Willy & Nilly
Willy and Nilly are Ciyanjano’s new residential goats. Purchased by Brent Roberts to help keep the vegetation down, they’re a motley crew. Because they are an undisciplined an unmonitored ensemble, I like to check up on them once in a while. Andrea and I took the kids out to see them and they chased them around and around. Eventually, as goats love to do, they perched themselves on a lonely rock. From there, Ian and Ireen could get relatively close for observation. Ireen, who is usually terrified of animals, did extremely well with them. Both of our kids were proud that they entered the “goat fence” and lived to tell about it.
Fishing off Couch Island
Over a month ago now, in a disciplinary measure with Ireen, we took away her Barbies. The Barbie family had been growing in size and multiplying faster than rabbits. Ireens infatuation with them had also been growing such that all of her free time was consumed with their family dynamics and whatnot.
Every since the Barbie family “disappeared”, Ireen’s play creativity has skyrocketed. She now builds with blocks, makes paper people, delights to read books, and has recently gone fishing with her fishing buddy Ian. Yesterday they went fishing off “Couch Island” with her pop-bead dress-up neclaces. Actually it was Ian’s idea, but Ireen caught the first fish.
Pics from the team
As mentioned in our previous post, our family spent the night Sunday and most of the day Monday with the team from Crossroads Christian Church. The men are doing well but do miss their families and long to share their experiences with family and friends. Although we can’t post all their pictures and many of their experiences will just have to come from them, they did ask that we post a few of their pics for you to see. These are pictures of the work at Ciyanjano as well as sites around town.
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Children at Ciyanjano
The kids have been excited all week to meet the men on the short term team from Vacaville, CA. Tim has spent some time with the team and even spent the night on Friday night. On Sunday afternoon we packed up the entire family for an overnight excursion. Ian and Ireen both love being out at Ciyanjano and especially loved the attention of their new found friends from the States. Sunday night we played a few games including a game that Tim recently ordered for the children based on Richard Scarry’s BusyTown. The next morning the children mostly hung around the worksite and occasionally did something useful. You can see in the collage above a picture of Ireen adding water to the mortar. They also had their first encouter with Willy and Nilly (the two goats out at Ciyanjano).
Ian’s Book
We snapped this pic of Ian after we had sent him to bed for a nap. Andrea found him asleep with a book of his own choice. Books are an important part of his life these days. He needs a book in order to go to sleep, in order to go poop, in order to be comforted, etc. He studies each page with intensity and is particularly attentive to the books Ireen has to read for school.
Crossroads Videos
The Crossroads Christian Church team is here in Zambia and I had the opportunity to take a few interviews with them. Check them out!
George Ripley interview
Ted Kovarik interview
Jailos Sakala interview
Jesse Swafford interview
Ed Ramos interview
Board Meeting
I spent my Saturday hanging out with ACTION Zambia board members. Several members were not present but we still had 50% of the board to make a quorum. Brent Roberts made a guest appearance to deliver the financial statements just out from our audit report. Board meetings seem to require an awful lot of preparation and by the time they finish, I feel pretty exhausted. Board members pictured left to right; Ronald Kalifungwa, Bestone Chileya, Charles Bota, and Frederick Bwalya.
Vacaville Day 1 – Progress Made
I thought I’d post a few pics showing the progress made by the end of the day on Tuesday. For never having laid bricks before, things were looking great! Several minor changes will be made on the next chalet – such as making the mortar joints thicker for better bonding, and laying wire every 4 courses of brick. Check out the good work!
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Vacaville Day 1 – Beginning Brickwork
After a good night’s sleep and a hot breakfast, George, Ed, Jesse and Ted felt refreshed. We started the day by meditating on a short excerpt Jeremiah 9:
Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”
(Jer 9:23-24)
The most important thing in life is being in relationship with the Lord. Everything else that we do, especially ministry, flows out of our knowledge of and aquaintance with the Lord. We can truly know God and that’s precisely what the world around us is doubtful of. So our primary focus is to know the Lord who is love justice and righteousness. God’s kingdom will come, not by wisdom, riches or might but by the King of Kings reigning in each of our hearts. When this happens, the world is transformed… one person at a time.
We then spent some time in prayer commiting the week’s activities to the Lord. Time was also spent briefing the team about Ciyanjano Center and the big picture game plan for the property. So much had changed since the team members had last been here. I walked them through the various phases of development on the property and how their work project fit into the whole scheme of things. The morning temperatures have been cool and refreshing so we took a stroll around the property to look at the 100 plus trees that had been planted, perimeter fencing, and building structures that had either been erected or refurbished.
By 11:00 hrs, the guys were ancy to get to work. Having never laid brick before, the team got pointers from Jailos, Boniface and Richard who were experienced in constructing village homes. Eventually, course 1, course 2… etc was laid. Here are a few pictures from the first couple of hours of work.
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Crossroads Christian Church Arrives!
Megan Bloemker and I travelled to Lusaka International Airport to welcome the Crossroads Christian Church short term team, arriving from Vacaville, California. After thirty-something hours of journeying, the crew arrived in tact. Flying from London to Lusaka on Ethiopian Airlines, they had a friendly layover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where they had to switch planes. After hours of delays and having to pay excess baggage charges exceeding $600 they finally boarded for Lusaka…arriving around 1600 hrs local time. The four man team is comprised of (left to right in photo): Jesse Swafford, team leader George Ripley, Ted Kovarik and Ed Ramos. With three on the team having been to Zambia before, the landing brought back many memories of previous missions trips.
The ACTION Zambia team is encouraged by the enthusiasm, servanthood and unique skillsets that these men are bringing with them. Their objective? Over their two week visit, they hope to conduct ministry outreach and finish construction on 6 chalet structures to be used by churches and children ministries. The team will spend their first few days concentrating on the building project at Ciyanjano which is situated in a rural setting (see pic below). Tonight they will get some early shut-eye at Ciyanjano ministry center in Lusaka West. Nothing feels better than a hot shower and a hot meal after days of travel.
