Ephesians 3:20 – “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us”.
Hi all, we’ve now been here 9 months and honestly say we have enjoyed every minute of it! There have been many times we have sat back and gone “Wow” and know what we experienced will stay with us for years to come! We wake up every morning to one of the most beautiful views of the mountain and wonder how people cannot believe that there is a God who created all of this!
Our Garden is continuously producing fresh fruit (mango, papaya, guava, passion fruits to name a few) and the garden is scented with such a beautiful smell of gardenia. Our compound is such a safe place to live, especially with our 3 guard dogs who scare everyone who walks past the gates. Their bark is definitely louder than their bite, but I wouldn’t want to put this to test! Recently we had to say farewell to the oldest dog, Storm, who after 13 years of good service had become increasingly sick and frail. We do have a replacement puppy, Zee (below), who looks more like a fox cub but will grow up in time to be a strong German shepherd.
What we are involved in:
Rachel is still working at the Loved Centre 2 days a week putting finishing touches to the community halls murals and now also painting in other parts of Loved. On Friday afternoons she assists here with a women’s group. This is a gathering of younger women who have been through some level of abuse. She mainly sits listening to their situations and supporting the Groups’ Leader.
As of June, she is also painting for 1-2 days a week at a local international school. The children are now on school holidays for 2 months and Rachel has been commissioned to paint murals in the library and in the washrooms.
Martin spends the majority of his time in the Jenga office. His tasks are updating and editing the Jenga website and the donor database and running training sessions on certain computer programmes. At times he may be asked to help with computer issues and when not busy at his desk he can be heard whistling from the other end of the office block! Recently he has been sitting in zoom conference meetings about Data protection and member care issues. These are all areas that both the UK board and the charity feel are important to them at this moment.
Martin has been asked to preach a couple of times at local churches. He doesn’t find this the easiest thing to do but at both times received a good response from their leadership. He has also been called to be Guest of honour at a graduation ceremony where he also had to give a speech.
We see so much poverty here . Since aid has been cancelled by the US government many are struggling to survive and many of our projects are helping more people to get a good meal where they can. Rachel has seen many undernourished children at the Loved Centre, where emergency help is given to both children and their loved ones.
Looking forward :
As many of you know, we had initially planned to spend 12 months here before coming home but we sense that our work hasn’t finished here yet and so have decided to stay on until Easter 2026.
Thank you so much for your support
Martin and Rachel
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