In His Service & Loving It---the book!

 "But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."  2 Cor. 9:6

Our family is known mainly for Paul's chalk art evangelism, but it is not the only way we try to reach people to tell them about Jesus.  Paul write books that can go where we can't, and can be read while we sleep, and can even speak after we're all in Heaven.  We do other things too, but these books are a big deal to us, so a new one, back from the printers after years of writing, editing, formatting and then waiting, is a BIG DEAL!!! 

 Tandym is our printer, so when the truck pulled up in front of our house last week, we all spilled out like ants to welcome the load. 

 Tim's friend Daniel was visiting, so he got roped into helping unload the shipment of 3000 books.

 In His Service and Loving It--fresh from the printer!  It's biographical, with lots of pictures. 

 The front cover...picture taken in March in Sasolburg, South Africa...

 and the back cover on our last day in Zimbabwe in May. 

 

James was here passing books to Daniel and Tim.

 

Gabby was here, acting with Evangel, another ministry.  They didn't stop to unload books as the guys had that well in hand, but they continued filming the last scene for Evangel's movie.  

Recognize Evangel?  She looks like a gypsy, but it's all part of sowing bountifully. 

Baobab Beauties

 We are safely back in Cape Town now, but having fond memories of our Zimbabwe days.  As we were leaving, we had to stop to get our picture taken with an immense baobab tree.  We thought this was a good one,

 until we saw this one!  Doesn't this make you want to build a big ol' tree house?  Like Swiss Family Robinson!  And for Zimbabwe, this isn't even a record breaker, it was just a convenient, right by the road, big Baobab Tree. 

These marvels look a bit like they're upside down, with the roots in the air, particularly right now, as they didn't have much in the way of leaves in the autumn months.  I just read on Wikipedia that South Africa has the 2 stoutest trees in the world, both baobabs, in the Limpopo province, one with a diameter of 52 ft!  Our specimen in picture might be considered two together, I don't know, but it makes me hum that song, about the dry bones, that says,

                            

                                           "See the works of the Lord!"

 

 

They stand out in the crowd

We met the kindest people in Zimbabwe.  In several cases, it felt like people were trying to get us.  They wanted our money, they trapped us, they fined us, they begged from us or pressured us.  So when we met Lena and Bertie, their Christian kindness really stood out to us.  They live on a farm that their grandparents pioneered, taking it from wilderness to this state of gorgeous beauty. 

 There's our car with my birthday present that we towed.  The bright stickers are required by the government.  We were parked just to the left of their house.  I thought it looked like a landscapers dream come true. 

 Their grandparents lined the driveway with trees.  This family has been driven from their home 7 times so far.  Their employees tell them when it is safe to come back. 

 Their parents and grandparents are buried on the land.  Right now they employ 250 people. When these farms are taken over, all those 250 will lose their jobs, and the land will not produce any more whereas now they produce enough to export. 

 

You might think it's all about money, but Bertie says no, it's power.  They'd rather be in charge, and see their people starving then have the prosperity and not have control. 

 

About the money, we did think it was curious that Zimbabwe has and uses so many $2.00 bills.  We tended to do the American thing, collect them, but they wear them right out as you can maybe tell by this picture. 

 

 

But God is in control.  He has His reasons for the ones He puts in power.  He often uses oppressive governments to help people turn from sin and back to God.  We spend our lives helping people turn from sin to Jesus.  One nice side effect is that when enough people turn back to God, He will heal their land.  When Israel had suffered 70 years of captivity and finally turned back to God, He turned the Gentile king who still controlled them to favour them (Ezra 6:22 & 7:27,28).

From old age home to age old home

This is a special group, part of the group Paul preached to,  and people who became dear to us as we stayed.   Dezy, the man who was the fastest sprinter in Rhodesia, is the man on the left. 

 

 When we said our goodbyes to them, we went to Masvingo, to the Great Zimbabwe, as it's called. There are extensive ruins there you can hike around in, and cliff dwellings you can climb up inside.  It was very fun.   

 You have to watch out for falling rocks!  These ruins are not stuck together with cement or anything, just rocks balanced on each other. 

 My Dad always likes pictures of signs and maps, so like father like daughter. This gives a glimpse of how extensive these ruins are.  It was supposed to house 2500 people in the 1400's so it's not small.  This is the second largest ruins in Africa, second only to the pyramids, which was why I thought it important we take the kids to see it. 

Chinhoyi Caves

 One day in Zimbabwe, Paul wasn't preaching anywhere, so we seized the opportunity to go explore some caves not too from our nursing home accommodation.  It was so unique.  We were let loose, with no guide at all, to descend some steep steps into the earth.  We could see light ahead though, so wondered what we would find. 

 We had heard there was water in it, but enough to scuba dive in?!?! 

 Yes!  The water there is at least 315 feet deep, and a startling shade of blue.  It was awesome.  Timmy thought the great acoustics deserved a song so he started up his bass rumble, and we enjoyed the echoes.

 Joshua's camera can take underwater pictures and his caught the blueness of the water, whereas mine just looks black. 

 To get to the water, we climbed down a long tunnel completely through rock, and then came out at the water's edge.  We could look up and see the sky overhead, and caves in front of us, full of water and with bats squeaking from deeper inside. 

  

I found it a hard place to capture on film so just stick The Blue Grotto of Zimbabwe on your bucket list to go see, and you'll understand. 

 

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."

Psalms 24:1

 

"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."

Psalms 90:2 

Snaps of Zimbabwe

 Today, the 13th of April,  we were at Ebenezar Baptist Church in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. 

 There's nothing like the view of a thatched roof from bed!  I don't know what the snow affect is, dust?  It's not on my camera. 

 I'm reading David Livingstone's book Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa and he comments on every animal and bug he sees, so I took a picture of 3 moths.  David Livingstone would tell you the Latin names, so in the same spirit, I will tell you there are two normal moths and one really, really big one. 

 Paul with Pastor Dubay before church this morning. 

 Somehow we wandered into the red light district.  :-)  I think it was advertising an electrical store. 

 Tim and Evangel squished in the back of the car kept in high spirits, even when their heads hit the ceiling because the road was so rough. 

 Josh got some "help" with his school work from a cute little 3 year old. 

 Evangel is editing hours every day, working on her movie based on the book Star of Light. 

 Tim bodyguards me and helps tote groceries when we take the path to town. 

 

 

Yesterday we had a little robbery attempt that left our hearts pumping.  Some guys came to both sides of the car, and one reached for my purse.  I use the old "twist the pinky" move I learned from my cousins when we threw each other off a raft when we were kids.  He didn't get anything, and I only got a little bruise somehow in the tussle. 

 

As he walked away, we realized Evangel had just been on the street with her computer, and we tried to whip the car around to make sure she was OK.  That car couldn't whip, there were too many people around.  But she was OK anyway.  Thankfully she had rushed inside just seconds before the thieves made their move and didn't even know it had happened. 

 

Tonight we are staying at a place with an internet connection for the first time in a while, so we seize the moment and use it like crazy, then it's back to sporadic visits to internet cafes for another week.

 

We forgot to check the traffic report

Sunday on the way to church we had a little congestion.

But basically it was a happy crowd, no road rage.  These ladies in a donkey drawn cart didn't seem too distressed about having their picture taken.

 

 Some slow moving traffic was polite enough to move out of the way.

 

 We were pretty excited to see 4 lane roads so we had place to pass.

"He that hasteth with his feet misseth his way" is

probably a good verse to keep in mind, always, but maybe more so

on the way to church in Zimbabwe.