New University Year & Daniel's birthday

Dear all,
The university campus is suddenly buzzing as students have been returning over the last couple of weeks, more than double the number that were here last year as we are now into the second year of the university. Apart from helping out with registration (as seen in the picture being assited by Daniel) Paul has been very busy finalising timetables, allocating students to seminar groups and taught his first lecture today in a new "Maths for Scientists" course which he discovered he was to teach a week ago. The Physics is also kicking off soon as Paul has been joined by a Mr Kingu who will lecture in physics and maths. Paul is also now in his third week of his masters course and managing to keep up with all the reading/blogging/discussion boards etc. involved in the distance e-learning course.

Daniel is on holiday from school for two weeks so we are having lots of fun playing with friends and swimming (as the weather is now hotting up!) and enthusiastically practising reading and writing ready for the new term. Daniel had a wonderful 5th birthday. Isaac was also very excited, possibly even more so than Daniel! We had a lovely party in the garden with local friends and friends from school, as you can see in the video. Both boys are well and happy, and enjoying their local friends very much. Daniel has also made a new best friend at school, a Tanzanian boy called Kirby. He has really struggled to make close friends but his teachers say that it is good to see a real bond being formed for the first time.

Christine has had further meetings about her future position at the provincial office, and assuming her work permit is processed in time hopes to start work after Christmas for a couple of mornings a week and then every morning after Easter (when Isaac begins nursery at Daniel's school). We continue to enjoy helping at the nursery school in Ipagala. The picture shows one of the classes with their teacher and Rev. Erasto Mwambeje, a Tanzania Assemblies of God pastor who set up and runs the nursery. He is a wonderful man of God with a great vision for the school and for church planting. We also attended his church a few weekends ago where Paul preached and we were made very welcome. We are now preparing for a prayer and fellowship meeting on Saturday for teachers, parents and supporters of the nursery, where Paul will again preach and Christine will lead the sung worship.

Christine has been very busy with choir Revival recently. We have now started having rehersals at our home, as the church will be used as an extra classroom for theology students this year. It is great to welcome everyone to our home and it also solves the problem I had of getting babysitters! We also attended another Assemblies of God, church as a choir, to worship with them recently, and it was a wonderful service. This week we have been given a small shop on the university campus to use as an income generating project for the choir. It is very exciting and the shop is in a great position to get a lot of trade from students. It is taking a lot of prayer, organisation and money to get it up and running, but we hope to open next week and we pray that it will be successful and profitable as it will be great to be self sufficient in the long term. Alongside her duties as choir treasurer, Christine has also just been elected, together with another member, to organise the spiritual programme for the choir. This initially will involve our regular prayer and worship times (which hopefully will now be more regular!), though in the future I hope to run an alpha course with the choir too.

On the 20/21st September we went to Kilimatinde for the jubilee celebrations of the building of Kilimatinde church 80 years ago. CMS missionary Canon Ralph Banks, who was vicar of Kilimatinde at the time oversaw the building of the church. The jubilee was a great event. On the Saturday there was a very big youth event with lots of choirs singing from all over the diocese of the Rift Valley, and then on the Sunday was a big service of celebration held outside the church on a new platform constructed specially for the event. The first picture shows Masada Gospel Singers singing at the Sunday service, and the second shows Bishop John Lupaa (left), bishop of the Diocese of the Rift Valley, and Archibishop Valentino Mokiwa, the new archbishop of Tanzania.

Hope you enjoy the videos. One is of Daniel's birthday party. The other is some snippets of the wedding of Amani and Faraja, friends from Kilimatinde, who were married in July.

.... sorry the videos aren't here yet - having trouble uploading - will be here soon - watch this space! .......

Please pray:

n For Rev. Erasto, that God will bless him in his work provide for the needs of the nursery.
n For choir Revival and our new shop, that it will be successful and enable us to become self sufficient and further develop our work to God’s glory
n For Daniel and Isaac, that they will continue in good health, continue to develop lasting friendships, and grow in their love of God.
n For Paul as he tries to manage time commitments and develops working relationships with new staff

With love and prayers,

Christine, Paul, Daniel and Isaac