Fritz's Birthday and Continuing Land Preparation

Last week was Fritz's birthday!

He is growing up fast.

Thank you to everyone who sent birthday greetings.

Fritz enjoyed them all and I helped him to know some of the connections of people.

We enjoyed some home-made pizza and cake, along with store bought ice-cream.

He is working hard at school and enjoys soccer and helping set up games with local teams.

Thursday was Zambia's Independence Day day so we had a long weekend. 

Fritz enjoyed joining the students at Jembo school for the celebration and lunch. 
 

Bags of corn seed and fertilizer was distributed from the Zambian Wesleyan Church to the district pastors and some of the Bible College students.

A utility/solar hybrid pump and solar panels was also delivered for the new borehole but we need to buy the pipe in town.

The gardens and trees are still suffering from the limited water supply.

Monday, Patrick, two of the teachers and I visited a government farm institute that is only a few miles away.

The government is encouraging mechanization and provides equipment to the institute. It can then be hired to prepare fields and there is equipment for even very small fields.

There is also equipment to increase the value of crops like grinders for cornmeal and peanut butter and presses for sunflower and soy oil.

The fees are just enough to cover fuel, maintenance, labor, and to help the program grow.

The field rates are almost as low as hiring oxen at close to $10 per acre.

22 acres were ripped on Saturday by two tractors despite much of the time being spent replacing shear pins due to hitting tree stumps, a few rocks and very hard dry soil.

It would take a team of oxen 1 or 2 days to do one acre.

On Monday work was on one of the fields with the most tree stumps so going was slower. 

The red ripper is hard to get adjusted correctly (too deep causes the tractor to lose traction) so it didn't get much done.

They plan to bring a two prong ripper for the next day.

Rain would soften the soil and make the work much easier but any delay in planting causes loss of yield potential so we are happy to have at least part of the land prepared before rain.

Last night we received about 3/10 of an inch and it soaked in a couple inches.

Unfortunately a lightning strike took out the power so limited water for the compound today.

Thankfully the gardens and trees will not be needing to be watered today-while we wait for the power to come back on.

 Most years our area doesn't have a long enough rainy season for the higher yield late maturity corn varieties.

People were encouraged to bring their seeds to church on Sunday so that they can be prayed over. 

The plan is to plant a few different corn seed types...early, middle, and late.

After some good rains we also plan to hire people to dig stumps.

Than you for the prayers. 

 

Preparing Land for Planting

 

Friday was Zambia's National Day of Prayer and fasting for confession and reconciliation.

Saturday morning almost all (33) of the Bible College students, several pastors and teachers and the church district overseer went to the mission lands to continue cleaning fields for planting - what will mostly be corn but also soybeans and sunflowers.

 Some of the students were up all night for prayer so a few arrived late and in their church clothes.

I collected 3 soil samples for lab analysis to determine fertilizer and lime requirements.

There were more workers than tools. 

Work ended early at 10am but one of the goals is to remind the neighbors that we are serious about farming the land this year so they can't start preparing it. 

The neighbors have been using the land but haven't been paying rent like they were supposed to. They have other land they can shift to.

Free range cattle look hungry eating pods under a
 "monkey bread"tree.

Thursday Patrick, the principal and I visited the local district commissioner about hiring government equipment.

The government is working hard to increase crop production. The official was happy to hear our plans to plant about 55 acres of corn and noted that we are the first to ask about equipment use this year. 

The government requires them to report how much the equipment is used and they want to generate more demand, so there may be some publicity involved.

Interesting name choice.
We bought a small bag of an early variety 
to get some corn sooner for corn
on the cob grilled or boiled

They plan to have the tractors serviced and rental rates determined this week. They said they could prepare, plant and fertilize the whole 55 acres in one day.

Please pray for favor that they give extra subsidy in the rental rate as resources are very scarce due to the drought. Normal to above normal rains are predicted this year. If the harvest is good it will be very profitable. The worst drought in 100 years also gives exceptional opportunity. Everyone's, including the governments large food stocks are depleted and Zambia is now importing corn instead of exporting.

Production costs are low. The government sets the corn price each year. The main cost is seed and fertilizer. Excellent hybrid corn seed from companies like Pioneer, Dekalb (Bayer) and Zamseed is only about $1.50 per pound and 25 pounds are planted per acre. Oxen plow for about $7 per acre but not enough are available for the short planting season due to the short rainy season. The government has equipment for hire that doesn't cost much more than doing the same with oxen.

Corn is about $8 per bushel government price, the market is currently a few dollars higher and current USA price is about $4.  I was told we may harvest about 160 bushels per acre. Seems too good to be possible for farming, brings the verse to mind:

Ephesians 3:20 English Standard Version 2016 (ESV)Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

It is encouraging to see God creating an effective team to work together toward a large harvest to support the work of the church, helping it break free from dependency and poverty.

Rev. Patrick, like most of the rural pastors, has experience growing fairly large corn fields to support himself. So it is very reassuring having him as assistant manager of the agriculture project as I don't have  experience growing commercial grains.

Just the food needs of the lunch programs of the Wesleyan schools and medical work can provide a big market in the future for cornmeal, (the staple food of Zambians), sunflower oil, vegetables and chickens.

We hope to have the Global Partners Agriculture Project ready in the next week or so to help fund getting the Ag. Project established.

The new borehole was tested but the pump rope (150 foot long, water table at 90') and wire was too short so we are not very confident of the results. The drilling company reported 22 gallons per minute with a good water strike at 180 feet but the test gave about 5. At least it held steady for an hour and should give more when a pump is installed at least 30 feet deeper.

Cory- my friend, husband, ministry partner, and travel companion and more...

 Today we celebrate Cory.

Many of you have met him and know a bit of who he is but let me publicly thank the Lord for this wonderful man who's walked beside me in this life journey almost 30 years.

Most know that he's fascinated by plants, especially fruit trees.While he has yet to introduce me to a papaya I like some of the fruits I have really liked.  I never dreamed that there were so many different kinds of fruits in the world let alone how many I'd personally try in my life.

I've been so blessed to have a partner who is so very skilled at so many things. The first three years of our marriage my main task and focus was to survive residency. He not only worked, managed our finances, shopped, cooked, cleaned, did laundry, and would pick me up at work when too tired to drive safely. When Eli arrived  he became the stay-at-home dad.

After residency we moved to Haiti and started our missionary journey. There he continued to manage the house and children while the hospital took up a lot of my time. He also learned to work with teams, electrical, plumbing, and the hardest-how to stand up and talk to churches. At the end of our time on LaGonave he was doing some agriculture but also managing the mission station!

Thankfully at Fauche he was able to spend more of his time in the gardens and teaching about agriculture. He became the main driver of the family and his ability to back up in hard situations still amaze me...middle of Cap Haitian with large holes in the road!

Delice...I may have had the fun part of planning a house on paper and iPad but Cory stepped up and ordered supplies, lined up and dealt with the builders, bosses and crews. Together we worked on the house and the yard...an accomplishment I had never dreamed of and it was handled so well.

In Zambia, Cory has transitioned to a new place. He's learning new trees, new culture while working to plant and build up a demonstration site [garden and orchards]. 

Still stretching himself every week he stands up in front of class and with the help of a translator does his best to share the knowledge and skills that the Lord blessed him with to advance the Lord's Kingdom. 

Cory still works hard on communicating back to Haiti to the guys he's trained: LaGonave, Fauche, and Delice. He shares their prayer requests and works hard to support them the best we can. 

Our whole marriage he's handled the finances something I really don't like to deal with-money. He does not complain. He's organized and does it so well.

At the same time he's generous and careful with the resources we have. Cory can shop on-line and find the deals that bless us with items we both need and want while not wasting money. A great provider he is for all of us.

He allowed me so much time to spend and pour into our children's lives by dealing with many things that other people would have said were 'women's work'. HE still does a lot of the cooking and he hand washes our laundry weekly so I have time to home-school Fritz. 

While I may be a writer, he is the editor. So you'll have to forgive any of my spelling or grammar errors on this as I'm going to post without him reading it. That the Lord helped him helped me with the Konsey books,  years of blogs, news letters, updates, and thank you notes is amazing. 

I have learned a lot from my friend since we met back in high-school. He can be very funny, I love his laugh when watching something that hits his funny-bone just right or when I tickle him.

Perfect- nope very human. But our strengths work together to fill in weak spots. 

Cory supports my dreams and pulls me back when I get off track a bit. Together we are better than each apart. The Lord has blessed me with more than I ever dreamed and with much that I needed to be all I could be. 

Happy Birthday!! 

Patrick and Town

 While Cory will do a more extensive introduction of our new agricultural worker, Patrick, I wanted to praise the Lord that he arrived and has enthusiastically started work and learning new things from Cory.

His English is very good even with our non-British accent and he has already done translating for the agriculture class.

Our routine is stabilizing with the start of the Bible College term and less travel for us.

Students seeing grafts at the nursery and field tour

We did travel to Choma on Monday to say good-bye to friends moving back to the USA.

We were up and loaded at 7 a.m. I have a list that we run through before heading out which includes things like: internet router, lists, bags for shopping so we don't have to buy more, cooler, school work and books, plants to share....

It takes us just over 30 minutes on the dirt road to reach pavement, the main road between Lusaka [Zambia's capital] and Livingstone [tourist capital due to Victoria Falls]. 

We passed a few homesteads, kids walking to school, two ox carts, this time a few storks, lots of goats and cows.

Once on the main road it is just about one hour South to Choma, depending on if we get behind big slow trucks or not. 

There is one toll booth on this stretch of road that costs us about 75 cents.

We tried to fit in as many stops before lunch as we could. 

I counted them this trip and we made 15 stops before 1:30 p.m. which included: 

• multiple ATM machines only getting money out of two of them, ATM's busy from recent end-of-month payday
• Airtel for over an hour while Cory stood in line  and then tried to get our required internet registration updated for government regulations and be reconnected [A couple hours in Lusaka only had our phones registered apparently despite Airtel telling us the router was fine]; 
• open air market; 
• propane; 
• Zambeef for dairy, their freezers and hamburger were empty due to shortage of electricity; 
• hardware shop for door parts; 
• fast food place for meat pies; 
• agricultural store; 
• two Chinese hardware stores;
•  plant nursery to drop off promised apple bud-wood for grafting;
•  lunch pick-up for us and our friends; 
• and then to their house.

After enjoying the meal and a bit of visiting , loaded up a large chair we bought from them, prayed and said our good-byes. 

The main reason we wanted to have all our errands complete before lunch is that we decided to re-home one of their cats and wanted to limit her time in the truck.

She did well in her cat carrier only meowing a few times for a little bit. 

We did stop a couple times along the way to buy fruit and vegetables because the main grocery store in Choma was closed due to putting in a new generator. 

We praise the Lord that during the ride back it was not just cloudy but we passed through a few drops of rain and saw harder rain in the distance. 

After a few days of temperatures in the high 90's the cooling air was very welcomed along with a short drizzle of rain. Not enough rain to do much more than clean the air of the hot dusty smell and rinse off the plants but it brings HOPE of an early rainy season. 

This morning the church district overseer had about 15 workers organized for a field day clearing tree sprouts in the mission fields to prepare for planting.

Old mango trees where mission started more than 100 years ago.

The workers were scattered among the fields so that all the fields would be at least partly prepared, showing they would be farmed by the church/mission this year.

Several of the people that have been using the fields for free for years showed up wanting the work to stop but they have had a couple years to prepare and have other land they can farm.

TerAvest family visit.

Photo after opening chapel

 Sorry for the silence but we were busy with a rapid 10 day trip from my [Kris'] mom, brother, and sister-in-law.

I'll do a rapid run thought and maybe in the future put in some additional details and pictures.

We traveled to Lusaka on Saturday the 7th and traded vechicals with Bishop Judan so that the six of us could travel together.

Sunday morning we picked them up at the airport with all their luggage! 

Rested at the hotel, visited, had a late lunch and early bed. 

Monday following the full English breakfast included with our rooms, we headed the 5 hour drive to Jembo.

Tuesday events included: Opening chapel at the Bible college, a reception with the Bible students in the afternoon; and a bit of Fritz's soccer game, and packing for Livingstone.

Wednesday: Traveled to Livingstone, enjoyed Olga's pizza, some shopping, and milkshakes at the Victoria Falls Waterfront hotel.

Thursday and Friday: Mom treated all of us to a two day safari to Chobe national park with an overnight in the park. While hot and bumpy at times, we enjoyed seeing 25 different kinds of animals and over 45 kinds of birds.

Saturday: Because Todd and Beth only needed to see a rhino to complete the 'big five' we added on a short safari ride in the Livingstone park and saw 9 of Zambia's 11 white rhinos and a couple new antelope.

Sunday: Church at Jembo. Mom and I enjoyed the singing from the comfort of the truck in the air-conditioning. 

Monday: Laundry and packing. A typical Zambian meal prepared by one of the leader's wife and shared with the Bible school leaders and two of the wives.

Tuesday: Back to Lusaka.  A late lunch with the staff of the Zambia Wesleyan Church office. 

Wednesday: Full English breakfast before heading to the airport for their return trip. We then did some shopping including a couple plant nurseries.

Thursday: A couple hours to re-register for our phone and internet provider so we don't lose service. Then headed out to try to see a fruit tree farm & nursery about an hour east from town. While we found the nursery no one could give us directions to the farm sadly. We arrived home after dark right before bed time.

Eli and cousin Taylor picked up the three travelers in Detroit around mid-night our time [6pm Michigan] on Thursday. Thankful for their visit and the love of family. 

Thankful that everyone remained healthy and for the most part we had fans, power, and water. 

Thankful we could be together for the following anniversaries: Dad's passing; my folk's wedding [also Dad's birthday], and both my mother's parent's deaths.  

Sharing memories with those who also loved them was very comforting and important for each of us. 

Victoria "Walls"

Church national office visit