Zambia Progress Update

        If you`ve kept up with me in blog world you would remember in December when I announced that I would be doing a fundraiser for World Vision: Zambia in memory of my sponsor child, Melody, who died last September unexpectedly. The grand total of $1500 was donated in her memory by January first and this week I got the first progress report! As I shared before, World Vision has decided to rebuild/add onto Melody`s gradeschool... where her little siblings will all attend school as well.

They have finally had everything transferred into Kwacha (Zambian currency) and have begun to buy supplies such as windows, concrete, and wood. 

In Memory of Melody

           

           You may remember back to last year, when I relayed the story about Melody Muchimba in my report back after spending three weeks in Zambia. I explained briefly that Melody had been my sponsor child through World Vision since I was only 13 years old, and that I would have the chance to actually meet her face to face and spend the day with her and her family.

Erinnernd

Today I am thinking about you Africa. I am thinking about you Zambia. I am thinking about you sweet Melody and your beautiful family in Southern Zambia. I am praying for you.

I am thinking about you CURE and the little and thousands of lives you are touching. I am praying for your wise hands, wise decisions, loving hearts, and spirit-filled souls.

He is good. Never forget in your seasons of weariness, dryness, temptation, mountain climbing, fear... He is good. 

He is with you.

Zambia...2012

       I am broken hearted already to think that I will not be going back to Zambia this summer. I won`t be hugging those precious children and singing with them into all hours of the night. I won`t see doctors and nurses praying hours over the lives of their patients and giving them food, water, and a place to lay their heads each night.

As we search for HOPE this holiday, let us also HELP others find it

I am 22 years old now. I grew up in a very poor Cambodian family. My parents didn’t own land, so we worked as laborers on other people’s farms. My parents were very violent towards my siblings and me. We never felt love for them. We lived in fear and shame. I never went to school because I had to work all day. It was hard to imagine having a good future.

I still don’t believe my mother thought I had value. Money was more valuable to her than me. To them I was just a laborer. When my parents fell into debt, they sold me for $500 to a family.

The family treated me like a slave. The husband attempted to rape me many times, but I refused with all my strength. He hit me every time I refused. One day I decided to run away from the family, but I got caught. They hit me with electric wire. I stayed there, but I did not give up.

Finally, I escaped with a man I fell in love with. We got married. He introduced me to his parents and they rejected me because I was poor and homeless.

One day my husband and I were in a very serious car accident and my leg was broken. We went to the hospital for care and he left me and never came back. I felt rejected and hopeless. I wanted to kill myself because I thought that no one wanted me.

The hospital sent me to Hagar’s Women Shelter. I was so nervous when I arrived. I didn’t know anyone. I cried. My legs felt horrible. And, I did not have the will to live.

Hagar staff were persistent and encouraged me. Their words were so wonderful. Living in the shelter, gave me hope. I received care, love, counseling, food and other things I never expected to have in my life. Job training from Hagar’s Career Pathways Program in cosmetology really helped me recover. I have a skill that belongs to me and I can support myself. I have value and worth. Now I can say,

“I am priceless. I am more valuable than money.”

Even though my leg still hasn’t healed, Hagar staff keep praying for me. I have hope that God will heal me completely one day, and I just keep praying and waiting.

-Malis

"We are entering a season of light.  Trees will sparkle.  Candles will glow.  Stars glisten as a reminder of God's light of the world.  But in Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Vietnam, there are thousands of women and children in darkness.  They are abused, trafficked, and rejected by society. During this season of light, will you help more women and children move out of darkness?  Together, we can bring light to very dark places. In God's eyes, each woman and child is priceless."

This girl is my age.

We need to wake up from the reality of our own self-centered minds and discover the desparate need for hurting lives all over the world. Whether it is the woman in Cambodia struggling to survive, or the hurting neighbor nextdoor, Jesus let us love like you. Let this season of searching for light in our own hearts and homes bring us more love to share that light with others. Move us to give, pray, serve, love the broken.

Cure Cards-FOR SALE

Cure Cards-FOR SALE

       I am still selling packs of blank cards with photos from Zambia-Go Team 2010 and 2011, 5 for $15, 10 for $25, to help raise support for Cure Zambia.
       These funds will go to supporting children in need of surgery. I hope you will join me in supporting Cure and also spread the word about what Cure International is doing all over the world through sharing these cards. Let me know by leaving a comment or e-mail if you want to buy cards. I am also glad to mail them. (lrwilks@vt.edu)

When I think of you

When I think of you...

Every problem I could ever have becomes obsolete

Every doubt I have in God`s provision disappears into the air

Every worry that fills my minds becomes prayers for you and your family

Every anxious desire is met with the realization of how much our God loves us

Everything in this world takes its place before the maker of heaven and earth and I am humbled

I am thankful for...

o   Having food in plenty

o   An incredible family who loves me and reveals Jesus to me

o   Clean, running water

o   Hot showers

o   A refrigerator

o   Beautiful friendships

o   A bible based, missional church body

o   Wise women who pour into my life

o   Having a bible and being able to read it publicly

o   A bed

o   Air conditioning

o   A car

o   Challenging conversations

o   Faithful, steadfast, loving God

Help a meet a huge need in Zambia!

Hey I just received this from JA who is still in Zambia at the CURE Hospital...Pastor Justin served with us last year and this year and is in a tight spot with his family and finances...keep reading if you want to know how you can help!

So if you read my latest blog entry, then you read a story at the bottom about Pastor Justin (from the outreach) and Blessings. Mutinta (his wife), Blessings, and their 5 and a half month old daughter Think Grace have been hopping family and friends homes for around 2 months now because they can't pay for the water bills, or an electric one that would amount to anything. Justin is paying the bare minimum for electric, and the water has been shut off because they have around $350 to pay for overdue bills.

I was able to have dinner with Mutinta when Harold invited me over for dinner on Friday. Several times I just had to look away cause if I looked at her too long I was going to cry. I also got to hold Think Grace and play with her. There is NO reason why they can't be at home with their dad, and it's time that we saw to that.

I have no clue where any of you are financially. So please don't feel like I'm cornering you. If you don't have many to spare, it's fine. But I do know some hard facts for us to swallow: we're rich, even if we're poor by American standards. We could easily skip a few meals. Add that to the fact that Harold said about $50-60/month should give the family good electricity and keep the water running, and my heart can't stop breaking for their situation.

So we for sure need $350, but I would love to set them up for a year. I asked Harold, and this is the best way to go about it.

Again, I know it's short notice, but God's done a lot bigger things in 1 day, so we have one week (and we have Him on our side). Ask your friends, your family, your church. Let's reunite this family.

Love ya.
And hello from Africa.-JA

        Let me know if you want to help!

A Taste of Africa

Kumulu

Kumulu mayo

Eko ine nkabila

Kwa lesa

Kwa lesa mayo

Eko ine nkabila

Kugulu

Kugulu bama

Eko ine nkabila

          These are the words to one of the songs we sang multiple times a day in Zambia both last year and this year. The song was written by Pastor Gongalo, the pastor of the local bush church, and put to work by all the locals who love the song! The words mean 'My desire is to be in heaven' in three different languages, three local Zambian languages. These words should be the desire of each one of our hearts. I know I want them to be mine, and I pray through Christ they will be. They definitely make me want to sing and dance!

The Battle is On

           I have been trying to write this blog for nearly an hour and I am still not satisfied. The first time I tried to write I was angry. Complaining about consumerism, legalism, lacking compassion, our endless lust and coveting, our misunderstanding of love, and so much more. I read over my thoughts and knew my pessimism would help no one, inluding myself. So I started to write again and after reading it, I knew it sounded so fake. All the hurt, pain, and sin was masked by a layer of false perfection and artificial love. Then I stopped and realized the battle that is going on in my life and mind is happening in my writing.

Home and recovering

Micah: an incredible orphaned boy being treated at Cure for club feet

                I wanted to write a quick note to let everyone know I am home safe. Everything with the flights and baggage went smooth as ever before, no problems at all. And I arrived home tuesday evening to STL. My only goal this week is to sleep a lot and rest and try to get over malaria and its side effects before school starts up again on the 22nd. I am also spending time with my family and a few friends here in STL before heading back to Blacksburg. Sharing my pictures and writings are definitely on my to do list as well as sending out a report back letter to all of you to share what God did and what I learned. But for now I am resting and processing all that has happened in the past month and I look forward to being able to share more of that with all of you who so diligently supported and prayed for our ministry with Cure in Zambia. 

              'May you have the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.' Ephesians 1:18-19 

Last Update

                  
        Thank you to those who were aware and were praying for me to recover quickly. I came down with Malaria on tuesday but after starting treatment I am feeling so much better already. It is definitely a blessing that I am staying at a hospital and working with an abundance of nurses. I have plenty of people to take care of me.

                  Meanwhile the team was busy organizing the supply closet and repacking all the materials from the outreach week. They also were able to watch a few surgeries and shadows different doctors and nurses throughout the past two days. They had a great time and experienced lots of new things. Yesterday they led the staff devotional with song and sharing about their experiences while being here in Zambia and what God has taught them. We, especially me, are laying low today enjoying the weather and playing with the kids recovering in the ward and then we will have an early to bed night since we will be off to Livingstone tomorrow around 4 am. We will spend tomorrow and Saturday there and then return on Sunday. Then we will head off to America on Monday afternoon! Each day seems to go by slowly, but to think we have been here nearly three weeks, it has gone by much too fast.

               I am grateful to God for all the time here in the word and in prayer with the Lord. I am also grateful for new experiences and lessons learned through the different circumstances that have come up. More than anything I am grateful for the struggles, my own personally, and for those of the team, because they have taught me so much and made me so excited to go home and to apply those lessons to my life and my ministry in Blacksburg. I deeply desire God to change my heart towards the importance of relationships in my life and help me to see them and value them more. I also deeply desire God to make the Gospel more alive in my life and help me to share it more freely and more often, that many can experience the saving knowledge and love of Christ Jesus.

             Leaving is always bittersweet. But I am trusting God to help me through the hardships and bring to light the things of importance and beauty for me to focus on and be changed by. 

Deeper, deeper, deeper in love

            

This prideful side of me

lifts my fists and shakes at you

This prideful side of me

is being broken down by love

Oh you love me deeper, deeper, father

Oh you love me deeper, deeper, father

Off to Mpongwe

   For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,
                               declares the LORD.
      As the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.
                                   -Isaiah 55:8-9


            
              Please pray for the team and I this Monday through Sunday as we venture out into the bush, Mpongwe northern Zambia, for 7 days of ministry. Pray for safety in traveling and especially for strength and stamina to not only make it through the long days and little amount of sleep, but that we would be filled with strength to minister and worship with the people of the villages and to share Jesus with our entire lives while we minister to them. Pray God would be our focus and bring unity to our team, to the Zambians we will be joining, and to the locals assisting us in ministry. Pray many will find healing, physically and spiritually. To God be all the glory, the honor, and the praise. He is worthy and he is the reason for it all. We take joy in the fact that he uses us for his work, though he doesn't need us. It is for his fame and his renown. 
       
               

The team has arrived!

         Short update to let you know that the team has arrived safe and sound in Lusaka today! They only lost one bag, which will come tomorrow, and all the supplies were untouched through customs and nothing broken, praise the Lord for that answer to prayer.

         We did a short orientation and tour of the hospital and played soccer for about an hour before eating and then watching them slowly fade, one by one. They are all exhausted and resting now to be prepared for many long, tiring days ahead. Tomorrow we will join a team of about 20 volunteers to paint the Children's ward. It is very exciting and with bring color and life to the ward in many ways. We are excited to serve alongside the staff here and serve Cure through funding the entire painting project through our fundraising!

       It will be a full day tomorrow and then some days of rest this weekend before we pack Sunday night and head out to Mpongwe on Monday to the bush outreach for 6 days. We are all so excited and anticipating many challenges and times of being stretched and learning to lean on the Lord in new ways-the team is ready and excited for what God has ahead for them!

    The lips of the righteous feed many, 

but fools die for lack of sense.

Proverbs 10:20

    Please pray that through the Spirit our words will be His and will feed the hundreds of spiritually starving people we will meet along our path to Mpongwe and as we serve there in the bush area. Pray for God to prepare the soil of their hearts so His truth will sink deep into their souls. 

Limitless

Miles and miles of outstretched savannah lie before me,

clouds of dust sweep across the horizon

The land is barren and the vegetation aching,

yet I see glimpses of life hidden within

The scent of water brings life to every being, sustaining every mile,

Near every small spring, shallow pond, or winding river abundance of life is found

I see in those waters the current of a God who loves his creation, who cares for every insignificant bird, giving to all their food in due time

A tree, few and prized, brings refuge to its land,

animals take refuge in its shade and seek escape in its branches

I see in those trees the protection of a God who loves his creation,  who

spreads wide his wings over us and leads us under his shadow

Though the land is barren, trees and waters scarce,

I see a God whose power to sustain is limitless

Though life brings drought and seasons of doubt,

I see reason to believe even then my God will sustain

Mabukabuti (Good morning in Tonga)

Learning how to make porridge in the village

       
         I finally arrived in Lusaka, Zambia on Monday around 3 am after enduring a 3 hour power outage in Nairobi which messed up all the flights of course. Luckily with the delay I made my next connection and made it to Cure around 3:30! I slept a few hours and then had a full morning at the hospital before getting on the bus to Choma. I stayed one night in Choma and then today was spent with World Vision Zambia staff and meeting my sponsor child, Melody. There aren't words at all to describe what it was like. I will definitely post pictures once I am home. I was able to see the medical clinic and school World Vision built for their ADP area in Zambia as well as go to Melody's home and be welcomed into her family with dancing, singing, and tears, and MUCH JOY. It was incredible. We talked and played games and cooked and danced. Her mother, through tears, thanked me with the most sincere thankfulness I have ever heard in my life, for giving the the support they need to raise their 7 children and sustain their small farm. And with tears I thanked them for showing me what it means to be thankful, I told them how Melody had been a picture of that in my life, for so many years. How although I had never met them, they taught me what it meant to be thankful for each and every thing the Lord provides for us. From our most basic needs to the abundant gifts he bestows on us. Melody and her family taught me their exists beauty in this world I couldn't even fathom before beginning to sponsor her.
     The most special moment for me was when I asked her what she wants to do after secondary school and she replied, I want to be a nurse. The whole day I held in tears, but especially in that moment. I was able to share even my heart for healing with this precious sister. She will make an incredible nurse in Zambia some day, maybe even for Cure International.

    I could write forever about my time with her...but I will save more for later. I arrived back in Lusaka late this evening and am eagerly awaiting the Go Team's arrival around 1 pm tomorrow. And then 3 full weeks of long days and tiring ministry sustained by the power and strength of our God will begin! I am so excited.

 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 

John 6:28-29

Melody's grandmother dancing out of thanksgiving

Jesus calls us only to believe, that is our work, our job, our purpose. It is through our believing and trusting in him that we share our lives with others and through that, the incredible news of the Gospel of Christ Jesus. 

Melody's mother helping us cook, with two of her sisters watching

Melody's dad teaching all about his farm

Safari Survivors

Welcome to the Serengeti

                     Jack and I returned today from our 3 day Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater safari. It was incredible, and challenging in lots of ways. It goes without saying that the scenery was absolutely breathtaking and the animals, stunning. We saw every african animal except rhino, and most of them only 5-10 ft from the car, even lions! The safari was thrilling but my favorite parts were camping in the Serengeti with rangers walking around with assault riffles, meeting Jack's friends and getting to know them a little better, talking with our guide Hassan and our cook, Jonathan, and definitely taking in all the scenery, through the clouds of dust. We saw beautiful sunrises and sunsets and the crisp horizon of the Savannah meeting the blue skies. I loved spending that time with my crazy-Africa-loving brother and comrades. It was an adventure I will never forget, for more reasons than one.
               Tonight and tomorrow morning will be our last time in Arusha and I will head to Lusaka around 3 pm and Jack will maybe stay one night and then head to Zanzibar and a few other places before he returns to the US for school. Pray for the team coming the long hall from the US tomorrow to Lusaka. They will arrive Wednesday around lunch time. Pray for safe travels for myself, all connections and luggage to be worked out, only so I will be on schedule to meet my precious sponsor child, Melody, and shower her and her family with gifts! I cannot wait to see everyone at the hospital and then to meet Melody and see her village, school, and family! It will be an eventful next few days. The Lord is going before us and he goes with us, that I cling to.

     "I set you as a seal upon my heart, as a seal upon my arm. For love is as strong as death, jealousy demanding as the grave. The flames of the Lord are fierce. Many waters cannot quench this love, nor flood drown it."
     Song of Solomon 8:6-7

Along the Safari

One of our campsites

Karibu Tanzania

            I am just writing a quick note to let everyone know I am alive and well in Tanzania. It has been a great couple of days visiting with him and exploring Arusha. Today we will do some hiking and then from Friday to Sunday we will be on a safari! It is going to be an exciting and crazy trip, I am loving all the time with my brother, and trying to overcome my jetlag. I rode my first motorcycle and went to my first African bar. Karibu Tanzania, welcome to Tanzania. I may write again before the safari, otherwise from Lusaka!

"And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glor,

glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 1:14