More Random Thoughts

First Presbyterian's 2008 Youth Mission Trip to Mwandi was an absolutely amazing trip. One part of me so wanted to stay. I can't remember when my feet and knees last felt so great. Walking constantly on sand was close to a miracle in pain relief. Who would have figured?!?

The place I most saw God was on the faces of the fascinating Mwandi people. They have such basic, incredible joy with so little and amidst such hardships. However, we stayed in wonderful accommodations at Simba Guest House, for the women, and Kudu House for the men (7 adults and 9 youth). For example, we 8 girls had three bedrooms and two baths in our 'wing' of the house. The other wing housed the missionaries, Keith & Ida Waddell, and their soon to be adopted 16-month old, Mubita. They had moved him into their bedroom, as they were going to need extra guest space while we were there in Mubi's bedroom which was right next to theirs. The great room was quite large, and the dining room often had 19-24 of us around the table(s). The laundry room and a powder room were on opposite sides of the entry. The kitchen was very adequate with its own entry; but the screened porch/veranda across the entire back of the house was wonderful. Our bedrooms all had sliding doors out to it; and the Zambeizi River was a 'spit' away.......you go out the veranda doors and 'spit' and you can reach it. (Kudu house had two bedrooms, one bath, and a large sitting area with a small kitchen and similar screened porch.) Lush, tropical growth was everywhere, due to irrigation from the river and the fact that the rainy season had just ended. The mission, thanks to Keith and Ida, provides more than 60 jobs for locals, so everyone calls them 'mama' and 'papa' and are so thankful for their presence..........but for them and the grace of God, they would not be able to provide for their families. We saw only two mud huts on the mission grounds; but most houses were small. They 'may' have had power but no stoves, so fires were kept smoldering all day and night for cooking and washing. We had power and hot and cold running water (unless the power went out, which happened three times while we were there, which meant no water, too). Locals cooked for us, did our laundry, and cleaned for us.

We had four major projects: first, volunteering at the OVC (Orphans & Vulnerable Children's project) by helping with their daily main meal, leading staff and children's devotions, and playing with the children; secondly, conducting Jesus Quest (a Vacation Bible School experience with games, singing, Bible story, and small group discussions) for 8th and 9th graders; third, getting the computer lab (we took over 12 computers and all the necessary equipment to go with them) up and running at the basic school so we could teach/train the 39 teachers; and lastly, rennovating another possible guest house, called Hippo House........painting the entire inside, painting all the windows inside and out, laying tile (thanks almost entirely to Laura Willson & Jean Troxell) in the shower, and cleaning everything. And, we successfully accomplished/completed all 4 projects.

We were all able to experience an entire day out in the 'bush' country (get up, pack a lunch, grab breakfast, and hope to be back for dinner at 7) . My project, along with Emily Spangler & Cindy Frost, was a traveling immunization clinic for under fives. We went to the village of Kasaya on the Kasai River where we weighed and measured children under five and helped with any immunizations. We had to help record all info, as well. The three of us on this project were also able to play with all the other siblings who came along with their moms. We just set up the clinic in one of the elder's huts, stick and mud walls with thatch roofs. The recent flooding had damaged the walls up about three and a half feet. We saw tiny little lean-to type huts on the high ground across the road where entire families squeezed in for shelter while the flood waters receded. The med-tech gave us such wonderful survival reports from this government sponsored program. Not only were the infants no longer dying from these childhood diseases but their immune systems were boosted so much so that they could survive other diseases as they grew up. Amazing!

One day in my 'small' group of 20 eighth and ninth graders, we talked about Jesus calming the storm and quieting the wind and the waves. When asked (yes, it's an English speaking country but we each had a teacher-translator in each group) what the storms were in their lives, they mentioned hunger, poverty and being poor, no place to put their heads and no cover, and difficulty in keeping warm and/or tending a fire. When asked how Jesus was helping, they said they knew He was because they were alive! Obviously, many were orphans and vulnerable children; but none of our kids deal with survival issues. And, these were all survival issues!

Everyone was so appreciative of us being there. We went to chapel daily and helped out at Kandiana, the old folks home where they live in what looks like a cell with a door, one small window, and two cot-like beds, one for sleeeping and one for storage. However, they have a communal gathering, cooking, and washing area and a helper, thanks to K & I, who helps daily with the cooking and washing and basic care. We made and delivered goodie bags for all 17 members. Our kids were so great with them, too! We made sure they got first choice of all of the shoes, sweatshirts, and t-shirts that we took over with us. We were able to attend church and meet the 'Chief', an educated (Oxford or Cambridge, I think) lawyer who is very gracious and working so hard to improve Mwandi. When he got the call to come back and be 'chief', he didn't hesitate. His wife works as second in command at one of the country's governmental ministries......like the Ministry of Finance or something. All of us were very impressed and pleased to have met him. I'm sure he's a part of the reason Mwandi is such a safe, friendly community.

There were so many obvious answers to prayers, too. Our travels went so smoothly, ease in customs both coming and going, no illness or injuries (well, an occasional cut or two), smooth transitions to Africa and back home, ease in crossing the border to Botswana (the Chobe Animal Park was amazing, beautiful, and provided sightings of many, many animals and birds with our lodge being the only hote rightl inside the actual park)), team members all getting along and respecting each other and those we met along the way, great sharing times with locals and especially Keith and Ida and fun with Mubita, time with the chief, completing our projects, and more. Keith & Ida were able to meet with their attorney (about adopting Mubi) after having several previous appointments cancelled. Enough monies were donated, while we were there, to cover the entire cost of the building of a maternity ward, separate but connected to the hospital. The doctor at the hospital threatened to quit; and after several meetings at Simba House with the chief and other government officials, they were able to re-organize a bit to appease him and get him to agree to stay. And, that's just to name a few.......

Well, as you can see, I could talk forever; but I had best go for now.

Hugs, Pam

God is GOOD ALL the time

Despite my short commings, weaknesses, and doubts God still has graced me with the blessing of serving him in Africa one more time. I was able on this trip to Zambia to use all three passions I have in life: working with the people of Africa, doing veterinary work, and proclaiming the Good news of Jesus Christ and his love. God was so unbelievably good to our First Pres. youth Zambian mission team that it is hard to put it all into words. There were so many prayer requests answered and lives touched by God's glory that I would have to go on for hours writing them all down. This is like the way the gospel of John is ended in John 21:25 "25Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." This is exactly how i feel about our trip to Zambia the Lord Jesus blessed us so much and worked through me in so many ways by connecting with all sorts of people in Mwandi from the Chief of the entire area to the wonderful farmers friends with their cattle I made wonderful connections with the people of Mwandi all by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and I would love to go one sharing with all who are willing to listen about the great things our Lord has done. May all those who were praying for us and supporting us be blessed by knowing the Lord is good all the time and was faithful to answer your prayers. Thank you all for the wonderful support. Peace in Christ- Kathy G.

Trip Reflections

How does one sum up a trip like the one we just wrapped up? I'm not quite sure but I know for me a little writting here is helpful.

We ended well. The meetings of Monday and Tuesday which we were not a part of resulted in our prayers being answered as it seems the doctor will remain. The power was out for much of Monday but it gave us an amazing experience as we were treated to a flashlight concert by the choir. Their only instruments were 3 drums and their voices but it was unbelievable. 18 month old Mubita decided all of whites needed some directing so he stood with the choir behind him and started us all clapping in time with the piece being sung. For the last piece sung we were invited to dance with the choir while they also sang. It was so fun and Laura has vowed to master the style of dancing we were being taught.

Tuesday we did some final touch up on the Hippo house under Emily's excellent direction and could easily see how big a difference we had made on that house. Props to our tile team in particular - Jean and Laura who did a great job which included an amazing mosaic style floor. We also wrapped up Jesus Quest - many kids gave us the "church answers" but a surprising number really engaged and it was remarkable how God redeemed our efforts there when you look back to how many of us were feeling about it after the first one the previous Tuesday. After Jesus Quest we had computer training. God really came through in remarkable ways when it came to the computer lab, with everything from finally figuring out how to download things with the slow connection we had to letting the power come back on at the last moment. Ben compaired it to Elijah dumping water on the alter before calling down God's fire to light it. It ended up being a late night none the less and I/we am/are convinced that we need to pray harder than ever for that computer lab for it is a long ways from any kind of back up. If it holds up I think the teachers can really learn a lot by simply experimenting and with no enternet right now they should be safe from viruses etc. Really learning Word, Power Point and Excell could prove to be a real help in their teaching and pave the way for the enternet once that gets added.

I did my best to stimulate the Zambian economy on Tuesday night as I not only purchased the carvings I had commissioned earlier in the trip (a salad bowl, service set, and a cross) but added a wonderful pre nativity (Joseph leading Mary on a donkey) and a nativity plus I decided I needed two more elephant napkin rings to round out the 6 I had purchased earlier. It was a bit of a late night with needing to pack and we had a rushed early morning which in someways may have been a blessing as long drawn out good byes are never any fun.

On Wednesday we headed to Kazungula with folks from the mission who got us through customs (a totally loose process) and handed us off to a boat driver who brought us to the two the gents who were bringing us to the game lodge. Botswana is far more developed than Zambia and there was something of a joke of a process with cars backing into water and all foot traffic needing to step on a damp mat (It may have had bleach or something in it but it was filthy) to prevent the spread of hoof and mouth desease. Our lodge (Chobe Game Lodge) is the only one located actually inside the park and as soon as we crossed into Chobe we started seeing wildlife - relatively close to impalla, kudu, giraffes, sable and wart hog - plus we could see elephant and hippo in the distance. The lodge was a 5 star location with amazing food but probably only 3 star rooms so call it a 4 star place but after everything from the past 10 days it was paradise. We had incredible game viewing in the afternoon - getting very close to elephants, and added crocs to what we had seen previously. We also were blessed to see a leapord which is quite rare. The drivers quickly got on the radio and called everyone else out on game drives to see. The leapord spoiled us by eventually coming down the tree and rather than disappearing in the brush walked toward us and crossed the road - that is one magnificent animal. We had an amazing dinner - which between dinner and lunch I managed to add kudu, gemsbuck, impalla and wilderbeast to wild game I've eatten. Thursday moring came early as we had a sunrise cruise which got us close to some hippos but it was too cold for the crocs to be out. I've never been much of a bird guy other than hunting them but all the birds we saw at Chobe came close to changing that. We had to meet our transfer agents by 8AM and from there is was non stop travel which definatly doesn't do a body good but we all made it and so did our stuff (provided Josh's checked bag arrives at home today). We also can all add Senegal to places we have been as we had to stop in Dakkar to refuel even though we didn't get off the plane.

It is so very good to be home - trips like this are great for many reasons but one for me is it always helps me appriciate home. I think this trip was a home run. We accomplished our goals in that all of us grew. I really grew in my awareness of God's provision when the activity is something he calls you too. We did things that physically benefited Mwandi with our work on the hippo house and the computer lab. We did things that spiritually benefited Mwandi via Jesus quest and the simple but powerful ministry of presence. I could go on and on about what we did, saw and learned and it seems to minimize the trip to simply say we accomplished our goals so let me say God did abundantly more in and through this trip than I could hope, think or even imagine and let me encourage the rest of the team to use this blog to think through what God has done and taught them.

Thanks to all of you for your support and most importantly for your prayers. Please keep praying for I am convinced much of the fruit from this trip is still to come both in us and in Mwandi and your prayers are what helps make the soil the seeds planted on this trip the kind that produces a crop 60 to 100 fold. I pray God uses this trip in your lives too.

In Christ

Jon

the home stretch

Sigh. We're on the home stretch. It's been an incredible two weeks, and today set another standard of an amazing day in Africa. In the morning we got to meet the cheif of Mwandi at his palace. I did not expect this to be such an excellent visit...i'm not really into the whole bowing for random people...that kind of thing. but that's just tradition, and he's nothing like that. he was incredibly wise and well spoken and...well it's hard to describe but it was amazing. i finally had a good exprience at the OVC this morning and it really was special. those kids are...again hard to describe over a silly blog, but mary got some awesome pictures that i'll have to steal off of her. the last Jesus quest was great. I got some notes and addresses from some of the kids and i'm excited to stay in touch. computer training was a bit disappionting. Ben is actually still there and it's 8:40. yikes. we had less people show up, and i'm worried that these will soon be as neglected as the other computers collecting dust in that room. i really think the situation needs prayers because so much work and money have been spent and so much opportunity is available. anyways. there's hope, but i'm nervous. i'm too tired to go into much depth. but after tonight, we ultimately begin our journey home...and i can't wait to see you all.

Zambezie Fishing Report

Wow! I say it again Wow! I got to fish with Ru - Keith and Ida's oldest son - a lawyer by trade at age 26 but making a go of it here in missions in Zambia - he has guided for several seasons on this river so I was in great hands. We fished the main channel a bit and I got one heavy hit but no luck till we crossed into a side channel in what technically would be Namibia (a new country to add to my list of places I've visited). Lost a fly to a fish and put on a new one and finally caught a small one (the first photo) then caught a 2lb fish (second photo) and one more small one before we had to head in. It was unbelievable toward the end. The tiger fish were pounding the bait fish so hard in such numbers that it at times sounded like someone had lit a line of black jack fire crackers. I also saw the fish hit birds even though they didn't pull them under. Beautiful fish and while I didn't catch a truely big one I was impressed by the fight and was glad of a 8 wt both for the fish and the size of the flys we were tossing. Great set of teeth on these things.

The river itself is amazingingly beautiful. I saw amazing birds including a mating pair of African fish eagles. Running up the river to return the boat was quite an experience too as particularly in the side channel you had to face forward with your sun glasses on even though it was quickly getting too dark, just to protect your eyes from the continuous pelting of small bugs hanging on the river. When we would slow down for a canoe I could litterally scrap dead bugs off my forehead. As we approaced the main channel we were warned by a couple of mokuros (dug out canoes) full of people to watch out as there was a hippo. Never saw it but cool none the less - particularly from the safety of a decent sized and motorized boat. The lodge we borrowed the boat from was quite nice and pretty reasonably priced so if we do take a men's trip here and want to add some fishing they would be a great option.

I simply can't tell you what an unbelievable experience this day has been between worship and fishing - truely fun and God was so present.

It was great to walk into a late dinner with about 6 of our group out with the afore mentioned dinner with Heath. I had a great conversation with Keith and Ida who really allowed me to minister to them in some ways and flat out said that with all they are asked to do to minister to others here they count on groups like ours to minister to them. They also gave us high praise for not being missionary tourists and actually making a difference in a fairly effecient manner. I do hope we can continue to have a relationship with them and with this place - the needs are tremendous everywhere in Africa yet despite tons of looking I could not come up with a single other place that would allow a group of this size and age to have an experience like this and so far no one is sick. Hard to believe in about 60 hours we are saying good bye to this place. Pray we end well and travel safe. This experience is richer knowing all of you are behind us and that we can share it with you. In Christ - Jon

Ah, Sunday

Greetings, all! I skimmed Jon's latest blog; and he was absolutely right on with his descriptions of the worship service this morning. Ida sat next to me; and I kept pumping her with questions. The women's group on the right up front and dressed in red and white was the Women's Christian Fellowship, or Anamoyo. The men on the left front and dressed in red jackets and red ties were the Men's Christian Fellowship, of which Keith is a member. Jon asked if the men were supposed to sit on the left with the men and the women on the right. Thankfully, that was not the case. Also in attendance was the Girl's Brigade dressed a bit like Girl Scouts but with a blue hat and blue skirt with a white blouse. The girls actually led the worship service and did a good job. Then, there was that amazing choir. Think David William's Abyssinian (sp?) church choir. Lots of wonderful sound from few members with much energy and movement.....looked like 4 men on drums, 4 or 5 male voices, maybe 8-10 female voices, and a dynamic director like our amazing Marv. Every group sang and did a bit of dancing, with the choir and the women's group doing the most. At one point, we all got up and danced. I mentioned to Ida that I thought we might 'dance' up our offering, which some African friends have told Don and me is quite frequent. She said we could not, as the 'Chief' was present. When I asked why, she explained that we could not be higher than he was.......in rank, status, or stature. As he was sitting down the entire time, she said we would have had to crawl up to give the offering. Interesting! She implied that the service might have been longer (it was only 2 hours) and more energetic, if he had NOT been present. We may still have a change to meet him. And, I believe the choir is coming over tomorrow night to serenade us. Ida just confirmed that for me. More fantastic music!

The market place is truly the gathering spot, along with the open sports fields between town and the school. Tons of kids were on the latter, while adults and families were at market. Very laid back and casual lounging and selling. A bit more intensity on the fields with lots of fun, too. Refreshing! This afternoon, those who wanted, were able to go for a 'mercora' (sp?) boat ride.....the carved out wooden canoe-like boats. Charles, one of the night watchmen at the mission, was our guide. He STANDS in the back and paddles from side to side with amazing agility and balance. Of course, the paddle is a very long one!

Surprisingly, I shall keep this short and sign off for now.
Lots of love and hugs to you all,
Pam

Heavenly Worship

Just got done with worship which is pretty much undescribable. I journaled for a bit while there and wrote something along the lines of I can't understand much but God was really powerfully present. Drums, unbelievable vocals, dancing, melodic rebel yell sounds - it was a very "thin place" between God and us - amazing!! After church we took a group shot or two by the Livingstone tree where we believe Livingstone camped and proclaimed the gospel. I actually climbed the tree tie on and all and had a blast doing it. The kids refered to me as a big kid - felt accurate and right. We are hanging out at the house now and it is so good just to see people finding quiet places and processing with God. Jesus says the Sabbath was made for us not us for the Sabbath - we needed this Sabbath. I can't wait to fish some time soon after lunch. Emily was on a big swing and it looked like something out of the south with the river in the back ground. Considering we have sweat team nearly every meal you can tell southern American churches have been really involved here. Ben is going with the schools assistant head master to do Bible Studies in the village this afternoon and 5 of our students are having dinner with Heath who is Ida's right hand man at the hospital but it looks to be a really restful day. The choir is coming to sing for us tomorrow night and we hope to get a good recording - if not some previous visitors made one that has been turned into a CD that I will rip and have available. Marv at church calls himself a chief "wing flapper" he would have loved to have seen this choirs director not to mention a few of the voices - not taking anything away from our wonderful choir at FPC. May have pulled off a first for fantasy baseball by keeping on top of my team, including dropping and picking up a player from Mwandi. Good stuff. Praying for you all and counting on your prayers. In Christ. - Jon