Kids

It's always fun having kids around to watch what they do and hear the things they talk about. Hannah's friend Evie came to spend the night last night and she got to stay and play most of today. I think they talked non-stop the whole time they were together. Then the Lowes, new missionaries to Zambia, came for lunch today. They have 3 kids and then add a few neighbors and you have a house full of kids. Here are a few fun pics. from our day.

Deborah, Hadassah, Evie, Hannah, and Dorcas

Our friends Sky and Daniel also came today. Sky and Justin enjoy playing Hangman together. Justin likes to come up with some really hard words that you have never heard of before but are usually in the dictionary.

Levi

Dorcas, Mapalo, Levi, and Deborah

Dorcas and Deborah taking turns pushing Zoe.

School Is Out!

The school year is over for us. Justin completed 8th grade and will be heading to RVA in Aug. Hannah finished 2nd grade and I will continue to homeschool her. We are very proud of all that they have accomplished this year. On pizza night I made a big choc. chip cookie to celebrate. Yum! Also, we used some of our lechwe mince on the pizza with some pepperoni's, pineapples, and mus hrooms. It sure was good!

Creation to Christ

For the past two Thursdays I have been sharing the gospel at the women's meeting at Kamilulu Baptist Church using a method called Creation to Christ. Basically, it is sharing short stories from the Word of God beginning in Genesis up through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. I shared half of it last week and finished it up this week. Thankfully, this wasn't just a time to teach the women how to share their faith. One woman, Adalyse Mwanza, came up and sat beside me right before we started practicing the stories. She told me she needed me to pray for her in an area she was struggling with. We talked about it for a while but when I asked her if she had ever repented of her sins and prayed to receive Christ she said she had not but wanted to right then. So right there in the middle of our meeting she repented of her sins and asked Jesus into her heart. Please pray for Amai Mwanza to grow in her relationship with Christ and that God would help her overcome that sin area in her life that she shared with me.
It has been so exciting the last two weeks because the third church, Namphande, finally joined us. I'm picking up about 11 women from that church and traveling to Kamilulu to meet with them and the women from Chinzete. So we have been having about 25 women. I will miss teaching for the whole month of July so please pray for the women as they continue to meet in their own churches until I return. Pray that we will be able to pick up where we left off in Aug.

Becoming a Man

Justin is 14 years old and growing like a weed. Monday we took him out to Lochinvar to hunt his first animal. We had thought it would just take us about 3 hours to get there but instead it took 6 because the roads were so bad. One section was 17 kms. and it took us one hour to go that far. By the time we got there and set up camp it was night so there would be no hunting on that day. The next morning Hannah and I stayed at camp and Kevin took Justin out and they both killed a Lechwe. When they came back to camp they were so dirty because the one that Kevin shot shot took off in the water before he died. They had to drag it out of the water for 2 kms. They were worn out! After taking down camp and eating lunch we had a little ceremony where Kevin talked to Justin about becoming a man and what that meant. Then he shared some scripture with him from 1 Cor. 13. He gave him a pocket knife with his initials on it and we prayed together. It was a special moment.

Justin climbing a baobab tree near the ZAWA office.

We had picked up a guide that was supposed to be taking us to the hunting guides place but as we were driving out in the middle of nowhere he said go towards that big tree. When we got there he said that we had arrived. We were very surprised because we didn't see any kind of office or home. He told us that this is where we would camp. There was no water, toilet, or much wood for a fire. So, we unloaded everything and Kevin took off with this guide to go find the other place and then go back those 17 kms. to the ZAWA office to take him back. Let me tell you, I would not have won the "Happy Camper" award that we give out during 40/40. We ate lunch at 3:30 and then started setting up camp. Kevin arrived back just at dark.

This was our view over the flood plains.

I would say that Hannah was deep in thought but this pose lasted about 30 sec.

Around the camp fire at night.

This was our camp.

Before Justin could go out Kevin showed Justin a few different ways to shoot the gun.

Justin and Kevin with their Lechwe's. Kevin's is so dark because of dragging it through the water and mud.

Kevin

Justin

This is where Justin shot the Lechwe.

Update on Zach

Lt.-Rt= Zach, Nathan, Andrew, Straton, and Matthew

This picture was taken during Zach's midterm break a couple of weeks ago. The Hatfields so graciously open up their home to all these boys each midterm. It is so much fun for the boys to be in a home and have home cooked meals, play video games, watch movies, and just hang out. Thanks so much Mark and Susan!
Zach was in a talent show at RVA this past weekend with his friends Caleb and Adam. They played a song on the guitar that they had written. They came in second place.
Zach has been teaching guitar lessons for the last few weeks and has actually been getting paid for it. We are so proud of him.
Please pray for Zach as he finishes up his Junior year at RVA. He has about 2 1/2 weeks left before he meets us in the states for a month long vacation. Pray for him as he takes his final exams that he will be able to remember all that he has learned from this year. Pray he will sleep well and get plenty of rest. Pray for him and the two other s he will be traveling with to America to travel well and make their connecting flights.

A Quick Visit to Nyimba

This week we went to visit our friends the Helgrens for a couple of days. We had wanted to see them before we left for a month but was having a hard time finding a good time that neither of us were too busy. So it was kind of a spur of the moment trip. We had a great time with them in Nyimba. They live about 3 hours from where we do. It was great to hear all that God is doing in their ministries and how He is working in them. If you would like to visit their blog go to: http://helgrenhideout.blogspot.com/
One of the things we did while there was walk to one of Joy's friends home and have tea and pumpkin bread. It was fun to visit with one of her new friends. These two pics. were taking during this time. I got to carry Lauren on my back. It had been a long time since I had carried Hannah on mine. I just love this pic. of Lauren. Then the other pic. is of us walking back to Joy's house. The Helgren's have precious children and it was fun spending time with them too!

Good Stuff!

I'm doing a bible study by Beth Moore called Stepping Up. "Good Stuff!" is what I wrote beside one of the sections in the study the other day. I have been wanting to share this for a few days but just haven't had the chance. Hopefully this will mean something to someone other than just me.

"Imagine standing on a battlefield all alone facing an angry army of 1,000 men, each breathing torturous threats. Suddenly you feel the earth pound beneath your feet like the hoofbeats of 10,000 horsemen. Your heart nearly melts with fear as you prepare yourself for the ever-mounting foe. Then you realize it wasn't 10,000 horsemen after all. It was one. Your gaze lifts higher and higher as you try to focus on His face with the sun in your eyes. He looks 100 feet tall atop His stallion, and His very presence emanates authority. He is stunningly beautiful. Staggeringly powerful. His horse gallops onto the battlefield, kicking up the earth. The rider firmly pulls the reins and brings His horse to a halt right beside you. The horseman then looks down at you and says, "Proceed into battle, mighty warrior. I am on your side."

I just love the way she writes. God has really gifted her in such a way to help you to really picture what she is saying. Oh, how I pray that daily as we step onto the battlefield we Know that God is on our side.

She continues...
"When we call upon His name, God promises NT believers that same kind of power and victory in the far more terrifying battles of the spiritual realm. He didn't just promise we'd be conquerors. He promised we'd be more than conquerors. Why aren't we living with that kind of confidence?"

"Regardless of how long we've been Christians and how deeply we've studied God's Word, most of us don't really believe down in the marrow of our bones that God is entirely, wholeheartedly, and unwaveringly on our side."

"We live most of our lives unconvinced that God is really for us. We have little trouble picturing ourselves on God's side, but for the life of us we can't picture God stooping down enough to be on ours. Even though we'll say things and sing things to the contrary, we live as if we believe down in the hidden places of our hearts and minds that God at best tolerates us.

We may rarely admit it, but our actions, anxietes, fears, and insecurities suggest something else. Perhaps some of us don't so much feel as if God is against us as we just don't necessarily feel as if He's for us.

I'm hammering the point because I'd like to suggest that in our humanity we tend to determine whether God is against us, for us, or tolerating us based on how He appers to act in our circumstances. In other words, our litmus test for whether we think God is really for us is circumstantial evidence. If I don't get the promotion, God was for the other guy. If the relationship doesn't work out, God didn't root for me. If the cancer treatment doesn't take, I'm not a big priority to Him.

God knows when something glorious in the future necessitates something difficult in the present. Because He knows the glory will be worth it, God will risk being misunderstood. Yes, God wants us to have joyful, satisfying lives, but He also wants us to have crowns to cast. Rewards to receive. Character to develop. Compassion to give. Testimonies to tell. In the midst of those painful processes, God makes bold promises.
Read Romans 8:28-39
These are promises Dear One. Promises God made straight to you. He is not against you. He does not just tolerate you. He doesn't stick around because He feels obligated to you. God is on your side because He chooses to be."

I don't know about you but this sounds like good stuff to me. I am amazed at how much God loves each one of us! We are surrounded by people who are like this. Prayerfully, they will see Jesus in us as we minister in this country. Pray that as we teach, witness, and love that God would reveal Himself to the Zambian people and that they would know down in the marrow of their bones that God is entirely, wholeheartedly, and unwaveringly on their side.

Tribute to my Grandmother

People come and go in my life. Of course we love when they come into our life but always hate to see them go. Saying good-bye is never easy. At least on the mission field when they leave we have that feeling that we may see them again when we visit the states. However, when someone dies it just seems so final, knowing we won't see them again on this side of earth but as Christians we have the hope that we will meet again in Heaven. This past Thurs. night my last living grandparent passed away quite unexpectedly. She had been in the hospital for a few days but we had thought she would get better. By far the hardest thing about living on the mission field is being away from family when tragedy strikes in the lives of our loved ones or a death occurs. It is so difficult to be so far away and feel helpless to not be able to do anything. Please pray for me and my family as they bury my grandmother today.
I know my grandmother was proud of me because she told me so many times. Her words, cards, and prayers over the years mean the world to me. She was a great grandmother and I am so thankful that she belonged to me. I feel blessed to have been a part of her life. I will miss her very much. Here are some memories that I have of my grandmother.

Grandma gave me my first little sewing basket and I still have it to
this day. I keep all my needles and thread in it with lots of loose
buttons in the bottom of it. I never amounted to much of a seamstress
but every time I have to sew on a button or sew a name tag into
something I get out my basket and think of her.

I remember hot days and a nice cold glass of pink lemonade. I also
remember eating at my grandparents house and if she would make peas I
would just kind of scoot them around on my plate and not really eat
that many of them because I didn't like peas. When it was time to be
excused she would always say yes and I still got desert. I don't
think I was tricking anyone she was just a sweet grandma.

I remember rolling down the huge hills in her yard and getting so
dizzy because of it. Those hills don't look so big anymore, now that
I have grown up. Sitting out in the yard in the afternoon was
something we always did too. People don't do that much anymore. Then
going out to the garden and picking grapes and eating more than what
we put in our bucket.

Grandma and Granddaddy would always take me and my sister on trips
during the summer. We went to visit Montecello, Waltons Mountain, and
other such places. I would get so car sick sometimes riding on those
curves. Once, we arrived back to their home and I didn't feel so good.
My grandmother gave me some pepto with choc.ice cream(to make it
taste better). Then almost immediately I threw up all over her quilt.
I felt so bad but she didn't fuss or anything she just cleaned it up.

Testimony Time

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15

Thursday I told the story from Acts 26:1-29 about Pauls testimony. We then talked about the 3 parts of a testimony-your life before Christ, how you came to know Christ, and your life after Christ. I took a few min. to share my testimony with the ladies and at the end one of the older ladies started clapping and said, "we have to clap because you were not a good person and now God has changed your life." They then sang a song for me which had to do with a changed life. I just love these women! I broke the women up into groups of two and they practiced sharing their testimonies with one another. We came back together and I had each of the 13 women take turns telling their story. Here are some interesting but sad facts that I would like to share with you:
1- 9 of the 13 women talked about their life before saying that around the age of 14 they became s. active with men. This just breaks my heart because I know this still goes on today and probably at an earlier age.
2- 3 of these women had at least two children before they got married.
3-Most of them didn't get saved until after they were married.
4- at least 10 of them had been affiliated with at least 2-4 different groups before becoming baptist.
5-12 of the 13 did not pray to receive Christ until they were in the Baptist church because they said,"It wasn't until we got into the baptist church that we finally heard the truth of the Word of God."
Well, Amen to that last one that they finally heard the truth but how sad that they went around searching for something(truth-just not realizing it) and not finding it in some of these other groups. I'm thankful that these women's lives were changed after hearing the truth.

Please pray for these women as they go out this week and share the story of Pauls conversion and then share their personal testimony as well. Pray for boldness for the women and receptive hearts to those who will hear.

Visitors

Today we went to church at Chimusanya Baptist Church about 1 hour 15 min. from our home. We had some visitors with us today so it made the trip extra special. Justin D. who is a missionary in Kaputa, Zambia along with his brother Nicholas who is visiting from the states came out to go with us. The man who taught SS taught on the same scripture which I used on Thurs. with the women. Then Kevin preached from Matthew 17: 24-27. Two different choirs sang during the service too. Afterwards, we were invited back to the pastors home, Martin Zulu, for lunch. We had nshima, r ape and chicken which was all delicious. It was especially fun to watch Justin's brother experience this for the first time-the people, church, a village, and food in Zambia. These are all things that we have come to love over the years of being here and it was fun to share it with someone visiting for the first time.

Nicholas with some of the Zambian children.

Isn't he cute??

This is where Martin keeps his rabbits we gave him(story a few months back).

Amai Zulu standing outside her kitchen where she was preparing the nshima for us.

Nicholas(left) and Justin(rt.) before we ate our lunch.

Burning Words

I sure had a fun time today being with some of my favorite people in the world-Zambian Women! I have been planning on going to the Kamilulu area for several months now. However, the women were busy in the fields back in Feb./March and then we had 40/40 so I am just now able to begin going. I didn't know if they would be organized today or not to start with T4T so I prepared a short lesson entitled "Burning Words." I used several verses, one of which was James 3:5-6, "Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." At the end of the lesson God nudged me to have them do a skit. They split into two different groups. One group did a skit on women using words in a good way. The other group did a skit on using words in a bad way. It was so much fun and they didn't even have to practice. I laughed so hard. The memory verse for the day was Proverbs 15:1 "Mayankhidwe ofatsa abweza mkwiyo; Koma mau owawitsa aputa msunamo." (translation: "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.") After we finished and I prayed, they then began to sing songs having to do with the tongue. It was so special to hear them relate the verses we had shared together into songs that they all ready knew. It was now 4:00 and I still had an hour drive home and they brought out food-nshima, pumpkin leaves, and chicken. Well, I just couldn't pass that up! Yum!
I will be going on Thursdays over the next several months. I will pick up women at Nyamphande and take them to Kamilulu where the women from Chinzete will meet us. So there will be 3 baptist churches meeting together in one place. I am very excited and expectant of what God is going to do in the lives of these women and in my life too. Pray for us all that God would grow us closer to him during our time in the Word. Next week, I will be talking about testimonies and sharing mine with them. They will each have the opportunity to share theirs. This is a good time to see where they are spiritually or if they are even saved. Pray for discernment on my part and that God would lead me in how to share with them.

This pic. was taken in front of Kamilulu Baptist Church. They are in the process of putting on a new roof. Today women from Chinzete and Kamilulu met together. Next week the women from Nyamphande will join us also.

This is some of the women doing their skit.

More 40/40 News

40/40 has a new blog which was created by Jesse and Kristin during the Oct./Nov. session. It is basically a journal of their time at 40/40 with some great pics. You can check it out at: http://africa4040.blogspot.com/

Alissa Stewart is a missionary serving in Uganda. She was one of the participants in this last group. Before she even came to Zambia for orientation I fell in love with her blog. This is her last post on things she learned while at 40/40. If you would like to see her journal of her 40/40 experience and her life in Uganda you can check it out at alissastewart.blogspot.com/ You will not be disappointed!

Things Alissa Stewart learned at 40/40:

• Fitted sheets are a luxury.
• “Nshima” is the Chinyanja word for “intestinal cork.”
• Even if you stop drinking water at 7 pm, you’ll still have to pee in the middle of the night.
• NEVER look down the pit latrine.
• I am capable of much more than I thought, as long as I don’t try to do it in my own strength.
• It’s possible to cook excellent meals over wood fires.
• There is no reason for anyone to chop wood at 4:30 in the morning.
• It gets really cold in Africa.
• A 45-minute walk to the village to talk to people is definitely worth it.
• A good shower uses 5 gallons of water.
• It takes 58 hand pumps at the well to draw 5 gallons of water.
• By the time you walk back to your tent from your shower, your feet will be dirty again.
• A 70-year old woman with arthritis can shell an ear of maize in ¼ the time it takes me.
• The things I am most afraid of are never really as bad as I expect.
• Headlamps are a brilliant invention.
• MKs aren’t afraid to eat meat cooked on a shovel.
• A bouncy ball provides hours of entertainment.
• There’s no better sound than a bunch of African kids singing at the top of their lungs.
• An old woman can stand up in church and start singing with the choir- and no one will bat an eye.
• Whatever you chase out of the latrine at night is definitely more scared of you.
• At night, you can see the Southern Cross, the Pointer Stars, satellites, shooting stars galore, and the Milky Way… and you understand what God meant about Abraham’s children outnumbering the stars.
• It really is easier to carry things on your head.
• Rural Africans are some of the kindest people on the planet.
• It’s possible to make peanut butter by hand… assuming your muscles don’t give out.
• African women do things American women would never dream of doing.
• If you take Ambien and use earplugs, you won’t know- or care- that roaches are climbing all over your mosquito net.
• I will never take a shower or a flush toilet for granted again.

A fun birthday week!

May 30th was my actual birthday but I had fun celebrating the whole week. It started with my friend Sky taking me and Hannah out for lunch at The Mint. We all three shared this delicious piece of cake. It was almost to pretty to eat. Sky also bought me some beautiful pink roses. Thanks again Sky! Then Hannah and I went to see The Hannah Montana Movie together.

Sat. we went to Protea lodge which is about 45 min. outside of Lusaka. We got a little cottage and spent the night. We were able to relax by the pool, go on a game drive, eat lots of good food, and just have fun. Sun. morning while we were having our QT out on the back porch a Tsessebe came walking by right in front of us. Then God thrilled us with another one following close behind. Below are some pics. from the weekend.

Hannah giving me a foot massage out by the pool. It was fanatastic!

me and justin

Justin and Hannah petting the bushbuck.

Isn't this a beautiful bushbuck?

This was our little house for the night.

Justin feeding a bushbuck.

On our game drive

There are several lions at Protea also but they are in a fenced in area.

This is a Tsessebe. There must be wax in the ear!

Kudu