Download the Calders News Letter for October 2007

Greetings!
We know that this newsletter is long overdue. The months have kind of run into each other, and now we are already ¾ of the way through this year. We have enjoyed a cold winter and now the days are beginning to warm up and having a fire in the fireplace is not necessary. Our winters are not very long or severe. This is an ugly time of the year in Zambia. The grass is brown and the dust is thick. Over the next three months the dust gets so thick one can almost chew it.

Rod has had a rough few months with toothache, including two root canal treatments. In March he developed an allergy to something and for almost three months he suffered with hives and severe swelling of the face and lips. We believed that it was a food allergy because he reacted mostly after dinner. One evening his throat and tongue swelled. After an epinephrine injection, we drove 60 km (35 mi.) and spent the night at a clinic. We seldom ponder how isolated we are until we are faced with a potentially life threatening scenario. Our medical insurance company organized us to visit a specialist doctor in South Africa. To cut a long story short, after a great amount of blood work, scans and x-rays, they discovered that he had a massive infection in his upper jaw bone and sinuses and performed emergency surgery. We were gone for two weeks. Then a few weeks after he returned, the same thing happened and he had to fly back to South Africa this time alone. A cat scan revealed that his sinuses were three times the sizes they were supposed to be. We have things called turbinate glands that sit along one’s nose and above our teeth. This was the source of his trouble. We had to wait for all of the swelling to go down, when they shrunk them and straightened his septum. He was away for three weeks and now healing well.

In June the kids, Kathleen, and I (Sue) traveled to Lusaka for the kids to attend our annual home school student convention. The organizers must have picked the coldest week of the year to hold this event. Our kids were invited by two other home school families to stay together. Two brave moms took care of 11 kids. We are proud to tell you that Daniel won a second place for his wood working project, The home school volley ball team also won a first place. Daniel participated in that too. Joshua also won a second place for his research project on guitars, while Emily won a first place for a poem she wrote called “My Grandpa Kelly.” I also subjected myself to three hours of Pirates of the Caribbean, all the time thinking of the hundred things I would prefer to have been doing right then. The kids had fun and so did we. We took Kathleen to the airport at the end June. We were sad to say goodbye. The kids have enjoyed having Kathleen in the school room she was a blessing to all of us. Thank you Kathleen!

There had been a ban on the movement of cattle in our province since March because of contagious bovine pleural pneumonia (quite a mouthful). This has caused concern for many people who rely on the sale of cattle to keep their operations running. The government is doing testing for the disease, and if one’s cattle is found to be positive, then the entire herd will have to be slaughtered. Not a pleasant thought.

July brought the medical team en masse for the annual medical mission. It is always a time to renew friendships and meet new and interesting people. They treated 15,577 people in 10 days. Each time we watch them coming or going, one cannot help think of the exodus, like a sea of people. Have you ever thought what it must have looked like watching the people of Israel walking out of Egypt? I would be thinking, “Where is the back of the line?” That is what it is like when the team lines up for meals. We keep looking out thinking where the end of the line is.v Sue’s sister Liz and friend Bernice flew from South Africa especially to help Sue with catering for the medical group. They were invaluable, working long hours into early morning hours. Our neighbors Nancy Siazilo and Christiana Müller also spent many hours helping out doing whatever was asked of them. Without the help of these women, mealtimes would not have run as smoothly as they did.

We had a wonderful visit from four members of North Mission Church of Christ: Tim & Terri Ousley, Dr. “Snap, crackle and pop” Gary Whitaker (a chiropractor, if you haven’t guessed) and Mrs. Lema Conatser. We had a weekend pack with activities. On Saturday Terri and Lema, both school teachers, entertained and taught our 60 plus kids at a VBS. The Zambian kids love the puppets. Tim did a wonderful weekend series on the book of 1st Peter. On Sunday morning there were 270 bodies jammed into the small building where we meet. Tim had the pleasure of baptizing two people in our orchard water tank. We are certain that is was like no baptistery that he had been in before. The water was algae green and there was no telling what was swimming or crawling around at the bottom of the pool.

North Mission Church has become our new overseeing congregation. We had approached them six years ago, when making initial plans to come to Zambia, to take on our work. They were not able to do so at the time. Now over the years they have worked with us and become more involved in our ministry. They approached us with the desire to oversee our work. We will furnish the details as we have them. North Mission will work with Graham Street to try and make the transition go as smoothly as possible. Our heartfelt thanks to all at the Graham Street congregation in Stephenville, Texas for their help and support all these past years, members, office staff and missions committee. Without your dependable support, we could never have continued without worries. God bless you!

In His Service,

Love, Rod, Sue, Daniel, Joshua, Emily, Stephanie, Agnes, Cecelia,
Twaambo, Jack, Demulu, Chibbo, Faith, Nancy, Charlie, Elise, Mark, Paul, Bright, Royce, Mary, Shepherd, Adam, David, Julius, Rose, Sandra, Micah, Gift, Sam, Sarah and Trust.

E-mail: rcalder@mweb.co.za