Find rest, O my soul, in God alone

If woke up at 5:45 this morning with a very sick stomach... it was awful. I was so uncomfortable and on edge. We don't have running water, so I had to get a bucket, fill it with the water from the hose next door and poor it in the tank to flush... this also means bottled water for brushing teeth, and borrowing showers next door. In all the craziness of the morning, Paige (a wonderful staff member) said to me, "Well, this is giving us a perspective on how our kids live." It's so true. These orphans fetch water multiple times a day and for some of them, if they don't get back on time, they are beaten because of it. It's a harsh reality. I got to camp today feeling pretty awful. One of the Zambians, Noah, spoke healing over me and told me that the words, "I am healed" need to come out of my mouth a lot today. Well, when a Zambian prays for you, you know the favor of the Lord is upon you. Even though I was uncomfortable all day and couldn't real...

I promised I would write about my day today. This will be short compared to the others, but since it's my second post in one day, I figured I could get some slack :). Today was a brand new day for me. in the several weeks I've been here, I haven't been able to have a group, so going to camp and sitting down with my evangelist was amazing. Also, MY MOM IS HERE!! You can just imagine how wonderful that can be. We arrive at camp today and I immediately am asked to help organize groups. I didn't even have time to look for my boys because I was finding Americans and helping to assign groups. In the chaos of the morning, I looked up to see one of my Mapode boys just smiling and trying to get my attention. I drop everything, toss my camera to Kelsey, one of the summer staff girls, and run to my boys. 5 of the little guys come running toward me and it was amazing. I just scooped each of them up and squeezed so hard. We all couldn't stop smiling. I sent my evangelist o...

Man. I am beat. I just feel so worn out and exhausted tonight. Today was the first day of my week with a group. My boys from Mapode (a very very corrupt school in one of the compounds) came back this week. But before I get to that, I must tell you about this past weekend. I signed up to go on a Fathers Heart trip (i.e. go visit my sponsored kid at his house, bring him food and lots of goodies) for one Saturday while I'm here. well Katy, Patty (her mom), Ricky (a friend) and I went out into the communities after buying lots and lots of food. I was so excited to see my sponsored boy Ackson and his family. We had two areas to visit, and they were a little bit away from each other so with 5 food drops, we knew it would be a long day. We got on the bus later than usual and realized that we didn't have enough fuel to drive that day. Our bus driver apologized, but Katy and I were still pretty upset that the bus wasn't prepared before the trip began. Getting fuel pushed us pas...

I can't believe it's the end of week 7...I only have 2 weeks left. It's crazy how fast it flies by. The other day, Andrew asked me how long you have to be in a place to say you lived there. I think it's an interesting thing to consider. Personally, I think once you establish a routine and stop counting days, you can say you live there.  So, I'm claiming now (since I have a routine and I don't count the days--which is why it goes by so fast) that I have lived in Zambia. And it's amazing. I wish I could stop time though--its going by way too fast. This week I was able to visit and audit all the LCA's. One day a piece. I had reeeeally long days, but it was such a blessing to meet all the teachers and to see how school is run day to day. I felt a little too official with my laptop during observations, but it was great to see the strengths and weaknesses at each. Most of the teachers are so sweet and they care so much about the children--some walk 3 hours...

"The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you" Psalm 9:9-10 "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18:2 Yesterday was a tough day for me. I woke up, got dressed, had breakfast, went to camp, stacked chairs, lined up kids, ran around getting Americans assigned to their kids, helped get bead necklaces, danced up top to help the Americans with the songs, ate lunch, danced some more, laid on a white table waiting for the end of the day, and walked to the hill for worship. Around the time of laying on the table, I started to feel very convicted. my day was full of running here and there, doing this and that, helping here and helping there (which is my job on summer staff), but I did all these things without a servants h...

The Lord is incredible. My heart truly connects to these schools and these children. This past Tuesday we officially opened the Tree of Life school. Cynthia, one of the Americans here who is helping the Zambians cook our meals, came with me all day to help the teachers get their classrooms in pristine condition. She's also a teacher so we worked on these classrooms as if they were ours. It was amazing--the posters, the color, the desks, dry erase boards, name tags, etc. We were extremely dirty and cold by the end of the day though. :) The students were told to have their uniforms on by 1400 (2pm) so we could be ready for the video crew to come film. We went down to check on them and Cynthia ended up staying down on the house side of the Tree of Life, while I went to stay with the teachers. We took some pictures and waited for the kids to get ready. Greer drove up, we met Enoch the Department Head of Education here in Zambia and I told him how hard these teachers had been ...

So quite a lot has happened in the past couple of days.. the LORD is soooo very good. Sunday morning, we woke up ready to go to Zambian church! It’s incredible how these people truly worship with everything they have… there is SO much faith all around us, it’s incredible. Uncle Teddy came to talk to us about John 9:3-4 when Jesus said, “This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me.” It was a powerful message delivered by the head of the discipleship leaders. I was moved to look at every single day as a new day with a new task that God has for me. Greer told us about how his dad used to pray every morning and ask God, “What is my assignment today?” I was convicted, because so many times I am living with the future in mind—planning, adjusting, learning, and directing my life in such a way so that my future would pan out. BUT rarely do I see each day as an important day holding an important task fro...

"But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace." Proverbs 37:11 Well, I made it, and it's amazing... my heart truly beats when I'm here. So yesterday we arrived in Lusaka around 6:15 am. After going through customs and getting on the bus with the other camplifers, we arrived at the summer staff villa 38. I assumed after so many hours of traveling, that I would be allowed to rest in the villa for the day. Well, we were informed that the classrooms at the Tree of Life school were being decorated and set up today. It took less than a second to decide if we would go or rest. On the way out to the Tree of Life, I talked with Kathryn about the school, the kids, and what she has found out while she's been here. (Kathryn will be joining me on staff next summer and will live in Zambia to do education with me) She's been here a month and has spent most of her time with the schools.  She debriefed me a little on the way out to the Tree of Life so I c...