Visit to the Western Province

Recently we traveled out to the western province of Zambia to visit the missionaries out in that area.  Our first trip was to visit the Lowes who serve in Lukulu which is about a 7 hour drive from Lusaka during the dry season but about a 10 hr. drive during the rainy season.  After we left there we drove about 3 hours to Kaoma where the Smiths live.  We visited with them a few days and then traveled on another 2 hours to visit with Melissa Frady in Mongu.  While visiting these different places we are able to experience a little bit of their lives in the places that they serve.  Below are some pictures that I took while we were in the western province.  Please pray for these 3 units of missionaries as they plant churches, disciple believers, and live in community with others.  Pray they would be a light in the darkness and that others would see Jesus in them.

Robyn teaching all these kids who come to their home every Wed. afternoon to hear bible stories and play a game.  Sometimes they have as many as 80 kids show up.  Imagine the impact this will have in that community as these children grow up and perhaps one day follow Jesus as a result of hearing these bible stories. 

Jeff holding a little boy named Junior.  He was sacked out.  Jeff  handed him off to Kevin during the game time and then Kevin handed him off to me.  He slept through it all!

Robyn telling a bible story

After the bible story time the kids played a game called sharks and fish.  The kids seemed to enjoy it as you can tell.

Hannah, Hadassah, Zoe, and Levi

The Lowe family-Levi, Jeff, Hadassah, Robyn, and Zoe serving in Lukulu, Zambia.

I love this sign! "The town of plenty"

This is the Smith family-Mike, Amy, Evie, and Tyler.  They serve in Kaaoma, Zambia.

The girls went swimming down at the river and had a blast!

Chipango, Hannah, and Evie all wrapped up after swimming.

The Smiths built this bathroom for their guests and the family that lives on their property with them.  They did a great job!

This is a little guesthouse that the previous missionaries built on their property a few years ago.  Kevin and I got to stay in here.

We were able to go to church with the Smiths while we were in Kaoma.  We had a great time of worship with this small church.  The inside was packed and people were sitting outside as well.

Melissa Frady serves in Mongu, Zambia.  There is another single lady, Gerri Helton who also serves in Mongu but she is on her stateside assignment now.  She will be back in Zambia later in October.

 As you travel around in the states there are so many places to pull over and grab a drink, a snack, or even a meal.  Traveling in Zambia is not like that at all.  I took a couple of pictures of where we stopped.  We bought some bananas here and got Hannah a drink below.  We did stop at another place in a very small community and had to pay 1000 kwacha(a little more than a quarter) to use the toilet.  It was just a hole in the ground but at least it had walls.  At this place we also bought a little bag of popcorn and a couple of small bags of chips. 

On our way home we had to drive through a game park for about 2 hours.  We were hoping to see something big like an elephant or lion but instead we just saw Kudu(which is above), impala, and warthogs.  When this big Kudu walked in front of us we had to stop and take a picture of that.  Kevin really wants to kill one of those one day.

 Here are 3 out of the 6 Kudu we saw walking through the bush.