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
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
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.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
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
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
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.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
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
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
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Sunset Cruise
Hey All, Just got off a 30 min cruise on the Zambezie - tommorw I should spend about half a day on the river fly fishing. I'm thinking we might need to do a mens trip for the church here where we both take on a construction project and fish! The attached photos were taken at a village I visited on Thursday where my highlight was pumping water for the kids you see as well as some others. The second shot was taken just before we pulled out and is right behind where we stay. We have been offered a ride in these dug out canoes with our night watch man Charles for about $3. Some of us will go tomorrow and some on Monday as there is no Jesus Quest on Monday as there is some sort of sporting event. We have seen a "track" traced out in the dirt.
Today has been good as we have made a tremendous amount of project on hippo house. It being Saturday really impacted Jesus Quest so we dropped the talk, made God's eyes, tossed frizbees, kicked around a few soccer balls and generally had a purely relational connection time. The result was some pretty amazing conversations. I got about 7 hours of sleep last night rather than my 5 or so from previous days so I'm feeling much better. I'm excited for church tomorrow as well as some much needed down time. Praying hard for all of you at FPC as you say good bye to Scott. In Christ
Jon
Friday, June 6, 2008
Teacher, teacher
Greetings, all! Thank you for reading our blog and responding so frequently. It is so amazing to think we are halfway around the world and able to still communicate with our loved ones. Your comments reassure us that all is well and that you indeed are following our activities. Thus, we know that you are continuing to pray for us and are seeing/hearing how God has been answering us. 'Cuz God is good, all the time. And, all the time, God is good.
First, please pray for Ida and Keith, as they are away from us for the night (Friday) in Livingtone. They are scheduled to meet with their lawyer in the morning concerning the adoption of Mutiba. Thus far, these 'appointments' have not come to fruition. So, their request is to pray for this to happen as scheduled.
Next, we've encouraged our youth to blog for us all. Can you tell?!? Most impressive, too, wouldn't you agree? My thoughts are quite scrambled, so I may not make as much sense as I'd like. It's also late; and I've haven't been getting much sleep. No surprise there, as I don't usually need much. I am feeling foggy; but here goes. Spending time with all ages of 'kids' (pre-school, OVC, and basic school) has been fun and fantastic. They all follow us around, climb on us, want to play with us, talk to us, and call us 'teacher, teacher'. It is so endearing, yet so bittersweet, as we can't possibly do everything with everyone. Jesus Quest was been so interesting! My large 'small group' has shared such storms in their lives as hunger, poverty or being poor, and having no roof or shelter over their heads. Many are orphans, but they shared that Jesus loved them and they were alive. Then, we did a 'three-legged' relay race which they seemed to love and laughed almost hysterically. When I 'tried' explaining to the teacher that this was called a three-legged race, she interpreted for me. As they proceeded to grab one more person and 'tie' up one leg from each of them, it became quite obvious that even English speaking 'teachers' did not always understand. Bryan and I watched in amazement, as they hobbled, tripped,and laughed even harder doing a 'four-legged' race with three people. When asked what game they liked the best thus far, they exclaimed the 'three-legged' race they had just run! Even these 'teachers' were calling us teachers, as we helped Ben (and Cindy) with our instructional computer labs. I worked with two women in one of our sessions, and they remarked that I was such a good computer teacher. Will wonders never cease! Don't laugh, Donald!
When Emily, Cindy, and I had our opportunity to participate in one of the 'outreach' programs (translation: away from Mwandi and the mission, and quite possibly near to or 'in' the bush), we traveled with 4 local volunteers and one medical technician. We went to one of the 'under five' clinics and helped with immunizations for these little ones. We helped weigh babies, record important data, administer drugs and even ended up playing games with the village children and older siblings. Cindy taught them Tag; Duck, Duck, Goose; Ring Around the Rosie; and Emily helped with the Hokey Pokey. I was able to help Emily with Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and the Macarena (sp?). Then, to help calm all that enthusiasm, I suggested Pictionary in the sand. Though skeptical, Emily went for it. I ran back and forth, asking our volunteers for the African names of the animals she was drawing. What happened, though, was these kids just started copying everything she was drawing. It became so 'quiet' yet so revealing. Talent like you wouldn't believe unfolded before our very eyes. And, all of this outside a mud hut with a thatched roof while drawing in the sand! The tragedy was seeing the three and a half foot high destruction on all of the village huts from the recent flooding, yet then finding joy, acceptance, and peace in these fascinating people. Thankfully, only one of the children who came to the clinic had not gained weight. His mother rode back with us into Mwandi to the hospital so she could get supplemental food. Then, our driver drove her back to the village. We were in Kasaya, next to the Kasai River.
Well, tonight we had another first. We've been hearing about very large insects but not really seeing any. (Everything is larger here: giant impatiens and other flowers, lizards and reptiles, and trees and bushes.) We've even had a quite large 'flat-bodied' spider (an Arachnid, NOT an insect!), one of the 'good' kind, living in one of the girls' bathrooms. In fact, we named said spider George Herald Simon, the first........Sir George, for short. But, tonight in the kitchen I heard a very loud, insect-like noise and then felt a tickle on my neck. I turned to see some sort of 'giant' insect on my shoulder. I must admit that it startled me a bit and I couldn't tell what it was. Cindy was with me, so I asked her to get it off me. She later shared that there was no way she was going to swat that thing with her hand, so she grabbed a towel. After swinging at me a couple of times with a little of bit yelling and laughing, she was able to get it off me. Of course, we had been cleaning up, so some food went flying, as well. When I asked where the bug was, she said it was in the towel, which was lying on the floor with the spilled food. When I looked, I was shocked to see the 'monster' on the floor. Jon saved me from having to 'kill' it by doing it for me; but I called in those who wanted to see it. I must say it looked to be a cricket about one inch wide and at least 4 inches long. Everyone was pretty grossed out by it; but then the 'fishing' stories started and that thing grew to be about two feet in no time at all. LOL! Laura shared that her dad had jumped up from the table with our first shriek and was rushing to 'save' us.
Well, it's now late; and I must close.
Much love & many hugs, Pam
First, please pray for Ida and Keith, as they are away from us for the night (Friday) in Livingtone. They are scheduled to meet with their lawyer in the morning concerning the adoption of Mutiba. Thus far, these 'appointments' have not come to fruition. So, their request is to pray for this to happen as scheduled.
Next, we've encouraged our youth to blog for us all. Can you tell?!? Most impressive, too, wouldn't you agree? My thoughts are quite scrambled, so I may not make as much sense as I'd like. It's also late; and I've haven't been getting much sleep. No surprise there, as I don't usually need much. I am feeling foggy; but here goes. Spending time with all ages of 'kids' (pre-school, OVC, and basic school) has been fun and fantastic. They all follow us around, climb on us, want to play with us, talk to us, and call us 'teacher, teacher'. It is so endearing, yet so bittersweet, as we can't possibly do everything with everyone. Jesus Quest was been so interesting! My large 'small group' has shared such storms in their lives as hunger, poverty or being poor, and having no roof or shelter over their heads. Many are orphans, but they shared that Jesus loved them and they were alive. Then, we did a 'three-legged' relay race which they seemed to love and laughed almost hysterically. When I 'tried' explaining to the teacher that this was called a three-legged race, she interpreted for me. As they proceeded to grab one more person and 'tie' up one leg from each of them, it became quite obvious that even English speaking 'teachers' did not always understand. Bryan and I watched in amazement, as they hobbled, tripped,and laughed even harder doing a 'four-legged' race with three people. When asked what game they liked the best thus far, they exclaimed the 'three-legged' race they had just run! Even these 'teachers' were calling us teachers, as we helped Ben (and Cindy) with our instructional computer labs. I worked with two women in one of our sessions, and they remarked that I was such a good computer teacher. Will wonders never cease! Don't laugh, Donald!
When Emily, Cindy, and I had our opportunity to participate in one of the 'outreach' programs (translation: away from Mwandi and the mission, and quite possibly near to or 'in' the bush), we traveled with 4 local volunteers and one medical technician. We went to one of the 'under five' clinics and helped with immunizations for these little ones. We helped weigh babies, record important data, administer drugs and even ended up playing games with the village children and older siblings. Cindy taught them Tag; Duck, Duck, Goose; Ring Around the Rosie; and Emily helped with the Hokey Pokey. I was able to help Emily with Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and the Macarena (sp?). Then, to help calm all that enthusiasm, I suggested Pictionary in the sand. Though skeptical, Emily went for it. I ran back and forth, asking our volunteers for the African names of the animals she was drawing. What happened, though, was these kids just started copying everything she was drawing. It became so 'quiet' yet so revealing. Talent like you wouldn't believe unfolded before our very eyes. And, all of this outside a mud hut with a thatched roof while drawing in the sand! The tragedy was seeing the three and a half foot high destruction on all of the village huts from the recent flooding, yet then finding joy, acceptance, and peace in these fascinating people. Thankfully, only one of the children who came to the clinic had not gained weight. His mother rode back with us into Mwandi to the hospital so she could get supplemental food. Then, our driver drove her back to the village. We were in Kasaya, next to the Kasai River.
Well, tonight we had another first. We've been hearing about very large insects but not really seeing any. (Everything is larger here: giant impatiens and other flowers, lizards and reptiles, and trees and bushes.) We've even had a quite large 'flat-bodied' spider (an Arachnid, NOT an insect!), one of the 'good' kind, living in one of the girls' bathrooms. In fact, we named said spider George Herald Simon, the first........Sir George, for short. But, tonight in the kitchen I heard a very loud, insect-like noise and then felt a tickle on my neck. I turned to see some sort of 'giant' insect on my shoulder. I must admit that it startled me a bit and I couldn't tell what it was. Cindy was with me, so I asked her to get it off me. She later shared that there was no way she was going to swat that thing with her hand, so she grabbed a towel. After swinging at me a couple of times with a little of bit yelling and laughing, she was able to get it off me. Of course, we had been cleaning up, so some food went flying, as well. When I asked where the bug was, she said it was in the towel, which was lying on the floor with the spilled food. When I looked, I was shocked to see the 'monster' on the floor. Jon saved me from having to 'kill' it by doing it for me; but I called in those who wanted to see it. I must say it looked to be a cricket about one inch wide and at least 4 inches long. Everyone was pretty grossed out by it; but then the 'fishing' stories started and that thing grew to be about two feet in no time at all. LOL! Laura shared that her dad had jumped up from the table with our first shriek and was rushing to 'save' us.
Well, it's now late; and I must close.
Much love & many hugs, Pam
its all so indescrible.. how do i describe it?
as you can see from my title, the last 7 days have been so absolutly amazing, theres no words to describe all the mixed emotions weve faced. Joy, faith, worry, doubt, fear, love, and adventure to say the least. Ive experianced so many things in the last 7 days that i dont know where to start. Its also 11 here, and I'm not sure if i start ill be able to stop. Weve all been short on sleep- and I'm blogging right at this moment for the sole reason Jon told me to. So ill leave you with this- I always love traveling, yet doing to for the lord- and having more meaning to the trip, makes it so much more worth while. Its got me thinking about how I want to continue mission work all over the world as the years continue, and continue, and continue. For all of you at home(particually my mom) just know that my trip has been absolutly great.
One week down- One week to go.
Love from Mwandi,
Mary
One week down- One week to go.
Love from Mwandi,
Mary
parents, you should be proud!
Hey there!
I have to say to all parents who are reading this that you should be incredibly proud of your kids. I am so impressed, amused, and inspired by every one of them. They are stepping out of their comfort zones, taking on challenges, working hard, dealing with more "time stress" than I ever expected for Africa, relating well, sharing and processing their experiences, thinking through things in neat ways, and making me laugh. It's really great getting to share this experience with all of them and I feel so blessed to be here.
My big Africa moment today was needing to "rescue" Pam from a bug the size of a small mouse that was crawling on her shoulder in the kitchen. This was the kind of Africa-sized bug that I have always been afraid of. I only let out a few shrieks disturbing everyone's dinner as I flicked it off of her with a towel. Ack!
I'm not much of a blogger and people have put things much more profoundly than I can, but I can say that it really is a great experience to be here. Mwandi is much more beautiful than I expected with the tropical plants and the Zambezi views. I've really enjoyed working with the teachers and getting them set up on the laptops and am proud to be a member of "Nerds without Borders". The presentation of the laptops at the school was an amazing moment--surreal, humbling, and inspiring. The children are adorable and seem to love "Ring around the Rosey" and other games we've been able to come up with. It's been so fun playing with the kids--if you pick one up you immediately have the rest of the group reaching up their arms saying "Ni Na" ("Me too.) They seem to soak up any attention we give them. I've enjoyed trying to pick up on the native language, Losi, and people are so excited when you speak to them in that language. (I've been surprised that there has been as much of a language gap as there is here. I was thinking that English was more what they spoke here with only some people speaking more Losi. Even though adults all speak English, the kids we encounter use Losi and the younger the child the less likely they will speak English). The work of the mission is far-reaching and inspiring and it is exciting to be an encouragement and a tangible support. I'd love for us to figure out ways we can continue to partner with them!
Thank you so much for your prayers. I do have a sense of being upheld in them: Team dynamics are great, everyone has stayed healthy, we're having meaningful team time and I think we are providing encouragement, inspiration and support for people here while at the same time we are learning a lot!!
One of the challenges is definitely exhaustion so I'm going to sign off here so I can try to get some sleep tonight. (You should hear the amazing night and morning noises around here).
Hope all is well! Comments to this blog really are great in feeling like we are all together in this trip so keep them coming. (We definitely had a lot of team members blogging tonight, mostly of their own free will... :-) )
Blessings,
Cindy
p.s. Sara and Doug -did you ever get your answer about Hippo House? It is just the name of the house that we're doing work on--don't think there's any particular significance to its name...
I have to say to all parents who are reading this that you should be incredibly proud of your kids. I am so impressed, amused, and inspired by every one of them. They are stepping out of their comfort zones, taking on challenges, working hard, dealing with more "time stress" than I ever expected for Africa, relating well, sharing and processing their experiences, thinking through things in neat ways, and making me laugh. It's really great getting to share this experience with all of them and I feel so blessed to be here.
My big Africa moment today was needing to "rescue" Pam from a bug the size of a small mouse that was crawling on her shoulder in the kitchen. This was the kind of Africa-sized bug that I have always been afraid of. I only let out a few shrieks disturbing everyone's dinner as I flicked it off of her with a towel. Ack!
I'm not much of a blogger and people have put things much more profoundly than I can, but I can say that it really is a great experience to be here. Mwandi is much more beautiful than I expected with the tropical plants and the Zambezi views. I've really enjoyed working with the teachers and getting them set up on the laptops and am proud to be a member of "Nerds without Borders". The presentation of the laptops at the school was an amazing moment--surreal, humbling, and inspiring. The children are adorable and seem to love "Ring around the Rosey" and other games we've been able to come up with. It's been so fun playing with the kids--if you pick one up you immediately have the rest of the group reaching up their arms saying "Ni Na" ("Me too.) They seem to soak up any attention we give them. I've enjoyed trying to pick up on the native language, Losi, and people are so excited when you speak to them in that language. (I've been surprised that there has been as much of a language gap as there is here. I was thinking that English was more what they spoke here with only some people speaking more Losi. Even though adults all speak English, the kids we encounter use Losi and the younger the child the less likely they will speak English). The work of the mission is far-reaching and inspiring and it is exciting to be an encouragement and a tangible support. I'd love for us to figure out ways we can continue to partner with them!
Thank you so much for your prayers. I do have a sense of being upheld in them: Team dynamics are great, everyone has stayed healthy, we're having meaningful team time and I think we are providing encouragement, inspiration and support for people here while at the same time we are learning a lot!!
One of the challenges is definitely exhaustion so I'm going to sign off here so I can try to get some sleep tonight. (You should hear the amazing night and morning noises around here).
Hope all is well! Comments to this blog really are great in feeling like we are all together in this trip so keep them coming. (We definitely had a lot of team members blogging tonight, mostly of their own free will... :-) )
Blessings,
Cindy
p.s. Sara and Doug -did you ever get your answer about Hippo House? It is just the name of the house that we're doing work on--don't think there's any particular significance to its name...
Blogging for the sake of blogging
It was suggested to me today that I express myself through this blog more often as it has been noted that my mother has requested so. It saddens me to think that this blog has become the ever important presence during our after dinner festivities. The sense of community that seems omniscient in our wonderful host country of Zambia is undermined by the solidarity that is consuming the majority of the members of our group. I am secluding myself for this blog only because of the prior mentioned suggestion that has been made known. I understand the importance of letting the people that have been left behind know of our experiences and adventures, yet elevating it to a mandatory status within the confines of this mission is a concept that seems more foreign to me than this continent that I now reside. On another note, my experience here, with the sole exception of this web log, has been one of the best of my life, and my spirit is joyful for that. Thank you for reading my pessimistic banter and allowing me to peacefully vent, and I assure you that attitude should remain quite pleasant away from this blog.
-Austin
-Austin
I feel quite lame for not blogging thus far. I tried a few days ago but half of it got deleted right toward the end, so I didn't post it. Then later that day I tried again but didn't have time to finish, so I didn't post it and I just saved it. But by now that one is completely outdated. So I am starting fresh in the hopes of finally making a valid post to our ever growing blog.
We have been pretty busy so far, some are more crunched for time here than in the U.S. But, we were discussing tonight during devotions how you might have more free time in the states to spend with God, but you don't necessarily look for God in the activitied throughtout the day. here we meet God in many places. I think though that we see God more here because we know we can and are supposed to see him here. But we don't really look so hard at home to find Him because we don't know we are supposed to. I need to work on looking harder for God in all of life wherever it may be. Most every night we share in our group where we saw God that day. I have seen God in our team here, they are so loving and genuinely caring. One of my favorite things that happens a lot is when we are all just laughing at once. especially at night when we get the giggles. I just see God in this happiness. Another place I see God in Keith and Ida (the couple in charge of many things at the mission and our hosts.) They are so incredibly faithful it is amazing. There are a lot of things that go wrong or are frustrating here, but every night when we pray or talk they say they had a great day and thank God for it. Yesterday my word for the day was Peace. I saw God in the peace that I found when I went on the Under 5 relief trip to Kasaya. We weighted the children and recorded and have vaccinations if needed. For a lot of the day however I just got to play with the kids that were in teh village. At one point toward the end I had one little one on my lap fot an hour and she just fit right into me. I was also surrounded by about 8 other kids and all I did was draw something in the sand with my finger and they would copy it. they were actually quite good at it and we did that for a long time. I just felt a sense of peace and calmness. Today i saw God in the opportunity for Kathy (a vet student at CSU) to give birth to a cow and perform surgery on it. That was such an amazing experience for her and she was so peppy nand excited about it later. I was very thankful that God gave her that blessing and happiness. There are really too many things to blog about but hopefully the others will touch on the things I have not. you might notice from Austins and Dans that we are in a silly mood tonight and Dan was actually speed skating around the room so that had us loughing pretty hard. I hope that all are well there and I miss you and love you!
Hugs and kisses. Emily
We have been pretty busy so far, some are more crunched for time here than in the U.S. But, we were discussing tonight during devotions how you might have more free time in the states to spend with God, but you don't necessarily look for God in the activitied throughtout the day. here we meet God in many places. I think though that we see God more here because we know we can and are supposed to see him here. But we don't really look so hard at home to find Him because we don't know we are supposed to. I need to work on looking harder for God in all of life wherever it may be. Most every night we share in our group where we saw God that day. I have seen God in our team here, they are so loving and genuinely caring. One of my favorite things that happens a lot is when we are all just laughing at once. especially at night when we get the giggles. I just see God in this happiness. Another place I see God in Keith and Ida (the couple in charge of many things at the mission and our hosts.) They are so incredibly faithful it is amazing. There are a lot of things that go wrong or are frustrating here, but every night when we pray or talk they say they had a great day and thank God for it. Yesterday my word for the day was Peace. I saw God in the peace that I found when I went on the Under 5 relief trip to Kasaya. We weighted the children and recorded and have vaccinations if needed. For a lot of the day however I just got to play with the kids that were in teh village. At one point toward the end I had one little one on my lap fot an hour and she just fit right into me. I was also surrounded by about 8 other kids and all I did was draw something in the sand with my finger and they would copy it. they were actually quite good at it and we did that for a long time. I just felt a sense of peace and calmness. Today i saw God in the opportunity for Kathy (a vet student at CSU) to give birth to a cow and perform surgery on it. That was such an amazing experience for her and she was so peppy nand excited about it later. I was very thankful that God gave her that blessing and happiness. There are really too many things to blog about but hopefully the others will touch on the things I have not. you might notice from Austins and Dans that we are in a silly mood tonight and Dan was actually speed skating around the room so that had us loughing pretty hard. I hope that all are well there and I miss you and love you!
Hugs and kisses. Emily
My Nursing Career
Today I traveled with Austin Ben and Ellie. We went off the mission and out of Mwandi with a group of doctors to an adult AIDs clinic. After we split up I ended up at a desk checking vitals with a nurse. As the first patient sat in front of us she handed me a book and told me to get the temperature, bodyweight, and BP. I stumbled with my words just long enough for her to realize I had no idea what I was doing. Soon after I was measuring and recording weight, height, blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. It was an amazing learning experience but an exhausting day. It was dissappoiting that I couldn't talk to any of the patients but I did get a chance to talk to our driver and paul th doctor. The driver told me his favorite sport was car racing which explained why we drove down dirt roads at 120 km/hr.
thoughts from Laura and Dan
Dan and I had the opportunity to go with the Maano group on Thursday. (Laura's laughing too hard to type a comprehensive sentence so her blogging privileges have been revoked) Dan speaking: the day was very special although i did have my mother's reservations from 10,000 miles away ringing in my head. 50 kilometers in the bed of a truck in africa with people i've never met to go talk about AIDS in a high school. questionable behavior from the looks of it. But after Laura and mine's mutual embarassment at the basic school in the morning, we had a fantastic experience in the city of sisheki--the local food, the people, and our experience at the high school really was amazing. the day was a day of firsts in countless ways. I know katie and I played with the scenario of me meeting an exotic african princess...well...not yet but i did get to ride in the cab of the truck with the prince of Mwandi for a good hour...and incredibly intelligent man...wowza. nayways, the week continues to amaze me. one down and one to go. we'll see where life goes from here. though we're debatably busier here than we are on a day to day basis in the states (definitely, if you're referring to those last few lazy weeks of high school). yet the businiess...is hardly stressful to me. we were discussing as a group tonight why it's easier to see God in a place life Africa and I was struck by emily's answer, and that was that we're expected to look for his presence constantly...because everyone see's God here, obviously, we are supposed to. Yet looking for God's presence in our lives is not so constant at home. I very much believe that his presence is no less in Colorado than it is in Mwandi...That's not our God. therefore, i'm looking forward to recognizing how God reveals himself to me in Fort Collins...Greeley...etc. though it may be inherently different. I encourage you all to do the same since you can't be here with me...and that does sadden me, i hope you know...especially you, mom and dad. turn it over to Laura?...yes.
its Laura again- (dan is currently speed skating around the sitting room- the floors here are very very slippery) our trip with Maano was quite the experience- we not only embarassed ourselves, but we also got the opportunity to talk to a classroom ful of 11th graders about abstinance. we answered questions about drugs, sex, American sexuality and porn. It was very interesting, and really fun.
today I finally got to spend alot of time in the Hippo house, jean and I learned how to tile and tiled the shower, a new skill to take home.
tomorow Rocket will be making an appearance at the OVC at 10 o'clock!!! your prayers would be greatly appreciated.
Even though we're all half way across the world, our thoughts and prayers are also back at home with those we love.
Love you momma! it was nice to hear from you today! kissy kissy
its Laura again- (dan is currently speed skating around the sitting room- the floors here are very very slippery) our trip with Maano was quite the experience- we not only embarassed ourselves, but we also got the opportunity to talk to a classroom ful of 11th graders about abstinance. we answered questions about drugs, sex, American sexuality and porn. It was very interesting, and really fun.
today I finally got to spend alot of time in the Hippo house, jean and I learned how to tile and tiled the shower, a new skill to take home.
tomorow Rocket will be making an appearance at the OVC at 10 o'clock!!! your prayers would be greatly appreciated.
Even though we're all half way across the world, our thoughts and prayers are also back at home with those we love.
Love you momma! it was nice to hear from you today! kissy kissy
Are we there yet?
Arriving in Africa has been one of the strangest experiences that most of us have been through. Life here is about 10 times as hectic as it was in the US of A, so I really haven't had the time to sit back and contemplate Zambia and even Mwandi as a whole, or blog. Some of the highlights of the trip (for me at least), is when one of the teachers at the school asked me if I was a Republican or a Democrat. I swelled up with pride as I explained to him my views, though I seem to be in a minority here (Ron Paul '08!!). The nice thing about having internet here is I can keep up on the Huskers game timer (84 days, 21 hours, 17 minutes, and 52 seconds until the kickoff of the Western Michigan game). The thing I dislike about the internet access is the sense that this isn't Africa... at all. We are sitting in the main "lodge" meeting place, and there are 9 people on Laptops. The boy's dormitory is literally 10 feet from a tributary that is linked to the Zambezi, which is pretty cool. Our hosts are some of the most inspiring people I have met, the work they have done here is just amazing. Pam and I went to the pre-School today and had the best times of our lives. Sorry for the randomness of this post, my bed is calling me and I didn't have time to organize this letter very well. Everything is just swell here in Mwandi, and hope everything going well in Fort Collins.
Go Huskers!!!
Go Huskers!!!
Visual Evidence
Here are a collection of photos taken by Bryan Willson and provided via CSU to our blog. The transfer rates are so slow here that other measures had to taken to provide them to the blog.
Best day of my life (warngin some graphic medical content)
Well I could have never had guessed when I got up this morning that the Lord had such great plans for my day. I was on my way to do construction work just like the rest of the group when I was pulled aside by one of our Scottish Hosts that work for the mission and He told me there was an emergency and the vet for this area couldn't be found so could I please come help. Well I grabed my suitcase full of donated medical supllies jumped in the car and off we went into the village of Mwandi. We went to one of the local farmers hut to look at a cow that had been in labor for two days. The cow looked as thought she was dead when we got there but she was still breathing and trying to survive. The cow had a dead calf hanging out of her that she had been trying to give birht to for two whole days. Just imagine no pain meds, no shade, no food, no water, thorns poking you in the face, and you have been in labor for over 48 hours and then you might be able to imagine the condition of this cow. The Lord Jesus strengthened me with His Spirit and encouraged me to take action by giving me Pastor Victor (who also is a veterinary officer) to work with me and help me try and save this animals life. I have know ever since I arriced at Mwandi that God intended for me to be hear in this moment and at the place from the begining of time and that Pastor Vicotr, Ruri(the Scottish missionary) and I were all meant to work together and perform the first ever cow surgery ever done in this entire history of this Area in Zamia. Why the Lord me to have such a privelged blessing of performing this C- section surgery and chose me to show the people in Mwandi about how the Lord Jesus loves them and wants to bless there life with there animals being taken care of and recieveing free veterinary work. A real break through in the mission field happen today for this area of Zambia they have seen that even veterinarians are sent by Jesus to help improve the quality of life for this community. Laying on the ground in the sand, manure, thorns, and bugs of Zambia with my arm inside a cow blood running down my arm, placental fluid spraying in my face, the hot African sun beating down on me was the atmosphere that staged the best day of my life. In summary I have a great story to share with you and all who aske me when I get home about my time and Zabmiba and today I hope you will be encouraged about the Great Love of Jesus that transformed my life so much that I am able to bless people in Zambia with the gift of veterinary medicine and animal care. I purposely didn't tell you the endo of this story and hope you will ask me when I get back about the first C-section that I ever have done in my life and the FIRST C-Section and COW SURGERY EVER DONE in MWANDI. What a historical day it has been may this go down in the History books as the day Jesus showed his Love to the people in Mwandi, Zambia by sending support from America in the form of a young veterinary student with a bunch of random donated medical supplies and a Scottish lawyer and Zambian Pastor for Assistant team mates.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Nerds Without Borders
Hello everyone,
This trip is the inaugural mission trip of Nerds Without Borders (why should the Doctors have all the fun?) and it has been going extremely well. We have had several great, but full days with the computer lab. Other than the fact that I killed one of our surge protectors by plugging it into the 220V wall outlet (DOH!) and we had one mouse stop working, everything is going smoothly.
Yesterday we had a great (and humbling) presentation by the Mwandi Basic School to thank us for bringing the lab. The presentation included drums, dancing and a great speech by the PTA chairman which Jon already posted. WOW! One year ago, if you would have told me that I would be sitting in a village in Zambia getting to experience a very heart-felt thanks from the teachers, students and PTA because we brough COMPUTERS there, I would have called you crazy. God's plans are HUGE and wonderful. Thank you to all who donated to and worked on the computer lab -- especially Dave Randall, Ed Carpenter and Cleon Kimberling. That thanks is for you as well. Fortunately Brian captured video and still photos of the event for you to see when we return.
The "nerds" (students/leaders) on our team are also surprising because they're not nerds by trade, but they're doing a great job teaching the Mwandi School teachers how to use their new laptops. Brian captured some great photos of Emily teaching a 60+ year-old teacher how to use a computer (I think he's working on posting it tonight). Every single student on our team has mentioned how much fun it has been and how receptive the teachers are to their instruction. The students are doing a great job -- the teachers are learning and having fun.
I've been working one-on-one with Oliver, who will be the computer lab administrator when we leave Mwandi. We've spent 8 hours together now, with another 8 to go before next Tuesday. He has been catching on fast. Oliver has learned all of the building blocks required to set up the lab except for connecting the printer. We've taken detailed notes for him to use. Next time we meet he is going to start with everything disconnected/de-configured and get the entire lab running on his own.
it's funny that there are piles of junky computers all over the computer room. I doubt they have even been turned on. I also found a book that came with them containing "Easy" step-by-step instructions on how to use them. This trip is so exciting because we have been teaching people here using practical "lab" assignments that Cindy and I have worked to create. I'm so glad Cindy is on this trip to help given the fact that she is an ex-nerd by trade and has been a HUGE help in creating the computer lab modules. We are doing this trip right -- by being here we have been good stewards of the money God has given us for this.
Here are the things the teachers have already learned or will learn in our 4 classes with them:
1. turning on the computers, using a mouse, typing
2. creating a simple word document
3. creating a simple power point presentation about themselves (with a photo). Our team is going to do the same and we're going to swap information so we can keep faces with names.
4. simple arithmetic in Excel and using Excel to track student grades.
5. In our next class the students will create a network folder for themselves, learn to use the printer/scanner and play around with the digital camera, play CD/DVD, etc.
I cannot describe how AWESOME this experience has been. It has been fun watching the whole team get behind the computer instruction. It has been fun to see how EXCITED the school is to have a modern computer lab. I wish I could describe this better, but all I can say is that God is definitely with us and this is definitely the Holy Spirit's "Power Trip" I thought it would be.
Thank you for your prayers. They are working.
Ben
This trip is the inaugural mission trip of Nerds Without Borders (why should the Doctors have all the fun?) and it has been going extremely well. We have had several great, but full days with the computer lab. Other than the fact that I killed one of our surge protectors by plugging it into the 220V wall outlet (DOH!) and we had one mouse stop working, everything is going smoothly.
Yesterday we had a great (and humbling) presentation by the Mwandi Basic School to thank us for bringing the lab. The presentation included drums, dancing and a great speech by the PTA chairman which Jon already posted. WOW! One year ago, if you would have told me that I would be sitting in a village in Zambia getting to experience a very heart-felt thanks from the teachers, students and PTA because we brough COMPUTERS there, I would have called you crazy. God's plans are HUGE and wonderful. Thank you to all who donated to and worked on the computer lab -- especially Dave Randall, Ed Carpenter and Cleon Kimberling. That thanks is for you as well. Fortunately Brian captured video and still photos of the event for you to see when we return.
The "nerds" (students/leaders) on our team are also surprising because they're not nerds by trade, but they're doing a great job teaching the Mwandi School teachers how to use their new laptops. Brian captured some great photos of Emily teaching a 60+ year-old teacher how to use a computer (I think he's working on posting it tonight). Every single student on our team has mentioned how much fun it has been and how receptive the teachers are to their instruction. The students are doing a great job -- the teachers are learning and having fun.
I've been working one-on-one with Oliver, who will be the computer lab administrator when we leave Mwandi. We've spent 8 hours together now, with another 8 to go before next Tuesday. He has been catching on fast. Oliver has learned all of the building blocks required to set up the lab except for connecting the printer. We've taken detailed notes for him to use. Next time we meet he is going to start with everything disconnected/de-configured and get the entire lab running on his own.
it's funny that there are piles of junky computers all over the computer room. I doubt they have even been turned on. I also found a book that came with them containing "Easy" step-by-step instructions on how to use them. This trip is so exciting because we have been teaching people here using practical "lab" assignments that Cindy and I have worked to create. I'm so glad Cindy is on this trip to help given the fact that she is an ex-nerd by trade and has been a HUGE help in creating the computer lab modules. We are doing this trip right -- by being here we have been good stewards of the money God has given us for this.
Here are the things the teachers have already learned or will learn in our 4 classes with them:
1. turning on the computers, using a mouse, typing
2. creating a simple word document
3. creating a simple power point presentation about themselves (with a photo). Our team is going to do the same and we're going to swap information so we can keep faces with names.
4. simple arithmetic in Excel and using Excel to track student grades.
5. In our next class the students will create a network folder for themselves, learn to use the printer/scanner and play around with the digital camera, play CD/DVD, etc.
I cannot describe how AWESOME this experience has been. It has been fun watching the whole team get behind the computer instruction. It has been fun to see how EXCITED the school is to have a modern computer lab. I wish I could describe this better, but all I can say is that God is definitely with us and this is definitely the Holy Spirit's "Power Trip" I thought it would be.
Thank you for your prayers. They are working.
Ben
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
photo
Uploading photos is really, really slow - the last one was of our team at Victoria falls. This is from the computer presentation ceremony. Jesus Quest went much better yesterday and computer training remains amazing as our students are now the teachers and have been very well recieved in their new role and are doing a great job. Jean, Ryan and Mary had an amazing day yesterday as they went rural making presentations promoting abstinance and/or faithfulness to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS as well as the destructive behaviors of drug and alcohol abuse. Today Laura and Dan are making similar presentations including at the High School in Sesekee while Emily, Pam and Cindy are going on a 5 and under outreach in the rural areas with staff from the hospital. Those trips are all all day. I will be headed out in a moment to tour an outpost clinic that was set up out of the hospital here which is going to be renovated by another group out of Ireland and supported by the Jesuits (Andrew should love that!). I hope this photo comes through and quickly. Love and miss you all - I have never felt the sustained power of peoples prayers the way I am feeling it on this trip. - Jon
PTA Chairperson speach
To: Our Cooperative Partners (Colorado)
From: P.T.A. Chairperson (Mwandi)
As a P.T.A. Chairperson I stand here humbled to witness this guesture. You have introduced us into the world of information technology. As you are aware, we all in this era today belong to the computer age. To us who were lagging behind in this regard, your kindness has made us come up with the rest of the world. This is a real mile stone forward, not only for our teachers and pupils, but to all our community members, as we will, in the long run be intelectually sound.
It has always been our dream and hope to have a state of the art basic school and a high school which is to commence in 2009, your kindness has put us into the right direction, it is a good starting point for our computer laboratory and we will need to build a block of toilets, library, practical subjects workshops and an administration block, we strongly hope that, you will always be there for us and help Mwandi build their historic state of the art high school.
We want to thank you again. May God bless you as you return back home, may God bless Colorado, may God bless America, may God bless Africa.
From: P.T.A. Chairperson (Mwandi)
As a P.T.A. Chairperson I stand here humbled to witness this guesture. You have introduced us into the world of information technology. As you are aware, we all in this era today belong to the computer age. To us who were lagging behind in this regard, your kindness has made us come up with the rest of the world. This is a real mile stone forward, not only for our teachers and pupils, but to all our community members, as we will, in the long run be intelectually sound.
It has always been our dream and hope to have a state of the art basic school and a high school which is to commence in 2009, your kindness has put us into the right direction, it is a good starting point for our computer laboratory and we will need to build a block of toilets, library, practical subjects workshops and an administration block, we strongly hope that, you will always be there for us and help Mwandi build their historic state of the art high school.
We want to thank you again. May God bless you as you return back home, may God bless Colorado, may God bless America, may God bless Africa.
Amazing
Life here is very, very full. Yesterday I started by delivering food to elderly people, did some renovation work, attempted a pastoral visit to the doctor but only talked to his wife and two boys who are the same age as my boys, did the staff devotional at the OVC, played volleyball with orphans, tried to run the chaos of Jesus Quest, taught teachers the basics of turning on a computer, shutting it down and creating, saving, and modifying a document, commissioned an african cross to be carved, had dinner and attempted to fairly distribute and organize some of the opportunities we have for today. So far today we have worked on the hippo house (a guest house - all the guest houses are named for animals here) and we had a total blast at a ceremony where we presented the computers for the school. They danced, drumed and sang for us which was just amazing. I got a copy of the speach made by the chairperson of the PTO that I hope to post later today. I am and have been filled with Joy yesterday and today and think you all must be praying. I can't believe we have been here less than 3 days. We are seeing, doing and experiencing more I think than many do in a long life. Time to run to lunch and fine tune a very revised Jesus Quest.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Quote for the day
"The death of an old man (or woman) is like a burning library!"
This from a teacher at the local school. Also, had much time this AM taking 'goodie' bags to the residents at Kandiana (retirement/old folks' home) and then visiting. Took lots of pictures. Everyone was so excited to see us, again. More God in the faces of the Zambian people. Also, had the village's local carvers come to the mission this evening with all of their artwork. Most of us were able to 'support' them by purchasing carvings. Yea!!!
God bless you all! Keep those comments coming. Dinner time......
More hugs, Pam
This from a teacher at the local school. Also, had much time this AM taking 'goodie' bags to the residents at Kandiana (retirement/old folks' home) and then visiting. Took lots of pictures. Everyone was so excited to see us, again. More God in the faces of the Zambian people. Also, had the village's local carvers come to the mission this evening with all of their artwork. Most of us were able to 'support' them by purchasing carvings. Yea!!!
God bless you all! Keep those comments coming. Dinner time......
More hugs, Pam
Power Trip update #1
Lots of updates on the 'Power Trip'. You can see my first blog for an explanation.
Here are some of the things I've observed that have shown us God's transforming power on this trip:
1. Probably my favorite was when we visited the retirement home yesterday here on the mission. All of the residents were extremely excited to see us! One elderly man went into his home and brought out a chair for Dan to sit in. The two couldn't talk due to the communication barrier, but Dan just sat there with him and they both enjoyed each other's company.
Meanwhile Austin, Laura (others?) were dancing with one elderly lady that has more moves than a can of worms.
2. The mission hospital visit yesterday was tough for all of us, but Laura took the time to stroke a sick child's head for a while and found that the mother was appreciative of her caring.
3. We were all in awe at seeing God at work through Keith and Ida. Those two keep so many things running smoothly at once that it is amazing. Plus, they are always working. Keith told me that it is only by God's grace that he has found the power to keep working like this, pacing himself and finding rest.
4. We got to worship at the chapel with locals and it was awesome to hear them sing hymns in their African chorus. It gave us the sense of the unity of God's Kingdom.
5. Cindy and I started teaching the Mission School teachers how to use the laptops today. They were very excited about it and loved the typing programs. Two of the teachers already made a power point presentation. For example, I worked with Oliver who teaches shop. He made a powerpoint presentation on the types of trees and included clip art. We are teaching some computer basics 30 teachers this afternoon!!! It has been fun to see God faithfully working to complete this long computer lab project.
That's all for now. Please keep praying for us! Personally, I could use prayers for sleep. Last night my body was still on CO time and I was awake until 2am Zambia time. Then I had to get up at 6am to get breakfast and meet with the teachers. Also, please post comments to these blogs as you read them! The team has been encouraged by your responses so far (not that you need to comment on this one :).
Now it's off to do our first Jesus Quest camp day!
Ben
Here are some of the things I've observed that have shown us God's transforming power on this trip:
1. Probably my favorite was when we visited the retirement home yesterday here on the mission. All of the residents were extremely excited to see us! One elderly man went into his home and brought out a chair for Dan to sit in. The two couldn't talk due to the communication barrier, but Dan just sat there with him and they both enjoyed each other's company.
Meanwhile Austin, Laura (others?) were dancing with one elderly lady that has more moves than a can of worms.
2. The mission hospital visit yesterday was tough for all of us, but Laura took the time to stroke a sick child's head for a while and found that the mother was appreciative of her caring.
3. We were all in awe at seeing God at work through Keith and Ida. Those two keep so many things running smoothly at once that it is amazing. Plus, they are always working. Keith told me that it is only by God's grace that he has found the power to keep working like this, pacing himself and finding rest.
4. We got to worship at the chapel with locals and it was awesome to hear them sing hymns in their African chorus. It gave us the sense of the unity of God's Kingdom.
5. Cindy and I started teaching the Mission School teachers how to use the laptops today. They were very excited about it and loved the typing programs. Two of the teachers already made a power point presentation. For example, I worked with Oliver who teaches shop. He made a powerpoint presentation on the types of trees and included clip art. We are teaching some computer basics 30 teachers this afternoon!!! It has been fun to see God faithfully working to complete this long computer lab project.
That's all for now. Please keep praying for us! Personally, I could use prayers for sleep. Last night my body was still on CO time and I was awake until 2am Zambia time. Then I had to get up at 6am to get breakfast and meet with the teachers. Also, please post comments to these blogs as you read them! The team has been encouraged by your responses so far (not that you need to comment on this one :).
Now it's off to do our first Jesus Quest camp day!
Ben
HIPPO HOUSE
Hi, computer problems; but I'll try to be brief. Our other big project, as Jon indicated is Hippo House rennovations. Yesterday we washed walls and took down curtains to try to clean. Today, we were able to begin scraping, finish washing, sweep ceilings and floors. We're off to our first Jesus Quest after lunch. Please pray for ease in working with 200 youth and for God's leading and direction for our plans and small groups. New word: "Chitenge" which translates to 'fabric art'. Tonight the local carver comes. Yea! Better run and eat.
God bless you and yours!
Hugs, Pam
God bless you and yours!
Hugs, Pam
Monday, June 2, 2008
URGENT Prayer update: Doctor John's resignment
It is still early Zambia time, we've only finished breakfast. Just an update for all you at home, but we are in definate need of prayers here. This morning we received the news that the doctor has resigned. Apparently things didn't hold up very well during the month Keith and Ida were gone. He said he would finish todays rounds and then he would be finished. Hopefully Keith and Ida gained an extra day by claiming that they havent accepted his resignation yet. Dr. John is the only doctor at the hospital at Mwandi, so this loss would absolutely devistate the hospital, as well as creating alot of stress for Keith and Ida. Jon and Cindy will probably be visiting him later in the day, giving him a little loving pastoral care. This announcement was so sudden and unexpected that everyone here is kind of in a frenzy, trying to figure out exactly what is going on. So please please please be praying for guidance for all those involved with this doctor fiasco today, especially Keith and Ida.
We also just received unfortunate word that Stella, a lovely lady who works in Simba (the house we're staying in), her mother has just passed away this morning.
Im just waiting around with my dad- were supposed to go into Livingstone today to get supplies for the Hippo house.
Blessings to all.
-Cheers-
We also just received unfortunate word that Stella, a lovely lady who works in Simba (the house we're staying in), her mother has just passed away this morning.
Im just waiting around with my dad- were supposed to go into Livingstone today to get supplies for the Hippo house.
Blessings to all.
-Cheers-
Zambia
So, it seesm a bit out of place that I am here in Zambia typing this. Not as strange, however, as the night in Johannesburg, which seemed only a continuation of the everlasting presence of western civilization. We have come so far, yet there is much that remains unchanged. I must bid you farewell, and good day.
Austin
Tuesday morn
now that the internet is working...
All is quite well for me over here. yesterday was really a special day. I was absolutely floored by how big this mission is. before coming here, i just pictured a few small buildings, and it just kept going. hospital, outpatient center, schools (including what will become a high school), elderly care, tb clinic, maternity ward...it just kept going and going. Keith and Ida really are special people and i have new appreciation for the energy they have to maintain...especially emotionally...to keep a place like this going as successfully as it is. Naturally, there are huge amounts of need here...I came here expecting that, but I am feeling hopeful that the people in this area have some kind of opportunity to obtain that help whereas TONS of people throughout this huge continent do not. I'm excited to see what kind of opportunities there will be for us to work around here...i expect it to be a lot. Ben is needing this computer now, and everything he needs to be doing is far more pressing than this....but hope everyone back home has a lovely day!!!!!!
dan
All is quite well for me over here. yesterday was really a special day. I was absolutely floored by how big this mission is. before coming here, i just pictured a few small buildings, and it just kept going. hospital, outpatient center, schools (including what will become a high school), elderly care, tb clinic, maternity ward...it just kept going and going. Keith and Ida really are special people and i have new appreciation for the energy they have to maintain...especially emotionally...to keep a place like this going as successfully as it is. Naturally, there are huge amounts of need here...I came here expecting that, but I am feeling hopeful that the people in this area have some kind of opportunity to obtain that help whereas TONS of people throughout this huge continent do not. I'm excited to see what kind of opportunities there will be for us to work around here...i expect it to be a lot. Ben is needing this computer now, and everything he needs to be doing is far more pressing than this....but hope everyone back home has a lovely day!!!!!!
dan
God is Everywhere
Hey All,
First an apology that nothing got posted yesterday. It was a busy day and while several of us were on computers at various points in the day yesterday none actually made there way here. When a few of us tried we encountered some problems getting on line. Second - thank you to all of you who are posting comments - it is encouraging and challenging - in a good way - to know of your thoughts and prayers.
I just finished a great breakfast - the food here and Mwandi has been far above our expectations - chicken on Sunday nights, hot dogs for Lunch yesterday, a great beef stew on rice last night, pancakes this morning. Dinner and Lunch always come with desert and there is always sweet tea, water and juice during and before meals with offerings of coffee and tea afterwards. Anyway I'm sitting about 20 yards from the Zambezie which is simply amazing on a nicely screened veranda. Our accomodations are very comfortable and pretty western yet it is clear we are in Africa both because we sit in all kinds of beautiful wooden furniture and there are some spectacular examples of local crafts - drums, baskets, carvings.
Yesterday was both great and hard for me. I couldn't wrap my head around all that they do here nor how they are organized. It also was hard to have a comprehensive tour and still really connect with people - this was particularly true at the hospital. Speaking of which please say some prayers as the Doctor said he was quitting this morning - it is supposidly political and our wonderful hosts are supposidly trying to deal with that brush fire right now. We saw the farm, the kandiana (old peoples home and former leper colony) both of which for me we really fun and exciting. Seeing the hospital was hard both because of our inability to connect with people and because at least for me it is not the place I have any real sense of calling to, seeing the school was awesome and the computer lab is going to be a home run. Our Jesus quest will be limited from our planned 8 days to 5 starting today and taking Thursday, Sunday and Monday off as well. I think this is for the best as it will allow us to do a better job but it was hard to hear as I think that will be a place of real connection. We stopped at the OVC (orphanage and vulerable children center) but didn't get the tour which will wait till we can meet with their staff. The under 5 day care was awsome as the kids sang for us but it was also a little heart breaking as over half of these kids are orphans but because they are associated with this aspect of the mission as opposed to the OVC they don't get the funding. We saw the church with the tree that Livingstone preached the gospel from based on his journal and finally worked our way to the hippo house that we will be doing some renovation work on. After lunch we met two representatives from Manu which is a faith based effort that encourages abstinance and fidelity. It was heartbreaking to here that there is a persistent myth that having sex with a 1 month (yes they said month) baby will cure HIV/AIDS. Some of us will be able to do an outreach later in the trip with some of these folks while others will do an under 5 outreach and the rest a relief/ARV outreach. After that we did a comprehensive tour of the hippo house and Bryan agreed to be our project leader there and we started cleaning. Kathy used some of the afternoon time to connect with the vet and we are going to be able to do some good work there. Cleaning took us to dinner and our team debriefing afterwards which was a real highlight for me. I was finally able to do some much needing processing after all that in bed and I think I realized my real calling here is the care of our group and that is a joy for me. Knowing what I can do and what I am called to do gave me great peace and I slept - though once again without the sleep aid I woke up around 2AM and sat there till about 4AM - at least it was good prayer time.
I'm seeing God work, I'm hearing him speak and while I am missing home and family I am glad to be here. Pray for today as from a adjusting to time stand point this is supposidly hump day - I'm tired. Though I just recieved a huge grace as I met Ru who handed me an "African Flyfishing" book and who is organizing some things for me to fish this weekend. He said they boated over 100 fish last Saturday and that it is only going to get better. I'm speaking about God calling Peter via fishing at Jesus Quest today - it is a place God gets me. Love to you all.
Jon
First an apology that nothing got posted yesterday. It was a busy day and while several of us were on computers at various points in the day yesterday none actually made there way here. When a few of us tried we encountered some problems getting on line. Second - thank you to all of you who are posting comments - it is encouraging and challenging - in a good way - to know of your thoughts and prayers.
I just finished a great breakfast - the food here and Mwandi has been far above our expectations - chicken on Sunday nights, hot dogs for Lunch yesterday, a great beef stew on rice last night, pancakes this morning. Dinner and Lunch always come with desert and there is always sweet tea, water and juice during and before meals with offerings of coffee and tea afterwards. Anyway I'm sitting about 20 yards from the Zambezie which is simply amazing on a nicely screened veranda. Our accomodations are very comfortable and pretty western yet it is clear we are in Africa both because we sit in all kinds of beautiful wooden furniture and there are some spectacular examples of local crafts - drums, baskets, carvings.
Yesterday was both great and hard for me. I couldn't wrap my head around all that they do here nor how they are organized. It also was hard to have a comprehensive tour and still really connect with people - this was particularly true at the hospital. Speaking of which please say some prayers as the Doctor said he was quitting this morning - it is supposidly political and our wonderful hosts are supposidly trying to deal with that brush fire right now. We saw the farm, the kandiana (old peoples home and former leper colony) both of which for me we really fun and exciting. Seeing the hospital was hard both because of our inability to connect with people and because at least for me it is not the place I have any real sense of calling to, seeing the school was awesome and the computer lab is going to be a home run. Our Jesus quest will be limited from our planned 8 days to 5 starting today and taking Thursday, Sunday and Monday off as well. I think this is for the best as it will allow us to do a better job but it was hard to hear as I think that will be a place of real connection. We stopped at the OVC (orphanage and vulerable children center) but didn't get the tour which will wait till we can meet with their staff. The under 5 day care was awsome as the kids sang for us but it was also a little heart breaking as over half of these kids are orphans but because they are associated with this aspect of the mission as opposed to the OVC they don't get the funding. We saw the church with the tree that Livingstone preached the gospel from based on his journal and finally worked our way to the hippo house that we will be doing some renovation work on. After lunch we met two representatives from Manu which is a faith based effort that encourages abstinance and fidelity. It was heartbreaking to here that there is a persistent myth that having sex with a 1 month (yes they said month) baby will cure HIV/AIDS. Some of us will be able to do an outreach later in the trip with some of these folks while others will do an under 5 outreach and the rest a relief/ARV outreach. After that we did a comprehensive tour of the hippo house and Bryan agreed to be our project leader there and we started cleaning. Kathy used some of the afternoon time to connect with the vet and we are going to be able to do some good work there. Cleaning took us to dinner and our team debriefing afterwards which was a real highlight for me. I was finally able to do some much needing processing after all that in bed and I think I realized my real calling here is the care of our group and that is a joy for me. Knowing what I can do and what I am called to do gave me great peace and I slept - though once again without the sleep aid I woke up around 2AM and sat there till about 4AM - at least it was good prayer time.
I'm seeing God work, I'm hearing him speak and while I am missing home and family I am glad to be here. Pray for today as from a adjusting to time stand point this is supposidly hump day - I'm tired. Though I just recieved a huge grace as I met Ru who handed me an "African Flyfishing" book and who is organizing some things for me to fish this weekend. He said they boated over 100 fish last Saturday and that it is only going to get better. I'm speaking about God calling Peter via fishing at Jesus Quest today - it is a place God gets me. Love to you all.
Jon
Sunday, June 1, 2008
The Big Kahuna
Today started off with a recopuerative sleep-filled morning, a delicious, filling and satisfying breakfast, and a flight that was most comfortable. We landed in Zambia and We Were Finally Here! we exchanged money and it was like 1 dollar= 3,390 local currency. The ride was nice, for we connected up with Kieth and Ida. Then we continued on to the 'falls. We returned soaked and renewed with a sense of Godly wonder about the place, thus seeing one of the famous Natural Wonders of the World. As we drove on to Mwandi, it was getting darker and the sun was rapidly catching up to the horizon. The sunset that ensued was stunningly breahtless. Immesurable beauty that stretched forth as far as the eye could see, well at least in that portion of the sky. We arrived safely at the mission had a wonderful dinner and goodbye i need to go to bed. bye.
Ryan.
Ryan.
Mwandi
Greetings, all! We're here at the Mwandi Mission. Keith and Ida are wonderful hosts. God answered so many prayers, as we sailed through customs. We had a minor glitch with me getting checked in today; but I managed to get onboard. Our hosts have a sweet young 16- month-old native boy named Mubita, so we all got our baby fill. They hope to adopt him. We stopped by Victoria Falls where we saw, felt, and heard our creator God in all God's majesty! An amazing natural wonder of the world......even saw a young man throw what appeared to be a spear across the top of the falls, and then proceed to swim across. At one point, the current seemed to be pulling him; but he powered up his stroke and swam to a small island. He actually had a fishing pole, NOT a spear. However, we saw no fish get caught. We ran across the long foot bridge to view lower parts of the falls and got soaked to the skin. What fun! Whee! We managed to stop at a market, too; but most of us resisted the temptation of shopping so quickly. We did look a bit, however. The native carver is supposed to come to the mission on Tuesday. Saw another of God's creations with a magnificent sunset turning various shades of brilliant purples and reds right before or eyes as the sun literally set on the horizon. Saw God here at the mission as we shared our first meal all together with beautiful faces around the table, great food on our plates, good conversation, many hands helping to clean up, and some insightful sharing during our devotional time together. But, now tiredness is creeping in; and this old lady must try to get some sleep. 'Til next time.......God is good!
Hugs, Pam
Hugs, Pam
Saturday, May 31, 2008
War Paint
Might be hard to see but these are photos of all of our faces after they were "painted" as a part of our african dinner. Some times being a tourist is fun!
Creme Brule
Wow, today has been one long day. The flight was long and mostly sleepless, yet enjoyable. After we went to the hotel which was stunning. I'm trying to be quick here so... I apologize for the lack of detail. We then went to Mandela Square, which was a huge mall. There they had the nicest cars I've ever seen; Ferrari's, Aston Martin's, Porsches, Mercedes. All on show in the center. For dinner we went to a fantastic dinner called Lekugotla or something like that. Exquisite! The buffet was most delicious. That's pretty much it. God Bless,
Ryan
Ryan
A night on Joburg
Hey, all! It's the old lady, again. Woo Hoo! As Jon said, we made it into town and to our hotel and had some excellent advice for an evening on the town. We headed to Nelson Mandela Square and had dinner at a totally African Restaurant by the name of Lekgotla. We had to try their buffet of beef ribs, shrimp curry, lamb chops, other meats, mixed veggies of every kind with all of the aforementioned seasoned with fascinating African spices, exotic desserts which included a mango creme brulee, specialty breads with spreads and salsas, and a couple of bottles of Cabernet shared by those of legal age. Our entertainment was a kind of Latin jazz, African style, with a crazy hip dancing 'little person'. And we all managed to have our faces painted.
Then, we did a quick stroll around the square and some shopping areas, all with fancy sports cars on exhibit both inside and out. Had to get some pictures with the Mandela statute, as well. All told, a nice night; but we felt like we were in any hip, large city anywhere in the world. Ah, but tomorrow, we imagine we will experience that culture shock we were anticipating, as we're off to Livingstone and then Mwandi. All are well. Remember: God is good, all the time. And, all the time, God is good.
Love & Hugs, Pam
Then, we did a quick stroll around the square and some shopping areas, all with fancy sports cars on exhibit both inside and out. Had to get some pictures with the Mandela statute, as well. All told, a nice night; but we felt like we were in any hip, large city anywhere in the world. Ah, but tomorrow, we imagine we will experience that culture shock we were anticipating, as we're off to Livingstone and then Mwandi. All are well. Remember: God is good, all the time. And, all the time, God is good.
Love & Hugs, Pam
Were in Africa
Hey All - We are here in South Africa. We had a small delay in Denver with some ticket stuff but we quickly worked it out. The flight was long but it wasn't full so a few of us switched seats - I got exit row. Two free mini bottles of wine a sleep aid and I slept - restlessly but I slept for about 10 hours of our 15+ hour flight. Thank you - Jesus. Customs was a snap here and all our luggage arrived - Thank you - Jesus. Ryan took some photos while were in the customs line and was forced to deleat them all but Bryan took some and wasn't observed doing so. Figuring out the shuttle was a little adventure but no problem and our hotel is nice - the rooms are small and very european. Our hotel is part of a big Casino so we were advised for our group to head to Mandella square which has some shopping and resturaunts.
I took sometime on the first leg of the flight to journal, pray and so on. God is good - so good and I am excited for what we get to see and do tonight and even more for tomorrow. I miss Pam and my boys and look forward to the day when like Bryan or Jean I can take the guys. I'm being charged to get on line right now so I'll sign off - but praise God both all of us and all of our stuff made it - Pray for tomorrow.
I took sometime on the first leg of the flight to journal, pray and so on. God is good - so good and I am excited for what we get to see and do tonight and even more for tomorrow. I miss Pam and my boys and look forward to the day when like Bryan or Jean I can take the guys. I'm being charged to get on line right now so I'll sign off - but praise God both all of us and all of our stuff made it - Pray for tomorrow.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Hey, just letting everyone know that I finally figured this blogging thing out. Well we all got checked in and are waiting at the gate for our first flight right now and it's kinda scary but I am excited. The only thing that I think I forgot so far is my contact case, and if that's all I forgot I'll be alright.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
To blog or not to blog...
Hey!
Wow--there's a lot involved in getting off to Africa. Doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging but I thought I'd give it a quick whirl... I'm so excited for this trip and even though we've been preparing for months I have NO IDEA what we're getting into! I just pray that God would work powerfully IN and THROUGH us and I would love your prayers for that as well!
Back to packing...
Cindy
Safety
So for the last couple of days I have been saying good bye to some people I won't see till after the trip. Today will be the hard one of those by the way as I say good bye to Pam and the Boys as our departure is so early. Anyway, I have been struck by the the frequent if not exclusive wishes for safety. Now don't get me wrong I love being wished and prayed for safety and we picked Mwandi because safety was a top concern but somehow all these wishes for safety has me thinking about it. I guess I have never worried about safety at this location and as a result have been free to wish for other things - like changed lives both in us as a team and for the folks in Mwandi. I have also been wondering about how Jesus would respond to making safety a top concern. The verse that keeps coming to mind is "is whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." Very counter intuitive that Jesus! While I want us all safe and sound physically Spiritually I am praying that this trip will be a form of losing our lives for Jesus sake and thus being saved. Please join me in praying about that.
Earlier Today I wrote this blog
Well I am apparently not good with posting a blog of my own so I am making a comment on the welecome page. I am thrilled that the Lord has given me one more chance to return to Africa. I daily have the desire to go back the the people that captured my heart with there love and faithfullness to the Lord Jesus and to the community around them. Going to Zambia is another exciting opportunity for God to show me how he has things planned for me that are better that I could ever think or imagine EP.3:19-20. This is what I learned the first time I went to Africa and I am confident that the Lord has the same great plans that surpass my knowledge planned for my team and I in Zambia. So here we go in the Lord's great mighty protecting hands to Zambia. May our hearts be filled with the Holy Spirit as we leave and be at peace and confindence in the plans the Lord has for our team. My prayer is to learn to love Jesus more and to love others more than myself.
Waiting
Yeah I have figured out how to post. I feel waiting is something my team and I will soon be doing lots of as we embark on our adventure in Zambia. Patience will be of great importance and I know this will be a hard thing for me to learn to have patience and wait for the next thing to happen. Really at this point it seems like a lot of our team is just ready to get on a plane and stop waiting for this adventure to start( or contiue forward in the major fun filled days as really we have been on the Zambai adventure for awhile). I am glad the Lord gives us His Spirit and blessing of one more day here with our family, comfort of home, and one more day to pray hard. Prayer is the key at this point and at every point on our journey for this trip and life in general so to help me and the team while we wait one last day, I am going to get off the computer and go pray. I hope all reading this will also pray for my team and I right now and for the journey ahead of us in Zambia whenever you read this blog or come to this site to read our updates.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
only one more day!
Last year, when our Mexico mission trip was driving back across the border, Jon was talking to Ellie and me about next years trip to Africa. We both had an amazing, amazing time in Mexico, so we were so excited when we heard about the plans for next year. Then, it was a entire year away, yet, its here! Only one more day, and well be on our way, half way across the world to Africa. Im so stoked. Although, it seems so unreal. I feel like im not ready. I think friday when im at the church it will set in, because right now im busy enough with the last days of school to think about it. None the less, I absolutlutley can't wait to spend two whole weeks with everyone, travel to africa, help people, and hopefully learn about me, and god.
Mary
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Pancakes
Ok so this doesn't have to do with pancakes, but that's the title I wanted. Wow were to begin, I'm so excited for this trip, I really can't wait. Especially with finals this week, I really want to leave soon. The only snag, is I can't find my first aid kit, which was bought with my own money. So I'm dissapointed, but it'll be fine, I'm sure.
We got our shirts in which bring to me much satisfaction. Anyway, the time has come to study for a spanish final, so with that, I bid you adieu!
-Ryan
We got our shirts in which bring to me much satisfaction. Anyway, the time has come to study for a spanish final, so with that, I bid you adieu!
-Ryan
Here We Come
Boy. I cannot believe this is already here. Obviously, I'd blocked this from my mind to a certain extent because there were so many other huge things I had to worry about before May 30 (i.e. Concerts...Graduation...) Yet now all of that is over, and Africa is coming so quickly. Of course, I'm excited...extremely excited! But also very nervous. Having never gone on any significant mission trips, diving into one as big as this has certainly got me wondering what to expect.
I am absolutely positive that this will be an incredible experience. Yet a lot of other things are on my mind, and too many of them don't involve God the way I'd like them to. I'm worried about what all I'll be missing back home. I'm hoping that my mind doesn't get stuck on this kind of thing. Like my mom, I can be very task oriented sometimes, and I don't want to get trapped thinking about all the things I'll have to do when I'm back home.
I think my biggest hope for this trip is to affect someone the way I know I will be affected. I don't want to go there, big, bad Americans with our guns blazing, leave, and be changed forever, yet leave the people of Mwandi wondering what just happened. I'm confident that I will not come back to Colorado on June 13 the same person that I am now. There's no way around that. I'm hoping and praying that our visit results in a similarly life-changing experience for the people I encounter there. Yikes... this is too unreal!
I am absolutely positive that this will be an incredible experience. Yet a lot of other things are on my mind, and too many of them don't involve God the way I'd like them to. I'm worried about what all I'll be missing back home. I'm hoping that my mind doesn't get stuck on this kind of thing. Like my mom, I can be very task oriented sometimes, and I don't want to get trapped thinking about all the things I'll have to do when I'm back home.
I think my biggest hope for this trip is to affect someone the way I know I will be affected. I don't want to go there, big, bad Americans with our guns blazing, leave, and be changed forever, yet leave the people of Mwandi wondering what just happened. I'm confident that I will not come back to Colorado on June 13 the same person that I am now. There's no way around that. I'm hoping and praying that our visit results in a similarly life-changing experience for the people I encounter there. Yikes... this is too unreal!
Monday, May 26, 2008
3 DAYS!!
This trip seems to becoming incredibly fast but it is going to be amazing. I am so excited to just go and see everything. I can't wait! My hopes for this trip are: to see God and experience him in another place, help wherever I can, make someone's day, develope relationships with the people there, learn about my faith and myself as a person, change my perspectives, get to love God, my friends (people on the trip and people I meet there) and everyone else more. I am afraid that my heart will be hardened and I won't open up. I am also afraid of offending someone or doing something wrong. I am also a little nervous about our Jesus quest and how that is going to go down/how many kids we are going to have. So please pray for those things if you would. Thank you very much to all that have contributed to this trip with money, thoughts, prayers and preparation. I know it will be incredible. Love to all
Sunday, May 25, 2008
POWER TRIP!
All too often my daily life and routine lulls me to sleep. I am spiritually dull, bored and don’t expect or even look for God’s intervention. I’m just sitting in my cubicle clicking away on my computer. Why would I expect that God would be there? I think the routine, stress, to-do lists and safety and familiarity of my surroundings puts me into this frame of mind. Therefore, Jesus’ words to the Sadducees in Matthew 2:29 speak to me as well, “You are in error because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.” Not expecting to see God’s power in my daily life certainly is an error.
As I think and pray about the upcoming trip to Zambia I realize that I’m looking to experience POWER. That’s right; I want to go on a POWER TRIP! This time, I don’t think it’s the testosterone speaking, even though the thought of going to a rugged village in Africa certainly does get the man-juices flowing (insert manly noises here -- here are some examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAhVmjptZMI).
On this trip I am excited and eagerly waiting to see God’s power and presence. Taking me as far as possible (on all levels) from my daily routine and safety will certainly put my focus, trust and faith in God into a new perspective. For me, the most significant indicator of God’s presence and work in my life is when I realize that he has done something powerful – so powerful that I know I didn’t do it. That’s the motivation of the POWER TRIP – to experience God’s power in new ways so that I know Him more fully and have powerful and practical stories to tell people about what he did. Maybe some of these thoughts and this brief study of power in the Bible will resonate with you. Maybe some of you will join me in the quest for a POWER TRIP in Zambia.
The power trip starts off with Jesus’ call to wait and EXPECT what was promised in Luke 24:49. “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” This is Jesus’ promise to us too. In order for this trip to be successful we absolutely will need power from on high – the Holy Spirit. I know we’ve already been given a measure of the Holy Spirit just in the trip preparation, but once we’re in Zambia and in order to fully experience the POWER TRIP, we will need an extra measure of God’s empowerment through his Spirit. This power is also described in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Our witness will be made strong if we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us.
One of the great paradoxes of our faith is that to experience God’s power we must be made weak. Otherwise, our own pride, gloating and testosterone (again, insert the man noises here) get in the way of God’s work (oops). So, one way we’ll know we’re on the power trip is that we’ll start by feeling weak. 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 speaks to this “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” So, when I’m in Zambia and the computer lab doesn’t work, I don’t feel like I’m teaching anyone anything, I see despair and poverty and realize that on a worldly scale I haven’t done anything – that is where I expect to realize that I’m actually on the POWER TRIP. That’s when I’ll really focus on where I can see Jesus’ power in action. I also intend to remind myself of Jesus’ words to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
For those of you who are staying here, but joining us in spirit through fervent prayer, please pray Paul’s prayer to the Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12) for us: With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This trip to Zambia is our Lord’s invitation to experience a POWER TRIP. For those of us going, I pray that we’ll be alert and available to Jesus and that we will see and feel his power in action. I pray that the Lord will make us all powerful for the building up of his kingdom. I pray that we’ll come back to Fort Collins with awesome stories of God’s power that will spill into our routine lives or, for some of us, our new lives at college next year. I pray that we’ll get opportunities to witness when people ask us, “by what power or name did you do this?” SEE ACTS 4:7-13 – one of my favorites! I pray that we’ll learn more about God’s power from and see it demonstrated in new ways through the people we’re visiting. I pray that we’ll all have documented proof of God’s power in our trip journals so that when we don’t feel powerful or feel that our faith is but a mustard seed, we can open up our journals and remember how we saw God’s awesome power in Zambia and that through this we will experience Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
For the days in Zambia when I add to the trip blog, I will do my best to provide POWER TRIP updates. I fully EXPECT to see God’s power, but sometimes it takes some bigger-picture processing before my spiritually dull mind sees it. Plus, as we know, God’s timing doesn’t always fit within a 2-week blog, so maybe there will be POWER TRIP updates to be made to this blog weeks, months, years(?) from now! No matter what God’s timing, we better hold on tight because this POWER TRIP is going to be AWESOME!!!!
Here are some more cool POWER TRIP Bible verses to reference:
Acts 4:7-13
1 Corinthians 4:20
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
2 Corinthians 2:9-10
2 Corinthians 6:4-102 Corinthians 13:4
Ephesians 3:14
As I think and pray about the upcoming trip to Zambia I realize that I’m looking to experience POWER. That’s right; I want to go on a POWER TRIP! This time, I don’t think it’s the testosterone speaking, even though the thought of going to a rugged village in Africa certainly does get the man-juices flowing (insert manly noises here -- here are some examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAhVmjptZMI).
On this trip I am excited and eagerly waiting to see God’s power and presence. Taking me as far as possible (on all levels) from my daily routine and safety will certainly put my focus, trust and faith in God into a new perspective. For me, the most significant indicator of God’s presence and work in my life is when I realize that he has done something powerful – so powerful that I know I didn’t do it. That’s the motivation of the POWER TRIP – to experience God’s power in new ways so that I know Him more fully and have powerful and practical stories to tell people about what he did. Maybe some of these thoughts and this brief study of power in the Bible will resonate with you. Maybe some of you will join me in the quest for a POWER TRIP in Zambia.
The power trip starts off with Jesus’ call to wait and EXPECT what was promised in Luke 24:49. “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” This is Jesus’ promise to us too. In order for this trip to be successful we absolutely will need power from on high – the Holy Spirit. I know we’ve already been given a measure of the Holy Spirit just in the trip preparation, but once we’re in Zambia and in order to fully experience the POWER TRIP, we will need an extra measure of God’s empowerment through his Spirit. This power is also described in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Our witness will be made strong if we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us.
One of the great paradoxes of our faith is that to experience God’s power we must be made weak. Otherwise, our own pride, gloating and testosterone (again, insert the man noises here) get in the way of God’s work (oops). So, one way we’ll know we’re on the power trip is that we’ll start by feeling weak. 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 speaks to this “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” So, when I’m in Zambia and the computer lab doesn’t work, I don’t feel like I’m teaching anyone anything, I see despair and poverty and realize that on a worldly scale I haven’t done anything – that is where I expect to realize that I’m actually on the POWER TRIP. That’s when I’ll really focus on where I can see Jesus’ power in action. I also intend to remind myself of Jesus’ words to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
For those of you who are staying here, but joining us in spirit through fervent prayer, please pray Paul’s prayer to the Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12) for us: With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This trip to Zambia is our Lord’s invitation to experience a POWER TRIP. For those of us going, I pray that we’ll be alert and available to Jesus and that we will see and feel his power in action. I pray that the Lord will make us all powerful for the building up of his kingdom. I pray that we’ll come back to Fort Collins with awesome stories of God’s power that will spill into our routine lives or, for some of us, our new lives at college next year. I pray that we’ll get opportunities to witness when people ask us, “by what power or name did you do this?” SEE ACTS 4:7-13 – one of my favorites! I pray that we’ll learn more about God’s power from and see it demonstrated in new ways through the people we’re visiting. I pray that we’ll all have documented proof of God’s power in our trip journals so that when we don’t feel powerful or feel that our faith is but a mustard seed, we can open up our journals and remember how we saw God’s awesome power in Zambia and that through this we will experience Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
For the days in Zambia when I add to the trip blog, I will do my best to provide POWER TRIP updates. I fully EXPECT to see God’s power, but sometimes it takes some bigger-picture processing before my spiritually dull mind sees it. Plus, as we know, God’s timing doesn’t always fit within a 2-week blog, so maybe there will be POWER TRIP updates to be made to this blog weeks, months, years(?) from now! No matter what God’s timing, we better hold on tight because this POWER TRIP is going to be AWESOME!!!!
Here are some more cool POWER TRIP Bible verses to reference:
Acts 4:7-13
1 Corinthians 4:20
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
2 Corinthians 2:9-10
2 Corinthians 6:4-102 Corinthians 13:4
Ephesians 3:14
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