Distribution of the Gifts

The Lord is awesome. We had a time of worship and prayer last night and God was moving his mighty hand. I started to become weary of our efforts as it seemed like small obstacles kept forming to slow down production. In general, things move at a much slower pace here than in the states.

I spoke about it last week in Chaisa, but now I was feeling it. This made me feel bad as I was trying to encourage my fellow team members and the Chaisa assembly on weariness, but I was now struggling with it. But the Lord is amazing. I felt like I needed to pray for the team and our efforts and in doing so I was overcome with emotion. My sister came to my side and the rest of the team followed. Andy shared a Word. It was Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. It was from Galatians 6:9 - the same verse I shared one Sunday ago with the Chaisa assembly. I trembled in fear as I felt the Lord talking to me. Now the Lord has spoken to me before, but for some reason this was different. i felt like the Lord took everyone out of the room and spoke directly to me. Reaffirming the Word He shared with me already. I feel renewed and revitalized to do His work.

I know He is just. Our desires are to see this village save orphans. We hunger and thirst after the heart of the Defender of the Fatherless.

Coming Along

We have a process down where we mix 10-20 tons of the material for one day and follow up with creating the compressed earth block the following day. Today was the block creation day. I am sore. We have a pretty good process down though. We made 300+ block today. Once we get the system down, we should be able to make between 500-700 blocks a day. We will need approximately 16000 blocks to build an entire missionary house. But we keep on keeping on.

Two of our team members went out to a village 2 hours away. They will be staying with the villagers for 4 days. Daily activities will include tending to the livestock, making the cornmeal soya porridge and just observing village life. The villagers have a special treat for their new found friends - they will be serving fried bushrat tomorrow. Sounds tasty :-s sorry, i have a heart for the zambian orphans, but I am gonna keep it real - I am not interested in southern fried rodent...

I am tired. That block work is no joke. But I am blessed in knowing that the fruits of my labor will soon be realized.

The Good News

just a quick entry - we rested on Monday and went into town to look at the markets. We anticipated having a busy day of mixing materials, but to our unpleasant surprise, the material was not delivered. But we know this is Africa and time/productivity is not evaluated on 30 minute performance grids. We hope that things will be ready to go Wed.

The Good News is that today my luggage came. I will be able to wear some different clothes for a change. Praise the Lord!! All for now.

Deliverance Centre

We continued our work on the first home. We were able to paint on a primer coat. I tried to avoid painting as my only pair of pants –no luggage, remember?- would be needed on Sunday for church. Because of the somewhat strong winds and the nature of the activity, Jacob and Andy were freckled with primer from head to toe. I became the on-site photojournalist while we waited for the materials to build block.

So what kind of block are we building? We have decided to go with Earth block. Earth block is block of compressed earth, in essence – dirt. Using a combination of lime, gravel and yellow dirt, we make a mixture that produces just the right consistency to support our project needs. We compress the dirt using a special compression machine and can produce between 600-1000 blocks in a workday. I thought it would have been a simple task – take dirt and compress it. But it actually requires the perfect amount of the different materials to produce block that will withstand the trials of time. I am blistered and sore, but the associated pains are no match for my excitement to see use erect a second house and save another 12 kids from the streets.
As mentioned before, one of the main reasons I am here this year is because of my little sister. I really want to see God pierce her. She is an enigma to me. I didn’t grow up in the same home as her so it is sometimes difficult to grasp what she must be going through as a teenage girl. She is such an amazing young girl and I sometimes get discouraged when I see her struggle with acclimating, her lack of self esteem, her fear of rejection and the misguided defense mechanisms she uses to cope with them. But then there are times where she lights up the room with her spunk, smile and servitude. I was convicted when I saw her minister to those who needed to be healed. She understands the power of God. She has seen it in others, but she seems to miss it when it is right under her nose directed right at her. We prayed for her and I broke down. My brothers in Christ have reached out knowing my desires for her and I just want to see Him fill her up. I would freely and cheerfully sacrifice more weeks without a change of clothes to see her hardened heart broken. I have faith that he will answer my cries.

UPDATE: Since we only have limited time in the café, I was able to put two posts in one up. It is Sunday and I was able to return to Chaisa where I shared a message. They are SO faithful. They worship God with such beautiful harmony. It really does something to you. It answered my prayers as I was able to see my sister convicted by the holy spirit – we were able to minister together. I was so happy and proud of her. God is doing something wonderful in her. Praise Him for that. The Pastor was pleased with my message on faithful works and has asked me to return again. I think I will have to take him up on that offer. My heart is with these Zambian people.