Dear Friends and Family,
Well the month of September was great. It was very, very hot, but great. We do not use blankets or even a sheet to cover up at night. We have placed a fan to blow intermittently onto both of us while we sleep, and we still wake soaking wet. The rains are not supposed to come until November or late October, but we have had some the last couple days and I think it is a special blessing from God to help people from cold climates like us. Amy, Wil, and I like to sit on our front porch at night to breath in the rain smell and watch the lightening. William is 10 months old now and is not walking yet, but he is very mobile, and has learned to climb on things. He has started to brush his teeth, say “bye bye” while waving, and pick his nose, unfortunately. We gave him his first haircut about a week ago, and I even cut his mothers hair (thanks for the lessons Ang Oswald). We are adapting to Africa more and more as a family, and are learning to manage our time and take care of each other. No tropical diseases this month, or venomous bites (even though when Binwell and I were working in the bush he did almost step on a cobra barefoot), or car break-downs. I would count us very blessed.
The peanut butter is going very well. We found a plastic manufacturer in a city near by, that is now making our containers, and a newspaper company that is printing our labels. We no longer have to rely on the U.S. for any part of the P.B. production and this is very exciting. The orphanage is moving one step closer to monetary self sufficiency (One of our main long-term goals). I have also searched out cheaper ways of producing, and by getting wholesale ingredients in different places we have cut our production cost by about 30%. We have hired another woman to make peanut butter, and a full-time saleswoman to help move the product. I am very excited to see all of this coming more and more together, and just to see women who have lost their husbands get a good job to take care of themselves and their family.
We are still having trouble with our banana land. The permanent secretary is part of a group of men who have been commissioned to write a new constitution for Zambia. He has told me “ I want Zambia to have a constitution that will stand the test of time, one like the United States has”. This is a good thing, I think, but it means that he keeps canceling our meetings so he can be in Lusaka (Zambia’s capital) for meeting on the constitution. I have not given up hope, and continue to pray that it will work out very well.
At the youth meeting we went to at the end of last month, one of our churches, Chamboli, did very well at the singing competition. They have been asked to go to Lusaka to compete at a national level. They sing beautifully and I think they will do very well.
The pastors from the churches in Congo have traveled to Lumbumbashi for a leadership seminar led by Pastor Chanda, and a team from Inglewood Baptist Church in Texas. While he is there, pastor Chanda is getting some Swahili bibles for our next trip into Pweto, and the regions around. It is best to get the bibles there I have learned, because the dialects of Swahili, and French are different then those of eastern and northern Africa where most bible translations come from. We will be heading into the pweto area again around the first week of November. I think that on this upcoming trip we will be going into moba to scout it out as we plan to plant churches going in that direction.
The Orphanage school in Ndeke, Kitwe has got a new teacher named Barnabas, who is doing classes using audio and video. It has proven very effective, and the pupils are enjoying it a lot. I think he will be a great addition.
We got a chance to meet with several missionaries in the copperbelt for dinner a couple weeks ago. There was about ten of us from places like: Sri lanka, Holland, England, South Africa, Australia, and even the good old U.S.A. It was very nice to spend some time with people and not have the heavy language or culture barriers that we are used to. We met a nice couple of missionaries at the beginning of the month, and they have a 15 month old son (Micah) who has become fast friends with William. Having these contacts has already been a big blessing, because we can all learn from each others experience, and sympathize with each other when needed.
Amy has been very busy trying to create profiles on all the orphans chande supports, and has been spending long days at the schools trying to get things that are very unorganized, organized. It has been great to get to know all the children, and their stories. Some of the orphans are being supported by people in the united states, and Amy has been arranging letters to be sent from the orphans to their supporters. This has been nice to spend time with them, and learn their likes, and dislikes, and just to encourage them however we can.
Recently I have been spending some days in the bush in a village called “maposa”. There is a school and a church there that was started by chande. A team from wyoming came and put a new roof up to replace the broken down school/church building. The villagers job was to put up the walls. It is months later and nobody has done anything, so a man from church named Zachariah, and I, are trying to fill in. We have been mobilizing the people, making bricks, and trying to get the building constructed before the rains set in hard. I have been bringing volunteers from the youth meeting I started on Sundays, and they have been happy to serve. This church has also recently been left without a pastor, and has slowly fallen apart. The kountz fam has been out there every Sunday. I am preaching a series from Matthew 5-7, and trying to teach some basics of the Christian life. It will probably take a couple of months. The youth from my group are excited to help with this church. Binwell has been translating for me, and many others have offered to come to help build, help evangelize, to sing, and just to encourage this church. Our hope is to get the church a full time pastor to disciple and care for it. I feel very strongly that Zachariah could fill this position (he has been preaching there off and on for a while), but the Lord chooses who will be pastors, and he will have to be called for that to happen. I am very blessed and encouraged as I see this church growing and being revitalized. Please pray that we would get the building up before the rains, and that the Lord would raise up a pastor to fill that position.
All in all things are going well. It is a rollercoaster ride, but we know that God will work all things together for good. Thank you for all your financial, and prayer support. You are all such an encouragement to us. We will keep you all in our prayers, and let you know as things are moving forward…. I also have set up a blog to put little things up for people to see, and publish old newsletters for those who have missed them. If you want to visit it, it is www.kountzfamilyzambia.blogspot.com we love you all.
In Christ,
`The Kountz Fam in Zam
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