Melville News – January 2007

 

Happy New Year!  We trust that you had a wonderful Christmas and that 2007 has started well for you.  The arrival of January 1st was a big day for us – now we are going to Zambia this year, its not next year any more….

 

Graham’s trip

Graham’s trip to Lusaka in November went really well.  He was able to spend a lot of time with Glenn Ripley, the AZ team leader, and ended up one day taking a class for the pastor’s group!  This followed up on another future AZ missionary’s work who had visited in September.  Although the pastors had really appreciated him and his talks, none of them had followed up with the ‘homework’ they had been given and it emphasized the need, not just for teaching, but for mentoring discipleship relationships alongside good Biblical exposition.  Graham will be part of a team of three working in this vital area.  Lusaka has many churches but much of the teaching is mixed in with tribal beliefs and many pastors have little or no training whatsoever. 

In regard to family matters, he visited a few schools and found one for the children that has a great mix of children attending and follows the British system (they will have to adapt to a few different spellings!)  Overall it had a great atmosphere and his opinion was backed up by our friends who were visiting at the same time and came with him to tour the campus.  There is also a strong possibility of a house being available for us. There is a family with ACTION in Zambia for one year and they will be leaving as we arrive, so we hope to take over the lease and buy all those everyday essentials from them like beds, chairs, pots & pans and a car! 

The other great praise was that our friends successfully adopted a little Zambian boy and brought him home for Christmas – God is very good.

 

Support

Many people have asked us how our support is going and how much do we need.  We basically have to raise a lump sum to cover initial costs such as our airfare to get there, vaccinations, purchasing a used car, visas & re-entry permits etc.  In addition we need a monthly “salary” at a gross level not a net one, as from this amount, we will have to pay tax (Zambian and US), health insurance, life assurance, retirement allowance and ministry costs (for newsletters etc) as well as normal living costs.  Many people think it is cheap to live in Africa but Lusaka is in fact an expensive city and it is also just a fact of life that it will be more expensive for us as westerners to live there than for a local, for instance it will be necessary for us to have guards for security at the house.  The children’s schooling will not be financed from the support that we raise; that will be entirely separate. We hope that this gives a clearer picture.   We also now have the ability for donations to be given on line as we are in the list of missionaries for Zambia on Action international Ministry’s website.  At present we have about 15% of what we need in total.

 

When are you leaving?

We do not have firm dates yet but we will be in the UK for at least part of July as our nephew will be getting married – definitely the family occasion of the year!  We will then head out to Zambia in the second half of August to start our orientation and work there (and for the kids to start school – they always love that after the long summer!) in September.

 

Prayer Requests

  • Focus on God and trusting in him – we have moved continent before and know it is hard so our emotions tend to rollercoaster!
  • That Philip and Rachel would feel excited and be prepared for the move
  • Raising sufficient financial support
  • Good responsible tenants for our home here while we are away – again we know how hard that is too!
  • That we would be good stewards of our time as we live ‘normal’ life as well as undertake all that needs to be done in readiness for our move.

 

 

Thank you once again for taking time to read our news and for supporting us as we get ready to leave for Zambia in the summer and do please send us your news – we promise to reply!

 

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.  Matthew 28:19-20

 

 

Once again, may God bless you richly in 2007,

 

with lots of love from Graham, Sarah, Philip & Rachel.

 

 

 

14925 Sword Dancer Ct, Morgan Hill, CA 95037       themelvilles80@yahoo.com     telephone: 408 779 0418

 

 

 

All gifts are used as designated and receipted for tax purposes.

ACTION USA • PO Box 398, Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043-0398 • Tel. 425-775-4800 • info@actionusa.org

ACTION Canada • 3015A 21 Street NE, Calgary, Alberta T2E 7T1 • Tel. 403-204-1421 • info@actioncanada.net

ACTION New Zealand • PO Box 8928, Riccarton, Christchurch • Tel. 011-643-341-0933 • rob@irn.org.nz

ACTION United Kingdom • PO Box 144, Wallasey, Wirral CH44 5WE • Tel. 011-151-630-2451 •                          actionuk@btinternet.com • Registered Charity 1058661 • ACTION Web site: www.actionintl.org