prayer request...

God's been doing some great things...i'll send you an update in a day or two.  I was asked by Harrison and Michelle to stick around a bit longer...til October 25th or so.  Tomorrow, Harrison and I will be driving to Malawi, to work with Ethiopian Airlines and immigrations to get everything squared away for me and another intern (everything has to get done before my scheduled flight Aug 2).  We'll be getting there about 9 am this morning (3 am stateside).  Please pray everything will work out properly. 

Love you all,

Josh

back from the bush...

Back from the bush again…

Things have been crazy the past couple of weeks.  I was going to try to post some pics, but I dropped my laptop last night…so my pictures won’t be accessible til we get back to the states.  I don’t have much time til we have to leave the internet café, so this is a bit rushed.

We were able to get many more things accomplished in our second trip out into the bush.

1.                  Each day, half of our team was in the local school teaching Bible, English & literacy, and art.  They were very pleased with what they were able to accomplish in their time there.

2.                  The guys working with me and myself were able to resetup the ropes course and finished make the last few elements.  The course now offers 16 low ropes elements.

3.                  The first week, we had counselor training each day, training several nationals from Choma and from the bush to be able to run the activities and to be able to teach through them.

4.                  While there, Mr. Chambers had his men’s conference for the men of the church and the community.  We spent two days working with them.

5.                  After the men’s conference, we had a three day teen and young adult camp.  This time we were stressing our need for God and the hope we have in Christ.  At first, we were discouraged because we heard the local youth would be away at a sports day somewhere else during the three days we had scheduled for camp.  At one point we were thinking about leaving early if they wouldn’t be there.  But God works in great ways.  That game day at the other school was canceled.  Not only were our school children allowed to come after all, but the headmaster asked if he could invite the other schools that were going to be at the game day.  Instead of having one school, we had kids from three different schools and communities.    Overall, the response was tremendous.  We ran 50 or so kids each day.  Many of them had never heard about Christ before, so we were starting at the very beginning.  They were very eager to learn about what we had to say.

6.                  The last day, we hosted an all-day soccer tournament.  God has a sense of humor…I found myself playing striker for a team in an opening round game.  If you know me at all, you know I have never touched a soccer ball…or even pretend to know anything about it.  But it was fun.

Whats next:

Time is starting to run out on my time in Zambia.  I have about 15 days left in country.  We will be hosting Harrison and Michelle Banda at our house for the next to days.  They will then be taking me with them to the northern province for me to help them in their ministry and to lay the groundwork for starting a camp next year and to start training them. I’ll be with them for 12 days or so until I meet back up with rest of the team in the capital to fly back out. 

I’ll also be doing is finishing up the camp manual and programming guide to leave with the Chambers and the Bandas (although I’m not entirely sure how that will happen with my laptop no longer working.

Thank you for the encouraging messages and the continued support and prayers.  God's doing some wonderful things out here...

heading back out...

The past two weeks have had many things happen.

Caleb got back to the states safely.

·         A few years back, the Chambers and Twin Lakes Camp partnered together to start a camp called Camp Zambia in Choma.  After a few years of successful ministry, it was shut down by a different group of missionaries. One of the nationals, Collins, who has a passion for camp ministry and reaching his people, is starting it bak up.  He has formed a team of nationals to be leaders of the camp.  I have/will be working with them to train them and rebuild the course.

·         We’ve been planning or programming and what we will be teaching in the bush. This time, we will be focusing on the the teens/young adults and the men.

·          In total, we’ll have seven days worth of camp.  Part of our team will also be teaching in the school again.  We’ll also be finishing the training for our team

·         We ran a volleyball camp at Salvation Baptist for the local community.  It’s a sport most of the teens have never played, but they enjoyed learning it.

·         We’ve been gathering supplies, fixing things, and building things for this next trip out. 

Prayer Requests

·         The time with Collins and his team will be beneficial, as we revive Camp Zambia

·         We’ll be running seven days of camp out in the bush.  Part of our team will be teaching in the local school again. 

·         A large part of my job is training people.  Not only do the missionaries need to be trained, but the nationals from Choma and the nationals from Nambaaza (the bush).  Everyone is so busy and have so many other duties.  Everyone also has different levels of training.  We still have a lot of training to do and we have a lot of schedules to work around.

·         The medical clinic will be opened as well…that wise decisions will be made while dealing with patients.

·         Once I get back, I’ll be heading up to the Northern Province to work with Harrison and Michelle Banda.  Their interested in starting their own camp.  Travel arrangements still need to be made. 

Love you guys,

Josh

L