This Summer's, Uh, Winter's Visitors

Tracy and I have had the privilege of hosting several friends from the states this past month~some old and some new.

Towards the end of July Marilyn Pankratz arrived for her niece's wedding. I was asked to share with her the ministries of AZ. So, on a Wednesday she and I went to one of the community schools with which we work, Streams of Living Waters. There she experienced the children's joyful singing as we moved from class to class. Since
we were there at lunchtime, she also was able to observe our feeding program. The day's fare~beans and nshima (like stiff grits). In the afternoon Tracy introduced her to the class at Action Bible Institute, where Marilyn seemed quite at ease and in her element.

On August 12th our son's best friend, Jason Patterson, arrived in
Lusaka. Jason and our oldest son, Micah, have been close since
college. A deacon in the Anglican church, Jason had been invited
by the Lusaka diocese to teach. Having Jason in our home was like having a small slice of Micah here.

Bonnie and Bruce Cain, friends from Illinois, visited with us after being in Ghana. Asked to be present at the 100th anniversary celebration of Scripture Union, Bonnie and Bruce greatly encouraged us. While they were here we took them out to AZ's ministry center, Ciyanjano. In the afternoon we introduced them to several of the pastors from Kanyama~Mumbi and Kaumba.
Later that evening Pastor Ngoma joined us for supper in our home
where he ate an American barbecue. It was also the Cains' first taste of food from home in a while.

Today Curtis and Katie Kline, missionaries with Africa Hope, ate lunch with us. Our contact with them began almost a year ago even though the Klines arrived in Zambia four months ago. When Katie's mother joined Tracy's "Pray For Zambian Pastors" group on Facebook our friendship began. Through her mother we kept in touch and met the Klines for the first time at the Embassy's Fourth of July picnic. It was great to be able to spend some time with Curtis and Katie at last.

(Pictures from top to bottom: Karen and Marilyn; Jason and Tracy; Bonnie, Bruce, and Tracy; Curtis and Katie)