10 - 9 - 8 - 7 ...

After a good week or so of silence - maybe ten days - I'm back in Lubango!

You may wonder why I only got back on Monday of this week rather than last week. My Dad used to work for a bit of his company which sent computers overseas, and then sent engineers to install them. He will tell you that one of the most difficult things to do is to work out how long it will take things to clear Customs in any country, and so plan when the engineers should travel.

Angola is no different! Plans are just plans, and eventually the cars came out of the port and enough documentation was obtained to make us legal for the drive home.

Uncle Steve and I had a marvellous time, of course, while we were waiting. Steve delighted in showing me Benguela and particularly Lobito because he always went on holiday there with his family for a month each year until he left the country at age 18. He grew up somewhere further north and into the interior of the country.

One highlight was an evening we spent with Dr Chipinda and his wife. I haven't time to give the whole biography, but basically he's been quite a statesman in the history of not just the Angolan Church but the Church in Africa as a whole. He's now retired. The Portuguese for retire is reformar, by the way - I like the idea of stopping work being a 'reformation'. We also had a delicious barbecue Uncle Steve and I enjoyed at some YWAM Brazilian missionaries' house. Mmmmmm. Their daughter delighted in telling me she was 2 years old. Many times. It was on the night of the England Sweden match, and everyone was getting very excited (they were going to cheer for Sweden just to wind me up), but then 2 minutes before kick-off the power went out so I guess the electricity board didn't want us to see that one. The Angola-Mexico celebrations were good though - something for this nation to be proud of.

The Land Cruiser is muito bom, and the scenery on the way back was just breathtaking. I got some photos, but I never take that many of the scenery as photographs never seem able to do it justice. You'll just have to come out here some time ...

Tom was in Kalukembe until Friday with Steve Foster, but I haven't really had time to talk to him about it yet. He's been watching some theatre work I understand. He's off with Steve today at Tchambangala doing some more gruesome bits no doubt.

The SIM Conference for this part of the world is this weekend. Please pray that God will really bless our time together. My mind still hasn't really grasped quite how little time I have until departure - less than 10 days! I reckon I'll do at least one more English lesson this week, probably with cake, because I don't feel I've brought it to any kind of close yet. And shortly I will give my final music lesson to Bart, which is one of my favourite bits of the week. Sadly he and his family will return to Holland two weeks after I leave because their organisation could not afford the funding required for Rijk's project. Please pray for them.

The SIM Conference does mean that it will probably be at least another week before I get back on to the Internet, so perhaps only one more blog from Angola.

Thank you for all the support I have received while I have been here - letters and EMAILs I have enjoyed hugely, and prayers whose benefit I have truly enjoyed too. Please pray for all members of the GAP team, for health in the last days and when they return home. One thing SIM suggests is an MOT from the GP - I have had a bit of a chronic cough for the past few weeks (might just be the dust of dry season, and clear up as soon as I get back to the UK), but I think I might take that suggestion up to be on the safe side.

A Year In - Part Nine

As I sit here in Lubango, I wonder if this will be the last episode of A Year In that wings its way through the electronic ether from southwestern Africa. Hard as it is, at times, for me to believe, there are already less than four weeks until I will be heading back to Reading. With this in mind, I felt that this prayer letter would be an ideal opportunity to take a step back and give you an overview of what some of my missionary colleagues are doing here in the south of Angola: work that was going on long before I arrived (indeed, before I was born, in some cases!) and will continue even after I have left.

Principally due to the fact that the post-independence war only ended here in 2002, SIM boasts a small team of missionaries in Angola, by international standards. Three individuals and five families find themselves based mainly in the southern half of this vast land. Various members of the team have cropped up in past updates, and information on how to support SIM Angola can be obtained via the SIM office (address below); this month, though, I would like to throw the spotlight on just a few of the folks that I have had the privilege of spending time with.

Peter and Areni Ritchie

About 40 minutes’ drive south of Lubango lies Rio da Huila, a collection of rural villages known to the locals as Tchambangala. Sent through SIM Canada (although Areni hails from eastern India), Peter and Areni are involved in literacy work. In addition to having to get to grips with Portuguese and the local Olumwila language, their ministry includes translation of Bible-based materials; teaching literacy, English, computing and basic healthcare (Areni is a trained doctor); evangelistic outreach with local churches and those further afield, including showing the Jesus video and running women’s ministries; as well as bringing up and home-schooling two lively youngsters, Wojamo and Ciara.

Steve and Peggy Foster

As one half of the couple with whom I have probably had the most contact, it could be argued that Peggy has the hardest job of any of the team here. Amongst her industrious activity running Bible studies and a recently-established senior citizens’ ministry in the local church, Peggy has the responsibility of helping to ensure that my deceptively large stomach – and those of other Lubango-based short-termers – gets filled on weekday evenings!

Meanwhile she supports husband Steve, the only surgeon for some fifty thousand people in this region. A third-generation missionary (Steve’s 81-year-old father is back in Angola for six weeks overseeing the rebuilding of a clinic in the interior of the country), it is almost thirty years since Dr Foster first came to Angola. Working in conjunction with an organisation called Samaritan’s Purse (www.samaritan.org), Steve finds the time to keep an eye on the construction of a new hospital here in Lubango (where I teach English) whilst performing surgeries and medical consultations in clinics around the area. It is his vision that, once the hospital is complete, satellite clinics will be set up within a large radius that can refer people to the hospital, making use of MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship/www.mafangola.com) planes as an air ambulance service where appropriate.

The hospital also has strategic significance in that it finds itself at the apex in a triangle of largely unreached people groups. Just as God verified Jesus’ ministry through miraculous healings, we pray that the hospital’s healing ministry would also bring people to know the love of Christ. You can find more information about this ambitious project through Advancing the Gospel in Angola (www.gospelangola.org)

Dr Steve Collins

Of course, SIM is not the only missions organisation working in Angola. Steve Collins is a “retired” ophthalmologist affiliated to the Christian Blind Mission (www.cbmi.org). He grew up in Angola, the son of Canadian missionaries. After studying Classics in Canada, he went to Bible school and was a pastor for almost ten years. God had other plans, though, and so Steve found himself once again in full-time education in his thirties, this time in medical school.

He has been back in Angola since 1991 and shows no signs of flagging. Testimony to this is that at the end of last month he spent two weeks in the city of Huambo, which was devastated by the war. In his fortnight there, he performed over 130 cataract operations, restoring sight to many, whilst still finding time to fulfil a few preaching engagements. Meanwhile, he has just ordered a new car to replace his ailing Land Rover (which has suffered greatly as all cars do thanks to Angola’s roads) … a sure sign that Dr Collins does not expect to find himself in retirement any time soon!

My news in brief

· Teaching at the hospital continues five days a week. Much of my English teaching before I came here was supply teaching: it has been great to stay with these groups over the last few months and see their progress.

· Native English speakers are popular! In the next weeks, I am involved in running an English retreat for students from one of the churches in a poorer area of town, as well as an English festival for one of the Government-run schools. Pinto, one of the guys I chat to on the street (see previous prayer letters) has also asked me to hang out with him to teach him some English.

· Nevertheless, our teaching term ends on June 23^rd, leaving us with another fortnight before our departure… I am excited to see what God has planned!

CALLING ALL SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS

If you’re scratching your head about how to encourage the children of the church to get involved in Jesus’ call to world mission in practical ways, let the missionaries of Angola help!

· Collect toothbrushes and toothpaste for Muhuilas
Areni told me of the desperate need for better dental hygiene amongst the Muhuila tribe. We hope that God might call a dentist or dental hygienist to the area, but in the meantime Areni is hoping to teach locals how to look after their teeth better. This, though, is not the easiest task if they don’t have the right tools!

· And what about old spectacles?
The Christian Blind Mission in Angola, and in particular our Uncle Steve, always welcomes pairs of glasses for people of all ages. They need to be isometric (the same prescription in both lenses), and any glasses prescribed for stigmatisms are no good, due to the uniqueness of each individual’s condition.

I’ll gladly put you in touch with my friends here in Angola if you think you might be able to
help us help you help Angolans…

Petitions and Praises

· Give thanks that God has been watching over our physical, emotional and spiritual health these past months, and that we have remained free of all major health problems; remember our continued safety in your prayers, please.

· Praise God for the opportunities we have to be sharing God’s message through English-language events; please pray with us that he will use these to touch people’s hearts and lives.

· Do please pray for the missionary community in Angola. May God work in and through the life of each Christian worker, so that we can each give more glory to him.

· Remember the final days of our assignment in your prayers, please: that God would give us wisdom in how to fill those we have here; that he would prepare us for travel back to the UK (see below); and use us even as we travel and arrive home.

… flight plan …

THURSDAY 6^TH JULY

Lubango, Angola
depart 0945 on flight DT 571

Windhoek, Namibia
arrive 1115
depart 1510 on flight SA 0077

Johannesburg, S. Africa
arrive 1805
depart 2010 on flight SA 0234

FRIDAY 7^TH JULY

London Heathrow, UK
arrive 0625 in Terminal One

GAP around the world

The world has not been without various GAPish health incidents in the first half of this year, most of which have been reported in the pages of this publication over recent months. Zara, who is serving in Asia with Helen, has been the latest hospitalisation candidate on the GAP team, thanks to a kidney stone, which Helen named Brian. Zara is already making a good recovery, and says that she has learnt that “water is your best friend, and Brian is not.” They are looking forward to running a children’s camp before they leave.

It would seem to be one of those near-incomprehensible facts of life that we fourteen GAPers, spread as we are into seven of the four corners of the world, will soon be together again in Suffolk for our debrief at SIM UK’s headquarters. Please pray for the team as we reassemble and share all that God has been doing in our lives and through our ministries. I would also be most grateful if you could remember our GAPer friendships in your prayers, giving thanks for the support we have been able to give one another through the medium of emails whilst we have been away.

Two final thoughts

For those who were breathing a sigh of relief as they read the first sentence of this letter, note that you haven’t heard the last of me yet! Look out for A Year In Part 10 sometime in mid-July.

Lastly, a huge thank you to all those who have prayed, written, emailed, sent carrier pigeons, shared stories with friends, or found any other way to support God’s work in and through my life on this GAP adventure. I know I say this every time, but I mean it: be assured that you all do remain often in my thoughts and prayers.

Back to school in Lubango

I mentioned the church at Lalula briefly in the last blog. Too late I realised that I hadn't given any background information - so here it is.

Marcela has been here for over 3 months now, and her ministry learning medicine from Steve has ended. For her last few weeks here she is teaching English at a smaller church towards the outskirts of the city, in a bairro called Lalula. I have gone along once or twice to give her what help I could.

On one of these occasions I spent the second teaching period talking to some guys of around my age. Their English is considerably more advanced, mostly because they have spent time in Namibia. At least one of them was asking all sorts of questions about what it's like to be a Christian, and what you get out of it, that kind of thing. They were also stressing their desire for someone to provide English tuition at their more advanced level.

I'm sure you can guess what's coming next. Actually, I'm just at the thinking-about-it stage, considering doing something with these guys two or three nights a week. My plan is forming around John R. Cross's The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, which essentially sets out to explain the Bible and its message. I have got my hands on a copy of the book (I think it's Steve and Peggy's) in English, and Becky has a Study Guide, also in English.

Please ask God to give me wisdom about what to do, how to plan it, which bits of the book to use (I don't think we will have time to do it all) and so on. Wisdom would be especially appreciated on how many and which nights to go to Lalula in terms of time- and health-management!

Marcela and I have also been enlisted along with Becky to help run an English festival in one of the Government schools on June 24th. Most of our involvement will be at the preparation stage as we teach various poems, fables, songs, games and so on. Our contact, Pastor Mauricio, also said something about rhythmic gymnastics. None of us has any ability in such an area, and with an expected turnout of around 400 people we are hoping that this might slip off the agenda! Meanwhile, please pray for us as we get stuck into planning the event and that God will be with us in our communications and meetings (two so far, both in Portuguese) with Pastor Mauricio, so that we can all understand one another clearly and be heading for the same goal.

You may have been aware for a while that there have been news reports of cholera in Angola. I now understand that the first cases in Lubango have been reported. Whilst prayers for our spritual and physical health are always much appreciated and very important, we are in the fortunate position of having ready access to both filtered water and medical advice. We therefore have little to worry about - it's basically being sure to wash hands and food thoroughly and frequently. Cholera is also easily treated if caught early and we have all been well informed of the symptoms. But please pray for those around the city who either do not have the literacy to know about the precautions or do not have the facilities to take them - and for those who are already ill or grieving the loss of a loved one to this disease.

After three post-less weeks, I have been inundated with letters and parcels this week. So much to reply to now! Thank you very much to all who have written over the last few months. In the light of experience I strongly suggest that anything which has not been put in the post box by June 10th should be addressed to me at my home address, or at Wetheringsett, rather than here in Lubango. Even then, it might not get here until after I have left ...