Random Musings, Info, and Update

Well, bet you were all wondering why in the world I haven't blogged in over a week!  Believe me, it is not because I didn't want to, but you see, here in Africa, the Internet is a bit of a crazy situation.  I have said before you pay for data and when you run out, you are dunzo.  Well, we apparently use a lot of Internet!!!  (Not sure how, we really don't do too much, and we definitely don't download or even run Facetime that often or anything, but anyways) We ran out last Monday and weren't planning on going to town, that is Lusaka, where you can buy more Internet, until Wednesday so had to do without for a few days.  At this point too, we were determined to check out some other options for Internet.  So, we ended up switching companies and getting a much better deal and package.  Phew....Big sigh of relief. Good for our pocketbooks and helpful to have more data so we can stay in better touch with all of you!  
But of course, nothing is ever too easy here.  :)  We got home and couldn't connect via hotspot from our phones to our computer.  And let me just tell you what a joke it is to call customer service here in Zambia-they were no help!  The last few days we have spent trying to figure it out since I didn't really want to type out an entire blog on my little phone and Mickey didn't want to do his grad school homework on a little phone either and finally, my amazing hubs figured it out today and we are on.  Anyways, we know this isn't a major problem in our lives, but we are grateful to have it resolved.  
On to our life here in Chongwe and our past week here-one thing that is cracking me up here is being stared at.  And I mean, no shame, keep looking no matter what, don't take their eyes off for a second, type of stares.  It is so un-American, in that we stare at people as well, but we definitely try to hide it! They do not! Ha!  Another thing that is quite funny is the crowds we attract on our walk down to the Nelms house.  We usually pick up about 5-10 children and they are usually shouting "How are you?" the whole time, since that is the only English they know.  Evan thinks this is hilarious.  He answers, "fine".  Then they ask again, and Ev usually just turns to me and says, "Why are they asking again?"  Except, by now, he understands that is all they can say so he will just answer the whole time. Whenever we drive through town as well, kids on the side of the road will wave and wave with huge smiles.   

The water situation has been pretty bad the last week, as in, we haven't had any consistent running water.  The Chongwe River is dried up so we think they are doing water conservation and only turning on water at certain times.  Even though it kind of stinks when you are in the middle of dishes, or wanting to take a shower, or can't flush the toilet, and it just goes off, we are blessed with a well in our yard where we can go get water to do these things as needed.  Most people are not blessed with a well in their own yard and have to walk a long ways to get water, then carry it in a bucket on their head the same distance back.  So yes, Mom and Dad, if you can believe it, your daughter now knows how to get water from a well.  I know you are laughing right now Dad.  :)  Rainy season is on its way though, so hopefully, my days of carrying the heavy water bucket into the house and heating it up to take a shower are almost over.
On a positive note, the electricity has been quite stable the past few weeks.  I know, shocker!  It has only gone of a few times and only for an hour at most!  We are so thankful for this because it has been zesty here as I like to say, like 100 degrees every day and sun just beating down on you.  And the way this house is made, it is like an oven when there is no air running.  So, hopefully, this will be an ongoing trend of consistent electricity!  :)
One last tiny, very short, minuscule, piece of info: I DON'T LIKE BUGS. (AND THERE ARE A LOT OF BUGS HERE-SORRY TO TELL YOU HEIDI). :)  

And now moving on to what went down this last week.  Mickey worked hard in the beginning of the week helping James and Moses get their land ready to plant.  Mickey is micro-financing them a loan so they can rent some land and learn how to farm.  They are really glad Mickey is here and willing to teach them.  They are awesome guys who not only want to learn farming so they can generate some income for themselves, but they also want to use farming as a platform for going into villages to teach about God. We love that by helping just two people, many people in Zambia will eventually be reached in the name of our Lord.  The ground is almost ready and they will plant soon as it is important for them to get it in before the rains come.  Tuesday night was spent celebrating our dear friend Amber's birthday Zambian style.  I even tried nshima for the 1st time!  They asked me to contribute an American cake, and it must have been good, the boys all had 3 pieces!   On Wednesday, we headed to Lusaka.  We set out to return to the Bill and Bette Orphanage, take our car into get fixed, change our Internet, and get groceries.  It was a pretty uneventful trip, except for the orphanage but more on that in another post.  Too much to put in this one!  Thursday, we got up early to head to the Esther School and the International Bible College of Zambia.  I was really excited about this!  I hadn't been to any other schools yet besides the preschool and the Esther School has quite the good reputation.  It definitely lived up to its rep!  The grounds were amazing, the set up was awesome, and the teachers were some of the best.  The kids that go to that school are so immensely blessed and their lives will be different because of attending that school.  Amber and I were both so impressed and inspired. We hope to take Teacher Doreen out there soon so she can get some good ideas and we can start making our preschool the best!  The Bible College was equally wonderful.  It was my first time so I couldn't compare it to anything, but it was Mickey's fourth, and he was amazed.  The clinic, library, farm grounds are all top notch. We also got to see where our friends, the Millers, will live.  So excited for them to get here!!!   Ok, I will stop jumping up and down now.  :)  The Evans family, who live at the Bible College had us for lunch, which was very kind.  They have 4 kids, and 2 of them were our kids ages, so they had great fun playing together.  At night, Amber, Sarah, and I had a mini-Christmas together! LOL. Since we won't be together for Christmas and I had been talking about Christmas music, we turned on the jams while making dinner, had hot chocolate, and watched Christmas Vacation.  So fun, thanks girlies for my Christmas fix!   And finally, Friday, I went to the preschool in the morning while Mickey stayed home with the kiddos.  It was Amber's last day there and I knew besides the fact that she needed someone to take pictures, she needed emotional support.  The kids sang her a sweet song and did some chants and cheers.  It made us both cry.  Those kids will surely miss her!   Friday night, we had a special good-bye party for Amber and Sarah with the Nelms at their house.  So sad to see them go...They are both dear sisters in Christ with me now.  Saturday was a catch up and relax day.  We had family movie night and it was the kids first time to watch Pinnochio!  They loved it.  And that brings us to today, Sunday.  We do "church" with the Nelms at their house and today we listened to a sermon online.  It was about how we worry so much about what other people think and what God thinks for all the wrong reasons.  We worry because we want their approval, we want their applause, their compliments.  There are two parts to how we stop this.  One, we should worry about what other people think, but not to boost our self-esteem.  It should be all about them.  I should worry about what my husband thinks of me because I want him to be happy and feel loved, not because I need him to tell me what a great job I am doing.  I should worry about how I can help a friend who is hurting, not because I need them to tell me that I am such a good friend, but only because I truly care about her and want to help.  Second is about the same as the first.  We should worry about what God thinks, but not because we need his approval. We already have it.  He paid the debt for our sins long ago. 
1 John 2:2 "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world."
 Doing what He asks should come from the overflow of love and gratitude out of our hearts, not because of a need to please Him and then feel good about ourselves.  When we live this way, the worry goes away, the need to please and feelings of failure that come when we don't feel people or God has noticed goes away.  Now, that sounds peaceful.  I definitely think the world would be a better place and there would be less insecurity if we lived this out.  
This is all for now-I know, super long post, and you want to know about the adoption.  I desperately want to speak more about it, but just know there is a lot we can't say right now and a lot of uncertainty in the situation, so we don't want to say too much either.  Please pray for us though as the next few weeks are pretty crucial.  THANKS AND MUCH LOVE TO YOU ALL!

The Esther School Preschool-snack time!

The Evans's kids and our kids!

A classroom at the IBCZ

The library

Mike and Dee Miller's future home!

Meet GiveLife Preschool Teacher-Doreen!

Meet Doreen Kamwengo, the GiveLife Preschool teacher. (and also my neighbor as well as new friend)

As you all know, part of my ministry here in Chongwe is to help Doreen make the preschool the best it can be.  I was really unsure of how I could help before I got here-I haven’t done any “work” in early childhood education for a long time and preschool is very different here in that most of these kids are being exposed to English for the first time!  A preschool teacher’s job is extremely important here because of that.  They must teach them this whole new language so they can go on to more schooling and have a better chance of success later in life.  But of course, my worries were futile.  

Because the truth is kids are kids and they all learn in similar manners, especially this age group.  Songs, physical activity, lots of reading books, hands on activities, as well as lots of love is what these kids need-and this I can do.  And Doreen is already doing these things and doing a great job-I will just help give her more ideas and activities that she just hasn’t been exposed to here in Zambia.  It’s not like she can Google things or pin ideas on Pinterest with no computer or Internet!  Lucky for her, I am a pinning fanatic!  Ha!  Anyways, this post is to share her story and what a story of survival and determination she has.  (Erin Port, I know you love a good personal story, so I did this partly just for you!  J )

Where did you grow up?  Livingstone, but born in Choma. 

What is your family dynamic?  My mother got married to my dad, but dad was previously married and brought with him his 3 daughters since his wife had died. My parents got divorced when she was pregnant with me, so then I went to live with mom.  Dad married another woman, and decided to get me from my mother when I was 4 years old.  Mom allowed it since she wasn’t in a financial position to take care of me.   I was brought up around a lot of family. My dad had a lot of money and in Zambia, if you have money, you share the wealth with any family who needs your help.  During this time, Mom got remarried and had 3 more children. Then her husband died.  I would only go see her on holidays.  She stayed a widow for about 4 years, then got married again.  This is when she had Margaret (this is the precious little girl you have seen in my Instagram and Facebook pictures-Mandey speaking).  Unfortunately in 2011 my mom passed away in front of her son.  Margaret didn’t really know what was going on-too young to understand. (More on Margaret in a little bit)  During this whole period of time with my mom being a widow and getting sick, my dad retired, but didn’t spend money wisely so with little money, much of my extended family left.  Even worse, in 2002, my stepmom died and all her family left.  So now just 3 of us left, me, dad, and one sister.  Times were tough and we didn’t always have money for school fees-so dad would send me to relatives for money to help and I managed to graduate. 

Tell us more about your schooling: I started grade 1 in 1995 at Nansanzu Basic School.  Went to grade 1-9 here.  Went on to grade 10 in 2004.  Completed education, never repeated any grade. Graduated in 2006. 

It was very difficult to even get into college without any money even for food, so I left for Choma in 2008.  Families back off with helping because they think it is enough to have grade 12 completed, so I couldn’t ask any relatives for money.  I started living with a sister and helping with housework and taking care of her kids.  The sister, by the hand of God, asked her what she wanted to do with her life and Doreen replied, “I want to go to college”.  To her surprise, her sister gave her 300 kwacha to start a business, so she could start earning a wage to save for college.  Doreen decided to sell tomatoes in Livingstone. She made enough profit, but it was very difficult.  Walked 12 kilometers (that’s about 7 miles!) most days to find cheap tomatoes to buy and sell.  One day, she went to several villages and couldn’t find any tomatoes.  Thankfully, she met a lady who told her she could find some at an orphanage, and she found very good tomatoes and good vegetables, sold them, then kept coming back to the orphanage to continue the business arrangement.  I did this for about a year and a half.  The keeper of the orphanage had a compassionate heart and told her he would work on getting her a sponsorship for college, which never happens!  And he did! (Typically, only young children can get sponsored for grade school)  God answered her prayer and made her dream come true. This money covered her school fees and the money earned from selling tomatoes helped pay for food and other necessities during college.  Went in 2010 to the Musi-o-tunya College of Education.  Graduated in 2011.  The orphanage wanted her to come work for them at the preschool and then changed their mind, and told her she could go where she wanted.

What made you want to become a teacher?   I have a passion for children-grew up with the passion and love for them.

How did you get to Chongwe (Chongwe is about a 7 hour drive from Livingstone)?  The sponsors from the orphanage offered a chance to go to a discipleship course, so instead of going directly to look for a job, I took this opportunity.  This was in Kabwe-OM (Operation Mobilization) Zambia, and it was a 3 month course.  This is how I heard about Give Life and found out they were looking for a teacher/missionary.  I applied and there were 4 other applicants.  We all went for interviews and they picked me!  I wanted to get involved with a Christian organization so it seemed like a good fit. 

Do you see yourself always teaching? I love being a teacher even though it can be quite tiresome with all the planning, as well as managing of different behaviors. But yes, I think I will teach my entire life, although I leave the door open for God to change that.

What is your Faith story? I grew up in a Christian home-went to church every Sunday, I knew who Christ was, but not knowing the relationship I should have with Christ.  The OM (Operation Mobilization) discipleship program really made things clear for me. 

What do you like to do for fun?

I like watching television, chatting with friends, and sharing experiences.  I like visiting new places. 

What are your hopes and dreams for the future?  I hope to get married, have kids of my own, travel to America or other places, and do something in business to empower me a little bit more. 

More on Margaret: After my mom died, I was frustrated that her dad wasn’t there at all, so when I got the job with Give Life, I knew I should take her as my own. She is my half-sister technically, but I will care for her as her mom my whole life.  Her dad still doesn’t even try to find Margaret or see how she is doing.

 

How can you pray for Doreen?  For God’s wisdom in raising Margaret as well as paying for the school fees for her other brother who is cared for by the sister as well as another child from her sister. (Again, remember how Zambian families are-whoever have money helps her family members with any money needs so since Doreen has a job-she is asked to help)  For God to bring her a good, godly man and who will love her and understand all that she has been through in her life. 

Conclusion: Pretty amazing huh? I'm pretty sure the same time she was walking 7 miles each day in search of tomatoes and buying and selling them, I was complaining about having to work a 4 hour shift at Dairy Queen or having to get up and deliver papers at 6 in the morning.  Puts life in perspective, doesn't it?  

And I love how her whole goal in doing that was to get an education. It was that important to her and she didn't just accept her fate.  She didn't have anyone to pay her way, nor could she expect the government to pay it, so she worked hard and prayed, and as you can see God came through in a big way for her.  I hope you will join me in prayer for her-life is still not easy for her, walking with Margaret to and from school each day, teaching a preschool class on her own all day with no assistants, no break, and being a young, single mother.  And despite all this, you won't hear a complaint from her...Every time I see her, there is a joy exuding from her that can only come from our good and loving Savior who has His hand upon her life.  

Weren’t you going to adopt while you were in Zambia???

Yes, yes, we are still planning on adopting.  But as we are learning here in Zambia, things don’t exactly move in “American” time.  It is more like we have all the time in the world here, so why the rush???  But that’s just it, even with over 10 months still to go here in Zambia, we do need to step it up just a notch. So here is the latest for you all you wondering minds…

We turned in our home study, approval letter from the U.S. stating we can adopt, as well as copies of passports and work permits to the Zambian government about 2 ½ weeks ago.  We found out that they would let us self-identify a child.  We also discovered that we would be able to work with the social welfare office here in Chongwe, where we live.  This was great news because it is a 45 minute drive each way to Lusaka and you have to work with social welfare quite often.  We set up a visit to an orphanage called House of Moses in Lusaka-a place that houses 0-2 year olds.  This is not the age range we have in mind, but we wanted to be open to what the Lord has for us.  Another couple from America had told us about a particular child there that we wanted to meet just in case it is the little person for us.   I can’t really share any more information about this child, but we went and brought our kiddos and the two girls who are here working with GiveLife, Sarah and Amber.  As we walked into the nursery complete with 15 cribs, it was a little overwhelming!  That’s a lot of cribs in one room!  The babies were really unsure of us at first, but as we started getting them out of their cribs and my kids started bringing them toy after toy from the closet, they warmed up rather quickly!  One little baby girl didn’t let go of Sarah the whole time!  It was so sad and precious at the same time.  Evan really hammed it up for the babes; it made my heart sing.  He tickled them, played peek a boo, handed out hugs, and just loved on them.  It was a really good visit and we are now praying about this certain child from there and praying that all the babies there find their forever families.

Our next step will be to visit the Bill and Bette Center, which houses about 15 2-4 year olds. This is happening tomorrow!!! Stephen and Aby are going with us this time and we are leaving kiddos behind with Sarah and Amber.  My mind is racing tonight with thoughts of possibly meeting our child in the next 24 hours!  We are also planning on visiting a few more off the beaten path orphanages next week if we can (or if we need to J ). The only issue with those is the records are not great like the other two I mentioned, but we know that if God leads us to adopt from an orphanage like that, then He will open the door for us to adopt from there.

So this is where we are.  We wait.  Getting to be the theme here in Zambia.  But we rest in the fact that God always has a purpose in everything He does and it will be revealed to us in time.  We know without a shadow of a doubt that there is a child here who God has set apart to become a member of our family.  All though Satan has done his best and tried to attack this in my heart several times-thoughts like “why are you messing up your neat perfect looking little family?” “how are you going to love this child the same as your biological children?” “you are not going to get it done in time!”  But so thankful for God’s word where it says in James 4:7: “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  I have had to speak this prayer out loud several times to get that pesky voice out of my head and it has worked!  I refuse to let Satan cause me to doubt God’s will for our life.  And God has helped me defeat that voice and even reassured me further with thoughts like: “you are giving your biological children another sibling-they will love him or her” “you are teaching and showing your kids to be the hands and feet of Jesus through this adoption” “I will fill your heart with love for your new child-it will flow from Me” “I will make all things work together for good in the exact timing that you need.” 

So, little child, whoever you are, wherever you are, we are coming and we are so excited to ask you to join our family.  We can’t promise you a perfect life, but we can promise to love you and to teach you of the greatest love of all-a love that is only possible by the One who created you and died for you.  

John 14:18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Into the Bush…

The past few days have been a bit of an eye opener for me.  We trekked out into the bush for a 3 day camping adventure to do evangelism and survey needs of a remote village.  What we found was a village with a huge amount of needs, both physical and spiritual.  We drove east about 100 miles, close to the Mozambique border, then turned south off the main road into Lower Zambezi National Park.  After the 10 mile long off-road driving adventure that would have been challenging even on an ATV, we arrived at the village soccer field, which made for a rather unassuming entrance to the town.  The town had a “main drag” complete with about a half dozen tiny mud huts used for selling cheap food items and booze.  We drove past it to the school, which was comprised of 2 open air huts with benches and an outhouse, to the church where we set up camp.  I’m told that children walk anywhere from 5 to 12 miles each way to get to this community school.  

 Water and food- It was about 105 degrees when we arrived at the village, which lies in a valley below 1000-foot mountains.  Our group of 12, mixed company between Zambians and Americans, went through water pretty fast.  We were informed by our local contact that we would have access to water for bathing and cooking, however when we were brought our first jug we realized that this not the case.  They gave us a jug of the dirtiest water, leaves and all, and a chlorine tablet to sterilize it.  The man who brought it was trying to be hospitable when he generously dumped the tablet into the water.  I couldn’t believe anyone could even drink the water.  It was inconceivable to even use it to bath.  I fortunately brought a small water purifier, which we quickly put into overdrive.  It took forever just to pump the water because the ceramic filter would get plugged every couple of minutes. 

We brought most of our food and all the cooking utensils, but the highlight of our culinary experience was getting a fresh kill of impala.  Locals had gone out and poached an impala (don’t tell the Zambian DNR) and offered to sell it to us.  I negotiated half of the impala for about $16.  I cut the legs up with a knife on the back of a tailgate and we made steaks and later impala chili with it.  Once you put out of your mind how long the meat had been out in the heat and how many flies had been on it before it was cooked, it was surprisingly tasty.  

The local watering hole

Fresh kill of the day

Thank you MSR for filtering the water and saving our trip!

The outreach: We focused our time on door to door evangelism during the days, did a sports outreach with a soccer game (I suck at soccer by the way), put on the Jesus film at night with a message, as well as built some bridges with local community leaders.

Giving the team a pep talk for a sport I know nothing about

The village school

The situation:  The village is facing some serious issues.  At first glance you see the obvious; extreme poverty, lack of clean drinking water, no health care, poor school system etc.  But there was much more.  The ladies who did a school outreach noticed even preschoolers singing inappropriate songs about sex (with the encouragement of the older male teacher), the men we visited with were hopeless and unmotivated, food sources are limited and poorly managed, alcoholism ran rampant, HIV was prevalent (along with dysentery thanks to the water), there was a possible situation with child prostitution, the local church was struggling, among other things.  In short, the trip for evangelism has opened up a whole mess of things that require investment from the church.  And here is the other thing: literally nobody is working there.  This area is out of the jurisdiction of literally every organization, both government and Christian. 

Kids excited to see the Muzungas (white people)

So…what is the response?  I could write for hours on what should or could be done, but I want to take time and listen to what God wants.  I feel a sense of urgency because people are literally dying out there.  For example, our contact’s wife (9 months pregnant) walked a difficult 6 miles over mountains to reach the nearest hospital so she could deliver their child.  I can tell you the walk was no joke and somebody at full term has no business walking that far over that kind of terrain.  With that in mind, I am committed to praying over this situation about how I can be useful in the future.  My Zambian friends were equally as disturbed by the situation out there and are also committed to a long-term solution.  

I know this much.  God’s plan for salvation and redemption involved sending His son to live and dwell amongst the people He was trying to reach.  It takes involvement, relationships and time in order to radically transform people.  Just because these people live in a harsh and remote place doesn’t exclude them from the Gospel or from an opportunity to an abundant life.  As Christians sometimes we must face critical choices.  Who is willing to go live amongst such a people in such a place?  Who is willing to sacrifice resources and time to reach a forgotten people?  If the Church isn’t willing to get down and meet people where they are, what is the Church here for? 

Limping home... its raining on our dirt road, my turbo is out, we are low on fuel and overloaded with passengers

It was difficult to reach this place this week.  It took time, resources (I blew a turbo and Stephen a fuel pump on this drive) and a sacrifice of comfort to make change in people’s lives.  We all have people placed in front of us that can benefit from our involvement.  The extent in which we as Christians are willing to get uncomfortable is directly related to the depth of our reach as a church.   This is where God took me this week, and it was uncomfortable.  Where does God want you to go that might be uncomfortable for you?  God doesn't promise a comfortable life, but a full and abundant life if we walk with Him.