – the team from Tchincombe that took the animals to the Ag Fair reported that everything went well – all 20 animals sold for a good price!!

Elections as far as we can tell have gone smoothly and without incident – at least in our part of Angola.

THANKS for your partnership in sharing the Good News with the Ovangambwe!!

In Him,

Donna for all of us!

Hello from Windhoek!

Hello from Windhoek!

We’ve had a wonderful time with Stirling’s parents, Sheila, Peter and Shelley. We have lingered over meals and tea and enjoyed each other’s company. It’s always fun to hear stories of Mum and Dad Foster’s early years in Zambia and Angola.

On Wednesday morning we’ll be driving up to Angola – trying to go the whole way in one day – it will be quite a push! Please pray for stamina and alertness!!

Wednesday afternoon Stir’s parents and Peter & Shelley will be flying back to the USA – pray for them too!

PRAISE - Thanks for praying for the service yesterday at Imbondwe. There were about 65 people present! Continue to pray for spiritual growth of the new believers there!!

Friday, September 5^th there are parliamentary elections in Angola. Pray for stability!

Jerry and Louise arrived today!! They have had a good time in Angola. We are so grateful that they could be at the farm while we have been away. Jerry was able to bulldoze land for a future runway, clear land around waterhole, and clear roads. Louise kept the milk side of things going and said there’s lots of butter.

We are looking forward to being home!! Thanks for your faithfulness in prayer!!

Love,

Donna & Stirling

We are back in Windhoek having traveled 6,000 km safely!!

Hi!

We tried sending an update from the reunion/60th venue but the wireless was down the whole week! And we were a LONG way from any internet cafés!!

PRAISE! We are back in Windhoek having traveled 6,000 km safely!! The car gave troubles at the beginning of the trip but a very helpful Land Rover dealer in Upington, SA put car on computer – found nothing, cleaned a few connections – and the car has worked perfectly ever since. It was 4:30 pm when we pitched up at the dealers but they were gracious and didn’t charge us anything!!!

Today has been quite stressful!! We were having tea at the dining room table in flat 7, a guy came in the door and snatched the 2 purses that were on a chair across the room from the dining table; Stir and Jeff gave chase but thief slammed outside metal gate and that little bit of delay allowed them to make it to the get away car!! Sheila lost money, credit cards and car keys!! Joan Brain (missionary friend in her 70s) lost money, credit cards, plane ticket and passport! Police came and took reports but we are doubtful of getting things back. Stir did get car color, make, the fact it was a taxi and most of license # - apparently this has happened at this SIM guest house before and there is suspicion that it’s the same guys! SIGH!

PRAISE! The reunion and 60^th celebration was great - lots of time to visit and play! We were 27 people! Really couldn’t have asked for a better time. The trip over took a lot out of Stir’s parents. Family had time to sit and talk about Mum and Dad’s future needs. It seems that the time has now arrived that Mum and Dad Foster should no longer live or travel alone. The state of their health made us all think it would not be wise to go on to Angola as planned. The earliest they could return to USA was 3 September without losing their ticket (original plan was Sept 30). They flew to Windhoek from South Africa as it was the routing of their return ticket. Peter and Shelley's work visa has not been renewed yet - they have graciously accepted to return to USA with Mum and Dad and stay with them until December. PRAY for Peter and Shelley as they came to Africa expecting to go back to work in Angola and in the space of a few days they had to decide to return! It's not easy.

The original plan was to have Mum and Dad with us in Angola but since they aren't going up we'll spend time with them here in Windhoek. We were frustrated by our delayed departure from Angola but now it makes sense! The Lord knew we'd need the time on this end of our trip!

We are VERY grateful to the foremen, Latimers and to Brent Mudde (friend/colleague with MAF) who are holding things together at Tchincombe! Fuel has continued to be an issue – Brent went once to visit Latimers and take them fresh veggies; he went a second time to take fuel so that Jerry could continue bulldozing! Louise says BP (our parrot) is talking up a storm! And that our freezer is getting quite full of butter!! Latimers will fly to Windhoek on 1 September.

Please PRAY for the service at Imbondwe on last Sunday – Steve, Brent and Latimers are planning to be there. Pray for the new believers there to continue to grow in their faith!

Please PRAY for Angola as elections are September 5^th.

PRAISE – A Sunday school class at Calvary Baptist Church collected $600 to help pay the outstanding amount on the 130.

In Him,

Donna for all of us!

We are setting off today on our holiday

Dearest Praying Family,

We are setting off today on our holiday – only 5 days late! Stirling had to change the clutch and the wiring loom on the car this past week (was scheduled for the week the thieves made of with the cattle). The Kudu’s clutch isn’t acting quite normal so we’d appreciate your prayers for safety in travel. Until Windhoek we’ll have both vehicles. The 130 will stay in Windhoek while we are in SA so that we can buy supplies on our way home.

For those of you who have written but we haven’t responded – sorry, life has been crazy – even yesterday the neighbor’s brought a worker who needed a few stitches so life has been full of unexpected surprises – thanks for your e-mails and prayers – will write along the way as we have time!!

Meghan is not feeling well so we ask prayer for her – she has fever and cough. Since she was in town for 2 weeks we tested her for malaria yesterday and she was negative.

Please pray for Jerry and Louise Latimer as they hold down the fort in our absence! They are a real encouragement to us – in their 70s and out here doing a short term missions trip.

Pray for Stirling’s parents (in 80s) who are making trip to SA next week for their 60^th wedding anniversary celebration!! Pray for stamina and health. Pray also for all the others of us that are traveling!!

Continue to Pray for child we took to hospital – since there’s no communication between here and there we don’t have word on how he’s doing. We’ll know today as we travel south and pass by there.

PRAISE – Meeting with the workers about salary increase went very well. Nothing was officially decided but proposals were made for the workers to think about in our absence. Everyone was pleased with proposals and with the fact that we gave them a little bonus in this month’s check.

With all our love,

Donna for all of us