In Matthew 6: 19-21 Jesus says “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourself treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal: for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
These past few months we have witnessed first hand just how perishable the things of this world are….
Roads in the Rainy Season
With the rains being so bad this year (probably the worst in over 20 years if not more) many of the roads here have become non-existent and not driveable. With us being 2 hours
from the nearest small town (ie fuel, food, local markets etc) this is a big concern for us. Every time we need to drive to town now is an adventure and the roads are only getting worse. In this picture, the water is flowing OVER a concrete bridge that normally towers at least 7 feet over the small flowing river. Definitely different from the “great street of the city of pure gold, like transparent glass” mentioned in Revelations 21:21. While I don’t know if there will be driving there I am looking forward to it either way : )To see more pictures of the road conditions that we have had to drive through lately visit https://picasaweb.google.com/missionoflovezambia/RainySeasonRoad2013
Vehicles and Tractors
Obviously these roads take quite a toll on the vehicles (and other motor vehicles like the tractor, quad, and work trailer) so in the past month most of Jako and Travis’ time has spent trying to keep at least one vehicle working at all times. Just in the past two months the toll has been heavy for us – for our LandRover - a prop shaft, the transmission and bearings in the transmission, and a snapped rod in the back diff (necessary for 4 wheel drive). It has also cost us the
transmission of the Tractor, a new axel (and hubs) for the work trailer, as well as numerous draining of diff oil for both the Hilux(fixed front locking hubs, ball joints, centre bearing and universal joints) and the Landy to rid it from all of the mud and grime that these flooded roads bring. Just in the past month we have had to spend over $300 on diff oil to keep the vehicles running and even now the trailer, tractor, and Landy is still broken! In fact the other day the only thing operational was the quad that you have to pull start and has no headlights. And on one rescue mission (to retrieve one of our vehicles that was stuck, the other one got stuck resulting in Jako, Alyssa, Travis and Rachel walking 22km back to the house carrying 3 year old Jakob on their back – 4 hours walk getting home past 9pm). It is times like this that we are thankful that God has blessed us with two vehicles and a such a handy man in Jako so that hopefully at least one vehicle is operational at all times. Please pray for us though in these trying times. Clothing
As many of you may remember from a previous post – thieves broke into one of our store room and stole some much needed clothing donations. Upon
further investigation of what was missing we have discovered that a suitcase full of shoes, all our youth and children’s shorts and pants, adult and youth skirts, and all of our Mice12 month, and 0 – 3 month baby clothing is gone (including all of our newborn and premie clothing). This last one is the most heart sore as many of our babies that we have received have been sick premies (4-5lbs or 2 kg babies) and it is extremely difficult to find clothes for small babies in Zambia.Mold Mildew
And if that wasn’t enough – recently we discovered that the place where we had been holding these donations (for when our children need them or when we get enough to distribute to
orphans in the community) had a very bad leaky roof – not good during the rainy season that we have been having. When we discovered it many of the clothes had already been wet for a while and had started to mold and mildew. Not wanting these precious donations to go to waste Olivia and Amber spent hours soaking, scrubbing, washing, and drying the affected clothes and praise God most of them were able to be saved.But the clothing isn’t the only place where we are struggling with mold and mildew. Because of all the rain and the deep waters we have had to drive through (and sometimes had flowing through the vehicle) our vehicles have also been sprouting some nasty green and black growth on the inside of them. Our now almost daily routine is to open the car doors when it’s sunny and then quickly shut them again when it starts to rain or at night. Not fun!
Mice, Moths, Ants, and Rust
It seems that no place is safe
around here to keep things “safe”. In the house or store rooms, stealthy moths or sneaky mice chew holes through anything and everything they can get their hands on and outside, rust attacks anything metal and ants anything wood. Not that we are complaining. We love life out here in the bush but it does just go to remind us that the things of this world are temporary and perishable. No matter how hard we try to be good stewards of what God has given us- one day it is going to be gone. Physical goods are not meant to last, but eternal treasure is. As we work so hard at managing the physical things that God has provided and entrusted to us may we also work just as hard (if not harder) to make sure our focus is eternally minded because as Mark 8: 36 says “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”
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