Field Trip

One of the advantages of being surrounded by a bunch of farmers who grow food and livestock is that our kids have a plethora of choices for field trips.  A couple of weeks ago, Kerri and the kids were able to visit one such farm, Simonga.

Mike and Sue Arnold were kind enough to host them for the afternoon and show them the inner-workings of their chicken egg, dairy and hay farm.  And the kids loved it.  All of them got a turn milking a cow, watching how eggs were processed and packaged and then topped the afternoon off by jumping on huge stacks of hay.

Really thankful for some of the opportunities that the African bush offers!

National Cooperation

Recently, Luke and I went to Lusaka for a meeting.  It was a meeting with Ben and Cat Frampton the Foundations for Farming representatives in Zambia.  The purpose of the meeting was to bring together some of the ministries that are using Foundations for Farming as a way of teaching and discipleship.  The hope is to be able to work together to have a greater impact across the nation of Zambia.

As we met, we talked about a yearly gathering where ideas, struggles and victories could be shared and we talked about having regional training centers where those interested in Foundations for Faming could come for more in-depth training.  It looks like our little-ole ministry here in Chikankata could be one of those training facilities for ministries working in Southern Zambia to come for training.

Exciting Stuff!

Lwindi Ceremony

(Click HERE to view a short video of the Event)

A few weeks ago, we were invited by Chieftainess Mwenda to the Lwindi Ceremony.  This is the Tonga ceremony for Thanksgiving.  They have it before the planting and harvesting season every year.

The event was much bigger that I even expected.  They had sponsors show up with banners and stands selling drinks and food.  And they had special guests from government arrive, including the DC for Chikankata (basically like a mayor).  He shared a few minutes as well as the Chieftainess.

We were able to watch some tribal dancing and listen to local music..  We also got to meet some new faces around where we live and minister.

I’m so thankful that the Chieftainess thought of inviting us as we experienced a new part of the culture that, before, we were unaware of.

Vet Visit?

So, our car has been in the shop now for 7+ weeks, but life still goes on without it.  One such task that had to be accomplished in the car's absence was getting our chocolate lab pup "Boomer" to the vet for his 2nd line of vaccines.  What does a boy do when he can't throw his dog in the back of the car to take him to the vet?

You guessed it.  He puts him in a backpack, ties it tight enough to keep him in, but loose enough not to strangle him and rides his motorbike.  Boomer didn't appreciate the ride as much as his owner.  When I got back home, he wouldn't come to me for a few minutes.  I think he was afraid that I'd put him back in the bag and back on the motorcycle.

Meet Peter

Peter is a new friend of ours.  I first met Peter through the farm owner, my friend Campbell.  Campbell is doing something quite unusual for a commercial farmer here.  He's planting 60 acres of maize by hand.  That's right, no machinery!  And Peter is the guy that will be supervising all of the workers performing this large task.

In addition to being a supervisor, Peter pastors a small congregation at a church located on the farm.  He has pastored this church for many, many years.  And it's refreshing to see his zeal for this church and for the gospel.  That's why I'm writing this post.  We have decided to partner with Peter in two specific projects over the next 2 months.

Later this month, his church will be coordinating a Jesus Film outreach at the church for the local Tongas.  We will be assisting them in training the leadership team that will do this outreach as well as setting up the equipment for the film.  We're excited to see how God will use this film through this local church to reach this community.

We're also excited about the opportunity that we have through Peter to do a demonstration plot and discipleship program this planting season using Foundations for Farming.  Peter will be planting a demonstration plot on the border of the farm and working with a few locals to plant their own plot.  Peter is super excited about the project, as are we.  We'll definitely have to post another update as things progress!

Called For Such A Time

My wife was recently invited, along with 4 other lovely ladies, to share her life experiences in faith on a new blog. Check it out if you get a chance!

Here's a link to her first post (Called to Believe):  http://calledforsuchatime.com/called-to-believe/!

Break Every Chain

Yesterday afternoon, we had the privilege of attending a pastor's conference in the bush.  Luke was invited by one of the pastors that we work with to share.  It was a pretty lively conference attended by guys that even drove in from Lusaka.  But it wasn't the conference that was the most impactful part of our day.  It was a time of prayer that we had afterward.

After the conference, we were told about a young woman (Yvonne), who had gone mad.  She lived in a house less than 100 yards from the church.  She had become so violent that she was being chained to a pole in her house to keep her from harming herself or others.   

In the West, we're more prone to see a person like this and say that she has some disease or mental disorder.  And I'm not saying that some people have real disorders and real diseases.  But I'm telling you that some people are also possessed and she was possessed.  

Based on what we learned from the family yesterday, it actually started several years ago when her, her mother and her brother were all bewitched by some of her family.  She had done something to offend some of her relatives.  So, at the funeral of her grandfather, they put a charm that the witchdoctor had given them in with the body.  Shortly after, both her, her brother and her mother all went mad!

And if this story wasn't believable, we also noticed some other evidence in the writings she had made on the wall inside of her house.  Yvonne, who had no idea what a pentagram was, had engraved one on the wall just above where she sat.  When we asked the grandmother if she knew what the symbol meant, she had not clue.

Because of her state, we didn't know what to expect when we (Me, Luke & 3 other Zambian Pastors) walked into the house.  We knew that we had Christ's authority, but we just didn't know how she would react.  As we walked through the low-hanging door and our eyes were able to adjust to the dark room, we saw Yvonne sitting there.  And as we walked in, she just started weeping.  

I wish we could say that we prayed, she shook violently and then sat up clear-minded and speaking coherently.  But she didn't.  As we prayed for her, she actually became extremely relaxed to the point where we had to gently lay her over on some bedding nearby.  When we asked the grandmother if this was usual, she said that it wasn't.  So, I believe that Friday was a first step.  I believe that God wants to set this woman and her family free from the Satanic oppression that they are facing.  

Would you believe with me?  Would you please pray for Yvonne and her family?  We will be going back to this village in the next few months to show the Jesus Film at the church.  We're planning on visiting with her again then.  Please pray that her physical and spiritual chains are broken and that this young woman will be freed to live a full life in Jesus!

Needing a Little Reminder

"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life."

If I'm honest, I'm a person who is much more comfortable with concepts and ideas, with doctrines and theologies.  I'm an introvert by nature.  Kind of an oxymoron - an introverted missionary, huh?.  I'm a processor.  I love to strategize, connect the dots, figure things out.  But with relationships, I a novice.  I struggle.  I'm comfortable with sharing surfacy things, with shooting the breeze about sports, but exposing the inner-man is something I'm not good at.  I struggle with intimacy.

As I was on Lake Kariba, one of the biggest things that God impressed upon me was that Jesus is a not a book, he's not a bunch of rules, or a bunch of good deeds (caring for orphans, the needy, etc.).  He's not some theological concept or sound docrine either.  Jesus is a person.  And my highest calling in life is to experience Him in a personal and intimate relationship and share that experience with others!  I knew this in my head, but I just needed a little reminder that this reality needs to sink down to my heart.  Maybe my reminder can be yours today as well!

Jesus desperately wants you to experience Him today!  Will you?

Like a Radio

As we shared from God's word with the community, I had something happen to me that hasn't ever happened before.  As I looked around the crowd, there was a young man who I sensed was deeply hurting.  I didn't see anything physically that would make me think he was hurting.  I just sensed it in my heart.  And the more that I looked at him, the more I actually felt his pain.  At one point, I actually felt the pain so much that I was literally crying myself. As all men do, I pride myself in not crying.  So, I knew God was trying to show me something. 

As I sat there I prayed about the best way to handle the situation.  I didn't want to embarrass him by addressing him in front of the group.  So, when we were done, I just shared with the group that God had shown me that someone in the group had been hurt deeply and that God wanted to bring emotional and Spiritual healing.  

When we asked if that word that I received was for someone, he came forward. He was set free that day and I was encouraged!  Encouraged, because it was confirmation that the word the Lord gave me for this young man was, in fact, from him and not just something I drummed up on my head.

I heard something recently which I think really applies to this story and be an encouragement to all of us.  Think of a radio.  Music is always playing from a radio station.  It doesn't stop.  But we cannot hear the music unless we have our radios turned on and are tuned into the right station.  The Spirit of God is much like this.  If you're a Christian the Holy Spirit lives inside you.  And he's not a quiet spirit.  He is speaking all the time.  Sometimes it's just that our radios aren't turned on (we're not available to Him) or that we're tuned into the wrong frequency.

But that's not God's desire.  He wants us to be switched on and tuned into Him!  He wants to speak to us more and more.  Don't you want to hear him?

Lion Kill

About the lions, while we were on Lake Kariba, we parked the boat in one of Zimbabwe's national parks at Elephant Point.  We decided to take a walk in the bush, just to explore.  As we were getting close to where the shore ended and the bush started, Bruce heard something that sounded like a hippo in the near distance.  So, he pulled out his Binoculars and when he did, he saw a pride of 11 lions (adults and cubs) about 200 yards away.  His demeanor quickly change.  He told everyone to slowly walk back to the boat without turning our backs to the lions.

So, we slowly walked back to the boat hoping not to peak their interest.  When we got back to the boat, and knew we were safe, we rode around to where they were.  The lions were on the shore of the lake eating something, but it took us a few minutes to figure out what.  Eventually, we saw a foot stick out of the pile of hungry lions and determined that tt was a baby hippo.  That's only the second time since being here that I've witnessed lions just after a kill.

As we sat there watching them fight over this baby hippo, we knew we had been pretty safe during the experience, because they wouldn't have left a kill to bother with people.  But, earlier, as we were walking back to the boat, I wasn't a happy camper ; ).

I'm Jealous

Yesterday afternoon, Kerri, Elise and Avery boarded a plane to head to Johannesburg, South Africa.  They, along with another friend who's already down there, will be attending a worship conference.  The church that originally planted Mazabuka Community Church invited them down a few months back.

As a missionary, am I allowed to say that I'm jealous?  Jealous for the worship that they will be experiencing and yes jealous for 1st world civilization (restaurants, good roads, etc.).  They will return on Monday, but I'm super excited for the opportunity that they have to build relationships, learn more about worship and just have fun!

Does It Still Happen?

I know this is a touchy subject in some Christian circles and seen as craziness by those who are not Christians, but I'll share on it anyways.

The past two weeks were truly an amazing time of ministry.  Firstly, God did a lot to soften this hard heart of mine.  If I'm honest, I think that I was getting a little burned out.  And I'll share a little about that in a later post, but I wanted to process on blog, some other things that God impressed upon me on this trip.  The following story is coming from me, a Christian who traditionally is more reformed in my theology, who believes in the demonic, but if I'm honest, equates much more of this world's and my problems/ailments to cause and effect or a battle against our sin-filled human desires.

So, without further adue...

This past week, in the fishing village of Nakatundu, while we were sharing and teaching, I noticed a young man in the back who had been there the previous year.  In fact, God had done a lot in his life during that trip.  So, I was eager to find out how he had been doing.  But when I looked at him, he wouldn't make eye contact and quickly disappeared after the first visit.  During our second visit, we asked if anyone needed prayer and he was one of the last to come forward, still having a somber look on his face.  I asked him how he had been doing and how we could pray for him and the only thing that he said was that he had a pain in his chest.  I sensed something was not quite right with him, but didn't know what it was, until we prayed.

As my friend Shaun and I layed our hands on his chest to pray for him, I experienced something that I haven't experienced before.  His chest began to move underneath the skin, like something was trapped and was trying to escape.  And it wasn't the type of movement that a person could do on their own.  This thing was literally crawling and jumping underneath the skin.  I've seen people opressed and possessed by demons before, but have never had one manifest as I was praying for someone.  Well, this demon was manifesting.

And the way it was happening was in such a way that the young man we were praying for could not have been faking it!  It wasn't happening before we laid our hands on him.  Immediately, when we laid our hands on him, it happened and continued for a short time.  Then, through the authority that we have in Jesus, Shaun and I told it to leave this young man and it did.  The movement stopped and the pain in his chest went away!  We didn't scream or struggle against it (as you see happen in some movies).  We just said in a quiet and calm voice to leave.

As I stood there processing what had just happened, God reinforced a truth that I had known for many years:  It was as if God himself was telling me, again, that I am His son, a son of the King!  And, as such, I carry His authority.  He has literally given me authority in this world.  Not because of anything of myself, but because of Jesus in me!

He was also showing me that a lot of the problems that I would chalk up to the explainable, might be caused more by the unexplainable or the demonic.  Now, don't hear what I'm not saying.  I'm not saying that all sickness, disease, hardships, etc, are caused by the demonic.  I'm just saying that maybe more of them can be attributed to the demonic than I admit.

And if that's true, how does that change how I minister to people?  How does it change my dependence on the Holy Spirit to get to the root causes of problems instead of just dealing with the surface?

I try to imagine what the solution would have been if this same young man came to me in the States and said he was suffering from chest pains.  What would I have done?  Would I have even dared to pray for him first before offering advice?  Would I attribute the cause of his issues to the natural or at least consider that they might be attributed to the supernatural?

These are just some of the kinds of questions that God has me asking myself from this experience.  Maybe He's asking you some of the same?

A Wonderful 10 Days

Lake Kariba 2013

The past 10 days have been so refreshing.  I cannot tell you how much I needed to get away, to be encouraged and built up and to just spend some time sharing God's love with our Tonga friends on Lake Kariba.

I'll be blogging shortly with some of the experiences/insights from the trip (walking up on a pride of 11 lions eating a hippo and hurriedly walking back to the boat so as not to be desert, hearing God confirm his love for me through some of my friends on the trip, seeing God show up and change many lives, etc.), but I won't share all of them right now.  I just wanted to take the opportunity to quickly post some pictures of our time on the lake.

Additional link for slideshow: CLICK HERE

Kids on Outreach

I really liked my job in the States, but there is one (of many) distinct advantages to my job here in Zambia. My children get to join me! Yesterday, the boys and I went out for a little practice on the trails on the motorbikes. We had an awesome time just exploring and finding some of the more out of the way villages around us.

Now, all we have to do is learn to speak Tonga conversationally and we'll be set.

Ready for Our First Official Team

Team Bunk House

Tomorrow marks the end and the beginning.  The end to development and the beginning to giving others vision for how they can impact Zambia for the gospel!  Many, many thanks to Luke Whitfield.  He's been amazing throughout the whole development.  As you will see from the pictures, a lot of these realities sprang from his creative brain.

Inside Team Bunk House - Sleeps 12

We hope to use this facility for the benefit of visiting teams from the west, but we also envision using it to host retreats and intensive training sessions with some of our Tonga friends.

Shower House

Tomorrow we pick up our first official team from Dallas, Texas.  They work for a ministry called Empower Dreams and specialize in partnering with overseas ministries like ours to further the work of the Church.

Inside Shower House - 6 Showers & 4 Toilets

There will be 10 ladies and gentlemen on the team and will be serving with us in ministry for the next week.  We're excited to finally see what we've been working on for so long, be put to use.

Covered Outdoor Eating Area

Pizza oven and Grill

Fire Pit

Over the next week we have an extremely busy schedule.  We'll be visiting our rural ministry center, reaching out to widows and orphans, running kids camps and other things.  Our hope is that this week, we can dream together of how to best reach a nation!

Stateside Reunions

To view this video, CLICK HERE

We're very fortunate to have a strong support structure of churches who love God and love people.  While Kerri was back, she was able to catch up with our friends from some of these churches.  The above video is of her singing "Bless the Lord" at Northeast Presbyterian Church.

This particular Sunday was her last in the States and turned out to be a really special time.  Many of you don't know, but Kerri was struggling with some wierd health issues while she was home.  She had high blood pressure, high platelette counts, diziness and fatigue.  She had multiple tests, but no conclusive diagnosis was made.  So, Pastor Crow and some of the other leaders from Northeast Presbyterian gathered and had a time of prayer for Kerri.

As a husband, who was on the other side of the planet, I am extremely thankful for them encouraging her and me in this way.  And I'm so thankful that their prayers on our behalf were answered.  From this past Sunday, until now, all of the symptoms that had been there for the previous 2+ weeks are gone.  Thank you Pastor Crow, Manny and the many others who loved on my wife this past Sunday through your prayers!  And thank you for your partnership in our lives and ministry in Zambia!

Stuck

I'm on my way up to Lusaka to pick Kerri up from the airport and thought I would give you a view of road work Zambian Style. Most of the major roads here are only 2 lanes. So, when they decide to make improvements, it means that someone has to cut a path through the bush.

For some reason, I'm at a standstill. Well let me modify that statement. I just had a friend pass going the other way who told me it's going to be a long wait, because up ahead on my side of the road, there's a car broken down.

It sure is hot today. I guess I should have stopped for a coke or something before taking this detour.

It's Not About Me

Being home for a bit is always nice. Wonderful time spent catching up with family and friends, sharing great food, and enjoying all the conveniences that home offers for just a little while. It’s refreshing! One of the most special times is being at home with our church family. We are blessed to have a sending church that feels like family – that truly loves us and cares for us. Here is where our spiritual roots grew deep, where we learned the value of community, where our hearts learned to be transparent. Here is where we were when God began to pull away the scales from our eyes, to teach us who we are in Him, and where He showed us that our “yes, Lord” would take us to Zambia. Here are those who prayed for us, prepared us, walked with us, sent us.

Last Sunday I was able to be at our home church, to help lead in worship, to give a ministry update, to be honored and held and prayed over by those who send and pray and hold the ropes for us every day. It was a soothing balm to my soul. And I appreciate it deeply. AND I really struggle with being “honored”. I always feel like it’s wrong for me to be standing up in front of a crowd being honored for my “yes, Lord”. There’s nothing special about me. It’s not about me. I know that my church is not really honoring me but glorifying God in me. They know we are still broken, still struggling, still learning, still growing, still reaching. Still and always.

But there are those that have said to me over the years, “I could never do what you have done.” My heart’s cry is yes you could. Because it’s not you. It’s not me. Even the willingness to say yes comes from Him. (That’s another blog for another day) Living overseas doesn’t equal spiritual superiority. I know people all over the world, in all walks of life, who are saying “yes, Lord” everyday, and they are doing things that are much more difficult than working in Africa.

I got passionately stirred up in my heart about all those people I know. That THEY should be standing up being honored before the church. They should be the ones being held and wept over and prayed for. Is the church holding the ropes for these people like they do for us?

Then came Monday and I ran into a friend. A friend who told me the story of a guy he works with - a guy who is brand new to this faith, and he had attended my home church for the first time on Sunday. And as he watched this family love me, rejoice with me, weep and pray over me, God revealed Himself to this guy. And he saw for the first time how God loves His children and how He wants His people to love each other. He saw a community he wanted to be a part of. And God whispered, “See, Kerri, you’re right, it isn’t about you.” Thank you Lord.

We're Connected

One month to go and we're almost ready for our first full team! This past week, we connected the water supply to the shower house. As you can see from the picture, we had to "make a plan" to get it done, but it was a success.

Now to install the hot water heater, toilets, roofing and lighting and we'll almost be done. I just hope we can finish before our friends from Empower Dreams arrive!

Community Fun

Once a year here in Mazabuka the commercial farming community does motorbike ride from one of the local farms through the bush down to Lake Kariba. The ride is about 120 miles through mountains, jungle and rivers. It definitely is a fun way to meet your neighbors and spend a few days.

The big three kids and I are making a mini vacation out of it. Too bad my bum doesn't feel like it will be ready for the ride back Monday.

See For Yourself

Do you want to see what's happening with our ministry here in Zambia and hear firsthand from some of our Zambian friends about what God is doing?  Here's a quick 5 minute video catching you up with all that is Eleeo Project:  CLICK HERE

Intro to Zambian Shopping

This afternoon I had the opportunity to show dad a little bit of Mazabuka. Here he is in the local market watching out for the supplies we bought for the store on the farm.

It's so nice getting to show him a little piece of our life here. Just wish they could stay longer.

The Murphy's

Please pray for this dear family.  They are a missionary family living and working in a small town about 3 hours south of us.  They are friends with many of our friends here in Zambia.  A little over a week ago, they lost their 10 year old daughter Christianna.

Remembering Christianna Murphy: 10 year-old missionary dies suddenly

A Morning at the DMV

Kerri and I decided to have a date this morning at RTSA (Zambia's version of the DMV). Our licenses expire next month and since Kerri is heading back to the States in two weeks, we decided to renew early.

Surprisingly, it turned out to be an easy process. Now onto the rest of date!

Every Spiritual Blessing

Click Here for a copy of the Sermon

This morning, I had the opportunity to preach at our home church away from home.  I've never done this before, but I'm publishing the sermon here on the site.  If you get a chance, read it.  It's about our spiritual blessings in Christ from Ephesians 1.

Cheers!

Missing Out?

Are missionary kids missing out?  Take a minute to read this blog from a 16 year old girl who's parents are serving in Guatemala.  Great insight into how kids experience life in missions.

http://lifeasamissionarykid.blogspot.com/2013/04/am-i-missing-out.html

April 2013 Ministry Update

Click Here To view our Newsletter

Do you want an indepth look at what we've been doing in Zambia over the past several months.  Well, you're in luck ; )  Here is our April 2013 Newsletter.  Please take a few minutes just to get caught up with our lives and ministry.

All Zambian

Over the last 15 months, we've held quite a few Jesus Film outreaches, but they've all been led by either us or the Whitfields.  Well, this past Friday, 10 guys that we've been discipling for the past several months took over.  And it was Awesome!  The only thing that we did was provide the equipment and they did the rest.  Two of our guys, Amune and Oscar introduced the film and prayed for its showing. The others assisted with setting up the screen and then afterwards, they were all available to pray.

We've always believed that Zambians can best reach Zambians because they know the culture, the language and understand the many struggles that their brothers and sisters face.  Friday night was our first step in helping equip Zambians to do just this.  Hopefully there will be many more nights like this in our ministry!

A Nightmare for a Process Analyst

Before my life as a missionary, I was a business process analyst with one of the biggest employers in the state of South Carolina.  My job basically was to go into different departments, analyze how they were doing things, identify bottlenecks and waste and recommend how to improve processes and save money.

So, to say that Zambia has sometimes been a shock to my analytical brain would be an understatement. Case in point, today!  We are going to have to replace the transmission on our car soon and it's just too expensive to do it here in Zambia.  So, our plan is to drive to Johannesburg to get the work done.  But in order to drive across the border, you have to get INTERPOL clearance.  This basically shows authorities of different countries that the car isn't stolen and the owner has given permission for its travel across the border.

You would think it would be easy to get such paperwork, but not in Zambia.  After gathering the required copies (vehicle registration, driver's license, etc.) I headed to the Road Traffic department in Lusaka.  Here, they verified that my VIN and engine number's matched the registration certificate.  No complaints here.  It was pretty straight forward.  But that's where logic ended.  Instead of going inside to pay, I was sent across town to a different road traffic department.  There, I paid at one counter and was handed another form.

Instead of this person being able to give me the necessary stamp, he sent me across the building to another desk where this person was supposed to stamp the paperwork.  After waiting for what seemed like an hour, the guy finally took my paperwork and stamped it.  I was done right?  I would just turn my paperwork in to this guy and leave wouldn't I?  Nope.  Instead, I was told that I needed to drive back across town to a police post that was near the original Road Traffic department.  And here was the clincher:  They only accept INTERPOL forms on Monday, Wednesday and Friday!

Considering that our home is a 2 hour drive away, it will now take me roughly 13 hours and 2 tanks of diesel to complete this process.  I wonder if they will let me offer my consulting skills in the future?

Birthday Getaway

My birthday isn't for another 9 days, but Kerri and I decided to celebrate early, mostly because our schedule is too busy around my birthday.

We're staying at Lake Kariba Inn, about a 3 hour drive south from our home. This afternoon we will head out on a boat to see the Kariba Dam. Many years ago, they decided to dam up the lower Zambezi river to create a hydraulic power station for Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba formed as a result. It's truly a stunning place.

Well one more day of rest and relaxation before we get back to the grind.

Weight Gain

We just wanted to give you a quick update on how the nutrition program is doing after the 10 Days.  Two of our participants, Syvaless and Iness both gained 2.2 pounds.  For Syvaless, that is 20% of his total weight (She weighed in at 10 pounds when the program started).  Yay God!!!

Please continue to pray for these three children.  We're hoping that this can be a way to impact many more in the future.

City Trip

Kerri's mom wanted to do some shopping before heading back to the States. So, we headed to Lusaka this morning. Whenever we're here, we try to do a laundry list of chores.

On the top of today's list: car maintenance. I try to do as much as I can myself. But I just don't have the equipment for tire alignment. When your home is 45 minutes off the paved roads, it pays to have them aligned every so often.

Hopefully this will last us a while.

A Bit of Nourishment

Below is information on a nutritional program that our ministry is starting at a nearby clinic.  Take a few minutes to read.  Awesome stuff!

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I want to introduce you to Syvolas Musonda, Chilala Habeena and Iness Kabwata respectively. These three young children are all under the age of two and will be the test group for a nutrition program we launched this morning. All three are extremely malnourished.  To give you some perspective Syvolas (first picture) is five months old and weighs 9.2 pounds.  That is just almost one pound more than our daughter Avery who is just two weeks old. Syvolas is HIV postive and his mother, who has AIDS, is too frail to care for him. 


The program will consist of distribution of a daily nutritional supplement called Phytomatrix which is manufactured by MannaRelief out of Texas. We are highly expectant that all three of these children will show immediate signs of improvement during the course of this study. 

To follow their progress please visit our blog at: www.whitfieldwateringhole.blogspot.com. For more information on Phytomatrix you can visit MannaRelief's website at: www.mannarelief.org.

Some More Visitors

Mimi and Papa are visiting us for the first time in Chikankata.  It's been a great visit so far.  Their arrival was like Christmas in March because of all the stuff they brought.  Tomorrow morning they will get to be a part of our field day where we are teaching composting to local farmers.  And then on Wednesday night, they will go with us into the village for a Jesus Film outreach.

It's so nice having family here!

Want to Help?

Meet Cynthia.  Cynthia has been working for us for about a year now.  In addition to teaching the kids Tonga lessons every Friday, she has been running a small shop on the back of the property as well as doing translation work for the women's outreach events.  We're so thankful for her honesty and hard work, but it's time for bigger and better things.

This past week, Cynthia was accepted into an Early Childhood Teachers diploma program.  And this program isn't easy to get into.  Not only did Cynthia complete grade 12, which only about 20% of all Zambians do, but she did so with high marks.  The only problem is that Cynthia doesn't have the money to attend this university.  Her father is a cook for one of the local farmers and only makes enough to support his family with the essentials (food, shelter, etc.)  So, that is why we are asking for your help.

The program is a 2-year program and when completed it will give Cynthia a diploma and a much needed advantage in finding work as a school teacher.  Considering that only a very small percentage of Zambians complete a university degree, it's easy to understand the value of such an education.  A degree like this can literally change her life and the life of her family.

The basic cost of this degree program is $1,500 per year for two years, which includes boarding and education.  So, we are basically trying to raise $3,000 to send Cynthia to school.  Would you be willing to help?

Donations can be made online by going to:  http://www.cten.org/brentroberts.  When making your donation, please comment, where appropriate, that the donation is for Education Assistance.

Thank you for your consideration!

Welcome Avery Elizabeth Whitfield

This morning a little after 7 am our friends and ministry partners, Luke and Elise welcomed their 6th child into the world.

Little Avery weighed a little over 7.5 lbs and is completely healthy. Mommy is doing fine as well!

Back to the Third World

This morning I arrived back in Zambia after spending a few days in Johannesburg. It was nice to experience some of the comforts of a first-world country again, but I'm glad to be home again with the family.

Now, back to work!

Home Cooking

I'm in Johannesburg, South Africa for a few days and got to experience some good-ole Mickey-D's. I know it probably doesn't mean much to you, but when you don't get it for nearly 2 years, it is a treat.

This being back in civilization kind of makes me miss the States!

Local Markets

One of the ways we try to help out with our tonga neighbors is to try and create jobs. At our house, we've started a small shop for the farm workers. This small shop provides them with much needed household goods, but it also provides work for Cynthia. Cynthia has completed grade 12 and is trying to find the money for university. So, she comes to the house Monday thru Friday and runs our store.

In addition to the money that the store is providing her, in terms of salary, we also will use some of the profit to help hire other workers. This is just a small way that we have found to be helpful in the community in which we live.

The picture above is of one of my friends in the local suppliers market in Mazabuka. This market is where we buy the goods for our small shop. This lady sells me beans and fish weekly. She was kind enough to let me snap a picture to share with you.