Internet Woes

We just wanted you to know that we haven't been neglecting the blog on purpose.  For the past 3 months, we have experienced major headaches concerning our internet situation.  Let me just say that we have had some major internet woes!

In the beginning of October, we lost all internet service.  As we waited patiently for the problem to get resolved (we were initially told it was a technical issue), we just got more and more frustrated.  After two weeks with no service, our provider told us that it wasn't a technical issue, but a management issue.  Apparently, the company that provided us with internet didn't pay their bills to their provider in Kenya. So, after nearly a month of going back and forth, and being told that the service would be restored, we made the move to another company.

Initially that was a good experience, but within a week, we started experiencing sporadic cuts.  Normally you would just say "Well, this is Africa" and kind of accept it and move on.  But we pay nearly $300 a month for this service (Split between us and the Whitfields).  So, to say that we were a little upset with the service we were receiving compared to the fee we were paying would be an understatement.

After a few calls back and forth with their technical support team and some trial and error, we were able to fix the sporadic cuts (turned out to be an error on my part) and we're now back online after nearly 3 months of no or very poor internet access.  And now that we're back online, you should see a lot more content on this site as we continue to process life and ministry here in Zambia.  Thank you for being patient with us!  And thank you for your support and encouragement.

Preparing for Teams!!!

(Caleb, Gracyn & Thomas varnishing the storage door before being mounted)

Work is underway and for a good reason.  This past week, we received confirmation that we will be hosting our first short-term team from the USA in August.  A ministry out of Texas, EmpowerDreams, is bringing a team to Zambia to work with us.  Yay!!!  Even though it is several months away, there are many things that we need to do here to get ready.  So, preparation is underway and even the kids are helping out!

Storage Shed

In order to host teams, we have had to change how we are currently storing all of our ministry items.  Before now, they have been sitting in our 40ft shipping container.  But that container is being converted into a bunk house.  So, the stuff inside must be moved.  As you can see in the picture above, our guys here did a wonderful job building a storage shed to hold all of the supplies that were in the shipping container.  We hope to lay the floor and move our ministry supplies by the end of the week!

Shower House

We've also been busy building a shower facility for visiting teams.  We hope to finish the walls and put a roof on the building by the end of next week.  Normally, we would have laid the floors first, but the rains have been just too heavy and we need the roof to provide shelter for the remaining work.  Anyways, we hope this building will provide 6 showers and 4 toilets.  We can't wait to see the final product, minus the weeds that are growing inside ; )

Please pray for us.  In addition to day-to-day ministry, a lot of our time for January & February will be spent doing construction.  Pray that we would be wise in how we setup for teams and that construction wouldn't be delayed by the rains.

We'll post more pictures as development continues.  Cheers!

Merry Christmas from Zambia

Christmas week was a full week for our family, with lots of fun and joyful relaxation as we celebrated the birth of our sweet Ellie and most importantly the birth of our Savior!  

Here are some pictures of our week!

Ellie turns 4!

Christmas Eve Dinner and celebration with our families and Zambian workers 

Dancing under the lapa

Precious kids!

All "the littles" as we call them

It was our honor to serve dinner to these faithful friends who mean so much to us!
Dailes, Pauline and Patronella

The young wives and children of our new workers

The gentlemen!
Movet, Terran, Luke, Lloyd and Tyson

Watching a few fireworks!

Opening a few gifts

Fun around the table

Early Christmas Morning

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Ellie excited about her presents!

Thomas and Gracyn

Caleb and Maddie

Showing off his Zambia Jersey

New Princess Dress and accessories!

Cool Wig!

Scary Elf??

 What a great day!  And so blessed!  Happy New Year Everyone!

A Large Visitor

Merry Christmas everyone!  We hope your holiday season has been a good one spent with family and friends.  Christmas here isn't the same as Christmas back home in the States, mainly because our family isn't here to celebrate with us.  But we did have a rather enjoyable Christmas day.

I just thought we would share this picture with you as it was an interesting addition to our holiday season.  Some workers here on the farm brought this little (I mean Big) guy over the other afternoon.  This is a monitor lizard.  The Lozi (a tribe located in western Zambia) call it Opani.  It's actually a delicacy in their neck of the woods.

Don't worry.  We didn't hurt this little guy.  Just kept him in the fire pit for a bit so the kids could see him and then let him go.

Mechanic?

Something I never thought I would do: mechanical work on my car. I've never attempted much more than changing a tire or maybe my oil. So, today was a stretch.

About a week or so ago our car started acting up. It seemed as if we might have been the recipients of some dirty fuel. So, today I decided to remove the fuel tank to clean it out. I would normally prefer to send it to a mechanic for such a job, but here in Zambia that would leave us without a car for at least a week. So, I decided to do it myself.

It took half a day, but in the end it was a success. It turns out that the filter on the inside of the tank came off it's mounting allowing the grunge in the tank to pass to the engine.

Never thought being a missionary would require me to become a mechanic too!

Rainy Day

Sometimes serving God overseas is fun and exciting. And others it's difficult and sad. This is one of those days. Our best friends, the Ballentines, begin the long trek home to reunite with their family today. We will miss them dearly, but are so glad for our short time with them.

Kids and Farming?

Two weeks ago, planting season finally arrived.  So, to say it was a busy time would be an understatement.  In addition to some of the demonstration plots we have here at the house, we were also busy assisting the school next door to us and planting a field at our ministry centre in Ngangula.  The kids got involved as well.

We decided that it would be good for them to learn the same program that we are teaching the village farmers.  We are proud at just how hard they have been working.  They literally spent two full days getting their small plot ready and planting the seeds.  And it was awesome seeing the excitement on their faces as they began to see the maize seed begin to sprout through the soil in the last few days.

When the maize is fully grown in a few months, we'll let them harvest it and sell it to a mill just up the road.  Great homeschooling project huh?

Welcoming the Ballentines

We're sorry for the lack of posts lately, but we've been busy spending time with our close friends John and Carrie Ballentine.  They decided to take some time out of their busy schedule and come and visit us here in the bush in Zambia.  And we are sooooo happy to have them here!

John and Carrie are very dear friends who we've known since our days in college.  We've really grown up as families together.  We were married within 6 months of each other and then had all of our children close to the same times.  So, to say that this we've been looking forward to their visit would be an understatement.

Below is a slideshow of the rest of the trip to Livingstone and Botswana.  We hope to add more pictures and stories during their visit.

Link to Slideshow:  https://picasaweb.google.com/mzungubwr/BearAndCarrieLivingstoneTrip?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Asking for a Nation

In many Zambian circles, the Tonga people are considered to be a very simple people, not always respected, never expected to amount to much and definitely a group of people that could never be used to change a nation.  But as my friend and collegue Luke would say, that's a recipe for God to show up and do what He does best: "use the simple to shame the wise."

So, this past week, we met with Chieftainess Mwenda and that was exactly what we were praying for and believing God for.  Our hearts cry is that God would use the Tonga people to change Zambia and that he would use these same people to change Zimbabwe and beyond.  And we're extremely excited, because there is evidence that this is exactly what God wants to do.

Would you join us in asking for a nation?

Let the Little Children Come

Today, as I was busy organizing in my little girls' room, Gracyn came in and sat down saying she needed to talk to me about something.  She told me that she's been feeling like God wants her to teach the kids in the compound behind us to read.  I thought that was great.  However, I immediately started to tell her that she would need to have a plan, some help, a schedule, etc.  - Mom, and her plans.

Gracyn was not deterred and asked me if she could just please go over there, ask one of our friends to interpret for her, and just do one lesson with whatever kids were around.  She had already made handwritten alphabet flash cards and had ideas for games and songs.  Precious.  So, of course I told her to go.  I decided I would just stay out of it and let her do her thing!

I went back there about half an hour later and found her there happily teaching this little group of kids.  She stayed there for over 2 hours and came home glowing about her lesson and telling me all about the kids who were there.  It left me just feeling so thankful.  We're always looking for ways for our kids to be involved when actually God is more than capable of laying things right on their own hearts.  Maybe we're seeing the first glances of the passions that He had placed in Gracyn's heart.

Saturday Field Day

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This weekend marks the beginning of a week of training.  This morning, at 8:00 am at our place we had over 100 visitors.  They came to learn more about Foundations for Farming, and more importantly how to honor God through farming.  We were encouraged by the excitement expressed by everyone there.  We spent about 3 hours walking them through how to lay out a field, mulching, digging and fertilizing the planting stations, planting, thinning and weeding.

Above is a video of the afternoon.  Our prayer is that some of those in attendance will take the principles in this program and start practicing it on their own farms.  To that end, we'll do follow-up as the growing season progresses.  So, the first one is down and we have 4 more through all of next week.  Pray for our sanity as we prepare and teach many people over the next week.

Something New

(If you are receiving this post via email, view the video by Clicking Here)

We've been busy over the last several months.  So, we're trying something new.  Here is a video update of everything happening with the ministry here in Chikankata.  We hope you are all doing well.  If you get a chance, take a look.  It's a little over 3 minutes, but very informative.

Doctor Whitfield

This afternoon little Gift was brought to our gate. He was playing with some other children when he had a small accident. He was cut right above the eye. His parents didn't know what to do, so they walked nearly 3 kilometers to bring him to us.

We are humbled at how much the community here has grown in their trust for us. And this was just a small example of that trust. This evening Gift's parents brought him back to clean and dress the wound again. Hopefully this little guy will get healed up soon!

Bad Hair Day

Note to self or should I say note to Thomas. Never start the process of a hair cut late in the day in Zambia. You just never know how long the power will be on.

We'll fix it this morning, but we were calling him George Jefferson all last night ; )

UK Visitors

The past 10 days we've been hosting some visitors from the UK. Trevor and John (2 on the right) were here constructing a percussion drilling rig for water well digging. And then Norm and Allison joined us the last few days of their visit. These are our friends from Honiton Community Church.

It turned out to be a very pleasant trip. Trev and John finished the rig and we began digging a well for the workers here on the farm. We even have been able to use our hand drilling system that was donated by a Sunday school class at Chapin Baptist. So far we've drilled between 3-4 meters and are hoping to find water at 20+ meters.

It was also nice catching up with Norm and getting to meet Allison. We're already looking forward to their next visit!

Short Term Team Development

One of the things that resonates with both the Whitfields and us is having Short Term Teams visit us here in Zambia to see and be a part of the ministry first hand. With that being said, we've begun development on the facilities for housing these teams. The first project: a shower house.

Here is a picture of Movet working on the soak away for the toilets. We've also just about completed our outdoor dining/meeting area. (pics to be provided in a later post).

If you or your church wants to come and visit, we'll be ready for our first teams this coming May. Contact us at Robertsinzambia@gmail.com to find out more. Cheers!

It's Hot

Kerri took this picture and posted it to her facebook account.  But just in case you missed it and were wondering if it gets hot in Zambia during their summer months, just take a look.  October is turning out to be a scorcher!  I'm soooo looking forward to the November rains!

Drilling Rig

This week we have some friends visiting us from Honiton Community Church in the UK. These two men, Trevor and John raised the support and came up with the plans for constructing a percussion drilling rig that is affordable for villagers and effective at drilling water wells in excess of 100 meters in depth.

So, they've begun the construction. We hope to test the rig here on the farm later in the week and then begin to teach zambians how to fabricate similar rigs. Today, I've been learning all about welding.

On another note, it looks like our Internet situation isn't going to be resolved anytime soon. It appears like our provider is going out of business. If you need to get in touch with us in the meantime, please send emails to krosings@gmail.com. Thank you c

An Autopsy

Firstly, please pray for our Internet situation. Our satellite Internet provider has been experiencing a nationwide outage for the past 4 days. I'm sending this update via phone.

Now, back to the intent of this post. The Whitfield's and our kids were invited to our friends (who is also our vet) home the other day for a very unique homeschooling lesson. They were invited to come and observe the dissection of an ostrich! This baby ostrich was being cared for by a local farmer and had died. So, Noleen had to determine the cause of death.

Not every day you get invited to an ostrich autopsy huh? The kids had a great time and learned a lot. And yes, they did determine the cause of death. It met it's first Georgia Bulldog Fan ; ). Just kidding. It actually ate some particular kind of hay that it couldn't digest and got all clogged up. Sad story for this little guy, but a great learning opportunity for for the kids.

The Holy Spirit is Always Speaking

Christmas (left) and his friend (right)

I wanted to share an encouraging story from our trip on Lake Kariba last week.  On our last day visiting the second fishing village, we had the opportunity to do some teaching.  As one of our friends was teaching about faith in Jesus and people were responding, I caught this guy out of the corner of my eye and felt like the Lord gave me a word for him.  His name was Christmas.  It was the first time that something like this had happened to me.

After finishing with the teaching, we headed to the lake to baptize those interested in professing their faith to their community by this act.  Christmas, was one of the few who were baptized that afternoon.  So, as he came back out of the lake, I grabbed an intrepreter and shared with him what I felt the Lord had laid on my heart.  I felt like God wanted him to know that he was being raised up to be a leader of faith in this small community and that he would be a strong pillar for Jesus.  And he received it with joy.

Now, jump ahead to the evening.  After some more teaching that night, I noticed Luke pointing at Christmas and grabbing an intrepreter to talk with him.  What you have to understand is that Luke didn't come with us to the village earlier in the day.  So, he had no idea that Christmas had made a profession of faith and been baptized.  And he didn't have any clue as to what I had shared with Christmas before this evening meeting.  But when I saw Luke heading his way, I kind of drifted his way to listen in on what he had to say.

What did I hear?  As Luke was listening to the teaching and looking at those in attendance, he felt like God had given him a word for Christmas.  As he shared, I heard the exact same encouragement that I had given Christmas earlier in the day.  He told him that God was raising him up to lead the people in this village.  I know Christmas must have been encouraged to hear this again, but I was encouraged as well.

But then as we got back to the boat and began to share about our experiences in the village, we were even more encouraged.  Because we learned that earlier in the day, before me, one of the other guys Harold, shared the exact same word with Christmas.  Three guys, unknowing of the others comments, sharing the same message to a new believer in the faith!  Isn't the Holy Spirit awesome?

As we talked about this experience, I couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, the Holy Spirit is talking a lot more than I think.  And maybe the reason I don't hear Him, isn't because He's not talking, but because I'm not listening.  Lord, let me be a listener!

Flying by the Seat of Her Pants

Must Read!!  Extremely funny story!!

During their visit recently, one of our friends here in Zambia shared a story that I couldn't resist sharing with you.  Now, let me set the scene.

Her and her young daughter were visiting some Zambian friends in Kalingalinga compound in Lusaka. Kalingalinga is like most other compounds.  Housing is in brick buildings with metal sheet roofing.  There is no running water.  Some have electricity and some don't.  And there is no indoor plumbing.  Meaning you use the toilet in a pit latrine (hole in the ground).  It is equal to one of the poorest and dirty environments in all of Africa.

Now, our friend (she'll remain nameless for protection ; )) was getting ready to leave from visiting one of their Zambian friends when her daughter told her that she had to go pee pee and couldn't hold it.  She planned on just opening the door to the car to shield people from seeing her daughter and letting her pee beside the car.  But her friend, being the gracious host that many Zambians are, offered to let her daughter use his family toilet.  So, they headed back to his home and into the back where the pit latrine was located.  As they entered, our friend picked her daughter up and just tried to hold her over the hole and let her do her business.

Immediately, after she started peeing, hundreds of flies began to fly out out of the hole.  Her daughter began freaking out because there were so many.  Then it happened.  As our friend was trying to keep her daughter calm and saying consoling words, she accidently inhaled one of those flies coming from the depths of the pit latrine!!!  That's when she began to freak out.  As she explained it, she was running through a million different ways she could expel the fly and cleanse her tummy.

As she told the story, we were all dying laughing, including her.  I know that everyone doesn't share our same potty humor, but I knew there would be a few who would appreciate this story.  So, here it is, shared with you.  Blessings ; )

Lake Kariba Video

If you are receiving this post via email, please go to:  http://youtu.be/suXBgQmdLX4 to view the video.

I just finished putting the final touches on the video from our trip on Lake Kariba.  During this trip, we were able to visit with two different fishing villages and share the gospel through the Jesus Film and through other teaching.

It was such an encouragement to see the Lord work over the course of this trip.  Not only did he reach quite a few Tonga speaking Zambians and change their lives for the better, but he also touched several of the team members in very specific ways.

In each village, we saw key individuals give their lives to Christ, individuals that we believe God will use to change their village and beyond.  It was also neat to see how God used the different giftings of the team members involved in the trip to reach these dear people.

If you get a chance, take a look at the video.  It's only a little over 4 minutes, but gives a very good highlight of our time on Lake Kariba.

Amon and Kenneth

Amon

Kenneth

On our 2nd day on Lake Kariba, we visited a small fishing village on the Zimbabwe side.  Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a familiar friend of our hosts Bruce and Sue.  His name was Amon.  Bruce and Sue have been making these trips for a few years now and had visited this particular village the year before.  During this trip, they first met Amon.  He was a notorious drunk who used fishing as a means to provide for his habit.  Amon, became a follower of Christ then.  So, Bruce was interested to see how he was doing.

To his and our joy, Amon was doing great!  He was completely clean from his addiction and had an amazing joy about life that wasn't there before.  Something that truly couldn't have happened outside of the grace of Jesus taking over his life.

In addition to the encouragment we received upon meeting with Amon, we also met another younger guy named Kenneth.  After we showed the Jesus film and then later met to speak with him, it was evident that God was doing a work in his heart.  He said that he wanted to follow God and have a relationship with Jesus, but he felt like he had been tormented by spirits.  So, we began to pray for and with him.

And as we prayed, God began to work.  By the time we were done, Kenneth's whole demeanor had changed.  We now saw a man with Joy in his heart because of the invading work of the Holy Spirit.  Afterward, we went down to the rivers edge (a river filled with crocs) and Kenneth, Amon and a few others who had made professions of faith were baptized.  It was definitely an encouraging start to the trip.

Please pray for Amon and Kenneth.  They are the start of a small group of believers in this fishing community.  They have been given scripture and training materials, but pray that the Lord would uphold them as they grow in their faith.  Pray that He would use them to bring others in the village to faith!

The Cat's out of the Bag

We try not to talk about Nzoka (Snakes) on our blog just so the grandparents don't worry, but somehow they found out about this one.  So, since they already know, here is a picture of an 11 foot rock python that was brought by the house a few weeks ago.

Kennedy, one of the farm workers, had his friend bring it by to show the kids.  As you can see that's one big snake!  This particular snake was killed on a neighboring farm.  The zambians use an oil that is found in the python for helping with ear infections.

Pretty cool huh?

We're back!

We had a wonderful time serving the Tonga's of Zimbabwe on Lake Kariba the last 6 days.  I hope to write several updates on our trip, but just wanted to let you know we're back home and it was a great trip.  God showed up in many ways and ministered not only to the Tonga's, but also to many who were on our team.

Updates to follow!

; )

Disciple Ship

Well, the conference is over and we're now on the waters of Lake Kariba heading to a small fishing village to do Jesus Film outreach. We'll living on this boat for 6 days!

We're extremely excited about how God will use our team these next few days. Thomas is also having a blast. He just got to jump off of the 2nd story of the boat into the croc infested waters. Don't worry Grammy and Mimi. We're far enough off shore that we don't have to worry about them.

Anyways, the conference was amazing! I'll update you on it soon. I just wanted to give a little post for now to let you know where we are on our journey.

We've Arrived

It was a heck of a trip to say the least, but an experience I won't forget for the rest of my life. Luke, 4 friends from up north, Thomas and I drove to the Zambia/Zimbabwe border hoping to make the remaining 5 hours of the trip after clearing immigration. What we didn't know was that we didn't have the proper paper work for the car. We were told that we could go through, but that the car had to remain at the border.

So, we had two options: taxi (which the taxi driver was trying to take advantage of our helpless situation by asking for $350) or minibus.

Now, for those of you who don't understand the minibus scene in Zimbabwe, let me explain. These buses are usually in terrible shape and are known for breakdowns. They usually have seats for 13, but somehow the conductors find a way to fit 20. And people aren't always the only passengers (i.e. Chickens, goats, etc.). But missionaries are brave (and also poor). So, we chose the minibus.

To make a long story short, our bus was overcrowded and someone was transporting dried fish (smelly), but we did finish the journey in a little under 14 hours! We're now here at the conference having a wonderful time connecting with friends and making new ones. But we'll update you on that in another post. Just wanted to give you a quick update on our crazy African travels.

A Quick Update

Its been a busy several weeks and we want to update you on everything, but for now, we'll just give you some quick hitters.  The next 3 days I'll be in Zimbabwe for a conference with Foundations for Farming and then the next 7 will be helping some other missionaries do outreach on the lower Zambezi river to the Tonga people.  We will be showing the Jesus Film in various villages on the river using a boat for our sole mode of transportation.  After our return, I'll try to properly catch this blog back up-to-date.

But for now, here are some of the exciting things happening in ministry here in Chikankata:

• Chieftainess Mwenda and her family have donated a plot of land in Ngangula village for the purpose of us developing a ministry centre.  We hope to plant our first demonstration plot by October and I hope to be getting out there to train local pastors using Firm Foundations chronological bible training.
• We finished our first lesson with students from Terranova Basic School in agriculture and biblical discipleship.  The students learned about composting and how it relates to God being a God who doesn't waste.
• Tuesday's Chronological bible study with the farm workers here on Marula Farm is still going strong.  We're through the first 8 lessons and have a very large weekly attendance.
• We're finalizing plans on short-term team housing and will begin development soon.  We hope to host our first Stateside teams beginning next summer.

Like I said, it's a brief update, but in just over 10 days, we'll try to give you more detail.  Bye for now!