Dear Friends,

We have now completed a little more than half of our time in ministry here in Zimbabwe, and are writing this message to you by candle light. Yes, the electricity here on most days only comes on between about 11 PM and 4 AM. But, we are coping well and consider this a minor inconvenience. We have enjoyed a number of ‘romantic’ candlelight dinners with the power outages, so there are advantages to being without lights in the house. 

We obtained fuel from the house of a ‘fuel dealer’ the other day because the lines to obtain fuel from traditional filling stations can bring on a waiting period of hours to days.  With this advantage we have been able to continue to do the work to which we have been called here.

Our teaching program at the Richard Morris Eye Hospital has continued to move forward and is a rewarding blessing to us. Dr. Moyo and Dr. Malemane have been performing operations using the Alcon phacoemulsification machine that was so generously donated to the program. Steve has mostly just watched and offered suggestions occasionally. He is now giving instruction in complex and difficult cases. Two young men had been diagnosed with a certain type of cataract, posterior polar cataract, which can lead to severe complications in surgery. Steve was able to perform the procedures and teach the doctors through the complexities of the operations. He was also able to show a successful approach to managing these cases. 

Steve and Jane had the honor of conducting two rural camps these last two weeks. A total of 320 patients were seen, and over 250 pairs of glasses were given to many grateful patients

A close friend, Dr. Gordon Fort, and his wife, Leigh-Ann, have arrived to join us both in our work, and to lead a prayer conference here in Bulawayo. Gordon and Steve grew up together in Zimbabwe, and after all of these many years, they have teamed up with us to see patients. Gordon also preached at an eye camp, assisted us with patient care, and led a prayer conference with 130 people attending.

We are so excited and thankful to have just welcomed our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson to Zimbabwe; they will spend 2 weeks with us and will assist us in several eye camps. 

Again, thank you for continuing to remember us in your prayers. We are grateful to God for His hand of protection and provision on us.

Sincerely,

Steve and Jane Beaty