Hey everyone,
Sorry for the quality of the writing have not had time to check over this
Another week has passed and where it has gone I do not Know. It feels like we have just arrived here. I am good on the whole, have probably been a bit under the weather in terms of health and energy but God has been good to me and given me the strength I need to get through things.
The team are doing well generally, we have a great bunch of people with such a variety of talents it is so obvious that God has brought us together for a purpose here. The house is great and life here is both rewarding and challenging. Living in such a close community with 20 odd people has both it benefits and it hindrances, most of which you can image
This week has been manic in terms of time being used up in projects and just generally. There had been a bit of sickness floating around the house with several people suffering from various bugs and tummy upsets. Mostly I have escaped unharmed but it can be extremely frustrating when people want to be working and instead they are stuck in bed.
Frustrations and successes
This week has been one of of extreme frustration when things have not quite worked out and Joy seeing things that we have started finished already. In both we give it all to God and learn from them.
The frustrations came with one of our projects at a school we have been working closely with, we are building toilets there for the teachers to give them a reward for all the hard work that they do. So far we have completed a 2.5 meter whole in the group for all their waste to drop down around, we have the foundations in place around it for the building work to go. Next for the toilets was to work on the lintels that would be the floor of the building. This is where we ran into most of our problems this week and frustrations. We started constructing our lintels on Wednesday morning of this week, after running behind schedule we headed for lunch determined to get stuck in after lunch and make up for the time we had lost this morning. We got back to the school around 3 and started to get stuck in. When what upon looking back had to be a God moment. Deborah one of the in country leaders arrived just shortly after to pick up a girl from the school and thankfully took a look at the work we had done so far, she was able to inform us that some of them where not correct and it would be best to start again. So the 4 of us who had went back to finished up ended up destroying a couple of our lintels and putting the frame back together. Of course it is extremely frustrating to find yourself taking two steeps forward and what feels like 10 steps back. But this is the nature of life out here sometimes mistakes our made. The important thing is to lent from them and let God teach you. We where back working this morning ( Friday ) finishing off the lintels.
The highlight of the weeks has to be arriving at Songembelle on Thursday for choir practice e to find the church roof had been completed. We are so thankful to God for it and trust that the church will now grow and be a real light for the Kingdom of a God in a community that remains largely untouched by the Gospel. There is a pride that comes with seeing something you have been working on finished, but there is something even more rewarding when you know that God will use it to further his kingdom.
Prayer Points
– health: pray for the health of the house and that everyone who is unwell would improve.
– Team: pray that we continue to build good relationships with one another and God would forge friendships that would last.
– Church of Songembelle: Pray that God would bless this Church and that putting a roof on the church would lead to it growing in numbers and influence in the area. Pray for the pastor there who has such a vision for the area, from building a primary School and secondary School to a health Center. The church has a passion to meet the needs of the Area
– Brundi: Pray for the security there !
With love Andrew
Atr Irwin 