One year here!

Wow, this time one year ago we were on our way to Zambia!! Jon and I were laughing as we reflected on the past year; we literally had no idea what we were stepping into when we got on that plane a year ago! But praise the Lord that we stepped out in faith! It's been a roller coaster ride but we thank God for his direction in our lives. Coming here has been a life-changing experience and to be a part of the Amano community is such a blessing.
On Sunday we had the incredible privelege of seeing three of the young people from school being baptised! It was such a moving service as we heard these young people tell their raw and genuine testimonies about giving their lives to Jesus. For us, this is the core of why we are here; to see the young people making a choice to follow Christ and to live out their lives passionately in pursuit of Him.

It is a strange time here at school at the moment as the Grade 12's prepare to start the IGCSE's in October. It starts to become a reality that these students will soon be leaving Amano with the exception of those staying for 6th Form. Living on campus and seeing these students day in and day out (especially those in the dorm) means that we are very much a family here; it will certainly be sad to say goodbye!

But we had a brilliant evening last Friday as we attended the Grade 12 fundraiser; they are trying to raise money for a final outing together as a year group. So they hosted a dinner and quiz night in the school hall. They did a brilliant job in decorating the dusty bare hall. It was incredible that 90 people bought tickets (in comparison to 30 last year) ad the whole evening was a great success (apart from my quiz knowledge!).

I had also wanted to post a picture of the new volunteer, Melanie who is now helping out in the Girls Dorm. Mel has come from an organisation in Germany called 'Liebenzell'. She has been here for 4 weeks now and is a HUGE blessing to us. I managed to get a picture of her and the primaries :-)

Football, squash and jousting!!

Sorry it has been a while since we last blogged, term is now well under way and we are busily back into the swing of things! I can't believe that we have nearly been back 3 weeks already..time is flying!

The first weekend we were back Jon went to meet his brother Rob in Ndola and they went to watch Zambia vs Uganda at the new(ish) football stadium. Thankfully Zambia won!!

They had a great time together; it is such a blessing to have a family member close by. We plan to visit his project on October Half Term. Rob continues to work in Mpongwe (about 2 hours from us). You can see his blog at http://www.doingmybusinessinthebush.com/

Life in the dorm is going well so far this term. We have 26 girls and we are currently working hard as a staff team to help create more of a community and family atmosphere. We have made quite a few small changes to ensure that the girls are participating more in dorm duties, including organising activities for Friday evenings. We have introduced a reward system; 'Dorm Points' which is so far going very well!! and we have also tried to introduce a weekly prayer meeting with the girls.

                                                      Baking with the primaries!!

Last weekend Jon and I took the secondary girls into town to play squash! I so wish I had taken my camera as there were some brilliant moments. I'm glad to say that most of the girls are about the same squash playing level as me! enthusiastic but not so good at hitting the ball! We had a great laugh and it was brill to spend time together :-)
Jon has now started to get more involved with dorm life so that we get to see each other a bit more. He is now coming in every tuesday evening. So far it is working out well.

T4:12 (youth group) is still running regularly on Thurday evenings for secondary students. Our theme this term is based around 'God has a plan for your life'; Last week we talked about Courage and tonight I will be talking about having our Identity in Christ. We continue to have lots of loud and silly games; it's great to see the students relax and let their hair down after a busy week of studying, especially as it comes closer to the IGCSE's.

Last week, the young people dressed up one of their team members as knights and then we held a jousting competition! I've not laughed that much in a long time!

This weekend is also a busy one; the grade 12's will host a 'quiz and dinner' night tomorrow to raise funds for their graduation activities and then Sunday 3 students are getting baptised at the Amano Family Worship. Very exciting!!

Back to normality!

So, Yesterday was the first day of school of the third term! The borders came back on Monday and so the peace of the dorm is broken! It has really been great to see the girls, catch up with them and get back into routine :-)
We have certainly been blessed with an amazingly relaxing holiday and we're feeling refreshed and ready to go again now!
Jon has been verrry busy trying to get his driving license sorted. He reckons he has queued for over 20 hours last week trying to see the driving centre manager and get all the documents etc sorted. A good test of his patience! He managed to pass his theory test with 86%. He took his test yesterday- and YAY!! He passed!! So so pleased as we both now have our Zambian driving licenses!

In the holidays Jon's brother came to visit; he is currently working for 'Kaloko Trust' near Ndola (about 2 hours from us). He came to stay with us for the weekend! It was a massive boost for both of us to see a member of family and Jon and Rob enjoyed some beloved computer games together! Jon hopes to see him again this coming weekend :-)

We managed to squeeze in a whole day of movies as some of us gathered to watch the WHOLE lord of the rings trilogy! Numb Bum!!

As promised, here is a pic of my friends baby- he is called Mumba Lumpa!

Today, I got some amazing cushion covers made for the youth groups old battered sofa's. So chuffed with them that I thought I'd upload a few pics :-) They will look good in the banana house when it is ready!

Jon has settled back into school life and the kids are enjoying his 'mini-affro'!! No time for a haircut yet!

Can't believe we have now been here a year! Time is flying too fast.