Horton Chapel Church of Christ

Mid September Maynard Mission Report

Farming

This month we have started 17 new beds. Eight of these beds have been planted with potatoes. If you remember when we first moved here potatoes did not do well. We are hoping with better soil after two years of composting we will have a better crop. Nine of these new beds have been planted with onions, carrots, peppers, and eggplant. On top of the 17 beds we have planted 5 beds of mchaichai (lemongrass) which will provide the school with free tea for tea time every day.

Thanks to all of you and your donations we were able to purchase a small machine to chop up the leftover corn stalks. The machine is working well and we have more than enough food stored to feed our cows through the dry season. The chopped corn stalks will be mixed with molasses and water. This year, because we can chop the stalks, there will be much less waste and we are grateful.

Evangelism

Anna continues to work at the local school on Friday’s and to show the kind of impact this could have we wanted to share with all of you what happened this month. Anna teaches the younger children (think 5-6 grade) and a good friend, Kashumba, teaches the upper levels (7-8 grade). Two of the kids from Kashumba’s upper level class asked to be baptized this month! This was an unexpected surprise for all of us and reinforces why we are working in our local school.

While Anna has continued her women’s class at Kisongo and weekly Bible studies I have had to take a break. At the end of last month I had a seizure while driving the tractor. It is thanks to Agustine that the situation was not worse but I was beat up after falling on concrete. This was my third seizure this year. Anna and I have spent a lot of time having tests run this month and seeing a good European Neurologist two hours away. I have been diagnosed with epilepsy. I am now on medicine, and while it has many side effects, thanks to friends who suggested some essential oils, I am now managing the side effects easily. This has changed our daily life drastically. I cannot drive for the next 3-6 months, I am having to stay stress free, and rest a lot. We ask that you keep my health and both of our sanity in your prayers. We are thankful for good doctors and to be doing so well given the circumstances.

Furlough

We are planning our furlough now and would like to share the dates with you. We plan to fly out of Tanzania on December 17th and spend the holidays with our family. Our plan is to report throughout the month of January. Please contact us if you would like us to come to you and report. These are the dates we will be available:

Wednesday January 3rd

Sunday AM January 7th

Sunday PM January 7th

Wednesday January 10th

Sunday AM January 14th

Sunday PM January 14th

Wednesday January 17th

Sunday AM January 21st

Sunday PM January 21st

Wednesday January 24th

Sunday AM January 28th

Sunday PM January 28th

Wednesday January 31st

If you could contact us with a couple of dates we will make sure we come and visit and report to all of you. Thank you all for your continued support.