Home Sweet Namwianga.

It’s so good to be back from vacation! Our trip to Livingstone was so much fun, but it was hard being away from Namwianga and our friends here. It was even hard just being back in the tourist parts of Africa. Our trip really made me realize how little of Africa people can see unless they purposefully immerse themselves into the country. 6 weeks ago we got here and I remember driving through Livingstone thinking about how run down the city was and how poor and it all looked. This past week when we drove through I kept thinking about how nice it was and how it looked so much like America. A tourist in Africa can see some poverty and run down cities, but there’s so much worse that some people never know is even there. At Namwianga and the villages that we’ve been to we’ve seen real poverty, and as hard as that is to see, that’s’ why we’re here. Being on vacation made me forget that we were even in Zambia and it made me lose sight of the reason we came on this trip.

Since we’ve been back home everyone got better from that little sickness we had! I went to see my babies at the Havens the day after we got back and it was so good! I had missed my little kiddos so much! Cathy turned 2 months while we were gone and I could tell! She looks so much bigger and healthier. And now she’s smiling and laughing…I’m starting to see her personality and it’s so fun! Matt was also so happy that day! We sat on the couch and he cuddled up on my lap and would just laugh and laugh. It was so good being back there. It’s made me realize how much I’m going to miss that and how I need to make the most of the month I have left here. I’ve gotten to see my friends also! I went to Brenda and Deleki’s dorm for a little while the other day. They were making dinner so we just hung out and talked about our vacation and our families.

On Friday, a group of us went to a village in Kalomo for a gospel meeting! This was quite an experience…we got there at 7:30 pm, went straight into the little church building where a sermon was already going on, and didn’t leave the building until 11:30. We heard 2 sermons, lots of singing, and watched a lot of singing groups (including usJ). There were over 450 people there and it was hot and muggy, but no one ever seemed to get tired of sitting in the room, which was as shock to me because I was definitely having trouble staying awake. When we finally were done for the night they sent us to our sleeping area…a little fenced in area outside where all the other women at the conference were sleeping. We were crammed in with hundreds of Zambian women…and if that wasn’t enough of a reminder that we were in Zambia then the singing and the roosters and the mosquitoes sure were. Some women sang Tonga songs until at least 2 o’clock in the morning and the village roosters started crowing around 4:30. But for the few hours we did sleep we were tight in our sleeping bags with chitenges over our heads so mosquitoes wouldn’t eat us. It was great though! We woke up to some sprinkling rain so for a couple hours we just laid there enjoying the cool morning air and rain drops. We braved the bathrooms which was a little hut with a hole in the ground…imagine 300 women using the same hole…yeah, it didn’t smell very good. But TIA! At 7 o’clock started the meeting again! We had a morning lesson and then they served us breakfast. Breakfast was 2 rolls and a very very full cup of chai tea. I was so relieved it wasn’t chibwantu but the tea was still hard to drink. And here you don’t just throw out whatever you don’t want, especially if you’re a guest. You eat and drink it all. Another lesson started at 9 o’clock. I was already having trouble staying awake just because of the lack of sleep we got the night before, so although I wanted to stay all day and experience the gospel meeting, I was a little relieved when O’Neal came and told us we had to go meet the immigration lady at 10 to sign some papers. We got back to Namwianga around 10 and I slept until 1 when I had to wake up for lunch. The immigration lady of course didn’t show up until 1 either. I went to the havens again on Saturday afternoon and saw my babies.

This morning (Sunday) we loaded up in the bus to go back to the gospel meeting for church! We got there at 9:00 and the building was already packed. They cleared out seats for us, which always makes me feel uncomfortable, but we were grateful and went and sat down! I thought the gospel meeting was crowded with 450 people…Sunday morning church was so much more crowded. Literally every spot on the floor was covered with a person. The isles, the steps, the stage, the room on the stage behind the speaker…everywhere. Apparently there were even tons of people outside. (Now the buildings in Africa aren’t like the buildings in America. This was just a big room with open doors and windows, so people could sit outside and still be a part of whatever was going on inside the building. Also, since it’s an open building there’s no air conditioning.) This building was probably a fifth of the size of the Brentwood auditorium and the attendance this morning was 1,180. It was incredible! There were so many people there and it was so hot, but we worshiped Jesus all morning! 4 hours to be exact! The communion and offering alone took at least an hour and a half. The sermon maybe took 30 minutes. And then the rest of the service we sang and prayed for people who asked for prayers and listened to singing groups (including the Harding chorus of course!) and took care of church business. It was quite an event. I can never complain about being in church for too long now, because I made it through a 4 hour service! It was great though…the people were so nice. I ended up with a little girl on my lap for the last hour. They loved our singing; we sang 2 songs for them in Tonga which just makes them go crazy! They love seeing makuas that can sing in Tonga. And we loved their singing! Nothing compares to being in a room with a thousand Zambians singing praises to the same God. There’s just no comparison. It’s truly awesome. After church I spent some time playing with little girls that live in a village on Namwianga! Rosa calls me her “play mom” and she gave me a picture of her family and a little purse that she made. I took them some playdough and we played until dinner. Then we went to Sunday night church which was great! We always go to Sunday night church at the auditorium right where we live so we go to church with all the college and secondary students. The electricity went out at the beginning so we just sat and sang in the dark which was incredible. Again, nothing compares to sitting in a room with hundreds of Zambians singing to God. 4 people got baptized afterwards! God is good.

Vacation made me so much more grateful for our Namwainga home. It’s also made me so grateful for the experiences we’re getting here; we aren’t just tourists in Africa. We’re being immersed in the culture and truly getting to know the people of Zambia. This country has its negatives, just like America does, but there are so many positives that have made a lasting impact on me. Words cant describe.