Zambia Drill arrives at Debrief
Zambia Drill has arrived at Debrief. Thank you for your prayers.
He will return to OKC on Sunday afternoon. Please keep him in your prayers and send him love. Thanks... from a loving Grandma.!
Zambia Drill packing up
Greetings from the Zambia Drill team,
As you know the team moved to Ndola on Satruday. Sunday we went to Nelson’s home church. It was good for the people to see what Nelson had been involved with since he has been gone so long.
On Monday the team went out on a day trip to the Lupia rescue unit. They enjoyed teaching the nursery school children had a pinic lunch and then taught the kids that came in the afternoon. They retuned back to the base and finished the day with a camp fire down at the bamboo prayer walk. They had purchased some chocolate and cookies to make some smores but were unable to find them at the store.
On Tuesday the team went to the rescue unit of Chiwala which is only about and hour away from the base. They met with about 40 some kids and they caught on very easy. Between Lupia and Chiwal there were about 80 children that gave their hearts to the Lord. The team came back after lunch and prepared for our team banquet. We had hamburgers and all the fixin’s with ice cream and cold coke. The base coordinator Doug and Barb and another staff Jillian shared with us and challenged us in our return home. We have truly been blessed by their love and care for each of the teams.
Wednesday the team had a chance to do a little shioping in Ndola had a nice lunch and also there is a souvenir place up the road from us. They were able to find some great things to bring home.
Thursday was clean up, pack up and finish some of our classes that we needed to finsh. The evening finished out with another camp fire which all enjoyed.
This morning we are getting orgainized to pack our bags and get the bus loaded for going to Lusaka. It won’t be a early morning as we are not able to get into the church we stay at until after 6:00. It will be about a 5-hour drive. We will stay over night at the church and get up early for the LONG ride to Victoria falls. We will be overnighting at a mission compound that has little camp sites. We will even be able to get a hot shower. Sunday morning will begin our sightseeing day. We will go on a game park drive. We will go on a two-hour boat ride on the Zambzei River for about two hours and they will serve us a buffet lunch. From there we will go to Victoria Falls and view them and then there is a big souvenir shopping area and the team will finish out the time with shopping. We will return to the mission compound and spend the night. Again up early to make the LONG drive back to Lusaka where we will stay at the church and do the final packing of our duffel bags. We will then need to leave early for the airport as it departs at 11:00. We fly to South Africa and spend about 8 hours there and then onto Washington D.C. where we will have to go through immigrations and customs. Move our luggage to the transport belt and then go as fast as we can to connect with our flight to Orlando. So appreciate your prayers that ALL luggage will come through and there won’t be any delays.
The TMI bus will be at the Orlando airport to pick us up and we will make the hour bus ride to TMI headquarters where we will get settled into our rooms and then begin Debrief with about four or five days left before you will have your children back home with you. We really appreciate your children and allowing them to come on this missions trip. We pray that you will see the specail work that God has done in each of their lives.
This will be the last report that you will receive from the Zambia drill team, your next report will come in person with the return of your children. God bless
The Zambia drill team
Greetings from Zambia Drill
Greetings from Zambia,
I think we left off with moving to another location which was Mumena. When we arrived there were children everywhere. We were setting up camp. When the tents were set up and the kitchen set up and ready to cook. The team had library reading. As they were inside the small shelter there were children’s faces surround them as they looked on. As it was getting later the facilitators had to tell the children it is time to go home now.
The next morning children come for preschool but instead of the normal classes, the team was able to teach them drill. There were so many that they had to be divided into 3 groups. The small ones, the medium ones and the older kids. It was a different group of children to train than at Lunsala. There were children that were a little troublesome but they managed to keep up with it all. After lunch the team was able to teach not only the ones from the morning but also those that came for the first time. Again they were divided into groups.At the end of each drill practice the team always has a short EV program. They sing songs they give a testimony they do puppets and always an invitation is given. There were some 100 decisions that were made while the team was there for about 4 days. The team always loved the time after the presentation when the children would sing songs for the team. The team was also trying to learn some of these songs. It is difficult to describe how secail the singing of the children is here but we look forward to their singing.
Water is a little different here at this unit. In order to get good cooking water and water to filter the team goes morning, noon and at night to a well across the street and carry 5 gallon buckets back for the kitchen to use. There is a well at the unit but it is only goodfor bathing, laundry. Most of the girls have been able to carry a bucket of water on their head at sometime during their stay in Africa but sometimes more water lands on you than makes it to the kitchen.
Our last day at Mumena was Sunday School day. Children walk about 12 kilometers to attend the Sunday School. It t usually starts with the Bible lesson, memory verse, invitation and then it is time for phonics. The team had training in phoics so they were able to teach the children. Again, they were divided into 3 different groups. All were eager to learn as for some this would be the only schooling that they would receive. The faciliators also have classes for the local people that might be interested in learning how to teach Sunday School. I think the team enjoyed visitng another unit and now know that every place we go will not be the same as their are different children at each unit. But praise the Lord for the children that gave their hearts to the Lord.
So after Sunday School at Mumena we had the truck loaded and ready to go to our 3rd location which is Solwezi. This unit isn’t as close the road as the other two units. It is near a dam and there is a cabin that is built out near the water. At this unit they hold a Boot Camp for all the orphans in the area so there is a large kitchen and then a big rally room, and a storage room. There are 3 orphan boys that stay to help with security. The faciliators here ahve a house and they have 3 girls that are staying with them. It has a gbig open field and perfect for drill training. As we drove into the unit around 4 we were met by many children as they had been told that visitors would be coming to the unit. The team was able to greet the children but we then had to set up camp. The tent site was behind the facailtoors house. They had prepared a hut for us to meet in with some benches to sit on. We had a storage room for the kitchen things as it was not advisable to have the kitchen in th truck as we had done in the past. We had evening devotions together and then we were blessed with mattresses that the faciliator allowed us to use. All were looking forward to a great night of rest on the mattresses.
The next morning we again began our drill training. This time there were only 2 groups. Each time the team does drill practice they do a short presentation of what drill is and then proceed to teach the children. These children seems to catch on very quickly and what usually took about 4 days to teach they were abletoteach on the movements in one day and the team was wodering what they would teach tomorrow. At the presentations in the morning and afternoon there were 125 children that gave their hearts to the Lord. Dinner and evening devotions with Makuka sharing, she and her husband are the faciliators at this unit. She shared about the ministry here and also when she was single started the first Matron’s unit so she shared about here time doing that. She shared about some of the difficulties the orphans face. 2 sister were at home and the mother had prepared beans but had not made he Shema (their main food) She left the 2 sisters for a bit but the children were hungry so they started to eat the beans. The mother was angry when she came home that she stuck the 4 year old’s hand in the boiling water and the sister to teach them not to eat the food again. Another girl had some greens while the mother went to see a neighbor and the girl ate the greens the mother was so mad that she too a knife and started cutting the girls fingers off. Neighbors heard the screams of the girl and was able to get the girl away from the mother she was taken to the hospital and then the social services brought the girl to the unit because there was no other place to take them and Solwezi does not have any child homes for them to go. There was another lady that came with an eye problem, her eyeball is about as big as an orange she was able to have some transport to go to a doctor but she has been without medicine for a month and here eye is getting worse. She had been putting powder on as she thought this would help. These are just a few past stories that they shared of the needs for them and the only one that seems to be able to give any kind of help is what Teen Missions is giving. Though the stories were hard to hear it certainly makes all of us to be thankful for what God has blessed us with.
After devotions we all headed back to our tents. But around 8:00 p.m. there was a distrubance. There were 2 thieves that came to the facilitator’s house and beat them and were wanting money. They came out to our tents and were trying to get money from Kathy the leader. Kathy was able to yell for help and Nelson was able to scare them away with his torch. Three of our staff were able to go to the police station and bring back some police. Due to this situtaiton we were able to contact the Zambia coordinator and he was able to contact our director and it was decided the team should leave, so we packed our bags and loaded up the truck and headed back to the base. The police stayed with us until we were all finished packing. We then had to go to the police station to file a report. We were traveling with a Zambia staff that had another truck and his truck was giving problems. We didn’t arrive until 7:00 in the morning at the base. We are thankful for God’s protection. We are grateful for those prayers that say “keep them safe”. Saturday morning is when we arrived back at the base. AS not many were able to get any sleep we took some time to rest a bit, clean up and then had some of our classes.
Sunday morning we were able to attend a church here in town. In fact it is church that Nelson attends, his home church. The team was back for lunch and little free time, libary reading and before you knew it was dinner time. Nelson shared his testimony with us tonight and then we attended the school’s devotion time. Followed by some Bible memory quizzing with the students. All enjoyred this time and we will have some more quizzing tomorrow night with the students.
Our plan for the rest of the week, is to make a day trip to a unit that is about an hour away. The team will do some more drill teaching and a EV presentation. They will also visit a second unit on Tuesday. We hope to have our team banquet on Tuesday night. Wed. we will do our sightseeing day here in Ndoloa. Thursday will be preparation for going to Victoria Falls. We will write another report on Wednesday before we leave for Victoria Falls.
Friday we will travel together with OA II to Lusaka where we will spend the night. It will be a long drive to Victoria Falls. We will stay in at a tent site on a mission compound. Sunday we will spend the day sightseeing, overnighting at the compound and then Monday returning to Lusaka and then flying to Florida on the 10th. It won’t be long and your children will be back home with lots of stories to tell. We as leaders have enjoyed the team members so much. They are such a blessing to be able to be with and eager to learn all they can and be used by God. Thanksfor letting them come.
Lydi Felker
I am having such an amazing time here in Zambia. god is constantly showing and reaffirming His love for me. Every time I open my Bible, God tells me sommthing new about Himself and His love. It is so wonderful to know that no matter where I am, even out in the bush in Zambia, God is taking care of me. Hello Felkers! I love and miss you all!
Emily Schultz
I have learned and am learning so much this wonderful summer in Zambia. Something that God shoed me early in the summer it how blessed I am. Also how alive and active the Word of God is.
Helen Colins
I have had an incredible experience so far in this journey. God has shown and taught me so much.Of couse,the obvious God has revealed how blessed I truely am; it is almost unfathabable. He also has taught me how vitally important our reliance on God is. For absolutely everything and all that I do. I MUST rely on God, His Word, and His faithfulness. Especially out in the bush here. I see the need for these children, not only physically, but especially spiritually. There is so much more, but I can only write so much.
Tabby Hems
The Lord has been doing a lot of work on my heart, especially in the last week or so. The work has been mostly practical and my flesh fought it at first, but now I am anticpating how it will change my daily life when I return home. Thank you for our prayers.
Jennifer Mast
This trip has taught me to trust God and to lean on him. I am amazed at how the kids here are so willing to learn the drills. I can’t wait to share with my family and friends the many stoires I’ll have to share when I go home.
Vanessa Gusman
This trip has been an expierience of a life time. It’s taught me a variety of things from the value of family, true friendship, how blessed I truly am and the meaning of relying on God 100% I have seen how the people of Africa live it’s nothing compared to what I thought. The chidren walk about 3-5 kilometers to school, and they wake up early to go and get water, or some just work because they don’t have enought money to pay for shcool. It’s amazing the journey I have been living and that I had to go through all this ti honesly learn what it is that really matters to me and what I have. Hello Mom, Dad, Kattie, Melissa, Kayla. I love you and cain’t wait to see you.
C.J.
I will ask him for his note. If not in this email we will have something in the next report! All team members are healthy. We thank you for your many prayers!!
Zambia Drill moves to Mumema
Greetings from the Zambia Drill team,
Monday the team slept in a bit after our long day Sunday. Right after devos, breakfast the team went to town to excahnge money and purchase the Chantanges (wraps to wear over their jeans). We came back for lunch and then washed our travel clothes so they will be fresh for the return trip. We got caught up on Bible memory, verses and classes. Packed up their things and had an early night too as we would be moving to our first project location on Tuesday morn.
Tues. morning was early rise and shine at 5:00 A.M. taking tents down and packing personal things as well as kitchen things into the 4-ton truck. We were on our way at 7:00. It was an 8 hour truck ride with lots of pot holes to go around. The morning air was cold as the team kept back some blankets to wrap around them. It was about 3 1/2 hours and we stopped at a Matron’s unit for our bathroom break. The team was able to see the place the girls stay. We hope to spend a couple of hours with them on our return trip.
It was back on the road again for about another 3 hours. We stopped along the road for a quick lunch and then back back on the road. We stopped at our last location to tell them when we would come. Then we stopped at the second place and told them we were coming. Now we finally arrived at Lunsala, our first location, around 3 o’clock. It was good to finally be in one place. We began to set up camp, settle into our tents and before you knew it was time for rest.
The next morning the children started arriving at 8:30. There is a preschool here so the team will be training these young children in drill. The first thing the children do is greet the facilitator. You see them coming from all different directions, barefoot, cold, in torn clothes but anxious to learn. The team began by performing their drill so the children would know what they would do. The children were so anxious to learn. The team members made many friends. Soemtimes teaching and holding a child that just wanted to be held. They were quick and excited to learn. Sometimes the team had to split into 3 groups as there were so many different age groups. So the morning hours were spent with the children. In between drill teaching, they would also play some games with them, like duck dcuk goose goose; which they loved. At the end of every drill practice the team would give a short presentation. For the first 3 days there were 28 decisions that the chilldren gave their hearts to Christ. What a blessing for the team to be a part of these children being a part of the Kingdom of God. After teaching the team, there is time for library, oops Bible marking happens first thing in the morning before breakfast. We also have time for continuing to learn our memory verses as well as Grubby to Grace, God’s gentlemen class.
Different children arrive in the afternoon so the team starts all over teaching drills to the different ages, followed by a presentation. Then there is free time to wash clothes and take bath. Then it is supper time and later it is time for team devotions. Each team member gets to share something. We reflect back on the things that we have learned and of course spend some time singing. It is a good way to finish our day. Then it all starts over again.
The team members are all healthy. It is cold in the morning and we are thankful when the sun comes out and warms us up. The team really enjoyed our time at Lunsala. We made some really good friends with the children. A little piece of Lunsala is left in each of our hearts.
Sunday the team was able to attend their first church service. There was lots of singing—they were even able to share 4 songs with the church.
After church on Sunday we moved to our second location which is Mumena. When we came, there were children everywhere and more came as we were unloading our luggage and setting up camp. The thatched-roofed kitchen with team team members doing library reading was full in every place with children looking and seeing what was going on. In order for us to eat supper, the facilitator took out his guitar and took the children to the MSSM area to sing songs. They say the children are here all the time and many times they must tell them to go home we want to go to sleep.The team was performing for the new group today and will be starting the drill teaching to a whole another group.
We will be here at Mumena until Thursday. We will first attend the MSSM and then travel to our final location of Solwezi on Thursday. We will be sending a report again on Monday. I have asked each of the team members to write a paragraph about their time here so hope to include these in our next report.
We as leaders have appreciated each of your children. They are truly a blessing and so great to work with. They are enjoying each and everything that comes their way and up for each challenge and are really appreciative of parents as they see and hear the stories of the children that don’t even have a Father or Mother. Thanks parents for letting them come. I’m sure you will be seeing some great things that God has done in their lives.
Until next Monday. Blessings, and love from the Zambia Drill team.
CJ is a former medal student from KIPP Reach College Preparatory Academy in Oklahoma City, OK. Here he is with his principal, Mr. Tracy McDaniel, his best friends, the twins, and other medal students on graduation day! You can see that CJ is very much a people person who is destined to greatness...
CJ was excited to get visitors at Boot Camp. Here is Roz Jones, an Aunt living in Titusville, Florida. Although Roz and her family have lived in Titusville for years, she had never visited Merritt Island, Teen Missions International. She said she enjoyed attending the Commissioning Ceremony on Sunday night. She returned with her son on Wednesday, CJ's last day before the long trip to Zambia. Here she is with CJ. In the car seat is her son. Thanks, Roz for the visit! CJ will return home on his 16th birthday, August 16th.
Hi. My name is Christian James Walker. They call me CJ, etc. I have been accepted to go with Teen Missions International to Zambia. Our team will be a precisions step team. We will spend our day teaching the orphans how to practice