Please PRAY for Stirling’s parents.

Dear Friends and Loved Ones,

Please PRAY for Stirling’s parents. Stirling’s Mum had a stroke on Sunday. She has difficulty speaking and right sided weakness. She is to come out of ICU this morning. I think the hardest thing about missionary life is being away from family during these times!

Our life has been almost out of control in the busy department! HELP! Stirling’s back is not happy that it spent almost 24 hours in the car! As long as he lies down or stands up he’s good but sitting is difficult! Fortunately repairing machines is a standing up job! He and Firmino have gotten the Chevy up and running!

PRAISE!! All the fencing is at Tchincombe!!! Many miles and tons safely transported!

PRAISE!! Imbondwe was a blessing! There was a good crowd and many interested people! PRAY for hearts to be changed! Here’s a quote from a book I’m reading called “Walking with God” and our prayer for the Believers at Imbondwe and Tchincombe:

"What I am describing is a heart that is present and engaged with God, bringing our desires to him, yet submitting our wills to his, genuinely trusting that what he says is best."

We came into town after Imbondwe. Stirling returned to Tchincombe yesterday. The kids and I will be helping Peter and Shelley Duplantis move their belongings to Cavango where they will be helping to develop the clinic there. Stir would love to be on this adventure BUT it would not be good for his back and there’s so MUCH to do at Tchincombe! Please pray for safe journey. We will be a 4 car convoy leaving at 4 AM. Our plan is to return to Lubango on Friday.

Please continue to pray for the $10,000 needed to finish paying off the transport of our vehicle! We are not sure why the Lord hasn’t supplied this need. Please pray that He will show us what needs to be done!

THANKS for your partnership in the Gospel!

Donna for all of us!

good time and had no hassles (thanks for praying) at the border

Stirling, Jeffrey and Aimee were up at 3:30 am Friday. Out of the drive at 4 and headed north. They made good time and had no hassles (thanks for praying) at the border. We expected them between 9 & 10 PM. Sure enough around 9 there was a call on the radio which I expected to say, “We’re just coming on to Tchincombe be home soon.” BUT Stirling said, “We’re stuck! Please come with tractor!” They were only 25 km from here! One section of the neighbor’s road had been torn up by a truck, a tractor and bull dozer getting stuck when it was very wet.

Peter, Shelley, John, and I set out on a rescue mission with about 7 guys. The getting them out went well and we were back at 12:15 and then S, J & M had to have supper! They were pretty tired having been up about 24 hours!

Unfortunately the loading of the vehicle and all that time sitting in the car has give Stir quite a back ache so he’s taking it easy!

Aimee is fitting right in and has already worked with Strider a couple of times! She will bring lots of fun, laughter and creativity into our lives. Meghan will be thrilled because she plays piano beautifully and draws!

The grass is growing tall and strong!

Greetings from a very green and very wet Tchincombe! We are still getting rain every day or every other day! The grass is growing tall and strong! As well as the millet! Each of the workers grow their own staple food which is millet. It’s eaten two times a day with sour milk (similar to buttermilk) or with sometimes with a meat sauce. The two previous years there were slim harvests so that people have had to spend most of their income on buying food. We are all looking to the fields of tall, healthy millet that is rapidly making beautiful heads - with grateful hearts!

Stirling and Jeffrey went down to Windhoek last week. They are picking up the last of the fencing supplies – pliers and fasteners, etc. And having the alternator for main generator repaired. It’s stopped until their return. They will also pick up Jeffrey’s rifle that he bought last year! He saved his own money to buy it. He has had to learn a great deal of patience as it’s taken about a year to get the import permit! But permit was in hand last week.

PRAISE – Aimee got her visa!! She’s in Windhoek and will return with Jeffrey and Stirling. Thanks for praying for her visa!

Pray that Jeffrey, Aimee and Stir’s time at the border on return will be minimal. They hope to travel back on Thursday. In spite of all that might happen pray that they will be salt and light! (We normally travel through a border post that’s not busy but with the rains that border post is not accessible. He must go through the main border post and it’s usually horrendous in terms of waiting in lines.)

The other passenger on the trip is a German Shepherd pup named Bella that belongs to Shelley and Peter. A six week old pup ought to be quite fun!

Meghan is in Lubango for two weeks to do school with a ‘real’ teacher! Elizabeth is a teacher from Toronto who’s hear with a team from People’s Church. I’m grateful for the time to be at home for a bit on my own.

Pray that this will be a fun time for Meghan and that it won’t be just school but a new adventure where she trusts God to help her.

Pray that I will use my time wisely! My plan is to study Olungambwe and also to help the ladies with their Portuguese. Pray that I will not fret over the things that interrupt my plans! Like today! I need to go to Lubango to try and get the axle for the Unimog. It should have been ready on Friday but as of yesterday was still ‘getting ready’ – was the message I received! I plan to return tomorrow!

The transport of fencing materials has been stopped since the truck driver for the DAF went to Lubango on Friday. I hope he returns with me tomorrow!

Pray for the outreach at Imbondwe – last Sunday of each month!

Pray for the ladies’ meeting that’s every Wednesday. As most of the ladies are out very early in the morning weeding their fields attendance as been almost nil! Pray that they will hunger and thirst for God!

Pray too for the translation of materials into their language! Pray for them to desire to learn more Portuguese so they can read the Bibles in Portuguese that are available.

Pray for Fox family. They have 100% of their outgoing expenses. They have 25% of their monthly support. They plan to leave for Portugal in December to begin language study.

We do thank you for your PARTNERSHIP in the Gospel here at Tchincombe! Without your prayers and support this ministry would not be possible!

In Him,

Donna & Stirling

We have had incredible rains this year!

Hi again from a soggy Tchincombe!

We have had incredible rains this year! Have you noticed we haven’t mentioned prayer for rain!? It’s been a nice relief to not stress over rain. I suppose we are also learning that whether it rains or not our God is awesome and able to care for us!

We have continued to have challenges with the vehicles. Stirling went to town the day after I wrote last and was able to get another gear box (used) for the DAF in one day! That in itself is a miracle! The driver of the DAF thought that he’d try one more time to get it to go into gear before disassembling it and it went into gear! So that afternoon they set off to get another load and about 5 km out from Tchincombe when Nando wanted to put it into low gear – it wouldn’t go into low gear! So he came back. Stirling, Nando and Firmino worked for two days straight and did manage to get it up and running but now it can run ONLY in low gear. For the work of hauling in the sand low gear is just what we need. When the transport of material is complete the gearbox will have to be changed out because running the DAF in low range on the tarmac would not be fun! Whew!

Stir has spent the last 2 days working on the Chevrolet! With help of dear friends pages of the maintenance manual were e-mailed to us. Today it was running but there are some final adjustments that need to be made tomorrow!

The Unimog’s front axle is in town for repairs!

We have transported about 2/3 of the material to Tchincombe.

Amidst all these challenges there have been various and sundry sick children and people. Pray for a nurse for Tchincombe!! Just now (7:30 PM) the neighbor’s tractor came bringing a small baby who’s quite ill. We’re not sure why they brought the baby here as that particular neighbor has been going back and forth to town almost every day because they are hauling construction supplies from town!

Tomorrow Jeffrey and I will run into town for Jeffrey to do his final exam in Personal Keyboarding (fancy name for typing). We will get food for farm store and hopefully that part for the Unimog.

Stirling and Jeffrey are planning a quick trip to Windhoek to pick up Aimee Heyer – she’s coming to visit and help us with the horses. They will also get some fencing tools that were too small to send on truck.

Pray that Aimee will be granted her visa! We hear that the Embassy in Ottawa is having some technical problems!

Continue to Pray for outreach to ladies and to Imbondwe!

Pray for Fox family. They have 100% of their outgoing expenses. They have 25% of their monthly support. They plan to leave for Portugal in December to begin language study.

Thanks for your partnership in the Gospel!

Donna for all of us!

Hi from a soggy Tchincombe and Foster family!!

Hi from a soggy Tchincombe and Foster family!!

We went yesterday with both Landys and our trailer to bring back fencing and our camping equipment which we had left there last weekend. It didn’t rain in the night though it looked like it would and so most of night in tent we were sleeping lightly waiting for it to start pouring! It only started that in the morning! It rained most of the way here and had rained really hard here in the night. It sure makes things green and lovely thought hot and sticky!

We met Paulo with tractor pulling big farm trailer on his way to get a load. He said DAF was coming behind him so all the way we were expecting to meet the DAF – it’s actually nice to know when a vehicle is coming as the bush tracks of course are single lane! We never met up with the DAF and arrived here to discover that the DAF has broken down – fortunately right here at the farm – it doesn’t want to go into gear! Nando Yuma, the driver, will go into town tomorrow with Stirling to talk to mechanics in town about the problem.

Firmino spent the afternoon taking apart the right front wheel assembly of the Unimog in an attempt to discover where a not good noise was coming from – they found the offending part and Stir will try to get a replacement in Lubango tomorrow!

So all of the machines are down except the blue Ford tractor which is about 20 years old!!

Pray that amidst all the breakdowns and difficulties that we will know God’s enabling and that we will trust Him! He knows all about trucks and cars and EVERYTHING!! Pray too that we will be able to encourage others to rely in God alone!!

In Him,

Donna

Stirling and trucks have left the border!

Stirling and trucks have left the border! So we’re off on another adventure! We’ll be away from computer, etc for a few days so we thank you for your prayers! Will be in touch when we get back to Tchincombe! Donna for all of us!

The border saga continues!

Hello! The border saga continues! Stirling returned to border early Monday to begin the Angolan importation process – it really is a gauntlet of paperwork and officials! I talked to him just now and he FINALLY received the bill for customs – 837,500 kwanzas (customs) and 68,000 (clearing agent) = $11,608 of importation fees. It’s less than the quoted $14,000 so we’re glad for that! Stirling is at the bank paying and now we wait to see how long that takes and if the trucks will be released today!

The 3 interlink trucks are too big to travel the bush tracks to Tchincombe – too much sand – so they will head to the farm of a friend near Kahama (near main road) – about 100 miles from here. As soon as we get word they are leaving the border then the children and I will go to meet them with camping equipment and food!

Monday I made a day trip to Lubango – that was plan A! My goals were to get a letter of invitation got Aimee Heyer and to get turbo of Chevy welded. I did manage to get turbo welded by about 4 PM but no letter of invitation. So Meghan and I stayed over– that was plan B – a bit of challenge since we weren’t planning to spend night – toothbrushes, change clothes, etc - but with help of colleagues and family we managed. Now we get to plan C! The letter of invitation was in hand by 9:30 but in the meantime Stirling had called to ask me to take money from one bank account to another – you would think this would be easy BUT 2 of the 3 streets going to the one bank were closed for road work – they also happen to be 2 of the only 3 streets that get one in and out of town so. . . . . lots of time in traffic with crazy taxi drivers! But by lunch time the money from one bank was in hand and taken to the other. Since we didn’t want to go back to Lubango on Friday for the food we’d need for the farm store this was added to the agenda – again with the gracious help of colleagues we did manage to accomplish everything we set out to do and I made it home by 8 PM last night (Tuesday)!

Jeffrey and Matt managed very well here on their own for the night. Perpetua was quite surprised that the boys weren’t afraid to stay on their own. In African culture there is always family with you - your nuclear family or extended family - people are rarely on their own – especially at night. The ladies are always surprised when I’m not afraid to stay by myself on the rare occasion that Stir and the kids are away together. I’m not sure of all the ins and outs but there is a definite fear there!

Stirling called – the import bill is paid. Now – will they get out the gate today? Is there more paperwork!? We’re on stand-by. Stir hopes to get out by 2 PM!

Thanks!!

Donna