The weeks are starting to fly by and yet as I go through each day there are times that I feel life is just going so slow. It’s strange how I can feel both at the same time. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or not yet. I haven’t been feeling physically the best this week so I think that has been adding to it.
On Tuesday evening we went to Namwianga Mission to have dinner with Laura (one of the missionary nurses at the clinic), her husband Don (he’s been mentoring a couple Zambian men in accounting for the past couple of years which has turned out to be big challenge due to the Zambian way of subsistence living does not raise them in the mindset of the importance of saving and budgeting), and the Gregersens (David and Linda). David teaches Bible at George Benson University which is a teaching college at Namwianga. The students come to the university to become teachers and receive English, Math, I think Science, and Bible. The hope is that they will grasp the vision of being vocational missionaries – to be God’s witnesses in the schools that they will be teachers in. Linda I think also teaches. I know she was a reading specialist in America so I believe she teaches English. Meeting so many new people makes it hard to keep track of everything. Anyway, David and Linda just got back from a 6 week furlough to the US to visit their supporting church in Texas and to help their daughter move. They invited all of us over for dinner though so we all piled into two vehicles and made the drive through the bumpy back road to Namwianga. This is the same road I’ve been biking up and down for my workout. They’re redoing the main road out to Namwianga so we went the back way. Redoing the “road” here actually means using a tractor to tear up all of the existing dirt road and then making it look like a giant hump so I think the hope is that water will run off both sides of it into ditches they’re making alongside the edges of the roads. We’ll see how well/long the new “road” holds up. J
Ok, back to dinner. As David and Don picked us up they told us they’d been without power for the afternoon and evening so we may be eating by candlelight. I’m use to that by now, but I was curious as to if that also meant we’d all be eating peanut butter and jelly. We got to David and Linda’s house and the power had come back on! Praise the Lord! Their house is stunning. They have a brick driveway and walkway and the inside of it is gorgeous. They even have a fireplace in their living room. You can tell they’ve been here awhile as their walls are decorated with all kinds of African art and crafty items. Linda is an amazing chef. We had grilled chicken, salad, jello with peaches, Kraft mac’n’cheese, and rolls! Linda has a grill that uses propane so that she can still cook even when there’s no power. I seriously think we need to budget to get one of those because as much as I enjoy a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich I think I can only go so many days in a row of having one for lunch and dinner! All of it was so good… especially the rolls which were homemade by one of the Zambian ladies, Charity, who works for Laura and Don. And then, yes there’s a then J, Linda brought out dessert! We had pumpkin sheet cake with icing on top and the pumpkins where even from their own garden that they had in their backyard! AND, yes even more, they had coffee!!! My first coffee in a month - and it was Folgers coffee! I was so excited and Rob thought I was pretty funny in my excitement about coffee. All of dinner was so good and I loved hearing about how David and Linda got to Zambia and what God is doing through them with Namwianga. I got to share a little of my story and heart, too. They had a lot of questions for Rob and Christa though as they are the ones spearheading Africa’s Child and especially for Christa as she’s going to be doing doctor work at Namwianga.
Megan came over a little after dinner. She had also just gotten back from the States where she was on furlough for 4 weeks. She is a single twenty-something who basically runs the baby and toddler orphanages at Namwianga. Check out africaschild.info and read Rob and Christa’s blog on there to read more about all the incredible work Megan is doing at the orphanage and to see pictures.
On Wednesday we got to go back out to Namwianga to visit the two orphanage buildings. They are called Haven 1 and Haven 2. Haven 1 is for the infants and Haven 2 is for the toddlers. There are just so many babies and toddlers that I can see why it can get overwhelming some days for Megan. They really just need people to come and hold the babies. It is amazing how important God created physical touch to be for babies and young kids. They have some kids that come pretty much healthy, but others are so tiny and so sick. Their eyes are sunken in and looked glossed over. It’s so sad. I just think of the dreams that God has for each of them and wonder how many will live to become adults. They are so precious. The mission employs caretakers for both houses, but there are so many kids that they really just have time to make sure they are all fed, clothed, and clean. There is such a need to have people there to just hold the kids.
I got to hold several kids, but the one that made the biggest impact on me in the infant house was a girl named Katy. They have some walkers there so they can start to be mobile. One of the boys in one of the walkers ran into Katy who was sitting on the floor. She had the biggest eyes already and when they filled with tears my heart went out to her. So I picked her up and carried her out into the living room area in the house. I sat with her on my lap and leaned back against the couch. She immediately stopped crying and wrapped her arms around me as far as she could reach them. She put her head on my chest and just starred up at me. I was wearing my silver cross necklace and she found it fascinating just to run her fingers over the cross. We sat there for probably 20 to 30 minutes. She would start to fall asleep, but then would shake herself. It was like she didn’t want to fall asleep and miss being held because every time she’d wake back up she’d snuggle into me more.
When we went over to the toddler orphanage she sat on couches in their living room area and I ended up with four boys on my lap practically. They loved to be tickled and to just hear them laugh was so precious! In the toddler house there is even a girl named Abigail. She is three and has been fighting recurring TB. They’ve had her on the same treatment twice, but feel she made need different medicine because it’s recurring TB. Megan said she’s one of their saddest girls. I got to hold her for a while and the whole time I just tried to make her smile. These kids have some of the most beautiful smiles!
Megan shared with us that the vision behind the two orphanages is that families could drop their kids off if they can’t take care of them or if they get really sick or if the mom dies and Namwianga will take care of them until they get to age 3 or 4. The idea is to get them through the critical tough stages of infancy and early childhood when the children need lots of care and their immune systems are still developing. Then, once the kids get to ages 3 or 4 families will come back and take them home. This is the situation for most kids, but some families do not come back for a variety of reasons. This is really hard for Megan because as great of a job as they are doing at the orphanage she knows, as do we, that the best place for a child is among his/her family and village. Family is so important here as they are much more of the tribal mindset. If a child becomes and orphan for life they lose that support of their family and community around them. These children are so precious and I pray that they will each know the love and plans God has for each one of them.
As much as I loved the orphanage and I feel like I could be happy just holding babies every day I feel like God is calling me to something else. One of the reasons for all the orphans is because men and women are not living lives of purity. They know about STDs, HIV, and AIDS, but they are not changing the way they live. They say they know Jesus, but then live as if they were still of the world. The people of Zambia are very hungry spiritually so coming to Christ, but then nothing in their lives change. My heart is that they would know of the fullness of life that there is in Christ, but that He does call us to live lives different than the world. I am hopeful that I may be able to teach at the schools are Namwianga about purity and how being a follower of Jesus really means being a disciple with Jesus – that it is a complete life commitment to obeying Him and following in the example He left us from when He lived on earth. If this generation does not understand that being a Christian also means living a life of purity I really believe that the problems Zambia and sub-Saharan Africa are facing - of so many dying and so many even being born HIV positive – will only grow larger in the years to come. And that breaks my heart.
So as I’m writing now, Christianna is dancing to Superchick in my room! She’s great. She reminds me so much of one of the girls, Perry, I use to babysit. She is so full of energy and loves to be silly. She is also so kind though and makes sure everyone is taken care of. She’ll do anything silly though to make people laugh. I have a mirror in my room so she loves to dance in front of it and be silly. She dances so hard though she has to take a break to catch her breath and let her side ache go away. And then she’s right back at it. And she loves to wear my hats or sunglasses while she dances. She’s such a joy to have around. It does make me miss Perry, Trishi, and Tess a lot though!
Ok, back to trying to recap my week. Thursday is my day to make dinner for the family and I tried to make smoosh. It’s a recipe my Momma came up with (I think). It’s basically mashed potatoes, sliced carrots, and cheese all mixed together. I also wanted to make a dessert with pears. I settled on a pear cobbler and after finding out that the rest of the family was going for a walk so dinner needed to be later I sat down to do a little reading. Well time got away from me and it was later then when I wanted to start working on dinner. I got the cobbler made and in the oven as it needed to bake for at least half an hour. I started on the potatoes and almost an hour later of having them in the pot of water on high they STILL weren’t soft. I was so bummed, but it was late and the kids needed to eat. So I mixed a little butter and milk into the potatoes and added the carrots that I had partly cooked and then sliced up. I dished it out and put the cheese on it. So it was lumpier, than smooshy, but everyone loved it. It was really only me who was disappointed. The pear cobber turned out delicious though and I served it with vanilla ice cream. It seems to help the kids to eat all their dinner since they have to eat their dinner to get dessert.
Thursday evening we started doing our devotional time after the kids went down. I’ve been asking for Rob, Christa, and I to have a devotional/Bible study time since we got here and we finally got started on that this week. We are reading through Galatians together, as it is a book that is filled with grace. The Zambian people do not hear about grace from their pastors for the most part. It’s more about trying to earn their salvation, which is definitely not Biblical. It was a good time together and I really enjoyed being able to share prayer requests and have a time to pray with one another.
Friday morning I went into Kalomo to pull out hopefully all the money I’ll need for this month. The bank manager at Barclays is so nice and helpful. He took me into his office again and ran my card through to pull the money out. He and his wife just had their second baby and he was happy because they had finally come back from Lusaka where she went to deliver their child. In the afternoon we all piled in Linda Jones’ van and rode up to Choma. Rob and Christa were looking for some various things and to do grocery shopping so I thought it’d be a quick little trip. I just needed a power adapter for my microwave and groceries since Choma is the closest town to travel to that has a supermarket. So I hopped in the van and caught up with Linda on the way up. Once we got there I quickly realized that it was going to be a much longer trip as we stopped in at nearly every store. At about the fifth shop we went to they had popsicles and Christa let the kids all have one. They had been doing so well and popsicles here are less than one American dollar. The kids were so excited and ate as we walked to the next shop.
About a block and a half further there was another fabric store that Christa wanted to go see and I suggested that I could stay with the kids so they could sit on the curb and eat their popsicles. Linda stayed with me while Rob went with Christa. I’m not sure how long they were gone but the kids all finished their popsicles and played I Spy until Katriya had to go to the bathroom. Of course! Why not? We’re in the middle of town and I had not seeing a sign for “fee paying toilets” (no free public restrooms here in Zambia so far). I walked into the shop we had been sitting outside of to ask the lady behind the counter where a toilet we could take the little ones (because once one says they have to go all of a sudden all the others have to too) to and she very graciously let us use their toilet for free. Ah! There are free restrooms in Zambia. I think it helped that we were white and so they think we obviously have money so if they are nice to us then we will bring them business. J So we got all the kids in and out of the bathroom and by that time Rob and Christa came back. We continued our journey back up the other side of the main street. It is amazing how much stuff they can fit into these little stores. If you’re looking for something in particular you just tell one of the workers in the store and in less than a minute they can dig through all the stuff and usually pull out exactly what you’re looking for. It’s incredible! It makes me wonder though how the whole pricing system works. I wonder if we get the makua (white person in Tonga… spelling might be a bit off) price versus the better price fellow Tongas might get. They seem to be honest business people and we’ve been to enough shops now to know what the going rate of items should be.
Anyway, the next store we stop in at was a hardware store that we were told usually had very high prices. We had stopped in the last time we were in town just to see what kinds of things they had and the man who ran the store is an Israeli who seemed very nice. When we came in on Thursday he was so excited to see us again and asked how everyone was doing. Rob and Christa needed paint as they still have yet to repaint all the bedrooms. I needed to find a 2 1/2” in diameter metal pole that was 10 feet in length! Ha, thanks Paul.
No seriously, Paul has been great. He’s been busting his butt to get us a satellite system that will work for where we are. It’s actually suppose to ship out of the UK tomorrow and be in Lusaka in a week. Then, it’s just a matter of going up to Lusaka and getting it.
The pole I am now in search of is so we can mount the satellite dish on it after cementing it into a 3 foot hole. It has to be the right size for the bolts that come with the satellite. I’m thinking I’m never going to find a metal pole 2 1/2” in diameter and then if I do it’s going to be very costly to purchase! As Rob and Christa are talking with the man I’m trying to entertain the kids by having the name all the hardware and supplies they can see hanging up on the walls in the shop. I turn around and see a board with all kinds of pipes with all sizes of diameters! Now my brain’s a little fuzzy and I can’t remember if there was one with a 2” diameter of a 2 1/2” diameter, but I was excited just to see metal pipe. I had texted Mike Jones about the pole and he said we’d probably have to go to Lusaka to find anything. I asked the guy once he finished with Rob and Christa’s list of paint and he said that they come in lengths 6 meters (19.6848 ft), but they have the machine there to cut it to the exact length that I need. God is so good! On top of that the man told us that anything we buy from his store is 10% off for us because he wants to support us in what we are here in Zambia to do. How awesome is that? So when the satellite system gets here we’ll stop there in Choma to get the pipe. My only concern is if it turns out to be a 2” pole instead of 2 1/2” and hopefully then Paul will say it’s still okay. J
Back to Friday afternoon/evening in Choma - we finally made it to Spar, which is the supermarket in Choma. I had my list of food I needed to pick up and found some other things too while I was there that would be nice to have. It took me maybe fifteen minutes and Linda was done in about the same time. I went back to look for Rob, Christa and the kids to see how far they had gotten. Bless their hearts; they were just in the first aisle still. Spar has little carts that are kid sized so Acacia, Christianna, Isaiah, and Katriya all had their own carts. It was quite the scene as the Murphys pretty much took up an entire aisle to themselves! They finally made it through all of the aisles and I helped them bag their groceries as I had already paid for mine and packed them in the van. The bigger stores like Spar have credit card machines, but they don’t always work. It’s nicer though for the grocery store, especially for the Murphys since they’re buying for seven! Rob tried to pay with his credit card, but the machine kept coming back saying, “Busy. Try again later.” Finally after about twenty minutes of that he paid in cash. Thankfully they had enough cash on hand to pay for it all. They packed their groceries into the van. By this point it was 5pm and the kids were getting a little restless. They had gotten another snack at the grocery store, but the little ones had missed their naps and they were tired of walking all over town. Rob and Christa had been told they had bags in Choma at the World Hope compound. They had left several bags at Africa’s Child Resale Store in Holland, MI and a team had come over with World Hope. They had brought the bags Rob and Christa had to leave. So we drove over to the World Hope compound.
Long story short is that we went to the old compound first, waited for someone to come who had keys for the house, they showed up and said the bags were in the guest house at the new compound, a man came in the van and directed us to the new compound, Rob talked to a lady there for awhile, the kids all had to go potty again, and the bags ended up being in a house where no one was home and they had the keys for the house with them. So after spending all that time we weren’t able to pick up the bags. We finally got on the road back to Kalomo at twilight. It’s pretty scary to drive at twilight because there are people everywhere walking and biking alongside the road and Zambians being black are hard to see unless they are looking at you or smiling! Linda did great though even with the kids being quite loud on the way home. I don’t blame them though as they had been cooped up in the van for over an hour before we even got on the road to come home.
We made it home just a little after 7pm. The little ones usually go to bed at 7pm so they were quite worn out and also very hungry. Christa made a quick dinner of sausage and snap peas and right after dinner the kids all went to bed. I was also quite worn out from the day so I headed to my room to put my things away and to relax. I learned that no trip will probably be a quick trip with all of the Murphys along. It makes sense though partly because they have a big family. Zambians also take their time to do things so maybe it’s just part of the culture I need to adjust to. I’m use to going and getting my list done quickly so that then I can spend time with people or getting other things done. It’s probably the biggest adjustment for me so far other than the language. I think it’s sometimes harder for me because I’m use to doing it on my own and not with a big family along. I also did not have clear communication with Rob and Christa about exactly how long they were thinking the day was going to be in Choma. I am learning that I really need to not just assume, but rather always ask even if it’s something that seems obvious to me.
I was bummed though on Friday night because there was a short-term missions team that had come for a little over a week and they were having their first service in Kalomo on Friday night at the Pilgrim Wesleyan church that we’ve been attending. I really wanted to go to see how other people do missions here. They had come from England and so I was especially interested to see what they did differently as they were coming from England as opposed to teams that we’ve met that have come from the States. We obviously did not make it back in time on Friday evening to go to the service and while I was sad I knew there wasn’t anything I could do about it but let it go. Last Sunday we had been told they were going to have seminars on Saturday as well the service on Friday so I was hopeful to be able to go to the seminars on Saturday. Saturday morning though I woke up having a pretty bad stomachache so I laid in bed for most of the morning. I took some ibuprofen though and by lunch was feeling better.
After lunch I headed to the church and was able to meet the team. They were a mix of younger females, a few young men, and several older men. They were just finishing up lunch so I got to meet them before the afternoon session got under way. When we went back into the church I found out that they were going to do some teaching at the church, but that most of the team was going to split into three teams and go out into Kalomo to do home visits. That sparked my interest, as I have not been out to the homes of the people of Kalomo yet. I asked Martin, who was the team leader, if I could go with them and he said they’d love to have me with. I got to go with Golden, (the associate pastor of the church) Levear (sp?), (the youth ministry director of the church), Keswell (one of the ushers and praise team leaders at the church), and several other Zambians. I’m slowly learning their names and getting to know their families. I feel bad when I can’t remember their name, but they’re gracious about continuing to tell me their names.
We went to the neighborhood (which they call compounds) where Golden and his wife, Justine, live. They asked us for prayer for their family, that they would have a child soon and that they would be successful in ministry. I could tell that it meant so much for us to come to their house. Some of the team from England asked why we were going to their house if we had already met them. They more wanted to go to the neighbor to be able to evangelize to the neighbors. Here in Zambia, the Tonga people view it as a privilege to be able to invite you into their home. It is an honor to be invited and I felt sad that the team could not see how much it meant to the Zambians. It was eye opening to be in their homes. The houses are two small rooms. One room is their living room, dining room, and kitchen while their other room is their one bedroom. Even if they have kids they all share one bedroom. Their houses have windows, but the windows are filled up with bricks for the most part because windows are expensive here. They have sheets over the windows to keep out the mosquitoes, but there is no paint on the walls and the ceilings are made out of some sort of stick and mud mixture I think. They live so simply compared to even how we live here. I cannot imagine them coming to our homes in the States. I am positive they could not comprehend how much stuff we have. And yet they seem to have so much more – so much more appreciation for each other and for life and for the opportunities God gives them. They don’t need things to be happy. I felt so honored that they would invite me into their homes because you can tell that it is an intimate thing for them.
I had the opportunity to share my testimony at every house we visited and then asked them if they had any questions about Christianity or if they wanted prayers for anything. Each house we visited we would start out with three or four people there. As we’d start talking more and more people would show up until there were sometimes 20 kids and adults. They were shy at first, but after the first person got the courage to ask a question everyone else then would have all kinds of questions. I got to answer questions about polygamy, if you’re unclean if you touch a dead person, why Christ had to be crucified, if the Jesus Film is real or just a made up story, and a bunch of others. Keswell was my translator and he did a great job helping me understand the questions they were asking and communicating to the people what I saying in answering them. We were to be back at the church by 5 pm, but because the last house had so many questions we didn’t get back to the church until about 6 pm.
I jumped on my bike and came back to the house just in time for dinner with the family. The team was having another revival service starting at 7pm and they asked me to come back for it. So I put on excessive amounts of bug spray, got my jacket, and my flashlight and biked back to church. The team had not had dinner yet and they invited me to have n’sima with them. It is considered rude here to turn down food and since Pastor Richwell also asked me to eat with them I agreed. I really like the n’sima they make here and they even made sheep and chicken for the team. It is a very generous offer to make sheep, as they are quite expensive for Zambians.
After my second dinner, we went into the church and joined the service already in progress. The Pilgrim Wesleyan churches in the area came for the service so they had choirs from the different churches sharing special music. After that we had a time of praise and worship. I love how the Zambians worship. They get their whole bodies into it and are so joyful in their singing. They sing a lot of the same songs, but never does it feel like they are going through the motions. One of my favorite songs they sing says, “Lift Jesus higher, higher, higher, higher… Lift Jesus higher, higher, higher, higher… Push Satan lower, lower, lower, lower… Push Satan lower, lower, lower, lower… Lift Jesus higher, higher, higher, higher…” There are hand motions for all of it and then they go “aah” (with a strong a sound) and swing their arms to the left and then go “ah” (with a soft a sound) and swing their arms to the right. And then the kids’ (and maybe adults too) favorite part goes, “Go loco! Go loco! Go loco!” And everyone dances around swinging their arms up into the air. There were at least a couple hundred people (closer to 300 or 400 with ALL the kids) at the revival service on Saturday night and when we’d get to the loco part everyone would dance out of their rows and up the aisles into the open area up front and all the kids would come sprinting at us as they love to hold white people’s hands! It is seriously one of the best workouts I’ve had! They sing for at least half an hour straight and there are dances for every song. I wish you all could come and be a part of their church services. It really is more of what I think will be in heaven someday when it says we will praise God forever! It just has something so genuine and free about it. It reminds me of when we’d go to Chester and be a part of their church service. I miss all those kids and adults from Chester so much. I know they played a big part in God opening my heart to move to Africa and I’m so thankful for all of them!
When the singing ended one of the team members from England shared her testimony and then one of the older men, Steve, preached. He shared about how God is the Good Shepherd and how we are the sheep. The illustration seemed to be one the Zambians understood as they have sheep in their culture. With being more in a town setting though I did wonder how many have actually had the opportunity to see a shepherd with his sheep. The Zambians tried to stay awake and pay attention, but since they get up with the sun in the morning by this point in the night they were all quite tired. The kids were so cute as they would all lean against one another and fell asleep as one big pretzel-looking “mob.” At the end of his message he gave an alter call for those who wanted to receive Jesus or to be prayed over for healing. I got to pray over several ladies who were all experience back pains and a few who also had additional stomach pains. It was a good evening, but I was quite tired afterwards.
The service ended around 10pm and I made the daring bike ride back to the house. The sky here is absolutely breathtaking at night. You can see so many stars! It is just incredible to know that God created all of them and knows each star! I cannot even count them all let alone know exactly where in the cosmic sky they are positioned. And yet God chose us to make in His image and to love and to want to spend eternity with! Anyway, riding my bike at night is quite the adventure in faith as well. I have my flashlight, but I’m riding down dirt roads with bumps, rocks, turns, mud, and the whole time you’re looking for snakes! I got home safely, but it took me probably double the time to make the trip compared to the daytime.
Sunday morning the team from England was teaching again and the visiting churches had spent the night so it was a packed church! The people are getting more use to us being there I think because they squeezed right in around us where as when we first got here they’d give us space to spread out. I like that we’re becoming just part of them. They still get very perplexed about Isaiah since he’s Zambian and we are all white. They do not understand adoption really so they think we’re lying when we say Rob and Christa are his parents. The service was good although I felt like some of the Zambians got lost in a few points of the message shared by the team from England. I’m learning more about how to communicate with them in a way that translates correctly. Rob’s been very helpful with that. When he hears someone else say something that doesn’t translate well he tells me about what could be said instead so that the Zambians understand what we’re trying to communicate. They don’t understand our humor always either, which I think is the hardest for Rob since he loves to joke.
Anyway, they had an alter call again at the end of the service and about thirty people came forward. They asked Rob and I to help the team in praying over the people. Again they gave each of us a translator so that we could know what they wanted prayer for. The first three ladies I prayed for had back pain and headaches. The last lady I got to pray for I actually got to lead in the sinner’s prayer to accept Jesus Christ into her heart. She first wanted prayer that God would help her provide for her kids as her kids’ father was not helping and that for her as she was having heart problems. I then noticed three little scars in a line right below her neck. Rob has told me that often the witch doctors mark those who come to see them with three little lines. This is the first lady I saw them on though and when I asked her if she went to the witch doctor she said yes. I told her that she needed to never go back and I asked if she understood. She said yes. I asked her if she had any charms on her or her children. She said yes and I told her several times why it was important that she get rid of all of them. She said she understood. I’m hopeful that she really did understand. I find her coming to my mind over and over again. I continue to lift her up in prayer. She called on the name of Jesus though and said she received His power and salvation. She confessed she was sinful and needed God’s forgiveness. I had her pray the name of Jesus and prayed in Jesus name that any demonic evil spirit come out of her. It is such a privilege that Jesus has given us – that we have the power to call on His name and in His name tell any evil spirit that they must leave and they have to leave. They do not have a choice! I believe that she is now a child of God and I am rejoicing that she will spend eternity in heaven with us. I pray that she will continue in her new found salvation and raise her children up to be Godly men and women.
After church Pastor Richwell asked me to stay for a fellowship lunch with the team from England and some of the leaders in the church. I was excited to spend more time in fellowship with the church leaders and hear the team from England debrief their time with the Pilgrim Wesleyan Fire Burning Tabernacle (that’s the church’s full name J I find it fun to say Fire Burning Tabernacle). So I hung out with some of the youths of the church and got to learn more about them. I also got to talk with Levear some about the Saturday youth program and the upcoming district youth conference. The team had gone back to pack their bags as they were leaving for Livingston to teach at a church down there in the evening. It took them about an hour to return, but I got to spend that time observing and getting to know more of the people of the church. A lot of them walk a good distance to church so many bring lunch with them or bring food to make for lunch so that they can eat at the church after the service. On a normal Sunday they have Bible Study time in the afternoon so many who walk a good distance to get to church eat lunch there so they can attend Bible Study. Overall though - the men seem more wanting to talk to us than the women. I think the women are use to just doing work all the time and not having people really interested in getting to know them. They are very much in the background in this culture although they are the ones who work the hardest. The Zambian men like to grow their nails out to show that they do not have to do any work. The women are much more shy and have had less opportunity for education so their English is also a little behind the men. I am hoping that as we are here more that more opportunities will arise for me to meet and get to know the women of the church.
The team finally got back to the church and we all sat down to eat. I was a little sad though that the team sat all together so that all the Zambians eating lunch with us sat off to themselves. I was looking forward to fellowshipping with them. They had an incredible spread though. The was n’sima, rice, pumpkin, chicken, sheep, relish of ground nuts (peanuts) and a leafy green vegetable they call rape, relish of pumpkin leaves and something else, and a tomato soup that they use as a soup. They had bottled water and bottled coke as well! It was huge and I could just see how much sacrifice went into having all this food for everyone to enjoy. I made sure to take only what I could eat and made sure I ate it all. The relishes were actually quite good. I think all the times of my Momma making us at least try everything on our plate is really paying off now. Thanks Mom. J The relishes looked a little iffy, but they were actually some of my favorite to have with the n’sima. Pastor Richwell saw me eating it all and using my hands like the Zambians do (as opposed to the spoons the team from England all used) and was like “Aah! You’re Tonga!” It was one of the biggest compliments I have received yet.
Shortly after lunch I said my goodbyes to everyone and came back to the house to spend some time relaxing. And that is when I started this blog. It is now Monday night and I’m still typing. It’s amazing how often you can get interrupted. And just when I think I’m about finished I remember something else to go back and add in.
So Sunday night is usually family night for the Murphys. Since I’m a part of their family basically now I am asked to join in and so far I’ve always joined. Rob wanted to watch a movie, Christa wanted to play a game, but the kids wanted to do a ballet show so of course ballet won out! Rob made popcorn and took some out to the guards. The girls decided it would be fun to dress Isaiah in a ballerina tutu. They put him in a pastel blue frilly one and he came running back into the living room just as Rob came back inside. Rob just shook his head and then went to get the video camera. Isaiah just twirled around and around and around and Rob was narrating that some day when Isaiah really did not want this video to be shown he was going to put it on and it would be Isaiah’s fault for letting his sisters dress him up in a tutu. Isaiah didn’t care at all though and just kept running in circles. I thought Christianna might pass out on the floor from laughing so hard. Christianna pulled herself together though and put on a ballet show for everyone else. The rest of the kids danced during intermission. They were so cute. It was a fun evening and Rob got a good amount of it on video.
So quickly (ha ha ha) – Monday has been a whirlwind. Rob and Christa went into town for a meeting with several missionaries from Namwianga about the new orphanage they’re building. This orphanage is going to be just for children with HIV or other serious illnesses. Rob and Christa really have a heart for children with HIV/AIDS and feel that this may be why God has brought them back to Zambia. They really just came with open minds and hearts knowing that God would open the right doors at the right time for the ministry He has for them here. I admire them for being like Abraham who when God said to go Abraham went. God didn’t say where Abraham was to go, but just to go and as he went God revealed His plan for Abraham. This new orphanage is so much in line with Rob and Christa’s heart and the way it has come about is so completely God that is awesome just to be along for the ride in a way. Anyway, I’ll let them share in their blog as God moves in their hearts and open the doors He opens for them. My role in all this is that since they went to this meeting this morning I had all 5 kids! They were actually really well behaved and I even had to keep kept moving them and their play things from room to room since Lea was here this morning to clean. Shameriah went down for a nap around 10:30 and Isaiah and Katriya have a rest time from 11 to 12. Acacia and Christianna did the dishes this morning and then while Christianna watered the garden of strawberries and watermelon, Acacia practiced her piano lessons. They breezed through their schoolwork and then played outside for a little bit until Isaiah and Katriya had to go down for their rest time. Shameriah woke up around 11:45 and I got Isaiah and Katriya up at noon and we all played in the schoolroom as Lea was cleaning the living room and kitchen by this point. She does a fabulous job cleaning – especially with how much dirt all the kids track in. Around 12:30 I finally started having the kids get ready for lunch because we had no idea when Rob and Christa were going to get home. Just as I had them setting chairs and I was walking to the kitchen with Shameriah to figure out how I was going to hold her and make lunch, Rob and Christa came home so Rob made lunch. Their meeting went well and they still feel like Namwianga is where God is calling them to partner Africa’s Child with and this new orphanage in particular is still something God wants them to continue to process about how He’s calling them to be involved.
I then retreated to my room for the afternoon, as my stomach was not feeling the best with the hope of being able to nap. Between the yelling kids and the crazy guinea foul, chicken, roosters, turkey, and dogs my nap never got to happen. I came back into the house around five as Rob wanted to go for a bike ride and Christa was making dinner so they needed someone to keep an eye on the kids/hold Shameriah. Christa made a chicken, veggie, and pasta dish for dinner a lot like what I had made for my first dinner. Everyone loved it, but as dinner wore down you could tell all the kids were tired. It was also bath night and for some reason that seems to always cause chaos. We made it though and got all the kids cleaned and ready for bed. Isaiah is so funny sometimes. He now insists I help get him ready for bed with putting his diaper on and helping him pick out his pajamas. I think it’s because he knows then that he can get me to read to him after we get him ready for bed. He has the Frog and Toad Treasury, which is all the Frog and Toad stories together in one book. Tonight I read the entire second half of the book to him (128 pages)! And then I also read his Cars and Trucks book and his Dynamic Dumper book. The boy loves cars and trucks. And his smile is so infectious and when he looks up at you and blinks his long Zambian eyelashes and smiles at you how are you really suppose to say no?
So after we got the kids to bed I finished doing the dishes from dinner and got some chocolate ice cream while Rob made popcorn. The ice cream here is amazing! The lady at the mini-mart got flavored ice cream in just for us because we asked her. She’s awesome. Anyway, as I was sitting here writing about this past week Rob was locking the doors up and was asking our guard tonight how to say cold in Tonga. It is gutantola. The guard then asked Rob how to say it in our language. And Rob replied “cold” and the guard was like “yes, how do you say it in your language.” So Rob, without missing a beat says, “well in Spanish it’s mui frio.” The poor guard! Now he’s going to go around saying cold in Spanish and no one is going to understand what he’s saying. Rob thought he was pretty funny though. This has started Rob though on saying random words in Tonga pretty much all night. To recap (and pardon the spelling… I’m just spelling it all phonetically as I only heard them as Rob rattled them off) egoocasoo is cockroach, lamprazia is praise, buto capati / doula is precious, paipai is no, ee is yes, guganzeeka is possibly, junsa is tomorrow, soono is today, gabutu is fine, mwabuka bute is good morning, and twalumba is thank you.
I cannot believe that it’s already the middle of June. Now that I have been here for a while I cannot see myself being any place else at this time in my life. I do miss everyone from home, but I know my time here is invaluable in every area of my life. I’m learning so much about myself and about God. I really feel like this time has also been incredible for Paul and I. As much as I miss him dearly we are learning to communicate so much more on a deeper level than if we were face to face every day. The distance and differences make us learn to communicate better. I’m learning to lean on God in everything instead of trying to do it on my own. And when I do try to do it just on my own I realize it so much quicker. It is like my conscience got cluttered over the years growing up in the States. There is so much focus on being independent and what you can achieve yourself that the still small voice of God gets lost in the busy hectic chaos of the world. Here though life is slower and the Holy Spirit is evident everywhere. I feel like if we were to look for the Holy Spirit more in America we would see the same thing. But so often we blow by Him thinking we’re too busy doing things for Him when really He’s calling out to us to just spend time with Him and learn to be found in Him and make room in our lives for Him to work through us. I only hope that everything I am learning here I will be able to keep as integral parts of my life once I come back.
Well I should get going so I can actually post this tonight. Hopefully I’ll have more chances this week to write instead of trying to remember all the details at the end of the week. Until then…
By His Grace & For His Glory,
Abbie Morehead
Monday, June 15, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
What I've Been Working On
So we went to immigration yesterday to get stamped now that our work permit applications are filed. And she said she needed some other papers that George has at Namwianga and that we should wait to come back on the 17th when our stamps she gave us on Wednesday expire. In the meantime we can start doing volunteer work, but ONLY at Namwianga. She doesn't want to see us working with other people even though we are a part of the Pilgrim Wesleyan church here. It's so frustrating, but I know that God will continue to work through it. This means though that I cannot share again today. I'm pretty bummed about it, but not like I was last week. I still just felt like God wanted me to work on the same passage this week. So this morning I typed up my talk basically as if I was giving it and I've decided to post it here to share it with all of you. Maybe it's meant to be shared on here and someone will see it and it will be just what they need. Or maybe I'm just suppose to learn more patience. :) Or maybe this passage, which deals with the supremacy of Christ, was really just something God wanted to get into my sometimes stubborn head. Any which way here it is. Enjoy. Oh and I have a PO Box in Kalomo now - it's actually Mike & Linda Jones PO Box, they're missionaries who've been living here for I think 14 years and they're great. They've said we can share it with them. :) My mom sent me a package so I'm waiting to see if it actually gets it here before sharing it with all of you. So pray that works and then I'll let you know how to send me stuff. :) Okay, really now, I'm going. I need to get lunch and go to the church because we are allowed to attend church so I want to at least be there even if I'm not allowed to lead.
Has anyone ever given you something you really wanted – a gift, but that you knew you did not deserve? How did that make you feel? Have you ever given a gift to someone else simply because you wanted to and not because of anything they had done? How did they feel? What was their reaction? How did you feel giving the gift?
God wants to give us a gift. There’s nothing we’ve done to deserve it. He gives us an incredible gift because He loves us.
Today we’re going to take a look at Colossians 1:13-23. The church of Colosse was struggling. They had heard the Gospel and said they believed in Jesus, but they were still worshipping other gods. They were trying to combine The Gospel with other beliefs. They were worshipping things of this world and Jesus. The apostle Paul wrote them to tell them they needed to STOP practicing other religions and to believe that they had everything they needed in Christ alone!
We need to hear these words in our own lives. Is there anything else in our lives that we are worshipping or believing in other than God? God used the apostle Paul to write a letter to the church of Colosse to make them aware of what they were doing wrong, why it was wrong, and what they should do instead.
Today we are going to look at just a small portion of the letter to the church of Colosse, but through it I hope you see the amazing gift God offered to the church of Colosse and to each one of us!
Colossians 1:13 “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,” God has rescued each of us from darkness! He brought us from darkness into light – from slavery into freedom – from guilt into forgiveness – and from Satan to God! It is nothing we do on our own. We needed His sacrifice. What darkness has God rescued you from? (Bad relationships, cheating, lying stealing, going to the witch doctor?) Are you still living in darkness in any area of your life? We cannot be in darkness and in the light at the same time. The Lord declared that where there is light the darkness cannot be. We cannot be in both! You muse choose.
Verse 14 goes onto say, “in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” What an incredible statement. God has redeemed us! He has forgiven us. But some of you may be asking how. How can God forgive my sin and how can He forgive everyone – past, present, and future – of their sins?? Let us continue to look at the words of the apostle Paul.
In verse 15 and 16 he writes, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” In these two verses is one of the strongest statements about the divine nature of Jesus. I do not claim to fully understand it as I believe we will never fully understand until we get to heaven and are with Jesus. But this is what I do understand and what we can learn from these two verses: Jesus is not only equal to God, He IS God! Jesus not only reflects God, but He REVEALS God to us! Jesus came from heaven to earth to live among us. He was not created from the dust like God created man because Jesus is God. Jesus is completely holy and has authority over all! And yet, He chose to come live among us and to take our place in death as payment for all of our sins. Therefore, Christ is supreme over all – all things in heaven and all things on earth. We must oppose those who say Jesus was only a prophet or a good teacher or those who try to combine Jesus and any other religion together as if they are equal. Jesus Christ is the only true God and the only one worthy of our praise.
Verse 17 continues this bold statement of who Jesus is. It says, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” He holds it all together! All things in my life, in your life, in your friends’ lives, in your family, in the whole world, in the whole universe, everything in the past, and everything that is to come! He protects us, cares for us, and sustains us.
At this point you may be asking, “But really how did God forgive my sins? How can He forgive everyone for every sin we’ve ever committed? How can I know what you’re saying about Jesus is true?”
Let’s look at what Paul writs in verse 18. “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is he beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” Jesus is the beginning and the firstborn among the dead! Jesus’ resurrection PROVES His Lordship over all. He has power over everything. He defeated death – He is the only one that could because He is God - and only through belief in Him will we defeat death and live forever.
Verse 19 says, “For God was pleased to have his fullness dwell in him.” Jesus was fully human and fully God at the same time. He has always been God and always will be God. We are not to diminish His humanity and at the same time we are not to diminish His deity (His Lordship, His divine nature), even if we do not fully understand it. It’s like when we get a great gift, but didn’t do anything to deserve it. Such as when a friend forgives us before we are sorry for wronging them or when we get a reward for no reason or when a teacher gives us extra help or time to do an assignment or when our brothers or sisters help us do our chores without expecting anything in return.
Paul continues his thoughts from verse 19 in verse 20 as he wrote, “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Jesus alone cleared a way for us to come to Him. That doesn’t mean everyone’s just automatically saved. It’s a choice we have to make. It’s like a gift. We have to choose to receive it and open it and take it into our possession. God gives it freely. He doesn’t say to this, this, this, and this and then maybe you’ll be good enough to deserve it. No. All we have to do is believe in Him and receive Him into our hearts – to ask Him for His forgiveness for our sins.
Verse 21 through the first part of 23 moves from explaining the supremacy of Christ to explaining how we fit into the picture of Christ.
Verse 21 says, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.” Our sin corrupts our way of thinking about God. Our sin put a barrier between us and God. It is like we were facing God and then when sin entered our lives we turned around so that our backs were to God. He was still facing out and reaching out to us, but we could no longer connect with Him because we were facing away from Him. We chose to walk in darkness.
The great news though is that our walking away is not the end of the story. The story does not have to end in darkness. Verse 22 says: “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Jesus RECONCILED us! The word “reconcile” means to coexist in harmony. What a beautiful picture! Jesus and only Jesus made it possible for us to live WITH Him in HARMONY! It is only by His grace – not anything of our own doing. Any, yes ANY, sin is enough to separate us from Christ, but His sacrifice makes a way for us to be forgiven.
Jesus suffered death fully as a human so that we can be assured that He died in our place! Jesus faced death as God so we can be assured that His sacrifice was complete and that He truly removed our sin. What an incredible gift. Did you get that? Jesus died as a human so we can know He died in our place and at the same time – at the same time – He died as God so we can be certain – positively and absolutely know – that our punishment for all of our sins was paid for with His death and that Satan was defeated by Jesus’ resurrection.
To be free from sin though we must trust Jesus to take it away. It is a gift He offers to us freely. There is nothing we can do to earn it or to be good enough to deserve it. He paid the price. He took our punishment so that the barrier of sin was removed. All we have to do is turn back around and face our Heavenly Father.
Verse 23a ends this section by giving us a challenge. Paul writes, “If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” The way to remain facing God is to remain in the truth of the Gospel. We must learn all we can from His Word. God has given us the Bible so that we may know His will. We must be established and firm – not to just choose God when it’s easy, but in every decision every day. The gift of salvation He gives to us freely, but then it is up to us to take care of the gift of an eternal relationship with Him.
Will you receive God’s gift of grace? Will you turn around and face Him and worship Him alone?
If you have already received God’s gift of grace how are you treating your gift? When we get an incredible gift how do we take care of it? I know that when I get a gift I do all that I can to take care of it and keep it safe. How are you taking care of God’s gift He’s given you? Are you spending time with Him and learning how to be safe in Him – how to walk continuously in His light – leaving all your sins behind?
Has anyone ever given you something you really wanted – a gift, but that you knew you did not deserve? How did that make you feel? Have you ever given a gift to someone else simply because you wanted to and not because of anything they had done? How did they feel? What was their reaction? How did you feel giving the gift?
God wants to give us a gift. There’s nothing we’ve done to deserve it. He gives us an incredible gift because He loves us.
Today we’re going to take a look at Colossians 1:13-23. The church of Colosse was struggling. They had heard the Gospel and said they believed in Jesus, but they were still worshipping other gods. They were trying to combine The Gospel with other beliefs. They were worshipping things of this world and Jesus. The apostle Paul wrote them to tell them they needed to STOP practicing other religions and to believe that they had everything they needed in Christ alone!
We need to hear these words in our own lives. Is there anything else in our lives that we are worshipping or believing in other than God? God used the apostle Paul to write a letter to the church of Colosse to make them aware of what they were doing wrong, why it was wrong, and what they should do instead.
Today we are going to look at just a small portion of the letter to the church of Colosse, but through it I hope you see the amazing gift God offered to the church of Colosse and to each one of us!
Colossians 1:13 “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,” God has rescued each of us from darkness! He brought us from darkness into light – from slavery into freedom – from guilt into forgiveness – and from Satan to God! It is nothing we do on our own. We needed His sacrifice. What darkness has God rescued you from? (Bad relationships, cheating, lying stealing, going to the witch doctor?) Are you still living in darkness in any area of your life? We cannot be in darkness and in the light at the same time. The Lord declared that where there is light the darkness cannot be. We cannot be in both! You muse choose.
Verse 14 goes onto say, “in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” What an incredible statement. God has redeemed us! He has forgiven us. But some of you may be asking how. How can God forgive my sin and how can He forgive everyone – past, present, and future – of their sins?? Let us continue to look at the words of the apostle Paul.
In verse 15 and 16 he writes, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” In these two verses is one of the strongest statements about the divine nature of Jesus. I do not claim to fully understand it as I believe we will never fully understand until we get to heaven and are with Jesus. But this is what I do understand and what we can learn from these two verses: Jesus is not only equal to God, He IS God! Jesus not only reflects God, but He REVEALS God to us! Jesus came from heaven to earth to live among us. He was not created from the dust like God created man because Jesus is God. Jesus is completely holy and has authority over all! And yet, He chose to come live among us and to take our place in death as payment for all of our sins. Therefore, Christ is supreme over all – all things in heaven and all things on earth. We must oppose those who say Jesus was only a prophet or a good teacher or those who try to combine Jesus and any other religion together as if they are equal. Jesus Christ is the only true God and the only one worthy of our praise.
Verse 17 continues this bold statement of who Jesus is. It says, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” He holds it all together! All things in my life, in your life, in your friends’ lives, in your family, in the whole world, in the whole universe, everything in the past, and everything that is to come! He protects us, cares for us, and sustains us.
At this point you may be asking, “But really how did God forgive my sins? How can He forgive everyone for every sin we’ve ever committed? How can I know what you’re saying about Jesus is true?”
Let’s look at what Paul writs in verse 18. “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is he beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” Jesus is the beginning and the firstborn among the dead! Jesus’ resurrection PROVES His Lordship over all. He has power over everything. He defeated death – He is the only one that could because He is God - and only through belief in Him will we defeat death and live forever.
Verse 19 says, “For God was pleased to have his fullness dwell in him.” Jesus was fully human and fully God at the same time. He has always been God and always will be God. We are not to diminish His humanity and at the same time we are not to diminish His deity (His Lordship, His divine nature), even if we do not fully understand it. It’s like when we get a great gift, but didn’t do anything to deserve it. Such as when a friend forgives us before we are sorry for wronging them or when we get a reward for no reason or when a teacher gives us extra help or time to do an assignment or when our brothers or sisters help us do our chores without expecting anything in return.
Paul continues his thoughts from verse 19 in verse 20 as he wrote, “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Jesus alone cleared a way for us to come to Him. That doesn’t mean everyone’s just automatically saved. It’s a choice we have to make. It’s like a gift. We have to choose to receive it and open it and take it into our possession. God gives it freely. He doesn’t say to this, this, this, and this and then maybe you’ll be good enough to deserve it. No. All we have to do is believe in Him and receive Him into our hearts – to ask Him for His forgiveness for our sins.
Verse 21 through the first part of 23 moves from explaining the supremacy of Christ to explaining how we fit into the picture of Christ.
Verse 21 says, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.” Our sin corrupts our way of thinking about God. Our sin put a barrier between us and God. It is like we were facing God and then when sin entered our lives we turned around so that our backs were to God. He was still facing out and reaching out to us, but we could no longer connect with Him because we were facing away from Him. We chose to walk in darkness.
The great news though is that our walking away is not the end of the story. The story does not have to end in darkness. Verse 22 says: “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Jesus RECONCILED us! The word “reconcile” means to coexist in harmony. What a beautiful picture! Jesus and only Jesus made it possible for us to live WITH Him in HARMONY! It is only by His grace – not anything of our own doing. Any, yes ANY, sin is enough to separate us from Christ, but His sacrifice makes a way for us to be forgiven.
Jesus suffered death fully as a human so that we can be assured that He died in our place! Jesus faced death as God so we can be assured that His sacrifice was complete and that He truly removed our sin. What an incredible gift. Did you get that? Jesus died as a human so we can know He died in our place and at the same time – at the same time – He died as God so we can be certain – positively and absolutely know – that our punishment for all of our sins was paid for with His death and that Satan was defeated by Jesus’ resurrection.
To be free from sin though we must trust Jesus to take it away. It is a gift He offers to us freely. There is nothing we can do to earn it or to be good enough to deserve it. He paid the price. He took our punishment so that the barrier of sin was removed. All we have to do is turn back around and face our Heavenly Father.
Verse 23a ends this section by giving us a challenge. Paul writes, “If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” The way to remain facing God is to remain in the truth of the Gospel. We must learn all we can from His Word. God has given us the Bible so that we may know His will. We must be established and firm – not to just choose God when it’s easy, but in every decision every day. The gift of salvation He gives to us freely, but then it is up to us to take care of the gift of an eternal relationship with Him.
Will you receive God’s gift of grace? Will you turn around and face Him and worship Him alone?
If you have already received God’s gift of grace how are you treating your gift? When we get an incredible gift how do we take care of it? I know that when I get a gift I do all that I can to take care of it and keep it safe. How are you taking care of God’s gift He’s given you? Are you spending time with Him and learning how to be safe in Him – how to walk continuously in His light – leaving all your sins behind?
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Zambia Update 4 June 2009
I grown up hearing the saying, “God is good…” to which, everyone replies, “all the time.” And then the leader says, “All the time…” and everyone says, “God is good.” I’ve always really liked the saying, but I’m learning the fullness of the truth of that saying. This past week and a half has been full of many valuable lessons. Some of them have been easy to learn while others have caused me to have to focus on the truth behind God is good ALL the time.
I was scheduled to speak to the youth this past Saturday at church. They are starting a youth group since having the local youth conference in their church the other week. The speaker for the conference, Pastor Josephine, had left the leaders of a the church a packet of issues that youths deal with so the leaders of the church felt it would be good to start a Saturday youth group to be able to teach the youth directly. The packet was at the typist though so the leaders didn’t have a copy to give me yet. They also insisted that I had some things that God had laid on my heart to teach them. I tried to tell them how I wanted to really just learn from them what they thought to be important to teach on and observe them. But, they were confident I had things to share with them first before starting to cover the issues Pastor Josephine had identified in the packet. So with that I set off to figure out what God wanted me to share with the youth.
I tossed around several topics and passages, but the one I kept coming back to was Colossians 1:13-23, which is part of the letter Paul wrote to the church of Colosse. In it he addressed how they were saved by grace and how they needed to worship only Christ instead of combining worshipping Christ with other religions they had previously believed in. In Colossians 1:13-23 the idea of salvation by grace is presented as well as an explanation of why and how Jesus saved us. Within the passage Paul explains how Jesus was fully man and fully God at the same time and that by being both at the same time we can see how we are saved only by His grace.
This passage has always been daunting to me, as I feel it should be. The idea of Jesus being fully man and fully God is not something that we’ll ever be ever to fully understand. In faith we believe that which we cannot fully understand. So I really wondered if this is what God wanted me to teach on because it can be difficult to understand and explain let along try to teach to a different culture through a translator! But try as I might to pick a different passage this one is the one God kept leading me back to. The themes of being saved by grace alone and why we are called to worship only Christ – why He alone deserves our worship – continued to be what I felt God was calling me to share with the Zambian youth.
So over the week I continued to study the passage and began to form talking points. During the week, I finished my book, Having a Mary’s Heart in a Martha World. I loved the entire book and feel like it will be one that I will read over and over again throughout my life as it is filled with great truths in every chapter. I helped take care of the Murphy kids as well and helped to keep the house in some kind of order. About half way through the week Isaiah, who is the child the Murphys adopted from Zambia the last time they were here, came down with a fever of 105 and just did not have any energy or appetite. We could tell his entire body hurt and he just laid on the couch all day. The other kids had been sick with respiratory congestion, fevers, diarrhea, and other aches and pains, but none of them had gotten as sick as Isaiah was. With him down more of Rob and Christa’s attention went to taking care of him so I helped with the other kids – just playing with them and giving them attention and getting things they needed. When the Murphys needed to go places I stayed at home with Isaiah. It was actually a good time for him because then it would be quiet and peaceful while they were all gone so he was able to get some good sleep. He hates to miss out on things so when people are around he always wants to be awake so he can make sure he’s a part of what is going on. I would sit with him until he fell asleep and then I would do household chores, read, do some artwork, or work on my talk.
On Thursday, which is my day to make dinner for everyone, I made pizza from scratch. It amazed me how much more I enjoy food when I make it from scratch. Life is slower paced here so I actually have time to do things like make food from scratch. J One of Isaiah’s favorite foods is pizza, but he was still really sick so I promised to save him some for when he got better and that seemed to satisfy him. Everyone else really enjoyed it so I think it will probably be a dinner I repeat.
I’m getting more use to my bike as well. It seems that they just slapped it together in the factory because as much as Rob and I have worked on my bike I still only get the 3 highest gears out of 7 in the back and 2 out of 3 in the front. It gives me quite the workout though and it’s quite interesting to learn to ride in a skirt! All Zambian women bike in skirts though so I’m learning and I haven’t gotten it tangled in my back wheel or gears yet so praise God. J
Friday afternoon I finished up working on my talk and felt pretty good about it. It was definitely the topics God wanted me to cover and although I still felt a little daunted about teaching on Jesus being fully man and fully God I knew that God would give me the right words to communicate with the youth. That evening Christa started treating Isaiah with malaria medication. Within a few days he was back to his normal self. They’re not sure if he had malaria, but we are just thankful he’s back to his energetic and explorative self.
Saturday afternoon I rode my bike to the church and got there about fifteen minutes before two, which was when the program was suppose to start. I knew that Pastor Richwell, his wife, and the praise team had gone to the bush to show the Jesus Film to another village so I didn’t expect many people to be there. When I got there though there were only a few of the neighbor kids playing “football” and some of Pastor Richwell’s kids washing dishes. I waited and waited, but no one showed. Finally one young man came and then a few of the older ladies on another one of the praise teams showed up. About thirty minutes past two one of the leaders in the church showed up and said he thought that maybe most of the youth went to the bush with Pastor and we should reschedule for Sunday. I felt very sad. I knew the Saturday youth meeting was a new program, but I had a hard time believing that all the youth had gone to the bush.
I decided to go for a bike ride to spend some time with God and just pray for Him to show me what He wanted me to learn from the day. I got about five minutes down the Namwianga road and went over a big bump in the road. My bike broke. The post the seat sits on fell down into the frame and the seat came off the top of the post. I was okay, just more frustrated. So I walked my bike back home with seat in hand and tossed it into our courtyard. I went into my room and shut the door and curtains. I spent the rest of the afternoon just crying out to God. This was the first real frustration and disappointment I faced and I felt completely overwhelmed by it. I was disappointed then in myself for feeling upset like I wasn’t trusting in God and His sovereignty in everything. In my mind I knew He had reasons for why no one showed, but I just felt sad, disappointed, and even angry. I had dinner with the Murphys, but came back to my room almost right after. When I experience a big disappointment I tend to get more introverted. I don’t want to be around people or talk with anyone. I let myself be sad and angry for a while, but God softly spoke to me and as I listened and cried out to Him the more He comforted me.
Sometimes I think we try to simplify God too much. At first I was trying to decide what one lesson I thought God was trying to teach me. However, He brought several thoughts to my mind. Instead of trying to nail it down to one I realized that God might be trying to teach me several things through the disappointment I felt about my Saturday. As I spent time with him Saturday evening I reflected upon what I knew about the Zambian culture through my studies before I left. Everything that I had read addressed how the Zambian culture is different in that people to not strictly adhere to times for meetings. Sometimes they can show up many hours late and to them it is not meant to be offensive or disrespectful. Also, sometimes they may not show up at all and they may not have a reason. This Saturday youth program is also a new program they are just starting. Even in the States, when we start new things they sometimes take time before people catch on and the program gains momentum. In addition, relationships are much more important that programs here in Zambia so the idea of attending another program is not nearly as attractive to Zambians as spending time with people they care about. God showed me that I needed not to take it personally that no one showed and that it may just take time for the youth program to grow and to even think about if a youth program is what will really impact the youth. I also felt God telling me to remember that it was not like I wasted my week in studying and preparing a talk on Colossians 1:13-23. Studying the Bible is NEVER a waste of time and I definitely grew in my knowledge and understanding of the deity of Jesus through the week. My conclusion also had three take away points of application and I felt like God telling me I needed to work on my lesson some more to maybe have just one take away point. Rob and I have dialogued on how the Zambians think differently than we do. To them, they make choices and decisions based on what they need to survive today. Long term planning is not something they really grasp so having more than one take away point may cause confusion where as just having one may allow them to hear God more clearly in their lives.
I felt exhausted Saturday night, but no longer did I feel upset, angry, disappointed, or frustrated. I knew that God has His reasons and I thanked Him for teaching me more about Himself through the week and the day.
Sunday morning we went to church and Rob spoke on Ephesians about how we are God’s masterpieces. It was a powerful sermon and the Zambians seemed very attentive. He left them with the charge to be known as Christians by how they love one another. At the end of the service the leaders who were there asked the youth to stay – that they were not to get up and leave with everyone else. Then, they asked me to stay as well. The leaders gave the youth a talking to basically. They said that they were disappointed no one had come yesterday. It was only an hour and half out of their day and that there was no excuse for not giving just a small part of their Saturday to studying God’s Word. There were about 60-70 youths I would say that were at church on Sunday so it confirmed my belief that they had not all gone to the bush. The leaders then asked me to introduce myself and to say a few words. I told them of my background and why I felt God had called me to come to Zambia for a year. I left them with the challenge of living as Christ calls us in our daily lives. I said it’s easy to come to church on Sunday, to praise and worship Him at church, to pray in church, and to bring their Bibles to church. But I shared that what is just as important is if they are opening their Bibles at home, if they are praying at home, if they are praise and worshipping God in their daily lives. I shared my conviction with them that the habits they form now in their youths will form who they will become as adults. They have so much of their lives in front of them and so the choices they make now have a great impact on the rest of their lives. The leaders then finished the brief time with the youth challenging them to come on Saturday at two to spend and hour and half together learning more about God and praising Him. They have asked me to share this week what I was going to share last week so we will see what happens this Saturday.
This week so far has been kind of crazy. As many of you have heard, we have been without power for the majority of the time for most of this week. Apparently the farmers around the Kafue Lake have been dumping their weeds into the lake. The problem with that is that there is a dam at Lake Kafue, which provides most of the power for the southern province of Zambia. The weeds have now clogged the turbines and caused two out of the six to go offline. The Zambian government has apparently tried to get the army here to help out with unclogging these turbines and have been purchasing power from neighboring countries in order to supply the southern province with power. As of yesterday afternoon we have had power constantly. We’ll see if it continues or not. J
Meanwhile with this week being the beginning of June we all needed to go to the Immigration Office here in Kalomo to get our passports stamped to extend our visas while we continue to apply for work permits with Namwianga Mission. What an adventure immigration has turned out to be! We had been cautioned that the lady at Immigration here in Kalomo can be difficult. It’s been a big lesson for me about Zambia. Apparently people who have power in smaller areas, like Kalomo, like people to know they have the power so they make it difficult on those they have power over. So Christa called on Friday to see if she would be in her office on Monday since our business visas expired on Tuesday. She said she would be so on Monday morning, without any power on anywhere here, all 7 Murphys and myself headed to the Office of Immigration. It’s about a 10 – 15 minute walk towards town to get to Immigration. When we got there she started saying she needed all kinds of documents we didn’t have. We asked her how we were suppose to get them without power and she said that was our problem to figure out.
Mainly, we needed Christa’s Zambian medical license faxed to us and to get her that copy. Plus we needed copies of our passports and work permits. She was also wondering what Rob and I were going to do since husbands can’t be under wives and she felt the job I was doing currently of helping with the family was a job a Zambian could do and so I had no purpose being here. I couldn’t tell her about my work with the church because I don’t have a work permit to be doing work with the church. Christa said I would also be getting a work permit with Namwianga where she is going to be volunteering as a doctor. The lady did not seem convinced and did not want to hear our explanations.
So we walked into town as we tried to figure out what to do. I needed groceries to stock up on things I could eat that didn’t need refrigeration with not knowing when the power would be back on. Rob and Christa needed some things too so we went through town and to the market areas as well. By this time we had been out for several hours already so we started to head home and trust that God would make a way for us to get the documents we needed by the next day.
On our way out of town Rob & Christa saw some people from Namwianga Mission at the post office so we stopped and I waited with the kids in the shade under a tree while Rob & Christa went and talked with them. As we were standing there, Golden, the associate Pastor at the church came walking into town. He stopped and asked how we were and what we were up to. I filled him in on our stop at immigration and the need for a fax and copies of things even though we didn’t have power. God is so good. Golden told me that the banks in town have generators so that even when the power goes down they still have power. It was such a God thing… had we not gone into town or stopped at the post office or had Golden walked to town at just that time… we would not have known about the power at the bank. So Rob rode over to the bank to see if they had a fax machine that we could get a fax on. They did and even said they wouldn’t charge us anything so Christa called the Zambia Medical Licensing people and they were able to understand what she needed and even sent it within five minutes. By this point it was 1 in the afternoon and the kids were very hungry. They had been great all morning, but their attitudes were declining as they got hungry. We decided to eat in town since they sometimes have gas stoves that they could still cook on even though we didn’t have power. We walked back into town and found a restaurant that could make some n’sima with chicken and relish for us. It was delicious. While we waited Rob went and got certified copies of our passports made at the bank and was able to have them make copies of the letter from Namwianga that the immigration lady had asked for. We finally headed home and spent the rest of the evening just recouping from being out and about in the sun for over five hours.
On Tuesday morning Rob went back to immigration to give the lady the documents she had asked for and to hopefully get all of our passports stamped. The rest of us stayed home so that Christa could try to get schooling in with Acacia and Christianna. Rob came back with bad news. Christa was okay as long as Namwianga would turn in a copy of the work permit to the lady so she could have it on file, but Rob and I needed to go to Livingston and pay 4 million kwacha each (about $820) to get a special kind of extension because neither of us had work permit applications with Namwianga. Neither of us had anything close to that budgeted for visa fees, but if that was what we were going to need to do then we’d have to trust God to provide. We called Laura, one of the US nurses working at Namwianga, and she said they had the same issues when they first came. She said that we would not need to go to Livingston if we could come to Namwianga today and meet with George Piuri (sp?), the guy in charge at Namwianga Mission. So she came to pick us all up and we made the 15 – 20 minute drive to Namwianga in their little truck.
George is an amazing man. He has his Masters from a university in Texas and was offered a full scholarship by Harvard to get his doctoral while teaching there. He turned it down and told them he had to come back to Zambia to suffer with his people. Namwianga Mission is a huge operation with a clinic and university that has been around for, I think, about 70 years. They do a lot of training people to do the work themselves and is affiliated with the Church of Christ.
We met with him for about half an hour. He offered to file work permit applications for Rob and I after hearing our hearts of what we feel God calling us to do in Zambia. I might even be able to teach at the university. They have a lot of female students that are learning to be teachers. They meet on Wednesday evenings for Bible Study and they’ve been asking God to bring to Namwianga a woman who’s close in age to the female students that can model what living for Christ looks like. I’m excited to get to meet them and possibly join their Bible Study time on Wednesday.
George helped us to know what all the documents we would need for our work permits. We would need an application filled out, a reference letter by him, a letter requesting that we would be allowed to be a volunteer employee with Namwianga, certificate of registration of Namwianga mission, copies of our diplomas and transcripts, copies of our police clearance/background check, copies of our passport, two copies of passport sized photos, and a copy of our resume. And all of these documents would need to be certified. Thankfully, Laura had a stamp to make certified copies and a seal maker that she was able to used to certify everything of ours. I had no idea it was this complex to get a work visa. Part of me is glad that they are thorough with who they let stay in Zambia, but part of me feels like it’s just a lot of hoops to make someone jump through to show that they have the power in the relationship.
The lady at immigration had told Rob on Tuesday morning to bring everyone to immigration at 15:30 (3:30pm) and she would meet with all of us and get at least Christa and the kids stamped. George came with us and we all made sure to be there right at 15:30. We waited and waited and waited. One of the other guys working there was able to get her on the phone and she was in a meeting that was running late. So we continued to wait. The kids were restless and tired because of being off their schedules for two days in a row and the little ones had not even gotten their naps. Finally at about 18:00 (6pm) she showed up. It seemed to really help to have George there as she has respect for him. He did not have the chance to finish the letters of recommendation so she again would not stamp us. Thankfully though, Rob and I would not need to go to Livingston. She said to come back in the morning with all the papers in order that would need to be taken to Lusaka and filed. We also found out that we would each need a certified check for 500,000 kwacha made out to the Chief Immigration Officer to accompany each application to Lusaka. We also needed to attach letters of acceptance of the volunteer employment offered to us by Namwianga. She offered to let us pay her to go to Lusaka for us, but since Rob was already planning on going to Lusaka to pick up other stuff and submit our applications we politely declined.
Onto Wednesday! … Again I woke up early for the third straight day and so was feeling quite tired. I still do not sleep well at night due to the fighting dogs, crazy roosters, flocks of guinea foul and chickens, and our new neighbors of birds who have built nests in our outside rafters that hold up our roof. We finally had power back on though so we praised God for the blessing of electricity. Rob and I rode our bikes to the bank as soon as they finished breakfast so that he could bring Isaiah and Katriya in the Burley. (We still get the funniest looks from Zambians because they’ve never seen a Burley, let along see a girl with light blonde hair, fair skin, and blue eyes sitting inside with a Zambian boy.) It took an hour for the bank to be able to get us three certified checks! It reminded Rob and I of the Three Stooges because there were three guys in the office who all looked very confused at times about the whole process. But God is good! We got the checks and met Christa, Acacia, Christianna, and Shamirah at Immigration.
George was not there yet so we waited for him. An hour later he showed up. We had been without power for part of the morning so he had been writing the letters and it held him back a bit. He was still having his secretary copy them so he came without them. The lady at immigration was not happy. She did not understand why George came without all the documents. She said she could not stamp us until she had seen everything. She finally had had enough of the kids being there for three days at this point though so she let Christa and I sign our forms so that we would not need to come back later. George said he would be done within an hour and would call Rob when he was on his way back to immigration. Christa, Acacia, Christianna, and Shamirah went with George back to the mission because Christa needed to sign some documents there. Rob and I came back home with a very cranky Isaiah and Katriya who promptly took naps when we got home. I was able to print off the rest of the documents I needed (my police clearance/background checks and more passport sized photos). Christa and the girls finally came back and we waited to get a phone call from George.
As it crept into the afternoon I decided to head to town. I needed to get groceries for myself and for the dinner I had planned for this week. I took my big Kappa soccer backpack this time as I’ve found I always end up having more to bring back than I had counted on. The workers in the stores in town are getting more use to seeing me in town and I’m learning to say hello to them in Tongan, which makes them smile. When I stopped at the mini mart finally I got a coke, which I usually just take with me, but it’s less if I drink it there since it’s in a glass bottle and we get a refund on returning the glass bottles. I decided to drink it there and rest before I lugged everything in my bag back to the house. The bike ride back is every so slightly uphill and against the wind so it’s always harder on the ride home – especially with not having the lower gears! God is good! Have I mentioned that, yet? J On the way home I saw George’s truck just about to pull out from the lot across the road from immigration. He had finally finished his letters, but his cell phone was dead so he was hoping that maybe Rob would just be at immigration. However, Rob was not since he was at home waiting for George’s call and the immigration lady wasn’t even in her office! He was also wanting to make copies of the work permit applications so he could have a copy on file at his office. Rob & Christa have a printer, scanner, copier in one so it would actually be perfect if he could come to the house and get the copies made he wanted and be able to pick up Rob. As we chatted, the immigration lady came walking up the road. She apologized for not being in her office and that she took a late lunch! It worked out well though since George had just gotten finished and we needed to go to the house first. So she walked onto Immigration and George drove to the house while I followed him on my bike. At the house we were able to sort all the documents and make sure each of Rob, Christa, and my application packets were all complete. We made the copies George needed and then he and Rob went to immigration. And we FINALLY got stamped for another 17 days of valid stay in Zambia while Rob went to Lusaka to file our work permit applications. She said once we file those and have a receipt that they are filed that we can come back with the receipt and get stamped for another 30 days.
It’s been a pretty tiring week as you can see. Today we’ve been resting and getting back into our normal schedule… well all of us except for Rob. He caught the 8am bus to Lusaka and is still at immigration as I write this. So we’ll see if there are any new developments and how long he’ll have to be in Lusaka to get everything filed.
I’m reworking my talk a little bit that I prepared for last Saturday and we’ll see who shows up on Saturday! Tonight I’m making banana bread French toast. The kids are really, really excited about it. I made the banana bread yesterday. I really have so much fun baking and I let Isaiah and Katriya help me stir the batter. They’re so much fun to play with and to see their personalities develop.
I need to wrap this letter up though as I wanted to go back into town to figure out something for dessert. I’m sorry it took me so long to update you all. With the power being out we were conserving our phones and computers as much as we could since they didn’t know when it would be back on. I pray you are all doing well and have exciting or relaxing plans for the summer. I hear Zambia’s a great place to spend a week or two. ;)
I will leave you with a few prayer requests as it is through prayer that our Heavenly Father hears and answers us. First, that God would continue to open up the doors to the ministry He desires for me and for the Murphys while we are in Zambia. Secondly, that our finances would continue to come in. Including those of you who have committed to monthly donations I still need just about a thousand dollars. I am so grateful for all the support you all have given so far and know that God will bring in the funds for the time He desires me to be here. If you feel God is calling you to help support me please let me know and I will give you all the donation information. Thirdly, that we would be able to find someone in the community who speaks English and Tongan very well that would be willing to tutor us so that we may learn more Tongan and therefore be able to communicate with more people here.
Thank you all so much. I wish you could all be here and see the amazing things God is teaching us and doing in the people of Zambia.
By His Grace & For His Glory,
Abbie Morehead
I was scheduled to speak to the youth this past Saturday at church. They are starting a youth group since having the local youth conference in their church the other week. The speaker for the conference, Pastor Josephine, had left the leaders of a the church a packet of issues that youths deal with so the leaders of the church felt it would be good to start a Saturday youth group to be able to teach the youth directly. The packet was at the typist though so the leaders didn’t have a copy to give me yet. They also insisted that I had some things that God had laid on my heart to teach them. I tried to tell them how I wanted to really just learn from them what they thought to be important to teach on and observe them. But, they were confident I had things to share with them first before starting to cover the issues Pastor Josephine had identified in the packet. So with that I set off to figure out what God wanted me to share with the youth.
I tossed around several topics and passages, but the one I kept coming back to was Colossians 1:13-23, which is part of the letter Paul wrote to the church of Colosse. In it he addressed how they were saved by grace and how they needed to worship only Christ instead of combining worshipping Christ with other religions they had previously believed in. In Colossians 1:13-23 the idea of salvation by grace is presented as well as an explanation of why and how Jesus saved us. Within the passage Paul explains how Jesus was fully man and fully God at the same time and that by being both at the same time we can see how we are saved only by His grace.
This passage has always been daunting to me, as I feel it should be. The idea of Jesus being fully man and fully God is not something that we’ll ever be ever to fully understand. In faith we believe that which we cannot fully understand. So I really wondered if this is what God wanted me to teach on because it can be difficult to understand and explain let along try to teach to a different culture through a translator! But try as I might to pick a different passage this one is the one God kept leading me back to. The themes of being saved by grace alone and why we are called to worship only Christ – why He alone deserves our worship – continued to be what I felt God was calling me to share with the Zambian youth.
So over the week I continued to study the passage and began to form talking points. During the week, I finished my book, Having a Mary’s Heart in a Martha World. I loved the entire book and feel like it will be one that I will read over and over again throughout my life as it is filled with great truths in every chapter. I helped take care of the Murphy kids as well and helped to keep the house in some kind of order. About half way through the week Isaiah, who is the child the Murphys adopted from Zambia the last time they were here, came down with a fever of 105 and just did not have any energy or appetite. We could tell his entire body hurt and he just laid on the couch all day. The other kids had been sick with respiratory congestion, fevers, diarrhea, and other aches and pains, but none of them had gotten as sick as Isaiah was. With him down more of Rob and Christa’s attention went to taking care of him so I helped with the other kids – just playing with them and giving them attention and getting things they needed. When the Murphys needed to go places I stayed at home with Isaiah. It was actually a good time for him because then it would be quiet and peaceful while they were all gone so he was able to get some good sleep. He hates to miss out on things so when people are around he always wants to be awake so he can make sure he’s a part of what is going on. I would sit with him until he fell asleep and then I would do household chores, read, do some artwork, or work on my talk.
On Thursday, which is my day to make dinner for everyone, I made pizza from scratch. It amazed me how much more I enjoy food when I make it from scratch. Life is slower paced here so I actually have time to do things like make food from scratch. J One of Isaiah’s favorite foods is pizza, but he was still really sick so I promised to save him some for when he got better and that seemed to satisfy him. Everyone else really enjoyed it so I think it will probably be a dinner I repeat.
I’m getting more use to my bike as well. It seems that they just slapped it together in the factory because as much as Rob and I have worked on my bike I still only get the 3 highest gears out of 7 in the back and 2 out of 3 in the front. It gives me quite the workout though and it’s quite interesting to learn to ride in a skirt! All Zambian women bike in skirts though so I’m learning and I haven’t gotten it tangled in my back wheel or gears yet so praise God. J
Friday afternoon I finished up working on my talk and felt pretty good about it. It was definitely the topics God wanted me to cover and although I still felt a little daunted about teaching on Jesus being fully man and fully God I knew that God would give me the right words to communicate with the youth. That evening Christa started treating Isaiah with malaria medication. Within a few days he was back to his normal self. They’re not sure if he had malaria, but we are just thankful he’s back to his energetic and explorative self.
Saturday afternoon I rode my bike to the church and got there about fifteen minutes before two, which was when the program was suppose to start. I knew that Pastor Richwell, his wife, and the praise team had gone to the bush to show the Jesus Film to another village so I didn’t expect many people to be there. When I got there though there were only a few of the neighbor kids playing “football” and some of Pastor Richwell’s kids washing dishes. I waited and waited, but no one showed. Finally one young man came and then a few of the older ladies on another one of the praise teams showed up. About thirty minutes past two one of the leaders in the church showed up and said he thought that maybe most of the youth went to the bush with Pastor and we should reschedule for Sunday. I felt very sad. I knew the Saturday youth meeting was a new program, but I had a hard time believing that all the youth had gone to the bush.
I decided to go for a bike ride to spend some time with God and just pray for Him to show me what He wanted me to learn from the day. I got about five minutes down the Namwianga road and went over a big bump in the road. My bike broke. The post the seat sits on fell down into the frame and the seat came off the top of the post. I was okay, just more frustrated. So I walked my bike back home with seat in hand and tossed it into our courtyard. I went into my room and shut the door and curtains. I spent the rest of the afternoon just crying out to God. This was the first real frustration and disappointment I faced and I felt completely overwhelmed by it. I was disappointed then in myself for feeling upset like I wasn’t trusting in God and His sovereignty in everything. In my mind I knew He had reasons for why no one showed, but I just felt sad, disappointed, and even angry. I had dinner with the Murphys, but came back to my room almost right after. When I experience a big disappointment I tend to get more introverted. I don’t want to be around people or talk with anyone. I let myself be sad and angry for a while, but God softly spoke to me and as I listened and cried out to Him the more He comforted me.
Sometimes I think we try to simplify God too much. At first I was trying to decide what one lesson I thought God was trying to teach me. However, He brought several thoughts to my mind. Instead of trying to nail it down to one I realized that God might be trying to teach me several things through the disappointment I felt about my Saturday. As I spent time with him Saturday evening I reflected upon what I knew about the Zambian culture through my studies before I left. Everything that I had read addressed how the Zambian culture is different in that people to not strictly adhere to times for meetings. Sometimes they can show up many hours late and to them it is not meant to be offensive or disrespectful. Also, sometimes they may not show up at all and they may not have a reason. This Saturday youth program is also a new program they are just starting. Even in the States, when we start new things they sometimes take time before people catch on and the program gains momentum. In addition, relationships are much more important that programs here in Zambia so the idea of attending another program is not nearly as attractive to Zambians as spending time with people they care about. God showed me that I needed not to take it personally that no one showed and that it may just take time for the youth program to grow and to even think about if a youth program is what will really impact the youth. I also felt God telling me to remember that it was not like I wasted my week in studying and preparing a talk on Colossians 1:13-23. Studying the Bible is NEVER a waste of time and I definitely grew in my knowledge and understanding of the deity of Jesus through the week. My conclusion also had three take away points of application and I felt like God telling me I needed to work on my lesson some more to maybe have just one take away point. Rob and I have dialogued on how the Zambians think differently than we do. To them, they make choices and decisions based on what they need to survive today. Long term planning is not something they really grasp so having more than one take away point may cause confusion where as just having one may allow them to hear God more clearly in their lives.
I felt exhausted Saturday night, but no longer did I feel upset, angry, disappointed, or frustrated. I knew that God has His reasons and I thanked Him for teaching me more about Himself through the week and the day.
Sunday morning we went to church and Rob spoke on Ephesians about how we are God’s masterpieces. It was a powerful sermon and the Zambians seemed very attentive. He left them with the charge to be known as Christians by how they love one another. At the end of the service the leaders who were there asked the youth to stay – that they were not to get up and leave with everyone else. Then, they asked me to stay as well. The leaders gave the youth a talking to basically. They said that they were disappointed no one had come yesterday. It was only an hour and half out of their day and that there was no excuse for not giving just a small part of their Saturday to studying God’s Word. There were about 60-70 youths I would say that were at church on Sunday so it confirmed my belief that they had not all gone to the bush. The leaders then asked me to introduce myself and to say a few words. I told them of my background and why I felt God had called me to come to Zambia for a year. I left them with the challenge of living as Christ calls us in our daily lives. I said it’s easy to come to church on Sunday, to praise and worship Him at church, to pray in church, and to bring their Bibles to church. But I shared that what is just as important is if they are opening their Bibles at home, if they are praying at home, if they are praise and worshipping God in their daily lives. I shared my conviction with them that the habits they form now in their youths will form who they will become as adults. They have so much of their lives in front of them and so the choices they make now have a great impact on the rest of their lives. The leaders then finished the brief time with the youth challenging them to come on Saturday at two to spend and hour and half together learning more about God and praising Him. They have asked me to share this week what I was going to share last week so we will see what happens this Saturday.
This week so far has been kind of crazy. As many of you have heard, we have been without power for the majority of the time for most of this week. Apparently the farmers around the Kafue Lake have been dumping their weeds into the lake. The problem with that is that there is a dam at Lake Kafue, which provides most of the power for the southern province of Zambia. The weeds have now clogged the turbines and caused two out of the six to go offline. The Zambian government has apparently tried to get the army here to help out with unclogging these turbines and have been purchasing power from neighboring countries in order to supply the southern province with power. As of yesterday afternoon we have had power constantly. We’ll see if it continues or not. J
Meanwhile with this week being the beginning of June we all needed to go to the Immigration Office here in Kalomo to get our passports stamped to extend our visas while we continue to apply for work permits with Namwianga Mission. What an adventure immigration has turned out to be! We had been cautioned that the lady at Immigration here in Kalomo can be difficult. It’s been a big lesson for me about Zambia. Apparently people who have power in smaller areas, like Kalomo, like people to know they have the power so they make it difficult on those they have power over. So Christa called on Friday to see if she would be in her office on Monday since our business visas expired on Tuesday. She said she would be so on Monday morning, without any power on anywhere here, all 7 Murphys and myself headed to the Office of Immigration. It’s about a 10 – 15 minute walk towards town to get to Immigration. When we got there she started saying she needed all kinds of documents we didn’t have. We asked her how we were suppose to get them without power and she said that was our problem to figure out.
Mainly, we needed Christa’s Zambian medical license faxed to us and to get her that copy. Plus we needed copies of our passports and work permits. She was also wondering what Rob and I were going to do since husbands can’t be under wives and she felt the job I was doing currently of helping with the family was a job a Zambian could do and so I had no purpose being here. I couldn’t tell her about my work with the church because I don’t have a work permit to be doing work with the church. Christa said I would also be getting a work permit with Namwianga where she is going to be volunteering as a doctor. The lady did not seem convinced and did not want to hear our explanations.
So we walked into town as we tried to figure out what to do. I needed groceries to stock up on things I could eat that didn’t need refrigeration with not knowing when the power would be back on. Rob and Christa needed some things too so we went through town and to the market areas as well. By this time we had been out for several hours already so we started to head home and trust that God would make a way for us to get the documents we needed by the next day.
On our way out of town Rob & Christa saw some people from Namwianga Mission at the post office so we stopped and I waited with the kids in the shade under a tree while Rob & Christa went and talked with them. As we were standing there, Golden, the associate Pastor at the church came walking into town. He stopped and asked how we were and what we were up to. I filled him in on our stop at immigration and the need for a fax and copies of things even though we didn’t have power. God is so good. Golden told me that the banks in town have generators so that even when the power goes down they still have power. It was such a God thing… had we not gone into town or stopped at the post office or had Golden walked to town at just that time… we would not have known about the power at the bank. So Rob rode over to the bank to see if they had a fax machine that we could get a fax on. They did and even said they wouldn’t charge us anything so Christa called the Zambia Medical Licensing people and they were able to understand what she needed and even sent it within five minutes. By this point it was 1 in the afternoon and the kids were very hungry. They had been great all morning, but their attitudes were declining as they got hungry. We decided to eat in town since they sometimes have gas stoves that they could still cook on even though we didn’t have power. We walked back into town and found a restaurant that could make some n’sima with chicken and relish for us. It was delicious. While we waited Rob went and got certified copies of our passports made at the bank and was able to have them make copies of the letter from Namwianga that the immigration lady had asked for. We finally headed home and spent the rest of the evening just recouping from being out and about in the sun for over five hours.
On Tuesday morning Rob went back to immigration to give the lady the documents she had asked for and to hopefully get all of our passports stamped. The rest of us stayed home so that Christa could try to get schooling in with Acacia and Christianna. Rob came back with bad news. Christa was okay as long as Namwianga would turn in a copy of the work permit to the lady so she could have it on file, but Rob and I needed to go to Livingston and pay 4 million kwacha each (about $820) to get a special kind of extension because neither of us had work permit applications with Namwianga. Neither of us had anything close to that budgeted for visa fees, but if that was what we were going to need to do then we’d have to trust God to provide. We called Laura, one of the US nurses working at Namwianga, and she said they had the same issues when they first came. She said that we would not need to go to Livingston if we could come to Namwianga today and meet with George Piuri (sp?), the guy in charge at Namwianga Mission. So she came to pick us all up and we made the 15 – 20 minute drive to Namwianga in their little truck.
George is an amazing man. He has his Masters from a university in Texas and was offered a full scholarship by Harvard to get his doctoral while teaching there. He turned it down and told them he had to come back to Zambia to suffer with his people. Namwianga Mission is a huge operation with a clinic and university that has been around for, I think, about 70 years. They do a lot of training people to do the work themselves and is affiliated with the Church of Christ.
We met with him for about half an hour. He offered to file work permit applications for Rob and I after hearing our hearts of what we feel God calling us to do in Zambia. I might even be able to teach at the university. They have a lot of female students that are learning to be teachers. They meet on Wednesday evenings for Bible Study and they’ve been asking God to bring to Namwianga a woman who’s close in age to the female students that can model what living for Christ looks like. I’m excited to get to meet them and possibly join their Bible Study time on Wednesday.
George helped us to know what all the documents we would need for our work permits. We would need an application filled out, a reference letter by him, a letter requesting that we would be allowed to be a volunteer employee with Namwianga, certificate of registration of Namwianga mission, copies of our diplomas and transcripts, copies of our police clearance/background check, copies of our passport, two copies of passport sized photos, and a copy of our resume. And all of these documents would need to be certified. Thankfully, Laura had a stamp to make certified copies and a seal maker that she was able to used to certify everything of ours. I had no idea it was this complex to get a work visa. Part of me is glad that they are thorough with who they let stay in Zambia, but part of me feels like it’s just a lot of hoops to make someone jump through to show that they have the power in the relationship.
The lady at immigration had told Rob on Tuesday morning to bring everyone to immigration at 15:30 (3:30pm) and she would meet with all of us and get at least Christa and the kids stamped. George came with us and we all made sure to be there right at 15:30. We waited and waited and waited. One of the other guys working there was able to get her on the phone and she was in a meeting that was running late. So we continued to wait. The kids were restless and tired because of being off their schedules for two days in a row and the little ones had not even gotten their naps. Finally at about 18:00 (6pm) she showed up. It seemed to really help to have George there as she has respect for him. He did not have the chance to finish the letters of recommendation so she again would not stamp us. Thankfully though, Rob and I would not need to go to Livingston. She said to come back in the morning with all the papers in order that would need to be taken to Lusaka and filed. We also found out that we would each need a certified check for 500,000 kwacha made out to the Chief Immigration Officer to accompany each application to Lusaka. We also needed to attach letters of acceptance of the volunteer employment offered to us by Namwianga. She offered to let us pay her to go to Lusaka for us, but since Rob was already planning on going to Lusaka to pick up other stuff and submit our applications we politely declined.
Onto Wednesday! … Again I woke up early for the third straight day and so was feeling quite tired. I still do not sleep well at night due to the fighting dogs, crazy roosters, flocks of guinea foul and chickens, and our new neighbors of birds who have built nests in our outside rafters that hold up our roof. We finally had power back on though so we praised God for the blessing of electricity. Rob and I rode our bikes to the bank as soon as they finished breakfast so that he could bring Isaiah and Katriya in the Burley. (We still get the funniest looks from Zambians because they’ve never seen a Burley, let along see a girl with light blonde hair, fair skin, and blue eyes sitting inside with a Zambian boy.) It took an hour for the bank to be able to get us three certified checks! It reminded Rob and I of the Three Stooges because there were three guys in the office who all looked very confused at times about the whole process. But God is good! We got the checks and met Christa, Acacia, Christianna, and Shamirah at Immigration.
George was not there yet so we waited for him. An hour later he showed up. We had been without power for part of the morning so he had been writing the letters and it held him back a bit. He was still having his secretary copy them so he came without them. The lady at immigration was not happy. She did not understand why George came without all the documents. She said she could not stamp us until she had seen everything. She finally had had enough of the kids being there for three days at this point though so she let Christa and I sign our forms so that we would not need to come back later. George said he would be done within an hour and would call Rob when he was on his way back to immigration. Christa, Acacia, Christianna, and Shamirah went with George back to the mission because Christa needed to sign some documents there. Rob and I came back home with a very cranky Isaiah and Katriya who promptly took naps when we got home. I was able to print off the rest of the documents I needed (my police clearance/background checks and more passport sized photos). Christa and the girls finally came back and we waited to get a phone call from George.
As it crept into the afternoon I decided to head to town. I needed to get groceries for myself and for the dinner I had planned for this week. I took my big Kappa soccer backpack this time as I’ve found I always end up having more to bring back than I had counted on. The workers in the stores in town are getting more use to seeing me in town and I’m learning to say hello to them in Tongan, which makes them smile. When I stopped at the mini mart finally I got a coke, which I usually just take with me, but it’s less if I drink it there since it’s in a glass bottle and we get a refund on returning the glass bottles. I decided to drink it there and rest before I lugged everything in my bag back to the house. The bike ride back is every so slightly uphill and against the wind so it’s always harder on the ride home – especially with not having the lower gears! God is good! Have I mentioned that, yet? J On the way home I saw George’s truck just about to pull out from the lot across the road from immigration. He had finally finished his letters, but his cell phone was dead so he was hoping that maybe Rob would just be at immigration. However, Rob was not since he was at home waiting for George’s call and the immigration lady wasn’t even in her office! He was also wanting to make copies of the work permit applications so he could have a copy on file at his office. Rob & Christa have a printer, scanner, copier in one so it would actually be perfect if he could come to the house and get the copies made he wanted and be able to pick up Rob. As we chatted, the immigration lady came walking up the road. She apologized for not being in her office and that she took a late lunch! It worked out well though since George had just gotten finished and we needed to go to the house first. So she walked onto Immigration and George drove to the house while I followed him on my bike. At the house we were able to sort all the documents and make sure each of Rob, Christa, and my application packets were all complete. We made the copies George needed and then he and Rob went to immigration. And we FINALLY got stamped for another 17 days of valid stay in Zambia while Rob went to Lusaka to file our work permit applications. She said once we file those and have a receipt that they are filed that we can come back with the receipt and get stamped for another 30 days.
It’s been a pretty tiring week as you can see. Today we’ve been resting and getting back into our normal schedule… well all of us except for Rob. He caught the 8am bus to Lusaka and is still at immigration as I write this. So we’ll see if there are any new developments and how long he’ll have to be in Lusaka to get everything filed.
I’m reworking my talk a little bit that I prepared for last Saturday and we’ll see who shows up on Saturday! Tonight I’m making banana bread French toast. The kids are really, really excited about it. I made the banana bread yesterday. I really have so much fun baking and I let Isaiah and Katriya help me stir the batter. They’re so much fun to play with and to see their personalities develop.
I need to wrap this letter up though as I wanted to go back into town to figure out something for dessert. I’m sorry it took me so long to update you all. With the power being out we were conserving our phones and computers as much as we could since they didn’t know when it would be back on. I pray you are all doing well and have exciting or relaxing plans for the summer. I hear Zambia’s a great place to spend a week or two. ;)
I will leave you with a few prayer requests as it is through prayer that our Heavenly Father hears and answers us. First, that God would continue to open up the doors to the ministry He desires for me and for the Murphys while we are in Zambia. Secondly, that our finances would continue to come in. Including those of you who have committed to monthly donations I still need just about a thousand dollars. I am so grateful for all the support you all have given so far and know that God will bring in the funds for the time He desires me to be here. If you feel God is calling you to help support me please let me know and I will give you all the donation information. Thirdly, that we would be able to find someone in the community who speaks English and Tongan very well that would be willing to tutor us so that we may learn more Tongan and therefore be able to communicate with more people here.
Thank you all so much. I wish you could all be here and see the amazing things God is teaching us and doing in the people of Zambia.
By His Grace & For His Glory,
Abbie Morehead
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