Women's Conference

Bridget attended a women’s conference at the church last week.  This involved some teaching, which was very good, on topics ranging from the Holy Spirit to requirements for wearing the uniform; hanging out with the ladies; eating her body weight in nsima!  She had a good time and is getting fat.

The gift of mass catering

Serving lunch

Lunch in the shade

The Pilgrim Wesleyan Church has a uniform for the ‘deaconesses’ which is intended to show that they are committed to service in the church and on behalf of the church.  This is taken very seriously, and if you want to be ‘bloused’ you have to go through training and a ‘blousing ceremony’.  The ceremony was the climax of the conference.  There was much discussion about the life-style expected of a ‘bloused’ woman, with many saying that the behaviour of these women often puts others of from being bloused, because they are gossips and generally not very well behaved.  It was interesting to see how open people were about confronting this issue and being very hard on themselves and each other about their behaviour.

The ladies parading into church

The 'newly bloused' being commissioned

The 'newly bloused' receiving a hug from every member of the congregation, watched over by the Pastor, his wife and his daughter.

 

Smoke That Thunders

On Monday we were able to hire a car and go with a local family (mum and 3 children) to Livingstone to see the Victoria Falls.  This family had never been before and it was a thrill for us to see their reaction to so much water.  We had previously asked Charles, 12, what was the biggest piece of water he had seen.  It was a pool less than the size of a football pitch.  The Zambezi rendered him speechless!

 

Victoria Falls in the local language (Nyanja) is Mosi-oa-Tunya, which translates as The Smoke That Thunders.  From above the falls you can see a huge cloud of spray rising up like smoke, and the noise is thunder.  We could see this column of cloud as we approached Livingstone, from about 4 miles away.  Mosi-oa-Tunya is also the name for Livingstone itself.  In Chitonga, the language here that we are trying to learn, it is Manziahuma, which means Water and Thunder.

The water level is at its peak at the moment (it reaches a maximum flow rate of 3000³/second going over the falls.  We got very wet and the visibility was dramatic, some might say poor!

Count the legs - 3 children, one coat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards we sat above the falls to dry out and eat a picnic, and for the children to play in the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the afternoon we drove by the river to see what we could see.  Quite a variety of creatures as you can see.

 

There was a lot of sleeping in the car on the way home.

Thank you...

A big thank you to St Michael's Church and St Mair's Church Aberystwyth for the generous funding that they have sent towards the teachers' back pay.

Creepies and Crawlies and Tiny Wee Beasties

Frog on the shower room wall

Gecko in the bed room

Ants crossing the road.  These are BIG and if they bit it REALLY REALLY hurts!

Hawkmoth outside the door

The hairiest caterpillar you ever did see

Two sunsets and a rainbow

Out and about

We went into the bush with a couple of American missionaries and spent 3 nights sleeping in a tent pitched under a pole barn with half a thatched roof. 

The accommodation



Lighting the fire for hot water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After due consideration, this route was NOT chosen

 

 

 

The journey took 6 hours on some very bad roads.  We were grateful for a good British Landrover and an experienced driver!

 

 

 

 

 

We spent part of the day clearing the ground ready around the accommodation, ready for the season’s work to begin in the village, and part of the day walking around and looking at birds.  It was lovely to do something different and spend some time with Jim and Rachel, seeing the work they were doing in the village and the surrounding area.  This is building up the local church and supporting local evangelistic outreaches to the surrounding villages, church planting and discipling new believers.

Slash and burn

Tents on the left, cooking on the right.  Fortunately there was very little rain.

Rachel catering for us

 

The bush

Cotton - who'd have thought it?

 

Sausage tree - yes really!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We also went with the pastor and his wife to her village and joined the Sunday service at the church where they began their ministry.

 

It all started under this tree preaching to 5.  By the time they left, the congregation was 120.  He would go to the surrounding villages on his bike and say ‘I have news for you, do you want to hear it…?’  Of course, who doesn’t want to hear news?  So he would tell them, God loves you, you have gone far away from Him and He wants you back.  Jesus has made that possible.

 

The interior of the current church building

Teaching English at home

Amos reading with Patrick

Bridget and the afternoon class grappling with the present tense