So, our DTS is done! Our graduation was last Friday and with much to celebrate and praise God for, the event went really well. We were so encouraged to see people watching and listening online. Videos from the graduation and the rest of the year are available here:
Despite being pretty exhausted, the day after graduation we moved out of our tented chalet at Beulah and into a house, believe it or not, further into the wild.👆🏻(Not even a rural village within 5km and Monkey’s in the woods around us!)
Thankfully a few people helped us move our bags and, of course, all the boxes they’d been storing for us these last 5 months. It somehow felt like we’d just arrived! We spent the first few days unpacking as best we could but were slightly hampered by a lack of cupboards, bookshelves and then electricity! Despite being back ‘on grid’ the power went off on Tuesday evening and didn’t come back on again until Thursday night. So we spent those days, somewhat ironically, having to drive forward and back between Beulah and our new house to use the solar power we’d become so accustomed to during the DTS. Thankfully, we were able to use the Beulah freezers to save what food we hadn’t already given away or eaten ourselves. And we were also glad to make use of the Beulah washing machine as we’re yet to find one for ourselves.
Temporary bookshelves! 👆🏻
It is somewhat strange to be trying to set up ‘home’ while knowing that as soon as possible we need to be living back at Beulah. From January we’ll be helping the discipleship centre to establish new week-long residential programs that run throughout the year and so, while that won’t happen overnight, we will want to be back living onsite as the calendar fills up. Living where we are now means that only Gemma or I could be involved outside of school hours and obviously with residential programs staff really need to be there in the evenings / nighttimes too. When the next DTS starts (8th July 2024) we’ll definitely want to be there to invest in the students lives, so while we can hopefully manage until then just driving back and forth, we really need to have built some staff accommodation at Beulah by June next year.
While it feels like a big step of faith to start raising money for a house we can live in as a family and as Beulah staff, we know that if God is in it (which these last 5 months have confirmed He is) it’s not impossible.
To be clear, this will be a house for the Beulah Discipleship Training Centre, but that we can live in and have as a proper home for as long as we’re here serving in Zambia.
We’re so grateful to all of you who already support us so faithfully and ask you to stand with us in prayer for this project.
We need to raise between £35,000-£40,000 (though at the moment the U.K. pound is strong against the Zambian Kwacha, which might make things easier) and the sooner we raise some of the money, the sooner we can start building.
The link to our JustGiving page is here… https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Beulah-training-centre
With love to you all and praise to God for His amazing faithfulness and provision for us so far. 🙌🏻
Thanks also for all your birthday messages X Despite all the moving mahem a kind friend invited us for tea and Birthday CAKE!! 😋
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My goodness I know I may have said this before, but I will say it again , I marvel how you are facing these challenges of change of life style. Thank you for keeping us up to date as we know how to prayer for you. X May our Lord keep you safe in his care , and give you strength for each day . God bless you Maggie x