Prayer letter from Zimbabwe

Saturday, 28 February, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
My apologies that it has been so long since I last wrote to you. I have moved from Shurugwi to Bulawayo. I have started a New Year of training for my TEE students and I have been busy typing the hand-written modules which have been prepared by various lecturers on 3 different subjects (that project is only about one third complete).

Please note that since I am now living in Bulawayo I am changing to a Bulawayo based service provider and that my new address will be mjames@gator.co.zw This will save me the cost of having to phone to Harare to collect and send email. I will keep both addresses going for a little while, but please correct your address book.

I returned from a very good holiday in Cape Town on 2nd January. Ambuya Tom had packed some of my things and we continued to work on packing in preparation for moving. The Connexional Office objected to the amount that the Ndhlela Centre (which belongs to the Church) wanted to charge for our first TEE training week and so they insisted that we go to Sandringham School, which had no students because the start of the school year had been delayed owing to the financial chaos in the country. The road to Sandringham is 25 km of narrow tar and was so full of potholes that in parts one had to drive in the sand on the
sides of the road. I was not happy about using my sedan car on such a bad road.
Those students who arrived too late for the bus had great difficulties in
getting there. One had to spend the night in the home of local villagers. The tutors also had transport problems and as a result our teaching time was much reduced.

I was very grateful for the financial assistance which I had received at the
end of last year, because I had to pay out over US$600 for the students' travel refunds, but this time I did get a refund from the Connexional Office in US dollars which I have been able to carry forward to cover other expenses. I was able to print most of the modules that the students needed from my own computer and printer, but I may have to do some photocopying later. I was able to buy a laptop when I was in Cape Town and this has proved to be a great blessing. I have typed out the ethics module on it and started on the Old Testament 2 module.

We moved from Shurugwi on 28th January. We expected the lorry at 11 am but it only arrived at 5 pm. We were ready to depart at 7.30 pm because lots of people were there to help with the loading. There was a very heavy rainstorm on the way and even though there was a tent, many of my things were damaged by the water. The distance is only 200km and the road is generally good, but we arrived at 11.30pm, partly because I was leading the way and I don't like driving fast in the dark, especially in the rain. We also had to stop for a while because the tent had worked loose and had to be tied down again. The minister at the Hillside Church had supper ready for us and accommodation arranged. We were up by 6 am because the driver wanted to unload as quickly as
possible in order to return to Shurugwi for a second load (I had to move the TEE library and office as well as my personal effects). The people of the Barham Green Church gave us a great welcome, as did the District Bishop. 4 young men from Shurugwi came to help and they only returned to Shurugwi the following Sunday.

The house in Barham Green is in much better condition than the one in Shurugwi, but I was sad to leave Shurugwi because the people will have no resident minister for the rest of 2009. The house is being rented out to provide some of the money to pay the rent for the house of the Gweru District Bishop. However the Shurugwi people have been promised that they will have a new minister at the end of this year.

The financial situation changed dramatically while I was in South Africa. All transactions are now in either South African Rand or US dollars (forex). The Zimbabwean dollar is now not accepted by any traders, and even government institutions such as hospitals are demanding payment in forex. There is a very big problem of change. I recently bought a car headlight which cost 88 Rand and I was only given 10 Rand change for my 100 Rand note. When I was in South Africa I bought a ream of duplicating paper for 35 Rand but in Bulawayo it is being sold for 100 Rand.

Civil servants are all being paid in Zim. Dollars and this is causing them
great problems and the teachers have been on strike. Commerce and industry (where they still exist) are trying to help their staff as much as they can, but many of them are also under great financial stress. The world financial crisis has also had its effect on us. For example, the chrome mines in Shurugwi closed down in mid December until the end of February, when they would review the situation, depending on the world price of chrome. The gold mines in the Shurugwi area closed down for a different reason, they had sold their gold to the government agency (the only legal buyer) and had not been paid for many months, so they could not continue their operations. I was recently in Hwange
where the coal mine is still functioning (it is government owned), but the
workers are all being paid in Zim. Dollars. They are struggling to pay for food and other basics which are being sold in forex. Inflation has totally eroded the value of the local currency, which recently had another 12 zeros removed.

As you can imagine, this situation is creating many difficulties for the
church. The members are being asked to make their offerings in forex, but this is not always possible. In our service this Sunday the steward reported last week's giving as various amounts in Zim. Dollars, S.A. Rand, U.S dollars, and Botswana Pula. The Districts and Connexion are asking for levies in forex which is very difficult indeed for places like Hwange where the members just don't have any forex. I hear that the Connexional Office is surviving by selling cattle from the church farm at Waddilove and that only about 20% of the original herd remains. This does not augur well for the rest of the year.

In the last couple of months I have received some help from churches in Cape Town and in Darlington (UK). This money has gone towards buying food for hungry people in various parts of Bulawayo East District. Thank you very much indeed for the help. When I was in Hwange one of my TEE student ministers, who is stationed in Tinde, asked for help for some of the young people from his circuit. His circuit is north of Hwange, going towards the Zambezi River. (It is a very dry area, but several of our present Methodist Ministers have come from there.) He asked for help for 3 Tinde youths who are going to Bulawayo to study at the Methodist Vocational and Training School at Makokoba. One is a
girl whose father is dead and her mother is mentally disturbed. She is studying hair-dressing. One is a young man who has educated himself by working for the local people because his parents cannot support him. He is studying motor mechanics. Another young man is an orphan who is studying Hotel and Catering. When I went to the Makokoba Training School I was told that there were actually 10 youths from Tinde who were studying there and whose fees had not been paid. The fees for each student are US$180 for the one year course (US$60 per term). I
paid US$40, which covered 2 students for one month each. I wonder if you would be interested in helping any of them. It is a way of developing a rather backward area.

Since the end of November, Amai Rejoice (Agnes Tshuma), the daughter of my house-worker who was very ill, was being cared for by her mother in our house.
We moved with her to Bulawayo (we had to strap her into the front seat of my car). 2 weeks ago she stopped eating and drinking. As a result she became dehydrated and we had her admitted into the local government hospital. She received intravenous fluid which improved her general condition. In casualty she was seen by a doctor but we had to wait 9 hours for her to be seen by a physician before she could be admitted into the medical ward. Her mother had to stay with her all that time because the casualty nurses were not prepared to care for her. I was horrified at the lack of sterile procedure used by a registered nurse who changed the drip bottle. He was also surprised when I spoke to him about his poor technique!

Once in the ward Amai Rejoice received excellent care, in a ward that had very few patients. We had to pay in Casualty (in forex, of course), but not in the ward, because she had TB and therefore got free treatment. She remained in a generally poor state and died on Saturday. Her 3 daughters and their 3 very young children have been staying with us for most of the week, and other family members arrived on Sunday. She was buried today. Fortunately her elder brother had included her on his funeral policy, which meant that her body was moved from
the hospital mortuary to the mortuary of the undertakers. I was glad about that because, soon after I arrived in Bulawayo, I had to conduct the funeral of the son of a Shurugwi church member. He had died on a Friday and was buried on the following Monday, but the body had begun to decompose despite being in the mortuary of the government hospital. At that funeral I heard a story about 65 bodies which had not been collected by relatives, and which were buried
by the residents association, the local churches and the hospital authorities. The Prison Service dug the graves.
In the first week that we were in Bulawayo we had power cuts almost every day, but since then there have been few power cuts. Water is always available and seems to be of quite good quality, but we always boil all drinking water. Potholes in the roads are a very big problem. There have been some attempts to fill the potholes but sometimes it is just filling the holes with earth or sand, which will be washed out by the next rain storm. Some unemployed youth fill in the holes and then ask passing motorists for payment.

I expect that you have heard about the very high death toll from cholera. I have not personally been involved in any of these cases, but it is very clear that the underlying cause of the problem is the blockage of sewerage systems in the towns. I heard recently of sewerage flowing in the streets of our oldest 'high density area' (township). The basic problem was that the municipal workers were on strike and therefore blockages were not being cleared. In well established rural communal areas the people have good quality Blair Toilets (ventilated pit latrines) but where people have moved on to former commercial
farms they have not got either toilets or a safe source of water. Various NGOs have been trying to cope with the situation.

The establishment of the Unity Government has received much publicity, but time will tell whether the former 'ruling party' is prepared to co-operate with the former opposition. I have known for a long time that various Methodist Ministers have been visiting Mr. Tsvangarai and providing pastoral care to him and his family. (His mother and his wife are both full members of the church.) The day of his swearing in as Prime Minister started with a church service at the Mabelreign Methodist Church before he went on to State House. I have some very nice pictures of the service. We need to continue to pray for him and for
all the members of the Unity Government. It is going to be a very difficult
relationship, as is seen by the negative things that are still being said by the state controlled media, and the fact that some MDC members and human rights activists are still in prison.

I have recently been reading Psalm 37, especially verses 1-9 and verses 25-29. "Do not be agitated � by the man who carries out evil plans". "Those who put their hope in the LORD will inherit the land." "The LORD loves justice and will not abandon His faithful ones." We continue to put out trust in Him, and ask for your continued prayers.

With all best wishes
Margaret James

20 July, 2008
2nd July Update

Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings from cold Shurugwi. People say that it is colder than Gweru, and it certainly feels like that. I am sitting at my desk with my warm dressing gown on over my clothes, and a blanket around my legs. My hot water bottle is old and has developed a leak. When I go to bed I am using plastic "Iceblocks" which are supposed to be used to keep things cold. I place them in luke warm water, and heat them up. They are super as bricks to warm up my bed.

It is now 3 weeks after the "run-off election" and although things are quieter than just before the election, they have by no means returned to normal. I have just had a week with my students in Gweru, and they had some horrifying stories to tell. In one place, where the oppressed party members decided to take revenge for an attack, the reaction was brutal. The thugs employed by the dominant party took the wives of those they wanted to punish and cut off their breasts, as well as severely assaulting the husbands. In another place people who had been seriously assaulted, and in some cases burnt, were admitted to a
government hospital and given no care. When their friends wanted to remove them to a private hospital, the ambulances were confiscated by the police.
Eventually some of them were removed during the night, and managed to escape from the area.

You will remember that I mentioned that in one place one of our Local Preachers had joined the violent group. The student from that area told me this time that this Local Preacher was using passages such as Romans 13:1-3 to teach people that God wanted them to vote for the ruling party. The student had told this man that, because of the violence, he was not to take any leading role in the congregation until the Superintendent came to chair a meeting which would discuss the matter.

However in most places the report was that the level of violence had decreased, and that in some places the police were arresting those who committed some of the violent acts. When they defended themselves by saying that they were sent to do those things, they were being asked, "Who sent you?" That is now the name of the police campaign. It is rather too late to reduce the pain of those who have suffered so much, but at least it indicates that such terrible violence may not always go unpunished. Some of the young people who have done the most
brutal things, have now become mentally disturbed as they think of the horrible things that they have done.

The food situation is bad. In towns it is very difficult to buy the staple
Mealie Meal. Cooking Oil, Sugar and Bread are also costing figures in the
Billions, if they are available at all. While writing this I have some dough
rising for bread. I am blessed that I actually still have a little flour. A
new programme has been launched to supply each household with some of the basics at an affordable price. Yesterday, someone came to see us to note the names and Identity Numbers of each of us in the house. This is supposed to be used to allocate a hamper of cheaper food to each household. We will wait to see what happens. On Friday there was a large lorry which went off the road between Gweru and Shurugwi. It appears that it was carrying flour and other items for
the new programme. Yesterday I saw that the vehicle was still there, but by the afternoon the load had been removed. Before the elections, the various NGOs which supply relief food, were forbidden to operate, and I have not yet heard if they have been allowed to start again. Our church has a programme aimed at AIDS orphans and others in great need. I can give you details if you would like to assist them.

I said earlier that I had all my 37 students together in Gweru this week.
Before they came I estimated that their travel refunds would cost Z$21.4
Trillion. The actual cost when they made their claims was Z$30 Trillion. The Conference Secretary told me that he could not raise that amount of cash and that he would deposit my original estimate into each student's account. This did not help the situation because there is a government regulation which forbids us to withdraw more than Z$100 Billion per day from our bank or building society accounts. Even if the money was in their accounts, the students could not access enough cash to travel home. I am very grateful to someone who sent me some US$ via Western Union. I have found a church member who sells pre-paid cell phone airtime. He gets a lot of cash, and he needs US$ to buy some of the mobile phone parts which he stocks. Therefore he was very happy to change my US$250 for Zimbabwe money, and I was able to use it to pay the students enough for their return journey. I am very grateful for that assistance.
I also had received 18 lights which are rechargeable by sun-light. I gave one to each student who had no electricity supply, or whose supply was not working due to the theft of wire or transformer oil. They were very well received and it was difficult to decide who would get the few spare ones after I had supplied those in the above categories. Hopefully the lights will make it easier for the students to study at night. Some of the lights were faulty, but some students still took them in the hope that they would be able to find an electrician who would be able to fix the faulty switches.

One of the things that made this week at Ndhlela Centre memorable was that an inverter had been installed. A former missionary had sent us the money as part of the celebrations of the 30th Anniversary of the Ndhlela Centre. I don't really understand the electronics, but an inverter charges up 2 heavy duty batteries when the electricity is working, then when the electricity is off, the batteries supply power at 220 volts. The inverter powered the lights in the hall, the dining room, the kitchen and the offices. What a wonderful difference that made! The students were able to work on their assignments at night even when there was a power cut (which was more than half the time).

This time I also had some new library books. Some of them were so very useful and I have had to say that no-one can actually borrow them. I will keep them with me as reference copies, and will type out useful sections to hand out to the students. We are still in great need of a basic New Testament text book. For the Old Testament we now have several copies of Anderson's "Living World of the Old Testament", but it appears that the companion book on the New Testament
is no longer available. In particular we need something that deals with topics like the Synoptic Problem and Paul's theology.

It is good that at last there seems to be some movement on the political front. Many people are quoting and studying Jeremiah 29 v 11, which reminds us that God has a plan for good and not for evil. Unfortunately many ignore verse 10, in which Jeremiah tells the Israelites that they will be in Babylon for 70 years. I pray that it will not take that long to solve our problems, but we must remember that God's timing is not our timing. His timing is perfect, even if it seems to us to be a very long time to wait. We pray that the current talks will lead to some sort of a solution, or transition to a new dispensation.

God bless you, keep and protect you, and guide you until we meet again.
Yours in Christ's service,
Margaret

10 July, 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Good Morning. This is just a quick message to say that I have been struggling since last Saturday to pick up my e-mails. The line is constantly "busy" and I don't know whether the problem is at the Shurugwi end, or at the "Mango" end in Harare.

I am keeping this brief because I promised an elderly white couple a lift into Gweru today, and I want to take my computer in, so that I can try to contact my e-mail server from there.

I am well and things are quiet here, but we are hearing of continuing violence in other areas. My house worker had a phone call from her son yesterday. He said that there was trouble in her rural home. The neighbours had been attacked by a group of thugs, who accused them of belonging to the 'wrong' party. The house was burnt and totally destroyed. The owner, in trying to defend himself, shot some of the attackers, and has been arrested! This has happened since the
so called 'run-off' elections. I have heard other stories of church leaders
being targeted for the same reason.

The rate of inflation continues to be impossible to understand. All the shops and banks have removed 3 or 6 zeros from their figures. It makes it very difficult to know what they are actually charging. Somebody very kindly sent me some money to do some repairs to the house in which I am living. The difficulty is in trying to find a satisfactory way of changing the US dollars into local currency to buy the door locks that I need. Once place that I tried wanted to charge me US$50 for one door lock! The trouble is that I just don't know the hidden ways of doing these things. However I am trying some other ways. Life is more complicated by the fact that on Tuesday, my June stipend was not yet in
my account, nor the Z$20 billion that I had spent on sending some important work that I had been proof-reading, back to the Connexional Office. (They had insisted that I use one of the private courier companies.)

Well that's all I have time for now.
Continue to pray for a resolution to our problems.
Yours truly, Margaret James

June 22 Prayer Letter

Dear Family and Friends,
Thank you all for your responses to the circular, which I send out at the
beginning of the month, and for all the love and concern which so many of you have shown. I think that I don't have to tell you that the atmosphere ofviolence has lead to the MDC pulling out of the 2nd presidential election. I will pick up on my own activities since I sent out the last circular letter.

I went to Masvingo on a Sunday in order to preach at the English service at 9am. The journey took 2 hours and the road was good apart from a patch of about 6km which had bad potholes and which needed to be driven over slowly. Some of the students in that District were facing a lot of stresses in their circuits.
In some places it was not possible to hold Sunday services at all because people were being forced to attend political rallies every Sunday. In some places there were demands that church members attend political rallies in their church uniforms. I heard of one minister (not one of my students) who was in trouble because he told the political people that he would not allow any church member to attend a political rally wearing church uniform. They also told me of a minister of another church who was assaulted in his own church building because
he was unable to shout the required political slogan. He was also told that since he had a picture of Jesus on the wall, he must also have a picture of the State President.

After 2 nights away I returned home, and, after attending an important church meeting on the Thursday, worked with the 2 Gweru students at my own home. That Sunday we had the 30th Anniversary celebrations for the Ndhlela Centr e. The missionary who had originally established the centre came out for the celebrations. She filled her suitcase with things for me. There were 27 theological books for the TEE library and 18 solar lights for me to distribute to those of my students who are not connected to the power supply. Some of the books are new and give us new and exciting material for the library. I have already typed out some notes for the students from one of the books and am busy
reading a couple of others in preparation for my next meeting with the students.

The solar lights each have a small panel, which has to be put into the sun, and then the light will work for some hours. (I haven't experimented with them to find out how long the light will last.) I gave out 2 of the lights when I went to Bulawayo the following week, and I will distribute the rest when I see the students in 3 weeks time. (One student is so excited about the lights that he is planning to make a special journey here to collect his light this week.)

Then I went to Bulawayo, where there were 3 students and to Hwange where there were another 3. One of the students was telling me that some of his church leaders had joined the gangs of those who were promoting political violence.
This creates a very difficult situation, but fortunately the headquarters of his circuit is in town, and it is there that the decision will have to be made as to the disciplinary measures which will have to be applied. However recent political developments will mean that some of these people will think that they can continue to act with impunity.

On the road to Hwange (335 kilometres) there were 6 road blocks. At 5 of them I had to show my drivers licence and at one place they were writing down all the licence details in a book. However the police were very pleasant, and I was able to joke with them that I had my licence before some of their parents were born. On the way back, I was asked to give a lift to a police woman and it was noticeable, that with her in the car, we were waved through most of the road blocks.

This past week I spent almost 4 hours queuing at Western Union to collect some money that had been sent to the Ndhlela Centre for their anniversary, as well as a gift sent to me. I had to go to Harare for meetings on Wednesday and only returned on Saturday evening. I got a lift there in a church vehicle but the journey back was not easy. I got into a minibus in Harare but it had a blow-out of the right front tyre after we had gone about 60 km. When we got to Kadoma the driver decided to abandon the journey because he could not replace the tyre.
Half of my fare was refunded, but I then had to struggle to get another bus.
Eventually we got into a bus which already had many standing passengers. It was so crowded that the conductor battled to push past us in order to collect the fares. After an hour like that we got to Kwekwe, where many people disembarked and I got a seat next to a lady who is a lecturer in Gweru. I enjoyed chatting to her.

In Harare I met a minister who had decided to leave his circuit because of the threats of violence against him. I heard of another minister whose circuit has 32 congregations, but 28 of them have been closed because of the violence and intimidation. He has been told that he is not permitted to go out of the small town where he lives unless he has permission from the local political leaders.
There were many stories of people whose homes had been destroyed or who had fled from the rural areas.

It was very noticeable that all the buses in Harare were covered with political stickers and posters for the party in power, and many people were wearing political T shirts, caps etc. When I got home I heard from my domestic worker (Lydia) that she and another elderly church member had attended a political rally. Names were being called of people who should come and get political T shirts and one of the names was mine! We had a good laugh about that. They probably got my name from some door to door campaigning they did while I was away.

Cash is a big problem everywhere and the inflation is incredible. Government regulations say that the maximum cash withdrawal from a bank or building society is Z$25 billion. That is enough to buy 10 of the cheapest ball-point pens!
Yesterday I was in a supermarket in Gweru and I wanted to buy a number of items using my bank card but the only cashier whose cash card system was working was struggling with one customer's payment. She was buying 2 tins of baby milk and a few other small items. She paid all she had in cash and then he needed to process her card 35 times in order to effect her payment!! Each time it took about 3 minutes to complete the transaction, so in the end I abandoned some of
my intended purchases. I had Z$30 billion cash in my handbag and with that I bought 1 electric light bulb, 1 packet of jelly, 1 small packet of pop-corn seeds (to 'pop' at home) and 2 bread buns.

Power cuts are now frequent. I always keep some hot water in a couple of vacuum flasks. When there is no power, I cook using the meths burner of a fondue set. 6 months ago a large tree in the church yard was struck by lightening, and from that we have some wood for cooking and for heating water.
I have a bright torch which is re-chargeable and so we cope. We are much better off than so many others. Many people are already desperate for mealie meal because the harvest was very poor and even in our garden we did not get any maize that we could dry for mealie meal. However Lydia has grown some very good tomatoes, and so far they have survived the frost. We have a very good supply of avocado pears from 2 big old trees. I have one for lunch almost every day
that I am at home, but unfortunately Lydia does not like them. A local farmer lets us have 2 litres of milk a week (when he has it). When I can get flour, I bake bread. We can buy sour milk, and I use it to make cottage cheese, which is very nice. We don't go hungry, even though our diet is not very exciting, and I am very grateful for little luxuries like the dried fruit and instant potato powder that I was sent recently.

Please read Psalm 59 as you pray for Zimbabwe. For our strength we look to God and he is our strong tower (verses 9, 16 and17). We wait for His perfect plan and purpose.

May the Lord our God love, protect and strengthen you always.
From
Margaret James

Prayer Letter end of May 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for all the messages of love and concern that I have received after
my previous circular letters. It is good to hear from you. Sometimes I even
get responses from those to whom you pass on the letters.

I have been away from home for almost 2 weeks and I am writing this before I
even phone in to collect the 2 weeks of mail. I am half way through a tour to
visit my students. I went first to the Gokwe area, then on to a disused mine
compound in the Chinhoyi District, then to Harare for a meeting, a weekend, and
lessons for my students last Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday I went to Marondera,
where I finished at 1pm on Thursday. I then collected some of my possessions
from my sister-in-law's home and proceeded halfway home. I spent the night at
the home of a friend in Kadoma, before arriving here yesterday afternoon. (A
round trip of about 1,200km.) Early tomorrow morning I must set out for
Masvingo, where I am due to preach at the English service, and to see my
students on Monday and Tuesday.

I was pleased that none of my students had themselves been attacked, but some
of them had shocking stories to tell. They spoke of severe beatings, of hands
being deliberately cut off, of homes being burnt down etc. In many places
people cannot attend church services, because every Sunday they have to attend
political rallies, if they fail to turn up, they are branded as "opposition."
There were stories of large numbers of people fleeing from their homes into the
cities. I heard of churches which were providing shelter for some of the
displaced people. In many cases the police then arrived and forcibly removed
the people from the shelter. I heard of areas of Harare where ambulances had
been stopped by police road blocks, so that they could not collect injured
people who had managed to get in from the rural areas. I spoke to a bishop who
had been visiting people who had been terribly injured and were being cared for
in private hospitals. Someone had sent me some American dollars and so I was
able to give a gift to the ministers from the most badly affected areas, so
that they could give some relief to their people.

Some of the students were very pessimistic, saying that the violence would
ensure a victory for those who were attacking the rural people and ruling
through fear. People would be prevented from going back to their home areas to
vote at the end of the month.. Other students were much more up beat. They
believe that throughout the country people are longing for change, and that the
old tactic of threats and violence would not work this time. I also heard
stories of people organising themselves into self-defence groups, which had
discouraged the violent thugs.

One girl told me that her sister had done the "National Youth Training" course
some years ago, because graduates of that course could get into nursing school
much more easily than other applicants. (I found that horrifying, that young
people could only get into nursing by receiving military type training!) This
girl has now qualified and is working in a rural area. Soon after the March
elections she was visited and told to leave her post and join one of the gangs.
"This is a national emergency and we need everybody who has been trained!" She
managed to persuade them that she was about to get married and so she couldn't
join them.

On the economic front, things go from bad to worse. A loaf of bread now costs
Z$500 million!! Our stipends are now in the billions, but still we struggle to
cope. I have always been a very cautious shopper, but this situation forces one
to be an impulse buyer. For my travels I am supposed to get coupons from the
church head office. When I was in Harare, I went to claim my allocation for the
trip, and was told that they had run out of coupons, and I could only have half
what I needed. (They have to use the funds that are donated from overseas for
all these needs.) Fortunately I had been hoarding some coupons that I had been
given last year, but I still need to have the debt paid when they have a new
stock.

I have just been reading Psalm 91.
Verse 2 "He is my refuge and fortress, my God in whom I put my trust."
Verse 5. "You will not fear the terrors abroad at night, or the arrow that
flies by day".
Verse 15 "When he calls to me, I shall answer; I shall be with him in time of
trouble."

May you know the presence, the peace and the protection of our Lord God
Almighty.

From
Margaret

Hale Methodist Church

Prayer letter from Zimbabwe