Zambia Dec 2007

We were three people that left for Zambia on November 23. Michelle R, a fifth year medical student came with us. I have known Michelle since she were 16 since she has been on lots of outreaches when she was younger so it was nice to have her join us again. Just hours after we left the rain started to come down in buckets while we were driving so we could not go fast but rejoiced with the rain – hoping that Zambia was receiving some as well. We arrived safely in Mukamba on the 25th and were happy to see everything nice and green. When we got there we had a surprise waiting for us. Upon arrival we discovered that lightning had struck the satellite dish and burnt all the wires- even our telephone antenna was wasted. This was a bit discouraging as it seems like we had just gotten it but we were very thankful that it didn’t travel down the wires and burn the tent as well. That would have been a real disaster. Praise God that we were able to take a trip to town to get replacement parts and luckily none of the main units were damaged-just parts of it and we were able to get all up and running again.

While there was lots of works for us to do there in Mukamba, we knew what we could start on would be limited with the raining season. Since building would not be productive this time of year we decided to work on our personal things and get our “home” there more established. Even though all the people in the community were busy in their fields plowing and planting it, we were happy to see that they had continued with some of the work there. Knowing the demands on their time during this planting season, we were very pleased and impressed. We pray that God will bless their sacrifice and that their diligence will continue. We also discovered that Fanwel (the orphanage employee/watchman of our orphanage property and “home”) had a new edition to his family. His wife had given birth to another beautiful girl and they decided to name the baby Amber – as a way to remember that she came while they were working for the “white people”. Amber enjoyed visiting and meeting her name’s sake.

That does not mean that we took it easy though – we reserved that for when the rain actually fell (which was a fresh breath of air). One of the big things we got accomplished was to install the door me and Josh (Amber’s brother) had made in November. This made a huge difference in terms of going in and out of our permanent tent and after Amber attached and hung the curtains that my mom had made for us, the tent suddenly felt like a “home”. Amber and Michelle also tackled our wooden furniture that had become infested by wood worms. Suddenly transformed into “wood doctors” they injected poison into all the holes several times and then re-vanished it to make it look good. We also installed some shelves in our store room so that it will be more manageable because we are using the storeroom for our kitchen as well for the meantime. I moved the battery bank out of the tent and into the storeroom and had to redo all the electrical wiring. Considering the lesson we learned from our lightning damage we also decided to make our own lightning pole as well as bury all of the cables including the telephone cables (digging some more ditches : ) .

While we were there we received the news that some one we knew was very ill. Since we had means of transport (a big problem in that area) we were able to take him to the hospital but three days later we got the news that he passed away. Please pray for his wife and seven young children that are left behind. There are others that we know of that are also very sick (for various reasons) and it seems like every time we come we hear of another death in the area. It is sad for those that know them but really impresses to us the brevity of this life and that importance of focusing on things that are eternal. It also confirms to us the need of this mission – to care for those left behind with no other means. While we are excited at the progress that is happening our hearts are longing for the day when we caring for children in the homes and supporting more and more families in the community.

Regarding progress though - there are now two calf’s and the cattle and goats are looking very good. And one of our dogs – Victory is pregnant with pups to be born sometime to in Jan or Feb. Amber is very excited about that. She was able to help clear, mark, and continue working on the mango and banana grove and Michelle was very much in demand from the locals for their various ailments and ills. We were able to “doctor” some with supplies that had been donated but often the only (and biggest) thing we could do was offer a prayer and some advice as to whether they needed to get to the hospital soon or not. We also had a group from South Africa that were on their way to the Lake came and visit us for two nights. That was a blessing for us as they brought much excitement and helped to go and fetch sand before the rivers started to flow. Pray that God would deposit more sand where we were taking sand out. They also helped me to mix concrete for the kitchen floor but as soon as we finished the first batch the rain came and washed it. At least it won’t go to waste as I will be able to put a screet on it later to smooth it out.

On December 7th we went to join the South African team in Kafwambila. It was nice to visit again after being gone so long. That place holds many special memories for us and the ministry. We showed the film that night in a small village where there were a good response and we thank God for that. As opposed to the bright green we saw everywhere in Zambia Kawfumbilla was very dry so we rejoiced with the community when it rained the only night we spent there. The next day everyone was out plowing their fields. Please continue praying for rain for them. December 8th we headed off to Livingstone where Michelle went with us so that we could drop her at the airport. We had some friends from Mukamba with us that we were planning on dropping off along the way to catch transport but when we arrived there was no transport for them to take. After a full 8 hours of off road driving, we then had to make another 4 hour round trip to drop them of so they wouldn’t be stranded. When we started on the road we realized why there was no transport – even though we had only been gone less than 36 hours it must have rained buckets since then because the roads had been transformed into flowing rivers and the rivers were rising fast, not to mention that it was still raining. We prayed for God’s grace to get us through and he did, just in the nick of time because the last river we crossed was over the Hilux’ hood and flowing good. Just a bit more and we wouldn’t have made it, especially towing the trailer. It was scary but God saw us through and we thank Him for that and for keeping me awake the rest of the way to Livingstone. That was a long day!

We spent a few days in Livingston waiting for the team and used it as time to get some “business” done like checking in with social welfare about their regulations and rules for orphanages. We were not looking forward to this encounter as our previous ones had proved very difficult with the personnel there being quite rude and not willing to help at all. We were happily surprised this time though and found a complete change of attitude towards us. Not only did they recognize us but were eager to get us all that we needed to help us continue with the mission. This was a definite answer to prayer. Please pray for our continued relationship with them. Despite all three of the team’s vehicles having mechanical difficulties along the path with some prayer, we all made it back safe and sound in South Africa December 13th thankful for all that God has allowed us to be a part of.

We are now enjoying spending the holidays with my mom and family here in South Africa, planning on returning to Zambia again comes January. We are still trying to work out the dates and specifics of that.

Prayer requests:

Pray for the right amount of rain for Zambia that the crops will grow good this year.

Pray for the family of Richard (the man who passed away) and his wife and 7 children. That God will provide for them and bring more to Him through this tragedy.

Pray that God would give us wisdom in whether to try and tackle moving all of our things up to Zambia in January (the middle of the rainy season) or if we need to be patient and make alternate plans.