News and Notes - May 19, 2007

The second term began this week, and we were glad to welcome the first year students back. After a month of a still and quiet campus, we enjoy having the activity and noise of the students again.

Our current houseguest is Jack Bayles from Stillwater, Oklahoma. Jack has a long history with Namwianga. He and his wife first came in 1987 when Joann served as the school nurse. They lived here for several months, and Jack has come back regularly since then to help with water issues. He is exploring various water purifying projects and is testing the water in wells around the campus, so we have experiments and test kits all over the place. He showed us buckets of murky lake water and then treated one with less than a teaspoon of alum. In that bucket the mud and dirt immediately settled to a small circle on the bottom of the bucket, leaving clear, clean water at the top. He is using a black light and marker tablets to test for contamination in certain wells and has culture kits growing to check for e coli in other wells. The good news is that our well water once again tests pure, and even the lake water tap that we use for watering plants is turning out pretty clean stuff.

Jack also builds trailers for bicycles and made one for Meagan to use when she takes toddlers back and forth from the Merritts’ orphanage. Meagan tries to bring one or two little ones home with her each afternoon so that she can give them some one-on-one attention. She had been pushing a double stroller for the long walk, but now she can put them in the trailer behind her bike and have a much shorter, easier trip.

Last weekend we spoke at a marriage seminar in Chilesha. The response from our audience was excellent. The Zambians have very different ways of dealing with issues in public. During our question and answer session, a woman asked what a wife should do if her husband attends a different church than she does. We gave our best advice, and as we finished, a man seated on the opposite side of the building from woman who asked the question raised his hand. “I am the husband,” he said. “I like what you have said here today. I am going to start going to church with my wife from now on.”

Today I am taking a group of college students to Sandy Hill. My plan was to do a children’s Bible school class. Communication, as always, was a problem. I asked Rodgers to go out yesterday on his motorbike and arrange a time for the class. He came back in the afternoon giving me a list of ladies who would gather the WOMEN for my class. “Rodgers, I was planning to teach the children, not the women,” I told him.

Rodgers thought for just a moment. “No problem, Ba Linda,” he said. You can teach the women, and the college girls can teach the children. You can do two things at once.” I guess that’s the story of my life over here!

I just got interrupted for at least the fifth time since I started writing this blog entry. I guess that tells me I need to wrap it up. As always, thank you to those who remember us in prayer as we labor on the edges of the kingdom.