Samukele Camp 2007

The Samukele camp was once again a most rewarding time for us together as a ministry. You will probably spot quite a few new faces in the photo (and some old faithful alumni mugs too).

Camp is such a good time for forging personal relationships and this one was no exception. Two new first years, Lennon and Patience took on the roles of camp master/mistress and did a splendid job. Not sure why the first years are getting lumped with this task nowadays - but they seem to do a great job of it.

The four talks (Lance, Tashinga, Wadzanai, and Willard) addressed the subject of Faith, Hope and Love (and The Greatest of These). The content and material was very late in supply this year, but they seemed to go well and good reports were received.

Barbra did a fantastic job of the games and events and seemed to have a never-ending supply of ideas up her sleeve (she has a big sleeve). The most notable occurrence was the awesome back-kick goal scored by Bridget, who was subsequently paraded on the shoulders of the guys who had never even achieved such a feat in their dreams.

The treasure hunt once again proved to be an activity of mixed emotions. It really is not fun hearing celebration whoops from the winning team when you are still trying to solve your first clue. A wail of despair was heard in particular from John Stuart, pointing to a breeze block at the guys toilets "Do you think that looks like St John's cross?".

In general, the staff and committee assessment was a positive one, but we need to be watchful of the tendancy to just let camp run like we always do, and just "turn the wheels". Camp registrations were very late due to the financial pressures that the students are experiencing, but we need to be a bit more proactive next time in inviting and encouraging folk to sign up at the beginning of the semester.

All in all, it was a good laugh...

Bush Dance 2007

Many thanks to the Stambolies once again for opening up their home to us, and conducting the ever-popular bush dance on their front lawn.

We had about 40 in attendance which was slightly lower that we expected but probably just as well.

Unfortunately the author (and his lovely wife) were not able to make the event, but going by the reports and photos, it seems that a good time was had by all!

Committee Retreat 2007

The committee retreat took place once again at Diana's pools, which has proved to be ideal for our purposes of having quality time on teaching and think-through sessions as well as having one or two hourly breaks to explore the stunning environment.

This year we had 3 teaching / discussion sessions lead by Lance, Gift and Willard and which focussed on our basis and motivation for ministry, our lifestyles and relationships, and the practicalities for our ministry to NUST students.

John and Bernie were sorely missed as they were attending
a wedding.

Here is a shot of our bitter disappointment of searching in vain for over 2 hours for an apparently magnificent cave, 100m from the road.




Fortunately with the timeous arrival of two little guide boys, they were able to lead us onto what was virtually a highway through the bush and finally pointing out the very well hidden cave.



Truely magnificent in the end!

Orientation 2007

We stepped up a huge gear this year with a much greater drive towards reaching students in the NUST orientation week.

We had a small team getting together for planning and preparations the week prior and how well that proved to serve us!

Our table outside the Delta Lecture Theatre was a great attraction with the photo board, music, brochures and magnificent banner showing our new logo.

For the orientation presentations, we had our team very soberly

walking onto the stage carrying a coffin. They were followed by Tashinga who delivered a message of being dead in our tresspasses and sins but alive to Christ (Eph 2:1).

Throughout the week we had a rotating collection of 'statues' posing at the NUST entrance gate. We had Tsungai on a cross, Tino standing in a door frame, and Gift/Tsungai with large and small yokes around their necks. From this we learned a valuable lesson that just boldly preaching Christ is by far the greatest purpose and that He draws people to Himself.

The week culminated with our Welcome event which was held this year at Lance and Ros' place in Hillside. There was a good attendance of 40 or so which was a huge encouragement for us given that they were mostly first year students.

Calendar 2007/8

Second Semester

February

Friday 8th - Housewarming at the Stuarts
No. 14, 9th Street, Suburbs (Btwn Duncan and Clarke)

Sunday 10th - Africa Cup of Nations final
At the Kuttners, 1 Holdengarde, Hillside

Friday 15th - Introduction to Galatians
Lance Kuttner

Friday 22nd - Bible study, Gal 1:11-2:10

Friday 29th - Bible study, Gal 2:11-21

March

Saturday 1st - Ladies tea and discussion / Guys canoeing and discussion
Meet City Presby for worship practice 9:00am

Sunday 2nd - UCSF takes Presby service

Friday 7th - Talk on Galatians 3:1-14

Friday 14th - Camp at Shalom "The Sermon on the Mount"

Friday 21st - Sunday 30th - Mid Semester break

April

Friday 4th - Bible study, Gal 3:15-29

Friday 11th - Sleepover
At the Kuttners 6:00pm

Friday 18th - Bible study, Gal 3:26-4:11

Friday 25th - Bible study, Gal 4:12-31

Saturday 26th - Khayelihle outreach
Depart City Presby 10:00am

May

Friday 2nd - Spiritual Warfare
Willard Mudzimiri

Friday 9th - Farewell dinner


First Semester

September

Friday 21st - Welcome event at the Kuttners
1 Holdengarde Ave, Hillside 3:00pmTransport from Presby and TCZ 2:45pm

Friday 28th - Bible Study in John's gospel

Saturday 29th - Sunday 30th - Committee retreat

October

Friday 5th - Bible Study in John's gospel

Friday 12th - Bible Study in John's gospel

Friday 19th - Bible Study in John's gospel

Saturday 20th - Bush dance at the Stambolies'
30 Coghlan Ave, Kumalo. 6:00pm

Friday 26th - Bible study in John's gospel

November

Friday 2nd - Sunday 4th - Camp at Shalom"Faith, hope and love"

Friday 16th - Is there evidence for the accuracy of Scripture?
Craig Jones, TCZ lecturer

Saturday 17th - Jabulani visits Mawabeni

Friday 23rd - Saturday 24th - Sleepover at the Kuttners'

Friday 30th - Bible Study in John's gospel

December

Friday 7th- Bible Study in John's gospel

Friday 14th - Jabulani Celebration evening

Saturday 15th - Community outreach day

Vacation Update

Having bid farewell and happy holidays to all the students, work is ticking on behind the scenes. Watch this space for developments!

On the accommodation side, we are very excited to announce that things are moving ahead fast towards a girls' accommodation. At the moment we are working on changing the Manse into a girls res and moving the guys across to the Den. This has meant that we need to increase the capacity of the Den. We are therefore rennovating the cottages to accommodate an extra four guys (see the 'before' shots).

If you are in the Harare area this vacation, make sure you get hold of Shungu and the guys to get the low down on the weekend of 3/4/5 August. A Bulawayo contingent is coming for a visit and we need a royal welcome!

A draft of the next semester's calendar is about to be posted. Make sure you visit the calendar link and please feedback your comments so that we can all work on this together.

If anyone has any great ideas of a new look UCSF logo, please could you get them to us.

Lord, may Your Kingdom come!

Leavers Dinner 2007

This year we bid a heart-renting farewell to our five leavers, Blessmore, Shumbeyi, Blessing, Arnold and Munamato (in order in the photo but since Arnold could not make it, we found someone much more photogenic as a stand-in).

Once again, thanks to the Stambolies who bravely agreed to the bombardment of their house. Godwin, the MC kicked us off with a fine Spaggetti Bolognaise dinner which was followed by the presentations and a short motivational talk to the leavers. Lance was found indebted to Wadzanai who joined him in the now traditional buffoonery jive thing. Honestly, what is it that amuses students nowadays?

Cheers guys, we are going to miss you very much indeed.

Sleepover March 2007

For those arriving at the last sleepover, disaster was in the air with the rain pelting down, and a power cut that started around 2pm. In the dim light, a few optimistic guys huddled around a poitjie pot trying to get a fire lighted under the garage roof.

Steadily however, more and more folk continued to pitch, and for what was left of the programme, we actually started in fair time. This time we started off with a session of praise and worship which was followed by the next study in Isaiah. The power came back on around 8pm, just in time for dinner.

Next on the cards was to watch an excellent film on Martin Luther, (a follow-on from the camp theme) following which we entered into a discussion time, looking into aspects of his life and the times back then. A coffee break took us into the next item, the talent show. This proved to be a great success with a variety of items such as songs, dances, speeches, poems and skits. What was really great this year was the relaxed and loving atmosphere in the group - we really had a great time.

Around 3am, those who were still awake watched a video, 'Transformations' and maybe something else!

Shalom Camp 2007

Once again the Shalom camp proved to be a most memorable event. With the weather threatening to be a repeat of last year's snow-storm camp, we drove out there with trepidation, only to be rewardedwith soon-to-clear skies for happy campers.

This year we were graced with the presence of an esteemed alumni member (search for him in the photo) and a notorious attachment student. Two new visitors as well - welcome Anna and Zed - great to have you with us!

The theme of our talks this semester was The Reformation, with the presentations being made by Willard, Blessing, Gift and Lance. The topic proved to be a challenging one as we were enlightened to an appreciation of the importance of sound doctrine and Biblical exposition, and the blood that was spilt over 'getting it right'.

Unfortunately due to the late arrival, the traditional game of Armies was not put into action, however Simba once again did a great job of the camp activities, ensuring that we all needed to sleep for a week afterwards.

Saturday night's bonfire brought new insights into student life: that of the girls, and interestingly of that in the Manse and the Den. Willard expressed with deep convictions as to the suitability of his Manse guys for any marriage prospects (why would girls think to look anywhere else?), and the Den guys put on an interesting performance - about what? Ameno!

This year's camp saw the inclusion of a baptism session in which Willard and Masimba partook.

Well done the camp master (Godwin) and camp mistress (Barbra) for an excellent job of keeping us all in line. A remarkable thing given the fact that both are in part I and that it was actually Godwin's first camp.

Return of Runya

Guess who has been seen on campus lately?

Yes indeed, Runyararo is back in action after a remarkable recovery (thankyou Lord!) from her accident in June 2006. Welcome back Runya - it is great to see you looking so good!

Please pray for Runya to obtain an attachment position as soon as possible so as not to jeopardise her chances of completing her course without losing a year.