Hello Scotland!

I'm baaaaaack! Wow, it's been a quick 6 months. And a fast two weeks back at home - sorry for delayed writing here!

It was not easy to leave Zimbabwe - I miss the friends we made, the hot weather, the pre-schools, our church. But it is nice to be home and see family and friends here in the UK again - and to have constant electricty!


Since I now have much quicker internet, here is a photo report of our last few weeks:

Our last visit to the Tanaka girls - we took with us some clothes that had been donated, and the girls had fun modelling them! Junic and Jerry (far right) are working to re-establish a drop-in centre for more streetgirls in Harare.

Our painting! This is now the reception for the Oasis offices...

... and this is the main meeting room (or part of). The rest of the Oasis staff have been motivated to continue with the work in the offices - hopefully they will have offices that look good-as-new soon!

The Oasis Zimbabwe Staff

Our "party" on the last day of Wow Kids Club at Northside.

A collection of folk from Northside, at our "goodbye tea".

Sunrise at Domboshava with our friends. It was very, very early...

 Farming - harvesting our maize with Vee and Martin, then enjoying some of the produce for lunch (that's our painting in the background!)

Jess, Helen and me with the teachers and children at Margaret Treacy Pre-school, Epworth.

I had a brilliant time in Zimbabwe - challenging, intense, and thoroughly enjoyable. I have learned of God's faithfulness, and come to understand that it's His plan, not ours!

So, life after Zim...? I plan to work in France for a few months before going to university. I will be keeping Oasis Zimbabwe in my prayers, and I hope that perhaps you will too.

God bless,

Jo

The end is near...!

Hello all,

Over the past few weeks time has flown by. People always told me the last six weeks of our time here would whizz by, but I didn’t believe them. Now I do! It’s running away from us - only 12 days left here with the girls! Over the past month or so I've really been challenged on the Fruits of the Spirit, as we read in Galatians 5:22-23...
     
"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,    goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

These are well-known verses, but recently I've been challenged to stop and think how each of these should actually look in my life. As Christians, we are called to imitate Christ, and to "be transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:2). And so, although sometimes these things have been difficult here in Zim, I know that with the Holy Spirit they are achievable, and that by filling our lives with these good things, we please God most of all.

We have still been keeping ourselves busy, so no slacking off until we touch down in the UK again... This will possibly be my last blog before we finish, so enjoy!

Oasis Projects:
Pre-schools - Each Wednesday and Thursday morning we’ve been visiting the pre-schools and working with them. The school of 80 children now have a large repertoire of songs they have learned from us - when we sat down with them the other day to start Story Time, they spontaneously bursted into one of the songs we taught them. It’s so encouraging to see them enjoying themselves like that! We also introduced them to the wonders of bubble wrap when we did a Circle Time on “Sense of Feeling”. We were happy to be able to share the joy of popping those little plastic bubbles! It will be very sad to leave the pre-schools, as we enjoy them so much and have formed a good relationship with the kids and teachers alike. God’s really blessed us there, and the children, although disadvantaged, are happy.

Foundations for Farming - Our maize is growing tall! Sadly not all of it is the same height (we’re putting this down to lack of experience on our part, and poor soil...) but it has all sprouted and grown. We might be able to harvest some of it before we leave, which will be exciting. We’ll use it to give to some people in the Epworth community, who do not have enough food to feed themselves and their families.

Jewellery-making - A regular feature in our weeks still, we have loved the therapeutic sessions of jewellery-making. Sadly some of our stock went missing, but we are still able to produce some more to sell to raise funds for the Tanaka Project.

Tanaka Project - This Thursday we finally managed to visit the Tanaka girls again! Some have left the school now, as they are 18. One of them is applying to university while the other has a job. The other girls are preparing for exams this year, and going through other big changes. It’s lovely to see how Oasis still maintains the good relationship with the girls after the home was shut down, and the girls are so appreciative of Junic’s visits.

Clean-Up - The big clean-up at Oasis offices is still going strong. Jerry, an enthusiastic American who is back to work with Oasis Zim after 3 months at home, is the leader of the project, and the efforts to make Oasis a cleaner, more inviting place are paying off. The grounds outside are tackled by the men, while we have been focusing on the interior work. We have painted the Oasis reception “Gentle Sunbeam” (or pale yellow) in colour, complete with the Oasis logo in orange and blue. It is a nice way to get practically involved, and everyone who comes to Oasis now notices the difference. We are now working on the other rooms (some of which are falling apart!), but slowly making progress. A lick of paint can really brighten a place up, and it brightens people’s moods too. It’s been great working together with the rest of the Oasis staff on Thursdays, having fun and getting the job done (in the words of Bob the Builder).

Northside Community Church:
We have continued to help with the reading sessions and Wow Kids on Friday afternoons, which has been good fun. It’s incredible how much children know, but they all seem so willing to learn still, which is great. I have also thoroughly enjoyed leading the Grade 3 (7 year old) Sunday School class. I’ve been challenged to think outside the box, as some cultural thigns are different here than in the UK, but overall I’ve had a great time with the class. We have been helping Sarah with various odd jobs around the church too, so a day at Northside is never boring!

A little bit of everything else...
Team retreat in Nyanga - Last weekend we travelled to Nyanga, in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, for our team retreat. We had been told it’s like Scotland; I struggled to believe this. But now, having spent a chilly weekend in the mountains with sheep, rain and beautiful views, I have come to realise that Nyanga is Zimbabwe’s version of Scotland - home from home, really! We went with Kate and her family, along with some of the other “strays” at Oasis - Jerry, Catriona and Sandra. We climbed up mountains (sort of), walked around waterfalls, went swimming in rock pools and played lots of card games! We also were able to reflect on our time together with Kate, looking back on what we’ve learned, how we’ve changed, and how we think we’ll do things when we get home. It’s incredible how much God has been working in us during our time here: we’ve each learned a lot, some things the same and some things different, but a lot! We’ve been challenged by each other, by our situations, by our friends here, and by the Zimbabwean culture, which has really made us think about how we should live as Christians back in the UK. I have been amazed a God’s faithfulness, and struck by the power of prayer. As we read in James 5:16 - “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.” It really is incredible how much God listens when we are grounded in His word, and spending time with Him.


Getting all “Zimbabwean” - We have all decided we love Zimbabwe. I am definitely picking up a lot of the phrases people use here (be prepared for a lot of “just now” and “confirm” and “ya”). We’ve learned a lot from Juliet, the maid of the house, as well. She took us to her church, which was definitely an experience I won’t be forgetting soon, and she also taught us how to make sadza, the Zimbabwean’s staple meal. She is full of interesting tales about life in Zimbabwe, which liven up our dinner-making times. I also got told off for not washing my socks properly - “Your socks are not clean, my dear”. Oops, sorry Juliet!

The three of us with Juliet and Judith, on Juliet's birthday.

Our lovely friends - We never expected to make good friends here in Zim, apart from each other, so the fact that we now know so many people is such a blessing! We have learned a lot from them, and have also been able to have a laugh with them all. It will be very hard to say goodbye! We feel at home in our church, our bible studies and our workplace, all thanks to the people we’ve met here. So, to those brilliant Zimbos - thank you!

Prayer requests:

• Please pray for Oasis Zim - They’re struggling, and everyone is on voluntary contracts. Please pray that God will provide the money they need to keep projects going. Pray also that there will be unity amongst the staff in the difficult times.

• Please pray about the upcoming elections - there have been little outbursts of violence, though nothing has affected us directly. However, please pray that as the elections draw nearer there will be peace rather than violence, so that few people are hurt.

• Please pray that in our last two weeks we will be able to complete all that God has planned for us, and that we won’t stop short in serving Him. May He continue to be our focus, and not anything else.

• Pray for the Oasis pre-schools - for the teachers, that they will be able to teach the children what they need to know for Grade 1, and also about God’s love for them. And please pray for the children too - 80 is a big number to have in one class, so we pray that each one will be valued and each one will learn.

• Pray for us as we prepare to go home - We are all very aware that thing will be different when we go home. We’ll have changed, and friends may have too. Please pray that we can stand firm in God’s word, and that we will be able to continue to serve God in our home situations and the rest of our plans for the year: Helen as she goes to Bristol for Oasis 360, Jess as she goes back to work and begins an internship with the kids’ worker at her church in Sheffield, and me, as I really don’t know where I’m going!

• For safety on our journey home. Jess and Helen travel back on 10th March, I come back on the 22nd (after my parents have come out for a visit).

• Praise God for the safety and protection, friends, and “family” He’s blessed us with here. He has been so faithful!

Thank you so much for all your support, once again. It’s not long now till I’ll be back in bonnie Scotland!

God bless,

Jo

So, pineapples don't grow on trees...

Hello!

We’ve had a busy two weeks here in Zim (or rather, Southern Africa, since we spent half that time in Mozambique). Let me tell you a little more...

Oasis Projects:
Since we’ve only really had one week in Harare since I last wrote, not a lot has changed. We are still thoroughly enjoying the work we’re doing! We are carefully tending to our maize plot still, as part of the Foundations for Farming scheme. They’re growing pretty big, so we’re hoping we might be able to see the product before we leave! In terms of our jewellery-making, we’ve stocked up on beads (after paying a visit to a place equivalent to bead heaven, I imagine), so we’re going to continue working away at that. Catriona, the girl overseeing the Jacob’s Well project (including our jewellery-making initiative), returns to Zim next week, so we are very much looking forward to meeting her and learning more from an expert! In the pre-schools in Epworth we were so touched to see the improvements in their singing - they have certainly been practising the songs we taught them. The children are warming to us and getting more used to having us around, which is also a positive sign. We made cotton wool sheep with them, which they really ejoyed. We have found that the teachers seem to appreciate our different ideas too - their art lessons are usually just drawing with crayons, so it’s nice to be able to provide something different. It’s only a little difference, but we feel it’s something  simple we can do for them and for God. We have also started a big clean-up at the Oasis offices - they moved just before we started our time here, and now have officially moved into their main offices. We are trying to make the place more respectable, where people will want to come for training and things. The girls and I are going to be decorating the reception - a way of brightening up the offices while leaving a mark!

Hands of Mercy Orphanage:
We spent another day at the orphanage a couple of weeks ago. We absolutely love the place! Alongside Kerry, a girl we met through our bible study and regularly helps out at the orphanage, we spent our time with the three youngest children, playing with them and teaching them colours, numbers and letters. It's lovely to see them so happy to play and things, they really are just a great bunch of kids!

Mozambique:
Unfortunately, due to various reasons, we were unable to go to Nyanga last weekend, but hopefully this will happen in a couple of weeks’ time. However, we were still able to go to Mozambique with Kevin Brits (Kate’s husband, who was travelling there for Oasis business.) And it was an unforgettable trip!
We spent four nights staying at Kedesh, a boys’ orphanage just out of Beira, the capital. I loved it. The orphanage is run by an Amercian man, John, and he is assisted by an English girl, Heather. There are 26 boys there, aged 7 to 18. We were able just to slot in and live a couple of days with them, helping out where help was needed and playing sports and spending time getting to know the boys. We harvested peanuts (who knew they grew at the end of the roots of the plant?!), chopped vegetables, made bread and played lots and lots of volleyball! The boys all spoke Portuguese, so we learned a bit of that, and they were learning English, so Heather encouraged us to speak English as much as we could with them. Each evening the boys watched a film that John projected onto a big screen that they could watch from outside - the first night we spent in Mozambvique, we watched High School Musical 3! They use this as a way for the boys to learn English - and it works. We often heard little phrases being used that came from films. The area was spectacular - very green, and some amazing sunsets. We watched it one evening from the top of the water - which had been built by John and the boys. He believes they should learn skills that will be useful once they leave the orphanage, so they have built everything there, from the houses to the benches to the well!
One morning we visited the girls’ orphanage across the road as well, where we joined in with making beads from paper. The girls were all lovely, and keen to practise their English!
What I loved most from that time was the simplicity of living. It’s really eye-opening to see people live without the necessities. Both orphanages were run by Christians, so the boys and girls were founded in faith. And most of all they seemed happy. We were sad not to be able to spend more time with them, but perhaps one day I will return!
Our last day in Beira was spent at the beach. Seeing the sea was strange after not having been near a coastline for 4 months! We swam, we sunbathed, we enjoyed the day off! Mozambique is truly beautiful, a place I would love to return to. It is also a place where God is working - we visited Oasis projects there where churches have built water wells for the community, and a health clinic is being run. There is lots happening, but lots still to be done. It was in quite harrowing to see five-year-old boys looking after babies on the streets, to see young women wandering around the streets prepared to give themselves away for money, to see the extent of poverty some people live in. I am very thankful to have been given the opportunity to visit, but I would love to return to be able to contribute something more of my time.

Prayer requests:

• Please pray for the orphanages in Mozambique. The work that the directors are doing is really making a difference to the kids' lives, and we pray that they can continue to get the financial support they need to keep going. Please pray for the boys who have just left and are trying to find work and accommodation for themselves, that as they leave they will continue to rely on God and not fall into any traps.
• Praise God that we travelled safely and smoothly, and that we managed to get our visas as we came back into Zimbabwe. Please pray that we will have no hassle in extending these until March, when we are due to depart.
• Please pray for the work of Oasis Mozambique. The organisation has had to downsize there due to financial problems, but they have done tremendous work, providing a health clinic and water taps for the local communities.
• We thank God for the people supporting us and helping us here in Zim - for Kate, our friends from bible study and church, for Sarah, for Lorraine and Henry, for the Oasis staff and everyone else who has impacted our lives here. We ask that God will continue to bless those people as we come to our closing month.
• Pray for Oasis Zimbabwe - their work is making such a difference to the community, but they too are struggling financially. All the staff there are on voluntary contracts, which is proving difficult for many, as they struggle to pay rent. We pray that God will provide, so that they can continue to work for His purpose in Epworth.
• I thank God for my team, for Jess and Helen. They are amazing girls, and I have been so fortunate that we get along well. Please pray that we will all feel we have completed God's purpose for us here in Zimbabwe, and that we will be able to apply the lessons we have learned when we get back to the UK.

Thank you so much for your prayers. I look forward to being able to show photos and tell you all about it on my return!

God bless,

Jo 

New year, back to work!

Makadini! (See, I’m really getting into the Shona culture here...!)

I hope you’re all keeping well and have got back into the swing of things this new year. How are the resolutions going? I pray that God is already moving in your lives this year. A verse that has stuck with me so far is Hebrews 12:28-29:

    “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to     God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

It’s beautiful. We have a firm foundations in God, a firm hope. Therefore we should serve him out of gratitude and worship for what He’s done for us. And that has been my inspiration this year as we’ve been going back to work.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted anything, so here’s an update on what’s been going on, what’s new, and what’s about to happen...

Pre-School Programme:
We have moved away from Mbare for now, so that we can experience some different pre-schools. We are now working in Epworth, where Oasis have a lot of targets for the next three years as they focus more of their projects there. Each time we go into the pre-schools, we try to reflect the love of God in what we do - showing kindness, giving each child individual attention, and praying for the kids each week. On Wednesday mornings we have been going to Margaret Treacy pre-school, based at the Catholic church in Epworth. This pre-school is fairly well-resourced, and the teachers are very organised. We have thoroughly enjoyed the work we’ve done there - it has been a lot easier to fit in there than at Mbare, since it is the start of the new school year rather than part-way through the last term! These past couple of weeks we have read stories to the children (from an adapted children’s bible, mostly), taught a new song, done an art activity with them and played games. The children - 55 of them in total so far - are all fairly confident, and we can already see improvements in their English. They love singing - they have lots of rhymes in Shona and in English, and we taught them “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and, just this week, “Who’s The King of the Jungle?”, which they all thought was brilliant (teachers included!) It’s been a lot of fun teaching them English in subtle ways - for an art activity we drew round our hands, and from there we could teach them some colours and practise their counting skills. We have found that parachute games go down a treat as well - they adore running underneath and just generally getting very excited! This group of children, and the teachers, loved playing with the bubbles we took along with us last week. It’s nice to think that we can bring in new things for them to do, which so often in the UK we take for granted, whereas here it was something really special, and really fun, for them to play with. Their joy is contagious, that’s for sure.
The other pre-school we have been working at is quite a contrast. We have had a maximum of 17 kids there, but they’re all equally willing to learn. We have done some of the same things with them (we were so proud when we returned and they could remember how to play Duck Duck Goose - they had been practising, clearly!) but we also made music shakers (boxes with rice in them, basically) which they had a lot of fun playing with. Some of them have very good rhythm, while others might need a little more practise!

Foundations For Farming:
Our hearts were crushed when we returned to Oasis from our holiday to find that our maize patch had overgrown with weeds - though the maize itself had still managed to grow too, thankfully. But since then we’ve been working hard at it in the afternoons, getting used to using a hoe to weed, and it is now back to clear land! It has been heavy work, so we’re very thankful for the good weather God’s given us, and for the pool back at the house we’re staying in. We’re all quite protective over the land though, and I’m happy to say that some of our plants are now over a metre tall - yay!

Jewellery-making:
We’ve been making some more jewellery - some of which will be coming home with me to sell, so I hope you’re all ready to stock up on some fine pieces of hand-made wearable art!

Northside Community Church:
From our busy Christmas schedule at the church, we are now back to our regular Friday/Sundays there. Wow Kids, the Friday afternoon kids’ club, has started again, and yesterday we were talking about Elijah being fed by the ravens - and everyone made their own paper bird. It’s been good fun there, as the kids listen well and we can bring some new ideas to them. We’ve also started paired reading again - it’s lovely to hear the children’s reading skills improve as time goes on.
A lot of our time at Northside has also been spent making powerpoint presentations for various people and various things - this weekend is the church’s 38th anniversary celebration, so we have made a slideshow of photos from their past year, which has been interesting for us as we’ve been able to see what actually goes on in the church elsewhere. We’re back to leading kids’ groups on Sunday mornings as well - my Grade 3 class is lovely, and I’m excited to spend more time with them.

Hands of Mercy Orphanage:
Last weekend we visited an orphanage about 40 minutes’ drive out of Harare. Again, little old Geoff managed to hold up on the dirt tracks, in the heavy rain - we’re so proud of him! Anyway, at the orphanage they’re setting up a new feeding programme in the nearby rural area, starting this week, so we were helping clear out the area they are using for it - weeding, cutting back grass, cleaning pots, etc. It was really interesting to go out there, and we also got the chance to play with the kids - who again loved the parachute games, and dodgeball and volleyball and things too. It was great! The family who run it were so lovely, very welcoming and said we could go back any time, so I think we’ll probably pop back there when we next have a bit of time. God’s really given them a heart for the poor in that area, and it is so encouraging to see them doing something about it, so we’d love to be involved a little more. We all felt that it was nice to experience a different part of life in Zimbabwe, and by meeting the orphans and going to church there (a congregation of 10, including us) we definitely experienced something we never could at home.

Prayer requests:
Thank you so much for your continued support in prayer - we all agree here that knowing we have friend and fimily praying for us back at home encourages us so much! Over the next few weeks we have some exciting plans, so we have a few prayer requests...

• our maize plot - we are praying that God will provide the weather conditions it needs to grow big and strong. We really feel it is something that will make a difference to people once it’s grown, so we want to be able to do it to the best of our ability!

• our team - we’re all very aware that the end is drawing ever closer, so please pray that we will be able to complete everything God has set out for us. We are also praying that we will have the energy to continue, and will not miss home too much.

• Fuel prices are continually rising here, which is stretching our budget a bit, so please pray that we will be able to cope with the changes and find a way to keep up all the work we’re doing while keeping to our transport budget as well.

• Pray for the children at the pre-schools and at Northside - they all need to know how special they are to God, and how valued they are. It’s so important a truth that we feel some are not hearing at home.

• Please pray for our continued safety here - we have heard of violence in the rural areas because of upcoming elections. This has not yet affected us in town at all, but we are simply praying that God will continue to protect us and keep us from danger.

• As we travel to Nyanga, in the Eastern Highlands, next weekend, and then onto Mozambique the following week, please pray that God will protect us on our journeys. We also pray that He will open our eyes and hearts to new things He wants to teach us - life in Mozambique is very different, so we are excited to experience something completely contrasting to our life in Zim.

I know I keep saying it, but thank you so much for all your support (I'm assuming people are still reading this, aha!) I will write again after our travels!

God bless,

Jo xx

Bungee jump...? Never again!

The three of us at Victoria Falls Hotel

Sunset at Antelope Park!

Playing with baby lion cub

The fear in my face says it all, does it not?

Happy new year all the way from Zim! Already one week into 2011, how exciting. So, this’ll be a shorti(ish) blog, as we haven’t done much work over the past couple of weeks - it has been holiday time! We went to Antelope Park, a game reserve/wildlife park place, for a few days before Christmas, spent Christmas in Harare, then went to Victoria Falls for the days surrounding New Year. We’ve had a brilliant time - here are a few highlights...

Antelope Park:
We spent three nights here, from Monday 20th December until the Thursday of that week. We had very good journeys both ways, which we’re grateful for - Geoff, the car, did us proud! And our time spent at the park was fantastic. It is such a beautiful spot, and the girls and I had plenty of time to relax and sunbathe and enjoy the surroundings. Helen’s mother has passed on her bird-watching habits to Helen, who has in turn passed them on to me, so even though I don’t know what they all are I’ve been pretty interested in the birds here (they’re a lot more exciting than those at home anyway...) When we weren’t just lazing about, writing journals and reading and playing cards in the sun, we played with the little lion cub (for free!), walked with lions, rode elephants, did a game “drive” by horse and cart, and did a sunset cruise along the lake. The baby lion cub was ridiculously cute (she rolled about and played with us like a puppy!) and we were so fortunate to get to play with her, since she was actually “too young” for public viewing, but her playpen was right next to our accommodation so the keepers let us play with her anyway! And the lion walk was incredible. It was slightly strange, knowing that the animals will grow to be such huge killing machines, really, but they are such beautiful creatures. There were two female lions and one male, who was a bit more independent and wandered off from time to time - he had a habit of running up to us from behind, so I always kept my out for him. The elephant ride was a lot of fun - one hairy moment where Helen and I thought we were going to fall off, but apart from that we loved it. I didn’t think elephants really had a “character”, but they do - they’re such funny animals! We got the chance to feed them (while sitting on them, and at the end) - they have really twisty trunks! Helen nearly got her little finger vacuumed off when feeding, but managed to rescue it, escaping with just a bit of elephant slobber. Lovely. We really enjoyed just riding along with it too. The sunset cruise was beautiful - a very picturesque sunset, and we had a very amusing Sri Lankan/New Zealand family on the boat with us who kept us entertained when there wasn’t much going on. The birds and the views were just incredible though. And finally the game “drive” - the horse and cart pulled us around the game park - we saw eland, impala, zebra and giraffe. Very bumpy, which made it a little tricky to take photos, but fun all the same. All in all, it was a very relaxing break for us just before Christmas, and a chance to do things we might never do again!

Christmas:
For each of us it was our first Christmas away from family, and although we all missed home a bit, we had a lovely day. Santa still visited us, it was 30 degrees Celsius, we ate Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, had mince pies galore and, of course, awful cracker jokes. We even swam under the stars at night and played swingball and badminton outside during the day. We each got to chat to home, and now have enough chocolate to last us a lifetime! Having Christmas away from home was something we were all nervous about, but God has blessed us with such wonderful friends here that we had a brilliant day anyway. Different, for sure, but we all enjoyed ourselves and felt included and loved by our Zimbabwean family!

Victoria Falls:
Words cannot describe how incredible the Falls are. On the 31st December, when we wandered round the area, I was completely taken aback by how loud it is, and how powerful. and it just goes on and on and on, for so long! The spray was immense too - everyone had warned that we’d get wet, but I had assumed that it would be just a little damp. I got absolutely drenched, so much so that the green dye from my bag ran onto my shorts, vest top and leg (I looked like I had a huge bruise!). It really is a sight to see - not a surprise that it’s one of the seven natural wonders of the world!
Activities-wise, we each did the zip-line in pairs (we had gone up with a group of friends who were with us until the 2nd January) across the gorge. This was fun, not too scary, and you could enjoy the view as you went across. After that, on the same day, Helen and I did a tandem bridge swing. Sounds gentle, but it was pretty scary! You free-fall 80 metres from the same point on the bridge that people bungee jump off of, attached only by a body harness. Then, after the free fall, you swing. Helen and I were scared: we clung to each other for dear life, from the very top to the very bottom, until we realised we were not going to fall into the water below. Most people looked very graceful in their free fall, with straight legs and a smooth swinging action. Helen and I, on the other hand, were anything but. We tried in vain to obtain a “seat” position, as you would on a swing, forgetting that with free-falling that does not work. So instead we ended up pedalling our legs, trying to regain some sort of control. It didn’t work. But still, we survived! It was certainly an experience, and although our photos of it aren’t great, it won’t be something I’ll be forgetting soon!
Finally, I bungee jumped. That’s right. I threw myself off a 111m-high bridge, attached at the feet to a bungee rope (which on closer inspection looked kind of frayed...) Sorry Mum! It was the most terrifying experience of my life. I’m glad I did it, but never again. Jess did it too (and loved it), but Helen was sensible and got her money back the day before, having decided there was no way she could throw herself off a bridge twice. Most people stop screaming with fear after the first rebound or two; I, on the other hand, continued to scream in sheer terror, until the nice singing man (I think the singing was to soothe) pulled me across to him to take me back up to safety. Even then I wasn’t calm, until I was back across the railings of the bridge. I’m glad I have photographic evidence of this jump, because otherwise I’m not even sure I’d believe myself. But there we go, I ended 2010 by jumping off a bridge, and started 2011 by being pushed off the very same bridge (my legs had buckled out of fear, so there was no jumping to be done!). Again, Mum, I’m sorry, but I survived!
In the rest of our time at the Falls, we did some good ol’ souvenir shopping, had fun with friends, and had “high tea” at the very fancy Victoria Falls Hotel, which has a stunning view of the bridge and the gorge. there was a big music festival on New Year’s Eve to welcome in 2011, so we got the chance to hear some popular Zimbabwean bands too.

God at work:
So, even though we’ve been on holiday over the past couple of weeks, we have still seen God ever present in our lives. He has blessed us with wonderful friends and lovely families to spend the holiday period with. Had we not had such great people here, it could have been a pretty lonely time, but God provides in every way! He has also kept us safe in different situations, whether it be travelling, up close with the animals or doing crazy activities. And we also want to praise him for giving us each confidence and wisdom in the children’s talks we did over the Christmas period at Northside - each one was a success. The other girls in particular were very nervous beforehand, yet they spoke so well.
We are all excited about the plans He has for us over the next nine weeks: there are more possibilities of travelling to work in different areas of the country, and some exciting new projects to get involved in, so we hope that they will work out for His purpose.

Prayer requests:

• Praise God for the 13 weeks we have had here so far, that we have each grown in our faith and learned more about His amazing faithfulness.

• Please pray that as we go back to work, God will renew our strength and energy, so that we can give our all to the work we’ll be doing.

• We are praying that we will continue to learn more of our incredible God, and continue to be effective witnesses of His love and grace, through our words and actions. In our work lives and social lives, we want to be able to reflect Christ, and have the same gracious, humble attitude that he had.

• For homesickness - as we have now passed the halfway point, we are realising that it has been a long time since we have seen people at home! Please pray that we will not miss friends and family too much, and that we will be able to focus on God’s plan for us here and appreciate the new friends we have in Zim.

• For our team - please pray that Jess, Helen and I will continue to work well together and support each other in these last couple of months.

I’ll update you all again in a couple of weeks’ time, with the progress of our projects and plans. Thanks once again for your support in thoughts and prayer.

Jo xx

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hello!

So, Christmas is only a week away - how exciting! It doesn’t quite feel like it here, given the high temperatures, but we’re doing our best to get into the festive spirit. The past two weeks have been as busy as ever, and we’re now really looking forward to our approaching holiday - in two days’ time we’ll be off to Antelope Park! Anyway, before I get to that, here’s an update on the past couple of weeks...

Foundations For Farming: This is the one Oasis project we’ve been continuing through the month of December. Our mealies (or maize plants) have now grown to about a foot in height, which we are quite excited about. They’re really coming along nicely. We’ve been going back each week to check up on their progress, and to weed the plot. We’ve all caught the sun nicely from doing all our farming (I have a rather splendid patch of burn on my back), but it’s been enjoyable. All the motherly instincts in me are coming out in those plants! It’s really nice to have something physical to do, and something where we can see the progress and the results of our work week by week. We just keep praying that they’ll all keep growing!

Northside Community Church:
The vast majority of the work we’ve been doing at the church is Christmas-related. There’s been a lot more cutting, sticking and folding - doing the jobs that no-one else has time to do. We’ve also helped Sarah organize SALT books (Sunday School teaching resources), dating way back to 1981. That was a mass clear-out, and something Sarah really appreciated us doing. It’s not very exciting work, but it’s making a difference to people, and they really appreciate our help. We’re learning what is meant in Luke 16 when we are told to be “faithful in little things”. Not everything we do here will be huge and incredible, but by serving others in the little things we are learning, before we tackle the big things. And people really appreciate it - we have the time, and we are willing, so we can help.
This weekend the church has two Carols by Candlelight services - one in the nearby shopping village, and one in the church. Last night we were in the Village, and for that service Jess, Helen and I were selling candles and holders, and then we performed two drama pieces as well. It’s very much outreach focused there, so our skits were based on the true meaning of Christmas. It was a very nice evening, despite the rain! Honestly, if you get caught out in the rain here you get soaked! On Sunday night’s carol service we have the responsibility of ... the lights. It means we’ll get to enjoy the service too, which will be nice.
At Northside we also had a day of baking mince pies and biscuits, for the various Christmas events that are happening soon. We did this with the help of lots of children, so as you can imagine it was messy stuff, but amusing and fun too!
As I said before, we have the responsibility of doing the children’s talks on the Sunday morning services. Last week there was a special service for the Upward celebration (I’ll tell you more about that just now), so our second talk will be tomorrow. We have it all planned out, so hopefully it will go well.

Upward Soccer Camp:
Otherwise known as football (sadly, I have definitely got in the way of calling it soccer here, purely because people struggle to understand when you say football!). Upward Soccer Clinic is a soccer camp for kids aged 5 to 13 which took place last week, from Thursday to Sunday. We were team leaders; it was exhausting, but lots of fun! The first three mornings (the sessions ran from 8am till 12 noon) involved being with our teams, and leading the half-hour devotional times in between taking the kids round the soccer skills stations. On the Saturday they also had two mini-matches: I was very proud of my team, when they won 7-0 and 5-0. We had some real football stars! I had 3 girls and 5 boys, and a big mix of ages in my group (called Team David, because we “defeat the giants”) The youngest was a brilliant little boy called Alex, who struggled with skills like step-overs and things because his legs were barely long enough to step over the ball! But his effort was absolutely fantastic, and each day he’d come to me and ask if I thought he was improving, and tell me about how he’d been practising the night before and things. The oldest was another boy named Alistair, and although he was quite a bit older than some of the kids he was very helpful and encouraging. On the Sunday morning, all the kids were invited to come to Northside for an “Upward celebration”, where we sang the songs they learned and gave a certificate to each child, for various different things. It was a really good way of bringing families who don’t usually come to church into the church, because it was a very informal service. And the kids all seemed to love the week they had!
Being leaders at a soccer camp is not something Helen, Jess and I would have initially thought we were cut out for, but we were enthusiastic and gave it our all (and thankfully didn’t have to teach any kids skills!) We were the encouragers, the supporters, the “pick-you-up-when-you-fall-down”-ers, and ended up really enjoying it, despite the early mornings (we were up at 5am each day...)

And everything else...
God at work: We have each been so challenged in our time here, and are growing in our faith. We have learnt what a faithful God we have - he has protected us at every turn. We've also learned that we don't need to be doing huge, massive things to make a difference. Sometimes it's the little things that people really appreciate. I've found my daily quiet times in the morning have helped me grow and sustained me - the number of times the passage I've studied has come into relevance that day is far from coincidence, I'm sure. Each night we pray together, about the day, our issues, and the days ahead, and we've found that God really does hear and answer our prayers. As we've been feeling homesick, He's surrounded us with people who are just there to be our friends and "family", which is incredible. We found that working with the kids at Upward Sports was brilliant too, because, like at Gateway, although a lot of them know about God (their biblical knowledge is outstanding for their age!), they don't know him personally.

Relationships: We have formed some wonderful friendships here. I do have a special mention to make, to Nix and Gayle, who have been brilliant - we decorated Gayle's hoouse with many festive things, and she often comes to our rescue in times of crisis, She is therefore named "Super Gayle". And Nix is such a good friend to us, and never fails to make me laugh. Her stories of Zimbabwean life are highly entertaining! (Ok, so that mention has nothing to do with the fact that they have both read this and both asked about it....) Our other friends have been equally brilliant to us, and we're going to Victoria Falls at New Year with two of the other girls from the bible study and their friends.
Things have been a little strange with Kate away, but Sarah is wonderful. She is full of advice and wisdom, and when we had more problems with our car she was right on hand to help us out. Everyone in our church has been wonderful too, and we've had dinner with a few different people. It's really nice to feel part of the church community, and to know ltos of people too.

This and that: We've had an enjoyable few weeks. This morning we went to a flea market to buy each other Christmas presents, and tried our bargaining skills with the sellers. We were all quite proud of ourselves! We also went to a pantomime - it was so cheesy and fantastic and put us righjt in the Christmas mood! There are so many similarities to a British pantomime, but so many differences too. It was certainly an experience to remember.

Prayer Points:

• continued safety - we are going travelling as of Monday, so as we go to areas of Zimbabwe we don't know we are praying God will still protect us and watch over us!
• the Christmas children's talks - they've been fun to prepare, and we hope we can deliver them with confidence, and make people think a little more about Christmas.
• the outreach events Northside has planned. We really hope that people in the community will be provoked to think about what it's all about.
• homesickness. Obviously as Christmas approaches we're all thinking about home a lot more, but we pray we can enjoy our experience of a hot Christmas here, and not miss friends and family too much.
• our car! Geoff (the car) is not always very happy. We've spent quite a lot getting him fixed, so we pray he will last us our trip this week, and that we'll get there and back without any problems!

Thank you once again for your continued support. The next time I write will be when I return from Victoria Falls, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

God bless,

Jo

Prayer points :)

Ok, so have a little bit more time now. Here we go with a few prayer requests:
- Upward Soccer camp. Don't worry, this does not mean I am coaching football (I think that would be disastrous). Basically, we are team leaders, making sure we have all our kids at all times, and also leading a half-hour devotion session in the middle of the day. The kids here are now on holiday for a month, so it's an outreach thing for them to do during the break. We're praying that they'll be open to hearing about Jesus (about 60% of them won't be from Christian homes) and just that they'll have a brilliant time too. For us, energy will be the issue, and wisdom in what to say to these kids.
- safety. A regular feature! We've been really lucky so far, there haven't been any accidents. We just hope this continues, particularly with our upcoming trip to Antelope Park (a game reserve) and Victoria Falls over New Year.
- that we won't miss home too much over the festive season! We love being really involved in Christmas at the church - it definitely takes our mind off the fact we're not with our friends and family at home. As Christmas approaches, please pray that we won't feel too homesick and that we'll be able to focus on all the exciting things we have planned rather than the fact we're not with our families.
- the talks on Sunday mornings. The first one went really well, so we now have a standard to keep up! We pray that God will use us and that we can really be helpful at Northside, in the small practical ways and in the more obvious way, when we're talking at the front of the church.
- health. Again, we have been really blessed in this area, with no major problems. Hopefully this will continue!

Thank you so much for your prayers, it's greatly appreciated. We really are experiencing God's love and goodness here, and we're learning so much. I know that He hears and answers our prayers - He is a God of compassion and of grace. And he wants us to share in that!

I'll post again in a few weeks' time,

Jo