Sorry for the long break from the blog but hopefully you have received our link letter in the meantime. Dodoma is now very dry again. Many parts of the country have had a very good harvest this year, though as usual Dodoma region has suffered due to lack of rain. At least there should be plenty of food around from surrounding areas this year.
Christine’s small loans project is continuing to go well in the diocese of Kiteto. Thank you to everyone who has made contributions on my just giving page or to me personally and please pray that this avenue continues to be effective. We recently carried out training of 8 youth groups and have distributed loans to them. This work would have been impossible without your contributions and more is still needed. The pictures show the training event.
The groups will be carrying out a range of projects including vegetable gardening, carpentry, pig and chicken keeping, small shops and others.
In June Revival Choir (the Swahili choir with which Christine sings) held a big event to launch our CD which we recorded late last year. It was a great event. A well known Christian singer from Kenya, Solomon Mkubwa, joined us. He is pictured here performing, and the group shows Revival choir with him and others.
Paul is starting to hand various responsibilities over to others at the university as we get ready for our furlough. He has promised to see the new timetable in and so we’ll be leaving shortly after the university opens in November and not long after our first graduation for which frantic preparations are ongoing and for which your prayers are welcome. In the mean time there will still be the usual tasks to keep Paul busy: marking, exam mark collation, teaching practice observation, timetable creation along with this year a little bit of teaching A-level Physics on a pre-university entry course.
The university year has just come to an end and we were very sad to say goodbye to graduating students who have been with us in the English choir for the last 3 years. A few weeks ago we had a lovely farewell party with them. This picture shows the members who will be leaving us singing at the party.
We have just had a visit from Christine’s mum. This picture shows us picnicing with her and some friends beside our favourite lake in Dodoma.
We also had a few days holiday in Bagamoyo. Here the boys are catching crabs with daddy and playing in the sea with Grandma.
We have had a couple of trips to Kilimatinde recently. Here Isaac is helping our friend Ema to wash the car with water from the lake in the village.We are busy making preparations to come back to the UK on Furlough in November this year for 6 months. Thanks for your prayers for the practical side of things. We have just confirmed a house to rent in St. Austell and CMS will be lending us a vehicle, so things are coming together now. We are in the process of arranging dates to visit all our link churches and generally planning our busy schedule. Please pray for God’s hand over the whole process both in terms of our time back in the UK and the situations we leave behind.
Though the house is well equipped there are a few things we will be looking to borrow if any of our friends in St. Austell are able to help out. If anyone has a spare oil fired or electric radiator which we could use in a bedroom we would be very grateful. We would also be grateful for the loan of a few toys and especially kids bikes (for a proficient 7 year old, and a 4 year old needing stabilizers)
With love,
Paul, Christine, Daniel and Isaac.xxx
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