Bless the Lord, O my soul

Today was a Sunday filled with many smiles, tears of joy, and songs of praise. Four of the sweetest young women, whom Whitney and I have loved getting to spend time with and watch grow and mature over the past year and half were baptized into the Lord today. Meet Catherine, Rwidness, Christina, and Mutinta, our new sisters in Christ!

"Bless the Lord , O my soul,

And forget none of His benefits;

Who pardons all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases;

Who redeems your life from the pit,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

Who satisfies your years with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. "

Psalm 103:2-5

Update from Kaondeland

I realized recently we haven't written an update in quite a while! Life has been sweet in Kaonde land the past month. Jason and I have been really feeling the effects of only having 6 months left with the wonderful people in Mumena that we have grown to love. When we first moved here I thought two years sounded like such a long time. Well, it isn't! Time has flown by, almost too fast for us.

Jason has been working hard to develop pig feed that can be made locally in the village. For the pig farmers, making their own feed will mean saving lots of kwacha (money). They would no longer have to buy commercial feed from town and it would give them a more profitable use for the maize they grow every year. This would also help boost the local hammer mill business. It is all very exciting! 

The ladies at the Kampande congregation wanted to start meeting together again recently. I was very happy about this so I offered to teach the first few classes. I am teaching them "how to teach each other." Some of the women at Kampande are young in their faith but some of the women are more mature Christians. This is the perfect combination for them to work together and edify one other. I have one more week of teaching then I will pass the baton off as they will start to take turns teaching each week. Please be praying for the ladies and their desire to grow stronger in Lord through assembling together mid-week.

Underneath our kinsanza Jason has a few guinea pigs and couple rabbits. Both animals are perfect for Zambians to have a breeding pair for relish (which would give great protein) and for selling. Also, both can be fed with plants we can find in the bush. We hope raising them ourselves will encourage others to do so as well. I try not to dwell on the fact that they could be used for meals but more so just enjoy hearing the guinea pigs little squeaky noises as I walk by everyday. Our friend Edward brought several of the school boys over today to show them how to feed the little critters which gave Jason a chance to show them how to hold them and gently pet them. At first they were terrified to hold either but after I encouraged them with "if you hold one, I'll take a snap of you and show you the snap after," THEN they all wanted to participate! They ended up really liking them and laughing at the silliness of it all. Here are a few pictures of them...

That is all for today's update. Happy Thursday!

Finishing up the Muzha

Today is the last day of the month long Muzha wa Yesu (slave of Jesus) seminar. Church leaders from the churches in the Mumena chieftaincy have sacrificed their time and money to spend 4 weeks sharpening each other and studying the Bible together. In the next week or so we will be sending out a new newsletter with a detailed summary of the Muzha this year for everyone to read about. Until then we wanted to give you a photo preview (above) of the men diligently studying. This was taken at chapel this morning while our teammate Sam Rodriguez gave a wonderful lesson. Thank you to those who have prayed for the seminar this year and to our visiting teachers from the States!

One Blessing after Another

It has been a great April so far! The Muzha Wa Yesu (Slave of Jesus) Seminar is almost half way through. The church leaders have been working very hard sitting through classes from 8am-5pm everyday for the past two weeks as they seek to grow in their knowledge of the Word so that they can go back and teach their congregations. We have had three visiting teachers this session from the US. Two of those visiting teachers are from our sending congregation in Chattanooga, TN, Dave and Susan Mellor, and Ron and Gail Rogers. Dave is teaching the Hebrews class while Ron has been teaching on "The heart of an elder." While the seminar has been going on during the day Susan and Gail have been spoiling Whitney and I with many cooking lessons, sewing lessons, and lots of love and attention. It has been such a blessing to see familiar and comforting faces. Today we ladies ventured out to visit the wife of a church leader who is attending the seminar because she has a new addition to her family! Susan brought a handy little picture printer to Zambia so we wanted to take some snap shots of the new baby to gift his Mama with. He is so precious and tiny, and slept through the majority of our visit.

 More updates on the Muzha seminar to come!

A little here and there

I got to sit behind this precious little one during worship yesterday. Often children from the Kampande church meet us at the door ready for their handshakes. Mrs. Kasono brings the great majority of them with her each week. Some are her own children but many of them are orphans she has taken in. I remember one week seeing her hand each of them (around 10 children) kwacha to tithe, such a sweet scene. Jason and I both love seeing their happy smiling faces each week. They like to sit extremely close to me during the service which sometimes makes me feel squished but I always get a kick out of their natural rythum during chorus songs being so much better than mine!

In the past I have been given a jokingly hard time by teammates about adding random pictures of flowers from our garden to my blog posts. It kind of made me think about if they were necessary but then I concluded...I like flowers/gardening, taking pictures, and taking pictures of flowers/garden scenery, so I will continue on. : ) Our rainy season will be coming to end in in May so I won't have near as many blooms to admire in a couple months anyway. Below is an amethyst plant ( I have been patiently waiting for it to bloom for what seems like FOREVER) and one of the blooms on one of our rose plants.

 Our entire team leaves tomorrow morning for a team retreat at Nsobe Game Park in Ndola (about 4 hours away) for a few days. We will get to stay in little safari tents, go on fun game drives, canoe, and spend lots of good quality fun time together. I think we will all appreciate the relaxing time away and hopefully come back to Mumena refreshed and ready for the coming months!

Sunday Encouragement and Monday Kiddos

Sunday Encouragment:

Yesterday we witnessed a wonderful testimony by one of the church leaders from the Kampande church. Aaron was preaching about the blessings that come with being in the Light and focused on the blessing of not having to live in fear of witchcraft, as many here do. He told us that his wife was having health problems recently so his mother-in-law advised for their family to move because she believed there were too many witches in the area and that is why Aaron's wife was having health problems. With a joyful smile on his face he told us that he does not fear witchcraft and instead of moving to a new place he and his wife were turning to the Lord for care and comfort. What an encouragement it was to see the faithfulness of this church leader and his family. 

Monday Kiddos:

One of my good friends here, who is a teacher, has been working very hard decorating the walls of her classroom so I wanted to show my appreciation for her devotion to her classroom by stopping by this morning to visit her and her kiddos. The children in her class are so obedient and respectful of visitors. When I walked in they stood up and said in unison, "Good Morning Madam." As I sat for a short while I took a few pictures of some of the sweet faces that are influenced by this devoted teacher everyday. I am so thankful for Zambian teachers who truly want to make a change in the lives of the children they teach.

 

Happy Monday from Mumena!

1st First Year Reflection

A year ago Jason, Jeremy, Whitney, Sam, Ellie, and I all stepped off a plane into a foreign country with a new culture and language much different than our own to begin our two year apprentiships with Jason's uncle Brian and his wife Sondra. Our first year as apprentices has given us the freedom to learn about the culture, build relationships, and explore how our gifts can best be used to serve the Lord through our work with the Kanode people. Although this year has been filled with new and at times difficult experiences, God has blessed us throughout with his steadfast love and mercy. This month we hope to make a few blog posts with refelctions of our first year. Here is our 1st first year reflection:

Some of the ladies from the Kampande congregation

This morning Jason and I rode our bikes to worship with the Kampande congregation, whom we have spent many Sunday's with other the past year. I remember sitting with our team around this time last year talking about the congregations we were the most interested in getting to know. Jason and I were eager to worship with and encourage our brothers and sisters at Kampande because Jason knew he would be working in Ag projects on-site and they are the second closest congregation to the outreach center. Kampande is a small group made up of some of the most loving and humble people Jason and I have had the privilege of working with. They have faithful leaders and a wonderful group of devoted women. In the coming year they really want to work at reaching out to the lost in their community and want to grow in their knowledge of how to best reach them. This morning the church discussed having a once a month campfire devotional where they could invite their friends and family. We are very excited about this program being carried out. Hopefully over the next year we will have updates about seeds being planted by the Kampande church members!

The Heart of a Preacher, First Blooms, and Birthday Wishes!

It has been a great week so far. Sunday Jason and I visited the Rd. 68 congregation at the Maheba Refugee Settlement so we could transport a few young men back to Mumena for a preaching seminar Jason, Jeremy, and Brian have been teaching the past three days. I have sat in on a couple of Jason's classes and really enjoyed watching him strive to inspire these men while teaching about the "heart of a preacher." Jason has taught on the topics of love, humility, and lastly this morning, service. 

Yesterday Whitney and I had a great time with Catherine, Rwidness, and Mariam. Catherine amazingly retold last week's story of Jacob and Esau almost word for word. We then studied Jacob's dream and had the girls draw a picture to help them remember the story. It brings so much delight to watch them laugh as they draw. When my Mom is here in December she is going to have an art class with them. They are very excited about it and I certainly can't wait to see how much fun they have learning to draw from a true artist. 

Here is a picture of the bunch here for the seminar and a snap of one of the scriptures Jason used today in his lesson. "...serve one another humbly in love." (Galatians 5:13)

The consistent rains are here so we have had  a couple blooms this week including our first rose in months! The goats now have new grass and leaves to snack on so our plants can actually grow leaves and petals.

That is all for this quick update. Except... Happy Birthday to my sweet, loving, caring, encouraging, compassionate, giving, and joyful Mother! You are amazing, love you so much and can't wait to give you a huge hug next month!

Shiny and Smooth Mud Floor

Yesterday morning I ventured off a few miles toward the roadside on my little blue bicycle to spend some time with the sweet ladies from the congregation Jason and I work the closest with, Kampande. The Kampande church is such a wonderful and faithful group of believers. They recently put a new roof on their church building with iron sheets. Their old one was made of grass which was not completely leak proof during the rainy season. They are so excited about their new roof and have much reason to be considering they saved up their money to buy the sheets themselves. Iron sheets are very expensive around $13 a sheet and it took over 30 to cover the roof. Now that their roof is almost complete (just lacking the roof capping sheets) the women have started on re-doing the dirt floor. It is quite a long and tedious process but they have it down to a science. First they use a hoe to level the floor, then they wet it down with water and beat it with wooden planks to make the dirt stay hard and in place. Lastly they make a mix out of a clay like soil and cover the dirt floor in it which makes it nice and smooth. When they are completely finished I will post a picture of what it looks like. When Euttice told me at church on Sunday that they would be starting the floor on Wednesday I offered to help. Which brings us back to me riding my bicycle by myself up hill both ways to the church building. When I arrive only Euttice and Rwiness were there working. I arrived at 9:45am to see they had already been working for a while because the back half of the church building floor had already been worked on. I asked Euttice what time they started and she said "oh around 10." That is the trouble with telling time by the sun...it's hard to get it exact. My part in helping was when it came to hauling water from the pump near by. The ladies handed me the smallest container (holds about 2 1/2 gallons) and they took the HUGE bucket and trough. Both of them filled their containers up and carried them on their heads. Wishing I could do the same, but can't, I carried mine by my side. It must have been a pretty funny sight considering how small the container was that I was carrying compared to theirs. To help you better understand I drew a stick figure diagram below. On the second trip to get water Euttice informed me I was too tired to carry my container so she would carry two. I laughed and told her I wanted to have strong muscles. Luckily, I brought my phone along to take a snap of the ladies hard at work to share.

Rwiness is on the left and Euttice is on the right

I am not sure exactly of their ages, these are just my estimates.

I had so much fun just spreading water onto a dirt floor with Euttice and Rwiness yesterday and was  humbled by their hard work and servant hearts. How blessed Jason and I are to have the opportunity to experience such neat things!

Wednesday News

Last weekend the missionary ladies put on a workshop in Mumena for women interested in learning how to teach Bible classes for children. Our aim was teaching methods that could be easily used in the village. So, we used basic materials like notebook paper, crayons, scissors, and a little tape. All of these items can be bought in Solwezi, the nearest town. It was so exciting to see the women (over 40 attended) fellowship and create lessons together. Also, I think they enjoyed having time away from their laborious responsibilities at home. Art is such a therapy and that was evident in their enthusiasm for just coloring with crayola crayons. Most of the women had babies on their backs throughout the seminar and few brought along their young ones to play outside while they were in class. Sondra, Whitney, Ellie, and I were very pleased with the outcome of the weekend. Please be praying with us for the women who attended to have the confidence and calling to start sharing the Lord with their youngsters.

In other news:

4 baby goats were born this last week. They are just about the most precious baby animals. Even when they are only a couple days old they are start running around trying to jump and buck. Many times they end up landing on their bellies because they aren't quite coordinated enough yet. Jason and I spend a little time almost every evening just watching and laughing at them. For those of you who do not live in the African bush this might sound like an odd type of entertainment. But take my word for it...it's adorable.

Special Delivery:

Our rains came early, YES! This means I get to start working on this seasons flowers! I already have a new layout for the backyard drawn up, Jason is helping get the plans rolling by getting our fence re-built. We have grass fences here and our backyard fence was in very shabby shape. Since our truck is out of commission for the time being we have resorted to using alternative means for transporting the grass for the new fence. Meet the ox cart crew!

Happy Wednesday!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Psalm 118:1

Family Seminar

Friday evening through Sunday afternoon we got to witness a new priority for many of our Kaonde brothers and sisters, family. Over 100 church members trekked to Mumena Christian Outreach for a weekend of encouragement for their families. Many of the youth walked 6 six hours to get here, talk about inspiring.

Our theme verse for the weekend was Ephesians 5:1, "Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us a and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Jason and I helped with the youth classes which was a hoot. At first it was hard to get them talking but when they had the opportunity to make up a skit or song about what it means to be a child of God they just came alive. Two groups made up very elaborate skits, with great acting of course, and one group of girls wrote a song (in 30 min!). Their creativity was astounding. We hope their churches will continue to build them up because they can be such lights!

Probably my favorite part of the weekend happened this morning before our church service. Everyone broke up into their individual families to have family devotionals which promoted them pray, read, discuss, and memorize scripture together. It warmed my heart to see families making such an effort to grow together. Our hope is for them to now have the confidence to regularly have family devotionals at home.

Here are few more pictures:

Please be praying for the families in the Mumena chiefdom!

July-August Update

We recently sent out a new newsletter and below is our "Notes from Jason and Erin" portion that gives a quick update on our life the past couple of months in Mumena.

It has been very odd to me that life in Mumena is much slower than our American lifestyles were used to yet time has been flying by. We can't believe we are now in our 8th month in Zambia.

Jason has been very busy with the school production project this month. While the kids are on break from school he has been offering Ag in-services for the production teachers. With the possibility of growing their own feed and encouraging local farmers to grow the crops needed for the animals, Jason's goal of sustainability could really be within arms length.

July was a wonderful month that included the Allison's visiting for the marriage seminar and our Sunday school teacher's seminar at the refugee camp. Janet and Fielden Allison travel several months out of the year from their home base, African Christian College in Swaziland, to teach marriage workshops. The material they present is contextualized in a way that Africans participating can take the material back to their churches and teach other couples. It was such a joy and inspiration to sit in on their classes. I would love someday to be able to follow in their footsteps of teaching about the Christian marriage and family in cultures that readily struggle with this specific area in their faith. It was my first visit to the refugee camp the Saturday the missionary ladies from Mumena taught about the importance of teaching children Bible lessons as well as easy techniques to do so. It was a very neat experience to visit our lively Congolese sisters and we hope and pray they will continue to be excited about teaching their little ones about the Lord. Sondra, Whitney, and I are looking forward to starting back up with our lady teacher's Bible study in September and are hoping for a good number of teachers who will be committed and excited about studying together each week.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Termite Mound Time

In our backyard we have a termite mound taller than our house that used to really annoy me. But my husband talked me into having a kinsanza (thatch gazebo) built on top of it. That probably sounds a little yucky if you haven't seen it. In fact, when I told my Mom of this her only response was "Erin, I am not really sure what to say about that." But to my dismay, our little kinsanza is the most peaceful place I could imagine having here. We have a wonderful view and the breeze is always present. Many afternoons Jason and I sit up here and relax together, sometimes we eat meals here, and today I have realized this is the only place in our house area we can get internet connection so now I am perfectly smitten with our once annoying termite mound! This explanation/description leads up to the point that I am in the perfect setting for a litte blog post....

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement. We have just finished our spiritual, medical, educational, and construction campaigns with the participation on 21 visitors from the States. I am not quite sure how to summarize it all but to say, much work was done in the above areas with one goal in mind...to further God's kingdom through short term church and development mission work. I can attest to seeing results of Christ's love shared through our visitors and am confident we will continue seeing these results as time goes by. Thank you to all those who participated in and prayed for this time!

Photo Preview

Many eventful things have happened since the last blog post. In the next week or so I will write a good update on it all but for now here is a little photo preview!

A more descriptive update will be coming soon....Happy Thursday!

Quick HIghlights

Last week Jeremy, Whitney, Jason, and I rode the bus to Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city (about 9 hours away), to pick up our work permits and order a part for the truck we share. It was a quick but very successful trip. Whitney and I got to go shopping while the boys ran errands. We found Oreos, salsa, brownie mix, and a few other wonderful things at the grocery store there so we were very excited about that. We also had time to print off pictures at the mall. Is it odd that we have 5 pictures in frames on the wall of Rex (our dog, who stayed with my parents in Texas)? Probably not if know me very well…haha…but not to worry we have numerous pictures up of our family and friends as well. We love being able to see those we love all the time, even if just in pictures. 

            Jason picked up 8 piglets for the 4-H project with the school on Monday. Since I used to show pigs when I was younger I told him if he wants to keep them from smelling he needs bathe them regularly. Not sure if he will take my advice on that though. So far I think they are his favorite animals of the project.

In April the Servant Leader Seminar will start for the church leaders of all the churches our Mumena team works with. Our apprentice team is excited to see this large event happen. We are expecting to have around 50 men here for it. Some of them will stay in Mumena at the dorms and some live close enough that they can walk each day. A lot of preparation has gone into it so please be praying for the church leaders who will attend.

I was finally able to upload pictures of our house. Jason and I have spent many hours making it "home," which entailed curtain making, picture hanging, fence making, gardening, and turning practical items into decorations. Our favorite part about it is the location. We are on the outskirts of our village so we usually have a pretty peaceful and private environment. Well here it is....welcome to our home in Mumena!

View of the living room/office/dining room looking toward the front door

Our office area

Our room....It's just big enough for the bed

Our kitchen

Our back porch

The other side of the living room

Front of the house

Our view from the front porch

 Hope you enjoyed the quick picture tour...feel free to come by anytime!