Living a Crazy Life. Words Arent Enough.

Mwabuka buti! We finally made it to Zambia! It’s 20:21 (8:21) on Friday night and we’ve already had a busy day! This is probably going to be a long blog so you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to haha I just have a lot to talk about! On Tuesday, we started our journey from Memphis. We also started our many many delays and problems. We got to the airport and had trouble checking in but finally made it through, just to find out that we had a 2 hour delay! Thankfully, our delay only turned into about 30 minutes. We made it Chicago as soon as our flight was boarding, so we were in a hurry. Yes, our whole group of 30 was sprinting through this airport, jumping on and off the trams that we had to take. It was quite a scene but we didn’t care. We barely made it on the plane to fly to DC and then was told that there was an earthquake in DC and we had to wait 45 minutes. But again, thankfully that turned into about a 5 minute wait instead. We made it to DC in time to make our flight to Senegal and then from there to South Africa! We were very blessed while traveling. With all of our delays it could have been days before we could all book another flight to Africa. Also, all luggage made it! On Wednesday night we stayed at a hostel in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was a really cool hotel! We had bread and butter for dinner because there wasn’t any other food! We woke up Thursday morning and flew from Jo-Burg to Zambia!

Thursday was a busy and fun day! We flew into a little airport in Livingstone, Zambia, and from there went to Victoria Falls. That was a BEAUTIFUL place. I had been there before but I didn’t remember a lot of it. We spent a few hours there walking around and taking tons of pictures at all the different sight spots! Rainbows were everywhere and seeing the power of the falls was incredible. The Hippo Song has always been a funny little camp song but we kept singing “God’s fingerprints are everywhere just to show how much He cares” and it wasn’t just a funny song anymore. I don’t know how you can see Victoria Falls and not think about how much God cares about you. In a few weeks we’ll be back at the Falls bungee jumping! Ah! From there we drove to Kalomo and finally got to Namwianga, our home sweet home! It was dark so we didn’t get to see the mission sight or meet many people, but it still felt so great to finally be home. Ba Leonard and Harold cooked us taco soup for dinner and a great cake that said “Welcome home HIZ.” After dinner, we moved into our houses! I’m living in the Mann house with Ashley, Abigail, Chelsea, Mackenzie, Michelle, Julia, Cynda, Stephanie, and Sarah. We spent hours last night moving in and getting unpacked but it was so fun! It’s amazing how quickly a place can feel like home. I love it already and I love my family that I’m living with!

Friday! Today! Man, it has been awesome! We woke up and had pancakes for breakfast…apparently we will get very tired of pancakes by the end of the semester but they sure were good this morning! Then we went on a tour of Namwianga. We saw the clinic, the schools, and the orphanages, which they call havens. After the tour we got to spend a couple hours in the havens. These are places where children come mainly because they lost their mother. They raise them here until about 3 or 4 and then hopefully send them back to their village. When they lose their mother they lose their source of food, but once they become old enough to eat, they are able to live back with their families. There are 3 havens…the first one is for new borns and little babies. The first baby I held was named Dillon. My little boy! He is so precious! I held many more little babies in that haven. They are all so beautiful and they’ll just look at you and smile and laugh. The next haven was one for toddlers. This is where they keep them until they send them home. When we walked up to this Haven the kids automatically ran out and jumped all over us. I sat on the porch and had 3 or 4 kids all over me. I played with a beautiful little girl named Maurini. These kids love to run around and play and laugh. They especially loved playing with my camera and my blonde hair! The third haven is a home for children who are sick. They either have diseases like AIDS or TB or some have mental handicaps…they are the ones that are so sick that they need to be isolated from the rest of the children. I spent a lot of time in here holding different children! I held a little girl named Paula who had a clubbed foot, a little girl named Sydney, and a little boy named Matt…those are just a few! Matt stole my heart! I don’t know what disease he had but he was healthy enough to run around and laugh and smile and play. When I would put him down he would walk around for a little bit and then come right back to me. Between all these havens, we met lots of kids who were probably 5-7 that live in a place called Eric’s House. I met George and Jason, which I have heard a lot about from Mrs. Gregerson. Smiles automatically filled their faces when I mentioned Mrs. Gregerson! I could tell that they really love her! These boys speak English so it was fun to talk to them and play on the playground with them! I also met a little girl named L’nae. She didn’t speak much English but she loved being around us. She would follow me into the haven and just sit next to me holding my hand while I held Matt! She was a beautiful little girl and she was so happy to spend time with us. After the havens, we had lunch and then went into Kalomo! Going into the town was an interesting experience! We went to exchange money and buy phones but I didn’t get either of that done. I did get a postcard sent to my parents! Yes, mom and dad…you should be getting it in a couple weeks J Abbie and other ACU friends, I tried to send one to you but I couldn’t remember the address. Yall will get it sometime though! Everyone in the town was so nice! They would wave and greet us. Some would come up and shake our hand and try and talk to us. It was pretty obvious that the “Makua” or white people were the big hit in town. It was a fun experience though! After that, we had grilled cheese for dinner. So good! Then we went to visit Mrs. Moona. She lives on the mission and she sews anything we want out of chitangis! That was the first time we met her and she was so sweet! Gregersons and Broadways-she was so happy to hear that I know yall…she asked all about how yall are doing and she gave me big hugs for each of you!

So, that’s a lot of information but it has been a busy week! The very little time that we have spent at Namwianga has already been incredible! It truly is home. I love it already…I love Namwianga, I love the people and the children, and I love my HIZ family that I’m here with! I’m so excited about living here for the next few months! Today was awesome…I wish awesome hadn’t lost its meaning. I have been in awe. Because of the falls, because of the children, just everything. It has been awesome. I wish I could do it justice with my words but there’s just no way.  God is so good and he has blessed us so much. It’s so interesting to me that Zambians work here…they do our laundry, cook our food, etc. and yet they live in little huts right down the street with no water or electricity. They make sure we have great homes even when they have so much less. We walked from the haven back to our home earlier today and I started getting tired but I just kept reminding myself that we have a big bus that we usually ride in. They have nothing. They walk everywhere…and they usually have a baby on their back, a basket on their head, and something in their hands. They are servants and such a great example to me. I am so blessed to be here. I cant even express how grateful I am. I’m so excited to start this journey…this is where I will meet people that will change my life, I’ll form lifelong relationships, I’ll be changed, and I’ll change people. God will use me and help me grow. Being in the havens is such an incredible feeling. Even though there are workers in there, there aren’t enough to hold all the babies and toddlers. And kids die from no contact or love. It’s an incredible feeling knowing that for the next 3 months I’m going to get to hold and love babies that need it so so badly. So much will happen in the next 3 months!

Ok…If you’re still reading this, I’m sorry it’s so long. We only have 10 hours of internet for the whole semester so I cant update every day. That means I’ll be on a couple times a week and writing a lot during those times! I still feel like I haven’t talked about everything I want to talk about. I just have had so many great experiences and they have all been indescribable. Words aren’t enough. I’m going to try and put a “Picture of the Day” on facebook. It will be really hard for me to narrow it down to just one picture, but I want to keep everyone updated on what I’m doing. So we’ll see how that works! Thank you for praying for safe travels! Keep praying for my team as we’re getting settled, fighting jet lag, and getting to know the people around us! It’s hard coming into a new place because we feel disconnected and are really dying for relationships with people here. Pray that we have the patience to get to know people! Pray that God starts using us from day 1 and that we start learning from day 1. There are so many opportunities here. It’s hard to take everything in but I’m trying my best! I’m trying to keep my eyes and heart open for whatever God wants to show me!