A Call From Mandarin Christian School

Tonight at 7:45pm we received a Skype phone call from Mrs. Cellura's 4th grade class. Bradley is still smiling!!
Stephen Diehl, the IT guy at MCS, set up a screen and the computer so Bradley could talk to his friends. We were able to show them the house, the pantry, Brad's room, they met our guard, John, who taught them a few words in Nyanja, they saw Peterson and Chelsea.
We got to see Mr. Stuart, Mr. and Mrs. Olender, Mrs. Cellura, the 4th grade class and as an added bonus for Chelsea her pals stopped by to say "hello". It made us all so happy to see everyone!! Thank you for that wonderful blessing!!

I got my van back last night so I am back in business. It only took two days and the lady that hit me paid for all the damages:)

Tomorrow I will be meeting with a local social worker, Viola. She has to do a home study here in Lusaka, send it to our Social Worker in Jacksonville to continue the adoption process. I will also check into the process for adoption in Zambia. I will let you know tomorrow.

Blessed Sunday!

Our internet has been done so let me catch you up...

Sunday we went to a Village in the Bush, about 2 hours out of town, to worship. Our Bible study teacher, John Mack, invited us to go with him. He would be preaching and he asked Bob to lead a Bible lesson. It was so cool.

The church was about 8x16, that is what Erik says, and constructed out of tree trunks and grass. The trees were cut at the same height so that the fork at the top would hold the horizontal trees for the roof support- ok, just look at the picture. All the trees were tied together with grass from the fields which also was used for the roof and walls. The pews were six foot logs. It was like being in Historical St. Augustine or Jamestown where they replicated the churches of old.

There were about 25 of us in attendance- the music was awesome. Bob's Bible lesson was well received, the preacher was an interpretor for Bob. John then preached in Nyranga- he told us what he would be preaching on so we could kind-of follow along. The children just stared at Chelsea- some had never seen white people especially with such light colored hair.

The ladies of the church fixed us nshima and chicken for lunch- chicken in Nyranga is "Nkuku"- very appropriate!!

We had Bible study at our house Sunday night. We invited some fellow Zambian workers over for the lesson and dinner. I had roasted 3 chickens then asked the ladies to help me prepare the greens and nshima. They laughed at all my cooking spoons and pots, obviously not what they were used to cooking with. As we were serving the meal they asked if I had a pitcher with a bowl as we all wash our hands at the table before we eat. You use your hands to eat this meal, your right hand specifically. The kids loved it. I served Banana pudding for dessert. They were not sure what to think but ate it all up. It was a wonderful evening learning more of the Zambian way. They are so kind to share themselves with us and teach me how to cook their authentic dishes.

I'm still without a car but hope to be back on the road tomorrow!!

Yesterday, I went to a Community school. This is a school in the compounds where approximately 370 students attend. The school building was probably double the size of the church with four concrete walls and no roof. They have been meeting as a school in this building for 6 years. They teach on one side with tarps over the roof. Half the children come in the morning from 7am-12pm then the others come from 1pm-5pm. Can you imagine? There were not enough chairs, desks, supplies, teachers but they came to learn. Education is not a given in Zambia- if you can't afford government schools, you go to Community schools. You must have a desire to go or your parents have that desire or else you just stay at home. During the rainy season most kids stay home as they won't walk in the rain to school and their school building is wet. One of the board members who owns a shop allows the teachers and children to come in during the rainy season- November to April. Can you imagine your kids not going to school for 6 months??

There were about 25 kids at the school while I was there. Very few spoke English well but they were learning. They asked me how old I was-(the age of most of their grandparents)- if I had kids- where I was from- one kid asked if he could go there with me- we looked through books and they called out the names of the pictures they saw. There was a picture of a church and Jesus with the children. They all shouted out Jesus. I was happy for that- if they know Jesus, they know the Way, the Truth and the Life!! They have Hope, in Him and Him alone!!

Praise God for that!