Dearest loved ones of Christ,

The Church we last visited was to be two days. Mr.D (Daienasio) our guide that Jacob works with, discovered that they were in a famine situation and did not have recourses to host us. They were embarrassed because their culture compels them to be hospitable to guests. Mr. D thought it wise to cut our stay short and come back to prepare for the other visits that have been set up.

The church house was destroyed by rains and fell down. They are going to build in another place so for now they are meeting under a tree near the place they have picked to build.

They are a singing church. A group of young people came after we had set up our tents last night and presented such a concert of songs in Sena language as you cannot imagine.

They may have sang for as much as 45 minutes, non stop, with hardly a break. Then our team of students sang some action songs for them and got them to participate in the actions. It was all a very animated exchange.

This morning we met under the tree for about two and a half hours. Each of our students and their campus leader spoke messages. I interpreted for all but one of them. Jacob took over for one. Then Jacob gave a lesson followed up by Janie.

The students used object lessons with pantomime and drama. I am confident that those lessons will be imitated and taught repeatedly many, many times. They are vivid visual images.

These students are quite committed and prepare well to present their lessons. They show enthusiastic creativity.

Mr. D gave a final close to the meeting and the men from the local church prayed for us. Then we folded and packed our camp.

When we we were finishing Mr. D came and said that the church had prepared a meal for us. We crowded into a small house and sat on a reed mat on the floor. There was chicken with broth and shima. We ate with our hands, dipping pinches of shima in the broth and plopping it into our mouth. The chicken was delicious and the shima is the best I have ever eaten.

Actually there were two congregations meeting with us. Word got down to another Church of Christ a ways off that we were there and they came to meet together with us.

We made this trip with no starter. The starter had quit working so Jacob left it with a shop to be repaired. He was assured that the starter would be repaired in time for the trip but it did not happen. So we pushed the land rover each time to start it. We also had a flat tire as we were hurrying to catch the last ferry boat of the day Friday evening, to cross the Zambezi River. If we missed it we would have had to camp on the bank and wait until 3pm on Saturday. We caught the boat and the kids got a glimpse of a hippo as it disappeared into the water.

After a long hot drive on a beautiful clear day, we stopped at a restaurant a while after sundown. These kids eat a lot and they are all skinny and mostly hungry. Good food! We were late getting in and un packing. So I am writing this at one in the morning. I have not told half of the story but I have told this much for now.

All my love,    Dale Mason