one week down...and off to the bush!

hi, friends and family! :)

WOW - this has been such an amazing week. thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for our travels so far! these first few days have been incredibly hectic: last thursday morning (may 19th), brian ledwith, lucas kane, bryan carey, and i flew out from roanoke at 6am, making our way through dulles and jfk airports before noon. then, we hopped on a south african airline plane for a 15 hour joyride to johannesburg (except for lucas' front tooth falling out and zero sleep, it wasn't as bad as it sounds!). we arrived in south africa at 8:30 am local time (that's 1:30 am central) and ron barnard, our team leader and pastor at the dwelling place christian fellowship church up in virginia, met us at the gate to take us to a nearby hotel to meet up with the rest of the team. a 3-hour nap and a shower later, we went straight back to the airport to catch a night flight to lusaka, zambia. my favorite part of the trip thus far was when, as we were landing, a flight attendant literally announced, "it was a pleasure to serve you this evening. this is the end of the safest part of your journey. have a good night!"

things got interesting pretty quick! in lusaka, we waited for about an hour in a moderately sketchy airport to get visas and grab our checked baggage, but alas...mine didn't make it! fortunately, the rest of the team's did, and i had all i really needed in my carry-on (my glasses, passport, etc.). as ron reminds us often, TIA - "this is africa!"

from there, we piled into a bus that comfortably sat maybe 14 (there are 19 of us...that was fun) and set out for mongu, the capital of zambia's western province, on what was initially projected to be a 6-hour bus ride through the night. the ride was epic - i tried african cookies and juice for the first time (ain't bad), saw a strange racoon-dog-like creature scamper across the one-way road as we were driving through a wildlife preserve, and witnessed my first gorgeous african sunrise (a couple of us instinctively broke out into the first few lines of lion king's "the circle of life" - it was that amazing!). 9 hours later, we arrived in mongu at the missionaries' base, mutoya, and settled down into tents to succumb to jet-lag and sleep the rest of the day away. laying down horizontally never felt so wonderful!

the next day, the team and i got to attend hope church. a few others from the team and i helped out with "kids church" during the second Lozi-only service. i expected it to be moderately difficult since most of the kids only spoke lozi, but we actually had a great time - smiles, hugs, and twirling till you're too dizzy to stand up straight knows no language barriers! i learned from marinette later that i'd likely be helping with kids church during that service, so i'm thrilled that i got to meet a few of the kids already!

for the rest of this week, the ladies and i have been teaching lessons, making crafts, and playing soccer with the kids at the zambia project's orphan school, village of hope (VOH). the one-room schoolhouse is right here on the base, and they have two sessions: "tiny tots" and kindergarteners in the morning, first- and second-graders and the "R group" (newbies whose learning level hasn't yet been identified) in the afternoon. i'll likely be working with the main teachers - stephen, margaret, jason, and patricia - at VOH from monday through friday as well!

the kids at VOH are indescribable. many of them are orphans, although some have parents who are either out of the picture or just haven't put their children's welfare at the top of their priority list. many of their outfits have holes, stains, and torn off logos from constant wear, and their hands, feet, and clothing are caked with black sand. mosquitoes land in their hair, ants trek up and down their legs, flies congregate at the corners of their mouths and eyes, yet they laugh and scream and run and play as if they were princes and princesses - which they are.

in an hour or so, the team and 6 zambian translators are headed out to the bush to a little town called maicalupei (mike-a-loo-pay), which is about two hours away and 200 adults strong. today, the plan is just to settle in and set up camp. from thursday through saturday, we'll go out into the village in the mornings to share the gospel with the men and women who live there, and in the afternoons, we'll get to play and hang out with the kids. according to the south african missionaries who lead the zambia project, maicalupei is incredibly open and excited to receive us tomorrow - we'll see how it goes! our wonderful translators tell us that we might be the first mcua (mah-coo-ah - i.e. white people) that some of them have ever seen before. i'd appreciate many prayers for our journey out there, as we set up tents and dig latrines, for jess and jacob's minor toe and leg injuries, and of course that we portray the correct picture of jesus christ to the people of maicalupei.

we'll come back from the bush probably on sunday, then it's back to hanging out with the kids at school and hopefully getting into a regular rhythm at mutoya! thank you again for your support and prayers, and i send my love to you all! :)

in His peace,
stephanie

off to zambia...finally!

hi, all! :)

i can't believe that graduation is only in a few days...that came up a ten thousand times quicker than i imagined. congratulations to all the soon-to-be grads who will walk across that stage this weekend - let's just hope that alumni lawn won't be covered in cicadas on friday the 13th (wouldn't that be appropriate!).

at the break of dawn on thursday, may 19th, i'll fly with my boyfriend bryan and three other guys from virginia tech - lucas, andrew, and brian - from roanoke, virginia to johannesburg, south africa. we'll meet ron bernard, the pastor of dwelling place christian fellowship, and the rest of the team when we land in johannesburg on the 20th. on the 21st, the team will fly to lusaka, zambia and then pile into a 25-passenger bus to road-trip it about 300 miles to the mission base in mongu, western province. there, we'll get a short debrief with paul, one of the south african missionaries with the zambia project, about what the team will be up to over the next few days. the general plan for our team of 18-ish is to help plant a church in the bush, serve at villiage of hope orphanage (VOH) and the school in mongu, and potentially help out at the base's new malnouishment clinic. we'll be sleeping in tents and sleeping bags while we're out in the bush and as we're traveling, so i'm sure the team will get real tight real quick!

around the 31st, we'll travel to capetown, south africa, where we'll work with two churches in kommetjie and with "safe and sound," a ministry that focuses on urban villiage orphans in masiphumelele. on june 7th, we'll fly to johannesburg and hopefully get to see a national wildlife preserve in pilanesburg on the 8th. except for seven of us who will be staying for a bit longer in zambia and south africa, the rest of the team will fly back to the states on the 9th. i'll travel back to virginia on september 13th.

as for the rest of the summer, i'll probably be living and working with missionaries back at the mission base in mongu, hanging out with kids (ages 3-10) at the VOH orphanage, helping with kids' church, and basically doing whatever is needed!

the zambia project itself is an amazing organization (check them out! zam.co.za), focused on empowering the people of zambia spiritually and physically through church planting, self-sustaining community development, community schools, entrepreneurship and agricultural training, medical outreach and primary health care, water well drilling, feeding programs, the villiage of hope orphanage, and "hope art." the zambia also partners with other organizations and churches to translate the bible into five different languages spoken in the region, an extensive undertaking that is clearly essential in spreading the good news of Jesus throughout the region. yall, please pray for God's hand in the zambia project, its short-term volunteers, its long-term staff, and the people of zambia.

for those of yall who are interested, here are a few fun facts about zambia...
* winter is through august (37 - 85 degrees F), and we'll be leaving just as it warms up (56 - 105 degrees F...whew!).
* malaria, tb, hiv/aids, dysentery, and other diseases are incredibly prevalent and combine to make the average life expectancy 29 years old. actually let that sink in...i'd look death in the eyes in 6 and a half years.
* zambia is incredibly impoverished and in dire need of consistent sources for clean drinking water, but it is relatively politically stable.
* the western province of zambia is about the size of england, with about a million inhabitants. the Lozi group comprise most of the population.

so what does one pack for a four-month stay in africa? fantastic question! bascially, i'll take one hiking backpack (those things are so cool...), a medium-weight sleeping bag, a kindle (lifesaver!! thanks, mom and dad!!), & my bible. as for clothing, i'll be wearing ankle-length skirts when we're in the bush, loose and light cargo capris when we're at the base in mongu (from a woman's waist to her knees is considered sexual), a few t-shirts (most of them sporting some form of "axo" pride), walking shoes (who knew that my vandy sperry's would ever come in handy post-college?), a baseball hat to partially shield me from the lovely african sun, and a sweatshirt.

thank you again for your thoughts, prayers, and support for me this summer - and i hope you'll check out the zambia project in your spare time and pray for its mission and the wonderful work they're doing with the Lozi people as well! all my love and in his peace,

stephanie :)

"the great commission is not an option to be considered, it is a command to be obeyed." hudson taylor