Hey everybody,

My life has been pretty quiet, not to mention a touch on the lonely side, the last couple of days. (Somebody please buy Sarah a plane ticket back here.) Just kidding...kind of. Being able to rest has been good though. It was very much needed after going like a madman with the team for the last three weeks. Today I went to Murundu. I hitched a ride in one of the huge mine dumptrucks. Kind of fun. I went out to the edge of Mufulira by the road that goes to Murundu and some guys started hollering to come over and wait for transport with them. I did and it turned out that they know Dr. T, as soon as I said Agape, they said, "oh, Thinus." Anyway, they flagged down the dumptruck for me and then hit me up for some kwachas...which I gave them. I was walking into Murundu, after getting off the truck, and as I turned the corner to Joseph's street, I was greeted by one of the little ones from our VBS. I don't know his name, but he said, "Hallo Dave," and promptly grabbed my hand and held it the rest of the way to Joseph's. It is nice to feel welcome. Kids tend to do that better than adults, no matter what part of the world you are in.

The purpose of my visit was to check out a little more of the chicken farming venture that I am getting into. The more I see and find out about this, the better I like it. I think it shows promise of being able to almost totally support the orphanage that Joseph and Hilda are building. Please pray for the birth and growth of that business as it will very directly effect how about 60 kids are living and eating. In addition to seeing the farming operation, I also got to see the piece of property that Joseph bought as the future location of his orphanage. It is 25 hectares (I don't know the exact conversion, but it is a huge piece of property) and it is located on the edge of Murundu and actually has frontage on the main highway. It seems like a pretty perfect scenario. Please also pray that God would provide the funds for building the houses for the kids on this land. He will need about $15,000 to build two homes that would allow him to take in about 50 children. Within that first $15,000 a very large part of the expense is in getting a well and a pump and having electricity run to the property. So, after the first two houses, each subsequent structure should be only cost around $4000. Once everything is built, the idea is to use the remaining land to farm. With that land, they should be able to produce enough to feed the kids and cover nearly, if not all, of the costs of running the orphanage. Another prayer request is that God would show me if this is a project that I am supposed to be significantly involved in. Right now, my involvement there is minimal, but it looks like it might be a good place to consider getting more involved.

Today was fun. Tomorrow I will be leaving Mufulira for Ndola to spend some time with the Vineyard church there. That should be fun too. I will talk to you all later.

dave