Newsletter (February 17, 2011)

Dear all, Last time we mentioned that we had been invited by the owner of the Chinese restaurant to attend a Chinese New Year gathering. We went and met many people whom we have never met before. There were about 20 guests and, apart from us, all of them were business people. They were all from Northern China. Apart from one or two, most of them don’t know what a missionary is. A few have some vague ideas of Christianity, so most of them just called Timothy “Lao Shi”, which means Teacher. It is indeed good to meet the people but it is not easy to keep in contact as most of their factories are quite far from Ndola itself.

We finally went to visit Dr Fan in Kitwe on Sunday. We went with another Chinese doctor from Ndola. We had dumplings at his place and we also met another Chinese doctor. The three of them are all anaesthetists. They are continuing to make an impact in the hospitals here and all the Chinese doctors have generally made lots of contributions in improving the health services in Zambia. Dr Fan said he is attending the nurses’ fellowship regularly. He has also volunteered to teach Chinese to pupils in a nearby school.

Our acting director and his wife passed through Ndola last week. We had a good time talking to them. He also came to see the library project and Timothy showed him around. The funding for the project will be used up soon and we still need money to purchase some equipment which we did not manage to get.

We will be going to Hong Kong for five weeks from 22 March to 29 April. Last year we found it was too rushed when we were there and so we decided to go again this year. Timothy definitely needs a rest, and he also needs to talk to his former colleagues about some work-related matters. Last year most people thought we were not in good health, so we will consult some Chinese medical doctors and take some Chinese medicine. We also would like to spend more time with our parents and friends.

Thank you for your prayers and we give thanks that we managed to meet and talk to a number of Chinese people during the Chinese New Year period. Please also pray for our health and security here, as well as the additional funding needed for the library project. With Christian love.

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