February 2007 - Covenant College Newsletter

When you read this, it means at least one of us made it to town. The windy dirt path that used to take us to the paved road (2.5 mile away from us), led us into a humble position this week: stuck in the mud! The heavy rain fall of the last months made the surface so soft any vehicle sank right down. Thankfully, we had some dry days since, and a small team of workers patched the path. When you read this, the situation has not worsened and we are able indeed to move again from the college to the town, and send this update.

It started all on Sunday. With our visitors, Mr. Marty and Mrs. Roelie Faasse from Grand Rapids, we went to a church close by - so we would not have to go on bad roads in some remote village. A mile away from church, one side of the car just went down into the soft and muddy soil. After a few attempts to move, we realized we had to leave the car and walk to church if we were going to make it at all. We tried hard to keep our Sunday shoes and clothes clean, but just before reaching the building, the water stood a foot high. All of us had to get the shoes of, 'gird up the loins', and wade through the slimy soil to the church. With bare feet and dirty clothes we sat down for worship, which just started upon our arrival.

Cees was invited to preach and spoke from Luke 8:22, Jesus quieted the storm. "Where is your faith," Jesus asked the disciples. The people have problems with the water too at this time. The rains are exceptionally heavy, and threaten to damage the crops. It is not hard to remember the hunger they felt two years ago because of drought. How easily fear fills the hearts and takes the place of faith in God's provision and care. Even with our own car stuck in the mud, our faith was tested.

At the end of the service all men were asked to join the rescue operation. However, at 4 pm, we realized we lacked sufficient equipment, and called in a tractor. This tractor got stuck in the mud itself. When darkness fell, we had to leave both just where they were; two people slept in our car and we walked home. Joas and Rhoda were quite brave; Joas had a lot of suggestions on how to get the car out, and Rhoda was just singing: "Rise, and shine, and give God the glory."

All Monday we tried to retrieve the vehicles. After we brought in a bigger jack, our car stood on an island of strong soil. The tractor was dug out later, and we set off to bring both of them to the path that leads to the college. Before reaching, both got down in the soft ground again; another night was spent in mud. By that time, the college vehicle, as well as two other cars, were stuck at the same road. The rain fell heavily, the walk felt long and depressing, and all the work had only resulted in a path that was now impassable. And the Lord's question still rang in our mind. We faced our situation: if we can't use the road, how are we going to get our food from town, our fuel to pump water, etc?

Since Tuesday morning, however, we have not had any rain. We praise God for this remarkable situation, because it has been awhile that we had no rain drumming on our sink roofs at night. That morning, both the tractor and our car were retrieved and we parked our car safely close to the paved road, so we could in any case walk 50 minutes and drive it from there. Nelson, officially the college cook, and his men worked extremely hard, cutting trees and carrying bricks, to repair the worst places in the middle section of the road, and today we could pass again. Phil also has arrived now, with his big tired 4x4 pick-up.

The Lord answers prayers, even those sent from the mud, as we prayed several times with those who assisted us to get the vehicle out. Some rather just dug harder. We are warned to be more on our guard in these conditions. And our Lord proved to be aboard here as well!

Wednesday the floor tiles and other supplies arrived for the new house. Thursday our friend Anneke returned the outgoing visitors to Lusaka, and Phil picked up Mr. Jos DeHaan and Mr. Mark Beeke from the Jordan HRC. They arrived safely, although without their suitcases. Today, Friday, they started transporting the tiles to the mission. As soon as their tools arrive, they will start the job. The floor of the house is now finished and quite level! The plumber makes good progress. However, the house will not nearly be finished when we open the college again on March 5, DV. Please pray for perseverance as we are still confined to the present houses and miss our belongings, like kitchen ware and books.

We have paid the electricity people, but that doesn't mean we have electricity now. The lines pass our land, but they have yet to install the transformer. This can take anywhere from 5 to 50 weeks. This depends mostly on how busy they are with other projects, and on the goodwill to hasten the job. We ask your specific prayers for this cause, that the Lord will move the men in authority and show Himself kind and sovereign in these matters as well.

Since we have been in town only once this week, we were also unable to email. Please bear with us if you are waiting for a reply.

We wish you all the Lord's richest blessing in the upcoming day of worship and rest. We need the Lord's protection wherever we are. That we would pray still stronger for God to revive His church and to establish His kingdom in all the earth - for His glory.