Sickness comes to both the young and old

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Psalm 90:10

 The woman above is 93 years old!  I haven't seen too many Zambians at this age simply because there are not that many that live that long.

She was having a lot of stomach pain and didn't feel like eating much.  We shared with her and prayed for her during our visit.  She shared with us that she was already a believer.  Please pray for her as she walks through this bad stomach pain.  Because of her pain and also her age she pretty much stays in this bed most of the time.   

This little boy is 12 years old.  Can you believe that?  He looks much younger to me.  Both his parents have died with TB and he and his sisters are staying with their aunt.  This boy is also sick with TB and has started taking the medication for it.  After I prayed for him he started crying.  He was scared that he too was going to die like his parents did of TB.  Please pray for him to really know God and realize that God is with him all the time even in sickness.

Growing up

 Hannah finished 8th grade recently.  We are so proud of how well she did and all that she accomplished this past year.  In August she will be going to boarding school in Kenya.  We will certainly miss her!

 

I made a Boston Cream Pie to celebrate!

This was taken the first day of 8th grade!  She has grown a lot this past school year.  She has grown more intellectually, spiritually, and physically.  She is now taller than me!

Give thanks to the Lord....

Maxwell lies in bed all day because he had a
stroke and is paralyzed on one side of his
body.  His sister takes care of him the best she can.  When we went to visit him we gave him a BGR bucket with all the nice things inside.  He was so excited!  We also shared scripture and prayed for him.  At the end of our visit he said that he had never repented of his sins and that he wanted to do that.  Maxwell prayed to receive Christ! 

Life is short

Just a week ago Aaron rode in my truck as I took him to the hospital to start his chemotherapy.  I wrote about him (see two posts ago) having cancer and how I struggled with the smell in the truck and God showing me that it was the least I could do considering how much he pain he was in.  When we were at the hospital they did blood work and decided to start chemo on the 13th.  I was supposed to take him tomorrow morning.  When we got home from church tonight at 6:30(yes, that is a long day...) I got a phone call saying that I didn't need to go tomorrow because he passed away yesterday. 
He had actually seemed like he was feeling a little better last week compared to the first time I had seen him.  Hard to believe he has passed away.  His last words to me are still fresh in my mind as he thanked me for taking him to the hospital.  He even said he wanted to go to my church because I had been so kind to him.  We never know when it will be our last time to see someone.  Thankfully, Aaron said he was a believer.  God is showing me that I need to make the most of every opportunity He gives me because life is short.  We aren't promised tomorrow.  May God mold me more into His image.  May He use me to bring others to Him before it is eternally too late.

Recent trip to the Crocodile farm

 This python was in the bush and then raised up like this.  Perhaps he was greeting us. ha!

 enjoying a croc burger

lots of crocs

 

We enjoyed a game of putt-putt too!

BGR buckets making a difference

 A few weeks ago we visited this woman's daughter who had TB and was HIV positive.  Now, as she has been faithfully taking her medicine she is doing some better. Her mother, Jane, above also found out she had TB and was positive.  We went to give her a BGR bucket.  She said she was a believer so we loved on her and prayed.  A few days later she passed away.  Her husband told us later that he was so thankful for the bucket of things because he had a nice sheet to lie Jane on in her coffin.  

 Aaron has cancer.  We are not sure what kind of cancer because here the patient does not ask.  They just do whatever the doctor tells them to do and they accept whatever information he shares with them which usually does not seem like much.  He has two very big open sores inside his hip area which he wanted me to see.  Unfortunately, I looked and now I can add that to one of the top two worse things I have ever seen.  I have taking Aaron to the hospital twice now and as I have God has been teaching me a lot about culture, waiting, expectations, and entitlement.  Too much to write here though.  One thing that was especially hard was the fact that he had a runny stomach each time he rode in our truck.  The second time I used one of the mattress protectors from the bucket to help.  That was a very difficult trip both times to endure the smell.  I just kept praying and tried to focus on how bad Aaron must feel.  He is in so much pain and has cancer.  How in the world could I let this odor bother me.   

I met Jacob a few years ago and got to see him again on this day.  He had a stroke about 6 years ago and no longer has the use of his legs.  He had moved since the last time I saw him.  Now he lived along a huge ditch that lasted at least 1/2 km(from what I could tell) which was full of trash and had a horrible smell.  Perhaps you get used to that smell if you are there all the time.  He was so excited to receive the bucket and the things inside.  He is a believer.  I was so encouraged just listening to him share about how he fixes shoes in the community.  If anyone has a broken shoe they bring it to him and he fixes it.  He also said that anytime someone comes in to his home he shares Christ with them.  He said that was the least he could do since Christ did so much for him.  Some people in his situation would just give up and not do anything but Jacob was a true inspiration!

Have you packed a bucket yet?  

Hunting Ostrich

 Kevin took Justin to a game farm outside of Lusaka for him to hunt and kill an ostrich.  

While there we got to see other animals as well.  

We enjoyed seeing these Zebra.

 Ostrich are quite skidish so it was fun watching Justin and Kevin sneak around and climb up on mounds.

 We saw lots of ostrich but it took some time to find just the right one.

 Here is Justin with the ostrich he killed.  Now our freezer is full of ostrich meat.  It is amazing how much meat comes off these two legs.  I believe we got about 84 pounds of meat plus a few pounds for roasts and then making some biltong.

Safari in Livingston, Zambia

 

 Giraffe's are my favorite animal.

They are so graceful when they walk.

 We saw lots of monkeys and baboons.

 We were blessed to see many elephants on this trip both in Zambia and in Chobe.

They are so fun to watch!

 

 

I think these two were loving on each other!

 We were able to walk out and see the rhinos.  Quite the adventure!

 We were so close to them.

 Wildebeest

 warthog

We stayed at Victoria Apartments.  It has a kitchen so we were able to eat several of our meals there so we did not have to eat out all the time.  

This was such a great trip!