Please accept my humblest apologies for not writing in so long. I really have no excuse other than lack of Zesa (Zimbabwe electricity seldom available)and the craziness our lives seem to have taken on of late. Electricity has become more of a scarce commodity lately and predictions are that most of Zimbabwe will be without it about 70 percent of the time in the very near future. Currently it seems as though we have it about fifty percent of the time and often times it is during the night when we don't really need it.
Update on our TEP (temporary employment permits). They were denied! So now we have appealed that decision (with the help of the college and PAOZ) and are hoping that decision might be overturned. They are letting us stay in the country while they are looking at our appeal and have given us a twenty-one day extension while we wait. That twenty-one days ends on July 7th so please pray for us that we will be given permission to stay at least until the end of the school year, which ends the end of November. Not sure how things would unfold if our appeal is denied as we are in the midst of the school year and I am scheduled to teach four courses next term including a block course and three regular term courses.
So, I am frantically working to try and put things in order just incase we are forced to leave for Canada on short notice. As you all know from my previous blogs, I am chairing our accreditation team and we are very busy with that process. We have made our submission and the site-visit team will be coming to PACC (Pan Africa Christian College) July 20th through 23rd. We are currently making arrangements for that visit and looking forward to that, hopeful that we will be granted accreditation. We continue to trust that if God wants us here we will be here but it is still stressful playing the waiting game.
Glen has gone to Mozambique with his friend Frick for a week or ten days to do some fishing. Glen has wanted to go there ever since we arrived and so this was a great opportunity for him. Frick and some others have some property in Mozambique, but until very recently it was not particularly safe to go there.
The Norries have returned to Canada, the Wilsons are in South Africa as are the Allens and all three of those couples are also uncertain as to their futures here in Zimbabwe. It is a strange time to be here with being so uncertain of the future.
On the brighter side, the Canadian Ambassador is hosting a Canada Day celebration/reception at her residence on Canada Day and I am so looking forward to that. It is good to connect with other Canadians here in this country...although I do believe we are the only Canadian PAOC missionaries in Zimbabwe currently. Glen may not be back in time to go with me but I will go anyway. There is also a picnic in celebration of Canada Day on this Sunday but I won't go to that. Sundays are filled with visiting various PAOZ churches promoting the college. This Sunday I will be going with our Academic Dean and a couple of our students to Ruwa. Ruwa church is in the rural area and I went there as a guest preacher some time back so look forward to going again, this time to speak on behalf of our college.
We have a couple from the US, assisting with work projects at the college. We got together yesterday afternoon, went to the stone market, which is always a lot of fun and then went out for Chinese food. There is a Chinese restaurant a mere couple of blocks from our place. Glen and I went there once in the early days of our time here and were not impressed. However, the restaurant has changed hands a couple of times since we went there and the food and the service were both absolutely amazing. A place I will definitely drag Glen to in the future.
Charles and Rutendo Mandinyanya (Charles is one of my colleagues) came to the cottage this morning for a visit and tea and cookies. I had just made my mom's ice-box cookies and even sent some home with them for their children - who call them grannie's cookies and love them. The little things we are able to do for the local people seem to mean so much. I often take cookies or banana bread to college for meetings or for tea time. These are all things that are not affordable for the majority of people here in Zimbabwe. The economy does not seem to improve and people continue to struggle. So, we help were we can.
No pictures this time, just a quick update. I do hope that we have good news of our TEPs the next time I blog.
Sending lots of love and blessings to all
Marj
Friday, 26 June 2015
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
Me Again!
Greetings to all you beautiful people out there! And Happy Belated Mother's Day to all you Mom's.
Time does have a way of slipping by and it has now been some time since my last blog. So here goes to update on our life in Zimbabwe.
I
was blessed indeed to speak to all three of my children during the week of Mother's Day. It is great to be able to connect in so many ways all around the world. Blogging, Skyping, WhatsApp, texting, and yes, even phoning, all help to keep us connected wherever we are. Our world does seem to have gotten smaller with all the modern technology. It is wonderful, albeit challenging at times.
It is cooling off here now as we move into 'winter' season. This morning it is a mere 14 degrees. Really not bad except that it not much more than that indoors and this morning we are without ZESA.
That is pretty standard here in Zimbabwe to be without electricity. Last winter we purchased a two burner gas stove and this winter we will purchase a gas heater to take the chill out of our little cottage when we have no Zesa. We do have a generator that runs our lights but not much else.
I've had new curtains/drapes installed in both our kitchen and dining area. They do spruce up the cottage and every bit we do makes it more like 'our' home.
I am inserting a couple of random photos to break the monotony of my monologue. This first one is a group of Impala (I think...you know me, I am not much of an animal person.) However I do think these are some of the most beautiful and graceful animals and this picture is one I took on our game drive in Botswana.
Classes are well underway at our college and it feels good. I might have written this in my last blog but if not, and FYI, I am teaching three courses this term. Those courses are Cross-Cultural Studies, Major O.T. Prophets and Research and Writing I. The first two are third year courses and the R&WI is a first year course. Not quite so much preparation this time around as I have taught all of these courses previously. That leaves me more time to write (or rewrite) the course manuals. I think I mentioned before that our library leaves much to be desired as most of our resources are very dated.
I am currently working with our Academic Dean on applying for grants for library books from Langham Literature, an organization out of the United Kingdom, which supplies resource material to Christian/Bible colleges. This provides a wonderful opportunity for our college to upgrade our library resources.
We are still working on our accreditation for the college and we have hosted our team (made up of all the lecturers and our Board of Administration Rep) on two separate days at our cottage for work bees. On both days we started at nine am and worked through until 4:30 pm...so they were full days.
There is much work being done at the college to try and improve the moral in which people struggle in this depressed economy. Our hosting the work bees is all part of that. It is a treat for my colleagues to be hosted for the day which includes morning and afternoon tea (cookies and coke) and lunch. They do not have transport at the college either so Glen goes and picks everyone living on campus up and brings them to our place. A couple of those living off campus do have vehicles and if they have petro they drive themselves.
We, with the help of some of you (you know who you are), are able to assist the college and some of the local people and we just recently purchased an overhead projector for the college. Such excitement! Every bit of equipment is like Christmas...it brings such excitement and joy! Next we hope to purchase a laptop specifically for use with the overhead as currently lecturers have to provide their own when they want to use the overhead and that presents a problem as everyone does not have a laptop. We so appreciate the support we receive from many of you in whatever form that takes. Mostly we appreciate the connections with home and the many prayers for our ministry here. We actually feel the prayer support and that is so important to us here.
Last Thursday, we spent much of the afternoon at Immigration. Our work permits expired on Saturday so we were trying, with the help of a colleague and administrator of PAOZ, to get our permits renewed. Our application for renewal went in nearly four months ago...but these things move very slowly here. So the ultimate result of our visit to immigration was that we were given a 30 day extension while they process our application. We are still trusting that if God wants us to remain in this country then our permits will be renewed.
Both Glen and I are now the proud holders of Zimbabwe driver's licenses. They are issued with no expiry date on them so we jokingly said that if and when we get to the stage where we cannot drive in Canada, we'll simply move back to Zimbabwe. Getting our licenses here proved to be quite a simply and speedy process. The license bureau clerk was a most pleasant, chatty lady who, it turns out, is working on her doctoral studies. She has asked me if I might be willing to read some of her work . I look forward to that opportunity to assist her in her journey. We'll see where that goes but I felt privileged to be asked.
Our friends, the Norries are back in Zim now but only here until the end of May. They will return again to Zim in September. Just talked to them on phone and are getting together with them tomorrow evening for one last time before Terry and Joyce and the Norries all leave to return to Canada.
Terry and Joyce James, friends from Alberta, are here with us until the 20th. Right now Glen is touring them around at Mana Pools. This weekend we will all be going to Leopard Rock where we will get in some golfing.
I spent last evening enjoying a meal and fellowship with the Wilson's , missionaries from AOG (Assemblies of God) in the US, who are also here on visitor's permit and expect to be leaving the country this summer.
Insert picture again. This next picture is of Glen, in Zambia (when we were on PAOC retreat) in his micro-light flight. He said it was an absolutely awesome experience.
Time does have a way of slipping by and it has now been some time since my last blog. So here goes to update on our life in Zimbabwe.
I
was blessed indeed to speak to all three of my children during the week of Mother's Day. It is great to be able to connect in so many ways all around the world. Blogging, Skyping, WhatsApp, texting, and yes, even phoning, all help to keep us connected wherever we are. Our world does seem to have gotten smaller with all the modern technology. It is wonderful, albeit challenging at times.
It is cooling off here now as we move into 'winter' season. This morning it is a mere 14 degrees. Really not bad except that it not much more than that indoors and this morning we are without ZESA.
That is pretty standard here in Zimbabwe to be without electricity. Last winter we purchased a two burner gas stove and this winter we will purchase a gas heater to take the chill out of our little cottage when we have no Zesa. We do have a generator that runs our lights but not much else.
I've had new curtains/drapes installed in both our kitchen and dining area. They do spruce up the cottage and every bit we do makes it more like 'our' home.
I am inserting a couple of random photos to break the monotony of my monologue. This first one is a group of Impala (I think...you know me, I am not much of an animal person.) However I do think these are some of the most beautiful and graceful animals and this picture is one I took on our game drive in Botswana.
Classes are well underway at our college and it feels good. I might have written this in my last blog but if not, and FYI, I am teaching three courses this term. Those courses are Cross-Cultural Studies, Major O.T. Prophets and Research and Writing I. The first two are third year courses and the R&WI is a first year course. Not quite so much preparation this time around as I have taught all of these courses previously. That leaves me more time to write (or rewrite) the course manuals. I think I mentioned before that our library leaves much to be desired as most of our resources are very dated.
I am currently working with our Academic Dean on applying for grants for library books from Langham Literature, an organization out of the United Kingdom, which supplies resource material to Christian/Bible colleges. This provides a wonderful opportunity for our college to upgrade our library resources.
We are still working on our accreditation for the college and we have hosted our team (made up of all the lecturers and our Board of Administration Rep) on two separate days at our cottage for work bees. On both days we started at nine am and worked through until 4:30 pm...so they were full days.
There is much work being done at the college to try and improve the moral in which people struggle in this depressed economy. Our hosting the work bees is all part of that. It is a treat for my colleagues to be hosted for the day which includes morning and afternoon tea (cookies and coke) and lunch. They do not have transport at the college either so Glen goes and picks everyone living on campus up and brings them to our place. A couple of those living off campus do have vehicles and if they have petro they drive themselves.
We, with the help of some of you (you know who you are), are able to assist the college and some of the local people and we just recently purchased an overhead projector for the college. Such excitement! Every bit of equipment is like Christmas...it brings such excitement and joy! Next we hope to purchase a laptop specifically for use with the overhead as currently lecturers have to provide their own when they want to use the overhead and that presents a problem as everyone does not have a laptop. We so appreciate the support we receive from many of you in whatever form that takes. Mostly we appreciate the connections with home and the many prayers for our ministry here. We actually feel the prayer support and that is so important to us here.
Last Thursday, we spent much of the afternoon at Immigration. Our work permits expired on Saturday so we were trying, with the help of a colleague and administrator of PAOZ, to get our permits renewed. Our application for renewal went in nearly four months ago...but these things move very slowly here. So the ultimate result of our visit to immigration was that we were given a 30 day extension while they process our application. We are still trusting that if God wants us to remain in this country then our permits will be renewed.
Both Glen and I are now the proud holders of Zimbabwe driver's licenses. They are issued with no expiry date on them so we jokingly said that if and when we get to the stage where we cannot drive in Canada, we'll simply move back to Zimbabwe. Getting our licenses here proved to be quite a simply and speedy process. The license bureau clerk was a most pleasant, chatty lady who, it turns out, is working on her doctoral studies. She has asked me if I might be willing to read some of her work . I look forward to that opportunity to assist her in her journey. We'll see where that goes but I felt privileged to be asked.
Our friends, the Norries are back in Zim now but only here until the end of May. They will return again to Zim in September. Just talked to them on phone and are getting together with them tomorrow evening for one last time before Terry and Joyce and the Norries all leave to return to Canada.
Terry and Joyce James, friends from Alberta, are here with us until the 20th. Right now Glen is touring them around at Mana Pools. This weekend we will all be going to Leopard Rock where we will get in some golfing.
I spent last evening enjoying a meal and fellowship with the Wilson's , missionaries from AOG (Assemblies of God) in the US, who are also here on visitor's permit and expect to be leaving the country this summer.
Insert picture again. This next picture is of Glen, in Zambia (when we were on PAOC retreat) in his micro-light flight. He said it was an absolutely awesome experience.
And then this final picture is one of Glen and I with two of the Pastor's from one of the churches in Bulawayo when we went with students and lecturers from our college on a college promotional trip.
Well, I think that's enough chatter for this time. It is 8:15, Wednesday morning. I do not teach on Wednesdays so it is an opportunity for me to work at home on reports and the like. Even without ZESA, I have internet connection with a doggle (although there are sometimes problems with connections) Having said that, I best get at some of my work needing to be done for our accreditation report which is needing to be submitted before month's end. Glen and our company should be arriving back today sometime so must also do a bit of cleaning and the like.
So, until next time
Be Blessed
Love
Marj
Friday, 20 March 2015
Greetings once again to all my friends and family in Canada and the US.
We are well into March and approaching spring time for all of you back home. As for us, we are enjoying bananas picked from the tree in our back yard. Rainy season is over and so now it is Fall and early winter. Of course, no snow, but cools off at night.
I think I mentioned in my last report that we will be going on PAOC retreat in Livingston, Zambia and so look forward to reconnecting and/or meeting other missionaries here in Africa. Next blog will include details of all the fun we will have while there.
This past Sunday I preached at Pastor Alex's church which is out in the high density area of Ruwa. They have a congregation of between 100-150 people. The service was pretty well entirely in Shona and so I had to have an interpreter. I have been at a number of churches where there was an interpreter but I had not previously been the speaker at any of those (at least, not since I was in Cameroon a number of years back) so that was another new experience for me. I so appreciated the young lady who served as my interpreter. Here is a picture of the two of us outside the church. Also inserting a picture of Pastor Alex and me outside his church.
Probably will be repeating that experience of having an interpreter in Bulawayo where the language of the local people is Ndebele.
I have just recently taken on tutoring Makanaka (our little sponsor child). She is in grade six and her teacher informs me she is struggling in both math and computers. We will try and arrange for her to come to our place one afternoon a week and hopefully help her to prepare for grade seven. Grade seven is a pivotal point in a child's education here in Zimbabwe and so we want to do whatever we can to make sure she, Maka, has every opportunity. Here is Maka at our house as she arrived after school for her tutoring lessons.
Last week I went to Maka's school. The school had arranged an afternoon dedicated to prayer for all students. Lately there have been a number of Kombie accidents with some students from Maka's school being killed and/or injured. The Kombies which are van/taxis often carry more than twice the number of students they should and that and speed both contribute to accidents. Before the prayer time, I met with Maka's teacher and was privileged to look at her work and talk with her teacher. Wow; it has been a lot of years since I have done that type of thing. I believe I did that a couple of times with Starla when she invited me along to Matheau's parents/teachers days. That was a few years back!
Maka came again yesterday after school and we worked on her English and then she practiced her computer skills. At her school they only have a few computers and her class alone has 44 students so they don't get much computer practice time. Linda, Maka's mom, joined us for supper when she finished work and afterwards we enjoyed a game of Mexican Train.
Not sure if this blog sounds confusing or not but this is about the third time I have sat down to write so I keep going back to update.
Both Glen and I now have our Zimbabwe Driver's licenses. They do not have an expiry date so if and when we come back at some future time, they are still good. Had an interesting experience when we went to apply for our licenses. The government official in the license bureau (a lady) and I got chatting and she informed me that she had just finished her Master's and was beginning to work on her Doctoral Studies. Anyway to make a long story short, she has asked me if I would be willing to assist her and read/critique her work. She will actually be going to South Africa for 'Intensives' or block courses. So now I have one person working on a Masters and two working on their Doctoral Studies all of whom I am assisting. When I left Canada I was supervising a student from Edmonton and it worked well to do that through email and Skype so perhaps it will work well in reverse as I assist those from here even once I return home to Canada.
One final picture of the surrounding beautiful flowering trees that we are privileged to enjoy everyday.
With much love and blessings to all
Marj
We are well into March and approaching spring time for all of you back home. As for us, we are enjoying bananas picked from the tree in our back yard. Rainy season is over and so now it is Fall and early winter. Of course, no snow, but cools off at night.
March, here in Zimbabwe, finds us with much happening at our College, including final exams which will be here before I know it. Exam days are March 30th and 31st. The month will be busy as I will be guest preaching at churches here in Harare, Bulawayo and the outlying areas. The college is planning some extensive promotions to increase our enrollment. Thirteen of us, students and faculty, will be traveling to Bulawayo this weekend. While there we will be hosting a 'Career Days" promoting our college on the Saturday and then on the Sunday we will be guest preaching at various churches. I prepared a power-point presentation which we used this past year at churches right here in Harare in our promotions and as it was well received, we will be using that again, along with our newly printed brochures, etc., So much of what is just common place at home in Canada is relatively new here and even having laptops, overhead projectors and all the needed technological equipment is not something one takes for granted here.
Sometimes it seems as though I am repeating things I have previously shared but perhaps that's because now that I have been here for 1 1/2 years, I have been around for six terms at our college and of course mid-terms and finals happen each and every term. So, having said that I do hope that all of you rejoice with me as I continue to do what God has called me here to do.I think I mentioned in my last report that we will be going on PAOC retreat in Livingston, Zambia and so look forward to reconnecting and/or meeting other missionaries here in Africa. Next blog will include details of all the fun we will have while there.
This past Sunday I preached at Pastor Alex's church which is out in the high density area of Ruwa. They have a congregation of between 100-150 people. The service was pretty well entirely in Shona and so I had to have an interpreter. I have been at a number of churches where there was an interpreter but I had not previously been the speaker at any of those (at least, not since I was in Cameroon a number of years back) so that was another new experience for me. I so appreciated the young lady who served as my interpreter. Here is a picture of the two of us outside the church. Also inserting a picture of Pastor Alex and me outside his church.
Probably will be repeating that experience of having an interpreter in Bulawayo where the language of the local people is Ndebele.
I have just recently taken on tutoring Makanaka (our little sponsor child). She is in grade six and her teacher informs me she is struggling in both math and computers. We will try and arrange for her to come to our place one afternoon a week and hopefully help her to prepare for grade seven. Grade seven is a pivotal point in a child's education here in Zimbabwe and so we want to do whatever we can to make sure she, Maka, has every opportunity. Here is Maka at our house as she arrived after school for her tutoring lessons.
Last week I went to Maka's school. The school had arranged an afternoon dedicated to prayer for all students. Lately there have been a number of Kombie accidents with some students from Maka's school being killed and/or injured. The Kombies which are van/taxis often carry more than twice the number of students they should and that and speed both contribute to accidents. Before the prayer time, I met with Maka's teacher and was privileged to look at her work and talk with her teacher. Wow; it has been a lot of years since I have done that type of thing. I believe I did that a couple of times with Starla when she invited me along to Matheau's parents/teachers days. That was a few years back!
Maka came again yesterday after school and we worked on her English and then she practiced her computer skills. At her school they only have a few computers and her class alone has 44 students so they don't get much computer practice time. Linda, Maka's mom, joined us for supper when she finished work and afterwards we enjoyed a game of Mexican Train.
Not sure if this blog sounds confusing or not but this is about the third time I have sat down to write so I keep going back to update.
Both Glen and I now have our Zimbabwe Driver's licenses. They do not have an expiry date so if and when we come back at some future time, they are still good. Had an interesting experience when we went to apply for our licenses. The government official in the license bureau (a lady) and I got chatting and she informed me that she had just finished her Master's and was beginning to work on her Doctoral Studies. Anyway to make a long story short, she has asked me if I would be willing to assist her and read/critique her work. She will actually be going to South Africa for 'Intensives' or block courses. So now I have one person working on a Masters and two working on their Doctoral Studies all of whom I am assisting. When I left Canada I was supervising a student from Edmonton and it worked well to do that through email and Skype so perhaps it will work well in reverse as I assist those from here even once I return home to Canada.
One final picture of the surrounding beautiful flowering trees that we are privileged to enjoy everyday.
With much love and blessings to all
Marj
Saturday, 14 February 2015
February 9th, 2015
Greetings to all
My calendar tells me it is family day in Canada...so Happy Family Day to all the families in my Blog circle. It is 9:12 pm here and I am just relaxing after a very busy day. Classes are going well. Our student numbers keep growing as students somehow manage to find fees to pay their tuition.
Today I met a couple from the US (from Oregon) who are going to be assisting at the college to do some fixing up and also some fund raising (I believe). They will be living on campus in a guest house. Right now there is a team of ten people connected with Africa Works who will be working at our college. The team are here for ten days only while the couple from Oregon are going to be here for a couple of years providing they can get their work permits. That, of course, is the challenge.
Our friends, from both Canada and from the US are now appealing immigration's decision to deny their temporary work permits. When work permits are denied, you are never told why, simply notified that your permit is denied. I'm trusting God for a better result. I do know that the college want us here and in fact the principal has said if he had anything to say about it, I would have a five year permit. However, we'll settle for a year at a time. Our BOA (Board of Administration) of which I am a member ratified the decision to ask for an extension and so now it is up to immigration and God.
Wow! Time does fly by. It is now Valentine's Day, so happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Two nights ago we spent a delightful evening where we joined our friends the Allans for dinner and then an evening of fellowship and games. Tomorrow after church we will join the Wilson's for lunch. So, as you can see, we are not only busy with the work of being missionaries, but our social calendar is busy as well. We do a bit of church hoping, (Sorry Bethel) but we are trying to fit in as many experiences as possible. This year I am going to be more intentional about visiting the rural churches. A number of my students have invited us to their churches and so we are going to make efforts to visit those churches.
Right now we are waiting for an electrician to come to fix some problems here at the property. We do not have any hot water as our geyser needs repair. The past week has been challenging with no Zesa (electricity) for most of the week. We do have this morning so I am trying to get the laundry done before the Zesa goes off again. With this being Valentine's Day, if the electrician comes quickly enough, we plan to go to a near by golf course and play nine holes of golf. The rates are very reasonable (no actually make that cheap.) We can golf nine holes for $5.00. We can walk the course and it is close by so that means if it rains (it is rainy season) we won't feel too badly having to walk off the course.
I planted some radishes this past week and so am looking forward to those. Radishes are not common here and are very hard to find in produce stores but, they are easy to grow and give us a taste of home.
We have managed to connect with a number of family and friends on Skype so that is a special treat to be able to visit in person. It minimizes the distance between here and there.
I've included a few pictures I have chosen at random for your enjoyment. The first is a picture of the grounds at our college (Yes, this was taken in January...please take note, there is no SNOW!!!) The second picture is of the beautiful Bird of Paradise flower that is growing on the property here. I remember fondly that my mom loved the Bird of Paradise flowers and so my thoughts often turn to my mom. The third picture is of our little Makanaka (our semi-adopted little lady) and her brother Panashe. They were at our home for supper and an evening just before Panache went back to boarding school. Then I have included a picture of a common sight which we see often on the way to the college. We often see wildlife as Mukuvisi Wildlife park is on our way to the college.
Well, that's all folks!!! Till next time.
Love and Blessings
Marj
Monday, 5 January 2015
Happy New Year for 2015 from my House to Yours
Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all
I know I had promised to blog from Canada but that did not happen. Humblest Apologies!!!
We did manage to visit with many of our family and friends during our time in Canada. We travelled throughout BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan. For those of you whom we did not get to visit, for whatever reasons, we missed you.
The month was full of blessings and challenges. It began with a quick trip to Vancouver and the Island, where I completed an ethics module to finalize my peer review to maintain my statis as a specialist with CASC, we visited family in Surrey and then on to Vancouver Island to visit my brother Ron and our friends Stan and Penny Spence. While there we learned that we had a flood in our home at St. Andrews. This was caused by a water connection from our fridge coming apart. The water went through the ceiling, down the drywall walls and onto our just newly replaced flooring. Last winter, you might remember, we had a water pipe burst and had just finished having repairs completed from that, including having the entire lower level flooring replaced. So now once again, the need to replace not only flooring but drywalling and ceiling. The blessing in all this proved to be from our son Sternie, who had worked for many years in construction doing exactly the type of work we needed done. Sternie, on break from Bible college for the Christmas season, came and not only spent time visiting us but did much of our repairs and maintenance. Thank you Sternie. That was a real blessing for us. We have been blessed in so many ways by so many people. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I had the privilege of being guest speaker at our home church in Penticton on December 14th and opportunity to share what God is doing in our lives and what is happening in Zimbabwe.
We flew to Edmonton, visited friends and family, stayed at my brother Dick's, spent a fabulous day at our daughter's home where she hosted not only us but all the grandkids and greatgrandkids as well. Then my sister Laurie had kindof an open house on the Sunday and we got to see many of our nieces and nephews and their families. We visited many friends in Edmonton, Leduc, Red Deer and Inisfail.
We rented a car at the airport and drove to Saskatoon via Hoosier. (If you don't know Hoosier, well it is just one of those small rural communities in Saskatchewan that you might miss if you blinked while driving by). My sister Wilma and her partner, Darrell, farm in that area and we spent one night at their place. Glen's brother Ray and his wife Barbara, from Manitoba travelled to Sakatoon to spend an evening and overnight with us. I had lunch and a catch-up with a dear friend and former colleague, Becky Vink. Connected with many others as well. Hectic but great.
Then as we were returning from Saskatoon to Edmonton, about 4 kms east of Lloydminster, a truck pulled across the highway and T-boned us. Praise God, neither of us were injured but the rental car was seriously damaged. My brother Dick, who is a long distance trucker, was just returning from Ft. Mak when we called him for help. The RCMP drove us into Lloyd and dropped us at a truck stop where we waited for Dick to come and pick us up. That kindof wrapped up our trip to Alberta and Saskatchewan and we flew out the next morning to return to BC.
We celebrated an early Christmas at our BC home with both our sons coming. It was great to have both Sternie and Geoffrey (and our daughter-in-law, Monique) able to spend some of the Christmas season with us. Bette and Brian joined us for turkey dinner as well.
The balance of that final week at home was spent trying to wrap up things and be prepared to be away for another year.
New Year's Day was spent in the air...as we left Canada on December 30th for the long haul back to Harare where we expect to be for the next year (at least). Bette (Glen's sister) and her husband Brian Moen drove us to Seattle and we spent one final day with them prior to catching our plan out. We arrived home to Harare, Zimbabwe on January 2nd; meaning we spent the entire New Year's Day and then some in the air or waiting in London for our connecting flight. The airlines were busier than we expected with lots of people returning home from Christmas holidays.
When we flew home to Canada, we flew into Seattle and Bette and Brian met us there. The drive home from Seattle was a real snow storm and 'welcome back to Canada'. I'm attaching some pictures of what was waiting to great us on our arrival back to the beautiful sunny Okanagan and just for a contrast, a picture of what awaited us as we arrived back in Zimbabwe. I'm sure you will know which is which!!
Now as life gets back into some sense of normalacy here in Zimbabwe, I have a meeting at the college tomorrow to look at our schedule and what lies ahead for the coming year. We are hoping to visit friends in Bulawayo before the school year starts.
Well, after such a long time of not blogging, I trust this gives you some idea of what life has been like for us since I last blogged.
Wishing all good things and God's blessings to all in 2015.
I know I had promised to blog from Canada but that did not happen. Humblest Apologies!!!
We did manage to visit with many of our family and friends during our time in Canada. We travelled throughout BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan. For those of you whom we did not get to visit, for whatever reasons, we missed you.
The month was full of blessings and challenges. It began with a quick trip to Vancouver and the Island, where I completed an ethics module to finalize my peer review to maintain my statis as a specialist with CASC, we visited family in Surrey and then on to Vancouver Island to visit my brother Ron and our friends Stan and Penny Spence. While there we learned that we had a flood in our home at St. Andrews. This was caused by a water connection from our fridge coming apart. The water went through the ceiling, down the drywall walls and onto our just newly replaced flooring. Last winter, you might remember, we had a water pipe burst and had just finished having repairs completed from that, including having the entire lower level flooring replaced. So now once again, the need to replace not only flooring but drywalling and ceiling. The blessing in all this proved to be from our son Sternie, who had worked for many years in construction doing exactly the type of work we needed done. Sternie, on break from Bible college for the Christmas season, came and not only spent time visiting us but did much of our repairs and maintenance. Thank you Sternie. That was a real blessing for us. We have been blessed in so many ways by so many people. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I had the privilege of being guest speaker at our home church in Penticton on December 14th and opportunity to share what God is doing in our lives and what is happening in Zimbabwe.
We flew to Edmonton, visited friends and family, stayed at my brother Dick's, spent a fabulous day at our daughter's home where she hosted not only us but all the grandkids and greatgrandkids as well. Then my sister Laurie had kindof an open house on the Sunday and we got to see many of our nieces and nephews and their families. We visited many friends in Edmonton, Leduc, Red Deer and Inisfail.
We rented a car at the airport and drove to Saskatoon via Hoosier. (If you don't know Hoosier, well it is just one of those small rural communities in Saskatchewan that you might miss if you blinked while driving by). My sister Wilma and her partner, Darrell, farm in that area and we spent one night at their place. Glen's brother Ray and his wife Barbara, from Manitoba travelled to Sakatoon to spend an evening and overnight with us. I had lunch and a catch-up with a dear friend and former colleague, Becky Vink. Connected with many others as well. Hectic but great.
Then as we were returning from Saskatoon to Edmonton, about 4 kms east of Lloydminster, a truck pulled across the highway and T-boned us. Praise God, neither of us were injured but the rental car was seriously damaged. My brother Dick, who is a long distance trucker, was just returning from Ft. Mak when we called him for help. The RCMP drove us into Lloyd and dropped us at a truck stop where we waited for Dick to come and pick us up. That kindof wrapped up our trip to Alberta and Saskatchewan and we flew out the next morning to return to BC.
We celebrated an early Christmas at our BC home with both our sons coming. It was great to have both Sternie and Geoffrey (and our daughter-in-law, Monique) able to spend some of the Christmas season with us. Bette and Brian joined us for turkey dinner as well.
The balance of that final week at home was spent trying to wrap up things and be prepared to be away for another year.
New Year's Day was spent in the air...as we left Canada on December 30th for the long haul back to Harare where we expect to be for the next year (at least). Bette (Glen's sister) and her husband Brian Moen drove us to Seattle and we spent one final day with them prior to catching our plan out. We arrived home to Harare, Zimbabwe on January 2nd; meaning we spent the entire New Year's Day and then some in the air or waiting in London for our connecting flight. The airlines were busier than we expected with lots of people returning home from Christmas holidays.
When we flew home to Canada, we flew into Seattle and Bette and Brian met us there. The drive home from Seattle was a real snow storm and 'welcome back to Canada'. I'm attaching some pictures of what was waiting to great us on our arrival back to the beautiful sunny Okanagan and just for a contrast, a picture of what awaited us as we arrived back in Zimbabwe. I'm sure you will know which is which!!
It is rainy season here and everything is beautifully green. The maize crops are everywhere and promising to be plentiful. That is, as I'm sure I've shared before, the staple food of the people here and they grow it on every inch of open ground, even along the roadsides. Already since our return we have had 4.5 inches of rain. The rains started on Christmas and there was about 6 inches before we arrived back. Rainy season lasts until March. Was rainy this morning but beautiful and a sunny degrees celcius right now. (1:28 pm)
Now as life gets back into some sense of normalacy here in Zimbabwe, I have a meeting at the college tomorrow to look at our schedule and what lies ahead for the coming year. We are hoping to visit friends in Bulawayo before the school year starts.
Well, after such a long time of not blogging, I trust this gives you some idea of what life has been like for us since I last blogged.
Wishing all good things and God's blessings to all in 2015.
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