Whirlwind trip!

Well, we are now back from Zimbabwe... It was such a busy trip that I didn't get a chance to write on my blog again! But we had an amazing time, and I got to meet some of the orphans that the people in Link Church are helping to go to school. It is not free to go to school in Zimbabwe and the families of lots of boys and girls who live there can't afford to send them to school. The people in Link Church help by sending the money they need so they can go to school.

Evn though it was a hectic trip, there was time to take some great photos. Here are a few of them:

Here I am helping to sort out pencil cases full of pens, pencils, rubbers etc for the orphans - these were given by people in Link Church:






These are some of the children being sponsored (2 of them weren't home from school yet so they are not in the picture) We had a meal with them:





These children are from Hatcliffe, some of them are orphans being sponsored - we all had a meal together:


Here are some of our children from Muzarabani and a few other children we met there. Some of our children are wearing their school uniforms which the sponsors money helped to buy for them:






We all know it rains a lot in Scotland - did you know it rains sometimes in Zimbabwe too? I don't have a raincoat, so I had to wear a plastic bag to keep me dry:


We had a big adventure while we were there! These are our friends, Irene and Shalom (who is only 3 years old). We were going on a car journey with them - me, Iain, Norma, Jim and Rosemary. There was also a chicken in a plastic bag. It seemed quite upset about being in the bag because it kept flapping about. I tried to tell the chicken it was probably just in a plastic bag to keep the rain off it, like I had been, but it didn't seem to be listening to me:




The adventure happened like this. We ran out of petrol beside a busy road. Barry, a farmer, found us and gave us his mobile number in case we needed his help. Our friend Wilson went to look for some petrol. We waited and waited, but it was getting dark and Wilson had not come back. It wasn't a very safe place for us to be, so we phoned Barry the farmer and he came back for us. He said he would take us back to his house for the night - but he didn't want to take that chicken! He said we should let it go, so we did. It ran under a bush and I think it was hiding there. Mainly I think it was glad to be out of the plastic bag! Norma didn't forget about me though, and Barry the farmer seemed ok about taking me back to his house with everyone else. I'll bet he'd never seen a yellow sheep before though! He gave us food and a place to stay overnight, then he gave us a lift to Harare the next day. We even found out that Barry and his family are Christians! I think this is a good story to show you all that God hears you when you pray for us, and takes care of us.

Here is a photo of me with my new friend, Barry the Farmer:


This is me with some of the other people I met:

I'm in Zimbabwe again!

Hello everyone!

I have just arrived in Zimbabwe with Pastor Iain and Norma. Jim and Rosemary Storm are here too - they came last week and have been to see Victoria Falls. I went there once and really liked it, apart from the fact that I had to go in a plastic bag to keep me dry! There was soooo much spray from the waterfall that everyone had to wear raincoats, you see, but there wasn't one small enough for me. I didn't like the plastic bag much, but it was better than getting my wool wet. Sheep don't like to get wet.

While we are here we will be spending lots of time with our friends from Fellowship in Christ. We will be at two Easter Conventions and Iain told me that the first one at Muzarabani will have 500 - 600 people at it and they will all sit under a big tree! It sounds a bit like the kind of meeting Jesus used to have when He lived on earth, don't you think?

The thing I am most looking forward to on this trip is meeting the orphans who are being sponsored to go to school by people from Link Church Dunfermline and Athens Link Fellowship. We are going to have a meal with them and we might even find more boys and girls who can be sponsored. On Sunday afternoon I helped Norma get ready a whole suitcase full of pencil cases, pens, pencils and other things to put in the cases which are going to be given to the children. I am sure that will be exciting for them! We have letters from their sponsors for them too. I'll try to get some photos to show you all when we get back.

I think that's all for now, but I'll write more later!

We're back home!

Hello everyone!

Well, that visit to Athens went whizzing past! We had a wonderful time catching up with all our friends at Athens Link. Iain, Doug and Mike were very busy speaking at different meetings and at the Men's Retreat while I just spent time hanging out with my friend Courage. We had dinner at lots of people's houses and it was all very yummy food they made for us! (Well, I just had very yummy grass as usual, but they guys really enjoyed the meals they had too!) We had dinner with: John and Cindy,Keenan and Sarah, Susan, and my friends Norene, Silas and Abigail. Norene and Silas had some very exciting news to tell me - they are going to have a new baby sister in June! I can't wait to meet her the next time I go back there!

I wonder when that will be? And I wonder where I will go next?

I'm in Athens!

It might come as a bit of a surprise, but I am on another adventure! I am in Athens, Georgia with Pastor Iain, Doug and Mike. We got here on Saturday night so we are still feeling a bit jetlagged. It was such fun to see everyone again though and I was sooooo happy to see my best friend Courage! We are here for a bit more than a week and we have a very busy schedule. Next Saturday is the Men's retreat and Iain, Doug and Mike will be speaking at that. Now, I'm still not sure if I should go because I am a girl sheep! I think I will ask Courage about that. I know ladies can't go to a men's retreat but I'm not sure if they have rules about sheep.

Today I am going with Mike and Doug to visit Katie and Josh's Grandma and Grandaddy in Savannah. I am looking forward to seeing them again - I was there on my holidays with Josh and Katie last summer and I had a lovely time!

I will try to write more later to tell you what we're getting up to.

Our Church Weekend Away!

I just got back last night from our church weekend away. We went to the Windmill Christian Centre in Arbroath and there were 39 people and one sheep (me) there from our church. It was great fun! We had a special verse that we thought about all weekend - Isaiah 55: 12 - "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." We really enjoyed doing some crafts and artwork on that theme too! One of my favourite things was on Saturday night when we lit some chinese lanterns and watched them float up into the night sky - they were so bright and beautiful. We went on some lovely walks together too and played lots of very funny games! Some of the grown ups in our church are much sillier than I thought they were... I took my mobile phone with me and got some good photos to put here on my blog: Playing with some of my friends.

We had some great times of worship - thank you Myke and Abby!

One of the best bits was the lovely food we had to eat - thank you Hannah!

I heard a few people say we should do it again, and I hope we do because I loved the weekend away!

Some photos from Tanzania!

Hello everyone,

Well, we've now been back a week, so I've had plenty of time to do my unpacking and sort out all my photos. Here are some of my favourites:


This is the view from our hotel window - you can see an African house and Mount Meru.



This was when we went for drive round with Pastor Joel and his sons. They showed us the sights of Arusha!


A dust whirlwhind!


Travelling again - we did a lot of that on roads that were very bumpy and very very dusty!



These pictures were taken at the ladies conference.


This huge bird came to say hello to me at the conference centre. I'm not sure what kind of bird he is and I didn't like to ask.. Do you know?


At the Bible College now - this is me in the libary, relaxing with a good book.


Having a chat with the Principle in his office. Do you think we should get him a Scotland flag for his desk?


In the English class. Of course I can speak English as well as Baa, so I could help the students with the things they were finding difficult.


Some animals now - the tortoises...


and the King Crane...


A porcupine...


Some zebras...


And an ostrich...

Then some snakes - Norma was not very brave... Iain was braver!



Of course, I was too small to hold a snake...


Mount Kilimanjaro... It was covered by clouds all the way through our time in Arusha so we couldn't see it or get any photos. We hoped it would come out, but on the last day we gave up and set off for the airport. Then the pastor remembered the students had given some gifts for Iain and Norma and he had forgotten to bring them. He was determined to go back for them even though it was quite a long way. But - guess what! When we got back to Arusha, there was Mount Kilimanjaro NOT hiding behind any clouds! We were so glad we went back for the gifts!


Iain and Norma at the airport, getting the gifts from the students.


Well, I hope you liked my photos! I'm going to have a little rest for the next couple of weeks because on October 13th I'm off on another trip. This time I'll be going to see all my friends in Athens Link - I'm so excited, especially about seeing my bestest friend ever, Courage!

We're coming home!

Hello again!

This is the bit I don't like about going on mission trips - saying goodbye to everyone when it's time to go home.. It's always so great though to see our good friends again - and meet new ones too! And I know we'll be back here lots of times because Pastor Iain and Norma have got lots of invitations to come back. Please pray for us on the aeroplane coming back!

I'ts going to be so good to see you all again, and I'll get my photos sorted out to show you!