Oct 22

Welcome

Nov 4

Last Leg – Update from Lindsey

So, we’re in Harare for just about 30 minutes before we head out to the game park for our 24 hours of rest and relaxation. it’s been a LONG week in Chinhoyi for all of us. For the past few years Sunday has been our ‘long day’, but we’ve found that the schedule we’ve kept this week, everyday has been our ‘long day’. We’re all basically healthy and good and excited to take some time off, but i’m not sure we’re all ready to come home yet. We had to say goodbye to all of the orphans and people we’ve met in Chinhoyi this week last night and it was definately difficult. Lots of tears and hugs. It’s been a blessed week to be sure, even as tired as we all are. We’ve got lots of more detailed stories to tell when we get back, but right now I was just instructed to tell you where we are and that we’re good. So many incredible things have happened. God has been so good to us and the people we’ve encountered. I know families are missed and everyone’s excited to get home to see kids and spouses (and cats and dogs for me and brandi ). Well, i guess i’ll leave it at that. Derek and Aurell and Alistair and Shelley just arrived, so i’m sure we’re about to load back up and leave! See you all in just a couple of days!

Blessings to you all!

Lindsey

Nov 2

Chinhoyi – Update from Buddy

Karin,
Hey beautiful! I hope all is well with you and the children. I love and miss you all so much. Well, we made it to Chenoyi and have been to the 3 C’s. You should see the way they praise God! It is so inspiring! I wish I had the courage (and the talent) to dance and celebrate God the way they do! Maybe we can start something new!! I cannot wait to share with you the details of everything that had gone on in just the first day here. The Holy Spirit is intervening in so many ways in these people even in the midst of so many problems.
I have been praying for God’s peace and comfort and guardian angels to protect you, Chanler, and Cade. We visited the Good Sheperd orphanage today. I hope you don’t mind if I adopt all 70 children!! There is a little 2 and a half year old boy here named Tanashe who is just as stubborn and hard-headed as Cade!! Well, I’m going to go back to Good Sheppard. I love and miss you all and pray that all is well. Tell mom and pop I love them and am praying for them.
I love you, Mike

My Dearest John,
Oh, where do I start? Well, I met the twins and they are as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. I worshiped our Lord with them and danced and raised my hands in praise with them just crying. It was as awesome as my dreams. I gave my testimony (full version) in front of boys and girl teenagers. I was thrilled afterwards to hear some of the boys were even moved by my God story. After the service a young 13 yr old asked for prayer and what continued for another hour or more was the same as what you saw in the bush with that lady. You know? We were all praying out loud and praying scripture over her. I will tell you details later. I so wish to know and see more of our Holy Spirit. How and why do we put limits on Him? He is mighty at work but we must call on Him and ask Him to be and do those things we can’t. We went to the orphanage this morning and the twins are not living there anymore. They are living with Miracle and 6 other girls. It is for their protection. The school was not the best right now that they were attending. I am going to see where they are living this afternoon. They have not left my side hardly at all. I painted about 10 girls toenails and one little boys about Corey’s age…hee hee hee. It was so cute. Anyway, I love you and please pray for me as God is showing Himself so clearly to me. Wow! He is amazing. Give the kids my love. Hope harvest night was fun.
Kelley, I have been telling my girls how you fasted and prayed for them and how you made the t-shirts for them. They want to meet you. Everyone else, I love you, I must let Eric D. Write his love to Ashley now…hee hee hee
Love,
Pam

Tammy,

Hey love. Things are going well over here very tiring but well worth it. I think I am starting to recover from my cold which is good, my throat is still scratchy but my voice is back. It has been amazing to see the Holy Spirit working in this place. There are of course many stories that I will have to tell you when I get back! I am sharing my testimony tomorrow and doing our Lord Lord skit tomorrow. How exciting. We were able to do the skit at the youth camp and it went over well. I was looking through the camera at the pictures I have taken and there were still pictures from our pumpkin carving night. It’s making me miss you, but I know that in only a few days we will be reunited and in this time apart the Lord is working in both of our lives and we will be stronger and closer because of this time apart. You are the love of my life and I am thankful and blessed to be in this place doing the will of God and I can’t wait to return home to you and share the stories and spend time with you. Until then….
I Love You,
You’re Hubby

Dear Ashley-
All is well here in Zim. We had a great day at the orphanage today. We played basketball with the older boys and then spent some time holding and playing with the younger kids too. I love the people here….totally cool people who absolutely love our Lord. I pray that you are feeling better! It’s been quite a while since you were well and i hate it when you’re sick. I miss you so much (honestly, not just saying that either). I can’t wait to be reunited with my new bride next week!!! I love you and think of you always.
Eric
PS- Who’s been taking the trash out? Haha!

To A, Trip-C, EG, all the Ys and people that were here last year…yeah yeah, i’m the only one not writing to a spouse…
Well, i can’t remember what i said the last time i blogged, so i guess i’ll just tell you about Thursday thru today. Thursday day, we worked with our groups till lunch and then Shelley and Alistair gave us the afternoon off (since we’d put together TWO complete a-frames!) to chill by their pool and canoe. Thursday night was the last night at camp, which meant the end of camp ‘show’ with all the kids. Me and taylor did our “trust fall” skit, which went well with a lot of improvisation from ‘Jesus’ who apparently couldn’t learn his lines…ahem. the kids all had a skit about what they learned that week, which was really impressive. And the counsellors did a couple of skits with us. And good grief, even thought i’d seen the ‘King Unga Bunga’ skit in young life, the whole time i was doing it, i was trying to remember the punchline…i didn’t…and i sat straight down in a plate of chocolate pudding. Awesome. Lots of good pictures of that…the next morning we left Kadoma, and Lasting Impressions with a tearful goodbye to all the kids and counsellors we hung out with all week (who, by the way, didn’t want anyone’s email address, they just wanted to know how they could find us on facebook…yeah, in the middle of Zimbabwe, they all facebook on their phones at night), we said goodbye and headed out.
Friday we arrived at Derek and Aurrell’s in Chinhoyi by lunch and then had the rest of the afternoon off, but it was like 110 degrees and hard to take a much needed nap, so we journaled, practiced skits, and talked and just hung out a bit. That night we headed out to Three C’s church for their youth rally. We had a wonderful dinner of rice, sudza (like cornmeal mashed potatoes), beef and veggies over it and cole slaw. Ain’t no silverware here in Zim (unless your wife brings you some, John Dee…), so me and Cecelia (a girl from the orphanage that i recognized from last year) dug right in. Little did i know that i was being inspected by Derek and John Dee, but luckily my enthusiasm won out and they both gave me compliments on my eating techniques . The rally was wonderful. Lots of singing and dancing (apparently all anyone remembers me for is clogging last year…ha!) and preaching. Then taylor and pam gave their testimonies and Jackie spoke on purity, which apparently was a much needed message right now.
Today we spent the whole day at the orphanage. So many of the kids remembered me! And Rob, Steve, Bobbie and April…they’ve been asking about you all. I told them that you’re all well, you say hello, but that you had things to take care of at home. Today was great. I was a little nervous, but i quickly made friends with Natasha and Nadia which stayed with me just about all day long. We colored, painted fingernails, made balloon animals (a big hit that me and Natasha bonded over as we read the instructions), and Natasha taught me some Shona! Ndeipi yako (how are you?) Ndiribho (i am fine) – ndinonzi (my name is…)- masikati (good afternoon) – manheru (good night) – and my favourite, ndinokuda (i love you.) and yes, i CAN say all of these! Right before we left it was getting to be dusk and we gave out glow bracelets, which they loved. And now i’ve just had a shower and i’m late for dinner!
I love you! See you all in a week!
Linds

Nov 2

Update from Chinhoyi via 5:30am phone call

This post is from Pam via telephone call and I am scribing. The team does not have internet access, rather they have not been able to make it work….So here goes….The team is doing well with many great things happening. They have been spending time at the orphanage, Chengetenai Old People’s home, and at the church. Sunday was a huge day for them as they had 2 services to go to in the AM, Afternoon at the Chinhoyi High school, and evening at the Lomagundi High school. They have encountered some intense spiritual warfare, and seen the Holy Spirit move mightily. They have seen needs met and hearts changed.
Please pray for the team as they are very tired and still have a day and a half of ministry to go. Taylor is sick with a chest cold and not feeling well. The rest of the team is doing well otherwise. Please pray as they continue at the orphanage, Millie’s preschool program, and ministering to the adults that manage these programs. They will get downtime as of Wednesday at the Mawanga Lodge and Preserve. They will start their trip home, Friday.
Pam said that they have 2 resident “flatties” (large bug eating spiders) in their room that they named Larry and John.
Each team member has seen God move mightily and speak to them and through them in a personal way that only time will tell.
Sorry, I don’t have any other individual personal messages. The call was brief.
Scribing for Pam….John W.

Oct 29

Kadoma 10/29/09

Ashley- We finished the second a-frame today! Yay! I think that my DiCicco construction side has shown itself yet again =). Our skit went really well last night – Caitlyn Delaney was the girl in the skit and she did great too. I got to go on a little canoe trip today with Taylor in a river that has crocodiles! Don’t worry, I didn’t see any….Buddy said I’d be fine so I went for it. The Lord is blessing us in cool ways. I love you so much and miss you a ton….can’t wait to see you!

 Diane-

Well, Eric obviously hasn’t learned not to trust me yet. Diane-tell everyone hello. Renee- <#%>!@%. (Oops, another code violation for Big Mo.)

Tammy,

Things are going great over here. I have been sick the past few days but think I am finally recouping. It has been tough working through this cold but the Lord has given me such strength. I worked today on a truck with the missionary Al that runs the camp. We pulled the engine apart and stripped down the head preparing it for a rebuild of sorts. Never thought I would be working on cars in Africa. Anyway the Lord has been working here and we are looking forward to loving on kids next week. Please pray for continued healing of my sinus congestion and lungs. I love you sweetheart and am thinking of you every day.

Hey Waters Family! Mommy is doing fine! Yesterday I jumped off a huge pole for the first time ever and had a harness on so they caught me. I was scared to death but it was fun. And then today I paddled in a canoe today for the first time in the river by Alistair’s house. SO FUN. We have been working so hard it was nice to be able to enjoy God’s Creation for a little while with the team. I have been able to pray with all of the counselors here and have been so inspired by their determination and trust in God. One of the counselors has been told his farm will be taken from him and he really can’t do anything about it. Another, her dad has leukemia and is trying to get a bone marrow transplant here. Another has family issues. Yet, they continue to smile and share Jesus with these kids. Amazing! I was able to talk thru a few things with John Dee and left encouraged and not so down on myself. Anyway, I won’t write much more. Other’s are waiting. John, I love you and it was so good to hear your voice. Can’t wait to get home and be able to share this experience with you as I know you will understand what I am going thru. Tomorrow we leave for Chinhoyi which means tomorrow, I get to see the twins!!!!! Love you all so much and praying for you!!!

Jenni and Rachelle, I feel your prayers and am blessed by your friendships and faithfulness to our God! Jenni, Jackie says thanks for the encouragement. Hey, Jenni, the bugs over here, make the gnats at Heritage park look like NOTHING! Ha ha! Love my babies for me!

Pam

Hi family and friends! It’s Cemele. Today was the last day at Lasting Impressions Camp. It’s been fun and I’ll be sad to say bye to my new friends here. Yesterday was such a fun day. It was my birthday and I got sang to about 5 times. I even got carried over a mile in a pallet that they made. It was a little scary but they only dropped me twice!  Someone made me a chocolate cake and it was very yummy! I’ve missed chocolate!! Tomorrow we travel about 3 miles to the next stop where we will visit the orphanage and a few churches and schools. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Africa!

From Robyn:

 Hey everybody! Just wanted to let you know we’re all alive and doing well. Dee Martin, you’re my hero! You know those little bottles of laundry soap you gave us all to take to Y in ’08? Well, I’ve used my twice this trip,  You will also enjoy my “out of comfort zone” experience. I had to share my testimony in front of 50 + “sticky people!” That would be children to everyone else. Before we left Sue Dee had prayed over me at our first Zim team meeting. She prayed that I would be surprised on this trip. To revisit being 11, and share how the love of Christ has helped me to get past those not-so-happy memories was certainly a surprise to me! I’ve now joined in leading a team of 6th graders through the exercises here and even lead their devotion this morning. Yes, I came expecting to building an A-frame, but have mostly been leading a kids group. Only God could bring this to life. 

Karin, Hey beautiful! God has been working His wonders today! We finished the second A-frame and were able to rest a bit at Allester and Shelly’s house. This evening we’ve been singing with the children (so fun!!) and watching their skits that they performed. Tomorrow we’ll be leaving for Chenoyi- please pray continue to pray for the children at Lasting Impressions camp. Tell mom, pop ,Chanler, and Cade I love them.

I love you, Mike

Hey everyone! So its a bitter sweet night! this is our last night out at lasting impressions and i am so sad to leave all of my new friends that i have made! but i am also super excited to see what the rest of the trip has in store! Plus im trying to get all the camp counselors to get their visas and work at camp ocoee this summer..lol! Had probably the most fun just being and kid and having and mud and water fight and freaking out that there might be crocs in the water! I love you mom and dad! Mom, Jackie wanted me to let you know that you would be proud of me because i took two showers today!!!! lol kinda had to after the mud/slime fight!

Caitlyn