Classes continued this week with preaching and ministry ethics. We had a group that runs an orphanage down the road come and visit the base this weekend. It was good getting to interact with new people and see some new faces. They came for one night and we played a three hour game of phase ten. We’ve had a few visitors to the base since I’ve been here. Most are groups or couples that are just passing through and want to spend a night on the campground here. A team working with the LIFE project just arrived today and they will be going out to the villages on Thursday.
Base life is pretty good. We had our first real trip into town for shopping purposes this past Saturday. It was nice to stock up on snacks and get a few needed supplies. Its still amazing to me that I’m spending three solid months in such a beautiful place. The contrast is interesting from when I did my study abroad six years ago. I was in Austria looking at mountains everyday and now I’m looking at a gorge everyday. Its so beautiful to see every morning as I walk into the conference center. Well, I know it was short but that’s about all for this update. Hopefully I’ll have more to report next week. Have a great week everyone.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Out in the Bush
Greetings everyone,
I write you perched on the second floor overlook of the gorge through which the Zambezi river runs and divides Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is such a spectacular view that I simply cannot put it into words. Its been a little more than a week since my last update but I’m pretty close to schedule. This past week has been filled with so many amazing things that its going to be difficult to even cover the basics without getting absurdly long on this post.
Last Saturday and Sunday were spent getting oriented to being on the base and preparing to head out to Libala Basic School, around which are the nine villages we wanted to go and minister to. We left early Monday morning and after a short stop in Livinstone for a few remaining supplies we were off. It’s about a three hour drive to Libala mostly because of the conditions of the roads. Take the worst pothole you’ve seen in the states multiply it by five and place it every 100 feet on the road and that’s about what driving on the paved road here is like. Once we arrived and set up camp on Monday we spent the evening making plans for ministry and deciding who would be going to what village. My team went to a village that was about a ten minute walk from the school. The headman was not there but we met with about 5 adults in the village and were able to minister the gospel to them as well as pray over them.
When we are in the villages we have a survey for which we collect information to pass on to our ‘Life’ program and our SAM project. For example we are to ask about the water supply for the village; if they have a bore-hole or do they get their water from a spring somewhere. The village we were in gets their water from a rank stream nearby. The closest bore-hole is the one located ten minutes away at the school, but to anyone who has every hauled a few gallons of water more than a few feet this can get extremely burdensome.
Throughout the three days we spent at Libala Basic School, we went to about 7 of the 9 villages between the the 4 teams we have, as well as spending time at the school with the kids. On one day we played a scrimmage soccer game against the schools team. Our team consisted of all of the guys and one girl from our group, many of us have played soccer before so that was a helpful fact. We won 2 to 1 but it was a close, tough game. Their team is good and we were pretty evenly matched.
After three days of ministry there we headed out to another village that Overland has gone to before. On the way there we stopped to buy charcoal from a village. When we were driving up there was a woman who was limping around in the village because she had a swollen knee. It had been swollen for about a month and her limp was quite noticeable even from the truck. She could only put a little bit of weight on her leg. So some of our team got out and prayed over her for healing. I was watching from the truck, and when they finished praying she stood up and was still limping, so they prayed over here knee again. This time when she got up I could see that she was fully putting weight on her leg. I watched her walk back and fourth with the biggest smile on her face. God had totally healed her knee. I even have video of her running back and fourth showing that it was completely healed. It was incredible to see.
At the next basic school we went to we intended to have one meeting that afternoon. However, we ended up having three because people kept asking us to speak again. Our last one e didn’t end until almost 10 pm. It was great, the people were so excited for us to be there. Finally on Friday we headed back to the base. On the way though we stopped by one of our team members friends house. It is on an 8000 acre farm and Dairy that was bought by a British family back in 1946. The same family still owns it today. We stopped and had tea with them at ten and then they invited us to stay for lunch. So we swam some in their salt water pool which was a welcomed respite from the heat and dust of the bush. It was such a nice place. We stayed until around two that afternoon and then headed back to base.
I’m so glad to be here and to be learning so much. Thank you to all of you who supported me to be here. I hope everyone is doing well back home and I look forward to hearing from all of you soon. Don’t forget you can write responses on this blog if you would like. Take care until next week.
I write you perched on the second floor overlook of the gorge through which the Zambezi river runs and divides Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is such a spectacular view that I simply cannot put it into words. Its been a little more than a week since my last update but I’m pretty close to schedule. This past week has been filled with so many amazing things that its going to be difficult to even cover the basics without getting absurdly long on this post.
Last Saturday and Sunday were spent getting oriented to being on the base and preparing to head out to Libala Basic School, around which are the nine villages we wanted to go and minister to. We left early Monday morning and after a short stop in Livinstone for a few remaining supplies we were off. It’s about a three hour drive to Libala mostly because of the conditions of the roads. Take the worst pothole you’ve seen in the states multiply it by five and place it every 100 feet on the road and that’s about what driving on the paved road here is like. Once we arrived and set up camp on Monday we spent the evening making plans for ministry and deciding who would be going to what village. My team went to a village that was about a ten minute walk from the school. The headman was not there but we met with about 5 adults in the village and were able to minister the gospel to them as well as pray over them.
When we are in the villages we have a survey for which we collect information to pass on to our ‘Life’ program and our SAM project. For example we are to ask about the water supply for the village; if they have a bore-hole or do they get their water from a spring somewhere. The village we were in gets their water from a rank stream nearby. The closest bore-hole is the one located ten minutes away at the school, but to anyone who has every hauled a few gallons of water more than a few feet this can get extremely burdensome.
Throughout the three days we spent at Libala Basic School, we went to about 7 of the 9 villages between the the 4 teams we have, as well as spending time at the school with the kids. On one day we played a scrimmage soccer game against the schools team. Our team consisted of all of the guys and one girl from our group, many of us have played soccer before so that was a helpful fact. We won 2 to 1 but it was a close, tough game. Their team is good and we were pretty evenly matched.
After three days of ministry there we headed out to another village that Overland has gone to before. On the way there we stopped to buy charcoal from a village. When we were driving up there was a woman who was limping around in the village because she had a swollen knee. It had been swollen for about a month and her limp was quite noticeable even from the truck. She could only put a little bit of weight on her leg. So some of our team got out and prayed over her for healing. I was watching from the truck, and when they finished praying she stood up and was still limping, so they prayed over here knee again. This time when she got up I could see that she was fully putting weight on her leg. I watched her walk back and fourth with the biggest smile on her face. God had totally healed her knee. I even have video of her running back and fourth showing that it was completely healed. It was incredible to see.
At the next basic school we went to we intended to have one meeting that afternoon. However, we ended up having three because people kept asking us to speak again. Our last one e didn’t end until almost 10 pm. It was great, the people were so excited for us to be there. Finally on Friday we headed back to the base. On the way though we stopped by one of our team members friends house. It is on an 8000 acre farm and Dairy that was bought by a British family back in 1946. The same family still owns it today. We stopped and had tea with them at ten and then they invited us to stay for lunch. So we swam some in their salt water pool which was a welcomed respite from the heat and dust of the bush. It was such a nice place. We stayed until around two that afternoon and then headed back to base.
I’m so glad to be here and to be learning so much. Thank you to all of you who supported me to be here. I hope everyone is doing well back home and I look forward to hearing from all of you soon. Don’t forget you can write responses on this blog if you would like. Take care until next week.
Friday, May 9, 2008
First few days
Greetings everyone,
Well, I am in Zambia at the Overland base in Livingstone. We had a great, uneventful flight from D.C. to Johannesburg and then a good stay at a hostel in town before heading to Zambia on Thursday. It’s very surreal to be back here. Getting on the truck, it was as though I had only stepped off of it yesterday. The base on the other hand is a different story. It has changed so much since I was here in ’05. The last time I was here we had only tents, a (new) French drain toilet, and a lean to thatch hut with no walls that served as the office/entertainment centere/kithen. Now there is a complete logistics center with concrete walls (they continued with the thatch roof to keep with the local look), a brick and steel warehouse, a chalet, and thirteen covered tent areas. The retaining wall that overlooks the gorge has been extended and raised and there are now seven trucks instead of three. It’s amazing to see. The pictures on the overland website do not do the place justice. I’ll try to find somewhere to post pictures that everyone can access. Everything is going well so far. Last night we had a short intro by our leaders and then dinner. One neat thing is that we do some things in the British style, such has having tea after every meal. Then this morning we went through the official orientation. Our immediate leaders spoke again and the then leaders of the two humanitarian aid projects that overland started spoke. The LIFE project which deals with material assistance to widows and orphans within the villages and the SAM (Sustainable Agriculture and Microenterprises) project. The SAM project teaches basic agriculture to villages and helps support them in the growing and selling of crops in order to build up a stable economy within the village. We then went to a few of the villages to see some of the projects at work. That’s about it for now. We are going out to some villages from Monday through Friday of next week so the next update will come sometime next weekend. Until then take care and feel free to post responses. I love hearing from everyone back home.
Well, I am in Zambia at the Overland base in Livingstone. We had a great, uneventful flight from D.C. to Johannesburg and then a good stay at a hostel in town before heading to Zambia on Thursday. It’s very surreal to be back here. Getting on the truck, it was as though I had only stepped off of it yesterday. The base on the other hand is a different story. It has changed so much since I was here in ’05. The last time I was here we had only tents, a (new) French drain toilet, and a lean to thatch hut with no walls that served as the office/entertainment centere/kithen. Now there is a complete logistics center with concrete walls (they continued with the thatch roof to keep with the local look), a brick and steel warehouse, a chalet, and thirteen covered tent areas. The retaining wall that overlooks the gorge has been extended and raised and there are now seven trucks instead of three. It’s amazing to see. The pictures on the overland website do not do the place justice. I’ll try to find somewhere to post pictures that everyone can access. Everything is going well so far. Last night we had a short intro by our leaders and then dinner. One neat thing is that we do some things in the British style, such has having tea after every meal. Then this morning we went through the official orientation. Our immediate leaders spoke again and the then leaders of the two humanitarian aid projects that overland started spoke. The LIFE project which deals with material assistance to widows and orphans within the villages and the SAM (Sustainable Agriculture and Microenterprises) project. The SAM project teaches basic agriculture to villages and helps support them in the growing and selling of crops in order to build up a stable economy within the village. We then went to a few of the villages to see some of the projects at work. That’s about it for now. We are going out to some villages from Monday through Friday of next week so the next update will come sometime next weekend. Until then take care and feel free to post responses. I love hearing from everyone back home.
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