So it's been a couple days since i got on here and updated ya'll. So i'll fill you in but try to not get too lengthy.
First off, I must just say that I serve an AWESOME God. I am so amazed that He chose me and brought me all the way here to Zambia. I am greatly enjoying my time here but it has not been free of some frustrations. Let me first bring you up today in Zambia and then i'd just like to share a few prayer requests at the end that I would ask you to pray for as you remember me here in Africa!
I left off with arriving in Zambia on Saturday evening. I did get some sleep that night. Sunday morning our group of 18 was broken up into 3 groups. Each group went to one of 3 local Wesleyan churches. I thought this was really great because we will stay at the church we went to the first Sunday for the remainder of our stay and will be able to get invovled in a local church and the people that attend there. The smaller groups make it much easier for all of us to get involved. The church that I attend is called Muche Papa. You will have to pardon my spelling as I am just trying to spell it how it sounds but i'm sure it isn't correct, but then again you won't know either. :) The church service started at 9 with Sunday School and then around 10the main service started. The service went til 12:30, but I really enjoyed it. It was very refreshing to see the worship of God's people here in Zambia. I will share just a few highlights from that service. That Sunday was communion Sunday for the church I attended. It was really much like communion at my home church. The Pastor talked about the importance of communion and read from the Word about it and then the bread and cups were passed out to the congregation. After communion we sang a few songs. Most of them were in Tonga, a native language here, but the voices of the Zambians all raised together in praise to God was beautiful. One last thing I will share about the service was a time of corporate prayer. This was very different from anything i've experienced in the States but it was special time. The choir began a song and as they sang people would break out into prayer to God lifting their voices aloud to Him. Soon all the Zambians, inclucing the children, in the church were praying aloud to God, shouting their cries out to Him. It was amazing to hear them cryign to God and know that He heard everyone of them. The time of prayer was closed with a song. After church we came back to the guest house and when the other two groups returned we ate lunch together. We had a little free time in the afternoon and then some training sessions with our professors and some of the staff here.
Monday I woke up still tired but excited for the day. Monday was the day we were able to go into the town of Choma and see the stores and market place. one thing they have tried to stress to us here is that the Zambians are not focused so much on when seomthing will happen but that the event will happen sometime that day. So i learned this on Monday morning. We were supposed to leave in 3 groups to go into town at 9, but 9 soon turned to 10 and then 10:30. I decided at 9:20 that i would just get my history reading and work on that so that i would accomplish something instead of just sitting and waiting, which helped a lot. We finally did get into town and my group walked around with Beth Waters, an american missionary who works with World Hope here. She has been here in Zambia for 2 years so she was able to tell us all the good places to go and where we could find things in the town. It was a different experience going through the town for sure. It was very crowded, people just everywhere. But they were all very friendly. Beth just encouraged us to smile and say hello if someone was looking at us and the minute we did we got a big smile in return. The people here are just beautiful and were so friendly. They take time to greet each other and ask how each other is before just asking whatever they need to ask. The greeting is very important to Zambians. They don't want to just discuss things if they haven't greeted you properly. In the town we got our money exchanged and then i bought two designs of fabric. The one i had made into a chitenge, a traditional multi-purpose peice of cloth that is worn and used by Zambian women. The other material I payed a woman to make me two purses/bags from. The rest of the day Monday we had some more sessions and a little free time.
Tuesday was a day filled with session after session it seemed like. We did start classes finally, but didn't do much besides talk about what will be expected and what projects and papers we will have for each class. We also had another session with Debbie, a worker with WHI in the US, where she helped us to think about all the changes we are and will be experiencing during our time here. Tuesday night i did not sleep well at all. I had a horrible headache. i was able to get a few hours so that was good.
First off, I must just say that I serve an AWESOME God. I am so amazed that He chose me and brought me all the way here to Zambia. I am greatly enjoying my time here but it has not been free of some frustrations. Let me first bring you up today in Zambia and then i'd just like to share a few prayer requests at the end that I would ask you to pray for as you remember me here in Africa!
I left off with arriving in Zambia on Saturday evening. I did get some sleep that night. Sunday morning our group of 18 was broken up into 3 groups. Each group went to one of 3 local Wesleyan churches. I thought this was really great because we will stay at the church we went to the first Sunday for the remainder of our stay and will be able to get invovled in a local church and the people that attend there. The smaller groups make it much easier for all of us to get involved. The church that I attend is called Muche Papa. You will have to pardon my spelling as I am just trying to spell it how it sounds but i'm sure it isn't correct, but then again you won't know either. :) The church service started at 9 with Sunday School and then around 10the main service started. The service went til 12:30, but I really enjoyed it. It was very refreshing to see the worship of God's people here in Zambia. I will share just a few highlights from that service. That Sunday was communion Sunday for the church I attended. It was really much like communion at my home church. The Pastor talked about the importance of communion and read from the Word about it and then the bread and cups were passed out to the congregation. After communion we sang a few songs. Most of them were in Tonga, a native language here, but the voices of the Zambians all raised together in praise to God was beautiful. One last thing I will share about the service was a time of corporate prayer. This was very different from anything i've experienced in the States but it was special time. The choir began a song and as they sang people would break out into prayer to God lifting their voices aloud to Him. Soon all the Zambians, inclucing the children, in the church were praying aloud to God, shouting their cries out to Him. It was amazing to hear them cryign to God and know that He heard everyone of them. The time of prayer was closed with a song. After church we came back to the guest house and when the other two groups returned we ate lunch together. We had a little free time in the afternoon and then some training sessions with our professors and some of the staff here.
Monday I woke up still tired but excited for the day. Monday was the day we were able to go into the town of Choma and see the stores and market place. one thing they have tried to stress to us here is that the Zambians are not focused so much on when seomthing will happen but that the event will happen sometime that day. So i learned this on Monday morning. We were supposed to leave in 3 groups to go into town at 9, but 9 soon turned to 10 and then 10:30. I decided at 9:20 that i would just get my history reading and work on that so that i would accomplish something instead of just sitting and waiting, which helped a lot. We finally did get into town and my group walked around with Beth Waters, an american missionary who works with World Hope here. She has been here in Zambia for 2 years so she was able to tell us all the good places to go and where we could find things in the town. It was a different experience going through the town for sure. It was very crowded, people just everywhere. But they were all very friendly. Beth just encouraged us to smile and say hello if someone was looking at us and the minute we did we got a big smile in return. The people here are just beautiful and were so friendly. They take time to greet each other and ask how each other is before just asking whatever they need to ask. The greeting is very important to Zambians. They don't want to just discuss things if they haven't greeted you properly. In the town we got our money exchanged and then i bought two designs of fabric. The one i had made into a chitenge, a traditional multi-purpose peice of cloth that is worn and used by Zambian women. The other material I payed a woman to make me two purses/bags from. The rest of the day Monday we had some more sessions and a little free time.
Tuesday was a day filled with session after session it seemed like. We did start classes finally, but didn't do much besides talk about what will be expected and what projects and papers we will have for each class. We also had another session with Debbie, a worker with WHI in the US, where she helped us to think about all the changes we are and will be experiencing during our time here. Tuesday night i did not sleep well at all. I had a horrible headache. i was able to get a few hours so that was good.
So that brings me to today, Wednesday. This morning we had breakfast at 8. I had some pancakes and a hard-boiled egg. At 8:30 our team joined the World Hope Zambia staff for their weekly devotions. We had time to sing and pray together, as well as hear a devotion from one of the staff members. At 9:30 the devotion time ended and we had a half hour to relax before another training session with Debbie. That lasted til 12:15, and we had another small chunk of time to relax before lunch at 1. I took a short nap before lunch. For lunch we had rice, chicken, and peas and carrots. It was really good. All of the food here has been really good. I will try to get more pictures of some of our meals so you can all see how well they are feeding us here! It really is great. So now i think you're all caught up. I'm going to lay down for a nap after this. And then we will have class at 3:30, dinner at 6 and a time to talk as a group at 7.
Some prayer requests for me right now would be:
1. Comfort from God as I am really really missing Kirk and my family.
2. Strength and energy to get through this week!
3. This is a big one right now...I have had a headace on and off since i left the States, but last night it was really bad, so bad that i couldn't sleep because of the intensity of the pain. I lay in bed, after getting some medicine and talking with one of our leaders, just praying and asking God to help it to subside. I finally did fall asleep for a few hours. When i woke up it wasn't there, but i can feel the pain kind of on the edge of my mind right now as I type. Please just pray that God would give me the rest that I need and that He would take this headache away or give me the grace to handle it.
Zambian Sunset on Sunday night!
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