June 15, 2009

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