Day 2.....Monday

Ok, I stand corrected. The snake the men chased Sunday was a green mamba....not a cobra....the cobra comes later.




Breakfast at 7:00.


Men go to work. Same teams as yesterday.

We are scheduled to meet the ladies at 10:00. We have a quick meeting and gather supplies for the craft the women will be working on....small round mirrors glued onto a thin piece of foam with a pipe cleaner handle to hang it by. The ladies begin to drift in around 11:00 or so and begin to sing and dance....guess we forgot to tell them we are Baptist and don't dance :)   ...reminded me of David dancing before the Lord. They move to the rhythm of the music. Stamping their feet and clapping their hands....some on beat....some off beat.....very cool. More ladies arrive and join the singing. Some of them have walked a considerable distance. (We are on "bush time" which is directed by the Sun. 12 hours is noon....sun is straight up.)  The meeting was great. It was fun to sit amongst them and help as they searched their zip lock bags for the foam letters that would spell their name. The Tonga do not have a word for beautiful. They say kabotu, pronounced ga-bo-too. Which means fine or good. I said kabotu a lot.  Our fearless leader, Susan, shared scripture with them and asked them to remember it when they looked into their mirror. I have to confess, I have forgotten the scripture. After a round of orange drink stuff, the ladies return to their homes. It was a success! Approximately 40 women showed up and were still coming when the meeting was over. I have never had so much fun planting seeds!

Back to camp to try and get a shower before the men show up. We have one shower for 24 people...if you don't count the bush shower which is an enclosure made of grass with a couple of center blocks to stand on. You haul a bucket of water into the enclosure, stand on blocks and bathe. The water is cold. I love the bush shower.....hmmmmmm.  "smile"

                                                  Bush shower

                                                          Door

Mike is waiting patiently.

Supper, prayer, singing, bed!

Day one pics

Campground where we spent our first night in Zambia

inside our room...tin roof...walls do not go all the way up

The blue beast...our transportation

Cindy travels well

Camp

rest room....chimbuzi.....long drop

5 days in the Bush

Up early, washed face in cool water from the bore hole (well) and got ready for church. Most of us loaded up on Blue's flat bed trailer...the others walked. Church was great! The building was a shelter made of forked tree branches holding up a roof of grass. Most of the songs were the same ones we sing so we knew the melody but the words were Tonga...we sat next to the Zambians and pronounced the words the best we could....I sang watermelon, watermelon....Jesu....watermelon. :) After a lot of singing and special music it was time for sermon #1.....Sunday school. After Sunday school they received the offering and sermon #2 began. Topic of both sermons was the love of money. After sermon #2 and the closing prayer we filed out forming a type of receiving line shaking the hands of the folks that left before us, taking our place in line, then shaking the hands of the folks behind us. When the church was emptied we were all in a big circle....very cool. After church I decided to join the group that walked back to camp....no one told me we would have to cross the river. mmmmm  When we got to a very narrow part of the river the locals told us to jump. WHAT???  I was a trooper, hiked up my skirt got a good running start, screamed ahhhhhhh and landed  in the water....so much for jumping. I am always good for a little comic relief. The men behind us chased a cobra but lost him in the grass. We ate lunch and the men went to work.... breaking up into several teams. Some built trusses for the workers house, some worked on Blu and Darbie's house and some hauled rock and sand from the river. The girls got things ready for the women's conference scheduled for the next morning. We all ate supper..... sat around fire....prayed.....listened to Friday, Kalinga and Gibson as they played instruments and sang.      

Sleep.

 The stars are so bright they almost hurt your eyes!

Texas Americans in Zambia

No matter how long I live in Zambia I will not be a Zambian. I will always be a Texas American living in Zambia.

The following is a record of our mission trip to Mapanza Zambia and a running dialog (conversation between two or more people...you and me ) of how God is preparing me for the mission field. The content will be raw at times and my grammar and punctuation are atrotious...not to mention spelling....but maybe it will be an encouragement to someone...maybe not.

Feel free to comment at will!

Saturday.....

We arrived in Lusaka Airport Saturday after a grueling million :)  hour flight from Dulles Airport in Virginia. We boarded an overland truck named the Blue Beast and headed to the camp ground where we would spend the night. (pictures will come later) There were zebra, giraffe and antelope running wild....very cool. Our rooms were simple but very comfortable. A bedroom with rest room attached......Cindy did not appreciate the spiders that were sharing the room with us.
Around 5:00 am something was making an awful noise.....welcome to Africa! We ate breakfast, were briefed on what to expect the next few days and were off like a herd of turtles to Choma. Big Blu was sure but slow.

Choma is a very interesting town and we were the main attraction for a while. There is a supermarket where you can buy a lot of things you can buy here. They even had  cold Diet Coke.....YES!
Blu met us ....introductions were made and we were on our way to Mapanza. We traveled for a while on good road then left the road for another road that reminded me of a cow path. We got stuck and all of the men bailed out calling for the women folk to stay on the bus....it is a truck, not a bus. After much debate, countless opinions of how to get out and one man trying to buy one of our cute female guides, the beast finally gave a great lunge forward and we were on our way once again. After two hours of plowing through grass and trees we arrived at our camp site. Pitched tents and got ready for supper. I LOVE sleeping in a tent in the Bush!

God bless America!

When our plane touched down in Dulles we were on American soil once again for the first time in two weeks. EXHALE! One of our party sang God Bless America out loud but we were all singing it in our hearts.

Traveling in Africa is great but there is always an underlying current of uneasiness. We are Americans in Zambia.

I love my country and would give my life for her in a moments notice. We are not a perfect nation and I found it fitting to be so close to DC (home of our government) when we came home. DC is home...like it or not. We are not perfect but we are the best! Because we are the best (most highly favored nation in the world), we have a responsibility to the other nations. ...as a people...as Christs bride....as the church.

God- The source of my discomfort!

This morning I woke in my own bed, showered in my bath room and popped a Lean Pocket in the microwave for breakfast in my own kitchen. It is GOOD to be home. It is good to be clean for the first time in two weeks. ---- The only problem is that it is 3:45 am---- jet lag…yuck.



As I lie across my bed with stinging eyes and a stuffy nose (allergies…welcome home) writing these words in my journal I can not help but wonder once again how God actually feels about our comfort. Anyone that has been a Christian for any length of time knows it is in the zone of discomfort God molds us best. It is in the uncertain times we turn to Him because there is no place else to run.

To whom shall I go

When hope dwindles low,

And somehow the way seems unclear;

Who would understand

The inner demand

Of my soul wrapped in sorrow and fear?

Moses was not comfortable when God chose him to deliver His people from bondage. The Disciples were not comfortable. (All but John were martyred) David certainly was not comfortable as he fled from Saul. Abraham was not comfortable when God told him to pack up and go but did not give a destination. The list goes on and on.....Daniel, 3 Hebrew boys, Noah, Paul, Mary and----Jesus!



All of these were used mightily by God but they paid a price. I too desire to be used mightily by God but am I willing to pay the price?