Orphan Sunday

This past Sunday we spoke at Coulter Road Baptist Church in Amarillo, TX. It just happened to be national Orphan Sunday. After the first service a woman came up to our table with her son. He was probably about 5 or 6 years old. His name was Billy. His mother said, "Billy has some money he wants to give to New Day." Then she turned to him and asked him, "Do you want to tell them why you are giving this money?" Billy's eyes were filled with tears and he huddled close to his mother with his head down. When he did not speak, his mother told us that Billy's dad died just died recently. Billy was very touched by the stories of the children at New Day. He felt a bond with them because, like him, they too had lost their fathers. He understood their pain. He handed me $40. What a big sacrifice for such a little boy. 

Billy smiles when we give him a New Day hat to wear. His mother is on the left, and  the pastor of Coulter Road Baptist Church, Chris Robeson on the right who is proudly wearing the African shirt we gave him last year.

When we share at churches, our goal is to touch the hearts of people to give so that New Day can minister to the orphans of Zambia, but to hear that we had touched the heart of this little boy, who himself just became an orphan, was probably the highlight of our day. Pray for Billy to feel God's comfort and to know that His heavenly Father loves him. 

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.