Our First Three Weeks

We have been in the states for almost three weeks now, and we have already slept in eight beds, been in four states, and shared five times about what God is doing at New Day Orphanage.  

Here’s a quick recap of where we have been so far and what we’ve been doing.

Week 1:  Spent time in Nebraska with Laurie’s parents and other family members who dropped in for a visit.

 

 

Fun to be together with my mom, niece Amanda, and sister Pam. I'm still in jet lag so I can barely keep my eyes open.

Drove to Carthage, MO to see Wes’ mom, where several family members dropped in to spend some time with us as well.

Wes meets his 4-month old great niece who was only 1 lb. at birth.

Week 2: Spoke at WellSpring Church in Bolivar, MO, Wes’ ole’ stomping grounds. He was able to visit with several of his former college football buddies and coach, and we saw several people from the past. While there, we went to see Wes’ stepdad who was very ill. Although he could not really talk to us, it was good to see him as it would be the last.

Drove to Wagoner, OK where we spent two nights at Tulakogee Conference Center. We had the privilege of speaking to a great group of senior adults and spending time with our dear friends, Keith and Sandy Huddleston who had arranged this speaking engagement. We really enjoyed ourselves and met some really neat people and heard a great family singing group, the Link Union. Wow, they were impressive!

 

Good friend, Sandy Huddleston, helped arrange our speaking engagement at Tulakogee.

After leaving Tulakogee, we traveled to Muskogee, OK to spend some time with Wes’ brother Robbie and his wife Kelly. Sadly, Robbie’s dad (Wes’ stepdad) passed away during the night.  We returned to Missouri to visit the family and give our condolences. Because the family did not plan to have a funeral, we decided to go on to Texas. Although Wes was not close to his stepfather in his adult years, he still respected him for raising him.

We arrived in Cleveland, TX at the end of the week and spent two nights with Mark and Beth Cameron. Cleveland is where we lived before we left for the mission field back in 1991.  The Camerons are great friends and we enjoyed catching up and reminiscing about the past.  

Week 3: We began this week by speaking first at Cornerstone Church, Cleveland, TX in the Sunday School hour and in the morning service. We met some really sweet people and made some good contacts there--looks like we will have some volunteers coming to help from this church in the near future.

In the evening we spoke at FBC Liberty, TX and stayed with friends, Dennis and Penny Odell. It was great to catch up with them, see two of their children, Thomas and Amber, and meet their sweet grandchildren. When we left many years ago, Thomas was still running around in diapers. How did we get this old so quickly?

At the home of Dennis and Penny Odell in Liberty, TX.

For the past few days we have been staying at the home of David and Sandy Smith, Spring, TX. It is really amazing how God puts people together. We have never lived in the same place, worked together, gone to the same church, but through mutual friends, God has placed this special couple into our lives. We had a very relaxing and enjoyable time being with David and Sandy and were absolutely spoiled rotten by them!

At the home of David and Sandy Smith, Spring, TX

 

As I write this, we are staying in the hospitality room at West Conroe Baptist Church where we will try to get some work done before we start speaking again.  Well, I guess I’d better get busy.

A Quiet, Busy Week

The last week and a half has been quiet around New Day with more than half of our staff gone for the holidays, and few workers on property. I have been trying to get some projects done that I want to finish before heading home to the states in early October. My list is long, but bit by bit (as they say here), I’m making headway.


Even though many are gone, there is still plenty of activity with the children. It is the school holiday, so we must try to keep them busy and out of trouble. I try to go down to see what the children are doing each day, and I have observed several interesting things that they have been doing on their school holiday.

They built themselves a little village.

Mama Joyce is teaching them how to make rag rugs.

They’ve been learning to take care of the goats and other animals with the help of Miss Debbie.

Kalenga has taught them how to do chores such as watering the flowers.

Wes had them picking up trash on the property, and also taught a few of them how to build a rabbit house.

Mama Lala had them down a few times to watch Little House on the Prairie.

Michelle has made sure they had their time of sports.

And Mulenga and Hildah have spent time reviewing what they learned in school so they don’t forget EVERYTHING over the holiday.

Other happenings around New Day have included…

…burning off the dead grass on our land. Wes said he would be back in 30 minutes for supper. Three hours later he came in covered with soot, hot and tired. It is quite a sight, but one that makes you pray a lot.

… a birthday party for Eness, our part-time cook. She was very surprised and it took her awhile to realize it was her birthday. She doesn’t know how old she is. She wasn’t sure if she was 24, I think Blu gave her that age, 34, or in her 40s. Hey, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to NOT know your age!

…and, I’m sure there are other things I have forgotten.

Well, I’d better get back to the project I am working

Showered with Love

This week I celebrated my 55th . I thought we might have to get a fire extinguisher to blow out all those candles, but thankfully I had some sweet little children to help blow them out.

Birthdays here at New Day are an adventure--that is for sure. As many of you well know, we have a tradition of throwing water on the birthday person. Many have asked where this tradition came from, I really don’t know, although supposedly it is a tradition in some places in Zambia. Needless to say, it is the part of my birthday party that I was dreading so I thought I would prepare for the day by bringing my backpack with my raincoat inside. Of course, Blu, somehow got a hold of it and tied it to the rafters in the dining room, thinking I was too short to get it down (or too old)! But when he went out of the dining room for a few minutes, I retrieved my raincoat, “thinking” it would help!


The kids showered me first with balloons when I came in the door, and although they were only supposed to throw them at me, they thought they were supposed to beat me with them—such love!


After some dancing and singing, it was time for the cards, presents, and cake. Each of the children made me birthday cards—how very special!

While Blu was busy having the kids sit on their balloons, I snuck out and put on my raincoat and then peaked through the back window of the dining room. My mistake was that I said, “You can’t get me.” That was all it took and the water party began. I did not think about the fact that the kids would just lift up my raincoat instead of pouring water on my head. In a matter of seconds my jeans were soaked and so I decided to take off the raincoat. That too was a BIG mistake. It was all over but the crying for me and laughing for others. I must say that Darbi felt bad for me as she is yet to experience the water tradition. I won’t be here in November to sympathize with her on her birthday, so Darbi, I’m sorry ahead of time for what you will experience.


All in all, it was a great birthday mostly because I was surrounded by such special people. Thanks to my New Day Family for “showering me with love.”

I cannot forget to add that Wes made me chocolate chip waffles for breakfast, gave me some beautiful earrings, somehow rigged it that I win one game of Farkle, and spoiled me throughout the day! Thanks Wes.

Busy Days

It has been way too long since I have blogged, but I’m sure most of you have kept up with the happenings at New Day through Darbi’s blog. Doesn't she do a great job!! I’m plugging along and in spite of the fact that this blog is a little past due, Wes tells me that I should still write even if the news is old.


Yesterday we said good-bye to Christy, Sonya, and Mandy from Clanton, Alabama, who came for just a little over a week to visit us here at New Day. We did not call this threesome a team, but friends who came to visit.


Thanks Christy, Sonya and Mandy for dropping by to see us here at New Day!

On the last day of their stay, five-year old Joseph arrived to join our New Day family. When he arrived, he looked like he was in shock with so many people to greet him. I wondered how long it would take him to smile, but when we returned after supper for our Wednesday night praise and prayer, several children came running out of the door to give us their usual hugs. Was I surprised when I looked down to see that Joseph was hugging me with a big smile on his face. He is not a shy boy, and was dancing, singing, laughing and doing a few ornery things as well before the night was over. Hmmm, we may have our hands full with this one! (Of course I did not have my camera with me)

Christy, Wes and Mulenga greet Joseph.

Joseph, (middle), is about to receive his first set of new clothes from Momma Joyce, far right.

In June and July, we have seen many teams come and go. It has been a busy time, but a very fruitful time as well.

Much of my time was spent in the kitchen preparing meals so that the teams could do their work with full bellies!

 In my last blog, I told you about the ministry of Christ Community, Omaha, Nebraska. I wanted to add something really neat that has come out of this ministry. Our children watched the team do the Redeemer Drama only a few times, and then Michelle, who lives and works with the children, taught them the drama from memory. They recently performed it at the local “Agricultural Show.” Although they did not have the music, they did an excellent job. We hope to train them with the music, as we have an older version of the Redeemer Drama from several years back.

Michelle introduced the drama and explained each part before the children performed.

Francis (left) represented God in the drama. Here he creates man, played by Muchoni on the right.

Here Jesus, also played by Francis, takes on the sins of the world.
Satan thinks that he has won the battle.

The Coulter Road Baptist Church team from Amarillo,Texas was involved in a variety of ministries in and around New Day:



Career Day was part of the ministry of this team.
Dr. Luke Thornton checks Christina's reflexes while Phillip and Purity look on.

 


The ladies of Coulter Road met with the ladies of Mapanza Baptist Church for a one-day women's meeting.  



TThey were also involved in a three-day women's meeting held at New Day with over 70 in attendance. Thirteen ladies accepted Christ on the last day of the meeting.

Luke and Bob helped put up fences around the gardens. I think they had the most fun driving the tractor around the property.

The team from our home church, LifeSpring Church, Bellevue, Nebraska, hosted a VBS for the village kids. They had over 100 children on the last day. We know that because of their ministry to the children around New Day, seeds were planted that will someday produce fruit.

Brian came to VBS every day with his beautiful smile.  He also comes to the New Day Church nearly every Sunday and seems very interested in spiritual things.

While VBS was in session, the New Day Staff took some time off to have a spiritual retreat led by our Pastor, Steve Holdaway. Susan Holdaway and Linda Smolen made us feel like we were back in the states, leading us in some great American worship.


Pastor Steve Holdaway encouraged our staff through four days of challenging Bible studies.

We also had some times of fun with the teams with a few trips to Chobe to see the animals and to Victoria Falls. These are just some of the special treats that go along with ministry in Zambia.

There were three lions on one side of our vehicle stalking impala....

...and a group of elephants walking right next to our vehicle on the other side, and I actually remained pretty calm!

We are in Livingstone right now, relaxing for a few days before heading back to New Day. While I was getting my hair cut and a pedicure, Wes was off setting up a surprise birthday dinner for me at Ocean Basket, a local seafood restaurant. What a sweetie. When we arrived, the waiter ushered us to a corner table where a bouquet of red and yellow roses awaited, two coffee mugs with chocolate bars, and some cute little stone hearts that Wes had found in the market. He had already ordered so we didn’t have long to wait for a delicious meal of Calamari steak. The evening ended with ice cream with candles since there was no cake.

Sorry for the blurry picture taken from Wes' phone, but I wanted everyone to see my beautiful flowers given to me by my super wonderful husband. Thanks, Wes, I love you!