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.