Finally....

Well we have finally made it back to South Africa after a long, and tiresome journey...well to tell you the truth we flew back in an hour and a half. But its a long story.

So we have been in Kabwe the last week being apart of the different ministries there in Kabwe as well as enjoying the hospitality of our friends Hannes and Chrystel who let us stay with them for a week. We had a Braai (AKA a BBQ) almost every night...dare i say it was glorious. And it sure beats eating Nshima for a almost an entire week twice a day. They were both so great just to talk to and also to learn from. They have been on the mission field for two and half years now and its awesome to see how they live and what their lives are like. Its great because between talking with all the missionaries we have met and seen we see they all live differently they all do different things and it truly is an amazing picture on how the BODY of Christ works. That not everyone is a foot and not every is a hand, and you need shoulders that are connected to arms that help get the hands where they need to go. It has been one of the most eye opening things about being out here. Not everyone lives in huts (actually i havent met anyone who has yet) not everyone is preaching the entire time, and it really isnt the most super spiritual thing in the world. These people dont have 4 hr quiet times, throw Bibles at everyone, or sacrifice goats (well not quite...Hannes buys a goat, fattens it, slaughters it, then eats it...but still not sacrificing). ANYWAYS way off topic, my point it that the Worldly perception of the these missionaries is so way off that its crazy. they are normal people, that God has called and equipped to be where they are...simple as that, and they have all really enriched and blessed our lives in unimaginable ways.

The week we were in Kabwe we were all very tired. They villages had worn us out, and we felt like we jumped one ministry thing to another. We went to schools and did programs for them. One afternoon the girls observed some adult literacy programs that Pro Christo is involed in, and Micah and I did some manual labor at Pro Christo new land. We started off slashing (mowing the lawn by hit the ground with a blade like a golf club) yeah we were terrible at it, so they moved us to the Geological Relocation Division...we moved blocks of concrete. While the others, which were discipleship students of Pro Christo, burned an entire field as a means to mow it...pretty sweet. So when they are finished all of sudden we hear screaming. And people jumping around. So our first though is oh great...theres a snake in the field. But to our surprise two brown rats pop out and these people chased them down and stoned them. So i made the joke oh so you caught dinner. They laughed...and said YES! I was like WHOAH! So they got a good snack with the rats. Anyways, the following day we had an even bigger surprise. So we were told to do a program for about 20 disbaled children. Which we thought was easy. Yeah we can entertain 20 kids for a couple hours. What we didnt expect was that over the course of the hour 150 disabled men, women and children showed up. Not exactly what we were expecting and as we have learned since being in Africa. T.I.A. (This is Africa). The good news was that we had a lot of help, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. The leader of the event Christopher was the man. He was very good at getting them all organized. At one point he said lets play soccer. Which i thought was a joke, how in the world can we get disabled people in crutches to play soccer. But yeah, i had a mental put your foot in your mouth moment, cause they were awesome! Micah was the ref, I played on one team and Alicia played on the other. And so we had a combination of disabled and not disabled people playing, and im thinking that I have got to easy on them. Yeah that thought lasted for about 2 seconds. They were about 10 times as good as any of us. We had a blast playing with them too, even though we had a couple close calls with crutches to the face... but hey thats soccer for ya. So the rest of the week played out well. We went to a couple more schools and an AIDS hospice. It got harder as the week went on, cause spiritually, physically, and emotionally we were exhausted. But we finsihed it out hard

The surprise came on Saturday morning when we were driving to one of the schools. Well thats what we started doing. We thought we were going to go pray over these school, and then we realized, hey the school is five minutes from the house, and we have been driving for 30 minutes now. Andrew and Anneretha wanted to surprise us and they took us to a Safari Lodge about an hour outside of Kabwe. We were very relieved cause we needed a break, and time to debrief. We really enjoyed it. We got to go see all these animals, zebras, gazelles, impalas, kudus, heartbeast, from a safari truck. the coolest was the lions. Yeah holy cow. these things were massive, and different from the other park. the only thing between me and the lion was a fence. they were 2 feet away from us. Unbelievable. one laid up against the fence...i couldnt resist i touched it. Yeah, not the smartest thing ive done...but at least i can say ive done it. haha! So we enjoyed our time there as well as our lunch where Micah and I ate Zebra. Not as gamey as we thought.

That night we enjoyed a nice dinner with all the Pro Christo Staff and students. It was their way of thanking us and sedning us off. It was bitter sweet. We have enjoyed our time and its been great to meet all these people, but its sad to say bye to them.

The next morning we woke up at 3:00 so we could be on the road by 4:00. Yeah that was crummy. But we were making great timing. We were hoping to be in Botswana by that night...but God had other plans for us. But we really saw his hand in all of this. And for those who dont know...our drive up to Zambia, very difficult. So as we get to about an hour before we reach Livingstone, Zambia and the trailer breaks off. yeah just breaks off. So the good news is we have people by the side of the rode who help us. So we goback to the town before get some parts and then hook the trailer back on and get goin. Well 20 minutes later...again...trailer gets knocked off. The bolts break again. And again by the grace of God we find workers employed by the Chinese who has all the rigth bolts, bigger, stronger ones, and the right tools. We go back and Micah has to sacrifice the rubber from the sole of his TOMS to be a washer for the trailer. And so we are on our way again. We get about 8 miles from the border and the engine over heats...were not crossing tonight. We drive real slow back to livingstone find a place to sleep and we also find a great mechanic, but we cant see him till moring. So we get up, and Villie (our driver...one of the most patient and sweet people on planet earth) and myself go to see the mechanic, who gives us the news. No way we could leave in the next 2 days...so we gotta figure something out. The verdict comes from the leaders of Pro Christo to put us on a plane to get back to Pretoria, and amazingly we have exactly right money to get to all of us on a plane back. So within an hour we make it to the airport, get on a plane, and in a hour and a half we our back in Pretoria.

Incredible, Gods hand in all of it. I wish i was more detailed. But its one of those in person stories...but holy cow did God provide every break down, every bolt, every financial thing we needed at the right time. Its unreal how He does it, but he does. It may not be the way I want it...but its the way He wants it. He provides....haha...why did we ever doubt.

See you all soon!!!

Ben

Obviously this is long overdue. We have been in Mpulungu along with villages of Lake Tanganyika for the last 10 days. Talk about culture shock. No electricity, no running water, bathing in the lake, and food being nshima and rice, along with some dried fish or the well known capinta (a small fish that you feel is looking at you the entire time you are eating all of them because they are very small), Micah and Ben went hippo hunting one night after they were told that the hippo is probably the most dangerous animal on the continent of Africa. If you know Micah and Ben, I'm sure you're so not at all shocked by this.

We were told about all of the things that went on in the village before we got there but I'm not sure that anything could have prepared us for actually being there. We went to Nsumbu first and had some problems porting on the lake because we had to go through the military and they caused us a few problems. So waiting we did... much like what we have done for a lot of this trip as far as going to new places. (Might I add, the car broke down on the way to Mpulungu as it has done already a few times on the trip.) Back to Nsumbu-- we were greeted by Peter and Donald, some of the missionaries there, along with several small children. They waited on us, stared at us, and couldn't speak to us, except to say "How are you?" which actually sounded more like "ow are you" because of the accents. They helped us get all of our stuff off the boat and carried it, on their heads, back to the house where we staying. Peter did have solar electricity which was nice. We played outside with the kids for a while and sang songs and danced and just looked at each other when we could see. On Monday, we played with the kids at the school in the morning, Alicia and I went to visit some of the women in the village, and Micah and Ben went with Peter and Andrew to visit the headman. I complain about how many kids I have in a classroom but Loveness, their teacher who is also a missionary, taught 70-80 kids in a classroom that is half the size of man. Few had paper, something to write with, and she would go back and forth between English and Bemba. It was quite amazing. I'm just not sure that I could do it.

On Tuesday, we traveled to Nzovwe to work with Charles and Helen and their family. This is where we really got to spend time. We stayed there for the rest of the week in tents and bathed in the lake and swam and played and walked around. This is where our boat captain, Uncle Ringwald and his adopted son Kelvin, came out of their shells. They were awesome. Uncle Ringwald shared the Gospel with every person he sat down next to for long periods of time. Kelvin was a typical 13 year old who just loved hanging out. He ate all of our leftovers of nshima (a substance that looks like mashed potatoes, but taste like bland sticky something), cabbage, and fish. We had a chicken one day, which Helen killed herself and the boys named Rosie which disgusts me, but again, not a surprise. The stars were beautiful at night because there was no light pollution as Micah called it and we had services at night. We danced again, which was quite fun, and we got to learn some songs in Bemba (the local language) as well as share about what God was doing in us with the people of the village and each other.

We spent a lot of time just playing with the kids. They loved pumping the water through the water filter that we had and they loved having their picture taken, so we did a lot of that. I played with one little girl every day and her name was Mapalo, she was the headman's daughter. The name Mapalo means Blessing. Charles said that when they first arrived in the village 6 months ago, her name was Mushuni (or something similar) which means suffering and his wife Helen insisted that they change her name. She would just sit next to me in front of the lake and never need to say anything or play or anything. She would just rest with me. One day, I let her sit in my lap and the other kids tried to tell her that she should get up but I just wouldn't let her. She was so gentle, in need of affection, so I just picked her up and carried her and played with her as much as I could. I loved being around her. She taught me so much without ever saying a word. Every person wants to be valued. Every person wants to be loved, to be held and talked to and played with. We are all just Mapalo, a blessing that could have been suffering but was given the gift not to be. It's an amazing thing.

I know that we only have a couple of weeks left but I know that God still desires to use and work in us and change us in whatever way He sees fit. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts-- talk to you soon... well, hopefully!

-Melissa

Hey everyone! Sorry for the loss of contact. We have been without internet for quite a while. And we will again because we are going to Mpulungu in Northern Zambia for 10 days. They wont have electricity there we dont think, but we will do our best to keep you guys up to date on what is going on.

But yes we are safe in Zambia, it was a crazy trip, but we are seeing God do some amazing works here in Zambia. We will talk to you guys later.

Ben

Hey everyone! I dont have much time, were in an internet cafe in Potchefstroom. Its a very small rural town in South Africa. We are waiting here to leave for Zambia, but sadly we are delayed a day due to issues with the truck. Good thing we found that out before we left. Its a three days drive...yikes!!! Anyways we have been having a great time here going out into the community and also seeing how Pro Christo and other organizations are partnering and working in the local tribes. Its really been very eye opening to hear their stories. One of the coolest things we did was sit around for shabot where there were about 25 people in this house on the ranch were staying and just sharing life together. It was really an awesome time to see how believers in community talk about life and pray for each other 16,000 miles away from home it was very moving. The next day we made trips with a woman named Christy who works for the university and also ministers to certain villages by teaching them skills like sewing and giving them jobs. She was great. She told us stories of the schools in the area, and the families and it really touched us deeply. Well we are hittin the road to Kabwe Zambia. talk to you guys soon!

Ben