Friends - this will fail to capture all I
saw and experienced today, but I'm exhausted so it will have to do. :) My
apologies to all the people that I met today, who have each played a special
part in making my day a lot of fun.
I'm shooting a lot of pictures in Raw
format, unable to be edited here w/o software. So I apologize for the sparse
pictures that I look forward to sharing with you when I get back.
The morning started with lots of running
around, preparing for a big BBQ (called a brie here) bash Remmy & I are
having tomorrow (Saturday) with all the project leaders and Board members from
Zambia. It promises to be a good time. It was hilarious planning the party,
though, as Remmy and I are both not typically involved in these things...with
good reason. We both were missing our wives. "Oh shoot, we need cups for
tea!" "Oh, we should probably get napkins." "We almost
forgot plates." :) It was funny. Thinking through all the wonderful
logistics work that our wives do when we "host" people. It made us
both appreciate our wives even more for the little things that we often take
for granted. We love you, Irene (Remmy's wife) & Katie (mine)!
Pray we get a brie stand or we won't be
brieing after all. The stand we hoped to get fell through.
This afternoon, I met with Loubuto Church
of Christ.
What a beautiful church. Simple, community
minded. William, the old caretaker, gave me a tour of the grounds. It was my
2nd time there, with the first time being in January of this year. The church
is constructing a hammermill shelter. They'll place a
hammer mill inside the shelter. The hammermill, which will be one
of the few in the community, will help local people grind maize (corn) that
they bring in from the fields. The church will charge nominal fees for the
service, providing a service to the community and funds to help send kids to
school beginning this coming school year. Pray for water to return to the
community. It has been off for 2 days, slowing construction.
We had a special time of prayer before we
departed for a meeting with Henry, a Lecturer at TCCA, who lives nearby.
Henry is a Lecturer helping lead a church
meeting in his backyard and doing income generating projects, including chicken
raising and gardening, with neighbors.
His vehicle, which is currently down
because of poor suspension, serves as a local ambulance, hearse, and family
van.
While we don't support the work of staff
members of TCCA, just its graduates, it was a special time of seeing how God is
using others in Ndola to meet the needs of widows and vulnerable kids. I had a
good discussion with Henry about why we are unable to support TCCA staff,
despite the good work he is doing. In exchange, while samll, I told him I'd
give him a shout out in the blog, with some pictures so you all could see him
& just some of the work he's doing with his land and van. Please pray that
God leads others to support Henry's ministry to his community.
On our drive home, I was commenting to
Remmy that a friend of mine, Carol Theis, was asking about ways to connect
special needs ministries but I have not observed many in Zambia. He said they
really aren't here in large numbers, but the needs are HUGE!
He told me about Cathy and Fred Phiri, who
are the founders of a ministry called Life on Wheels. They are both from
Zambia. What special, special people. After Fred was in a serious car accident,
he was diagnosed as being quadriplegic. On April 9th, 2006, (their) lives
changed dramaticlly. Traveling back to their home in Ndola, after attending the
funeral of Cathy's mother, they were involved in a terrible accident. Seven of
the ten relatives in the vehicle were injured. The severity of Fred's injury
was only discovered later.
From their brochure: "Disability in
Zambia is sometimes considered to be a curse. It is not uncommon to find that
the disabled are ignored and even kept away from public view, because some
families feel ashamed to be identifed with a disabled member."
God has placed a calling on their lives and
they are striving to fulfill this calling through Life on Wheels, supplying
wheel chairs (in few supply here), financial support to families that lose
their income to major injury, and providing resources, such as educational
curriculum materials or Bibles, to equip the physically and mentally
challenged.
I wept for joy several times praying for
each person we met. It is so incredible how people are moving to respond.
While I LOVE playing with kids and laughing
a lot with people, choosing joy in the midst of suffering, my time with these
special people today was inspiring. I saw few kids today, but God helped me
experience real joy in the midst of so much trial.
God is moving and we are so fortunate to be
connected to a world of brothers and sisters in Christ who are choosing to
answer the commands of God, when ignoring the challenges before them would be
far easier... how often do we say yes in our world?
Had an interesting conversation today. The
conclusion that was drawn is that wealth and complexity of life in the
developed world creates a fantasy world and denies us the opportunity to
reflect and act on what matters -- what defines humanity. It was interesting to
just listen and think about how complicated I make life, yet how simple the
things that matter really are -- how many excuses I make in the midst of trials
I come across in my "fantasy life."
The night ended with an evening at a local
restaurant called Michaelangelo's. I took the Hamapande family out to thank
them for letting me roam their house for a week. There were 6 of us, including
me. So fun! Then we played UNO. Ginney won the 1st hand and Hope the 2nd and
final hand of the night. They have gone to bed and now the others are watching
a Nigerian movie that I don't understand, despite it being in English. :)
Now, I'm off to bed. Celebrating the
calling God has given me and humbled by the confidence you all have placed in
Forgotten Voices. It is such an honor to walk this road with you. Please pray
that folks reading this and others are stirred to answer the calls God is
placing on their hearts -- the commands to look out for those vulnerable in the
world and in their own backyards.
For the greatest legacy we can leave future
generations is to do all we can to love as Christ loved us.
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