What's Cookin' in Canada?

For all our friends in Beautiful British Columbia ...

The Mongers are coming to Canada!   

Open Afternoon with the Mongers

2:30pm – 5:30pm on Sunday, January 6^th

At the King’s Centre (in the Ark)         21783 76B Avenue, Langley, B.C.

We would like an opportunity to thank all those who have been supporting us financially and with prayer and encouragement during our two years in Tanzania with Emmanuel International. We would like to share details about the work we have been doing and plans for the work when we return. So for all those interested, we will be sharing news, stories and photos at 3:00pm with time for discussion and questions following. From 4:00pm it will be an open time to drop in and have a chat!

(Please bring a small plate of finger food to share)

RSVP Brian and Roz Watts wattsb@shaw.ca

Insurance for Jiko Use in the UK ...

It's been a while since I blogged... a little out of routine! Since the last entry, Tim and I enjoyed a lovely few days in Cornwall, which included a fun, interesting and useful day out at the Eden Project! I can't wait to get back to Tanzania to try out some healthy Baobab smoothies now! We were interested to see the Eden Project rainwater harvesting too and learn more about medicinal gardens!

Enjoying a coastal walk in Cornwall

We've enjoyed speaking at different meetings recently. I had the jiko going at a ladies' lunch in Tadley after going to great efforts to ensure that everything was insured and I wasn't breaking any laws lighting a fire in a public place! After several phone calls and emails, I was given the go-ahead and all proceeded safely and without incident! We had a really lovely time that morning, talking about "Hope in a Small Cake and Water Jar" and how God wants to use us to bring His transformation into people's lives and situations, no matter how empty or inadequate we feel we are.

Using a jiko in the UK! Health and Safety approved?!

We also enjoyed the opportunity to share with people last Saturday evening about the work have been doing and our heart behind it all. We will write it up for the next newsletter for those of you who were not able to make it to the evening but would like to know what is going on! As well as thanking all who have supported us so generously, enabling us to work in Tanzania, we wanted to share some important aspects of what is behind the work we do. Things like the importance of being in community with people, integrating all that we do into a cohesive whole of different practical work together with spiritual growth. We also mentioned the importance of encouraging, building-up and training people. We discussed poverty and the importance of diagnosing the nature of poverty before attempting a solution. We recommended two books we have found helpful, Transforming the World?: The gospel and social responsibility (edited by Jamie A Grant and Dewi A Hughes) and When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor… and Yourself (by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert). We in the west tend to think of poverty simply in terms of a lack of material things, failing to recognise its other dimensions of shame, powerlessness and hopelessness, all resulting out of a brokenness of their relationships with God, self, others and the rest of creation. We believe that the good news of the cross of Christ, sets the right framework for the healing of these relationships, so that people can live and work fruitfully as God intended.

Finally we ask for your continuing involvement as we return to Tanzania. We appreciate your prayers and support, and we want to encourage more communication as well. We know that many of our friends and supporters have experience and contacts that can help us. In particular for fund-raising for the project, we are aware that we need a fair bit of help! Please communicate with us your thoughts, advice, comments, suggestions! And likewise we want to keep communicating with you as best we can!

Thanks to Helping Hands in Tadley for their contribution to the Stoves Project!

Giving Around the World

I just wanted to share a link with you. EI Canada is currently raising funds for our stoves project, so please take a look if you are interested! This is particularly for Canadians, but if you are not it Canada and would like to give, then drop an email to Sue Fallon in the UK office and she can help you. Thank you EI Canada for organising this support! Every bit helps! Also, if you have any ideas how we can raise funds for the village stoves project, please let us know.

Click here for link to the EI webpage about the Fuel Efficient Stoves Project.
Click here for a brochure about the project. This can be printed out to share!

I was just looking at what Laurie Leung (we used to teach in the Langley King's School) is doing with her children (and others) in Newcastle, Ontario, Canada, raising money for wells for Africa. (See the link here!) I have been inspired by Amelie in Year 5 in Aldermaston Primary School who with her friends was making things to sell and organising fund-raising for the school stoves project. It is so fantastic to see children getting excited about giving and realising how much they really can give! We have seen these past few months how hard it is here even to understand the difficulties of living without water and all the other conveniences and luxuries that we have. How hard it is to appreciate what we have when we are surrounded by it. But seeing these kids do just that is great, and so encouraging for the rest of us! Giving is a gift and seeing what children do, giving around the world, you see that nothing is too small!

And while we are on the topic of generous giving, we want to thank all those who have been generously giving (of both money and encouraging support) to us! So you, and anyone interested in supporting us as we return to Tanzania in January, are welcome to the Sarum Hill Centre in Basingstoke on Saturday, November 17th at 7:30pm. Please get in touch if you would like to come! There is more information about this in a previous blog (A What's Cookin' Evening)

We are back from our week at the lovely Pitt Farm (not far from Totnes in Devon and a fantastic place to stay!). Louisa's leg is healing up, the worst part about it was the missed swims! Here are some holiday pics with the cousins and grandparents!  As you can see we did have some lovely weather - particularly for November in England!