While we were in Atlanta, we had the opportunity to take a quick day trip to Florida. Gil's brother, Dick, his wife Brenda, and their daughter Meridith live there. Unfortunately we missed seeing their oldest daughter Erin.
James and Kaleb were able to enjoy their huge yard and great swing set...paradise for 2 boys!
Again, another very short visit, but we were very grateful to be able to spend some time with family. We had a wonderful time catching up and sharing stories!
We have spent the last few weeks traveling and visiting family and friends.
Our first trip was to Atlanta, to visit our Daughter and Son-In-Law, Kris and Kenny, along with our two precious grandsons James and Kaleb. We had a wonderful time with them. Even though if was only for a couple of days, it was great to be able to spend some quality time and catch up with our family.
While we were there we also got to spend some time with Kenny's mom, Grace and her husband Glenn.
Kris and Kenny moved to Atlanta this past year. The boys helped decorate the Christmas tree in their beautiful new home.
Over the next few days, we will be adding updates on all the other places we have visited, so keep checking back!
Here is a video of the brick making process in Macha. These bricks are the first ones being made with the new brick machine that Flying Mission has loaned to us.
We are so excited about this HUGE step in the road to construcion of the new school!
Hi everyone,
We wanted to let you all know that we made it safely back to the USA this week! Thank you for all your prayers.
We are currently in Milwaukee. It has been an amazing year and we are so excited about all the things that are happening both in Africa and here at home.
While here, we will be traveling around to visit family and friends. Being so far away for so long, makes us really appreciate the time that we can spend here.
We will be in the states until early January. During this time, feel free to call us!
This is only for while we are here in the USA
The school year is not just about studying. Learning about and getting to know the families that comprise the MICS campus is important also. Sooooo ... we had a picnic for all family members associated with MICS.
Mr.Sakala slaughtered a goat and fixed it on the grill.
All families brought food to share around a large picnic table.
Then there were "GAMES". For adults as well as the children. There was a bubble gum blowing contest to see who could blow the largest bubble (and not get it all over their face). And everyone played "What time is it Mr.Clock?" where the clock people tried to get everyone close enough to catch when they said it was 12 o'clock.
The students at MICS got a chance to learn how pizzas are made by "Chef Moono". They learned the "special technique" of spreading the dough with their fingertips, adding a special sauce, topping it off with cheese, and "baked lightly". They were all addicted to pizza after they ate their very own pan pizza. Another learning experience at MICS!!
The foundation trenches have been dug for one staff house and the host house at the MICS campus. The picture of the host house was taken from the air and the staff house location is just across the road to the top of the host house picture. These trenches are now awaiting the arrival of the blockmaking machine that we were trained to use, during the past two weeks.
The blockmaking machine uses a mixture of soil, cement and water to produce a block that can be assembled without mortar between the blocks. Each block interlocks with those adjacent to it. The machine is manufactured by HydaForm. (www.hydraform.com)
Large quantities of soil are needed, as can be seen from the size of the hand-dug pit. The soil is then screened to remove large lumps and mixed with dry cement before being dampened and poured into the compression chamber of the blockmaking machine.
This machine is being loaned to the school by Flying Mission-Zambia to help with our mission here at Macha.
Koster, our yardman, needed to inform his extended family of the death of a relative. He was planning to travel by bicycle, a 5 hour trip each way. We offerred to drive him there with our car to save him time and energy. The car trip took an hour and one-quarter to reach his family. In typical African/Tonga culture, a visit like this is not just to infom. Greeting villagers, looking at homes and general visiting takes place. The total adventure (estimated to take about 3 hours) actually expanded to a total of 8 hours including driving thru the bush in the dark on footpaths in order to reach the home of the deceased.
We had a chance to meet Koster's parents and sisters. We met some of the people of the village while they were busy shelling "groundnuts", or as we would call them, "peanuts".
Some of the boys of the village were playing with home-made cars. The children are very creative in making cars and trucks and other playthings. Scrap plastic bottles work well for car bodies. And wheels come in all types - shoe-polish can size and dried mudball size.
When we were ready to leave with Koster, his Mom and three sisters, we had an added passenger, a live tied-up chicken occupied the rear of the car.
We just wanted to say THANKS to all of you that sent items to Arizona. The cargo container is full, full, full. We have been told that there was an overwhelming response to our request for items (there is no more room, so please do not ship anything additional to AZ). We are extremely grateful to you for your time and generosity. We also want to thank Kent, Bryan, and Flying Mission for allowing us to share some of the valuable space on their cargo container. The cargo container will be shipped to Zambia soon. It will take several months to arrive...We will be anxiously waiting for it, and all the wonderful things that you sent. We can't wait!
Thank you again!
We had the opportunity to provide the vehicle to transport some bags of maize(corn) from Mrs.Grace's mother's home to Mrs.Grace's home. While at the mother's home, we also saw some of the additional ways in which the rural villagers suppliment their subsistance living; such as making baskets, mats, and furniture for selling.
Getting water is a hard task also. Children fill 20 litre jugs from residual water in the stream.
Mrs.Grace and her family are making bricks to build a brick house, replacing their present reed hut, before the rainy season starts, also.
We celebrated Gil's 70th birthday at the Vision Cafe. There were games and entertainment before the meal. 
Just wanted to let you all know that Gil is celebrating his 70th birthday. These pictures are from a sandboarding trip in Namibia. While racing down these giant sand dunes, he reached speeds in excess of 60 miles an hour! Whoever says you have to slow down when you get older, doesn't know Gil!
Happy Birthday! We Love You!
While at Lake Kariba we had the opportunity to celebrate Joy's entry into MARS with her 50th birthday.
Then a final relaxing time at the Bolthouse's outside of Lusaka, where we also celebrated Ethan's 11th and the return of the "Lava Lamp".
Finally, sisters always have to whisper, even thru glass security doors. 
While at Lake Kariba, we stayed at a guest house on the lake, that also houses the largest croc raising farm in Africa.(90,000 crocs of all sizes) So, we had to have "croc stirfry" for our supper, instead of being the meal for the crocs.
We watched several people "enjoy" swinging out over Batoka Gorge, just downstream of Victoria Falls. Edith looked over the wall and down the cliff and decided that she would do it "next time".
The MARS team spent several times on the water. We crused up the Chobe River for lots of animal sightings. We crossed the Zambezi River on the ferry between Botswana and Zambia. And we had a sunset cruise to view the islands of Lake Kariba.
African sunsets are beautiful.
We walked with some lions in Zimbabwe.
They were 18 months old and we touched and hiked with them. AND we lived to tell about it.
Livingstone's statue had to be captured by at least part of the MARS team.
Edith and Joy did the proper pose to capture the moment. God provided a wheelchair for Edith, so she could see the full extent of VF without getting too tired.
The "Miller Trio" needed to have the beauty of the falls in the background to show we were all "on site".
