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.
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
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.
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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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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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.
Andrea and I have had the privilege of hosting the Makeni home fellowship group from Lusaka Baptist Church. Every Tuesday night we gather for a Bible study which the whole church is going through. Whoever hosts the group for the month also leads the study. The groups is quite large for a home group with an average attendance of adults at around 20-25. Right now I’m leading the study on a section about the knowability of God. It’s really been interesting for us as a family. The groups loves to hang around and have fellowship until 9:30 PM – which is late for our kids, but they have grown to love it.
Megan Bloemker is responsible for coordinating our ACTION Zambia short-term teams. With an eye for detail and a gift for administration, she has devised all sorts of schedules and documents to aid in our preparation for visiting short term teams. Crossroads Christian Church will be our second team to come in 2010. Women on our team have volunteered to cook meals in advance. We then freeze them so that they are ready to go whenever the team is ready for them. Megan has a master meal plan and knows just how much food is needed. She makes sure that a fresh assortment of fruits, vegetables and ingredients are on hand at all times. Before a team arrives, she goes on a shopping spree and buys around three carts full of food. I snapped a pic of Megan and Jailos showing off the food purchased for the upcoming team.
Michelle Widman has been serving on the Zambia field for the past 10 months as an intern. On Monday 21 June, Andrea and I and the kids trekked out to the airport to see Michelle off. I miscalculated the time that Michelle’s flight was leaving, so we got to the airport at 0600 hrs rather than 0700. We ended up taking the kids to a small eatery at the airport that’s just opened up called the Copper Chimney. We ordered tea for four – since our entire family is addicted to it in the mornings. Ian is an up-and-coming consumer of it and requires it in the mornings. We were able to to watch the last little bit of the Brazil match until Michelle arrived. We were amazed when watched the Brazilian football star Kaka get the red card.
We are sad to see Michelle go and will miss her greatly. Her work focused primarily on ACTION Zambia’s HIV/AIDS ministry called the CROSS Project. Along with her ministry colleagues John Chitambo and Eta Imasiku, she made her way into Lusaka’s urban compounds by minibus – on a daily basis to teach. Near the end of her assignment in Zambia, Michelle joined a women’s basketball team at UNZA (University of Zambia) as a means of relationship evangelism and discipleship.
Last weekend was one we won’t forget for some time to come. I constantly have my ears open for new and exciting family outings here in Lusaka. So, when a teammate called and said that Michael W. Smith was going to be in town I jumped at the chance to purchase tickets for our family. Although he’s not our favorite Christian artist, the opportunity to go to a concert is rarely afforded us. We have such fond memories of concerts in the States from the Artist Series at Wheaton to the Mountain Opry in Chattanooga, not to mention bluegrass festivals, Riverbend, and Night Fall. In fact one Sunday morning worship at New City Fellowship would do our souls and ears good!
The concert was to take place from 2pm to 8pm last Sunday. Since things rarely start on time, we weren’t worried about arriving too early but did arrive around 2pm. There were already hundreds of fans lined up outside the stadium. We had eaten a large breakfast so for lunch I just packed a soft cooler full of drinks, crackers & peanut butter, snacks, and fruit. We took our place in line perhaps 200 yards away from the entrance. There was no shade from the hot sun, no barrier between us and the busy road just feet from us and no clean spot to sit.
Our place in line
Trying to hide from the sun
At 2:40 they began the sound check…at least that’s what it sounded like from our spot in line (which had not changed since 2:00). By this time I was tired of keeping the kids in line – literally – and carrying the cooler. I was also worried about sunburn since I hadn’t thought to bring sunscreen. Somewhere around this time new lines began to form at other entrances…so those just arriving were ahead of us in line. At 3:00 we decided we’d give it another 45min before we left.
People race to form new lines
At 3:30 a gentleman behind us in line received a call from someone on “the inside”. They hadn’t finished setting the stage up. We still hadn’t eaten, Ian needed a diaper change and we were in the same spot in line we had been in for an hour and a half. We decided to leave around 4:00. Our tickets were burning holes in our pockets.
We went to a Korean restaurant and had a leisurely meal. The children played outside in the grass as we enjoyed our food. The Korean Paparazzi fresh from S. Korea came pouring out of the kitchen with digital cameras and cell phones all wanting a picture of the little muzungu, Ian. We finished our meal and then I called a teammate who was at the concert around 5:45. She was in the stadium and they had just announced that MWS was on his way. Tim and I decided to give it another try.
We arrived at the stadium a little after 6pm and sure enough, there was MWS and band performing on stage. The crowd was excited and seemed to have forgotten their long wait in line to get into this concert. Midway through the concert someone decided to let the crowd advance toward the stage. Unfortunately, our friends and their children were at what used to be the front. As the mob advanced, a couple of their children were caught underfoot. That family left as their children were very upset! Just after 7pm MWS started wrapping things up. Not wanting to get stuck in traffic, we opted to leave before he performed his concluding songs.
As we drove home, we couldn’t help feeling severely disappointed and exhausted. To top things off, as we were driving along, a line of 4 unmarked vehicles with their hazards flashing drove by pointing guns at us. The last vehicle (a flatbed truck) ran us off the road without the slightest provocation. When we did get home, Ireen was crying and Ian was repeating…”guns scare me, Papa”. We gathered in the living room and thanked God for protecting us.
Let it never be said that we didn’t try to participate and do fun things with our family. I just hope this doesn’t make us too cynical.
