What did YOU do over Christmas break?

Dear friends and family,

The Lord is GOOD and worthy to be praised!!!

Just wanted to drop a quick line, as John tells me I need to send more updates and photos. Things have been very busy here on campus since the school “closed” for the holidays. The newer Pre-Form I students didn’t get much holiday, as English and math classes continued to hopefully give them a fighting chance when they enter Form I with its ten subjects on Monday. Likewise, a few of the up and coming Form IV students, who will have the very important National Exams this June and November, have been here for special studies in chemistry, physics, and biology.

Joanne has been at the sewing machine nearly around the clock, trying to provide uniforms for the Pre-Form I students and many others who want a fresh look or second outfit in their wardrobe. This ministry has really opened our home to the students and been the catalyst for comfortable relationships and frank talk about their lives. As of this writing, she has made about 65 shirts since returning in September, and she has about 70 on order. The students come every day, and sometimes multiple times during the day, to see if “their” shirt is done. “Subiri” means patience/wait in kiswahili, and she’s been using it a lot, showing them where their name is in the notebook. It’s cute to see them so excited to get a custom made piece of clothing . . . most of what they wear is used clothing they find in the market place, whether it fits or not. The boy teachers are notorious for buying trousers with a 40 inch waist and coming to Joanne to have it “reduced.” She’s become very creative in how to get rid of 6-10 inches…but they get a scolding to never buy anything so big again!

Gary has been on the laptop for hours on end, typing and printing forms, schedules and records for the academic and registrar offices.

He also spent days repairing and painting the six older blackboards. The blackboards are raised, smooth cement on the walls, painted with a special “blackboard” flat black paint. Thanks again to the kids in Missions Club, who donated money for the paint.


Speaking of the Missions Club donation, the glass is finally on campus, sorted into sizes for the various buildings and being installed. It will be so nice to have ALL of the windows covered against wind and rain. With that job still incomplete, I’ll sign off and get to work!


Joanne wanted you all to know that her garden is producing carrots and zucchini, with a lot of other items coming on. We’re also enjoying banana, mango and avocado, which are “in season” now, making them very inexpensive . . . a daily commodity.

Know that we are praying for you all and are thankful for your partnership in this ministry.

Love,

Gary & Joanne Grenell

P.S. Our cat, Tanzy, appears to be in the family way…again.

First-Aid

Dear Beloved Supporters,

Praise the Lord for His abundant mercy and love! He is so gracious in His provision and peace. Give thanks and rejoice in your salvation!

Here we are, excited to be starting a new school year, which follows the calendar year. We’ve had a very busy holiday “break,” although the only “break” was from the regular teaching schedule. And we all know a vacuum must be filled, so our days have been packed with environment and uniform projects. There seems to be no end to the things that need to be done; pray for the Lord to give us the strength to take each day’s events as they come and glorify Him in all of our “service” of worship. We consider all that we do as an act of worship.

One area of “worship” that comes to our door on a fairly regular basis is medical needs. Bicycles in ill-repair on rocky mountain slopes are not a good combination. We are amazed that there is not more infection, as the students generally “tough it out” for a day or two before coming to get their wounds cleaned up and bandaged. Then there is the problem of getting them to come back every day for clean bandaging. To try and make the best of the situation, Joanne explains each step of the treatment and tells them that they can do this at their ghetto. The photo at the beginning and below are of the results of a bicycle accident that sent the boy to the local dispensary. When he came to us a week later, it was obvious that he needed more care. He’s doing much better now.

The girl in the photo below had a third degree hot cooking oil burn (back of leg).

Thanks to all of you who contributed to the First Aid kit this past year. We’ll need larger Band-Aids to bring back next time, as we don’t see too many small wounds.

God bless you all as you serve our Lord in your part of the world.

Love,

Gary and Joanne Grenell

P.S. What a novel idea! - stick a thorn in your pierced ear hole to keep it open. Because the students are not allowed to wear jewelry, that's what the girls do. So, here is Joanne, treating an infected ear lobe.

What will we see next?!

God's blessings to all!

Gary and Joanne in Tanzania

Exam Week

***Disclaimer***

Gary & Joanne send updates & "stories" whenever they can. Because their Internet access can be infrequent they will send multiple "timeless" stories when they can so that if their access is down we can still have something to post during this time. The following is an update that I (John) inadvertently "filed away" for later, not realizing that it was "time relevant". This update was sent to us about 5 weeks ago. Our apologies for the tardiness.

John and Kim Williams

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Dear Most-Loved Friends and Family,

We are very busy typing, editing, and printing exams for later this week.

The Annual Exams start on Wednesday and run through the following Tuesday. Pre-Form English with Joanne and Gary’s Bible Knowledge exams are always the last on the schedule, except when we beg them to be first in June so that we can score and return them before getting on the truck to come back to America.

Exam time is always an exciting time. Last night some 30-50 of the students pulled an all-nighter in one of the classrooms; not studying . . . they were singing and praying for God’s blessings on the school and exam results. A school’s worth and promotion is based upon the students’ performances. They did very well last year, which is why your mom’s (Joanne's) usual class size of 100-150 shot to 330 this year.

Today, Sunday, the students in mass are involved in a six hour praise and prayer service. I was here at the house printing exams, but Joanne went for a couple of hours . . . got involved with some of the dancing and singing lines, from what she tells me. Now she’s home making rice for dinner and sewing (she’s on her fourth school shirt for just this weekend). While she was gone a bee swarm went over the house; I listened to the roar for a few seconds, but when it didn’t pass quickly, I went outside to watch the stream…amazing. Without ceilings, anything going over or landing on the tin roof is quite noisy. We have a crow that visits every morning, flapping and clawing up the sheeting to find a perch on the peak; it’s pretty comical and very noisy. I always imagine a comic book character bird with NO coordination.

A rain is rolling in, so the plants we transplanted from the river garden yesterday are getting a good drink. We had a good crop of carrots coming on and someone harvested them for us…so we’re moving the garden back near the house where we can get some food from our labors. We’ve extended it to fill the space between the houses and further back toward the corn field behind us. We’re thinking seriously of biting the bullet and paying to have a brick wall built around it; it’s impossible to keep the chickens, goats and cows out otherwise. We have a corn stalk fence, but the cows like to eat on it, so it’s only a matter of time before they get a whiff of what is on the other side and walk “through” the fence.

We had a Pre-Form boy show up at the house the other day who had no food or soap. He must have heard that we give students jobs, because he was very ready and willing to sit and sort through a bucket of dry beans. It will be nice to not be “surprised” by a rock or rotten bean missed in the cooking process . . .

Best get back to work. Write us a note when you can; we’d love to hear from you!

May God bless you richly!

Much love and our prayers to you.

Gary and Joanne Grenell, your hands and feet to Tanzania