Where's my phone? God intervenes!

Yesterday, Doug received a call asking if he could escort a truck load of bags of cement out to the new building site for the One-Day School that has been started here.
He finished his lunch quickly and left.
When he got home, he relayed this story to me.
He said, "I lost my phone."

I asked what happened.  He said it fell out of his pocket on the way to the work site.  I said I hoped it didn't get run over by the truck!  Then he showed it to me.  The screen cover was partially off and it was a little dirty.
He laughed and told me the rest of the story.He said his alarm to renew his phone package went off as he was escorting the truck out.  He pulled out his phone and turned off the alarm while driving.  He then put it back in his pocket.  He was going slow because the truck was coming slowly.  He doesn't have any mirrors on the motorcycle (another story).
At some point after arriving there, he searched for his phone and realized it was missing.  He retraced his steps and drove back out to where he had last used it.  Nothing.
He asked others there to call his phone to help him find it.
If I understand correctly, someone even asked one of the people that were in the truck about it, but didn't get a response.
Doug listened carefully while close to the truck, and sure enough, he heard something inside.  Our director climbed in and started digging.   I mean digging.
It was buried beneath a cushion and pile of coats.  It would seem that someone didn't want the phone to be heard.  They must have seen it on the road or even fall out of his pocket and retrieved it.
They didn't get it turned off before arriving at the delivery spot.
It would seem they hoped the mound of coats and cushion would keep it from being heard and retrieved.
We praise the Lord for helping Doug get his phone back. 

God is so good to us.  We just don't know how many times he intervenes!

It reminds me of the incident that happened several weeks ago in town.  Tere, Catherine and I were in town doing shopping for ourselves and others.  We split up for some reason.  I was putting my phone in one of my baskets.  Each time I came back I would unload my basket into the truck and continue on.  We had put a LOT of stuff in the back of the truck.  We had parted ways.  When I came back to the truck about 15 minutes or so later, Tere and Catherine were there.  They said they were so glad to see me and pointed out my phone was sitting right out in the open in the back of the truck on top of everything in plain site!
OH, I about choked!  All I could do was praise God over and over again for protecting my phone even in my carelessness!

Several weeks before this, we were trying to get phone lines set up for the Cootz and I ended up getting a new sim card also.  We were pulling out and putting in new sim cards, cutting them, trying this and that to make everything work.  I was being very careful each time to put the tiny sim card in a safe place each time I changed one out.  It had been a full size sim card, but was now trimmed down to the smaller version.

When we finished there (which was a little booth by the side of the road), we went back to the truck to leave.  I don't remember why, but I decided to check for the sim card (my original one).  I looked for it and could not find it.  I was sure it was in my little pink zippered pocket.  I told the others I couldn't find it.  Tere said, it is in your little pink zipper purse.  I said I was sure it was too, but I had looked more than once already and it wasn't there!  I said she could look for it while I went and retraced my steps.  I walked back to the place and told them what happened and we looked all around, nothing....
I was praying.  This was my main phone number line and I also had "money" on that line, maybe $30 or more.  I prayed and walked, and searched.  The thing is about the size of a large pea.  It could blend in so well with little pieces of paper.
God lead me to the exact right place in the ROAD and there it was.  I picked it up flashed it to the people at the stand who were also still looking on the ground for it.  I praised God all the way back for helping me find my needle in a haystack!

GOD CARES.  He really does.  Little things, big things.  I don't recommend being careless, but I am so thankful that He is there in our time of trouble!

Medical Missionary Work in the Village

With our last evangelism school session, when they went out to the village to do their effort, our Mr. Bill went with them.  He was right there in the middle of it with them helping with first-aid issues and other things.  We were told that there was a terrible case of bed bugs where they stayed.  Some of our students were "city folk" so the village conditions were a real eye-opener for some of them.   One student said she didn't have a clue that people of her own country lived so close to the edge of survival.
One lady in particular that had some nasty wounds on her legs was helped by Mr. Bill and our students.  Before the end of the meetings she was able to walk again and even walked to the church service.  We are thankful that we can watch God work to help people not only physically but also spiritually.
Here are a few other excerpts from Bills notes on the village effort.

     We were provided with a five room building for all 30 of us, two rooms for the ladies, 3 for the guy's, no kitchen or bathroom of course. The kitchen was a separate little building apart from the main house with a two or three burner stove, depending on how many fires you want to make on the floor. Totally off the grid as you would expect. We did have running water however, would you like to know how far we had to run for it? Only one quarter mile twice a day. We had 5 gallon containers and buckets. The guys would carry these containers, usually by their handles, some on their shoulders, that was my preference, the ladies choose to carry these 70 lb. burdens on their heads. I think it will forever fascinate me to watch them do this. One day while I was getting my bath water at the pump, two little, really little girls, no more than 6, or 7 years old, were also fetching their family's water supply. I pumped the water into their buckets, and with all my strength, lifted each bucket above their heads, until they positioned themselves under their load, relieving me of the weigh that made my arms shake, then in amazement watched them skip away, okay, they didn't skip, but it would not have surprised me if they had.

        What occupied most of our time was walking from home to home visiting, making friends, sharing the gospel as we had opportunity, and having prayer with them. On the first day out, our group of three came to the home of an intoxicated man working his craft of basket weaving, his wife sitting on the ground with their youngest of eight children by her side. All three looking dirty and dejected, the woman especially, with her head hung down, not bothering to even look at perhaps the only visitors they may of had for years. After ten minutes of trying to encourage this family, we started to leave, but by the request of the husband to his wife to show us her lower left leg, we stayed to see a sight that made our stomachs turn. On the front of this leg was a 4 inch gash, very deep and badly infected, due to an injury received by falling two months prior to our visit. The infection surrounding the wound by 3 to 4 inches, wrapping around to the back of the leg. Then were her right leg makes contact with the oozing  fluid of the infection, the infection had spread to that leg as well. Before even considering the implications of the problem, I told the students who were with me that we have to treat this. Fortunately I packed my little first aid kit; a small roll of gauze, some tape, a few band aids, what more do you need to save a leg. In the bush country of Africa you do what you have to do with what ever you have. We returned the next day to start treatments, washing the infected area with warm water and soap. One day we forgot the soap and she didn't have any, so we used a small packet of shampoo I had in my backpack from a hotel. After cleaning the wound and the infected areas we applied a charcoal poultice, prayed, and left. By the third treatment, the oozing had stopped and the infection was in remission. A week and a half later we were able to stop the charcoal treatment and focus on aiding the healing process. For that we applied honey. Toward the end of the 3 weeks of treatments, the women told us how surprised her neighbors were to see her walking again. We didn't realize when we first met her that she wasn't walking.

Bill in Njojo village helping the lady that couldn't walk

         It didn't take long before word got out that we were helping people. We were mostly getting people with infected foot injuries....

       We were taken to the home of a little 7 year old girl who became ill when she was 2 years old. She was hospitalized for a week, recovered from the illness, but was no longer able to walk or talk. Her mother died giving birth to her next sibling so Sara, was given to her grandparents to raise. Tanzania does not have facilities, or homes for the handicapped. This is not an uncommon case, I have seen it twice before. As the child gets older, so do the grandparents, until they are incapable to meet the increasing needs of the child. They usually die at a young age of neglect and starvation. We took a video of her and as much information as we could, and told the father we would try to locate a facility that can give her the care she needs.

     Three days before our effort ended, a mother brought her eight year old daughter to us with a massive infected sore on her neck, under her left ear. My heart sank at the sight of this beautiful child with this nasty infection eating away her flesh. So what can we do? We do the best we can with what we have, and pray! After the third, and last day of treatment with charcoal and honey, the improvement was remarkable. We instructed the mother to continue the treatment until she is completely healed. I hope to go back to that village to check on her.

     Each evening we conducted meetings, mostly on better living habits and health. It amazed me how far people would walk on trails in the dark to attend the meetings. The meetings were conducted in front of the building we were living in. One evening a large black snake was seen coming out of the building. Those who seen, and killed it believe it came out of the room that I and two other men slept in, on the floor.

    After about fifteen nights of being eaten by bed bugs, I finally figured out how to get rid of them. God's natural remedies are truly wonderful. I would take a clove of garlic into my sleeping bag and rub it all over myself, then leave the rest of the garlic in the bag through the night.

Thank you for all the prayers and support.

Agriculture School Graduation and the first time to use our new buidling!

 On June 19th, we said goodbye to the second year students that graduated from our agriculture school sponsored by REACH Switzerland.  We had 27 graduates.  It was a happy day for them and their families. 
This ambitious group of students and staff decided they would work extra hard to clean up the things left over from construction so they could use our new multipurpose building.  It was a fantastic way to begin the use of this new building.

The graduating students giving a song.

The students and staff did a nice job of decorating and preparing for the graduation.  It was a very special day, and we were blessed to be part of it with them.

After the program was finished, the graduates and staff.

Please do continue to pray for the young people here in Tanzania.  We seek to equip them with physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual tools to help them in this life and for eternity.
In addition to the agriculture, spiritual, English, sewing, and carpentry lessons, the graduates were offered a very special deal.  Sewing machines and carpentry tools were purchased and for a fraction of the cost, the students were able to purchase them so they could immediately go to work with their acquired skills.

Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Catching up on the news

Oh, it has been so long since I blogged, it took me a while to figure out how to do it again.
So I am looking through my pictures to remind me of some of the events over the last few months.

I apologize for those who like to read these posts.  We have been very busy, and I haven't made the time to keep you informed.  Please forgive me.

A lot has happened over the last many months.

Randy and Fletcher came and put the together the Zenair 801.  It was such an exciting day that we saw it take off for the test flight and return back safely!

Fletcher, Jason, Randy and the 801

First flight

 Then just after this, in November, we had four young men come to help us out.  It was a special treat for us because they are young men that we know from when we lived in Missouri.  The Tafts and Banges helped us personally and as a mission station with MANY, MANY projects.  We have just had more to do than we have time or manpower.  These young men jumped in and helped us get many projects moving forward.  We really appreciate their willingness and sacrifice to come be a blessing to so many and especially us!

Finally getting the muffler fixed - THANK YOU!

Cutting down some really tall trees that were dangerously close to structures.

Unloading One-Day Churches and books

Helping out wherever needed.

The last load of sheep was sold before the end of 2015.

I started the year out in an unexpected way.  I came down with typhoid fever.    Because of a very quick and long driving trip to Dar es Salaam to get some paperwork moving the right direction, I didn't get enough sleep on the trip, and I got VERY SICK.  I was out of commission for several days.  I finally had to go get tested as my fevers were very high and I didn't want to eat.  God helped me get well!  A few others on campus also came down with it.  We aren't sure what the source was.

Doug and I taught the medical missionary session in January (I did until I got so sick).  We had a very large class. 

It seems like I have been back and forth to Dar es Salaam many times and also on other trips since getting involved with the publishing work.  On the way back from one trip, we saw something unusual.

Camels by the side of the road. 

At the beginning of February we had to "put down" our beloved Lassie.  He was the best guard dog, and super family pet.  He had developed cancerous tumors all over and had a huge painful swelling on his shoulder.  He got to where he couldn't get comfortable, and hardly could get up and down.  We just couldn't watch him suffer and die slowly.  It was a hard day in the Schoch house.

With his passing, we needed a new "guard dog".  We asked for a male, and ended up with little Alto.  She is a funny GIRL.

Faithful Lassie unable to get comfortable

Little Alto trying to get the kitty to like her

 Just a few days later, I get a call that our dog has arrived.  I thought we already had our dog!  We were told this one is a male.  What could I do, but go get him.  He was so skinny.  He is doing pretty good now.

Then came Tenor

After this, I was off and running going to publishing meetings,and meeting with the church union leadership.
First in Iringa, then in Singida. 

Iringa Town Southern Tanzanian Union Publishing Meetings

One Sabbath afternoon we spent our time trying to free up a stuck cow who managed to wedge herself between boulders and sink her back legs in a muddy hole.

Free the cow! 

 With much help and effort, she was finally freed and walked back to the herd, but not before a torrential rain soaked us.  When she finally came out she landed on the hand of one of our agriculture students.  His fingers were badly busted open.  We took him home to dry him off, wash his wounds and bandage them.

Then I was off to another publishing meeting but this time in the North.  They are another great group of people.  

Singida Publishing meetings

Then we had the joy of having Joshua White on campus for a time helping us with true education principles.
Also Robert and Johann came from Canada to help us with many of the construction projects.  We made some good progress while they where here.  We also really enjoyed their cooking! 

A large donation helped us to get a very needed piece of equipment that has been a huge help all over campus.  On April 28th, JaCoB arrived.  Our JCB backhoe has been helping us get a lot done in a shorter amount of time!

IT'S HERE!  The unloading, early in the morning. 

Then we had the great treat of the Cootz family arriving on campus.  They "fit right in" with the team.  We are so glad to have them here. 

The avocado project continues to expand.  We have added a greenhouse and many new varieties to test.  We have lots and lots of orders for seedlings which is a huge blessing to the project.

New greenhouse in the background and thousands of new seedlings

 At the end of May, our evangelism school session ended with a large graduation of excited people ready to go out and work for the Lord!  It is always hard for me to say goodbye to them.

Graduating class from the Evangelism School

We are happy that avocado season is now in full swing.  Here is a load going to town for sale.

Beautiful Kibidula Avocados

 At the beginning of June, I went out to the 2nd Unit of the Agriculture school.  We had heard that they had good yield on their crops, but I didn't expect to see the long mountain of bean plants ready to be threshed!  God really blessed their efforts this session.  They expected more crops than previous years!  MUCH MORE!

Mountain of bean plants at unit 2

 Finally in June, Robert arrived from Kenya to help with accounting.  We are still waiting to see if it will all work out for him to join the team.  All the accounting work has kept Doug VERY busy!

Robert Maina from Kenya

 Our primary school did a "vacation bible school" type of event in a village and the final day many of our staff went out to show our support.  The young people did almost the entire program for both Sabbath school and main service.  They also did programs in the afternoon.  They are a lively group and very creative.

Young people singing

 

Well that gets up up to part way through June.  I think I will post a separate post for the next item I find on my camera.
I hope to post again SOON, if not today.
Thank you for all the prayers and support!

Somebody must not like this book work!

On our way back from Dar es Salaam and Morogoro, we stopped into our location in Mafinga town.   I was tired and wasn't even trying very hard to keep up with the Swahili conversation.  I did hear very clearly in English that it would be the end of our current stock of Bible Commentaries.  I should have asked questions, but I guess I was more tired than normal.  I didn't.
Thursday I got a message that I didn't quite understand about money to be received before they could go.
LATE in the afternoon, almost evening I got a call from my director.  There was a little concern in his voice.  The phone connection wasn't very good, but I got that our person in town needed the bank account info to receive a payment.
I sent it immediately.  I also was asked why only a few books went to town.  Books?  Went to town?
Well, I think I understand the mystery now as this.
That conversation which I did not catch was referring to an order of books that they wanted to ship out the next day (yesterday). 
We were to send in a LOT of books to town Thursday morning.  I didn't know, and only a few went in (which I didn't know about either).
When they were received, the people didn't know why they only got a few.
In the late afternoon, I find out that a message was sent to me to send the bank info at 7:32 AM!  I didn't get it or didn't see it until 4:53 (banks close around 4 PM).
We made arrangements for the books to go in today (Friday morning) as some other important things needed to go to government offices before the end of the month and a payment needed made at the bank.
About 6 pm I got another message to send the bank info AGAIN because it got deleted!
I quickly sent it again.
Then I responded "This order seems doomed!"
In the dark and rain, we loaded the remaining books into the cruiser.  Joshua answered Doug's phone and talked to the person in town (Ezekiel).  Later he said Ezekiel needs to books to arrive before 8 AM.  That means leaving by 7 AM here.
It was decided I would take them in with the other items.
Well this morning about 6:20 AM, Joshua says that the bus arrives at 8 AM.  Doug and I both explained that there is a big difference between that and what he said the night before.  I quickly rushed out and drove quickly to town.
When I arrived at Ezekiel's at 7:30 AM he was waiting OUTSIDE for me.  I think we should have reported to the bus stand at that time, not his house!
We quickly (13 minutes) added another 57 boxes of books to the cruiser and headed to the stand.  Then we quickly unloaded all 105 boxes of books.  We were sweating!  The bus arrived before we even had all the books out of the vehicle (before 8 AM).
Now to convince the bus people to take them to Morogoro.  The man did not look enthusiastic at all.  I stayed out of the way.  The color of my skin complicates things like this, so I tried to stay in the cruiser.  The bus guy walked away and I heard another person ask Ezekiel if he had refused.  He said something about he was still thinking about it.
Not too long later, Ezekiel and the man started quickly loading the books into the three compartments under the bus. 
Two other guys came to help move the boxes from the curb across the bus traffic to the correct bus.  I was to guard the pile as they worked.  I tried to have the books in good stacks each time they came to speed up the process and to make it easier to pick them up (not from ground level but from about waist level).
We all worked fast.  The bus driver was honking his horn impatiently wanting to GO.

There was even a guy up in the cargo area trying to organize all the boxes.  The Bible Commentaries are about 25 lbs each.  The other books weigh much less. 
Whew.  They were finally all on the bus, and the bus pulled out!  Just as they closed two of the three compartments I remember to take a picture.


I wanted to remember this day.

Books loaded and getting ready to leave!

Ezekiel and I got in the car.  I said in Swahili, "I'm sweating, and you?"  He was too.
I am AMAZED at how many mistakes and challenges we had with this shipment!
I think the devil was trying very had to keep these books from going where they needed to go.  I would imagine that they are intended to be a great blessing to many.
We should have waited for the payment before shipping, but there was no time.  I sure hope that works out also.  I guess it isn't over until it is over.  The group that needs the books leaves Sunday, so we had to ship today or never.
Now that I am home, I am exhausted and think I may lay down for a nap.
I guess it is just another day in the mission field!
It sure did start out hectic. 
I am glad that God made a way for us!
He is faithful.
 

Very Dirty Work

So Kibidula is in the process of selling off the remaining sheep here as the sheep program has been officially closed for many, many months.  ( I don't remember the exact date the decision was made.  It may be a year now.) 
So we have been hauling in loads of sheep to town for market each week.  We are down to about 200 sheep now. 
A load of sheep was ordered to be delivered today.  Doug also needed to go to Iringa to do bank work.  To try to reduce costs, we combined the trips somewhat.  I drove him and the sheep to town.  He then took a bus to Iringa (much cheaper than fuel and mileage costs).  I dropped him at the bus stand first and then headed to the place to unload sheep. 
There were two ladies in the house, and I didn't ask either to help me unload the sheep. 
I backed up the truck, took off the one board, and let down the tailgate.  The sheep had decided the truck seemed like the safest place to be and were not coming out on their own.  This is normal.
I had already moved the one piece of slab board that acts as a gate to the pen area.  I have been involved in sheep unloading before, but I prefer to watch instead of participate for a variety of reasons.  The main one is that I don't like the way I smell afterwards if I help.  It can be stinky work, especially after they have ridden cramped in the truck for about an hour.
Well, today I was alone.  I grabbed one of the sheep by the hind leg and proceeded to coax it out.  Something went wrong.  She came out, but decided the courtyard looked more promising than the pen.  Off she went. 
Sigh.

Courtyard with the gate open

I immediately went to the courtyard gate and closed it so I didn't have sheep running all over town.
Then I tried to encourage the sheep back.  She was not encouraged at all.  Pendo, the young lady of the house helped me encourage her for a while, but again she just wouldn't take our encouragement. 
I went back to the truck and decided to move it a little to improve my chances of success. 
Well, I don't remember the order, but soon there were five sheep in the pen and three running around the courtyard.  Two more to go, and I was determined not to have two more in the courtyard.  I was hoping if I got enough in the pen, the others would miss their friends.  It was number nine's turn.  It wasn't going well.  She thought the other side of the fence looked better.  It would have been funny to watch us, I am sure.  Somehow, I managed to wrestle her back into the pen.  Number ten refused to go in, and that sheep is strong!  I had her a few times and almost lost her completely.  It was a battle of the wills, and I was extremely determined by this point.  I ended up on the ground (in you know what!) but refused to let another sheep in the courtyard.  I was yelling "no, no, no!" and refusing to give up.  I wrestled her back into the pen.  I looked at the three "get-aways" and decided to move the truck to be between them and the watch dog, which was loving all the excitement.  Dina (the lady of the house) was trying to keep the dog quiet at this point.  He wasn't helping, much.  After moving the truck, I went behind the three run-aways and explained to them that the other 7 seemed very content in the pen and perhaps they would like to join them.  (I had been trying to convince them all that the penned in area seemed nice.)  They were hesitant and started to bolt the wrong direction, but finally they started moving very slowly in the right direction.  They got up to a tied-up calf and seemed content there.  No, that wasn't good enough.  More encouragement was needed.  Then it happened.  They were encouraged - FINALLY!  They took off like a lightening bolt headed for the opening in the pen.  One, two, three!  YES!

Inside the pen

  Dina and I closed the slab board fence piece and assessed the damage to my skin and clothes.  Oh, what a mess I was.  My skirt, my new shirt, my feet my hands.  I never did look at my face.  I probably should.  I still needed to do a little work in town, running errands, and now I was covered in POOP!  I was wearing a very light denim skirt and pink shirt!  Poop really shows on such clothes. 
Dina suggested a little soap and water.  We tried to at least reduce the amount on my hands, arms, and shirt.  We were washing my clothes on my body.  We were all three laughing a lot.  My skirt was too much, so I borrowed a kitenge wrap and just covered up my skirt.  Dina thought I looked very Tanzanian then.

They aren't as innocent as they look

1 Peter 2:25  For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

I remember praying and asking God for help in unloading the sheep.  I don't know if I was precise enough with my request.  I am certainly thankful for the help in getting them in the pen even if it wasn't the way I had planned.  I got some exercise, and several of us got a good dose of "medicine".  Laughter is good medicine, right?

Oh, and I learned that the sheep don't smell so bad in the dry season.  I am so thankful for that!
So even though I was quite soiled, I didn't smell it.  I hope nobody else did.
I hope that there are days when as Jesus shines through me, my life is fragrant like a nice flower.  But today, I had to settle for something a little less attractive.  I praise the Lord for a good attitude in it all.  It sure did make me wonder if the holy angels ever laugh.


 I know we did!  God is faithful, and He knows what trials I need in my life to "clean me up" inside and out.  I am trusting Him.  I also learned, some things require more than one person - like delivering sheep.  Truly - TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE!  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10  Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.  For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.  Okay.  I had better go check my soaking clothes.  One just never knows what the day will hold. 

Running in circles

God is faithful.  Things have been very challenging around here since we have had three missionary families leave in the last year and a half.  The work load has not decreased, only the workers. 
We are very thankful for the Katsma couple coming this year.  Candi has been helping at both the primary school and the agriculture school.  She has also been doing some crafts and sewing classes for the missionary children.  David has been helpful in lots of areas, especially in mechanical areas.  Unfortunately we have a vehicle that continues to have challenge after challenge which has been keeping him really busy.  He has helped get other vehicles back up to good standards.  He is always willing to help out in many areas.  He has helped with many needed trips to town, plumbing challenges and other things.
Even with this, we are still back-logged on many, many things.  We need prayers.  We have been praying to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers.  When Jean-Luc left this June, he left the accounting, treasurer, publishing and agriculture director positions.  Doug took over treasurer, we have someone that has taken accounting, agriculture leader was given to another, and I was asked to do the publishing work.  Still we have so much to do.  There are many building projects that need attention.  We have a new water tower that needs to be built, the new office building is mostly built, the new press building will need to be started soon, and we want to get the chapel finished.  I am sure there are other jobs that I don't even know of. 
Jason has been so busy working all over campus.  He has been helping the agriculture school add on new fields.  The avocado fields are growing and growing.  Doug has been all over campus this week trying to help out with needs at the wellness center, get the motorcycle fixed, getting administrative tasks done, installing solar components, delivering things and on and on.
Me?  I should have kept my diary up.  I have been so busy, I haven't even done that!  The publishing department keeps me hopping.  This week we have been dealing with container loads of books starting their journeys.  That involved lots of last minute emails back and forth, lots of details to arrange and payment.  Then we decided to do a one-page advertisement for the Bible studies, tracts, and evangelism school in the Sabbath School quarterly.  The deadline for that was "right now!"  So that took some effort.  We had to come up with what it should say and design it.  Then we have it translated and edited.  Then to get it back into a format that was compatible with publisher.  We did get it to them, but I haven't gotten any feedback!  God really blessed.  I told the translator to just translate it and not to work about the layout.  I knew with the new wording, it would probably be a mess.  Well, she ignored my directions and put it back in the format I sent it in AND made a whole new design with the same words and a few extra.  I liked her design better.  I just had to take her design and put it in a single color and black and white, and into a different file format (more work than it might sound like!) 
I have spent a lot of time working on future publishing works.  Trying to find files, getting files ready for translators, etc.
Lots and lots of books are getting into the hands of people.  I did the book inventory for the office, and had to adjust my inventory because people kept buying books!  That is a good thing!
We are very thankful for some help that is coming soon.  The Taft brothers and two of the Bange boys are coming in November.  Doug has lots of jobs he is hoping to have them help with.  Jason is also making a list!  It will be wonderful to have some young, strong, smart men around campus to help out in many ways!  We only have them for two months, but we plan to make the best of it!
There is another family that may be coming.  My understanding is that his expertise is in administration.  That might free up Doug to do some of his other duties.  We just won't know until all comes together though. 
The Wellness Center has three health guests right now.  Ashery is back helping, and we have a medical student here learning for a month also.  Doug will be going to Eden Valley Foster Care Mission for a week to do a crash course there.  Then Kori will follow up the next month to help them go out into the village doing practical application.
AND it rained!  We got our first rain of the season Wednesday.  It rained a little today also.  I didn't realize I would get excited about seeing a mud puddle, but I did!
That sure takes a little of the fire hazard down.  YEAH!
God has blessed us very much!  Thank you for all the prayers and support.