Newsletter (June 26, 2014)

Dear all, We made a quick trip back to Hong Kong to see Timothy’s mum and we returned safely on 28 May. Her condition seems to have stabilised, not improving but not deteriorating either. She recognised us and was very happy to see us. Timothy’s sister and eldest brother have also returned to Hong Kong for two weeks and Mum was very pleased to see them as well. We could not adjust to the time difference with such a short time in Hong Kong, so we did not sleep well at all. Timothy’s second eldest brother had a stroke after a bypass operation. He is in New York and is now recovering. His mind is very fine but he can only say one or two words. Thanks a lot for all your prayers and please continue to remember our family during this time.

There are quite a number of missionaries coming and going these few weeks and it is always good to meet them. Usually we are encouraged by their eagerness to serve God in a foreign land.

We have been reading some books and there are two that are particularly good. Both are by Dick McLellan, a former SIM missionary from Australia who worked in southern Ethiopia for many years. The titles of the books are Warriors of Ethiopia and Messengers of Ethiopia. They are stories about various Ethiopian Christians, how they became believers, their lives were totally changed (some were former witchdoctors) and they suffered terrible persecutions because of their faith and despite all this they refused to forsake Jesus Christ and insisted on spreading the gospel and making disciples. The books are very challenging and moving. They are published by an obscure publisher in Australia but recently are reprinted by another obscure publisher in the UK. You may get them from the Good Book Company.

The weather turned cold recently and Lusaka is much windier than Ndola. Having said that it is quite comfortable really and we enjoy the cooler weather very much.

Tomorrow we will go to Ndola to have a chat with our missionaries in TCCA who are going back on home assignment very soon. We will come back on Saturday. Next week our church will have a biennial conference from Thursday till Monday. The theme this year is “Discipleship: Then and Now”. The speaker is Pastor Joackim Riecke from Namibia whom we have met while visiting Windhoek. We are looking forward to attending.

Thanks for your prayers for us as we work in the office, and for Timothy as he takes up the responsibility as acting director. Things have been going quite well and we hope it will be remain like this till our director returns. He is visiting SIM New Zealand this week and has visited some of our former missionaries in the North Island. With Christian love.