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!

====================================

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.

How do you get to Bible study?

Well, when there are no cars available, this is how we do it! Bible study is held weekly on our neighbor's farm and often we white mommies can be seen trucking it on four-wheelers to get there. You should see the looks we get from the locals walking along the road - especially with Elise being 9 months pregnant! Fun times in the bush! (unless, of course, it rains!)

5 Years in Zambia!

(If you are receiving this post via email, please GO HERE to view the slideshow)

This post is a long time in coming.  This week officially marked 5 years since we first arrived in Zambia as a family.  A lot has happened over that time: Ellie's Birth, Kerri's Stroke, Birthdays, Thomas's Adoption, Change of Ministry, etc.  There have been many good times and quite a few hard times.  But God is, continues to be and will always be faithful!

Thank you for all of your support, prayers, encouragement, advice, help and love.  Without many of you, we never would have lasted this long.  This slideshow is truly a testimony to HIS and your faithfulness to us in fulfilling His calling.  And to this end we say Thank You!

Table for One

So, on Monday I headed up to Lusaka to meet with the mechanic. The plan was to get our Land Rover, make sure everything was running properly and show it to a few perspective buyers. Well, plans are just that, plans. And plans in Zambia don't usually as smoothly as plans made elsewhere.

Hence, it's now Tuesday evening and I still haven't picked the car up from the mechanic. Kerri and the kids were expecting daddy home tonight, but now it looks like it will be tomorrow. Another opportunity to say TIA (This is Africa).

I do have to say that eating out by yourself is rather boring. Wishing that Kerri was with me right now!

Living Water

"Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.  Indeed the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." ~Jn 14:4

I was thinking about this verse just this morning.  I've read it a thousand times (well, maybe not a thousand, but many).  But until I moved to Africa and started working in the bush, I didn't truly understand what it was like to draw water from a well.  And I didn't have a real-life example of how important functioning wells were to a community.

This morning, Luke and I met with members of the community in Ngangula and found out just how important a well is for them.  Ngangula is where our rural ministry centre is located and the well near our property is broken.  This is a well that serves close to 1,500 people!  Imagine having to walk half a mile to pump and carry water back for your family's meals and baths.  Then imagine that the well you use is incapacitated and now you have to walk 3 miles.  Now you're getting a better grasp of the struggle that many of these villagers are facing on a daily basis.

I'm beginning to see why, when Jesus told the woman at the well that he had water that would never make her thirst again, that she immediately asked for some of that water.  She probably thought to herself that if this guy is for real, then I won't have to make the long trek back to this well each day, several times a day and carry heavy buckets back for my family's meals and cleanings.

Many people think that lack of viable water wells is the problem affecting Africa's clean drinking water availability.  While new wells are needed, the wells that they are currently utilizing are falling apart and many are now inoperable.  Just in the community that we serve in Ngangula, there are 8 wells providing water to over 5,000 people.  Over half of these wells currently don't work.  So, in addition to drilling new wells, villagers need to be taught how to maintain the ones that are currently available.

Being that we're now part of this community, we asked if we could pull the parts out and do a thorough inspection to identify the problems.  We felt comfortable with this because of our training back in the States.  Well, today we were given that permission.  This particular well has been in service for nearly 12 years and it was very evident as we took it apart.  Many of the pipes had rusted through and the foot valve (which controls the pumping) was cracked in several different places.  Basically, if they tried to pump water, more water came back out of the pipe and back into the well than what made it to the surface.

Our desire is not to fix the problem for them, but to work with the community and assist them in coming up with a solution to this broken well.  This weekend, we'll head to Lusaka to price the parts and then meet with the community next week to discuss a way forward.  Pray that God would give us wisdom as we proceed.

The Fruit of Their Labor

(Eleeo Project Demonstration Maize Plots)

(Typical Rural Maize Plot)

I just wanted to give a quick update on our workers' demonstration plots.  This past November, we worked with our staff (5 different families) to plant 10 demonstration plots of maize using the principles of Foundations for Farming (a.k.a. Farming God's Way).  We really didn't know what to expect, because neither Luke nor I had ever grown maize and most of our workers hadn't either.  As you can see from the first picture above, it has been quite successful.  This coming week they will be applying the final top dressing and then it's just waiting for harvest.

I have included another picture just to give you some perspective.  The second picture above is that of a rural maize plot that has been farmed using traditional methods.

Do you see why these demonstration plots are so important to our ministry here?  They give us credibility in these rural communities that surround our home.  These same communities where 70% of the population live solely off of farming.  It's our "foot in the door" approach to reaching these villages with the gospel!  And they're taking notice.  Many Tonga's have asked what we are doing to get such good results.  Just for some perspective, a typical rural Tonga farmer gets about 1.5 - 2.5 tons of maize on a 2 acre plot of land.  These plots that we are planting are expected to yield upwards of 12 tons!  Think about that.  6 times more maize on the same piece of land.  This has the potential to change families and the communities in which they live.  Instead of these farmers scraping by each year, they can begin to turn a profit and have extra income to put their kids through school and to help others in the community who are less fortunate.

And in addition to this, the program's foundation is the gospel.  So while participants are seeing change in their physical fields, their spiritual fields (hearts) are being cultivated as well!  I never thought I would be blogging about farming, but I'm convinced more than ever that this is and will continue to be one of the best avenues we will have for reaching these people with the love and reconciliation of Jesus.

In the months to come, we will be having another field day where we invite the same individuals that were here during the planting to return and see the results.  I can't wait to see their reaction to what God has provided through our efforts here.