Home at Last!

Merry Christmas! The weary sojourners are home! (by the way, did you know that the Swahili word for journey is ‘safari’?) We traveled thousands and thousands of miles, went through multiple border crossings, took a ferry across the great Zambezi River (twice)- which is full of crocodiles and hippos, and the ultimate third world experience. We put up our tents every night in
the dark and mostly in torrential downpours, drove through hundreds
of miles of pot-holed roads, passing through the great Botswana
rainforests where elephants were right at the side of the road. We
dodged donkeys, goats, people, cattle and donkey pulled carts, while negotiating two lane ‘highway’ for over 6,000 miles.
It rained 19 days in a row; thunder, lightening and mud, mud, mud! My four wheel drive bakkie was a God-send! I know it sounds like a disaster, but it was quite wonderful! A true African adventure!

Our destination, Lusaka, Zambia, was wonderful and filled with beautiful people. They were kind, loving and joyful. It was a pleasure to spend a week with a couple hundred children who were waiting for us everyday as we drove the muddy, slippery miles out to Mercy Ministries, a school for orphans. Of the 326 students enrolled in this fees-free school (all education in Africa costs the student) over 200 hundred of them are orphans. Mercy Ministries is an independent Christian school run by a Zambian couple who gave up nearly everything to move to the country and build a facility that would take care of the poorest or the poor. They claim as the back bone of their ministry the verse in James, “Religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their distress and to keep one from becoming polluted by the world.” (1:27) What an deep unspeakable blessing to see who and how God is using all over the world. We need but join Him where He’s already at work!

I will let the photographs speak for themselves, but I do want to mention that we had the opportunity to lead 31 teenagers into a personal understanding of what it means to have Christ be the Lord in your life- God’s people, living in God’s place, under God’s rule. There were probably another 50-100 little ones who made a decision to love Jesus with all their heart, mind, soul and strength that day, but I was busy with the teens…you know me...I love those young adults. The students I spent most of my time with were 4th and 5th graders…however, they were 15, 16 and 17 years old, mostly illiterate having been orphaned at a young age. AIDS and malaria are the primary life stealers in Zambia. School is a privilege that few get to exercise.

As one of the top ten poorest countries in the world, you would expect that the living would be inexpensive and the people would receive an abundance of help from charitable organizations, however, the reverse is true. The cost of living is completely unacceptable and quite formidable for the common laborer. A gallon of gas is 9 dollars (US) and a can of tuna, 4. The rich and the poor are separated by a great divide that can only be crossed by organizations who are willing to spend about 3 or 4 times what it would cost to send field workers into most other countries. The unemployment rate is 76% which makes people desperate, so crime is very high, although we never felt unsafe. Everyday the children in the school eat a corn meal mush called Sheema. It is the only meal they get in a day, unless they make a dinner of mangos that fall off one of the many trees. Dorothy, the director of Mercy Ministries, said that most of the children don’t get meat even once a month. Clearly, malnutrition is a chief contributor to the child mortality rate. (Side note: Isn’t it interesting that the Jews call the greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength.”the Shema. It is the foundation of their faith. That which sustains them daily…)


I had one young tag along friend nearly every day. It was a 15 year old girl named Justina. She was an orphan and spent most of her time working in the fields to try to earn some money for her grandmother, with whom she lived. Have you ever eaten Chinese food and about an hour later you’re so thirsty for water you could turn a hose on and just gulp like you’ll never get a drink again? That was Justina, only she craved hugs…loving touch. A constant similarity among orphaned children, and is it any wonder; they can not get enough love. Smiles, hugs, ruffled hair, high fives, kisses, or just holding hands, the children at Mercy Ministries School were thirsty! But don’t mistake their hunger and need for physical touch as a billboard for depression. These children were beautiful and full of life, evidenced in their singing, dancing and laughing. I was fed by Justina everyday. Friendship, love and laughter; that’s a steady diet I could get used to!

The MCM/Rock team functioned together beautifully! There were 23 of us (4 were under the age of 10) and not a whiner in the midst! Sam and Joe made some great friends over the past 3 weeks and solidified friendships that had already taken root. They both took part leading small groups plus Joe took a teaching element one day and Sam was in charge of the younger children’s games with Abbi, another team member. I was constantly amazed as I watched the boys work clearly within their areas of God given strength; Sam in one on one relationships, talking deeply and richly with individual younger children, and Joe with the oldest kids, or the adults working for the ministry, hanging out, shooting the breeze.

Trip Highlight: Watching our young team members rise to the occasion and step up to the plate to share God’s love in a completely foreign community, language barrier and all. I am so proud of our team kids!
Trip challenge: Jenna had to fly home about a week before our trip ended. She was Sam and Joe’s best friend here and saying goodbye was emotional and hard. They miss her GREATLY! (as do I). ‘Good-bye’ seems to be our middle name lately…Jehovah knows.

Finally- THANK YOU for the prayers! We had a safe journey, my car still runs (although it’s going in for a bit of work), God blessed the ministry efforts and we are different for having gone. Your prayers sustained me through the exhaustion of the drive, the frustrations of inefficient governments and the bleary-eyed early mornings after another stormy night in a tent (that’s right- we slept in tents 18 of the 20 nights…in the rain…but for those of you who know me, the rain and tent camping are 2 of my favorite things so I was in heaven…just tired.)

New prayer request: I came home to a broken computer and the internet is, ONCE AGAIN, down. Thank God for Tom and Patty who live a few doors down and whose internet is working just fine! Tylyn is trying, long distance, to work me through the computer issues.

Dec. 23rd was about 98 degrees here. Hot and humid! Marsha Harmon (my old ministry partner and spiritual twin, from San Diego) is visiting for a few days so we put up a tree, did some baking and tried to create some holiday cheer…we were successful…but it still seems weird to be drinking lemonade and fanning myself on the back porch as the boys are watching Chevy Chases’ Christmas Vacation with the indoor fans at full power! Christmas in Africa is an upside down experience. Commercailism is incredibly low. Everybody goes to church on Christmas morning and it’s easier to focus on the real meaning of Christmas. Still, there’s no Christmas like a Christmas spent with your family… next year…next year. ☺