Chilly Weather

It has been a busy month as we prepare for the campaign to arrive (25 Americans are coming!!!). We are really excited about the month of June. We have been testing out air mattresses, hanging mosquito nets, preparing our Zambian friends and getting the schedule ready for the group that is coming in on June 9th. We will have 12 people coming from East Brainerd church of Christ in Chattanooga, TN (our supporting congregation), and the rest will be coming from Hillcrest in Abilene, TX. We are pumped!
Jeremy and I have an anthill back behind our house, and it was Jeremy’s dream to have a kensanza built on top of it so we could see out and watch part of the sunset. Of course, we cannot see all of it because a big termite mound is in the way. It is relaxing sitting under our open hut, and it’s best in the early mornings and at sunset.
On June 29, Erin, Sondra and I have an exciting trip to Port Elizabeth, South Africa. We were invited to a Come Before Winter retreat/women’s conference. I actually remember hearing about Come Before Winter in college. It is a retreat set up by Americans for women missionaries. They go to different locations all over the world to encourage them. I feel so blessed to be going. I was telling Erin today that it may be overwhelming to be around that many white people again. Haha, that sounds silly, but seriously--it has been awhile. I am so thankful we are going. It will be refreshing and such a gift. Jeremy will be left all by his lonesome in the bush. Except his Uncle Brian had pity on him and has invited Jeremy and Jason to eat at his house every night for the week. We will get back in to Mumena on June 5, a few days before the campaign begins.
As the U.S. is gearing up for the summer season we are beginning to feel the Zambian chill of winter. The coldest months will be June and July. This past week, I began meeting with the younger girls again for our Bible study. We had to take a break during April because they were on school holiday. We have a new girl who has joined our study. She is about 16 or 17 years old and has an 8-month old baby. She is not in school. I wondered how the younger school girls were going to take to this new change, but they welcomed her so sweetly. In March, I had taught them the card game “spoons”, and they have now asked if they can come early, play spoons for half an hour, and then begin the Bible study. How could I refuse? It is so fun watching them play.

Field Day

Last week Jeremy and I decided to ride out to a village and work with a family in their field. Most Zambians who choose to farm are working in their fields every morning. It is not the best time to go out and visit villages in the mornings, because you will usually not find people at home. Jeremy and I rode our bikes out to the village and left them at the family’s hut. The family had already been out for two hours working, so we began the walk through the bush to meet up with them in their field.

As soon as we came to the clearing, the family came running to greet us—they made us feel welcome. They had been out in the hot sun working for two hours already. Cosmas and Josephine were digging up their peanuts (in Zambia they are called ground nuts). Then, all of the children were collecting them and putting in a pile. Jeremy and I really appreciated the fact that the whole family was working together and enjoying each other’s company. This past week was a school holiday so even the older children got to help. Jeremy and I both tried out pulling up the ground nuts, but I mostly helped collect the crops. It was such a neat time to spend with this family, and I know we developed a deeper friendship that day. Jeremy and I had great respect for them to see how hard they were working and all of them spending together. They were very happy out in the field and couldn’t stop laughing the whole time we were out there. Most Zambians think white people are very fragile with our fair skin.

After we finished in the field, we all headed back to the hut, and Josephine fixed everyone lunch—nshema and greens. We visited for a couple more hours and then Jeremy and I went home. It was a fulfilling day, even though we were dead tired. I’m thankful for the time and days that go like this.

Spring in Mumena

The month of April went by fast, but we are ready to get back to our usual schedule in the bush. The Muzha wa Yesu seminar went very well. Jeremy spent two weeks teaching on the Kingdom of God and going through all of the important Bible stories that prepared the way for Jesus. We were blessed to be a part of the seminar this year. Three years ago when it was started, Brian Davis and others were planting seeds and battling with a culture that was twisted and confused. This year has been a break through on many levels, and we are starting to see the fruits of the labor from the past three years. We began to see church leaders tearing up because they are realizing the sadness in the world, and the need for Jesus. We saw men pleading with their fellow brothers in Christ to start digging deeper in their studies and teachings. It was a great month, and we are thankful for all of the prayers for the seminar.

Today is the first day of May, and we are excited! First of all, because May means June is right around the corner, when we will see 30 campaigners coming over from Tennessee and Texas. We are also ready to dive back in to language learning. Language learning had to take a back seat to the seminar, so Jeremy and I will begin working again with Cosmas for an hour each day. Yesterday, Jeremy and I went out to the soccer field to watch a game. Jeremy, of course, was asked to play and felt he was surely up for the task. He twisted his ankle after a few minutes into the game and had to watch from the sidelines the rest of the time. If you know Jeremy and sports, then you know I have been to the ER three times due to church league softball accidents. Well, we don’t have an “ER” in Mumena, so I was a bit nervous about my husband breaking his leg. While Jeremy watched with the team, I sat with my sweetest little friend, Linyondi. Linyondi is Cosmas’s son, and he and I just have a connection. He is only five years old but told his Dad this morning that he has really got to start learning English better, so he and I can spend time talking together.

The weather has completely changed! The rainy season is over, and we will not see another drop until November. The air is cool in the evenings and mornings, and the stars are bright at night.

This is Jeremy's group of first year students who he had in class for two weeks. Thank you for the continued prayers!

African Easter

Every Easter, I grew up putting out my shoes for the Easter bunny to fill, with the rest of my family. The night before Easter Sunday, my brother and I would pick our largest pair of shoes to lie out for the Easter bunny to fill. Until I was a teenager, I thought everyone put out shoes for the Easter bunny, not baskets. I actually don’t know why it is that my family had this tradition, but I like it. Anyways, once I got married, I let Jeremy in on our tradition and informed him that we too will be putting out our shoes each Easter. So the past two Easters in the States, that we have been married, our shoes were filled up with goodies. Now this could be a little embarrassing to say, but since I live so far away from you guys I don’t really mind saying it, but Jeremy and I lived in Abilene where my mom and grandmother both lived. So each Easter, they would come by our apartment early in the morning and fill up our shoes. Each year I would think we were probably grown up enough not to put out our shoes, and then I would receive a call from my mom late the night before reminding us to put out our shoes.
Now here we are in Zambia on another Easter morning. Jeremy and I have big plans to celebrate in the evening with Jason and Erin. We are making hamburgers, homemade buns, sweet potato chips and an apple pie. It is going to be GREAT! So the morning of Easter Sunday, I woke up and went out to sit on the couch for a few minutes before I made breakfast. I always leave my pair of tennis shoes out on the porch because they are too dirty to bring inside. Jeremy called for me to come see something outside so I go look out the screen door, and this is what I find.

Culture shock can be overwhelming in certain moments, and our first holiday away from family, friends and our church home hit me a bit. Of course, I was not expecting to have my shoes filled (and really that is not the point), but my awesome husband brought a little bit of home to me this morning. Happy Easter from Zambia! -Whitney

Turtle Power

With a theologically rich curriculum and a highly qualified line-up of teachers, probably the greatest lesson that was learned during this year’s Muzha wa Yesu Seminar (Slave of Jesus) was from a turtle. We have about 40 men representing 12 churches and about 4 different Zambian tribes here all month for the leadership seminar. Living in a culture much like the culture of the Bible, there are several food taboos present. For the Kaonde tribe, eating a turtle and other reptiles is considered unclean. However, one of the men at the seminar from the Lunda tribe, which has no food taboos, brought with him a turtle to eat. It was a big deal that none of the Kaonde would eat it, but no one minded him eating it. It came time for the Lunda man to cook it, but he had no pot. So one of his Kaonde friends brought him a pot from his village and the Lunda man cooked and ate the turtle. The next morning another Kaonde man approached me who was not part of the seminar or a Christian. This man was from the same village that the pot was taken, and he insisted that I introduce him to the man that cooked the turtle. Not knowing his intent and honestly thinking he was just interested in meeting the man, I introduced them. Quickly I realized as the Kaonde man spoke in a loud and angry voice that he had a serious problem with the Lunda man eating the turtle. The problem was that the turtle was cooked in that Kaonde man’s pot, making it unclean, and prohibiting the Kaonde man to never use the pot again. So the Lunda man and the man that brought him the pot discussed the issue with me. After discerning how to respond, the two men (Christian leaders I might add) went and apologized to the wronged man promising to replace the pot. However, they needed 2 days to get enough money to buy a new pot. The wronged man was not happy with the solution stating that there would be no forgiveness unless the pot was replaced that day. The two men came back to me and asked if they could borrow some money to buy the pot and told me what the wronged man had insisted. The wronged man is not a Christian, but I had been studying with him for a few weeks; and I had also given him a loan for which I had forgiven a good portion of it because I knew it would take him a long time to pay it back. At this point, I saw a teaching opportunity and confronted the man with the story of the unmerciful servant. The conclusion was that he would give the men the 2 days they needed to repay the pot. Thinking this is all solved, the next afternoon the wronged man waited 2 hours for me to finish class so he could speak to me. He said he wanted to talk with me and the men that owed him the pot. He sat down with us and told us that he had been thinking a lot about the issue and decided that his relationship with the men and I was more important than the pot. From there he told the men that they were forgiven, and there was no need to replace the pot. It almost put me in tears.
I reflected with the two Christian leaders helping them see how their Christ-like response had opened the door for this unbeliever to learn a lesson that will certainly give inroads to his knowing Christ. So it’s clear that God works through all things…even a turtle!
-Jeremy

Pictures

The Muzha wa Yesu seminar has begun, and the opening chapel was lead by the chief. It has been a great two days so far. I just wanted to share some pictures from the past couple days.

Jeremy and Maffet, our grass slasher, having a English session and Bible study.

Brian Davis presenting new Kaonde Bible's to the muzha wa yesu students.

This was right after I taught these girls how to play "spoons" on my front porch. They continued to play that game for two hours after this.

A Muzha student working on his "homework" by the dorms.

Muzha students having their lunch break.

Change of Seasons

The rainy season is coming to an end here in the next couple weeks, and I have been sad knowing it is about to be over. Everything is so green, and you can see all kinds of plants and flowers. In just a few weeks it will all turn brown, and we will not see a drop of rain for 6 months. But yesterday God reminded me that every season has its own beauty—even in Zambia with only two seasons. I woke up yesterday to a very cool, crisp morning, almost feeling like fall in the states. It was beautiful weather and during the dry season that is the case every morning. Not too cold, but cool. It was nice. Then last night, my breath was taken away as Jeremy and I were walking home at night. It was about 9:30 p.m. and usually you are trying to get home before the rain hits. We were walking with our flashlights and all of a sudden we look up and there are huge, bright stars everywhere, looking like they are just barely hanging above our heads. There was not a cloud in the sky. We both stopped and just stared. The stars in Zambia (during the dry season) are just amazing, and I had forgotten how wonderful it was since being here last time. How could I have forgotten? I felt that was a patient, gentle reminder to me that God will provide, in every season.
Many church leaders from around the area will be arriving on Sunday for the Muzha wa Yesu seminar. Please keep these men in your prayers for the month of April. We are praying these leaders will go home with a greater understanding of what it means to be a servant for God and a yearning to teach in their communities.
We now share a mailbag with Brian and Sondra in Solwezi. I have been monitoring about how long it takes for mail to arrive, and it looks like it only takes about 2 weeks, sometimes less! Here is our mailing address, for those of you that have been waiting on it:
Private Bag S-42
Solwezi, Zambia