Day by Day (by Day by Day)

Many of our friends back in the States have asked us what does your typical day/week look like. Well, this post is meant to describe just that…

Since arriving, the AZ team has been really good about giving us time to settle in. Everyone has pitched in and helped us with many things, from buying furniture, to transportation to and from various meetings, to simply praying for us and for that we are extremely thankful. We thought that once we got here, we would immediately be ready to plug into ministry, but we’ve had to learn to adjust to a non-western, non-task oriented way of thinking. In my mind, we had a checklist: arrive here, move into our home, buy a car, adjust to the culture and then begin ministry—and do this all within 2 weeks. That’s an acceptable amount of time don’t you think? (Maybe in the U.S.) In reality, it was more like arrive here, be broken of our dependence upon things other than God, slowly move into our home, wait on our vehicle to clear customs & wish buying a car wasn’t so difficult, realize just how much of a learning curve there is for this Zambian culture, and fall at the feet of God for help in learning how to live here. And this only took 5 weeks. 

So what about ministry? We have tried to get involved when and where we can (weekly visits to the Bryant Center orphanage, evangelism and outreach downtown, etc…), but there are a few other things that are vying for our attention in these first few months. Currently we are going through a 2-month orientation and language training program. We are meeting three times a week and studying the language on our own 7 days a week. I am also helping out at the office. The AZ office is trying to prepare for an audit and is in the process of switching accounting software. This means the entire fiscal year for 2007 must be reentered and reconciled. Because of my experience in business and accounting systems, I am now assisting the director of operations with this process. Kerri has resumed home-schooling the children, which takes up most of her mornings and early afternoons. This Thursday, she will be singing with two of our other missionaries in an Easter program. And next week she will begin attending a ladies bible study out at the Ministry Center. This study is lead by Liese Ripley and is attended by many Zambian women in the Kasupe community. All-in-all, we have a pretty busy schedule.

Please be in prayer for us. This Friday, after team prayer and worship, we are having a meeting with the field director. We will be discussing our ministry here in Zambia and how we can best assist the team. Our desire is to help the team the best that we can with the gifts and abilities that God has given us. So, please pray for wisdom and vision.

Celebrating 1 Month (03/12/08)

Well, we’ve now been in Zambia for a month, but it feels like much longer. A lot has happened over the last 30+ days and God has taught us a lot in just this short period of time (our kids included). We thought this would be a good time to summarize some of the things we’ve learned, seen, missed & enjoyed.

Things we have learned: 

• In Africa, things take time. Plan on getting one task done in a day instead of four or five.
  
• Our knowledge of the culture and language is small
  
• How to say various greetings and phrases in Nyanja.
  
• How to eat Nshima
  
• How to drive on the left side of the road while shifting gears with the left hand.
  
• Living without a TV—what a blessing!!!
  

Things We Have Seen: 

• Our children change from not wanting to come here to thanking God in prayer for bringing us here.
  
• Suffering: Families who have lost their homes to excessive amounts of rain this year, a son who lost his mother in a robbery and now lives with his aunt and uncle, various everyday people who are struggling to make ends meet. 
  
• Critters: A chameleon, a snake, Rats, Extremely Large Snails, Geckos, Spiders (large and small), frogs. Our daughter has gone from crying in fear at the site of such things to trying to catch them all (Spiders, Snakes & Rats excluded of course).
  

Things we have missed: 

• Our friends and family. We miss being able to goof off with our buddies and hanging out with our parents whenever we want.
  
• A Vehicle to drive. Even though our van was one of the worst vehicles we ever owned, it did work. Here, we’re walking or taking minibuses everywhere.
  
• Dining out—Zaxby’s, Grecian Gardens, Chili’s, San Jose, etc…
  
• Our Dryer (Still don’t have one)
  
• A Dishwasher, our hands are getting tired and skin is drying out from the bleach.
  

Things we have enjoyed: 

• Family Time (Devotions, Games, Playing outside). This has been a welcome change.
• Learning the language and culture—though we don’t know a lot, it has been fun learning the little we have learned.
  
• Building relationships with Zambians—very friendly people who are relationship focused.
  
• Building relationships with other missionaries. We’ve been blessed with a good group of believers who have treated us like family.
  

Bill and Betty Bryant Center (03/08/08)

This morning, Kerri, the kids & I took a taxi to a nearby orphanage—The Bill & Betty Bryant Center. This particular orphanage is home to toddlers anywhere from1 to 5 years old. The house, which is about 1100 square feet, is a little over a mile from our house. It’s tucked in a small community kind of off the beaten path. It has a living room, kitchen, a room for schooling, and two bedrooms—one for the boys and one for the girls—each filled with bunk beds. When we got there, the housemother, Grace, invited us in. 

When we walked into the living room, the house seemed rather quiet. I don’t know where the children were at the time, but a few minutes later, all 11 children funneled in to greet us and the noise level picked up. When they came into the room, most of them were shy and initially tended to keep their distance by staying on the other side of the room. But there was one brave little girl named Lydia, who made her way across the room. In fact, it didn’t take long for her to muster the courage to climb up into my lap. She was such a cute and quiet little girl. She just sat there in my lap as we spoke to the housemother about all of the children and the orphanage in general. 

As we were talking the other children began to warm up to us being there. Caleb and Gracyn took some of them outside to play with a soccer ball. Once the other kids saw them playing, they all poured out into the driveway to join in, all but Lydia who wouldn’t let me put her down. Kerri and I sat for a few more minutes talking with the housemother and then we joined the fun outside. As the time passed, it was neat to see how each of the children started warming up to Caleb and Gracyn. And it was neat to watch how Caleb and Gracyn reacted to the children. 

After a little more time of playing, it was time for the children of the Bryant Center to eat lunch and it was time for us to leave. So, we said our goodbyes and headed out. We plan on visiting again next Saturday.

Date Night (03/08/08)

Kerri and I had a date night tonight. Date nights in Zambia are a little different than those in the U.S. Whereas in the U.S. you have many choices of where to go and what to do, here, we only have one—Arcades. Arcades is a shopping center about a mile from our house. There, you can watch a movie or go bowling. Since we didn’t feel like having too much of a southern date night, we chose the movies instead of bowling. 

The theater here is comparable to ones in the U.S. except in cost. For the two of us to get tickets it cost 23,000 kwacha—about $6.00. What’s funny is that our cokes and popcorn cost almost just as much—20,000 kwacha. And while everything else is so slow in getting to Africa, apparently the movies are not. So, no, we didn’t go and watch the sneak preview to the Goonies or ET.  We watched a new release. After the movie was over, Kerri and I both commented to each other on how weird it is to have such a westernized experience and then step back outside into Africa.

A special thanks to the Allens who watched our kids and let us borrow their car. We couldn’t have had date night without them.

City Market Evangelism (03/04/08)

This morning, Luke Whitfield, a fellow missionary, invited me to go with him into Soweto to do some street evangelism. Soweto is a part of downtown Lusaka, where the city market is located. It is not common for Mzungus (White People) to be anywhere in or around Soweto. In fact, as we were walking through one of the congested streets, one Zambian man made the comment “Mzungus in Soweto,” because he was so surprised to see us. There were street vendors on top of street vendors selling anything from electronics, to live chickens, to kapenta (dried out fish minnows). There was enough trash, mud and other debris on the ground that you had to watch each step so you didn’t trip. But there also were so many people that you couldn’t look down for too long or you would run into them. The smell was also rather putrid because of all the rotten trash on the streets coupled with the fly infested meats being sold out in the open. 

The scene kind of reminded me of our own standing before God apart from His Son Jesus. His Word says that we are dead in our transgressions and sins. There is nothing good inside of us. Our hearts are like this rotten atmosphere in Soweto. We are without hope and without God. 

As we walked through the alleyways and busy aisles we eventually came to a row of street shops that was a little more out in the open than the rest of the aisles. At this point, something rather interesting happened. Luke was talking with another gentleman, when a man named Kaela Musonda, approached me. He said to me “You have a message which I must hear.” I was kind of caught off guard, but more than happy to share with him the message of Hope. After talking, he shared with me his desire to want to begin a relationship with God through repentance and faith in Christ. Please pray for Kaela. Pray that his profession would be authentic and that the seed that was scattered was on good soil. Pray that he will find a local church to plug into and be fed by God’s word. Pray also for Luke and me. We will be going back to Soweto every Tuesday & Thursday in hopes of sharing the gospel & building relationships with some of these guys that we are meeting. Pray concerning the spiritual warfare we know will come our way as a result of proclaiming His gospel in this area of Lusaka. Pray that God would also raise up some Zambian nationals to join us in this ministry.

Shopping for Furniture

In the States, when you think of shopping for furniture, you think Haverty’s or some other furniture outlet. Not in Zambia. A couple of weeks ago, Kerri and I had to get some dressers and bookshelves to begin the furnishings of our home. Before today, all of our clothes, books & school supplies have been stacked in cabinets or on floors. So, this purchase will definitely help us to de-clutter some of our house. Anyway, in Zambia, there are very few furniture stores and most of the items in these stores are way too pricey. So, for missionaries, furnishing homes is usually done by shopping on Kalingalinga Road. There, furniture vendors make and sell the furniture on the side of the street and usually at a good price.

Kenyama School and Orphanage (03/03/08)

This morning after staff meeting, I went with Megan to visit Kenyama School & Orphanage. Kenyama was started by an ACTION Missionary 4 years ago. Currently, there are close to 220 children (mostly elementary aged children) from the surrounding community who are attending this school. The school also serves as an orphanage. When we visited in 2005, it was home to over 30 orphans. We’re sure that number has grown, but we don’t know exactly by how much. ACTION now assists this school by doing teacher training, providing biblical curriculum when available, paying teacher salaries and funding a feeding program. While I was there, I walked around the property and spent some time with the children. It seems that they love taking photographs. They were eating lunch in the church when I walked in with my camera. Every time I took a picture, whoever managed to get in the picture would erupt in applause. After taking several pictures, I sat down to show the children the pictures. Several of the children crowded around me just to get a glimpse of themselves in the photo. After spending a few more minutes talking with the children, finding out their names, ages, who was the best football (soccer) player, I scooted out of the side door so as not to disturb their lunchtime any longer. I honestly don’t know who had more fun, me or the children.

Zambian Critters (03/03/08)

Three critter stories from a week ago. The first incident involves our street pup Chiku. I was visiting a compound church with one of the other missionaries, Steve Allen, while Kerri and the kids were back at the house doing church with Stephanie, Steve’s wife, and their children. Kerri was in the living room looking out of the window when she saw Chiku jerking his head back in forth as if he was playing tug-of-war with something. When Kerri got out there, she realized that Chiku had found his first rat (Yeah Chiku!!!). In this case, the rat was already dead, but that didn’t stop Chiku from decapitating the rat and eating its head. Yuck!!!

Incident #2 happened a little after Steve and I got back from visiting with a compound church. All of the kids and adults were in the backyard, when Kerri realized something moving beside the house. It turned out to be a snake. I don’t know what kind, but I don’t think it was poisonous. At least I hope not, because at one point I grabbed it with my hand to keep it from going under the house. After a short struggle, the snake was dead.

Incident #3 involved another rat. Kerri and I were sitting on the front porch just chatting when Kerri saw something out of the corner of her eye. A rat ran across the yard and made his way into the guardhouse. I decided that I would take the initiative and try to do away with this one. I cautiously snuck into the guard house and started moving boxes trying to find the rat’s hiding place. After moving a few boxes, the rat decided he would make a run for it. The only problem was that I was standing between him and the door. So you guessed it, I came flying out of the guard house tripping over everything. The rat made his way out and then escaped over the wall into the next yard.

A Zambian Minibus Experience (02/29/08)

If you didn’t know, minibuses are the major form of transportation here in Zambia. With only 5% of the population owning a vehicle, the rest of Lusaka takes a minibus, rides a bike or walks. Our house is about 5 miles from downtown Lusaka. We have a bus stop about 3 blocks from our house. So, this morning, Graham (another ACTION missionary) and I hitched a ride on a minibus. The minibus initially wasn’t as bad as I expected (I had heard horror stories). When we got on the bus, it wasn’t full, which allowed us to choose our seats. We ended up sitting in the back row. As we drove to town, they kept stopping and picking up more and more passengers. I was amazed at how many people they could fit on just one bus. By the time we went over the bridge to head into downtown Lusaka, we were on the back seat with three other people. These busses are not wide. In fact, they are very similar to a Volkswagen bus. Three people fit comfortably, four is a stretch, but five people on one row was just crazy. I later found out that the record for passengers—as observed by ACTION missionaries—was 22 people on one minibus at one time). So, I guess I have no room to complain. As we pulled up to the bus stop, the driver decided to try and cut in line. He went around the left side of all of the buses right up until the entrance where he forced himself back into the line. At this point, two police officers stopped the bus and got into the front seat. I was told later that they would probably be trying to take some kind of bribe from the driver instead of just issuing a traffic ticket. All in all, it turned out to be quite an adventure.

Home Life Adjustments

Kerri here! I wanted to share some of the adjustments that our family is making as we learn to live here in Zambia. There are many, many things about the society and culture that we are learning, but in this post I wanted to tell you about some of the everyday things we’re learning on the home front. There are so many little things we took for granted as Americans coming here that are just different in other parts of the world.

First, we are getting used to sleeping tucked under mosquito nets. The kids think it’s neat and haven’t resisted at all. We don’t have a huge problem with mosquitoes where we live and we have the advantage of being able to spray our yard periodically. However, we want to be as safe as possible when it comes to avoiding malaria.

Also, having clean drinking water for our family is an issue. We have city water, but this isn’t necessarily safe. First we boil the water, then we run it through a filtration system to take out any additional impurities. We bottle this water and use it to drink, cook and brush our teeth! We do bathe in the water from the tap and we have had no problems with that. So far we’ve been very healthy!

Another adjustment is washing dishes. Apart from the fact that we don’t have a dishwasher and it feels like we’re doing dishes constantly, there’s also a little added dimension here because we have to rinse our dishes in bleach water after we wash them. This is to kill any bacteria from the water. This is also true of our vegetables and fruits. Before we cook or eat any of them we must soak them for about 20 minutes in bleach water to kill anything that we wouldn’t want to ingest. Then we rinse them with the filtered water!!

Yet another adjustment is meal preparation. In addition to having to bleach all of our fruits and vegetables, it is also necessary to cook most things from scratch, as it’s very difficult to find anything “pre-made”- even spaghetti sauce! So, as you may have guessed, preparing meals takes a bit longer here than it does back home. I’m getting used to it and learning a lot, but I’d appreciate your prayers!!

Pray also for our neighbors, those people who live all around us who struggle with all the same things but do not have the means to do anything about it. Pray for their physical as well as spiritual needs. They need your prayers much more than I!

Street Pup (03/01/08)

This morning, on a walk home from purchasing home Internet access, I passed a street kid near one of the major intersections near our home selling a puppy. Earlier in the morning, Caleb asked me to be on the lookout for a puppy for him and Gracyn. So, I made an impulse purchase. Since I bought him from a street kid, I convinced myself that I was saving him from a life of crime—the puppy that is... Isn’t he cute? The main language spoken here is Nyanja. So, we wanted him to have a name in Nyanja. I even enlisted the help of our guard, Charles, in naming him. Charles came through in the end. His name is Chikumbuso—pronounced “Chee koo mboo so”—which means remembrance. We call him Chiku for short. The kids were TOTALLY excited this morning when I showed up at home with Chiku.

A Theft

Glenn Ripley, a veteran missionary on our team and head of the Pastoral Leadership Development team was burglarized. He was driving into a compound to assist with a pastor’s conference when his SUV got stuck in the mud. The compounds here can be really tricky and getting stuck in the mud is a common occurrence. When he realized that he was stuck, he got out of the car, locked the hubs in on the front tires to put the car into 4-wheel drive, and then got back in to try and back the car out. The car backed out of the ditch on the first try. He took a minute to pick a better route in which to get through the muddy compound street and it was at this time he was victimized. One of the bystanders, without Glenn knowing, opened the back door of the Cruiser, reached far in and took Glenn’s brief case. The Brief case had all of Glenn’s important documents, his digital camera, an I-Pod and 2,850,000 in kwacha (about $750 USD). He drove a good hundred feet before he realized what had happened, which was too late. 

The neat part of this story is what happened at the police station. Glenn along with a Zambian pastor went to the police station to fill out a report. After filling out a report, three plain clothed detectives, one with an AK-47 came out and said let’s go, meaning that Glenn had to take them to the crime scene. In Zambia, most of the police officers do not have vehicles. So they rely on the willingness of the victim for transport when doing detective work. So, Glenn, the Zambian pastor and the three detectives went back to the scene of the crime. Once there, the detective with the AK-47 stayed in the car with Glenn and the pastor while the other two detectives interrogated street vendors and other onlookers. By the time the two detectives got back in the car, they had a name and a location of the suspect. The story has somewhat of a good ending. A short time after they got this guy’s name, they apprehended him at a bar on the other side of town. Still in his possession was Glenn’s briefcase with all of his documents, his camera, I-Pod and 1,200,000 in kwacha. The police think the guy hid the other half of the money somewhere before getting caught.  So, even though all was not returned, a great amount of it was which was more than expected by anyone on the team.  Praise God!

Walking the Perimeter (02/26/08)

Sunday, the 24th, our fence alarm went off. For those of you who don’t know, our property is surrounded by a large brick fence with broken shards of glass and an electric fence on top. If something touches the electric fence, we have an alarm that goes off. It’s quite loud. This past Sunday, the 24th, I was in the dining area of the house when Kerri noticed that the monitor for the electric fence was not working properly. She decided to turn it off and turn it back on. When she turned it back on, the alarm went off. She quickly ran into the den to tell me she accidentally set it off, but it still scared the mess out of me, because I didn’t know she was doing anything with the system. The alarm going off meant that something must be touching the electric fence somewhere. This meant, yes more joy, I had to walk the perimeter of the property at night with a flashlight looking for anything that might be setting the alarm off. After removing some debris that was touching the fence, we tried turning the system on again, but the alarm still went off. We decided to leave the system off until the morning in order to find what was causing the problem. In the morning, we still couldn’t find the problem. So, we called the company who installed the fence to come look at it. They eventually came and fixed the issue. So, we’re now protected by Viper. Oops! I mean MEPS.

Handy Man (02/24/08)

When we moved into our new home this weekend, I learned that all of the outlets were English 3-prong outlets. The problem was, all of our appliances were U.S. 2-prong or Zambian 2/3 prong. To put it simply, we couldn’t plug any thing in. One of my team members Graham Melville, came over and showed me how to fix the problem without the use of converters. I cut the plugs off of all of the appliances, including my Mac power supply and replaced them with English 3-prong plugs. I was quite proud of myself because typically I would pay someone to do this for me instead of doing it myself. I guess I’m becoming a regular Zambian handy man.

Things We're Learning in Africa

• You can cook dinner without electricity.
  
• Bats make a sound like a squeaky toy – who knew?
  
• Mosquito nets make great “princess canopy beds”
  
• Babies can produce more puke than food they consume (not really about Africa, but about Maddie’s first week in Africa)
  
• Flat Spiders are our friends and are somewhat indestructible.
  
• We must coexist with flat spiders, geckos and ants. We have no choice.
  
• Coke does not taste the same, but it sure is good!
  
• Plugging something in is easier said than done – first it must be the right type of plug for the outlet (so if it isn’t you either have to switch it or find the right adapter or converter), then you have to find a spot in the power strip (since each room only has one outlet), and then you have to hope there’s power!
  
• You cannot turn left on red.
  
• “Pants” refers to underwear, so don’t say it unless that’s what you mean.
  
• “You look fat” is a compliment.
  
• If a man looks thin, it implies that his wife is not taking care of him (good thing Brent put some of his marathon weight back on!)
  
• Cream of Mushroom soup costs $2.89/can. Those who know me know what a devastation that is to me!
  
• When a Zambian child enters the room where his father is, he greets his father by kneeling at his feet. 
  
• Showing proper respect is a BIG deal here. 
  
• Nothing is done quickly here (VERY hard for us Americans to get used to, and a great lesson in patience and bearing with one another).
  
• We CAN live without TV. It’s very refreshing. 
  

More to come…

Language Lessons and Implications (2/20/08)

Kerri and I are in language training every Friday. We are in the early stages of trying to learn Niyanja—a Bantu language that originated from Swahili. So far, we have learned how to pronounce vowels & consonants, personal pronouns and some different greetings. We’re also learning that language is a good window in which to peer through to learn things about culture. One example is how Zambian’s say I lost my money. Instead of saying: “I lost my money,” a Zambian would say: “My money found a way out of my pocket.” This may seem subtle, but it has huge implications when it comes to teaching and preaching the gospel. How do you teach repentance to someone who doesn’t acknowledge fault for his or her own sin? It just showed us that we have A LOT to learn, but for that, we are eager. If you think about it, say a quick prayer for us in this area. Pray that we would be diligent in our studies, but that God would also give us the ability to learn this language quickly and well.

Bumpy Roads (2/18/08)

Last week one night we had to take Maddie for an overnighter at St. John’s hospital (a Zambian clinic). In order to get to the clinic we had to drive on the back roads of Kasupe, a community near the Farm. It was during this trip that God began to minister to my heart. He kind of revealed to me an illustration based on the roads we were traveling. He showed me that life is just like these dirt roads. Nothing is ever what we fully expect. Sometimes they are smooth and sometimes they are a little bumpy or even downright rough (a.k.a. trials & tribulations). He showed me that if life were always a smooth road, then we wouldn’t have to pay attention. We wouldn’t have to learn from Him. We would just cruise through life, emotionally detached and dependent upon ourselves. He also showed me that if the road of life were too bumpy, it would be unmanageable. We would become so consumed with our circumstances that the reason for life (to glorify God and take delight in Him) would pass us by.

I guess that’s partly why in James 1:1 it says: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

In a way only the Lord knows, this gave me comfort as we took our youngest to the hospital.

Gift and Grace

What a blessing we have had in Gift and Grace. Glenn and Liese Ripley, the veterans on our team have been our hosts since we arrived in Zambia. They are the couple who live at the Farm. They have two adopted Zambian children, Gift & Grace. Since we arrived, Caleb, Gracyn, Gift & Grace formed an instant bond and have been the best of buddies. This has really served to take some of the stress off of Kerri and me. Instead of trying to deal with the emotions of coming onto the field, while at the same time, help grieving children adjust to a new culture; we only had to deal with the prior. We are so thankful for the easy transition their friendship has provided for our children.

Muli Bwanji (How are you?)

In the U.S. whey you pass by someone and ask this question, you typically get a canned response “Fine, and you?” Well in Zambia, you get the same response. Bwino Bwangi. If you asked us this after our first 7 days in country, you would probably get a whole different response. One along the lines of “We are struggling, but God is good.”

We’ve been here for 7 days now & I can’t say that it has been what we expected. The flight from the States was somewhat better than expected. We were expecting Maddie to have the whole airplane awaiting our execution by firing squad with anticipation, but, instead, she did pretty well. There was only one 2-hour stretch of time where she was tired and crying, but other than that things went pretty well.

When we arrived in Lusaka, our team was there waiting to pick us up from the airport. It was good to finally meet some of the people whom we had only communicated with via skype and e-mail. After getting all of our bags together, we then headed to one of our teammates homes for breakfast. Kerri and I were both tired, but it was good getting to unwind from the trip by spending time with the team. Shortly after breakfast is when the fun began.

This is when we went to the Farm to unpack for our 10-day stay. Shortly after we arrived, the power went out. It turns out that the entire country of Zambia is operating on 50% power. So, that means we are getting about 4-8 hours of electricity per day (which occurs mostly in the middle of the night)—not very helpful when you need to do things like cook dinner, or bath kids without lights. We’ve begun to learn how to cook on a braiser (niyanja for charcoal grill). If someone would have told me to plan on an extended camping trip, I would have been more prepared, but I think my initial expectations were a bit high. Sound fun? Want to come for a visit?

After getting settled in, we’ve had to continue to learn to be flexible. The other day, we were riding with one of our team members when her car broke down in downtown Lusaka. In the U.S. this probably wouldn’t be a big deal, but in Zambia, it’s a little tricky. We basically had to enlist the help of our whole team (the Singleton’s to transport Kerri and the kids), Luke and Glenn to assist in towing the car to a local mechanic, and me to sit there and keep Meagan company as the whole thing unfolded. Everything eventually worked itself out, and we got the car to the shop, but not without costs. It turns out that in order to get a new radiator, it has to be shipped in from South Africa. The part alone costs nearly $1200 and will take a few weeks to arrive—not to mention what the labor will cost. So, please pray for Meagan. Pray that the mechanic will be honest in his dealings with her and that the work will be done properly and at a decent price.

Another issue we have faced has to do with our youngest daughter Maddie’s health. Since we have arrived, Maddie has been running a fever. When we left from the States, she had an ear infection. By the time we first had her checked by a physician here, the infection had moved to the other ear and she was showing signs of a respiratory infection. After a few days of monitoring her, the fever remained and her breathing kept getting worse. Finally, last night, we had to act. We chose to admit her to a local hospital and ended up staying overnight. Kerri slept in the bed with her while I slept in some rather uncomfortable non-cushioned Zambian made chairs. In the morning we finally got a diagnosis. It turns out that she has viral pneumonia and will probably have to let it run its course (approx 2-weeks). It also looks like she is cutting her first tooth, which doesn’t help. That coupled with Caleb having bouts with upset stomachs and throwing up has made this week rather challenging.

Even though at times this transition has been a struggle, we have also learned a lot during the process. We have learned the importance of the body of Christ at work. Our team here really has helped us during this transition. When we’ve needed to be somewhere, they have gone out of the way to make sure we get there. They have helped us with the practical things (i.e. shopping, housing, etc…) as well as the unexpected (doctor’s visit in the middle of the night). They have gone out of their way to make us feel like a part of the team, which has been a real blessing.

You have also blessed us. We have felt the prayers of the Saints surround us as we have gone through some of these early battles. We have been encouraged by your emails and phone calls. Thank you for holding us up before the Lord in prayer.

Though our expectations might have been a bit too high when we arrived, we are learning to adjust to life in Zambia. Would you please continue to pray for us. Pray for our children’s health. Pray for our upcoming move into our permanent residence. Pray that we will be a good fit with the team God has assembled here. Pray for our ability to learn the culture. Pray for our ability to effectively minister the gospel of Christ to a people without hope. Thank you for continually standing behind us as we pursue God’s calling in Zambia. We love you and appreciate your sacrifice.

Hopefully, only one more guest posting...

This is guest published by John Ballentine

Apparently, getting Internet access is not as simple in Zambia as here in the US. Brent, via email, said that they should have their Internet access set up by next week. Therefore, they should be able to start posting again to this site and updating everyone on the events of the past few weeks.

Thanks!

John Ballentine

Roberts Update

This post is being guest published by Carrie Ballentine.

Brent and Kerri are still unable to access the Internet to update this blog. So, they asked that we let you know how they're doing. Everyone is settling in quite nicely and enjoying their time at the farm. Unfortunately, they faced a bit of a scare when Maddie got sick and had to be admitted into the hospital. It all started with an ear infection, which she had before leaving the States. But her fever continued daily, as well as a nasty cough. After several days, Maddie woke up from a nap and her breathing was worse. In addition, her fever was high. They had their first overnighter in a Zambian hospital, which apparently, was an adventure. Thankfully, Maddie was cared for by a great Zambian pediatrician. She was diagnosed with viral pneumonia, which just has to run its course. She was released the following day. I spoke with Kerri today, and Maddie seems to be feeling much better, but is still running a low grade fever. Please pray that she will get well quickly, with no complications from this illness.

Other than this incident, it sounds as if they are doing well and adjusting to life in Africa. Caleb and Gracyn are enjoying playing with Grace & Gift (the Ripleys' kids) and find it great fun to play all day at the farm! Kerri is planning to buy appliances for their home tomorrow, and they hope to move in on Friday or Saturday of this week. Once they get into their house, they can get the internet set up and will be able to post to this blog on a regular basis.

Below are some pictures of the Roberts at the airport in Atlanta, preparing to go!


Caleb excited to get on the plane!

Maddie looking a little sleepy ... it's a long road ahead ...

The Roberts and the Ballentines ... one last picture.



And finally, a picture of all of their luggage. Can you imagine unpacking all of that?!?! We'll be praying for you, Brent and Kerri!

The Roberts have (finally) arrived!

This post is being guest published by John Ballentine. First, I need to apologize. This email did not get to me and I did not find out about it until 8pm on Wednesday night so I did not get this out as quickly as the Roberts would have liked.

After much delay, Brent, Kerri & the kids got to the airport and on the plane on Sunday, Feb 10th. They arrived safely in Lusaka, Zambia on Tuesday.

Below is an excerpt from an email from Brent:

"I don’t have access to the internet for too long tonight, so this e-mail will be brief. Kerri and I are now at the Farm. The trip went really well. We got through London with no hitches and spent some great time with the Downers resting. The big kids travelled very well – slept lots! Maddie….not so much. But she’s doing much better now that she’s had a couple of naps in her own bed! Thank you SO much for praying for us. We definitely felt it! We’ll send more detail as soon as we can.

When we got here, the team met us as the airport. It was great to meet everyone face to face. We had breakfast with the team then took our stuff to the Farm. We’ll be here for a week or so."

Brent stated that he would update this blog as soon as possible, but it likely will not be until next week.

Please continue to pray for the Roberts as they adjust to life in Zambia and get settled in their new home. Please pray, too, that they will be able to get over their jet lag quickly so that they can get some good sleep!

Or Not...

Well, we were awakened this morning at 5:30 by the sound of Caleb throwing up. Lovely. So, we immediately started praying and seeking God for wisdom. We asked Him to make it abundantly clear whether we were to move forward today or not. Caleb threw up about once an hour and then at around 9:00, Gracyn threw up too. So, that was enough confirmation for us that, for some reason we may never know, God did not intend for us to travel today. Our flight has been rescheduled for Sunday, February 10. Please pray now for a quick recovery for the kids and continued health for the rest of us. We're so thankful to have you in our corner, and so thankful that we can rest in God's will and timing!

Here We Go!

Well, here we are. The day has finally arrived and we meet it with great anticipation. These last days have been stressful and heart-wrenching as we've been packing up our lives and saying good-bye to the people we love. It's very hard. However, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are moving forward in response to God's call and that brings peace to our hearts.
Will you please, PLEASE pray for us over these next 2 days as we travel. We will descend upon the Atlanta airport with 19 checked bags, 9 carry-ons, 3 car seats, 1 stroller and 3 children. Once we get to London we have to do all that again as we change airports there. We will need a huge amount of patience and grace. Please also pray for a supernatural calmness for our kids - especially Maddie. She's at that age now where she wants to get down, crawl around and explore the world. So...you see my concern! Pray for lots of sleep!
We love all of you and appreciate your prayers more than we can ever express. Here we go!

Counting Down!

Well, we're leaving in less than a week now and it is so hard to believe! Time has just flown by. Thanks to everyone who participated in our send off supper and commissioning service this past weekend. We felt very loved and encouraged. We cried a lot and laughed a lot. Thanks especially to the Ballentines and Stockmans who worked very hard to make Saturday night a great evening.

Please pray for us these last few days. We're packing every day, enjoying time with family, having dinner with different friends each night, and trying to take care of all the last minute details. Pray also for good health. We've all been struggling with "crud" and we always worry about Maddie getting an ear infection. We definitely need to be healthy for the long trip.

On Tuesday we will be at Crossroads at 10:30 am if anyone would like to come and say goodbye to us. We will leave around noon to drive to Atlanta where we fly out at 6:30 pm.

The count-down is on! Thank you SO much for standing with us.

You're Invited...

What:
Send-off Supper for Brent & Kerri Roberts

When & Where:
Saturday, January 26, 2008
5:45 - 8:00 p.m.
Columbia Crossroads Church

2723 Ashland Road, Columbia, South Carolina

Please RSVP by Wednesday, January 23.

Click Here to RSVP

Praise Report!!!

One of the last hurdles for our move to Zambia has been met! Our house is now under contract and scheduled to be sold on February 15th. The buyers are friends of ours who go to our church. They needed to sell their home in order to buy ours, and it looks as if that is going to happen. Please continue to lift this whole thing up in prayer. Pray specifically that the contract on their current home will be honored and that they will be able to close on the 15th of February. As long as they close on their current home, a closing on our home will occur on the same day. Thank you so much for your prayers.

Moving Out!!!

The last two weeks have been kind of hectic for the Roberts' family. We officially moved out of our home last Saturday and are now living with my parents. The house still has not sold, but things are progressing. We have had several individuals come through and look at the property and we actually had an offer on the home today, but it was too low. As for now, our plans are to rent if we don't sell, but we would prefer to sell. If you're looking for something to specifically to pray for, pray for the successful sale of our home.

Christmas 2007

Thought we would share some pictures with all of you from our Christmas adventure this year. Kerri and I left Saturday, December 22nd at 8:00 am. We visited some friends (Mark and Liz Guthrie) for breakfast in Charlotte and then headed up north of Charlotte for Christmas with Kerri's father's side of the family at her aunt and uncle's house. After the festivities concluded, we left and headed for Knoxville to spend Christmas with Kerri's brother (About 10:30 pm). It was during this stretch of the trip that we got our first glimpse of what travel will be like when we go to Zambia. At around 2:00 am (We still were in route), after being on the go for about 18 hours, Gracyn, our middle child, fell apart. At this point, I looked at Kerri and said, "Do you realize that if we were traveling to Zambia, that we would be at the mid-way point?" It really put the upcoming trip into proper perspective. Anyways, after spending a couple of days in Knoxville, we headed back on Christmas day for the kids to open presents with my family. Although there was a lot of travel involved over the holidays, we are so thankful for the time we had to share with our family. We hope that your Christmas holidays were enjoyable as well.

Peace

Kerri here...I just thought I'd share something that God has been doing in my heart. People ask me quite constantly how I'm doing and if I'm stressed out with all that needs to be done in the next month. I should be. There IS so much to do and some days I feel like I won't be able to rest until March! But, I'm really not stressed. I should also be crippled by the emotions that come along with saying goodbye to everyone and everything that I hold dear, but I'm not. Philippians 4: 6-7 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." You know what? It's true! I am living it daily and I am really in awe of God's goodness. I am so thankful for His inexplicable peace that is guarding my heart and mind as we continue to work toward this huge transition in our lives.

Scaling Down!!!

This past Saturday we had a garage sale. We cleaned out all of our storage areas, closets, toy boxes and cabinets and put out everything that we don't need! It was quite and undertaking! We went to bed VERY late, got up VERY early and tried to organize things. The sale was scheduled to begin at 8 am, but of course people were beginning to hike up our driveway by 6:45. By 8:15 I felt like we had been working for hours! My mom was here to help and several of our friends came by to say hi and offer an hand, so we really had fun. The kids also set up a table to sell hot chocolate and apple cider (and to give out our ministry brochures, of course!). I think they probably drank more than they sold, but they enjoyed contributing to the cause! Maddie just sat around looking cute. If I had a quarter for every time someone asked me, "How much for the baby?", we'd probably never need to raise support again! At the end of the sale Calvary Chapel Lexington sent a truck over to pick up what was left for their church's thrift store. Whew...it's gone!

Though it was hard to see some of it go, in some ways it feels really good to have purged ourselves of all the extra stuff we had accumulated. And I must say that Caleb and Gracyn are being real troopers when it comes to getting rid of their stuff. I never thought they would be so willing and eager to give their things - or sell them - to other kids. That's a huge blessing to us. All in all, going to Zambia feels more and more real and this was a big step in getting there! Our next big steps are to move out of our house by the end of the year and then to spend all of January packing our stuff to go on February 5! PLEASE pray for us!

Lasts...

Kerri and I only have 65 days left until we leave for Zambia. With that being said, we are starting to savor the last times we will be able to do stuff while we're here in the States. This past Friday was one of those lasts. It was the last time Kerri will be singing in a professional capacity for the next three years. I have to brag on my wife. She has the voice of an angel and the heart to back it up. God has truly given me someone that I don't deserve.

I recorded 6 of the songs that she performed, but due to space limitations, I have only loaded one of them to this site. You can view this video from our video section on this web site. If you would like to see the other 5, you can go to http://www.youtube.com/ and search for videos with the key words "Kerri Roberts Sings."

Housing in Zambia...

Many of you have asked what housing will be like in Zambia. Aside from the high probability of rats and other critters, not being able to drink the water from our sinks, and the occasional power outages, housing should be "A" okay. In our video collection (located on the right-hand side of our web site, about halfway down) we have published a video on typical missionary housing in Zambia. In fact, there's a good chance that the house shown in this video will be the house we will be living in while we're in Zambia. We thought you would enjoy seeing what housing in Zambia is like. Enjoy...

Communicating with us in Zambia!!!

• Would you like to be able to talk to us in Zambia?


• Would you like be able to do this for free anytime you want (accept in the middle of night, of course)?

Well, there is a software that some of you may or not be aware of that will allow you to do this. It is a FREE download and it allows you to make computer to computer calls. The only requirements are that you have a microphone (which can be purchased at Radio Shack for approximately $30) and speakers for your computer. The name of the software is Skype. If you go to the following link, you can download this software for FREE: http://www.skype.com/.

If you need detailed instructions on installation and setup, you can view the user guides at: http://www.skype.com/help/guides/. Also, our friend John Ballentine has agreed to assist anyone having technical issues setting it up. He can be contacted via e-mail @ jkballentine@sc.rr.com. It takes less than 10 minutes to install and setup and it will give give you the ability to communicate with us while we are on the field. Please consider taking the time to set this up!

His Intent...

"His Intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3:11-12)


Last Sunday, we had the opportunity to share about Zambia with the congregation at Union Baptist Church in Elgin. A friend of mine, Hank Goff, invited us to their evening service. Their pastor and his wife (Jerry and Wanda Lewis) were longtime friends of Kerri's parents. Kerri's father and mother were the best man and matron of honor in their wedding. We didn't realize that this was their church until the night before. When we arrived, they had a picture of Kerri - at age 2 - up on the screen! During the service Kerri sang, we shared about our call to go to Zambia and then they had a little reception. We really enjoyed our time of fellowship with the body of Union Baptist.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to share with one of our sister/daughter churches, The Church at Dutchfork. Our home church assisted in planting this church a few years ago, so we knew a lot of the members. One of the elders there, Thomas Yarbrough, is a longtime friend of ours and he invited us to come share about Zambia. Before introducing us, he mentioned Colossians 1:17 "Christ in you, the hope of Glory." It was kind of neat because this is one of the central themes in one of ACTION Zambia's ministry videos. We were able to share and then the church prayed for us corporately. We are very thankful for our time worshiping with the members of the Church at Dutchfork.


Over the past year the Lord has seen fit to allow us the opportunity to share about His vision for Zambia with several churches here in the Columbia area. We are so thankful for the ways He is using these churches to make His manifold wisdom known. And we are so thankful that they have opened their arms to us and become involved in our ministry to the people of Zambia.

Quick Prayer Request

Kerri and I wanted to request your prayers. We have a buyer for our home, but it is dependent upon them selling their own house. Their house is on the market. Would you please pray that their house would sell quickly!

Thank you...

Blessings and Opportunity

------Please read this post in its entirety as it discusses our current funding and specific prayer requests------

The only way to describe this past month is Blessings upon Blessings! After speaking at the CLC on October 11th, our support levels climbed drastically. Within just a few days our monthly support went up by over 30% and we reached our one-time support goal. This past Tuesday, after receiving additional information, we learned that we were 100% supported, both monthly and one-time!!! In fact, the home office has now cleared us to buy our plane tickets and we will be leaving this February. It is so amazing and humbling to see how God has provided the rest of our support in such a short period of time. It really gives credence to one of the names of God found in the bible—Jehovah-Jireh “The Lord will provide.”

With these blessings comes more opportunity. On Thursday morning, we received an e-mail from our friends in Zambia. In recent weeks, during a process of trying to get a better understanding of Zambian tax laws, the ministry discovered their perception of certain tax policies has been incorrect. Their ability to write off certain expenses through the mission is limited to far fewer items than was thought before. As a result we will need, going forward, to pay taxes on substantial items such as: rent, car insurance, diesel, etc. When this happens, our taxable income as missionaries will increase and push us into a higher tax bracket (from a 17% tax bracket to a 35% tax bracket). The net effect is an increase of $795 in monthly taxes.

Ultimately, it is the Lord who provides and we trust that he will provide this additional support by our February departure date. We are now in the process of putting legs to that trust. We will be purchasing plane tickets in the next couple of weeks. Our house is being packed up and will soon be on the market. I have also informed my employer that I will be leaving my job in mid-January. What once seemed to be out in the distant future is now just around the corner. Would you please pray for us during this time?

Please pray that:
· The Lord will raise the additional amount of monthly support.
· Our home will sell quickly and at the right price.
· We would find some affordable plane tickets.
· The process of packing up our lives here in the states will go as smoothly as possible.
· We would be anxious for nothing and that our hearts would be stayed on Him.

Marine Corp Marathon

On October 28th, I had the opportunity to run in the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington, D.C.. A very dear friend of our family, Wilton Lyles (pictured right) and I had been training throughout the summer—he in Colorado, I in South Carolina. For those of you who don’t know, the Lyles family was very instrumental in my coming to know the Lord. Wilton’s son John (pictured middle) and I are best friends and the Lyles have been kind of a second family to me growing up. While we were training, I told Wilton that I wasn’t going to lose to a 60 year old, but that turned out not to be the case. We both finished the grueling 26.2 mile race. I completed the race in 5 hours, 1 minute—about 6 minutes behind Wilton.

God has taught me many things over the last few months as I was in the process of training for this race. Specifically, he has been showing me the importance of discipline in my daily walk with Him. In order to train for a marathon, you have to discipline yourself to run on a daily basis. If you don’t, you will not be prepared when the race comes around. It is the same in our walk with the Lord. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 says:

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

As we transition towards life in Zambia, I’m seeing more and more the importance of being firmly rooted in my relationship with Christ. I know we will face situations that will be trying and the winds will be blowing harder than ever. Please pray for me in this area. Pray that I would develop habits that lead to Godliness. Pray that I would be a man who desires to be in God’s word on a daily basis and who prays without ceasing on all occasions. Pray that God would sanctify me through and through—that I would be the leader this family needs, the husband my wife desires, and the father who continually points his children back to Christ in both word and deed.

"Every Tribe, Every Tongue Rejoicing."

This weekend, Kerri and I had the priveledge of participating in a Global Outreach Conference in Georgia at Lake Oconee Presbyterian Church. During this conference, we were able to hear from various missionaries from around the world about their respective ministries as well as share about our ministry to Zambia. Seeing how God is moving in other parts of the world is exciting! We can't say thank you enough for the hospitality we received this weekend from the body of Christ at Lake Oconee. They were such an encouragement to both of us!

A few updates and prayer requests...

Kerri and I are planning on leaving for Zambia this coming February. We have begun doing repairs around the house to get it ready for the market and we are beginning the process of downsizing. These next few months will be busy and tough on us and our family. Please be in prayer for us. Some specific things to pray for:

• Pray for our relationships with Christ and each other.
• Pray that our house will sell quickly and at the right price.
• Pray for wisdom in decision making over the next few months.
• Pray for our time management.
• Pray for our families--that God would begin to prepare their hearts for our departure.

How Great Is Our God!

Kerri and I were given the opportunity to share our ministry at Blue Cross Blue Shield's Christian Luncheon Club (CLC) Wednesday afternoon. This is a fairly large group of believers who get together on a monthly basis to share testimonies and have fellowship. After we showed our video and shared about God's calling for us to go to Zambia, Steve VonFange, who is one of the members of the leadership team, came up and sort-of cut me off. He said, "Brent has no idea what I'm about to do, but I need to say some things to you." Then he asked me to take a seat. He began to confess that he had not wanted us to come share that day because it was the last CLC of the year and the subject matter was just heavy. Then he told how he had been able to spend 2 hours alone with God this past weekend and how he was completely convicted about his attitude. He looked at me and Kerri, while chocking back tears, and said he was sorry. Then Steve said that as God taught him during that time, he was led to Hebrews 11. He shared how in reading about these men of faith his natural tendency was to look at their failures. But he was overwhelmed at how God looked at their faith and saw them in a completely different light - He saw them as righteous! Then he said he was led to Acts 2 where the scripture talks about all the believers being together in one mind...selling their possessions and giving to anyone who had need. Steve then began to challenge the group. He said, "Brent and Kerri have stepped out in faith to obey God's calling to move their family to Africa and we need to follow them." He said, "I believe that God is calling the CLC to fully fund Brent and Kerri Roberts today!" (At this point we both just started crying!) It was obvious that Steve was in the Spirit because he was speaking with great zeal and our spirits were leaping as he challenged the group to do whatever they had to do - maybe even sell some stuff -to give the money that we need to go to Zambia. And he said something else that was very specific, he said that they needed to make it happen BY FRIDAY!

After his talk, Steve had us come up and asked those who would support us to gather around and pray for us, which they did. It was awesome and we were completely overwhelmed! As Kerri was talking to some of them afterward, she told them that the night before we had asked our community group to pray for this meeting. Shawn Hevel, one of our communty group members, prayed, "God we ask you to fully fund the Roberts, and we ask you to do it tomorrow." What Kerri has also been praying over the last few months is that if God's timing is for us to go in February, then He would have us fully funded by November - giving us time to adequately plan to leave the country. Maybe, just maybe, God is at work in all of this : )

Thursday morning when I got into work, there was a voice message on my phone that had been sent out to everyone who had attended the CLC meeting as well as everyone else who had been involved over the past year. Steve said again that he felt the Lord was telling him that the Roberts needed to be fully funded by this Friday by members of the CLC. We are completely blown away!! We don't know exactly what God will do, but enough has happened over the past few days & weeks that we are very excited! (We will not receive a financial update from ACTION until November 1) Please pray that those who were moved by God on Wednesday will be obedient to act, and pray with us that we will indeed be fully funded!

God has convicted us and challenged our lack of faith! He has reminded us that this venture is not of us, but of Him. He has reminded us that He is a great God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above anything that we can ask, think or even imagine! We are so thankful for your prayers, so thankful for Steve's obedience to get up and share what God had done in him, and SO thankful for God's sovereign hand on our lives!

Interviewing the Roberts Clan

Kerri and I thought it would be interesting if we interviewed the children on their thoughts about going to live in Zambia. We thought that they, being kids, would be unfiltered in their responses. The responses, as you will see, were totaly unscripted. Some were downright comical. We shared the video this morning at our church, Columbia Crossroads, but thought it would be a good idea to post it on the web site as well. Please take the time to watch the video if you get a chance. It is located in the video section of this website, on the lower right-hand side of the page. It's titled Roberts Kid's Interview.

Picking Up Steam!!!

The last few months have been a time of regrouping. Kerri and I took some much needed time off from raising support to adjust to having three children. As someone recently told us, we've now switched from a man-on-man defense to a zone defense. It's been an adjustment, but a good one.

Now it's time to move on and this month, things have begun to pick back up. Tuesday, last week, I was invited to share about our ministry at a men's bible study in Florence, S.C. I traveled down there with my pastor, Brad Bird. He leads this study as part of his ministry--Center for Biblical Discovery. The trip was a very encouraging one. A few of the men stayed behind afterwards to talk with me and several of our ministry brochures were distributed. We are praying the Lord will raise up some new monthly ministry partners from my time of sharing with this study.

This past Sunday, August 26th, Kerri and I had the opportunity to share about Zambia with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ at Charleston Baptist church. The trip went really well. Kerri and some of our friends from Columbia Crossroads church led a time of worship. We then showed our ministry video, followed by a short presentation on our calling and vision for Zambia. We are so very thankful for the leadership of Charleston Baptist for having us down for this time of worship and sharing.

September and October also look to be busy. It looks like we are going to have the opportunity to share with various bible studies in Columbia and possibly Charlotte. We also have been invited to share at a couple of churches (one in Columbia and one in Georgia). Please continue to pray for us as we seek to serve the Lord in Zambia. Pray that God would continue to prepare us for the field and that He would also continue to raise up monthly financial partners for our ministry.

Financial Update Through July 2007

We’ve been completely humbled by the willingness of many to partner with us through prayer and giving. We continue to ask God to move in the hearts of His people to join our ministry team! It takes all of us—those who pray, those who give, and those who go—to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus. So far God has provided 40% of our monthly needs and 87% of our one-time needs.

Have a Good Day

For the past two weeks our home church has been providing a summer enrichment program for the students of a near-by elementary school. They asked me if I would come and do music classes. It has been fun! They are really great kids!
Today one of the teachers asked me if I would share a little about Zambia with her class before I did the music lesson. Each day they have learned about a different country and then prayed for that country. So, off the cuff, I just told them basic information like where Zambia is, what the climate is like, what kinds of animals live there, what a hut village is like and then told them a little about what our family is going to do there in Zambia. I told them how the people are very poor and many are sick and that they need the hope of Jesus. Then I told them a little about the children who live in the streets. Then they prayed. The first child prayed, “God, I want you to give those people clean water to drink and food.” The second one prayed, “I want those people to know Jesus in their hearts.” Then the third prayed, “I wish that Mrs. Kerri’s family will not be killed; that they will survive….and have a good day. Amen.” Precious!