Matoya

 After Mass Friday evening we presented a beautiful wooden bowl that Gary Paqueppe made to Brrother Benny who is here for a year from South Africa.

Shortly after we were greeted by a really nice boy that Tom has known for several years named Sugar Boy pictured on the right with his friend Joseph on the left.

Also pictured is one of the church pews that we repaired with new hardware.

After mass yesterday we had a meeting with the church officers and parish council members to discuss our ongoing programs.

A short while later we piled into a long boat and headed for Matoya fishing lodge.  Sancta Maria has a long standing relationship with fishing camp and this has turned into an annual team building afternoon.

Pictured below are Tom and myself along with Fr. Bright, Mike(Matoya Mgr.) and Chris(Matoya bartender/fishing guide).  Tom and I got a chance to go out Tiger fishing but no luck.  It was almost dark for the trip back on the river but very tranquil.  Some of the local fisherman are pictured.

This morning we traveled to the Kayeo church which was fully funded by Love For Lukulu.  It was about half finished in 2019.  It was a lively service with lots of singing and dancing.  Note the 2 chickens that were included in the offering.

The young girls above with the yellow skirts dance in, during and on the way out and they’re really good.  The little fellow shown below sat next to me.

After mass we had some time to mingle with the parishioners.  Here they are pictured in front of their church which they are very happy to have.

We returned to Lukulu just in time for the closing song at Sancta Maria.  The men’s choir was singing this week and they sang us a song in which they thanked us.  They were excellent.  Below are some pictures taken after mass showing the children that we look forward to seeing every year.

After lunch with the Team, Tom came up with the idea of showing them how we sell tickets to win a prize.  We had a cooler backpack that was donated for the St. Agnes rummage sale and we raised 210 kwacha.

Brother Benny(from South Africa) was the lucky winner and he was really excited to win.

Tomorrow we leave at 5:00 a.m. for Lusaka and we fly out Late Tuesday evening to begin our 30 hour journey arriving late Wednesday evening at MBS.  Zambia is 6 hours ahead of Michigan.  We achieved a lot while we were here and look forward to starting planning for next year.  We are always looking for new missionaries.  It is a life changing experience.