May 1, 2023
We have travelled this road with Derrick and Cherry Pringle several times. It's the long road from their home in Kitwe in the Copperbelt to Zambeze Town, the furthest outlying congregation they serve in NW Zambia. There is very little on this 450 mile stretch of road. You would not want to get stuck "out there" but the Pringle's did.
But, not to worry. God is well aware of them, their service and their challenges. Here is one instance. We just received this letter from them with a few photos that we'd like to share with you.
LifeNets has been heavily involved in Zambia since the year 2000. On this particular mission it provided the picture 5000 liter water tank, solar pump and panels, brick water tank stand and concret base. We thank all who have supported and donated to LifeNets for these life-sustaining projects.
From Derrick Pringle:
This is an update on the LifeNets Manyinga borehole solar pump.
Last week we drove up to Manyinga, all 600kms with our fully loaded truck. In the picture you can see the 5,000lt water tank and piping.
Also 30pkts cement, pipe fittings and steel base for the tank which will go on top of the building stand for the tank.
Included for the church property is 400m of security fencing, standards, posts and 6m gate. As per usual the truck, fencing materials and the fencing team is provided at no cost from our firm, Active Agencies.
While on site I had planned for our truck to bring in the 1,000 bricks required for the tank stand but unfortunately none were available but at least it could bring in the stone that is needed.
When the tank stand is built then the solar firm from Solwezi will go and instal the system.
On the way up, 30kms before Solwezi the truck broke down due to an electrical fault. Because of the long distance and bad road conditions I sent our mechanic as part of the fencing team. He is not very clued up on auto electrics so considerable time was taken up in trying to locate the fault. I eventually phoned our manager in Solwezi for him to find an auto electrician and to bring him out. Being a Sunday he was having trouble trying to locate one.
I then sent up a silent prayer to our Father for help. A man then came out of the bush, asked what was wrong then went immediately to where the fault was. It was a cable making a bad connection. He stripped it, scrapped and cleaned it with some petrol that we had and reassembled it, all without our asking for his help. What a relief when the truck started! This guy then just started walking off. That in itself is very unusual for a Zambian.
For the slightest service they require some form of remuneration. I stopped him and gave him K100.
Cherry said that she thinks he was an angel!
Because of that delay we could only get to Mufumbwe that night and besides a direct answer to prayer, I wonder if the delay saved us from some other worse disaster.
I thought you might enjoy that story!
Derrick
