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."