Our New Home

When we visited the ANU campus in February, we took this picture of one side of the duplex which will be our home beginning this coming January. It was built in the early 1990's and has housed a variety of American faculty, short-term visitors, and church dignitaries. We love its distinctive style--tile roof, bay window on each side, surrounded by tropical plants and literally "solid as a rock." More on that later.

Our neighbors, already in their half of the duplex, will be Rev. Randy and Mary Jane James, the new ANU chaplain and his wife.

Since we returned to the States, workmen have begun working on an addition to our home. Each morning the men working on our house and on the new student center arrive on flatbed trucks from off campus. The work on our house is relatively short term, but some of the workmen involved in the student center process build small wooden cabins where they live until the project is completed. Their lives are not easy, but we were told in February that ANU pays above the going local rate, and because jobs are scarce, anyone who is employed feels lucky. Even so, we'll be praying for these men and the extended families their wages support.

The material they use for all the buildings on campus is grayish-red rock dug out of a nearby quarry. When we were there I asked more than once about what kind of rock it was, but people didn't seem to have a special term (granite, limestone, etc) for it. As the grandson of an Indian stonecutter, I'll want to investigate further after we arrive! The rock comes to the site in large chunks where the workmen chisel it by hand into building blocks.

These are the first pictures we have had of the remodeling, so we're excited to see (and try to guess exactly) what is being done. It LOOKS like an additional room on a lower level. We didn't know there was a basement when we were there, but our time on campus was short. Stay tuned!

Thank you Kirkland!

For the last 3 years we lived in the Seattle area, we attended Kirkland Church of the Nazarene. It was, without doubt, one of the most fulfilling church experiences of our lives. For one thing, the Kirkland Church was doing "Africonnections" long before we thought of the word. The church, under the leadership of then pastor Randy Craker and with the logistical expertise of Debra and Charlie Voelker, made multiple trips to Mozambique to do building, lead Bible school, teach pastors, and perform other tasks to assist the Church of the Nazarene in Mozambique.

On Sunday evening, July 8, the church held a barbecue leading into our presentations. So many people came--even people no longer attending the Kirkland church and members of a WAPAC Work and Witness team--to be a part of the evening. Thank you Kirkland FIRST for your longtime commitment to Africa and also for your ongoing support and love!

Thanks Westside!

Nancy and I spent a very pleasant evening with the members of Westside Church of the Nazarene in Spokane, Washington on Sunday evening, June 10--our first official deputation service! This church has a history of commitment to mission and a reputation for loving hurting people in the community. Thank you Lee, who conducted the service; Gary, who was there early to open up the building; Randy, who brought his projector and laptop when "Plan A" did not work; and Sue who told her inspiring story to us after the service. Thanks to each of the people who stopped by after the service to say they'd be praying for us. We value that more than you know. We enjoyed our time with you and look forward to following up on your interest in Work and Witness teams and scholarships to help Africa Nazarene University. God is doing great things at ANU, and many of them are happening because of the commitment of people like you!