Love Does

I started and finished reading Love Does by Bob Goff while being here. If you haven't read this book you should. It is mesmerizing and full of amazing stories that always relate back to God and how He moves in our lives. Being here has made the statement "love does" even more relevant as the people here truly love with their whole heart and action comes out of that. I am in awe of their love for people. They serve wholeheartedly, welcome you into their home as if you are their friend who has just been gone for awhile, and just love to spend time with people they love. 

Brooke, Lauren, and I had the privilege to spend Friday to Tuesday at the My Father's House homes in Chongwe with these amazing people. Chongwe is a town/village about an hour from Lusaka. It is much more rural than Lusaka so it was a totally different experience. It is definitely much more how I pictured Africa going into it. People walking down the roads, little huts set up to sell fruit and veggies, kids outside playing football, cooking outside on a fire; it is just different from our home in Lusaka. They are both amazing in their own ways. 

I loved the newness about Chongwe and being out of my comfort zone after getting used to our home in Lusaka. I mean we've mastered the roads here and know how to walk to the homes. We are practically locals! (Super joking but it does feel that way when we run into someone we know walking around). We know that when a bus yells “hospital!” they aren't actually going to the hospital it’s just a route.

I loved the lack of electricity in Chongwe. They have solar lights in all of the homes which I thought was super cool. And at night the stars and the moon are so amazingly beautiful. There are not even enough words to describe how great of an artist our Creator is. Seriously you just have to see for yourself. They just reflect God’s beauty.

“Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars.” –Psalm 148:3

A few words to describe our five days: amazing, incredible, challenging, joyful, eye opening, hard and wonderful all at the same time.

In Chongwe there are 7 homes at My Father’s House. House 3 and 4 are currently on the mend after a storm destroyed the roofs on both of them so the kids from those homes have been dispersed into the other homes. Not all of the homes are full but as of right now since 3 and 4 aren’t ready yet they pretty much are. There is a mama and 8 kids in each home (or a max of 8 kids); 4 boys and 4 girls.

Brooke stayed in house 1 with Mama Anna and a lot of the kids in her house were gone this weekend for sports. It was a holiday so they didn’t have school on Monday or Tuesday. There were some nuggets from homes 3 and 4 though. Lauren stayed in house 2 with Mama Mary; she had a couple from house 3 as well. I got to stay in house 7 with Mama Sarah, James, Joseph, Romario, Dorcus, Idah, Doreen, Mabel, and Christine.

Gig 'em from House 7 in Chongwe!

They begin their mornings around 5 usually (we started at 6 since it was a holiday weekend) with morning devotion. I woke up to my house singing morning praises because that is how they wake everyone up for devotion. Talk about a great start to the day and the best way to wake up in my opinion. They don’t even say good morning or anything until they have finished praises and devotion. I loved that. Acknowledging God before anyone or anything else in the morning and thanking Him for the day he has made.

I helped with chores and helped cook a little. We played a lot of football with kids and I must say my skills have improved drastically. Even Kauya said I was a striker; I’m pretty sure he was just trying to be nice though. One of our intern duties is to collect sponsor letters so we did that with all of the kids and actually got them from all of the kids who were home. One day we went across the road to the schools. Most of the kids attend the one directly across the road but three of the younger kids attend the Esther school.

The Esther school is run by Americans so those three (Michael, Doreen, and Idah) are on summer break and the rest of the kids are in school because they do trimesters here. We got to meet Kevin and Tina who have been involved in running the Esther school in Chongwe. The teacher housing is right before the school so you walk down a little path and then there is the school. Their time is actually up this week but they are staying to adopt their little girl. She is stinkin adorable.

While in Chongwe we ate a lot of food. Nshima, which is their staple food item, was had a lot. We had porridge, samp (which is maize that is somewhat mashed plus ground nuts. It tastes kind of sweet.), and ifisashi (chinese cabbage plus ground nuts) and you might think that sounds gross but you’re wrong. It was SO good! We had rice with a bean soup which I was a big fan of. Kapenta was on the menu one night (it is dried little fish) but the girls and I decided to pass on that one. When I informed Mama Sarah and Dorcus that they didn’t need to make me any Mama Sarah said she doesn't like kapenta either so I felt good about my decision.

We got to work with some of the kids on reading and English. Something I struggled with while being in Chongwe was the older kid’s educational foundations. I just want them all to be able to do well in their studies yet they aren’t able to because of where they have come from and the previous education (or lack of) they have had. Brooke, Lauren, and I were only there for a short period and could only do so much; what they need is someone to help them daily. I trust God will provide for them because he delights in giving his children good things and education is a good thing.

On a more positive note we got to know the kids really well. For example, Ngosa can sing really well and led the choir at church on Sunday. Samuel loves to play slap jack and loves to win too but who can blame him. Doreen has a personality all her own. We said she was a woman trapped in a seven year olds body. Her personality is just too big for her tiny self. She loves to dance and laugh and sing and pretend like she doesn't know what you’re saying and answer you in Nyanja. James is so kind and servant hearted. It took some time for him to warm up to me but we definitely bonded. I think it was me offering him all of my leftovers. He loves the Lord and even when devotion was in Nyanja I could hear it in his tone of voice how he spoke of God. He’s a total boy and loves to play football. He loves to learn and is a rock star at math, which is his favorite subject.

Jerry, Samuel, and James

I had such an amazing few days getting to know each of these kids and the mamas more. I am so thankful and humbled that they let me into their lives for a few short days and into their hearts. I definitely learned a lot from each of them and from being in Chongwe and just doing life there. God is so present there and it was so cool to see. All of these people are amazing in how they love one another. It took me back to Bob and how, "simply put, love does." It was so evident how much they love by their actions.

We are back in Lusaka now and we picked up a new team Wednesday for our next Camp Hope so things are back in full swing. We are expecting to have 300 kids in Matero on Monday for Camp Hope round 2! We are so excited and just working to prepare everything for the kids and helping the missionaries in whatever they need. This team is from Virginia and the rest of the team, who are from Texas, arrives on Saturday. We are looking forward to having all of them here!

We spent yesterday with the VA team and already love them! About half have been here before and some are board members in the States. It has been really fun to get to know them all and has made us even more excited for the camp to come!

Pray that we will get to know everyone and form good relationships with each of them before we go into Camp Hope. Pray for the kids that will be coming to camp; that their hearts will be open to what the leaders have to say and that the Spirit will guide each group. Pray that the leaders will lead with grace and humility. Pray for lives to be changed as we share the gospel with a new group of 300 (hopefully) nuggets!