Dear Prayer Partners and Supporters,

With joy we are writing you this update about what is going on in our ministries. We are counting our blessings and naming them one by one!

Last week our principal returned from a good and fruitful time with our partners in Pretoria (Mukhanyo Theological College, Reformed Church Centurion, and Reformed Church Koster) and in Cape Town (Christ Church Somerset West and George Whitfield College). Just on time to arrange the last preparations before opening the second semester for this year on the 10th of July. So far 21 students have reported and we expect some more to come in soon. We are thankful to a donor who helped us to replace the old mattresses for new ones. We hope a daily good night rest will increase the study ability for our students!

We will still use the old mattresses as well when we have conferences for student’s wives or teachers, so at least we can offer every attendee a comfortable bed with mattress to sleep on!

Last month we had a Women’s Conference were we had a nice time with 20 students’ and graduates’ wives attending. It gives so much joy to worship and pray together and to learn more about God and how we can serve Him in our lives. Margaret Sakala, the principal’s wife, shared topics concerning being a pastor’s wife and Marjanne led the Bible studies about the life of Sarah.

We also got a pledge for a GAS STOVE for the kitchen which currently uses wood for cooking. Please do join us as we count all these blessings and see God at work around us!

Another blessing we count: a new administrator, Miss Samba Kangwanda, arrived safely at the College on the 8th of July. We can’t say her moving in, together with her mother and sister, went just smoothly because they had a break down on the way from Lusaka. The truck they were using had to be towed back so while waiting for backup, they camped along the road side, but we can safely say that she has already settled in with joy in her new office!

As we update you on the farm side, we can share more blessings even there. We received a big donation intended for investment on the farm in regard to expanding the chicken project. The work has already started and we will be informing you of the progress. The idea is to develop the farm into a project that will be able to sustain all the other ministries.

We also want to report that the harmer mill upon being repaired is now performing very well and serving the community successfully.  This is a matter of thanksgiving!

Other donors have pledged to replace the broken down motor for the oil press. You can imagine what this means for Samuel, our farm manager. He is also very happy that two of his pigs have given birth increasing the numbers.

Let’s go to the ministries that deal with the young children. Musonda, the CEM ministry leader, together with his trainers, are busy visiting the community schools. We want to make sure that the new schools that opened this term will know as soon as possible how to run a proper education program, and also we don’t want the ‘old’ schools to be neglected. A visit from one of the trainers is often an encouragement for them and for us it is good to see if especially Bible lessons and literacy are given in the way we have been training.

We count it a blessing to receive feedback from the Copperbelt about implementing the CEM curriculum in the PLEAP School and in literacy groups for adults. This is a new area opened up for Marjanne’s ministry.  This is evidence that the work is now expanding beyond Eastern Province.

Do you know about our children’s ministry that we accommodate at the College every Saturday afternoon?

This is where Children from our neighboring villages, almost 100 every week, come to listen to a Bible story, to sing, pray, learn a memory verse and color a picture about the Bible story. Several weeks ago, we were rewarding the children who remembered the memory verse from the previous week with donated clothes! What a blessing for them!

Surprise: some boys, age 16 – 18, suddenly showed up. They were passing by and remembered from their childhood the teacher and how they enjoyed our program. They joined again that afternoon!

It is always nice to receive these visitors and often a group of cow-boys as well. We welcome them with their cows, otherwise they can’t join. They need to look after the cattle 7 days a week from sunrise till sunset. But once a week they have the opportunity to hear the gospel and we welcome them with love.  Photo 1 – the Saturday Bible class in session – Photo 2 – the older boys meeting with Marjanne and Photo 3 – the cowboys with their cows in the background.

The last blessing we count at this moment is you! Thank you for reading our update. Thank you for partnering with us in prayer and support! We are blessed to be a blessing…

Pastor Emmanuel Sakala 

Principal