Mangwanani

Greeting to you from our little team! We returned yesterday about 9:30 AM to the Columbia, SC airport, after leaving Harare at 12:15 PM the prior day. We gained about 6 hours, though the translation is that our flying time was about 27 hours total. That is much easier than other connections; however, we were awakened in the night in Dakar, Senegal, when the plane landed to get a new crew and refuel. Also that assumes that we were asleep; we sometimes have a hard time sleeping on a trans-Atlantic flight. We came immediately to Bloomwood Rd.to sort our stuff and to reunite with Casey’s dad; Doug’s birthday was yesterday, so he took the day off and picked us up at the airport. Our days in Zimbabwe were so productive. We spent a lot of time with the children of Fairfield. They were out for holiday, so we could be with them constantly. Also Francie was able to see the UMC Bishop for about 1 ½ hours last Friday, where many matters were discussed and Francie reunited with Bishop Nhiwatiwa, a long-time friend. She met him at Clair, a rural Methodist mission, where a large conference was happening all weekend. Additionally, we got to plan and share in Nyarai’s 18th birthday party which included pizza and a movie in Mutare; we saw the Spy Next Door with Jackie Chan. We had a birthday cake and presents at home with her. It has been wonderful for Francie to watch her grow into a young woman. If you thought you might be able to sponsor a child, see fosakids.org. The cost is thirty dollars a month or $1 a day. Francie’s family has loved being one of Nyarai’s sponsors. On our last day at Old Mutare, we reconnected to friends and shared gifts, along with sad farewells. Francie was able to go up to pray at Chin’ando, a very holy place near the mission with Mai Chimbo, Mae Mashiri and Princess. The Zimbabwean people come there from far and wide to pray. There is a small area constructed from small and large stones which the pilgrims bring. One removes her shoes before entering and prays on her knees on the stones there. People leave their prayers on little scraps of tucked papers and tie small pieces of shredded limbs or torn pieces of white cloth to represent their supplications. The entire place was covered in these items. It was a precious trek for Francie and her friends. We also shared a meal with Cecilia, the assistant administrator at Fairfield; the dish she served was called cheesy rice and we loved it. Since we had to leave for Harare at 5 AM the next morning, we had to be completely packed. In the last days and earlier, we were able to assist some folks with school fees, help a young girl get into boarding school who could not pay, give a donation to Janine’s Hope Project ( hopeofzim.org), supply Fairfield with athletic balls of various sorts, buy needed items for the homes, host a meeting of the new Fairfield Advisory Committee for a meal, take the Bible study teenagers on an outing and lunch, donate money for a course that Cecilia will take, deliver a laptop for someone at Africa University, help two widows with payments to work on their rural home building, buy work clothes for the gardeners and night watchmen, and pay for the security and instillation of a new generator coming on the container; it will supply the conference hut with electricity for studying a night and for cold food storage when there is no power. We thank all our individual donors and FOSA for supporting us through gifts and prayers for these projects. We always felt sustained because of you. We hope that churches and other groups will call on us to speak about Zimbabwe in the future. We have so much to share and many projects which need financial and prayer support in the future.