Update on Denmark VBS

Now that our movie making days are over, we are very proud to announce that Denmark First Baptist collected $1400.00 at their VBS a couple of weeks ago to go towards ministry work in Zambia. Thank you to all the generous kids and adults who graciously gave to the people of Zambia. Last year, they collected $425 which was used this year for buying food for a starving village, helping an orphan school with school supplies and food, and sending a teenager to school for one year. They have given us a big challenge this coming year, but we feel confident that the Lord is preparing the opportunities for us to meet those needs. Here is the last video we sent to Denmark FBC during their commencement service. In the video, you will see how the money was spent from last year.



Way to go Denmark FBC! Thank you very much!

We're BACK!

We are back from Jo'burg, and Kelsey has returned from Chongwe. She had a blast with the Rodgers Family, and we appreciate so much them helping us with her while we were away. I think she had more fun than we did, as you can see from the pictures of her and Hannah with their baby dolls strapped to their backs - just like the Zambians do.

One doctor that we had to see while in Joburg was about an hour away from the guest house. Our appointment was at 9am, so we left early Saturday morning to make our way to this appointment. We had not eaten breakfast, but had figured we would eat closer to the place where we had to go. Once we arrived at the exit, we could see a McDonald's just beside a gas station. In South Africa, the eating places off the interstates are called "oasis" so you just pull off the interstate and go on the oasis for gas or eating. Well, we didn't realize until we were on the oasis, that we could not get back on our road, we had to get back on the interstate, going back the way we came from. So, a learning experience here as we travelled back the way we came, in order to get off at the next exit to make our turn around. That being said, once we arrived at the doctor's home (a lot of doctors work out of their homes) the secretary came out to inform us the doctor had gone to a conference for the day, and would not be able to meet with us that day. What a shocker! We had planned this appointment specifically for our trip to Joburg, but there was nothing we could do. We had driven an hour to see this doctor, and now we find out that she wasn't there. Shame! But, the good news was that gave us more time for shopping, since we were behind on our shopping list and this was our last day in Joburg. We were so excited that we were getting some extra time to shop that we assumed we knew the way back to town. Wrong! We mistakenly took an exit to the south of Joburg about 30 km outside the city. We began to see open farm land and COMPOUNDS, and this clued us that we were going the wrong direction. Once we arrived at a toll booth, we stopped and asked someone how to get back, and they told us we needed to turn around and go back the way we came. After turning around and trying to make our way back, we ended up downtown Joburg, I mean amongst the skyscrapers. OMG! Finally, Ricky recognized a road that he had been on before, so we took that exit, and pulled over to call for help. The only person we had a number for was Jane (our BIMS nurse), and luckily, she was able to get us back to the guest house. Unfortunately, we wasted 3 hours of driving around Joburg for nothing. At least we got to see the compounds... we were wondering where they were since Joburg doesn't look like most of Africa. Next time, we will ask for a GPS before we go to the unknown.

All in all, we had a good time in Joburg, but we were very rushed with all the doctors appointments to do and get some shopping in as well. You would not believe how expensive Lusaka is compared to South Africa. We had to buy Kelsey a lot of clothes since she has grown so much since we arrived in October 2007. We have a Mr. Price clothing store in Lusaka, so we took Kelsey and tried on clothes in order to get her sizes. Then, we went to a Mr. Price in Joburg and purchased her a new wardrobe. The same shirts that cost $20 in Lusaka, cost only $4 in Joburg. She was so happy to see all her new clothes. The boys also got some new duds. We also buy food and medicine there too since it is less expensive.

We almost always have airline trouble going to or from Zambia. We know from experience now to wrap our luggage in shrink wrap and to lock all our bags before putting our bags through Johannesburg Airport. Theft is very common at this airport, and so we were prepared this time in leaving Joburg. Once we arrived in Lusaka, we noticed none of our luggage came on the plane, and we were not alone. There were 40 pieces of luggage that mistakenly went to Harare, Zimbabwe instead of Lusaka, Zambia. We're not sure how this happened, but we had to go back to the airport today (Monday) to get all our luggage. Thankfully, it all came in one piece, and nothing was broken into.

We are glad to be back home in Zambia!

From Johannesburg

We have been in Johannesburg since Tuesday morning... well, at least four of us have. Kelsey stayed in Zambia to run the guest house (Just kidding). She's spending this week with the Rodgers family in Chongwe. Ricky had the first doctor's appointment at the dentist on Tuesday, and everything is fine with him. Niki went to the doctor on Wednesday, and other than some dry skin and a few ringworms, she is doing fine. Today we had a free day, so we took advantage of some shopping. It is nice to be in a country where you can find clothes that are not too expensive. Lusaka has really become an expensive place to live. We have 2 more appointments for Austin and then we will return to Zambia on Sunday.

Unfortunately, we forgot the memory stick in the camera, so we will not have any pictures from Johannesburg this time. We are enjoying eating out at the many choices of restaurants - especially McDonald's. This morning for breakfast Ricky had a double cheeseburger and an apple pie. Yes, they do that in South Africa! We will post again once back in Zambia.

Making Movies

For the past few days we have been making some videos of our children to send back home to Denmark First Baptist for their VBS week. Denmark FBC raised money last year for some ministries in Zambia, and we are giving them reports on where their money was spent. We have a few more videos to produce that we are working on, but I would like to show the kids' movies that were made this week. They did such a great job telling others about their life here in Zambia. Thanks Denmark FBC for all you do in supporting missionaries like us.

Wonder Woman!

And the princesses too!

World Child Care

Today we went to a poor compound in Lusaka called Mutendere East. We went with some friends, Mr. Phiri and Mr. Felix, to visit a school called World Child Care. This school was started by the singing group, Amazing Voices, which I have posted videos before. The group decided to give back to the community by starting a school for orphaned and vulnerable children in Lusaka. Mr. Phiri is the leader of Amazing Voices, and I have been trying to help him with promoting this school via internet. They had produced a documentary about their school on DVD and I have been trying to upload it to YouTube, but I am having some difficulties. (If anyone can help me with this upload, please email me at cook@bmoz.org)

So, we arrived at the school during the morning session. The school is currently located in a rented house with 2 rooms. One room is about 8 ft. by 15 ft. and the other about 10' by 10'. They use both rooms during the day as classrooms for the children. There is only grass mats on the dirt floor and a few benches for sitting. The volunteer teachers have the morning session from 8-12 and then another session from 12-4. Previously, at the church they were using, they had sometimes 300 students, but now that they have such a smaller space, they have to turn children away. Today there were about 60-65 children in this house for the morning session. The childrens ages range from 4 years old to 11 years old, and most of them are double orphaned, which means they lost both parents (maybe to AIDS or something else). Some of them have at least one parent, and others have parents, but cannot afford to go to school. The government schools in Lusaka are too expensive for a lot of children to attend. World Child Care has just been registered with the government, but because they are not funded by the government, they do not receive much, if any, school materials.

Upon arrival, the kids loudly sang to us... "Hello, Welcome to our school!" We got to talk with the children asking questions about their life and school. Ricky spoke with one group while Niki spoke to the other. And then Coby read a Bible story for the children. We sang a few more songs, and then while we talked with the teacher and Mr. Phiri, Coby & Kelsey began playing soccer with the kids. Before we left, we presented the school with a gift from Denmark FBC. Their VBS 2007 offering will be used to help provide books, materials, supplies, and even food for the students at World Child Care. They were very appreciative of the gift, and we intend to go back and volunteer in the school, maybe helping the teachers with lessons, and just being an encouragement for these children.

Below is a photo of Mutendere East as far as the eye can see. It is a compound having more than 5000 people in just a small area.

Snaggle Tooth

In the past 3 days Kelsey has lost 2 teeth - one on the bottom, and one on the top. The one on the top has been crooked for a while trying to make its way out with the help of the tooth behind it, and finally this morning while taking her medicine, it just fell right out. Check out the before and after pictures.

Before...

After...

Finally, Part 2 Video Lower Zambezi

Finally, the video has uploaded, and you can see the continuation of our trip to Lower Zambezi. This video features the many hippos we saw, and the big crocodiles, plus an awesome sunset over the Zambezi River.

Happy 4th of July

It has finally warmed up a little bit here in Lusaka. Today it was 79 degrees outside in the sun. This morning Austin found a snake skin behind one of the guest houses. It seems to be a spitting cobra about 6-7 feet long. We have just had a huge pile of trash compost removed from that area, and so our guess is that the cobra was living in the brush pile. Yikes! We'll be more careful walking around at night!

Tonight we celebrated the 4th with our mission family. We had an All-American cook-out with hamburgers and the works. After we were all stuffed, we played our favorite card game "Hand and Foot". Kelsey was excited that Hannah was here for the night, and they plan on having breakfast in the morning.

Technical Difficulties

I have been trying to upload our 2nd video of our trip to Lower Zambezi, but apparantly I am having some technical difficulties. Sorry! We are having internet problems as well so I am lucky to be getting this blog out today.

Instead of posting Part 2 of Lower Zambezi, I have decided to post an older video that I promised I would put on the blog. This video was taken during our trip back in April to South Luangwa, and it features 2 impala fighting. You can read more about impalas here: http://www.africanwildlifeguide.com/species-guide/mammals/antelope/impala

Enjoy the video!!!