Newsletter June 2022

Dear faithful prayer supporters and friends, We are very grateful to the Lord for all his mercy, love and forgiveness over the last 5 months since we last sent a newsletter. We give thanks to the Lord for his revealing the hearts of men as we trust him to work out our situation in his way and as we continue to trust him, He gives peace and removal of fear. James 1:2.

The long rains have been very patchy this year. Usually from March to the end of May. The area round the church, farm and south and west has had no rain at all. For some this is the second year of drought. Already they have no food and none for the next 15 months (assuming the rains come next year). Theoretically the farm should have been able to make a profit to help relieve the problem as it is owned by the church and is intended to be for the benefit of the church as well as the local community. However, this has not happened on paper and we are investigating as to why not. This needs prayer. Another problem is that next year’s maize prices could be 4 times what we bought maize for last year.

Anne had a very bad bout of malaria with symptoms we have never seen before. Dr Puly was a real Godsend to help her to recover. She now feels better than she has for quite a long time. She keeps busy with managing the household, visiting the sick + old, helping the poor and praying for them.

Steve has had some episodes of increased shaking, even at night, which has affected his sleep. He is fairly inactive physically, but enjoying the Lord and the many visitors.

We continue to have many visitors, usually two up to eight in a day, though we have a dearth of visits by friends from the UK. We see a lot more of our friends from the US.

Melubo has just started working with a tailor making men’s clothes. He and Isayah, who is repeating Form 3, live with us, are a great blessing to us. They both love the Lord and Melubo is often singing hymns or whistling.

Please continue to pray for Dr Puly and her dispensary. Her palliative care unit would help her considerably if she could afford the start-up charges of paying 3 nurses a day. Once going, she could gain enough money to self-fund it.

Wilbard has had an operation and is recovering from it, and he and Abraham need to see the Lord’s perspective on how they view and have done things.

Zubeda has lost her last living relative, an aunt. She was very hard hit by this, but now seems to be picking up again and going on with the Lord.

Bakari has stopped coming. It seems all he wanted was money.

In the church, we encourage people to pray on a Thursday meeting as this is where real power comes from and many get distracted from coming.

Thank you again for all your prayers, support and love in these interesting days. Lots of love from Steve and Anne

Our God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and he loves us.