Sunday In Zambia

Sunday we got a later start and didn't leave for church at Wiphan until about 10 or so. We were told that service had started a few hours before we arrived. They were singing when we arrived and the service was held in the same classroom as the children have school. We were seated in the front facing the chairs.

The speaking was usually in English first and followed with a translation in Bimba. Most of the songs were in Bimba though I did recognize several of the tunes! LOTS of Amens! The paster, Frances, has a powerful voice and had lots of 1-2 line things to say and then there would be several songs again!

He started calling the names of various groups who would then each exit, there would be a few more songs by the congregations and then the group would come in singing and dancing and perform 3-4 songs and dances (each group).....they kept doing 3-4 songs each group even though each time Pastor Frances would call a group he would ask them to only do 2 songs.....it got to be rather funny!

We enjoyed about a 3 hour service with some more of the best music I think I've ever heard. This time it was accompanied by a guitar and a lady playing a water jug as a drum and a real bongo drum too!

I will need to get to the rest of the day next blog!

Our Greeting at Wiphan Zambia

Since it took 2 days to arrive here and internet is VERY sporadic I am way behind on blogs. We are also not in or around our rooms for long and VERY tired, but having a great time. I will just need to provide some highlights 1 blog at a time from the days here and count on Shannon Holden's blog.... she is my room mate here and is staying up until all hours of the morning writing so I'm sure her blog is great (I wouldn't know because I have only been able to get to blogger.com and facebook...go figure).

When we arrived at the school the first day it was AWESOME....the ladies had been waiting for us for a few hours (which is the Africa way, no real "time") and were lined up the road leading in the school. They broke into song when they saw our van and sang and followed the van to the school and sang lots more. They have beautiful voices...the melody, harmony etc. is incredible to listen to....there is no back ground music and, at least this time, no instruments and it plain didn't matter.

A young class of children (most likely the youngest of the school children at Wiphan) were waiting as well and sang a welcome song as well....they were a bit shy but it was lovely!

We went inside their classroom and they introduced the team. They were very interested in our pets. They have dogs here but ONLY for security. They don't feed them (most are pitiful) but it keeps them safe. One team member had a lizard and they really thought that funny as they would eat a lizard.

The folks we met are so joyful!

Arrival in Ndola, Zambia

We had an early start out of J'burg to catch a flight ot Ndola. Had a short delay due to plane issues but then were off on our 2 hour 15 min. ride to Zambia. The airport was quite small but all our baggage made it and we were out of the airport with everything in a very short amount of time.

We were met by the whole board of Wiphan and some others and were driven to our hotel...the Castlelodge. Then we loaded straight up to go to the first of 2 Wiphan complexes. When we arrived we were greeted from down the road by a long line of the widows all waving flowers and singing praise songs. They followed our bus in and sang as we got off the bus. A class of the younger children were all there as well, off to the side, quiet, but smiling and waving.

When we greeted the children they were encouraged to sing a song for us which they did. I have this all on video...it was awesome. If I can figure out how and this slow connection will load it, I'll get it on the blog.....if not we'll figure it out when I get home.

I am 2 days behind so trying to catch up....we have to head out so I will try to continue to catch up when we return!

Traveling to Johannesburg

We had a long but great trip to Zambia, though a 16 hour flight is the longest one I've ever been on! I think I saw 4 - 5 full length movies....more than I usually see in a year! For those that travel these days, you know that getting a meal on a plane is unheard of anymore.....we had 2 hot meals AND a snack!

We arrived in Johannesburg and had a short drive to Pretoria and stayed at what would be comparable to a bed and breakfast in the states. JP was happy as they had 3 Jack Russell Terriers. Yes, one slept in our room :-). We were lucky enough to get a tour of Pretoria from a friend of Kevin's. It has a very large University, we saw the capital etc. and then went to dinner at a local restaurant.

While the city is all very modern, just about everything is surrounded by walls, often with broken glass in the top of th concrete and barbed wire due to the level of crime. This surprised me as all the locals we met from the plane to the hotel we so incredibly warm and friendly and helpful.

We went to bed gratefully, but the boys (Zach and JP) woke up at about 3 a.m. and never got back to sleep.....I slept like a rock!

Getting Ready - Thanking Sponsors

Sent this out this morning to all of our sponsors for the trip....I'll use this as my first blog to see how I'm doing!

Greetings to our support team! Thank you for your help in making this trip possible with your financial support and for your prayers! We are doing the final bit of our packing today and heading out tomorrow. Have to be at the airport at 4 and the plan is due to take off on our 16 hour flight to Johannesburg a bit after 7. We will spend the night in S. Africa (near one of the World Cup venues which makes JP happy!) and then take another 2.5 hour flight to Ndola, Zambia. JP will be doing a soccer camp with the kids for much of the week. We are bringing lots of books over to help the schools start libraries. One of the things we learned is that students won't be able to take the books home with them as their caregivers (if they are lucky enough to have one) will use them for fuel for fires to keep warm! We are also carrying over lots of soccer equipment which we will leave there for the kids.

I hope to figure out how to post some pictures and provide an update as our trip progresses. We do want to request your prayers for safe travels the next few days as well as no illnesses among our team! I hope we are able to make a positive impact while we are there!