Today I am blessed to know that many people are praying for me. Such as, the mission team I will be traveling with, my friends, and my family, as well as my church family are all praying for me as we prepare for our mission trip to India.
It is less than 3 weeks away. I am praying to stay healthy and to connect well with the rest of the team, and to be a blessing to those we are going to help, support, and encourage. So as I pray for these things I'm reminded of Paul and his prayer to the Lord and the Lord says "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (New International Version)
8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Grace is sufficient... and He is all we need. Especially, when it comes down to He is all you really have.
Grace and Peace,
www.Reform-Shire.blogspot.com
Coram Deo!!!
From: Kathy McCarty
Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 6:09 AM
Subject: Update on Chidamoyo Conference
Dear Friends:
Just to give you an update on the church conference. We started with a preconference of Ministers and their wives from all over Zimbabwe on Tuesday night the 11th. We provided 3 meals a day and they had meetings during the day and at night. This conference was attended by about 150 people. The women cooked in my driveway and people ate in my outdoor dining room and patio area. This was a good start to get us ready for the conference.
On Thursday all day we did surgeries at the hospital with Dr. Bungu from our sister hospital Mashoko. He came early for the conference to help teach our 2 doctors to do hernias and hydroceles. So as the people began arriving for the conference we were very busy at the hospital. We got out in time to join the group for dinner and the first night! We had over 2500 people the first night and they all got fed and put to sleep in the 2 schools near us and the chapel and church. I had 7 people in my house and sharing 1 bathroom and Major ended up with 19 in his! We had people sleeping everywhere; I even put up my 2 tents for people to sleep in!
By Friday we officially had 3,149 people that were attending the conference! We so enjoyed the fellowship—but got very little sleep. We had a special program for the youth after the main services each night which ended with a movie about 12 midnight! The women came to start cooking about 3:15 a.m. right outside my bedroom window and they figure if they are awake, everyone else must be, so they don't even try to be quiet! We continued to work at the hospital Friday and Sat and run back and forth as we could.
The electricity went off Friday afternoon and never came back until the Wed after the conference—so we ran the generator Sat most of the day for the sound system. We killed 5 cows, ate 2 tons of maize (sadza and porridge), ate 40 litres of peanut butter, 58 dozen bread and 250 heads of cabbage! By Saturday night Major's eyes were so red I thought he had been smoking a lot of marijuana!
The conference officially ended about 10 a.m. Sunday but many people left early morning on Sunday by bus and lorry and cars to get back home. Many people commented that this was the best conference they had ever attended and it was so well organized and the food was so good. They wanted us to volunteer to have it again—I said maybe in another 37 years!
Monday after work I left with my visitors for 3 nights on safari at The Hide and 2 nights at Vic Falls. We did see a lot of animals, even lions and 1 leopard! We cruised the Zambezi and saw the Falls and ate at the Boma restaurant, crocodile, buffalo, ostrich, guinea fowl, warthog, impala, and some of the visitors even ate the Mopani worms! I spent 2 days from breakfast to sundown on the platform at The Hide by myself reading (finished 2 books), napping and enjoying peace and quiet with giraffe and wildebeest and impalas nearby. What a wonderful time!
We flew back to Harare on Sunday morning and then drove on to Chidamoyo. On Thursday Jimmy, Bre, Tej and Mark leave for home. Monday Major flew with Rick, Sue and Jordan to Swaziland to assess an orphanage there supported by Rick's church in Hawaii. They get back Saturday night with a new visitor from Washington who is here for a month. Rick and Sue and Jordan leave Sunday afternoon—so I will go in Saturday to pick them up and return with Major and the new visitor, Charlotte on Sunday.
While I was gone to The Hide we received word that Lori Batten, RN got her work permit for 2 years and should be arriving mid-September! PTL—we are all happy!
Sorry I am so behind on e-mails, please forgive me and I will get back to you soon. Trying to deal with the emergencies at work and home right now!
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