So thankful for JoAnne's heart for HIS children. She was in Zambia about 3 months and the children will miss her so very much. We look forward to her next years visit. The Lord blessed the children and housemothers with a harvest even when the rains were so late. We know it was HIS provision. They will shell the maize sometime in July so we can mill it for eating. Our sunflower seeds did not germinate very well but still there was a harvest of some 4x 25kg bags so maybe a couple of cases of cooking oil will come out of it and some seeds to set aside to plant next year. We arrived back on a Saturday and Michael was at a church service the following morning. It was planned before we departed :) Monday was monthly shopping day and Tuesday was visit House of Faith day and Wednesday was visit House of Hope day... We started back off with a bang and everything ran well while we were away.I am just going to post some pictures of the happy healthy children I found when I returned. One of our cows had a baby while we were away... Somehow 10 chickens went missing in March ( I am still checking into the story) but more babies have hatched and more hens are laying :) Our dry season gardening has started at House of Faith Our House of Hope visit also went well and the guest house is looking great! Golden had everything under control even the rounded and curved steps going up to the look out... Children there are getting excited for Sheri's return the end of June... not long now:) Our seasons are changing and it is starting to get cool in the evenings and mornings I was thankful Jo Anne helped me sort and hand out the winter clothes we had on hand before she departed. It's a big job. We gave out long sleeves shirts sweatshirts and winter coats. I need about 100 pairs of pants and I've seen none so far... I will be shopping for a while... Most of our fruit trees at House of Faith made it... Orange trees are very hard to get started :( Mango's and Guavas seem to be easier We have been back in Zambia almost a month and Michael has taught two weeks of MOT MOT classes at two different sites. The temperatures are dropping and it has already been in the mid 40's a few early mornings but he is staying warm in his sleeping bag :) Sunday Church services have also been blessed this month. I was so blessed last week to find winter clothing for the children at the market. I spent 5 hours digging and pulling with several different vendors and then spent another day washing and folding all that I found. So blessed HE always blesses my efforts. It's getting COLD! We have had water well problems for a while now at House of Faith and Michael pulled the pump before we departed back to the states and again when we arrived back it had to be pulled.... Again this past week both wells were pulled at House of Faith and the community school near us one needed an extra pipe becasue the water levels have dropped and the other needed a pipe taken off becasue of cloudy water coming up... We are praying this will work. We have been praying for another well for House of Faith and are waiting for the Lord to bring what is needed. All the new clothes I have just handed out are looking pretty ruff becasue of the cloudy water we are having to wash them in. We of course use the clean water for drinking and cooking only. It was also time to give out new shoes and socks. Everyone loves their socks since it has become cold :) Our younger children at House of Faith are always nearby to help me and keep me company while I work. After all the winter clothes I found and gave out I still had to find and give out church clothes.... Only a few girls are with out a dress for winter so a bit more shopping needs to be done at the market.... Again this month Orphan School fees needed to be paid for the 2nd term for Global Orphan Reliefs program. I called all the schools and ask that they have receipts ready for my payment and a report on the children for me. Seems everyone is doing well and their uniforms arrived after two weeks of the start of school. Because of my time of arrival I missed so many children but I did get a couple pictures. We have been hearing for a few years now about a new road in the valley but had only seen some grading going on. Blessed to arrive back from the states to find a real new road near House of Hope( WELL WELL WELL the road is happening for sure :) I was so blessed to find a full box of DVD's for the kids from a friend near Kalomo who's children had outgrown them. Thanks Mary Beth! These will be enjoyed at both House of Faith and House of Hope. Next month I will share pictures of the therapy room Jo Ann created and pictures of Royal and Victor. This month was just filled with shopping and handing out and paying school fees. I have a couple of bags of clothes to take to House of Hope ...I may still have some shopping to do :) The temperatures are a bit warmer there so I should be right on time with my bags of clothes next week. I did hand out new sweatshirts last week while I was there just to be sure they are warm until I arrive with winter things..
0 Comments
We departed for Germany a few days after our team departed to visit Pam, Mario and the children. It had been two years since we saw them and Oh how our grandchildren have grown. We had a great few days and made as many memories as possible in a week. It was so cold in Germany but we stayed warm and had lots of fun.The next few pictures are in Germany We left Germany for Las Vegas. Jamie and Rich live in California about 2 1/2 hours from Vegas. We were so excited to see them again. It had been a year for me but two years for Michael since I went back alone for my Moms 75 Birthday for just a months family visit last April. We had a wonderful 10 days of fun. We then flew off for Dallas to spend 10 days with Brandi Michael and the grands. We had a great time seeing everyone again and doing our shopping while they were at school and work. We spent Easter there also before our drive to the East coast.What a blessed time it is just always TO short for me. Our drive east this time we went down Interstate 10 to see something new on the way. I loved seeing the gulf coast and new cites as we traveled. We saw family on the way and arrived safely into North Carolina for a month of family fun and Church visits to share what the Lord has been doing in Zambia. We had a day with Sheri in DC and then she traveled to North Carolina for a 4 day weekend to spend time with us before we departed back to Zambia. We so enjoyed walking around downtown DC and the memories flooded our minds of times we spent with the girls there while living in Maryland. Thanks Sheri for our walk down memory lane. Sure wish we could have seen more of you who have loved on supported and prayed for us over the years but a month is short and we only had 3 Sundays to share. We also spent a long weekend in Denver sharing with Global Orphan Reliefs supporters.
We are back in Zambia and back on track from our time change. We have been so blessed for Jo Anne's help with Royal, Victor and Mackmore and just being around on site for what ever needed to be done so we could visit everyone. Check back here the end of May for MANY pictures of all the updates while we have been away. Great things are happening.... I was so blessed to finally have every student in Global Orphan Relief's orphan school program school fees and uniforms bought. It took longer to have the grade 10 enrolled becasue their results did not come until the first week of January then the schools had to travel to receive them, it is a process of time but we made it. There are 9 boys attending Batoka Secondary School. This is a picture after I delivered their uniforms and paid their school fees. We are praying for some girls next year. Michael and I set off to visit House of Hope with supplies and did not really think of the clouds in the sky. We are thankful these days to see them. Well when we arrived to our first bridge or river crossing with a cement slab I thought we could get trapped here... then I remembered Sheri calling and telling us she had to wait for the river to go down before she could travel. Well what a day of water fun... We had to wait at one small place that was a dip in the road not even a real river for about 45 minutes before we could cross :) Living in the valley is very different :) the next several pictures is of the places we crossed and well one river the water was almost to the top of the hood of the defender. So thankful my husband knows how to drive in deep moving water..... He always walks across first to be sure we can pass before putting the vehicle in the river. This first picture was the place we went in but we could not get back out... the second pictures shows the river a few hours later. We had to try another route. Not sure what this place will look like in a few weeks. This picture was the dip in the road not even a real river and we had to wait 45 mins for it to go down so we could cross. Some people told us welcome to the valley in rainy season. We saw people swimming everywhere. This was the fast moving river I thought we should not try and cross, there was no cement or bridge but it was the only way out for us since the cement slab was damaged and had rushing water. I did not take a picture during our crossing becasue I was praying :) thankful we made it...the water was almost at the top of the hood. The weight of the vehicle allowed us to sink deeper into the river than Michael sunk when he walked it :) The last bridge, WE MADE IT OUT! We are always blessed to see something take shape... team housing is doing just that. Michael has made some interesting designs for this place :) Come and visit us at House of Hope as soon as this is finished. It will have a second level prayer room with a view of Lake Karbia. Because the rains have been delayed by El nino our House of Hope kids could not even plow the ground near Lake Karbia. I found that mama Lizzy decided to give it a try after their first BIG rain. Pray for this maize it was planted the 2 of February... way pass the planting time. We had a wonderful visit with Pastor Oliver our first Sunday in February so thankful to see his church family growing... The last Sunday of January Michael visited Zimba District with Pastor Daniel. He was a worker at Zimba Mission when we moved there in February of 1994. It is always a blessing to see young men living their lives for Christ. Buns being baked for MOT MOT in a village oven. This month we started our preschool back in full swing. Teacher Kelvin is heading up that class and we have also started a class for our grades 1-2 who are struggling. We are praying to catch them up quickly. We also handed out new uniforms that just happened to be a size to big for several....I shared the grade sizes and the tailor made them... the kids love them :) Royal was also delighted :) We are so thankful for your prayers. Our rains have been enough so far just nothing extra. Our roads are still in very good condition for mid February and in places we can still see a bit of dust coming from the road. Our second planting of 10kg maize is now making corn so we truly need RAIN during this process for full cobs. Our well is still very low and we are not able to pump into the large tank making life harder for everyone... We are very thankful to have what we need. I was so blessed by this small plant that the cows ate a couple of weeks ago. This is a blessing from the Lord to still see it is producing :) Our sunflower field is almost ready to POP! Next week the field should be YELLOW.... We are so excited and are preparing for a team from Engedi Church in Holland MI. A group of 7 are arriving very soon just to love and share Jesus with our Kids. Beds are made and the tables are set for a week of fun.. We are also excited for a special visit from a special lady. Mama Jo will be arriving with the team for a three month visit. The apartment is also set up and ready. After a long day out at House of Faith setting up for the team I started my journey back to Kalomo. As I said earlier the roads are not in bad condition BUT I came to a place in the road that was flooded... no problems before this area no problems after I crossed this area. I was about 30 mins from Kalomo and called Michael for support. It was above a mans knees that had just walked across. Well 15 mins later I decided to walk it myself and found the holes so I would not drive across the wrong way. I made it through the deep rushing waters :) Team Engedi arrived with only 1 bag missing that was retrieved on Sunday afternoon and the FUN began. I must say this group had it harder than any other group we have ever hosted. Our water well is still low so no water was able to be pumped into the tank. They had to splash bath and bucket flush toilets... it was so HOT becasue of no rain.... All with no complaining. The Lord blessed our children at House of Faith with wonderful teachings of JESUS and I saw changes taking place before my eyes. There was also a time of teaching at our local church on Sunday morning. Everyone was blessed. We enjoyed a lunch in Livingstone with Pastor Juden and his wife before starting a afternoon of shopping and seeing Victoria Falls. What a wonderful group of people Our House of Faith kids are already asking when they will return for more of Jesus, fun games and singing :) . . While the team was here Michael got two more solar panels connected for our ISchool tablets on top of the Activity center building. It was crazy how he had to do it! But it was done using the truck an old home made ladder and Chris :) We are now able to recharge all 5 tablets without using what is needed for the apartment and other rooms from the other panels. . House of Hope received two new children this month and now our first house is full. It is a brother and sister but no information has yet been received. We are still waiting. Our team housing is coming along and we are starting to see the round shape of the second story prayer room. The second story floor has been laid and the area our steps will go up has started. House of Hope kids enjoying a Saturday afternoon movie... While visiting the children at House of Hope we found road construction taking place! New roads are always a blessing here for faster travel and less vehicle problems. So blessed to visit Muchenje Church and see special friends working for the Lord and being blessed. It was fun remembering things from our past times together. I was introduced as the mother of Brandi :) After church a family meal was prepared for us. Peter and Linda are truly walking with Jesus. Michael had some rainy tent nights while teaching MOT MOT a couple of weeks this month. So thankful he was on the top of the vehicle and not in the mud. Students are so excited to dig in the word and move forward to a higher place. The picture of the babies in class above. Their names are Linda. Below a picture of good rains.... Yes prayers are being answered and this past week we have not only been receiving just small showers but all day rains. Michael said the church was full of water :) this past Sunday. Keep praying
On the 2nd of January we received a knock at our door about 6:30am that our headman was at the gate with sad news. We went to talk with him and found out his wife had passed away giving birth about 1:00am. He wanted to know if we could help with his little girl. When the shops opened in town I went to buy infant formula clothes diapers plastic pants bottles everything needed for us to care for his little girl. I called our house moms and it was decided Mama Elizabeth would care for her. She was only 18 hours old and had no name yet. Everything happened so fast for the family. We received the baby from the Hospital and by 10:30am we had arrived at House of Faith. All the information needed will be received after the funeral. Keep this family and their precious 4lb baby girl in your prayers. The same day we received a new baby our older children and Mamma Benita were making the big move into Kalomo. I could see the excitement in their eyes but also a wonder of what town would be like. Michael spent the morning repairing the beds from the move and taking a few apart to get into the bedrooms. They will start school on the 11 of January. Just enough time to get them settled, enroll them into school, buy uniforms and shoes what a busy week we have coming.... :) The children are settled and 6 of the 8 are enrolled into two different schools here in Kalomo. Our last two were told to come on Tuesday after school started on Monday to get signed in. We spent two mornings shopping for school shoes, uniforms, backpacks, belts, socks and school supplies. Just need to shop for the last two children after we find out which school they will go to. Each school has a different uniform. They are so excited! I hope I still see that same excitement when their first assignments are given :) I brought into town the older children's games from House of Faith and we learned how to play Rummkuib a numbers game. They will have a game time after their studies are done. They even started a new devotional book and have the opportunity to be in church 4 times a week :) here in town. House of Hope's new team housing walls are coming up each visit to the valley. We are excited to see this. The road up the hill is also looking nicer each trip... I spent my morning at House of Hope at a nearby school still working on Global Orphan Reliefs orphan school program making sure the school had the updated list and that receipts and uniforms for our 65 children there would be ready for me on the 15th of January when I next visited. Michael spent his morning walking to the Lake with the kids and he was so surprised at how far they now have to walk to get to the LAKE. It was a10 min walk that has now turned into a 45 min walk. Our Lake is used to produce power with the Kariba Dam. Water is a major problem of our black outs in Zambia. We still have not received rain in over three weeks now. Our trip in for Physical Therapy with Victor and Royal went well and we are seeing much improvement with Victor. He is no longer using the stander but is standing on his own at the window. He did not like doing it but would not turn lose :) Royal laughed the whole time he was on the ball... These boys love coming into town with each other twice a month. Daisy and Flyness needed to buy something at the market so we had the boys on the back seat by them selves they looked so grown up :) We had an invitation to an Ordination Service in Zimba for Sweyn Sikayasa and his wife Veronika. So proud of these two. Living their lives to share with others the Love of Christ. The pictures are not so great but you can at least see them :) I am also in charge of shopping for our extended care kids for uniforms and paying their school fees. I was so blessed to spend a little time with Livity shopping in town for what he needed to get into grade 8 at RR Basic school. Keep these kids in your prayers as they move up in age and on with life :) While in Zimba last weekend we saw maize crops that maybe will not make it.... Rain is so needed in our area... Pray for rain, so many people depend on this crop to live.... Our last two House of Faith kids are now enrolled into town schools and everyone has had their first week of school. Exciting times in Kalomo :) Michael and I went to Lusaka to buy ZEduPads, solar panels and batteries. This is a tablet filled with grades 1-7, 1000's of lessons in English and 8 local languages. We are so excited for a donor who loves to help orphans. It will be used by our teacher Ronald at our catch up school at House of Faith. Keep our kids in prayers as they begin to experience school in a whole new way :) House of Hope team housing is moving on up :) we are so excited they are preparing for the ring beam above the windows. Also the road is almost ready for driving now it has taken time but is looking great. Four of our five boys at House of Hope after they returned from early classes at school. We finally have a name for our newest little girl it's Edinah she is growing well and has increased to 4.8 pounds. We received three small showers last week and it was enough for the children to apply their urea fertilizer so we are very thankful. I did see a very sad thing on my way out of the village a couple of maize fields had been plowed under becasue no rain came in time for them.... More shopping with extended care kids for school uniforms this week. Sharon made very good grades and will be in grade 8 at RR Basic. Michael is teaching MOT MOT twice this month and we still have a lot of work to get done to have a charging station for the tablets using solar at House of Faith. I did bring a couple tablets out so our teacher could look at them and the children are excited to learn in a new way very soon. This young man could use your prayers... He is in our extended care program and is maybe 22 or 23 years old. He is having serious health issues. We are trying to support him emotionally and physically through his time of need. We ask that the Lord would be near to him and reveal great and mighty things to him. Michael is always excited to go deep into the word of God with fellow believers. He has just started his third class of maybe 30 -35 Pastors and lay leaders in Monde. His Sunday's out to far away places have also been blessed. The Lord is moving in these small villages and he is blessed to be able to go. We are so blessed and thankful the rains have finally arrived! They are still spotty and not in all areas of the country but the children's fields and gardens are coming along after about 5 weeks of no RAIN. Thank you for praying and please continue. I was so surprised that with no watering of the garden we still have okra coming. The Lord is blessing us.
Walls are headed higher for team housing at House of Hope. Michael helped me up on the scaffolding and I could see Lake Karbia! This place will have a view:) I was at Siakalamba School also near House of Hope enrolling orphans in Global Orphan Reliefs school program. 24 happy children! Michael and I were so blessed to know Rev Anderson Mwikisa who passed away at the age of 95 years last week. We know he was a General in the Lord's army and were touched with his humbleness and encouraging words to us over the years. Rest in peace our dear brother. We just did not have enough time to properly train our donated animals so we are hiring people in the community to plow for us. We did use 1 animal and a borrowed animal when the children plowed with the first 10kg of maize. I was thinking maybe the seeds would be covered to deep becasue our boys had never done this before ... Well all 20kg of maize has germinated and broken the ground well. Oh me of little Faith.. Even our pumpkins and watermelons have come up nicely. We received a call after 8:00pm one Tuesday night that our night workers thought we had lost the water pipes into the well and no water could be pumped. Well Michael went out early the next morning and went to a friends to get the well pulling equipment and pulled the pump to find the whole bottom pump cylinder was missing and had fallen into the well. He searched all of Kalomo to only find a full replacement no parts could be found. He phoned another friend who runs a well drilling operation and found the part needed. We will need to replace the part after a trip to Lusaka. So blessed that water was available within 36 hours of the break down. Our girls went right to work pumping after it was fixed. Michael is teaching our older boys how to give their animals injections and treat them for tick disease. So many wonderful things are happening at House of Faith. It's that time of year again when the children get so excited for our Happy Birthday Jesus party at both Children's homes. They sometimes have a play, sing songs, play games and get treat bags and new shoes... I love getting things together for this special day. This Christmas it was 110 treat bags for staff and children. There was a visiting team at the Mission here in Kalomo, Victor and Royal were invited to be seen by them. I was so blessed that all the information that was given to us about their CP and how to help them was already being covered by Frances their therapist. We were given a few new tips on things and are so grateful to have such good care near us here in Kalomo. I received a letter that Miyoba ( our newest baby girl at House of Faith) relatives could care for her we had her on temporary care until paperwork could be done after her mom's funeral. She has grown so much in the 5 weeks we cared for her. Keep her and her family in your prayers. Coming back into Kalomo with Miyoba and her Auntie I heard a loud noise and stopped the vehicle.... I checked to see if I had cell phone coverage and was thankful I did. I called Michael and he came to help us. Seems the front U Joint broke. I am so thankful to have a husband who can do all things with the Lord's help of course :) Within the hour we were on our way back into town. We were so blessed to be invited to Zimba Church for Sunday service. This is were we started 22 years ago. There is a bigger church building now and we saw so many old friends. What a special day. It's that time of year when we are inviting all our extended care kids to House of Faith's Happy Birthday Jesus Party. We visited Komona who returned to grand Parents last June. We found her doing well and she was number 6 in her 1st grade class. She was not able to travel to our party Monday so we gave her a special treat bag and a new outfit. So thankful to see our extended care kids doing well. Happy Christmas Komona... Our rains are down from this time last year and we are desperately needing them to come. Our kids have planted their sunflower and need rains again before fertilizing their maize. We have also planted about 28 trees oranges lemon guava and mango in a small orchard inside the newly fenced area at House of Faith that need rain. Our girls were returning from the fields not to happy I wanted a picture they are learning to do the weeding. Everyone has a role to get the job done at planting time. Trying to teach life skills, everyone has to eat... Our older boys helped me clean and set up the Activity Center for our Party. All we need now is to decorate and bring out the treat bags, shoes and staff gifts. Baking cakes today... I am traveling out again with Michael on Sundays since he has finished doing Jesus Film weekend outreaches. I have been blessed to see so many congregations building wonderful buildings all on their own. First picture is where the church is meeting now and the second is their new building. The next several pictures is of House of Faith's Happy Birthday Jesus Party. Everyone had a wonderful time. One of our oldest children read the scripture of the Christmas story, then we sang songs Uncle Mike shared to make sure everyone understood the story. Then we handed out staff gifts, treat bags, we had cake and then we gave out the new shoes. What a wonderful time..... The next few pictures is of House of Hopes Happy Birthday Jesus party. Everyone had a fun time when Uncle Mike had the children help him share the Christmas story. On our way from House of Hope back to Kalomo on Christmas Eve I saw my Christmas Flower.... I don't know why but I search for them at Christmas. So beautiful just wild in the bush. I was so excited to see the walls for the bedrooms going up for our team housing at House of Hope... So blessed to visit another church before the New Year.....I loved their Christmas decoration so creative. They have roofed their new church building. Our rains are not coming regulator we are just receiving a shower here and there. Everyone's crops are at a critical time. I've heard some places have not received enough rain to even plant yet. Please Pray for rain. Our children will be ok if their crops fail but so many families will suffer if their crops fail. I have seen floods happening all around the world over the Christmas season but here we are in drought :( Our sunflower has germinated and fertilizer has been applied to our maize.
So many wonderful things are going on with the fence at the Children's home. We have been so blessed to fence in a very large area becasue of a price different and exchange rate that is very high at the moment. It is wonderful to go and find no animals eating the flowers around the houses our garden or goats in the corn bins :) The walls are going up for team housing at House of Hope. Everything needs to be just right because it is a two story with a look out of Lake Karbia with stairs going up... We are preparing for the rains and the children have cleared their fields and are helping training our donated animals to plow along with Pastor Quinton's help. I am so happy we are able to teach them this life trait .... everyone needs to eat. Michael has replaced all the much used parts on the plow from last years work. The children will be ready to go with our first rains. We received a call late Sunday night that a three week old baby girl was in need of a home her mom had just passed away. We shared they should come in and go to Social Welfare and we could help them if it was approved. The family arrived at our gate about 10:30 am Monday with Miyoba a beautiful little girl weighing 4kg. Mama Benita at House of Faith will care for her. The older children love having a baby in the house. Keep her family in prayers as the grieve the loss of her mom. We were invited to a very special wedding here in Kalomo this month. We met Eugen after we moved here in 2007. We were far out from town on a Jesus Film weekend with a truck load of people from the church and we were ask to stop at a near by hut on our way back to town. I walked with Eugen to quickly visit a very old blind man. Eugen had found him while setting up the Jesus Film showing and wanted to give him a pair of new trousers. My heart was so touched that day I knew it wasn't easy for Eugen to find money for this gift. We are so honored by the people we see loving Jesus with their lives. Happy Wedding Day! Well the rains have started and I am thankful the dust has calmed down a bit. Now it's time for mud driving :) The Co Op in our area of House of Faith has not yet delivered seeds and fertilizer and the rains have started. I took out 10KG of maize seeds (corn) so the children could at least get something in the ground early. Please pray for all the area farmers who will be delayed in planting. I was so blessed to see our young men handling the plow themselves this year. It isn't a easy task I tried myself last year. I am praying they did not cover the seeds to deep but they have to learn somehow... Mama Rita was overseeing the children in the field and making sure the girls were dropping the seeds correctly. Our kids are always watching and learning. Michael has been busy with several maintenance projects before the rains and the children follow him around and just watching and asking questions. This is the first month since July Michael has not had Jesus Film showings on the weekends. When the rains are about to come it's time to stop until next year. His Sunday services have been wonderful as he continues to go out each week to a different area. Every season here I have flowers to look forward to seeing and I found my red pops of color a bit late this year but finally there they where so beautiful...... We try to prepare our older children for life as best as we can before going back to relatives and one of the things we do is to make sure they have their National Registration cards. Luuwo and Chimuka got theirs this month and Luuwo even received her voting card. House of Faith kids are always singing and marching... love these precious little ones Our work with Global Orphan Relief's Orphan School Program is almost ready for the 2016 school year. We enrolled 73 children at one school and December 4th we will have our final number at three schools. We are so blessed GO is sponsoring Orphans into the High School classes. This is truly a blessing to see so many continue on until 12th grade. I am always blessed by the Headmaster, Deputy Head, Community Leader and Chaplin. Mama Lizzy from House of Hope also went to help me. The next few pictures are of the relatives who care for these orphans. I was blessed to serve them, grandma's, grandpa's, Aunties, Uncles, brothers and sisters trying to care for the kin. House of Faith has rented a house in town for our grade 8-9 and 10s. We are so excited for this new way of educating our older children so they don't need to cycle 8km each to way to school. Keep us in prayers as we move maybe 10 children and Mama Benita into Kalomo. Water in our well always gets low this time of year before the rains come. We can not pump up into the tank just directly from the pump. Our ladies who wash clothes for the children have to change the way they do things and wash from buckets instead of using the abundant water at the sinks. So thankful for these ladies. House of Hope kids enjoying a local wild fruit!
Our grade 7 students at House of Faith spent their week in a nearby village testing to complete and move on to grade 8. They are all very confident they are going to pass. We are searching for a house in town to house them along with our 3 grade 9's next year if they pass. Mamma Benita will move in to care for them instead of them having to travel by bicycle the 16km round trip each day to RR Basic School. Keep them in your prayers... The house moms and I have prayed and prayed for a way to not have all the community's animals around the children's homes eating our garden and trying to get in our maize bins to eat the corn and troubling our chickens. We are so excited that money was given for this project and the first poles and wire have arrived. We are waiting for more supplies to arrive in Choma but are thankful we can start Monday with what we have. So many wonderful things happening all in a week. The fence is up all but the main gate and we found we have enough money to also fence in the Activity center and maybe even the teachers house and a pen for our newly donated plowing animals. Our older boys went with us to collect two animals that were donated by Mission of Love and the Joubert family. What an adventure, the rented Lorry did not have high sides and the animals did not want to get in lay down and be tied :) After about an hour it was decided the two animals would be walked to us. We are so blessed with these animals and the prayers that were said over the boys and the animals. We are now working on training them for our plowing season coming soon. After Victor and Royal's therapy session I was told a walker would be good for Victor so he could put weight on his legs and feet. He does not like to stand..... Well the only one that was available to us was a PINK one. :) He is not sure of why he is being put in this seat but we have seen at least his legs are straight and we have seen him put some weight on them. Keep him in your prayers... October 25 is Independence Day for Zambia, our girls wanted to look their best for the special celebrations so it was hair time :) One of our oldest girls Luuwo has cataracts. We have been taking her now for three years to IVV Eye Clinic in Zimba. Last year it was thought she should have cataract surgery but it was delayed until this Oct. When we saw the Dr we were told the risk was greater than the help that she might receive. They have not grown in size now for two years so that was good news. Prayers for our Luuwo please, she is struggling in classes becasue of this and glasses will not help. Building has started again at House of Hope and everything is on site to build during the rains so the walls should be going up soon. Michael is always trying to save money so a water tank stand was made out of a huge boulder:) the Hugh boulders in the way of our road up to the team guest quarters has finally been broken up and piled to the side. Bit by bit it is happening.... ,While out doing maintenance at House of Faith Michael was told the wheel on Royal's wheelchair had come off. He ask how did that happen and the response was ...we are not sure! Well I was out the end of the week and found Friday involving Royal in his wheel chair in a game of tag :) Now we know, but Royal was laughing and having so much fun.
I was driving out to interview a family in need and heard Auntie Linda as I passed a lady and baby on the side of the road. It was a small cross road and as I stopped I saw one of our girls Faith running to my vehicle. It was so good to see her and her baby and hear she and her husband are doing well. I also know were she lives now :) We had a few clouds and a bit of lighting which is not a good sign. We have been told our rains should come mid November for a good rainy season not early rains in October. As I traveled out to visit the children I was surprised to find mud puddles and water in the river crossing we had only sprinkles here in Kalomo. Please keep our rainy growing season in prayers. Everyone needs rain to grow their FOOD for the next year. Michael started his second MOT MOT class of 30. We are excited to see how the Lord will bless HIS people in the Naluja area. Classes are 1 week every other month for two years. As Michael heads out for the week I also head out for House of Faith and House of Hope. I check in on the moms and children and do needed inventory and planning for the coming months. Listen to children read play games and well just what ever is needed.... Victor was released from Livingstone Hospital and told to come again on the 10th of November for a checkup. The ENT Dr believes his condition is getting better. Because he is 18 months old and still not standing we were told to take him for Physical Therapy. We are seeing his weight increase each week and are praying this therapy will help continue his healing process. Royal loved having someone go with him to Clinic. :) Royal's muscles are continuing to increase in strength but we have been told it could take much longer to see him walk. KEEP praying for his brain to connect with what his body is doing. Everything is so brown and dead but the bright pops of GREEN are everywhere :) Praying for good rains at the right times..
September is a busy month of traveling around checking in on our extended care kids paying school fees, changing out winter clothes for spring and summer clothes washing up all the winter clothes that can be saved for our next cold season. A couple of our extended care kids came by the house this month and look great. I am blessed to hear how they are moving in life with their extended families. Hybeck has his own garden and also helps the family sell vegetables traveling from place to place until things are sold. Olivia also helps her extended family and has traveled quite a bit helping out these last few months. It's Camp Meeting time in Zambia! I am working on Global Orphan Relief's Orphan School program. This month I just made contact with the school heads and we are planning to meet again in October or November to visit the children around 75 right now and work with the schools to find others that are in need. This is new for me Sheri was in charge of this program. As I drive all around House of Hope all the children are cheering Sheri Sheri Sheri so I am a bit sad when they see It's not her :( Please keep me in your prayers as I try to continue this program. I was in Livingstone preparing to visit some of Global Orphan Reliefs Extended Care children and pay their school fees when I received a call from Mamma Mary. She was on the way into Kalomo with Victor for his two week review and he woke up with fever. When I arrived to the Hospital he had been admitted again. He was on injections again for 5 days and this time we have been referred to a Hospital in Lusaka. I called yesterday and they do not have a Dr who cares for his type of problem. He has Tracheomelacla. Please pray we find a Dr in Zambia who can help and for the Lord's healing. We have a new tutor teacher at House of Faith. He traveled around with his father and Michael when we arrived into Zambia in the mid 90s. He is a wonderful young man and we love his teaching style. The children are learning.... Mamma Lizzy and the children at House of Hope have a beautiful garden. I am always so blessed to see what the children are learning there. So thankful for our moms and their help getting the spring summer clothes out to the children. I spent a couple of days finding things in the market and was so thankful for the Go group in July that brought dresses for the girls :) We are always trying to take Royal to another level and now we are trying to potty train :) His therapist approved the chair and showed us how to secure him in it. The road up the hill at House of Hope is really looking like a road these days. There was a couple of boulders that needed to be moved so they are having to get them HOT with fire so they will break. Very interesting to watch how this all works. We had a referral to Livingstone Central Hospital with Victor after we found out Beit Cure in Lusaka was unable to see him. He was admitted as he was seen and they believe his problem is his ad nodes and tonsils. The ENT Dr will see him on Monday. Please continue to pray for him and Mama Mary. This is his third hospital stay and 3 Clinic visits since the end of June when we received him. Again I am so thankful for Mama Mary's heart and all the love she has given this little boy. He normally doesn't want me to hold him but as he was admitted I was surprised and loved giving him all my attention. We had a visitor from Zimba wanting to visit the Children's home so I went and picked her up and as we arrived at House of Faith I was told Agnes was carrying the wooden pounding base and tripped and it dropped on her big toe. SOOO our visit was a short but blessed one and we took Agnes to Kalomo Hospital for a tetanus shot, cleaning of the wound and antibiotics. Always something happening when you are caring for children. We are having power outages in Zambia right now increased from 5 hours a day to 8 hours a day on a rotation with maybe a 12 hour a day happening before the rains start again in November or December. With our busy ministry schedule I will not be taking the time to update Facebook. Sorry for this but I will only be updating my blog once a month posting at the end of each month along with out monthly newsletter. The President has declared October 18th a day for prayer and fasting. Please say a prayer for Zambia. Michael has been busy with Jesus Films weekends since July and will continue until the end of October. He is seeing so many wonderful things that the Lord is doing in the new church plants in far out villages. He will also be starting his second MOT MOT class in October.
We started looking in June for a vehicle that would seat 9-11 that would carry us on the main roads and into the far away villages. We needed it to be good on fuel. Mid July we received our new to us vehicle and are so very blessed. Thank you for your prayers. When Michael goes out to teach MOT MOT I go out and spend time with the kids at House of Faith. This trip out I did something I have not done in a very long while and never in the village only in the towns where there is electricity. The children's maize needed grinding and well it was up to me to haul it to a nearby grinding machine and have it done. When I arrived we found out the maize had not been cleaned for grinding so that took some extra time and we were blessed by the lady of the house to help us clean it. Then the diesel machine was started by a hand crank and the grinding began. We had 5 x 50kg bags to do and it took 3 1/2 hours. I never know what my day will look like, but I am thankful for new things and new friends. I am surly missing Sheri at the House of Hope site and the kids are missing her even more :(. I am enjoying getting to know the children better and will soon spend a week a month there. So many things to do to keep up the orphan school program. I will need to interview another 50 or 60 kids before January 2016. It's a very HOT place so I look forward to a bit of Lake Kariba enjoyment while there. Our orange trees here in Kalomo are full and the children love oranges ! We are starting to see things move again at House of Hope and the power poles are now at the guesthouse on the top hill site. The road up the hill is again being cleared, everything takes time but this is the final clearing and we should be able to drive up it very soon with loads of Bricks for the walls of the house. A grandmother came to House of Hope with tears asking for help with her 4 month old granddaughter. Her daughter had passed away and she did not know how she was going to feed the baby. Mama Lizzy told her this was the House of Hope and she had come to the right place. We gave the grandmother a couple weeks supply of milk and told her we would be coming to visit her soon for more information. We loaded up the children on my last visit and went to their village for a follow up. She is a precious little girl and we will be helping them each month with Infant formula. Keep children like this in your prayers some are not near a House of HOPE. Twice a month we bring Royal into Kalomo for Physical Therapy. He is making progress it is just super slow....Please continue to keep him in your prayers. We need his brain to connect with his body movements. He is always happy and loves his trips into Kalomo and his therapist Frances. House of Hope kids having fun with bubbles! We are still working on our chicken pen at House of Faith, we are getting closer to having it so nothing can get to them at night and I'm praying we will be able to eat chickens a couple of times a month! Finished project should be next month. I saw this last week near the Lake. Transporting frozen fish to a market in the trunk of a car :) There is always a way to get things done with what you have. Michael has started his scheduled Jesus Film weekends and will be very busy through the end of October. We are always blessed to be able to partner in the new church plants far out in the villages. He is seeing the Lord do great things. Pray with us for the next couple of months that many will SEE Jesus. His tent fits nicely on the new to us vehicle. Sunday Church services have also been wonderful the past few months. The next few pictures are some highlights of those Sunday services. We were also blessed this month to travel to Lusaka the capital for the 85th Anniversary of the Pilgrim Wesleyan Church in Zambia. We saw friends from all over Zambia with a full day of celebrations at Sunset Stadium. The next few pictures are of this event. Our 17 month old Victor who we received in June has been to the Hospital three times and been put on three different meds and still wasn't breathing well. Mamma Mary brought him back in for a check and to our surprise he was admitted He spent 6 days in the hospital on strong antibiotic injections 4 a day and finally on the 5th day we were told he had Tracheomalacia. We are researching this now and are not sure what can be done here in Zambia. The Doctor told us not much could be done and he might grow out. We just need to watch him closely and bring him in if we think he any congestion or breathing problems. Keep him in prayers, we know the Lord brought him to us. He is gaining weight and is a happy boy.
The next picture is of the Doctor sharing Victor's condition with medical students at the Hospital, we are told it is a rare condition here maybe 1 in 10,000. |
AuthorLinda Jones was a missionary for over 27 years. She went home to be with the Lord in June 2021. I'm her husband Mike, posting on her blog. Archives
October 2021
Categories |