Hello there,

This has been a week of frustrations and also encouragement! At the beginning of the week we had our first real heavy rain in Mzuzu in the middle of the night! I never enjoy thunderstorms but this was particularly scary - the lightning was amazing. Unfortunately my car does not like thunder and each time there was a loud brattle above the house the alarm went off so I was up and down like a yoyo putting it off!! Kept me from being too scared I suppose. The storm was directly overhead and went on for about 2 hours! This is one thing I will not miss when I go to Ireland for deputation!!

As rains begin to fall its the time of year for fruit and vegetables in abundance and here you can see my avocado tree laden with avocado!! Yum!
Its also the time when we have more bugs - here is a bongololo or a millipede - these are really common during the rains - you find them everywhere and have to be careful not to stand on them when you get up in the morning as they make an awful mess under your foot!! Of course we get more snakes at this time of year as well and on Monday we had one at school - the little children under 3 thought it was great fun to see a snake and wanted to play with it........as you do!!

I was in Lilongwe on Thursday for a couple of meetings. On the way I noticed that although people have prepared the ground for planting, and in many cases have started to plant, there has not been a lot of rainfall yet. Imagine all these ridges were dug by hand with a hoe......... so we are hoping that there will be more rain soon.

I was in the office one day this week when I heard the under 3's class singing about Zacchaeus - when I looked out of my window this is the scene - one of the kids was up the tree while the others were singing and clapping......it was so joyful!! Imagine what health and safety regulations there would be for this in other parts of the world!!

I was invited to a congregation in Nkhata bay on Friday to see the beginnings of a nursery school - as you can see in the picture it is going to be quite a size! Two ladies from the Netherlands are supporting this project and they are hopeful that it will be finished by March!

Here you can see two ministers on the left,(second from the left is the minister of the congregation), then the two ladies who are supporting the project, and Nicolas. This is an exciting development for the area and we are hopeful that this will assist the young children a lot.

While I was there of course I had a look at what was happening in the nursery school which is now being held in the church building. The kids were having their snack!! There were not as many children as usual probably because parents are preparing their gardens and the children go too....

When this arrived on my plate for lunch I wasn't quite sure(check out the teeth), but its delicious - its butterfish from the lake.....to be highly recommended!!

Nkhata Bay - a lovely spot

This coming week we are beginning a two week long workshop for the caregivers in Mzuzu Presbytery. There will be around 35 participants and I am busy making materials to show them what can be done with locally available materials (in this case, cardboard and bottletops!)

What a lovely surprise and such an encouragement for me on Saturday morning when 12 of the 15 Presbytery trainers arrived to wish me a safe journey to Ireland (I am going mid December) and to bring me gifts in appreciation of the work I am doing! I was very humbled and received so many beautiful gifts...........

This lovely globe is carved by hand and I was pointing out to them all where Ireland is on the map!!

This is a picture of the group - not smiling because I put the camera on self timer and they were not sure whether it was going to take a photo or not!! What a lovely end to a mixed week!!

I am sure preparations are underway for Christmas in many parts of the world - here there is little sign of Christmas yet and I enjoy that. Sometimes Christmas becomes too commercialised and the real meaning of the celebration is lost!

Probably the last blog post for some time will be next week as I am returning to Ireland for 4 months! Thanks for all your support and comments so far............maybe I will write from Ireland where I believe it is quite cold.............how will I survive!! Wishing you a lovely week.

Blessings and love

Diane