Emailing: DSCN5045, DSCN5047, DSCN5052, DSCN5055, DSCN5057

Here are some photos of Easter Sunday - a busy day with baptisms, baby dedications and lots of special music and ending with a communion service(not photo'd).  We started at 9am and ended at 3pm, but was a lovely day!

Emailing: DSCN5006, DSCN5011, DSCN5014

these are the pormised photos of the ladies sewing group!  It was a foggy morning!

Emailing: DSCN4959, DSCN4963, DSCN4966, DSCN4970, DSCN4973, DSCN4976, DSCN4977, DSCN4978, DSCN4980, DSCN4984, DSCN4986, DSCN4987, DSCN4988, DSCN4989, DSCN4991, DSCN5002

 

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:
DSCN4959
DSCN4963
DSCN4966
DSCN4970
DSCN4973
DSCN4976
DSCN4977
DSCN4978
DSCN4980
DSCN4984
DSCN4986
DSCN4987
DSCN4988
DSCN4989
DSCN4991
DSCN5002

Note: To protect against computer viruses, e-mail programs may prevent sending or receiving certain types of file attachments.  Check your e-mail security settings to determine how attachments are handled.

Dear Friends,

We've been at Cavango now for 6 weeks without an overnight trip anywhere!  That, is a record and a welcome record after the frequent trips of the last two years.  Our two-year anniversary of being "at" Cavango was yesterday!  It seems so long ago and yet also only yesterday that we arrived!  

Thanks for being with us in prayer over these last six months of unsettledness as we waited for visas and Peter sought medical attention.  We have returned to Cavango with a real sense of beginning again, trying to start out slowly and allow Peter's health to dictate our pace.  Peter has found the return to responsibility and expectations to be more difficult than he imagined when we were in Namibia, and has been struggling with mild depression, but little by little he is adjusting and growing and improving!  The exciting thing to see is the growth he is experiencing in his Faith and Trust of the Lord as he cannot "lean on his own understanding" anymore.  The folk here are all very understanding and patient.  We have hired a few of the older men to work on some things as they are dependable and responsible without a lot of attention.  Peter then has turned his attention to working on details of the interior of the house - kitchen cabinets, wood trim around the windows, formica placement, etc.   There is still alot to be done, but the church in Windhoek that we attended while there, is sending a team in June that will help with various projects and ministry too!  We are looking forward to having them come! 

The clinic is still suffering from a lack of patients, even when MD's come for the weekend.  The leadership say that it is because the rains have caused the rivers to be too high to cross and so folk are not able to come.  Also, during the rains they say folk don't "have time" to be sick as they are working on their fields etc.  We are hoping that with a regular schedule of MD visits the area folk will make more of an effort to come.  The local Administrator has asked us to announce the MD visits on the radio in Huambo as he says many will come from there once it is known.  So there is hope of the numbers improving!

We have visited the Administrative folk on both the local and municipal levels and have found them all to be quite congenial.  Praise for this and pray for continued wisdom for the future.

The biggest blessing of our time here for me has been the opportunity to teach hand sewing to the ladies on Wed's mornings!  We start early - 6:30am and don't finish until about 9am!  We sew from 6:45 to 8:30 and then have a short prayer meeting.  It is so fun to see over 40 ladies all sewing in a big circle!!  I am definitely not a "good" missionary as I have forgotten to take the camera each time, but will make a big effort to remember this coming week so I can put a photo on the blog!  I bring the needles, thread and scizzors and they bring what needs mending, adjusting or making and we all go at it!  It is lots of fun and they love laughing at my attempts to learn Nganguela!!  This coming week is the last for sewing for awhile, as the Pastor's wife informed me that we plan to offer cooking, medical/maternity classes and literacy too!  I'm just letting the Lord give me strength and ideas one day at a time so as to not get overwhelmed.  So far it is a great joy!

Once again, we couldn't be here without you.  Thank you for your prayers and support!  (Check the blog for photos... www.duplantisdialog.blogspot.com )

Running the Race Together!

Peter and Shelley Duplantis
Advancing the Gospel in Angola,Inc

 

Field Address:
C.P. 33 Lubango, Angola via Portugal

 

Home Office Address and Donations:
25 Maple St.,  Addison, NY 14801 USA
Acct:  01002

 

Back in Cavango!

We made it safely home to Cavango exactly one month ago today!! We arrived with visitors and this weekend we have 9 more visitors coming! It's basically feast or famine as the visitors usually accompany the visiting missionary doctors that pay the clinic a monthly visit!
This month we have done a lot of work on the house - particularly the kitchen cabinet bases, and we put formica on the bathroom sink cabinets. I say "we", but it is mostly Peter, with me as chief assistant!
We've made some good contacts with the local and municipal government officials in this past month and we are getting into a bit of a routine on the mission itself. I have enjoyed the weekly ladies meeting at church on Weds mornings and have started teaching them how to do hand-sewing! Today we had over 40 ladies - all sewing - it was quite the circle!! The Clinic has not needed my help lately as both the senior Angolan nurses have been here to "man" it. We still need many more patients to make it financially viable, so that is a prayer request. We have received local and municipal government approval of the idea of developing campsites here - so that is also a need for prayer - for the capital to get started!!
I'm going to upload this to the blog already and then add some pictures a bit later!! Thanks for reading!

Still in Namibia -

The 1st bass caught at Freidenaur Dam, near Windhoek, 2kg or 4.4lbs

Peter then caught 5 more of the same!!

Table Mountain from Blauberg

Table Mountain with it's Table Cloth - also from Blauberg

Dear long time family friends - "Uncle" Paul and "Auntie" Elf

Cape of Good Hope from Cape Point

Your's Trulies!!

Madchen(pronounced like Maichen) on the left and Jock on the right

Madchen

Jock

Shelley on Madchen

Shelley on Madchen

Peter on Jock

Lara on Madchen

Shelley on Jock

Lara on Madchen

Jock getting ready

Madchen getting ready

Well, we are still in Namibia, enjoying a "forced" vacation as we wait for our Angolan visas to be processed. It has been a wonderful time for us as we have made many new friends, read a few books, gone fishing and even played quite a bit of tennis, but we are very ready to get back home. We were also treated to a trip to Capetown by some friends who loaned us their car to drive and a house to stay in while there.

We have also added to our menagerie - we are now the proud owners of two horses! They are over 16 hands tall and gentle natured. They are both about 15 years old, but still have some good energy! We bought them from some folk who are selling their farm and returning to Germany, and wanted a good home for their horses. We bonded well with both animals and previous owners and feel that these are the horses for us! God also provided a farm just 10 miles from the original farm, for them to stay while we figure out the logistics of getting them into Angola. This farm also has a 16 year old girl who is quite the horse woman and has offered to work the horses until we can get them "home"! Her name is Lara and you will see her in some of the photos. Thanks Lara!! The gelding is named Jock and the mare is Madchen(pronounced like Maichen) - German for "little girl" though she is not so little!!

It's about time for an update!!

Pretty much what the outside still looks like. Waiting for bricking!
Living Room

Master Bedroom

Guest Bathroom

Middle guest bedroom

Office

Kitchen

Living Room again from different angle

So as you can see it still needs some work - paint etc, but is very livable! Since these photos were taken have added curtains and some pictures on the walls so things look a bit homier!