Here's your sign

I love to look at signs when I'm traveling. I get a laugh at some. I question others. Here are a few signs we saw on our trip to the eastern province.

Kelsey's 7th Birthday

Happy Birthday to our sweet 7 year old. And a birthday in Zambia... what could be better?!

Our morning began with a large stack of pancakes topped with candles. Hannah had spent the night, so she and Kelsey gobbled up those pancakes so they could get busy playing together. Then, at 10am some more friends came over for some playtime. I made a Cocoa-Cola Cake for all to enjoy.

For dinner, Kelsey chose Rhapsody's, a local restaurant at the mall. Before we could go out, daddy needed a hair cut. So, Kelsey took hold of the clippers and went for it. Watch Out!

WOW, how she's grown in just one year.

Hippos and more...

Hippos

Crowning Crane

Impala

These 2 impala are fighting. I have a long video of this that I might blog about later.

Waterbuck

Okay, so we got a little carried away with naming all the animals. As you have already seen, we had the Walmart Elephant and Geoffrey the Toys'r'us Giraffe. Now, meet the 'Ipod' of Hippos, the 'Burger King' Crowning Crane, the 'McDonalds' Impala, and the 'Target' Waterbuck.

Check out this short video of one lonely hippo doing a flip in the water!

We also saw a monitor lizard, but he didn't get a special name. And whenever we saw the warthog, we would sing together, "When I was a young wart-hog!"

Geoffrey the Giraffe

We saw lots of giraffe. This one was a little hard to spot since he's sitting down.

This giraffe was eating when we spotted him. It was amazing to see how he grabbed the branches with his tongue and pulled it into his mouth.

We were driving back to the Wilderness Camp when the kids saw all these giraffes together. We counted up to 14, but we think there were more.

We all said that we could sit all day and watch these creatures. They became known as the Toys'r'us giraffe since we were thinking of names from America.

Zebras

When you think of Africa, most people think of Zebra. They are the most unique animal to me. About half-way during our night drive as the sun was setting, our driver pulled up on the bank of the old river bed. There were 20-30 Zebra grazing near us. This is where we had our snack (Coke) and took some pictures and video. The zebra were doing what they call "dusting." All of them get in circle and one zebra gets in the middle and rolls around in the dirt. Then, when that guys finished, the next one takes his turn. They circle around to protect the one in the middle.

Doesn't this baby zebra look so cute? I think this one zebra who has her head turned is saying, "Do my stripes make my backside look big?" It's got to be a woman zebra, right?! Question of the day: Is the zebra white with black stripes or black with white stripes? If you answered white with black stripes, that is the true African Zebra!

Jesus Film

On Friday and Saturday nights we set up the cinema screen to show the Jesus Film in the native language of Chinyanja. It has been a while since I have seen this film, and to see it (and hear it) in a different language was really nice. The first night we estimate about 600-800 people were there. By there, I mean the local soccer field. Not a soccer stadium, but just a field in the village where everyone plays soccer (excuse me, football).

During the day, the men would go out in the village distributing flyers which advertised the showing of the film. By Saturday night, after word had spread, we can only guess there must have been over 1000 people in attendance. And most people STAND during the whole film. We brought our camping chairs, but all the adults stood and some of the children sat on the ground.

The first night we arrived early in the evening before the sun set. This gave the guys time to set up the screen and DVD player (which was run by generator). During this pre-show time, Coby and Kelsey drew a crowd - a rather large crowd. They had already made a few friends earlier in the day at the home of the church's leader. But now it was a lot of kids hanging around them. They enjoyed the attention at first, but then after the movie began it became quite bothersome to them. They wanted to sit and watch the movie, but the kids would not leave them alone. Finally, they were exhausted so I put all 3 of them in the car to sleep until the movie was over.

Coby was quite the entertainer (no surprise!) at the home of the church leader. He and Kelsey played games with the children, and then he gathered them all around and told them how to become a Christian. We were so proud of him and his boldness to share. He invited them all to see the Jesus Film that evening.

The second night we arrived to set-up and found a soccer game going on. We had to wait for them to finish their game before we could begin setting up. During this wait time, Lindy told some Bible stories and we sang some songs with them.

At the invitation time on both nights, many came forward, so many we couldn't count. The following days were spent going around the village asking people who made decisions. We asked those who made a decision to meet at the church the next morning, and we had 4 come to be saved. The others made professions of faith at their homes when the leaders visited them. All in all we had about 125 salvations during this trip. It is hard to know just how many made decisions to be born-again, but God knows. Please pray for the ones who came forward.

Cropping Ladies Group

Our days were filled with a ladies Bible study, hut-to-hut evangelism, and meeting with the leaders of Cropping Baptist Church.

Kelsey and I attended the ladies group where Lee Shaw, a fellow missionary, presented the Creation to Christ story. There were approximately 8-10 ladies, plus lots of children. Four women sang for the group, babies attached and all.

Kelsey and I took on the duty of keeping the kids occupied while their mothers listened. This one little fellow, Andre, took a liking to me, but he didn't want to be held for too long. He enjoyed getting down in the dirt and crawling. I would guess he was 8-9 months old cause he couldn't quite walk yet. As he was crawling around underneath me, he noticed my red toenails, and he was quite mesmerized.

I had told Kelsey that we might play some games with the kids while the women were learning. At first, I thought it may be a distraction more than a help to take the kids to the side. But Kelsey was determined to play with the kids. She went to the car and picked out her Disney Princess book. I told her to go around the outside of the hut so the women would not be distracted. Soon the other kids found her and they began looking at the pictures in the book. I sat down and began talking with the children about the things they were seeing in the book. Many of them just wanted to speak English, so we were pointing to items in the book, and I would say the English and they would repeat. Then, they would teach me the word in their language (Chinyanja).

The Walmart Elephant

On our night drive we didn't see the first elephant. Since being in Africa since October, we have not seen any elephants, and we were starting to wonder whether they even had elephants in Zambia.
So, the next morning the Howards took us back into the park for a morning drive. Ricky was very doubtful that we would see an elephant. Finally, there appeared one lonely elephant near our path. Because there was only one, Ricky joked that our friends must have purchased that elephant from Walmart and placed it where we would be driving, so as to convince Ricky there were elephants in Zambia. We joked about the Walmart elephant the whole morning, until near the end of our drive, we came upon a herd of elephants from babies to big daddies. We just sat in awe at their beauty and grandness.
So, now Ricky believes there ARE elephants in Zambia, and they didn't come from Walmart!

Night Drive

The first night we arrived at the Wilderness Camp we went on a night drive. The drive began at 4pm and lasted until 8pm. Once it got dark around 6pm, we began looking for the 'cats'. We were hoping to see a leopard, but instead we were very fortunate to find 4 generations of lions. Our driver had to go off-road to find them, but it was so worth it! There were baby cubs, young lions, mother lions. And then we moved in with the other game vehicles to gaze upon the male lion taking it easy on a cliff. It was almost as if he knew we were all taking photos. He sat and posed for all of us, and then as we were driving away he laid his head down.

Traveling Adventures

After visiting with the Phiri family, we stopped in at the 40/40 farm to eat lunch. We visited a little with the Sprayberry's and the Keeton's who were setting up for the training. After this we headed on to Chipata. From Chipata it is 120km to South Luangwa, however, it is mostly dirt road, so it took about 3 hours to go that short distance. Along the way we see many children waving at the "white" people. We passed several small villages and some of the churches that were started by our mission several years ago in this area.

It was a beautiful drive seeing all the mountains and valleys around us. Once we got to the top of the mountain, we could look out over the Luangwa valley seeing the river as well. It was a very BUMPY trip, we called ourselves the "Bobblehead Family" since our heads were bobbing everywhere. The kids didn't even sleep on the way, partly because of the roads. Imagine all 3 kids in the backseat bouncing all over each other.

Road Trip & Naming a Baby

Destination: Cropping, South Luangwa, Zambia

The plan was to drive to Chipata where we would spend the night with the Helgren's before heading to the Wilderness Camp on Wednesday. On the way, we had to make a stop in Petauke. This is where we camped for 2 weeks during our 40/40 orientation training. We wanted to make a visit to our friend, Iwell Phiri, and his family. In particular, we were there to name their new baby born on March 19th. Iwell's wife, Ida, was pregnant during our time in Petauke back in November, and we prayed for this baby every day that he or she would be healthy. Iwell and Ida have 4 daughters, so Iwell really wanted a son. And so a son was born, and we (Ricky and I) were given the privilege of naming the son. Now, we have never been asked to name someone else's baby, but we have heard this is normal in this culture. We had known for a couple of weeks before our trip that we would have to come up with a name for this baby. We researched the internet on Biblical names and meanings, African names and meaning, etc. We had made a list... unfortunately, we left the list on the desk as we headed out the door. I began looking in the Bible as Ricky was driving, and as I turned to the book of Amos, I began reading about this "man of God" whose life was devoted to serving the Lord. He was a layperson, a humble shepherd, and trusted God in obedience by taking the message to Israel. This reminded both of us of Iwell and his willingness to serve the Lord as a humble farmer.

And so we arrived in Petauke to finally meet this baby whose name shall be "Amos Ricky Phiri". We had a sweet visit with the family. Iwell had been requesting a camera for his ministry work. He would like to take pictures in order to fund his radio ministry in Petauke. It turned out that we had been given a camera from our pastor friend before we came on the field, and we felt Iwell would benefit from having this camera to use for ministry. (Thanks, Andy!) And so after naming the baby and giving the gift of the camera, we were also given a couple of gifts - a big sack of ground nuts (peanuts) and a LIVE rooster! WOW! What are we going to do with a rooster in the car from Petauke to Chipata? Luckily, he made it to Chipata and we left it with the Helgren's as thanks for letting us stay with them.











We had a wonderful time with the Helgren's and appreciated their hospitality for the night. The kids enjoyed playing with Lily, Easton, and Lauren, and the dogs!
After breakfast the next morning, it was time to drive again. Stay tuned for more!

Muffy & JR

JR (above) and Muffy (below)

These are our neighbors Jack Russells. Austin took these pictures. The kids like to throw ball to the dogs and play with them.

The CAT - Isabelle

Normally, she sleeps on her pillow. But she found this duffle bag on top of one of the trunks outside, and she made it her bed for a few days.

Gross! This is one of Isabelle's mice killings. She catches at least one a week, and brings them to our door to show off her treasure.

This is where she sits watching the mice run along the fence. And then she goes for the attack!

She's waiting for the right time!

This is my favorite picture (courtesy of Austin, the photographer). Isabelle had just caught this mouse. She usually plays with them before she eats them.

Service Awards

During our AMTM 2008 we recognized those in our Southern Section of Africa who have served 5 or more years with the IMB. Our missionaries in Zambia were well decorated this week.

Melissa Frady - 5 years - also pictured: Sky & Daniel Scott

Melissa serves in Mongu on the Upper Zambezi Team

James & Songja Pack - 5 years - also pictured: Paula & Franklin Kilpatrick
The Packs serve at the Baptist Theological Seminary on the Greater Lusaka Area Team

Jack & Judi Sprayberry - 5 years - also pictured: Suzie & Kevin Rodgers
The Sprayberry's serve as 40/40 Logistics Coordinators & with the Mkushi Farm Block

Kevin, Suzie, Hannah, Justin, & Zach Rodgers - 10 years

The Rodgers serve as church planters and 40/40 directors on the Eastern Harvest Team

Mike & Lindy Howard - 20 years - also pictured: David & Janet Hooten

The Howards serve as the Strategy Facilitator and on the Eastern Harvest Team

John McPherson - 25 years - also pictured: Kevin & Suzie Rodgers

John serves at the Baptist Theological Seminary & on the Eastern Harvest Team

Ed & Linda Miller - 30 years - also pictured: Grace & Daniel Kim

The Millers serve in Kitwe on the Copperbelt Evangelism Team

They will retire this year after serving all those 30 years in Kitwe, Zambia

to the Edge 08

That was the theme for our Southern Sectional Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa from March 24-29, 2008. The following are the highlights of our time together with 450 missionaries in the Southern Section of Africa. Enjoy the picture of our Zambia Family!

Psalm 67

May God be gracious to us, and bless us, and make His face shine upon us, that Your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise You, O God; may all the peoples praise You. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. May the people praise You, O God; may all the peoples praise You. Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear Him. (NIV)

We began each morning with music/worship from a team in the States at WestHills Church. Robby Hurd (team leader, guitar player, vocalist, and lead worshipper) along with Josh Harrison (electric guitarist), Collin Ray (drummer), and Greg Chapman (bass player) lead our worship and praise music and did an excellent job.

We were blessed to have 36 volunteers from Columbia, Tennessee come and share their gifts and talents with over 100 MK's for the week.

Leading our mentoring sessions was a long time supporter and participant in mission adventures, Dr. Al Jackson, pastor of Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, Alabama. He was a great encouragement for us and our cluster as we learned more about being a mentor and being mentored.

And last, but certainly not least, our main speaker, the "VP of the World", Dr. Gordon Fort, let God speak from his heart into our lives, and the Spirit was truly in this place. What a privilege it was to hear what God is doing in and around the world. Gordon grew up in Zimbabwe as an MK, and married a journeyman from Bophuthatswana. They were career missionaries in Botswana and Zimbabwe, and now Gordon serves as VP of Overseas Operations of the IMB. I can't describe the closeness we all felt to God. It was a powerful week!

During the week we had all kinds of meetings and we hardly ever saw our kids except for leaving the room for breakfast and tucking them in at night. They had a blast just being with other MK's and getting loved on by the volunteer team from the States. Oh, and they brought goodie bags for all the MK's. Austin, Coby, and Kelsey received Dr. Peppers, Cheez Grips, Pop Tarts, Fire balls, and lots more during the week. Not much of those goodies were left-over to make the trip back to Zambia!

The hotel we stayed at was very plush -- not what I expected to see in Africa, but this is Jo'burg and everything here is just like America. You don't feel as if you're even in Africa. I didn't sleep very well, but it was nice nonetheless.

My afterthoughts of this meeting: a spiritual refreshment and a desire to come back home to Zambia and sow the seeds of the gospel among our people group. I first, and foremost, had to get on my knees and pour my heart out to God. There is something about kneeling before the Lord which causes our hearts to bend to His will. Then, my priority was to become connected to the Vine, to be with Christ. And then I had to remove all hindrances from my vision of seeing the glorious face of my Savior. I have thanked God for this time and put Him in charge of my life and my ministry. He has brought me and my family to these people so He can do a miracle that will cause our mouths to drop open and praise Him. We are not the Savior, Jesus is. He knows what He is doing.

We're Back!

I am too tired to write a blog tonight, but I wanted everyone to know that we are back from our Annual Missionary Training Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa. We had a wonderful time meeting 450 fellow missionaries who were at the conference, and getting refreshed from the Word of God. More to come on this...
While in Jo'burg, we were able to visit a "few" doctors to get reports on all our health needs. We owe Denise, our BIMS nurse, a BIG Thanks for spending a total of 23 hours over the 2 days with us at doctors appointments. We could not have done all we did without her help.
We were able to squeeze in some shopping at the nearest mall, where the kids enjoyed spending all their savings from Christmas, Birthdays, Easter, etc. And, of course, we ate at every restaurant NOT in Zambia - like KFC, Spur, and McDonald's. Oh, it was so good, but I can hear the gym calling my name.
More blogging to come... stay tuned!