A bottle of water in Johannesburg: 7 Rand; Fish heads for supper: 10,000 Kwacha; 1 pizza and two Cokes in Lusaka: 56000 Kwacha; 10 minutes on the internet: 5000 Kwacha; Worshiping Christ with brothers and sisters in Zambia: priceless.
(Rand is South African currency; Kwacha is Zambian currency)
Arriving safely with all of our baggage is a rare experience that we were blessed to enjoy. Thank you for all your prayers so far. Now, you can praise God for answering them while continuing to pray as we prepare to begin serving the Zambians tomorrow.
We arrived in Lusaka, Zambia last night at about 9:00 and made it to our hotel (really a youth hostel) by about 10:00. After a dinner of fish heads, rice, steamed vegetables and some other mystery meat we were able to get our first good sleep in a few days. Placing my head on a pillow was a welcome event after 6 total hours sleep in over 81 hours. The same is true this evening as I head for bed, shortly.
Breakfast this morning was pretty normal apart from the cold baked beans on the plate next to my fried eggs. I love baked beans, cold or warm. Worshiping at the Royal Family Church in Lusaka was a blessing: the singing from this group of 75 people was beautiful, harmonious and inspiring. After a pizza lunch (Lusaka is the capital and you can find most anything you want or need there), we drove 4 hours (making really good time) north to Ndola. We headed straight to the orphanage which we will be working at. The orphanage is operated by Living Hope International (LHI), a non-profit founded by members of our church. See www.livinghopeinternational.org for more info. We met the orphans and the house parents. Crying as Kathy and I held little Innocent (an 11 month-old that we sponsor), we prayed for him. Two other team-members had a tearful meeting with Raphael (a teen-ager they have sponsored for years). There is a strange combination of joy and futility in these moments because of the help and hope we are able to provide for these desperate children. Such joy to deliver the love of Christ as best we can, but such futility that we can deliver it to so few when Zambia has millions of orphaned children.
I wish, I had more time and energy, but I will stop now. Pray for us as ministry begins tomorrow. The medical team will be procuring medications and setting up the clinic. The orphanage team will begin Bible study with the orphans. The outreach team will be sharing Christ in the community surrounding the medical clinic site. Pastor Paul Jenkinson will be providing education/training to approximately 150 pastors. I will be at the medical clinic site and anywhere else I am needed tomorrow.
Oh, yeah and just for you Lindsey: Hot Pockets!
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