simply grateful

Happy Christmas Eve Day!! Ours is already in full swing. We went around town this morning delivering plates of breads, cakes, and cookies to some of our friends/merchants around town.  As we went, I was thinking how similar the scene was to the ones back home...the hustle and bustle of Christmas Eve in America.  The shopkeepers were so busy they barely had time to talk, which is unusual in this very relational culture.  However, there were the obvious differences as well...the dirt roads, the heat.  The hustle and bustle was mainly people walking and on bicycles shopping for live chickens and other food.  The way Zambians celebrate Christmas is by sharing a big meal together.  Sometimes families only have meat twice a year and Christmas is definitely one of those special times.  They generally do not exchange gifts.  The focus is on families spending time together.  Our prayer is that more families in our area next year will know the tr...

The church I grew up at, Idlewild Baptist, is hosting their 2nd Annual 5k and Fun Run on Christmas Eve morning.  This race goes to support nearly 5,000 missionaries serving around the world (and their nearly 4,000 kids!)  If you live in the Charlotte area this would be a fun event for your family and also would help send missionaries to proclaim the Gospel.  Online registration is still open, register today!   http://followingthestar.racesonline.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=site.display&page_id=6449 

Our electric and water has always been sporadic, but for the last month it has been consistent… consistently going off on Saturday and Sunday.  Last weekend was the worst being without electric for 32 of 40 hours.  We were in crisis control mode wrapping our deep freezer in blankets as we recently returned from a resupply trip and it was full of meat that we didn't want to lose!   This morning the power went off at 1 a.m. and came back on at 5:30 p.m.  We are thankful that it wasn't off for too long.  While our water usually returns within an hour of the power, it didn't happen that way tonight.  I had left a tap open in the kitchen so we would hear when it came back on.  Each night we sit down and pray as a family, each taking our turn.  Heather prayed for the water to come back on (the kids needed baths and the dishes were piling up!) and immediately after the words came out of her mouth we heard a trickle come from the faucet as the wa...

"Aliska" /ah-LEE-skah/ = shepherd, pastor We are so grateful for these men! These four men with David are the pastors in the Lundazi district.  We are so honored to come alongside them to join them in sharing  the good news of the truth of Jesus with the people in the Lundazi area. Just today, we were talking with our language coaches about the great spiritual need in the Lundazi area.  There are many other churches here, but the churches are not teaching the truth of the Bible.  The problem is that the people are so confused with a large blend of traditional beliefs added to Bible stories. It was one of those times of deep conversation that really motivate me to study more language because we want to actively join our friends in teaching the truth. This past weekend, a group of 6 of our new friends traveled for hours to Malawi for a Bible School Graduation.  Two pastors received their certificate. (The man on the far left being one of them, and the oth...

We are heading into our hot season now and we are finding ways to beat the heat.  The kids love swinging on their swings while being sprayed with the hose!

We completed our first project using some of the wood from our crate (albeit just one board).  We made the kids swings and they have been enjoying them for some time now.  Here are a few pics:  (click on them to enlarge)

It has been some serious work, but we are finally getting everything settled in.  The mission kindly provides us furniture while our crate is in process.  What that means though is that when the crate arrives you have to pack up and move all the mission furniture/kitchen items/ etc... to make room for your personal items.  So it is both a time of packing and unpacking.  Here are a few more pics of the house with our own furniture in place.  

745 days after packing it, our crate arrived at our home in Zambia.  We were thrilled to find after unpacking that nothing was damaged, not even a scratch!  For missionaries, getting your crate is like Christmas as we often forget what we packed.  I thought you might enjoy some pictures (click on pictures to enlarge) We were told the crate would arrive on Monday, but were not told when.  We received quite the surprise when the truck showed up at 6:45 a.m.   The kids were still asleep, but quickly woke up and it was a bit like Christmas morning! We were given a sheet of paper and told to circle the numbers as they pulled items out of the crate.   The movers opening one of our crates.   The kids loved playing in the paper as I unwrapped the items.  Makayla was great at helping drag the paper out to the back porch.   Poor Rameses and Raider had to be chained up while they were unloading.  (The dogs are still...

A.W.A.  Africa Wins Again.  It’s a common saying among missionaries in Africa when we experience days of frustration of living in a different culture.  Some days, all you can do is shake your head and walk away and hope that tomorrow will be a better day.  Like those days you realize the difference between the words “to fix” and “to kill” in your language is only distinguished by one letter difference, which is a “h” in the middle of the word (don’t want to get that one wrong at the hospital!).  Or the times you get frustrated with the lack of adherence to lines in a store... or on the road.  Or when you get robbed, get food poisoning, have to eat strange foods, go back to turn in paperwork for the 139th time only to find out they you are missing the newest required document, etc...  Africa wins again.  We say it just giving ourselves over to the realization that despite our best efforts we will never completely fit in or understand the cult...

We are trying to update the blog more often and since many of you asked about what life is like in Lundazi, we thought pictures would help give you a good idea.  (click on pics to enlarge)  Ladies carrying things on their head.  We have seen them balancing everything from firewood to a can of coke! David frequents the bakery to buy bread and practice his Tumbuka.  This day we brought the kids in so they could meet the workers.  The workers loved it and wanted pics!   This is a typical scene in the shopping area of Lundazi.  We also have a more traditional market area but this is the area with shops.   Padoko padoko.  Means "slowly, slowly".  We also use these same words to express our our language acquisition is coming along.  We love this little store as they are the only place we have found here that sells butter and yogurt! "How many people can you fit in a car here?"  One more.....