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!

Avocados

We have a huge avocado tree in our backyard the produces enough fruit to feed many families. At night Jason and I often wake up to loud thuds that come from the sometimes 1 lb avocados falling on the ground. One of my favorite parts about having the tree is little ones who often come to the door and politely ask if they can take some home. They load them up in their shirts and take off running with them, usually dropping a few along the way then running back to pick them up. It is about the cutest thing you could ever see. Today we had two groups of little ones coming to collect the green treats. Jason climbed up in the tree and knocked them down for them to catch and they were trilled! Just thought I would make a quick post to give a visual of the excitement something as simple as an avocado can cause!

Fun in Livingstone!

Jason and I have spent the last few days with my parents in Livingstone. It was such a great trip filled with lots of fun and good family time. We went on a day safari at Chobe Naitonal Park, visited Victoria Falls (always seems as amazing as the first time I saw it), and went rafting on the Zambezi River. Mom and Dad left this morning to head back to Texas and Jason and I will head back to Mumena tomorrow morning. What a blessing it was to see my parents for a couple weeks. They were such troopers, it was their first trip overseas and coming to Zambia isn't the easiest first overseas travel experience. I miss them both already but am so thankful for the time we had together this month! Here a few pictures from the safari and rafting.

 Rafting on the Zambezi River:

It is high water season right now so we had to get out and walk around one of the rapids (it was a class 6). The rest of the 18 rapids ranged from class 3-5. Lots of fun!

We love this picture because Dad claims when we flipped on this rapid Jason pushed him in...in-law abuse. From the looks of this picture (Jason and Dad are in the front) that may have just happened! Mom is in the back next the guide and I am behind Jason...falling to what felt like a near death experience.

The arm you see sticking up in the middle is mine. This photo was taken just before the raft landed on my head and I was trapped underneath the boat until the guide pulled me out. That was a first! : ) But we all survived and have some great memories!

Insta-Mumena Part II

Although I have put intagramming on the back burner a bit the past couple of weeks I do have a couple of photos and one horrific story to tell:

Welcome to our front yard:

Lake front living; it's quite luxurious!

Care packages:
My sister and brother-in-law are some of the world's greatest care package givers. They always manage to fit more in one box than I thought possible and send wonderful goodies. Maeci does have an advantage above many when it comes to care packages because she sent them to Daniel during his two 1 year deployments in Iraq. So she has had practice...I was extra excited about the packages received today because Maeci sent lots of zip lock bags. We re-use them here because you cannot get the durable clasp kind so we try to hold on to the "American" ones for as long as sanitarily tolerable. There were also many other GREAT goods inclosed but I took a picture with the baggies to show my sister just how happy I am! It's the simple things in life...

I HATE SPIDERS:
With these new rains comes a certain new type of spider (the rain/huntsman spider) that has been taunting me this week in the evenings. Twice I have reading on the couch and out of the corner of my eye I see something large moving very quickly. This "something large" has turned out the be the largest spider I have ever come in human contact with running around the living room specifically the coffee table in circles so fast that my eyes can hardly keep up. I immediately jump from the couch to the ottoman trying to stay out of the creepy crawler's or should I say sprinter's way while brainstorming how to get to the fly swatter. Well to make a long story short both nights this happened by the time I got to the swatter the obese yet highly athletic spider is no where to be found. But also on both nights, when it has been time for bed I have seen this same type of spider RUNNING HORIZONTALLY across the bedroom wall. At which point I close myself in the mosquito net and make Jason chase it down and kill it. Anyways, I have reason to believe there is a family of spiders living for the purpose of tormenting me. Below I drew a diagram of how large this type of spider is compared to my hand (this is to scale, not exaggerated, but they can get bigger, so I have now read). Also, thanks to pinterst I found a quote that perfectly describes this week's nights for me.

Hope you enjoyed this Insta-Mumena update. Have a happy day!

InstaMumena Friday

I have seen a few blogs lately share this idea of Instagram match up on Fridays. I am relatively new to Instagram but am really enjoying the opportunity to chronicle the mundane, funny, or pretty experiences during the week. So, here is our week....

This is our kinsanza on our back yard termite mound. To help you get a scale for how tall our mound is....lets just say it's about the height of our house. The breeze on top is great though!

It has been over 95 in our house consistently every day this past two weeks. We THOUGHT we were going to get away with not having to experience the "miserable" part of October we had been warned about. We THOUGHT this because a few rain showers came early. Well, we were teased by the short lived showers. That "miserable heat" part of October has been here full fledged lately. Wish I could share a pic of the day Jason and I napped with two regular fans blowing on us plus two personal mini size fans next to each of our faces.

A pretty from the garden

Last night we enjoyed pizza we had been waiting to make for a while. Pepperoni from the States, mozzarella from a grocery store 9 hours away, and homemade dough. It WAS worth the wait!

Cecilia one of our kittens playing with a lizard. Bless that lizard's little heart. I don't think it lasted too long.

Well that is all for InstaMumena Friday. Hope everyone has a restful weekend!

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

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!

Funny little first update from Zambia!

After a very long journey we have gotten settled in at our little house in Mumena. I will be able to post pictures of it at some point, it is still needing a few finishing touches before the grand tour. What a blessed first week...The weather is wonderful; a cool rain comes through pretty much everyday. Reuniting with friends we made previously has been very fulfilling. When Jason and I were here in the summer of 09' we were not married so our Zambian friends get really excited when we point to our house and say, "we are married now and live just over there." 

Thank you for all of your prayers for safe travel, we had a seamless trip getting here. The only mishap happened the night we arrived in Mumena. After about an hour of unpacking I realized I was missing a bag, then not 10 min after realizing that, Jason got very quiet, held his hand up to me and said "um...go in the other room." Of course I knew exactly why.... a snake. I have an irrational fear of snakes, but considering we live in the land of mambas, puff-adders, and cobras, my fears aren't too far fetched in my opinion. I got my torch and walked very briskly to get help. By the time help got there Jason had already picked the snake up and opened its mouth up to make sure it wasn't a black mamba. Luckily it was a mole snake. I never actually saw it, which I am assured is for the best. Out of the four American missionary families that have lived in Mumena over the past 5 years Jason and I are the first to have a snake in our house. We think it came in on his backpack while we unloaded the truck. the good news is, the snake is gone and my missing luggage made it to Mumena within less than two days. I think we are going to have a lot of fun the next couple years and it is kind of neat that our first adventure story happened the very night we got here. 

Please keep praying for our adjustment these first months. More updates hopefully coming soon!

P.S. A visual of our new life in Mumena....Jason at the very top of a HUGE avocado tree in our back yard knocking down avocados the size of honey due melons as I run around the base of the tree trying to catch them with a camp chair.... : )

Roanoke Days

So, we have been in Roanoke for the past weeks with my family and it has been so great! Time is flying by, can't believe we are almost a month away from leaving for Zambia. One special blessing about being in Ft. Worth is that Jason and I have been able to talk about Zambia with one bible class so far, and hopefully a couple more from The Hills Church of Christ. They helped support our one-time cost fund through their Greater Things campaign so we have just been really excited to have time to spend with another loving, supportive, and missions minded church who is partnering with our team.

We are looking forward to all that is planned for the last couple of weeks here, more time with friends and family, shopping for last minute supplies (I love shopping for anything, even the mundane i.e socks, slime bike tubes, and travel toilet paper), the supporters module with Halbert Institute of Missions, and of course the family Christmas which we will have early since Jason and I will be in Chattanooga on the 25th.

While I have been keeping myself pretty busy catching up with friends and preparing for goodbyes Jason has been working at the ranch with my Dad doing what he loves to do. Today they "worked" calves, which gave me the perfect opportunity to take pictures of the precious little babies. If only they could stay small and cute for forever, but then again that wouldn't be too good for the cattle business I suppose. I will leave you with a few pictures from today.

I hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit and enjoying December!

Sand Mountain

Jason and I have been up to Sand Mountain several times over the past month and I have loved going  because it is quiet and the scenery is beautiful. So I thought I would share a little bit of the loveliness with you...

 

Also, if you read this blog you will be wanting to keep up with our teammates/brother and sister-in-law's blog.Click here to check it out. 

Have a wonderful Saturday!