THE FARM

The mountain view and ridge view from where the house will eventually be on the Widows Farm. A river runs at the base of the ridge.

Our First Visit Since Returning

We couldn't get to the Widows Farm to visit until Tuesday, the 3rd. When we got there we were able to see the fence and what the land looks like cleared of weeds and ant hills. Charles, who has been doing the clearing of all these things - including the ant hills - was in Marty's "prayer chapel" clearing it out for her. It will be a really wonderful place of solitude to which to go or have groups of ladies over for meetings in the out-of-doors. When we go to church this coming Sunday it should have been cleared of all the saplings in the middle, and perhaps the floor will have been leveled. John has also asked Charles to make a nice path from the fence entrance to the site.

Here is the circle of trees from the outside and the inside - prior to the saplings being removed.

Jeremy and Marty stood out on the land and were looking at the ridge in front of where the house will eventually be built and the mountain over to the left in the distance. A wonderful soft breeze began to blow and both had the sense of the gentle breath of God wafting across the land and all around them and also became aware of how very peaceful it was there. John commented on the same thing. It is a lovely place!

THE NEXT CROP

Great news today! On Tuesday next, the field will be plowed for the second crop of maize. All of the stalks left from the recent harvest will be plowed under to enrich the soil. It will receive a second plowing in another two weeks from the first and then in a week or so the next crop of maize will be sown, and probably beans in between the rows. Maize and beans are the staple crops for the village people.

TRIP TO MAGWAR

Magwar is about 7 kilometers away from Kadawa. Originally people from there walked those 7 kilometers to church and back every Sunday, and the ladies also did so on Wednesdays for the women's meetings. Now Restoration Community Church (RCC) has a daughter church planted in Magwar and there are just short of 100 adults and about 40 children attending from the surrounding area - including a neighbouring village of the Luhya tribe. The church is about 18 months old. One member has donated land and they are now making and buying bricks - a few at a time - to build a church. Two big trees will soon be felled to make posts for a fence around the property.

John, Marty, Jeremy and Hesbone went there on Thursday to visit and pray for Dorcas, one of the destitute widows, and visit Mary, one of the founding members and cell leaders. The road to Magwar is very bad and at one particularly rough spot Jeremy and John had to get out of the car to lighten it so that Hesbone could navigate over the rocks and ditches. Jeremy took a video of it and it is posted on You Tube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcTvb6Vtxng

The video is a hoot and you will see what is quite normal for us out here.

Dorcas' outdoor kitchen - she cooks on the floor in her house when it rains. Above, Mary is riding with us to Dorcas' house.

We will be sending more updates as we go along. We have news about Mega & Mix, the first two goats that were purchased with money saved by the Mega-Mix Sunday School class at Emmanuel Christian Centre, where we worship in the UK. That will be shared in the next episode.

Blessings & Love,

John & Marty