Amano's Revolving Door!

There isn't a revolving door anywhere on the site of Amano School, it just feels that way some times! Take this Sunday, 28th June. The Amano Family Service, held approximately monthly, was held in the Dormitory and we had a special guest speaker, David Foster. David and his wife Pauline arrived at Amano just a couple of days before for a visit but they were already well known to many people. They served in Zambia for twenty-nine years and David was the headmaster at Sakeji School. The links between Amano and Sakeji are very strong, with such luminaries as Philip Grove among the ex-Sakeji pupils and our Head Teacher Hilary Millard having taught there as well.

In the congregation on Sunday was another ex-Sakeji pupil, Jean-luc Hinaut, now serving the Lord in establishing a mission station up near the Congo border in the Luapula area. Jean-luc and his wife Rita have previously served in the Congo ministering to refugees and were made refugees themselves.

Our group photograph shows (from right to left) David Foster, Jean-luc, Pauline Foster and Matt MacDiarmid. How did Matt get in there, and a single shot of him with his trademark guitar as well? It's the revolving door again! Matt has been at Amano for almost a year and sadly his time is almost up. David is an elder at Matt's home church and during the Family Service he announced that part of the mission he and his wife had undertaken in coming to Zambia is to make sure Matt gets back home! The Fosters are booked on the same flight as Matt out of Lusaka on 16th July and David told us all that Matt is greatly missed by family and friends back home. We will be updating this blog in the near future with a feature on Matt; for now suffice it to say that while we cannot for a moment begrudge Matt's family the joy of his return, we too will greatly miss him.

Perhaps Matt's church and family could get a revolving door of their own so he could soon come back? Just the man to fit it would be Roger Berry who is pictured here. Roger returns to his home on Guernsey on Wednesday 1st July. Roger is apparently known as a very hard worker who deals with difficult situations and gets results. His few weeks at Amano this time have more than justified the reputation. The new dining room/hall floor has been laid under his expert supervision. Practically every day Roger was first on site at around 0630 and often last to leave. His 'hands-on' approach coupled with his gentle but firm control of the project encouraged the Zambian workforce to turn out a really high quality job.

Amano's 'revolving door' brings the joy of old and new friends and the sadness of parting. It reminds us of the Lord's goodness in sending people who enhance the life of Amano in many ways and makes us long for the day when the Lord Jesus Christ returns and the people of God will be together forever, never again to experience the sorrow of separation of any kind.