The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus,

who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Mat 28:5-6 Dear Praying Friends, We are praising the Lord, as we prepare to celebrate his resurrection, that He is risen. Thank you for your many prayers and financial gifts that make it possible for us to serve in Zimbabwe. We are blessed to be a part of the work of the Presbytery of Bulawayo and its three churches. In this update, we want to tell you about some opportunities we have here as well as the status of the Buy a Brick project for making improvements on the manse where we live. Since two of the churches we spend time visiting are primarily Ndebele speaking, we devote several hours a week to Ndebele tutoring. We can see some progress and we really appreciate being able to talk with our tutor about different cultural expressions and customs. Sometimes this even involves understanding the way that English is used in certain contexts. Please continue to pray for our understanding and the ability to form (and speak!) sentences. A few of our friends send us text messages in Ndebele and also try to speak Ndebele to us for at least part of our conversations. It is a challenge! One thing that keeps us going is that Ndebele friends really appreciate the effort we are making to learn. They continue to encourage us and we continue in our studies and practice. Mike meets regularly with George, a City Presby member who is unable to attend a regular Bible study due to rotating shift work. They have a good time together in the Word. Mike also meets weekly with Nkosana Nyoni, the new pastor at Entumbane Presbyterian Church. Nkosana eats lunch with us eachWednesday and then the two men discuss any number of things relating to the church and doctrine before heading off to a seminary course from Third Millennium Ministries being offered through Birmingham Theological Seminary via distance learning. There are six or seven men involved in the course. In addition, Mike continues to take online seminary courses through Reformed Theological Seminarys Virtual Campus. Friends have asked whether Robin is able to use what she learned through her Masters degree studies and with the Chalmers Center. The answer is Yes! Hope International has a presence in Zimbabwe, which they use to promote user-owned Savings and Credit Associations (SCAs). These are small groups of people who meet and save their money together, helping them exercise discipline in their savings. Hope uses the Chalmers Center material for promoting groups based on biblical principles.The headquarters is in Harare, but there is a branch here in Bulawayo which is located at City Presby. Some time ago, we met with the leader of Hope here to find out whether they would like to take advantage of Robins training experience. Starting in March, Robin has participated in trainings alongside Zandile Manda and Mildred Wudebwe, helping with orientations to the savings group process and also teaching business training. On the second day of training at a church in a high density area, Robin asked if anyone had put the ideas from the previous lesson into practice. One lady stood up and said that she had left someone in charge of her business while she was at the training. When she arrived home, she found that some of her customers were unhappy with service they had received while she was away. Immediately, she was able to put ideas from the training into practice and solve the problem. She

was very happy to report that the training had helped her the same day she had received it! We are praising God and asking Him to help the men and women who attend these trainings to honor God in their businesses. We are thankful that Robin has the opportunity to contribute to the work of Hope International here in Zimbabwe.

Robin and Mildred at a Hope training event Many people have asked about our wall. There were several phases to the Buy a Brick campaign that we did to make improvements on the presbyterys manse where we live. We are so thankful for the many people and churches who contributed to help buy bricks and to have their giving doubled because of the generous matching grant. Eighteen individuals and 7 churches have contributed to the project so far, giving $13,000 of the $15,000 we had hoped to raise. The wall was completed before we left Zimbabwe in October, and several security gates were installed the very day we left, one in the wall and two on the front and rear doors of the house. In our neighborhood it is necessary to have walls and strong gates to protect properties. Just before we returned to Zimbabwe in January, someone tried to break into our house making it necessary to upgrade our security system. The second phase was to connect the borehole (well) to the house, so that we would have water even when the city water was turned off. The third phase was to install a driveway, which we initially did not think was that important. Until it began to rain and the drive became a muddy mess. Since there were funds available, we put in a gravel driveway and carport. These were completed about five weeks ago, and we are very thankful. Last week the installation of the borehole (well) was completed and today was the final testing of the system. In addition to these improvements, we have been able to do other minor improvements: we replaced a bathtub and shower in our bathroom, opened up a door from our bedroom into the bathroom, installed a generator to provide power during longer power cuts, and upgraded the security system so that it is monitored by a security company. To complete these projects, we have used the $26,000 ($13,000 by donors that was matched). During the month of April, we can still raise another $2,000 which will be matched to give us $4,000 toward future projects. We have a couple of proposals for these funds. They are: 1) Put an electric motor on the front security gate in order to provide additional security while entering and leaving the

gate. We know of three people who have been robbed or car-jacked while leaving their cars to open or close their front gates. 2) Upgrade the existing electric hot water heater to a solarpowered one in order to reduce our electric demand. There are several other small projects that could enhance the property as well. We hope the improvements we make will be a blessing to the church, both while we are here and after we have gone.

Final installation of the storage tank for the water system.

New entrance gate, gravel driveway, and brick wall.

A final praise and thanks giving is the recent birth of our grandson Benson Davis to our daughter Wendy and her husband Brandon on Monday, March 31st. In May Robin will travel to the states to spend time with our children and to meet this new addition to our growing family. Blessings in Christ, Mike and Robin

Mike's email: michael.mcmahan1960@gmail.com Robin's email: robin.mcmahan@gmail.com U.S. phone that rings in Zimbabwe 770-573-0586 (6 hours ahead of East Coast time) U.S. Address Mike and Robin McMahan 1600 N. Brown Rd Lawrenceville, GA 30043 Zimbabwe Address Mike and Robin McMahan 38 Clark Rd Suburbs Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Giving for Mike and Robins support account: Mission to the World P.O. Box 116284 Atlanta, GA 30368-6284 account #14781 For giving to the Buy a Brick fund use same MTW address with account number: 96706zw