Rain! Rain! More rain!

Greetings from Luanshya!

Rain! Rain! More rain! Ordinarily we would enjoy early rains. The official start of the rainy season isn't until the last week of November but we have had four days of heavy rains from Saturday through Tuesday. As I said, ordinarily, this would be great. However, when we are trying to build and paint, the last thing we want is RAIN. Fortunately, we know that we serve a sovereign God and we know that He has a reason for delaying this work. It's only in our human limitations that we are frustrated with the weather.

Several weeks ago we mentioned the fact that a young church leader had come into the library to share that he had lost his 14 year old son to a drowning incident. This morning the husband came in to ask for an appointment for him and his wife. This afternoon we spent an hour with brother and Mrs. Zulu.

They shared their anger and their pain at the loss of their first born son.

We were able to share scriptures and experience with them. It is important that they forgive the boy who may have inadvertently caused the death of their son. It is even more important that they realize that God never makes a mistake and that this experience is part of His plan-as hard as that might be to accept. All too often we tend to believe that God owes us an explanation for what He does. As His children and as His servants, He does not owe us anything. The loss of a child, or any loved one, is never an easy situation. Being angry with God because of such a loss only magnifies the pain. Please pray for brother and Mrs. Zulu. Because of their position in their church, they are being observed. This makes their grief even more difficult to endure.

The grade 7 examination period is over! Our three grade seven children from the Lighthouse Children's Home are thrilled to have completed their exams and all of them, of course, think they did spectacularly. The results will be out in a few weeks and we will be able to congratulate or console them with the final outcome. We hope to find places for each of them in local government high schools that will take them through to grade 12. Please pray for them as well as the grade six students who are entering grade seven and will be experiencing these same exams a year from now.

This coming Sunday I will be speaking at the Veteran's Day Memorial Service commemorating the four remaining Zambian servicemen from WWII. It has been my privilege to speak at eleven of the last fourteen memorial services. It is an opportunity simply to say thank you to these very senior gentlemen as well as share the Word of God to the current soldiers and police officers of the day. Please pray for us during this service. It has all the more meaning this year with our son now serving in the United States Air Force.

We are privileged to be used by God and ever thankful for your prayers on our behalf.

In His Service,
Patrick & Sherry