First Sunday of Advent

First Sunday of Advent

Over the last 2 days I have heard 2 sermons on the theme of waiting.
Advent is considered the season of waiting. The focus is usually on
us – we are waiting for the birth of the Messiah. And in the process
it points to all the areas of our lives where we have to wait; for
dreams to be fulfilled, for prayers to be answered, for change to
happen…..

But is it possible that God is also waiting? My son often quotes a
sermon he heard. "We pray and wait for a move of God, and God is
waiting for us to move." So I'm challenging all of us to examine what
God may be waiting for from us, rather than the other way around. Is
He waiting for us to trust Him more? Is He waiting for us to open our
pocketbooks and give more? Is He waiting for us to take an action
step that we keep putting off out of fear, or uncertainty, or
laziness? Is He waiting to meet with us in quiet or reflection? Is
He waiting for us to change patterns in our lives, or even in the
lives of our family to reflect discipleship?

The list could go on and on. Rather than focus on "me," (what am I
waiting for?) let's focus on what God is waiting for from us. I have
a feeling that our joy will increase as we move into His will.

Water, Water everywhere, but not a drop to drink

About 5 out of 7 days it has rained. There is water everywhere, but no electric power to pump water from our 200 foot deep wells. So, the kids went to the school with lots of containers. They pumped water using the playpump. Then they filled all of the containers.

Pictures on the blog

While I'm in the states, I have several things I want to do. One is to learn how to post pictures to the blog. So here you have it. Hopefully in the future you will see pictures as well as words. This is one of my favorite pictures. Our kids love to read and this reflects that love as well as the family relationships we have.

Thank You

Thank You

As we celebrate Thanksgiving in America, those of us who live at the
Village of Hope are thankful for many things:
* Our lovely children, eager, growing, learning
* The mothers and aunties that take good care of the children
* The teachers who are dedicated and know that they are called to this place
* All the staff that work in the businesses
* All the customers, especially the many truck drivers that travel
from South Africa back and forth to the Congo, who see Hope Takeaway
as one of their homes away from home
* The many visitors and volunteers who come and bless us with their presence
* Those of you who pray, care, and give so that we can continue this
awesome work of being part of God's Kingdom rescuing children.

May you too know God's blessing and care!

Thanksgiving Dinner Path - 3

Thanksgiving Dinner Path - 3
Wishing everyone a blessed Thanksgiving!

Nelson – Note: Nelson wants to be a doctor.: "I am a piece of nshima
and I am put in the mouth. The teeth grind me into small pieces and
then I am wet because saliva has made me wet. After I am wet, I am
swallowed. When I want to go to the windpipe the valve will close and
I will go into the esophagus. I will take 6 seconds to reach to the
stomach. When I reach the stomach I will be mashed into small
particles, because in my stomach there is a muscle that is very strong
that mashes my food. After I am mashed, I go into the didium and then
I go to the liver that helps to see if I have poison. It will clean
me. I go to the gallbladder if I have so much fats or butter. It
will help me to be cleaned. Then I will go into the small intestine
where I will be absorbed. The nutrients will be moved from the small
intestine to all parts of the body including my small cells. Then the
food that I came with, if it was bad, it will go into the large
intestine. In the large intestine the muscles that are found there,
they will be pushing me and I will be in the rectum. From the rectum
I will be in the anus, and then I will find myself in the toilet."

Kimani "My Short Life as a Pepperoni Pizza"
Hi. I'm Kimani. I'm a pepperoni pizza, and I just went into this
kid's mouth. Yuck. Oh no! I'm being divided into little pieces by
these white things that are different shapes and sizes! And now I'm
going down this hole! Going down…down…down. Splash! I'm in the
stomach. Now I'm being broken down into little pieces again.
One hour later.
I'm going through this loooong tube. Then I start going down again.
It doesn't smell too good. Then, all of a sudden I start falling!
Then…splash I'm in the toilet.
The End.

A Visit to the Village

A Visit to the Village

On Saturday, November 12, Henry, Rachel and I travelled to the Villages of
Hope in Zambia (http://www.akcli.org). We arrived in Lusaka at 9pm and were
met by Benedict Schwartz and his neighbor Richard Nyrienda. It was a two
hour drive up the Great North road to the Villages which are about half way
between Lusaka and Kabwe. We stayed in the Schwartz'home and the next
morning attended worship with them at the community center which is on
the Village's property. There we first met the 42 orphans who are currently
living in the village. After church we visited each of five houses where
8-9 children live with their house mother. The children showed us their
bedrooms (4 or 5 to a room) and we saw how their meals were prepared in the
Zambian way over a charcoal fire. Henry received lessons from one of the
house mothers on how to carry a five gallon bucket of water (half-full) on
his head, He needs a lot more practice. The next morning we
visited the school and the children sang us their welcome song as well as
the Zambian national anthem (in three languages). We sat in on their
morning bible study which was on a passage from James, and the children took
part in answering questions and talking about how the verses are applied to
life. Before we left to go back to the airport we visited the truck stop
and market that the Villages runs. We bought some beautiful tote bags that
the Chimwemwe Ladies club make from recycled plastic grocery bags. Our stay
was not long but we came away with so much appreciation for how God works
through the people He calls to take care of the widows and orphans. There
are funds for two more houses in the village, but until the ongoing expenses
of running those houses can be met, serving moreorphans has to wait.

There are many orphanages and wonderful missions to support. What is so
unique about Villages of Hope is that they are striving to be
self-sufficient. The Schwartzes are very entrepreneurial and have a number
of components that helps to support the houses, including a small truck
stop, a chicken farm, produce and the tote bags. To get to the fully
self-sufficient stage requires a lot of oversight and initial capital, and
more importantly, operating funding to bridge from start-up to
self-sufficiency. Many other missions are carefully watching and learning
from Villages of Hope. If it is successful, it will have an impact far
beyond the immediate children it serves.
Blessings,
Ann

The Path for your Thanksgiving Dinner - 1

The Path for your Thanksgiving Dinner – 1

In June, Kayla and Sarah Cook made their second trip to Zambia. Once
again they gave wonderful lessons about the human body. One
assignment for our older class was for the students to pretend to be a
piece of food going through the digestive system.

As we approach Thanksgiving Thursday, the day when most folks over
work their digestive system, I thought it would be a good time to
share the writings of some of our students. Look for more the next
two days!

Prudence: "When you put food in your mouth, the food first goes
through the esophagus. After it goes through the esophagus it goes in
the stomach and then the river makes the gall bladder and the gall
bladder will send the food to the small intestine and after that it
goes to the large intestine. After that it gets to the anus and
that's when we want to go to the toilet."

Paul: "Hello. I am a piece of chicken. When I was put inside the
mouth, I screamed, "Help! Help!' But the teeth weren't so merciful.
It chewed me up and again I screamed. But the saliva pushed me in the
esophagus and the esophagus pushed me in the stomach with a lot of
saliva. The stomach mashed me and pushed me agin in the small
intestine. I went into all dark room and went into the large
intestine. Some of my pieces were left inside and the next thing that
I saw, I found that I was in the toilet."

Terrance: "Hallo. I am a piece of bread. I was on the plate and
someone grabbed and he put me in his mouth. I slid in the esophagus
and I went in the stomach. I went in the small intesting and it was
dark. Then I went in the big intestine. I thought it would be light.
It was more dark. I cried, "Help, Help." I came out of the big
intestine and I was in the toilet."

Shiabu: " I'm a piece of egg. I'm eating eggs. The saliva helps me
to make eggs soft. It will go to the esophagus. It will enter in the
stomach. It will go to the small intestine. It goes to the big
intestine and nutrients separate from the bad food and the nutrients
go other parts of the body."

Exidah: " I am cake. I am food and someone ate me. I had some germs.
My tongue broke the food and we go out."

Matilda is Coming!

Matilda is Coming!

I'm the one who usually writes this blog, and being in the US makes it
difficult to share about happenings in the Village. However, the big
news is that Matilda was granted a US Visa at the American Embassy in
Lusaka so that she can travel to the US. Benedict will pick up the
Visa tomorrow, and they will leave Zambia on December 7. We expect
that the medical evaluation will take place after Christmas sometime.
Matilda is hoping to see snow and we have a warm coat for her as she
goes from warm weather to cold.

Sunday Service

Sunday Service

Today we had a guest preacher. Claude Allen, an advisor to the AKCLI
Board is visiting for a few days and shared about kings who began
their reign when they were as young as some of our kids: King Manassa,
a king who made bad decisions, and King Josiah, who made good
decisions. It is great to know that our children are encouraged in so
many ways to make good decisions, live lives of caring and service,
and be forgiving and loving. Our Bible study this week was the
parable about the wicked servant. How many times to forgive? 70 X 7.
We made a paper chain that didn't have quite 490 pieces but still
reached from one end of a double classroom to the other end and more.
What a great visual to illustrate how we can't even count the number
of times we are to forgive one another!

Rain has started

Rain has started

On Thursday night most of the Village was up for a couple of hours.
Thunder, lightening, and downpours. I'm not sure how much rain we
got, but it was probably 3-4 inches. So as the children walked to
school they got to walk through puddles and mud, great fun! But now
grass is starting to grow and the world will be turning green
everywhere. The children are doing well in school as we have the last
month for the year. The 7th graders are finished with the exams and
will be volunteering in the various businesses and learning how to
milk cows, take care of chickens, plant maize, sew, and other things.
They will have wonderful hands-on experiences that will be helpful for
the rest of their lives.