April 21st-May 20th is our next session of 40/40 in Zambia. Many of you have heard us talk about this in the past but just in case you have not heard about it I thought I would share a little about it in this blog.
Often times as missionaries we come from America thinking that we have all the right answers… only to discover after years of frustration that we don’t even know the right questions! Yes, Jesus is the answer, but if we don’t understand the questions and problems in an African Context, we will be busy dealing with the problems we perceive, but not really touching the heart of the lost person in Africa. 40/40 is designed to give the missionary a head start into a lifetime of learning and growing into effective missionary service. Because it is experiential, participants learn the culture and how to be effective in it by interviewing and interacting with typical Africans on the street, African helpers and guides, program staff and each other. This allows them the opportunity to learn by “doing” as well as “hearing,” and to face (and overcome) their fears and questions before they ever reach their field assignment.
The compounds and villages of Africa are the classroom, and the common man/woman of Africa is the teacher. Our goal is to teach our participants how to learn from Africans and how to learn to ask the right questions.
There are several phases of this program. The first phase is in the city of Lusaka where the participants learn about African life in an urban setting. Daily they are going out into the city to do DFA's(Daily Field Assignments). These DFA's are designed to get the participants out among Africans and asking them questions that are going to help them learn about culture.
After about 12 days we will all shift to Petauke which is a rural area of Zambia. It is about 5 hours away from the city. Here the participants will do similar DFA's as they did in the city only this time it will be in the villages. During this time we all stay in tents and have no electricity.
10 days later the participants will go and live with a Zambian family for 3 nights. This is called their homestay. They will do whatever their host family is doing-cooking, washing, working in the field, sit around a fire, and go to church. During this time they are taking all that they have learned and applying it to this situation. This is usually a highlight for the participants.
When their homestay is over they will travel back to the city and keep going another hour to a lodge. While the participants are here they will learn a method of learning language called PILAT. They will also have the opportunity to debrief their experiences at 40/40 and discuss how they are going to take what they have learned and apply it to the countries they are serving in.
This is really an excellent program for new missionaries as they begin their careers in this foreign land. We would really appreciate your prayers during this program. If you'll look in my sidebar you can click on "month long prayer guide for 40/40" which will give you a daily prayer guide with specific ways you can pray. Also, there are two websites listed as 40/40 and 40/40 Kidz if you would like to see some pics. of past sessions.
Since we have moved I thought I would take a pic. of our new home so you could see where we are living now. We have a big yard with some nice big trees in it which gives a lot of shade. That will be a real blessing in Oct. during our hot season.
This is our backyard. We have some banana trees and we are about to plant a garden.
One of our turtles
These pictures above and below are our neighbors within just a couple of blocks of our home. Please pray for their salvation.
This past Sunday we went to Chongwe to worship at Chikondi Baptist Church. This was our first church service back in Zambia. With a smile on my face and tears in my eyes we began singing and dancing to some Zambian choruses. It was so good to be back in Zambia and be with the people we have grown to love so much over the last 13 years.
Our good friends Luke and Noria Buleya were also at Chikondi on this day. Luke has been a friend of ours since day one in this country. Now, he is the leader of the Baptist Fellowship for all of Zambia. The above pic. is of me and Noria.
As you can see, the grass had gotten really tall in front of the church. Since, it is hard for people to come during the week or on a Saturday the church just fixed lunch for those who would stay and slash grass.
Chikondi Baptist Church
After church we went back to our old house to collect a few more things and then we went to lunch at Chingaipe. We had nshima, cabbage, and chicken. It was so good! However, Chingaipe means this can be bad. I think that is pretty funny.
After lunch we went to visit some more friends of ours from Chisomo Baptist Church. When we left this house was only about 1/2 way up all around. We were so excited that Amai Mwachamota had done so much on her house.
Me and Amai Mwachamota
This is Esther and her new baby girl, Lydia. She was so precious!
I just had to get a pic. of this. On our way back to Lusaka at one of the roundabouts they have just unveiled this large chicken in the center. It is an advertisement but I think it looks funny.
After we had been in Zambia for 6 days we traveled to Malawi for our annual meeting with our entire cluster. We stayed at a place called Sun & Sand at Lake Malawi. It was a beautiful location and we were able to enjoy a little free time while there. Last year we were not able to have this meeting because of finances. Although we may still be struggling we are thankful for those who gave to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering so that we could have this meeting. It is such a great time to get together with other missionaries who know what you are going through and can offer some encouragement. Then for those who live far from other missionaries just the fellowship is so important. For me it was such a great time of fellowship with our missionaries that I had not seen in so long. I didn't take many pictures but here are a few below.
Hannah and I rode a camel down along the lake. It was beautiful scenery but not such a comfortable ride!
This was Hannah's first camel ride. I loved the look on her face!
There was a group of volunteers from Kentucky that came and took care of all the children. A few of them also led in worship and teaching the Word of God. We are so thankful for the whole team who came and sacrificed their time to come and serve at this meeting. One afternoon the volunteers set up different stations where the kids could make things out of balloons, make beaded necklaces, get their face painted, and have water gun fights. Above and below is Hannah getting her face painted.
Here are some more of the camel ride.
Getting up and down is the scariest part. It feels like you are going to fall off.
All smiles, afterwards!
Kevin and Justin rode Kayaks for a little while.
On our last night all the children's classes did something different for the adults. Hannah's class used puppets to sing two different songs. This was Hannah's first time to work with puppets which she really enjoyed. She was using the blonde headed puppet in the above pic.
The youth class signed a song and did a great job.
Hey Everyone!
I just wanted you to know that we did make it back to Zambia just fine. We had as good as a trip as we could considering how long it was. It was so good to be met at the airport by some of our missionary friends. Then over the week being in some of their homes for meals was such a blessing so that we didn't have to worry about cooking right at first. We were very tired that first week but we pushed through that and moved our things from Chongwe to Lusaka the day after we arrived. We stayed at our baptist guest house for a couple of nights and then shifted to our house after we had our beds set up. We got a lot done but still have about 10 boxes to unpack and a lot to organize and decorate. This will just have to get done little by little. The Sunday after we arrived in Zambia we left for Malawi to go to a mission meeting with our cluster. We just arrived back in Lusaka last night. We had a great meeting and I'll post some pics. of that in a few days. Thanks so much for your prayers for us over these last few weeks. We have seen God answer your prayers and ours.
Please pray for us this week:
-to get internet at our house
-to finish unpacking
-for Justin and Hannah as we try to jump back into homeschool this week.
-for our dog, Sydney, to heal. She was not doing well when we arrived so we took her to the vet. She is on medicine for a hematoma in her ear.
-for Kevin and I as we try to plan for this upcoming 40/40 which starts on the 21st of April!!
Blessings,
Suzie
