Newsflash!!!

Newsflash!!!

Our 10 day vacation to London and Budapest is over and we are on Zambian soil.  Let me tell you, that’s when it felt real.  Because it is!!! We are really here and will be here until next August.  I had all these ideas in my mind as to what it would be like here and I am finding that some thoughts were correct and some were incorrect. But one thing is for sure-it is not like America!  The plane just let us off in the middle of the airfield-no pulling right up to the building.  Right away, Evan says I don’t like the smell!  Most people burn their garbage here so there is just kind of a different smell.  We told him “you will get used to it!”  I have a feeling we will be saying that to the kids and to ourselves all year.  J 

Thankfully all our luggage arrived-we had no problems with getting our luggage the whole trip, which was a huge blessing.  Although as we grabbed it and started walking out of the airport to meet Stephen and Aby (the founders of the GiveLife Project, the organization we will be working with quite a bit), several Zambians just grabbed our stuff and started helping us to the car with it.  I thought, “how nice”!  But come to find out, they just do it without asking and then expect a payment.  Stephen told them what we would give for helping and apparently, it wasn’t enough so they all just shook their heads and left.  I have a lot to learn! 

After leaving the airport, we headed to grab some breakfast.  We weren’t too hungry since we had breakfast on the plane, but after a night of little sleep, we wanted some coffee and Stephen knew a good place.  It was a very nice little café with good service.  Next up was getting our phones hooked up.  So we headed to the mall which is attached to the major grocery stores too-nice that it is all together.  This is where we will go and be able to run all sorts of different errands.  It is actually a really nice mall-not what I was expecting.  The internet and phone packages were pretty expensive, but we obviously want to keep in touch with everyone and keep in contact with others in Give Life while we are here so you kind of just bite the bullet.  We learned you can’t just get like a contract for a year either-you have to go in every month to purchase your data/call package.  Definitely different than the States!  The grocery store was kind of a shock to the system-it was crazy busy with small aisles and Super High Prices!  I knew about that going in but once you start putting it in your cart and adding it all up-it is tough to swallow.  You can’t help but think about the feasts you would be having if you spent this much in the States or just about how much more you could get in the States for the same price.  But I know God is going to teach me a lot through this-not sure exactly the lesson yet, but I will let you know when I find out!  J 

After groceries, we headed to the village of Chongwe where we will be setting up shop this year and where Give Life and the Nelms house is.  We are staying in their guest house this week as we don’t have the container yet (this has all our beds, bedding, cookware, plates, etc.) so it would be difficult to make our home a home at this point as well as the place we are going to live still needs some work.  Our little apartment is just about ready for us though as far as the fix ups-Mickey and Stephen will work hard this week to do the final touches (some paint, new doors, window screens, buy and install appliances, etc.)

Our kiddos and the Nelms kiddos are having a blast playing together.  Their little boy is 4 and has 3 sisters so I can tell he thinks it is pretty awesome to have Ev here-they have been inseparable.  Alea is enjoying all the girls and all the girlie toys they have.  It makes my heart happy that they have friends here-they both love being around other kids.  I know it is helping them so much with the huge transition.

I am loving getting to know Aby better and am learning so much from her about all sorts of things! She is an amazing cook-so will be stealing her meal ideas for us this year.  The Nelms also brought 2 girls with them from the States to help them and to serve with Give Life-one is a 16 year old girl who homeschools (talk about a great school experience for her living here) and other is a 25 year old girl who is a teacher. Both are amazing young ladies with hearts for Christ.  They will be here for 3 months so looking forward to being great friends with them. 

We leave for Livingstone on Friday so Mickey can attend the Farming God’s Way conference.  I think this will be really helpful and informative for Mickey as he sets out to start the farming demonstration plot at the school Give Life built.  It will also be fun to meet other people from all around the world who will be attending.  The two girls who are here may come with us too so they can see Victoria Falls and go on a safari.  I hope they can come with us-it would be fun to have somebody to talk to and hang out with while Mickey is at his conference during the days! 

Anyways, that is about it for now.  We are adjusting.  We did a Bible study altogether today and discussed living in the flesh vs. living in the spirit.  The conclusion was we will not survive or thrive here in Africa if we live in our flesh.  We must choose to act in the power of the Holy Spirit and really love people, even when it is hard, when they don’t deserve it, even when they aren’t even grateful for the love. Loved having community today and time to discuss God's word with other believers-was soooooo needed.  We decided a motto for this year would be "Don't just survive, Thrive!"  Which is only possible with our great God!

Off to sleep I go-kind of different being under the mosquito net and there is this lovely rooster in someone’s yard nearby who decided to wake all of us at 6am this morning…not sure what to do about that.  He was a loud thing!  Mickey is off to Lusaka tomorrow with Stephen to see about his work permit, check on our car-it is here but we can’t pick it up without our work permit-and to buy the materials we need to work on our apartment this week.  I will be here with Aby, the girls, and the kiddos, I promised the little girls a tea party with real tea and biscuits so that should be fun.  I also get to go see the apartment tomorrow when Mickey and Stephen get back so excited about that-cool to see our “home” for the year. 

Signing off!  Good night!  (And I know, I know, I will get real with y'all soon about how I am doing with it all-but for now, just wanted to give you the details!)