A Big Thank-You to members and friends of Wayne Street UMC for giving
$1,567.00 in the Easter Offering for our missionaries Sharon and Tom Crowe and
their work. According to the Covenant Relationship our congregation has with the
Crowes, $1,000 will go toward their salary. Of the remaining amount, $283.50
will help support Sharon's Health & Nutrition Clinic and $283.50 will help
support Tom's agricultural program.
Tom and Sharon are so appreciative and thankful for all the assistance they
receive for their efforts among the mission folks they work with and serve.
Note from our Missionary
Greetings from Africa,
It certainly feels good to say that. We are finally settled in a house in Kitwe,
Zambia. Kitwe is not to far from the Congo border. It took us quite a long time
to find some furniture and fix up the house so that it was livable. We had a big
problem with rats but were able to get rid of them with some cement to patch all
the holes.
WaNtombo, the farm manager, came down from Nyembo and spent a week with us. He
was able to catch us up on all the news from the farm and village. Then Mukadi,
the general projects manager, came down and spent about three weeks with us. A
few things were broken down or needed repair but over all have be able to carry
on. Best of all the Sunday School is still functioning and all our workers and
friends are alive and well.
The war has been hard on the people. They have supplied a good deal of the
soldiers for the front lines. Many of our young men from the area have been
killed, leaving many families without a father or husband. Aids has become a
problem with all the foreign soldiers in the country. Here in Zambia statistics
say someone dies from aids every eight seconds. Many villages are made up of
what they call child headed families. They have no adult people in the homes.
I am going to be teaching seminars on aids to some people the church has sent to
Kitwe for a month to learn to be village health workers. These people will be
going back to Congo and working with the bush people. We have started a bible
study with a group each morning. It certainly is easier to teach in English. Tom
has been testing different varieties of seeds and planting seeds for different
kinds of trees and plants. We have a small area where he can do all types of
development work here at the house. He was able to get in touch with the cement
factory in Congo and they have promised him to have cement ready for Nyembo so
that the folks can continue working on the women's school. He has also found a
good place to purchase seeds, chemicals, fertilizer, veterinary supplies, and
baby chicks.
Also there are places that repair motors and have parts to repair equipment.
Everything can be found here if you just look for it. It is only an hour from
Congo but it is like living in another world. It is good to be able to have a
phone and e-mail. We will miss these luxuries when we go back to Congo. We are
looking forward to getting back to the station and to our work there.
We just want to say thank you to you folks back home, without your prayers and
financial help the work would not have continued.
Because of your caring many lives have been saved not only physically but
spiritually. Thank you so much.
Together in Christ,
Tom & Sharon Crow
As you can see through their letter and through the pictures below they are making a difference. They have a lot of new programs that they would like to share.
To see pictures of the Crowes' work in Africa click on the links below.