Back from Mukamba and in Livingstone

After an incredible trip the team is back from the bush. After battling stomache sickness, broken axles, suspensions and spiritual warfare we are back in Livingstone. It was an incredible trip and we have much to tell everyone. We were able to finish the foundation on the first Orphanage building, build the walls up for the building, teach about Jesus at the local school for three days, complete another foundation for a second storage building, build an oven and put up a permanent (tent) home for Jako and Amber. To top all of these wonderful accomplishments we also were blessed to teach and sing at the Mukamba church for two Sundays.

We just wanted everyone to know that we are ALL safe and in Livinstone. We will see you on Friday night!

Last day in the village

Today, Monday, the team should be cleaning up and packing up to start there trek back to Livingston. They will spend 2 days in Livingston debriefing before they start heading back home on Thursday.

We tried calling them yesterday afternoon, but were not able to connect with them. They should have spent the day yesterday going to church and visiting with the people.

Please continue to pray that the Landrover is able to carry them and there luggage back to livingston. Also, pray for their continued safety as they begin their travels back towards home.

Friday update from Crystal

I spoke with Dean today. He was so surprised to here from us. There are so many things God is doing over in Zambia Dean didn't have time to tell me all of it. Here are some highlights of things they are doing.....

They have been visiting the school for the past 3 days. The kids are beautiful, energetic and love to talk about God. The kids actually sung the National Anthem to the guys. How amazing would that be to hear. They were able to build an oven and added more bricks to the wall.

There will be another church service on Sunday. Dean says there are a lot of serving hearts there. They were able to show the Jesus movie again. Everyone is healthy and doing well. There are a few that have had a few stomach problems, but overall doing very well.

The group has a very important prayer request. The land rover they are driving is a 1964. Pretty old huh. They were pulling sand out of the river when the rear axle broke. A few of the guys took the one from the front and moved it to the back. They are pretty far from the nearest town. Please pray that the truck will get them to town safely on Monday. Pray that they all remain well.

God is so amazing. I can't wait to hear the stories when Dean gets home. It will be exciting to hear how God is working in the lives of the men who are there along with the people of Zambia. Remember to keep praying for our team.

God Bless,
Crystal

Work has begun

Pastor Sergey from Moscow entered Zambia successfully with his visa. Also - all the luggage arrived safely. Richard said the team prayed about the luggage all the way to Zambia as they were carrying not only their personal items but also some of the tools they needed for construction.

They had a wonderful worship service on Sunday with the Mukamba church. The service lasted 3 1/2 hours and they were very aware of God's presence. The team and the Mukamba congregation sang hymns to each other in their own languages. Ed Windhausen blessed them greatly with his guitar and harmonica. The team sung "Amazing Grace" to the accompaniment of Ed's harmonica and felt God's pleasure as they praised Him through their music.

On Saturday, they dug 160 feet of exterior footings by hand for the first orphanage building. The building will be 40 ft. X 40 ft. when completed. They also made four trips to the river for sand for the concrete. They also mixed and poured 7 1/2 cubic yards of concrete for the footings. Phanwell, the caretaker for the orphanage when Amber and Jako are not in Mukamba, had formed and baked 5000 bricks in the last few months that will be used to build the walls of the orphanage. The team will be going back to the river today to get more sand. Tomorrow, they plan to pour the interior footings and will begin laying brick as well. Amber and Jako were able to bring 50 bags of cement from South Africa and were able to purchase an additional 10 bags in Kalomo, the nearest town to Mukamba. One of the major issues in the construction has been pumping and transporting water to the work site. They had to fill and transport 10- twenty liter (4 gallon) water bottles eight times (80 total) to mix cement for the footings they have poured.

Three missionaries from South Africa have joined them on this mission trip. Nick and Sheila are originally from England. Sheila is a former Hindu who converted to Christianity several years ago in Tobago before moving to England where she met and married Nick. Both Nick and Sheila are teachers. Please keep the third missionary, Tunise in your prayers. She has been experiencing some stomach issues possibly dysentery.

The team sends its love to everyone and especially their family members. Please keep everyone in prayer - for safety, good health, and that the Lord will continue to bless all their efforts - both the building of the orphanage and the building of His kingdom.

They have had several opportunities to share their faith with many of villagers. They have been able to show the Jesus film once and plan to show it several more times during the next week. In the words of one of the team members - "God has been really blessing their trip, it has been a wonderful experience and they are making amazing progress on the building."

Wiping the slate clean

Zambia Missions Team

The Thursday morning Prayer Group was in prayer for the team and though the following would be helpful to those who speak a foreign language.
The Vacation Bible school had a craft that related to witnessing. The craft was a slate which the craft leader listed sins of the group, & then wiped the slate clean just as Jesus wiped the slate clean when we accept Him.. The craft leader used a small slate and a chalk.

TMPG

First full day

We can only assume that no news is good news, and that they have arrived at the Tongan village safely. They should have arrived and set up camp on Friday. Today, being their first full day at the village, they were planning to finish setting up camp as well as visit with some of their old friends they had met last year. They were also going to get things set up to be able to begin working on making concrete bricks for the orphanage on Monday.

Tomorrow (Sunday) they will be having their church service. I am guessing that it will be long again since they will not only be translating from English to Tongan but also to and/or from Russian. (Last year their church service was 5 hours.) I am sure it will be pretty amazing to see all these different cultures worshiping our Awsome God under one roof.

Good Morning from RSA

The team had breakfast today at the AIrport Grand Hotel and met with old friends Deon and Johan from our last mission trip to Mukamba. Johan started the Jesus Film mission in Africa and Deon is moving to Thailand for missionary work. We wish you well and we will be leaving for the airport in 30 minutes.

A room at the airport

After sitting in the airport for some time. Richard, Shawn and Sergey met some French missionaries. They too were staying at the airport. Evidently the airport has some rooms that are set aside for those that are not allowed to leave due to no Visa for Johannesburg, since they are passing thru. The French missionaries gave up one of their rooms so that Sergey could have a room, and Richard and Shawn could go to the hotel to their own rooms. They will meet back up with Sergey in the morning and head for Livingston where he should be able to clear customs with his Visa for there.

Please also pray that all of their luggage makes it to Livingston, as they were not able to pick up any of the checked luggage tonight.

On the way to Zambia

The team is successfully in the Republic of South Africa (RSA). After over an hour of flight delays in Dulles we made it to France. After a few hours of layover we met up with Pastor Sergey from our sister church in New Bethany. With only about a 45 minute layover he was able to clear customs, cross the airport and make it to the gate where the team was waiting. The team is now 10 strong. Tommorow, when we get to Livingstone, Zambia we will be 15 strong with Jako, Amber and the additional missionaries that will be helping the team.

After arriving in RSA the team cleared customs and entered RSA. However, Sergey was not permitted entry. Two of the team member are staying at the airport with Sergey. The rest of the team is tucked into bed for their last night of leisure. Our last night with running water, a bed and shower!

We are meeting for breakfast in the morning and we will be off to Livingstone around 10AM local time (that is 4AM Eastern time). Most of the folks are doing well with the jet lag, but the team looks tired and ready for bed --- I am running on the Holy Spirit sharing the team's information about our trip. With luck we will be able to provide some pictures before or after our return from the bush.

Please pray frequently for cement, building materials, health and for us to successfully reach local people that we meet that have never heard or understood the Good News of Jesus Christ.

They are off!!

This afternoon we sent off the 9 members of our Zambia mission team. After loading up the vehicles with all of their luggage and having a time of prayer they were on their way.

Their flight left from Washington (IAD) at 4:59 PM Wed, Jul 18, 07 and is scheduled to arrive in Paris (CDG) at 6:00 AM, Thu, Jul 19, 07 (Paris time, which is 1:00AM our time).

A Personal Reflection

Personally, planning for this mission trip has been difficult for me. As we prepare not only for building, but also evangelism the Spiritual Warfare began at the early planning stages of this trip. Throughout the planning I have had a weight on my shoulder. I can only describe it as a dark cloud and apprehension. God has been with me and evident over the past few months, but I believe Satan has also been active in my life. I believe that he has been trying to prevent the team from telling the good news of Jesus Christ to new believers. The wonderful thing is that we will be able to go hut to hut and also teach at the local school. It is hard to describe the transparent nature of the veil between earth and God and earth and evil in Mukamba. There in the bush you can experience God's presence like nowhere else that I have been.

I wanted to share more good news. Today was a sign from God. With help from the Holy Spirit I was able lend assistance to multiple people and step out of my comfort zone. Each time I could feel the warmth and goodness of God. This is a sure sign that God is already with the team and supporting us as we tell the good news and fight Satan head on. Like David we will go forth in faith knowing that we are doing our Father's work.

Blessings, Alex

Jako and Amber prepare for Zambia

Jako and Amber will be leaving South Africa on the same day as the FBCW team. They will be driving for two days to make the trip to Zambia. The team stands ready for another adventure in Africa (blue text is from Jako and Amber). YBIC, Alex

It is with eager anticipation that we are busy packing for our next trip to Zambia. Not only will we get to use our work permits for the first time but also we will be meeting a group of individuals from First Baptist Church in Woodbridge Va (USA) and one pastor from Russia. With three other's joining us from South Africa we will be a total of 15 intent on breaking the ground for the first orphanage house. The team will labor hard for over a week seeing how far we can get with the foundation and building and we hope to have many individuals from the community helping each day. Amber is especially happy for the two other women comming along from South Africa that will help with all the cooking and heating of bath water for all of the men. We hope to do Bible study with the community volunteers every day at lunch, show the Jesus Film, spend some time teaching at a local community school and use whatever opportunity we have to share the love of Christ.

Please pray for safe traveling mercies for us, especially since we will be trying to import 40 + bags of cement since it is very difficult to get in Zambia. Please also pray that as soon as we get into Livingstone, they will have received a load of cement that we will be able to purchase there. With men, the chances of this are extremely thin but with God all things are possible. We also ask prayers for safety during work, encouragement through physical results being seen with the building, mercies with language barriers (Russian, American Engligh, South African English, Zambian English, Afrikaans, and Tonga), and receptivity of the people there to the gospel.

Thanks for your support and prayers during the past several years and during this time now. We look forward to giving a good report of God's faithfullness when we return.

With thankfullness to God for this opportunity to work in His vineyard once again,
Jako and Amber Joubert

Team Commissioning

On Sunday, July 16th, First Baptist Church Commissioned the Zambia 2007 Mission team. God willing, there will be 9 from Virginia, 1 from Moscow and 5 from South Africa. We will converge on the Mukamba area to help the Mission of Love Orphanage in whatever way we can and we will be spreading the good news of Christ.

God willing, if we can get cement we will be trying to raise the first orphanage building. Please pray that the cement will get to Mukamba in spite of the shortage of cement and that we will be fruitful in whatever way God chooses. Afterall, we all know that TIA (This is Africa).

The mission team will be meeting at the Church at 1PM on Wednesday to begin the Zambia 2007 trip.

Jako and Amber - Zambia 4June to 22 June 2007

An update from Jako and Amber:

This trip up we went past our normal stops and headed straight to Lusaka the capital of Zambia to find out about the status of our work permits. In doing that we spent two days in Lusaka with them sending me from office to office. In the afternoon of the first day I found out that our permits had been approved but that they were all out of the permits that they needed to give us (and had been for three months now). They also said that they did not know when they would get the new permits. From there they sent me to another office and there I had to wait about one hour before they told me that I had to come back tomorrow for they were out of report orders that they had to give us to state that we have do in fact have work permits. The next morning we did as we were told and went back to the same office where they put a stamp in each of our passports (only valid for 30 days) and said that we have to be back at their office before 7 July 2007 to get another stamp. That worried me knowing that we were only coming back to Zambia on 19 July but when I tried to explain they were so busy that they wouldn’t listen and just ushered me away. The rest of the day we walked around in Lusaka and did window shopping and than got an early night’s sleep to hit the road early the next morning on route to Mukamba.

We worked hard the entire time we were in Mukamba because there was much we needed to do. We loaded stones, dug a big hole to get sand (to fill in our foundation), mixed concrete, and started to lay the foundation slab. It took us the entire week and we still weren’t finished because some days it was only Amber and me that were available to do any work. It is a busy time for the people there as they are busy finishing the harvest. There were days that I was left to mix concrete and smooth the slab while Amber pumped almost 500 litres of water in a day. What a supper women God has blessed me with. On Saturday the 16th, we again fought off both discouragement and fatigue started work at 7 o’clock. About two hours later, just as we were wondering if we were ever going to be able to finish this project, people started to show up to come and help. We had people mixing with the hands and the concrete mixer. Before long we had about 12 and despite all disbelief (we thought there was no way) at 17:30 in the afternoon we finished! Man, were we excided and if we hadn’t been so tired I’m sure we would have danced with joy. It was a true testimony to God’s goodness and what can be accomplished when we work together.

One of the days when we went to Kalomo to go and buy cement we heard from Petrus that the Zambia communication network got a new system that he heard might work in Mukamba. We were very surprised and sceptical but figured we had to at least go and check it out. When we talked to them they told us that what we had heard was correct. They have a unit that works as a land line but is wireless and works through an antenna. They had towers up for it in Livingston and Zimba but would need to come out to test to see if they could get signal where we were. To our surprise they did on Thursday the 14th (drove their own car at their own expense) and we all rejoiced when they found signal! Praise God for this technology! We bought the unit then and there and applied for a line and the next day I went back to Kalomo and picked it up. Next year we will activate the internet and then we also have 24 hour internet conection. Well for a price it seems you can get a lot. The unit cost us a lot of money but God is good and we thank Him for this. To have phone and internet connection in the bush where everything else failed is just amazing. Even satellite phones struggled there. It was a sweet reminder that God will provide all our needs as we prepare (mentally and physically) to move there permanently.

We left Mukamba on Tuesday and went to Livingstone to go and find out what we could do to get the 30 day story sort out. After a long explanation in Livingstone they said that the work permits had arrived in Lusaka but they did not know if ours would be ready or not. They said that we should just go up there to find out but with it costing quite a bit of money to do we decided we’d try our phone contact first to see if ours were ready or not. We attempted to phone our contact in Lusaka but no luck getting her. On Wednesday we got a number of some one else but by the end of the afternoon we were getting antsy and when she said I must phone her again at 11:00 o’clock on Thursday, Amber and me decided to go to Lusaka on the bus the next morning. We got tickets and left on the bus at 5:30 the morning we got to Lusaka and at the Immigration’s office at 12:00 and they were sending me from room to room. After a lot of running around we found out our’s had been issued! It was only God’s grace that we were able to get though because they closed at 12:30 for lunch (not opening again until 14:30) but we wanted to catch the last bus back to Livingstone at 13:30 so we were praying and God granted our wish and 20:15 we got back at Livingstone excited about all that lay ahead for us. We arrived home in South Africa late Friday night.

Thanks so much for your prayers for this endeavour. Now that we have our work visas we do not have to worry about how many days we are allowed in Zambia for the next two years. The rest of this year we will spend transitioning with the hope to more there permanently come beginning of next year. Next month we head up again to meet a team from Va coming to help start the first orphanage house. God is good!

Prayer request:

Please pray for the cement that we will need to keep building. Currently there is no cement in Zambia because of the demand for it in South Africa due to stadiums they are building for the the 2010 world cup. Zambia does not know when they will get cement again. We are planning to see if we can get some in South Africa and take it up when we need it next month.
Please pray also for God’s guidance and peace as we begin to prepare to make Zambia our new home – both physically and mentally as we start to transition from all that we know, love, and appreciate here. That we will be reminded of God’s faithfulness and step boldly, with faith, into this new chapter, to the glory of God.