simply grateful

Heather was able to travel back to Texas to see her little sister get married.  The rest of us stayed in Lusaka while we waited for her to return.  The kids did a little video to encourage Jayme and Nick as they started their life together.  We thought you might enjoy it too!  (Sorry the quality isn't great, blogspot limits the size of video!)

Let me start by saying that Heather is an incredibly gracious and giving person and our latest adventure just adds to that reputation.  I (David) wanted chickens but Heather was less than enthusiastic about it.  She even vocalized that she was less than enthusiastic about it in her normal sweet way.  But she knew that I really wanted to try raising chickens for eggs so she relented.  As she told a mutual friend at a recent meeting, "When you see the ship has set sail, you just go ahead and go along for the ride."   Don't get me wrong, had she said emphatically that she didn't want chickens, there would be no chickens.  But she knows that I'm always up for an adventure so when a Peace Corp volunteer mentioned that she was going to be buying some hens... well it was just like blowing on a hot ember... BOOM! It was happening!   So, with Heather away at a meeting last week the kids and I started the process of building a chicken coop.  I though...

Msoro is a small town, a little better than 4 hours from where we live. It is “on the way” to absolutely nowhere.  The only visitors Msoro receives are those who intentionally go there.  Suffice it to say, it’s remote.  When you imagine Africa… mud huts, thatched roofs, girls walking with buckets of water on their heads, you are imagining Msoro. It was small, but with a bit of charm. Of course, being the only mazungu (white man) that had visited in some time, I was quite the attraction.  This is one of the riverbeds we had to cross to get the Msoro.  When the rains come we are not able the river fills with water preventing us access to them about 8 months during the year.   On Saturday, a group of four pastors and myself traveled to Msoro to offer encouragement to the pastor of this congregation as well as do some teachings on what it means to be a church member.  Although I had talked to the pastor, Thembo, on the phone, I had never met h...

It's a big day in the Petro household as Karissa chose to follow Christ.  She has been asking questions about becoming Christian for months and after much discussion felt like she finally understood the decision she was making.  What a day of rejoicing it is here!     

In November we headed to Texas to spend time with family and friends there.  Since we were only there for a month we spoke every weekend and a couple times during the week at different churches.  Our first stop was in Alabama to speak at a church and visit with friends.   When we were passing through Mississippi we called this friend and she was available to meet us for lunch.  We met Kasey in Botswana back in 2011 when she was there doing mission work.  She also was the one who gave Makayla her passion for soccer!   We were beyond ready to get to Texas and see family.  We arrived late and settled into a mission house in the DFW area.   Of course, the second night we were there we had to go to Babes Chicken Dinner House.  Wow.   Then we headed down to Abilene to see Heather's parents and speak at partnering church FBC Buffalo Gap.  GrandMary and Papa Jim took us to Abuelos, our favorite Mexican food place...

Somebody once asked Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox 20, why all his songs were about sad things.  I can't remember his exact response, but he basically said because during the happy times he was out living life, not writing songs.  Well, the neglect of this blog over the past few months has been because we have been happy and out living life! I have tried to select a few pictures that are representative of our time so far in the States... We have been speaking in churches, mission conferences and WMU groups.  We have spoken in places in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Texas.  Places like Abilene, Charlotte, Buffalo Gap, Rock Hill and Big Lick. We have had the opportunity to make some great connections and "reconnections" with people who have partnered with us on the field.  We have thoroughly enjoyed this time sharing about the work that God is doing in Zambia.   Along the way we have been able to reconnect with some great people. ...