They're Here!

     For all of those who were thinking and praying, the boys have arrived! Their flight showed up at about 11:20-ish last night, and it was so hard to have to wait until they got off the plane, waited on immigration line, and picked up their luggage. From the waiting area in the Lusaka airport you are able to see people once they get through immigration, and as they went to pick up their luggage, had not several security officers been standing at the waiting area door, I just might have been tempted to  run over to the luggage area to say hello!

     Today (in a couple of hours) we are going to jump onto a bus that will, Lord willing, take us to Livingston, and then on Friday we'll be heading back up to Lusaka, and then all the way up to Sakeji! 

     Please keep us all in prayer as we'll be traveling quite a bit over the next few days, and I'll do my best to keep you posted on how, and where we are!

     P.S. I haven't really looked yet, as we went to bed pretty late, but I peaked at the bag full of stuff. Thank you all for everything! I'm excited to open it up for real and thank you properly, but I guess that will happen a little later!

     

When my plans fail God is still God.

     The last few days have been pretty interesting, but really neat, as God has worked everything out bit by bit. 

      A couple of months ago Lina and I had planned to come down to Lusaka together, she was going to renew her passport, among other things, and I was going to pick up my guests, head to Livingston, come back, and we were all going to drive up to Sakeji together. Well, a couple of days ago all of the plans changed because poor Lina got really sick with bronchitis. 

     Well, what could have been a really stressful ordeal, turned out quite smoothly, as a visiting missionary couple drove me half of the way on Saturday, let me sleep at their house Saturday night, and another missionary couple drove me the rest of the way this morning. 

     I found out on the second half of my trip that the couple who drove me down to Lusaka today originally were planning to drive to Lusaka last Tuesday morning, but had a change of plans due to an event at their church. Because of that they decided to drive to Lusaka this morning, a decision that was made days before I even realized I needed a ride today! God is so good, and I am so blown away by His faithfulness and kindness. 

      Even in the little things He is still in control, and He still takes the time to work out the little details and stresses of life! 

      Proverbs 16: 1, 9, 33

     (Dad, Joel, and Chris are arriving tomorrow!!!)

So long, farewell, alvederzane, goodbye

    11 students to keep focused in class all morning...74 parents at the school for the day (plus at least 20 other visitors)...10 parent teacher interviews...697 dishes washed (well....that's just a guess)...76 students all dressed in black and white singing on stage...13 tired out staff ready for term break!

     Yeah...it's end of term! The kids are leaving after breakfast tomorrow...I'll definitely miss them, but I'm definitely ready for a break!

     (5 more days till Dad, Joel, and Chris get here! Yippee!)

The longer I live...

     As I was walking out of my classroom today I happened to notice the verse Galatians 2:20-21 on my wall. I know this verse by heart, and have read it many times, but I somehow today read it wrong as I glanced at it. Instead of reading it, "and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me", I read "the longer I live, the less Christ lives in me". So as I walked up to the office (to get my laptop in order to work on report cards) I started thinking over that thought. It really means the same thing...just a different way of saying it. The longer that I choose to live the way I want, the less time I'll have to let Christ live in me. I know that some days I let Christ live in me, and some days (like this morning) it's more of a challenge. 

     It just reminds me of that passage in 1 Corinthians 3:9 - 15 about how our works will be tested. It would be so sad to live one's life for God (or "for God"), and then realize that so much of it was not lived for God, but for me. The longer I live the less I get to glorify and honor God! The longer I live the less I please God! The longer I live the less my work for the Lord will really make an impact! The longer I live the less Christ lives in me!

No Checking Out Allowed...Yet!

As the end of the second term is drawing to a close, and term break only 12 days away, the kids are starting to check out...for example, most of my students did an awful job on their spelling tests today! Once your students are gone it's so hard to not check out yourself!

Things are piling up like report cards, grading, end of term show, end of term awards, end of term handcraft display, and the list goes on!

I can't really blame the kids for checking out and wanting to head home, but I'm realizing how much of a teacher I am as I am frantically thinking, "They can't check out yet, I still want to teach them for another whole week! There is still so much information that I want to cover before the term ends!"

Oh well...I guess the sooner it comes the better, as I get to have my Dad, and my brother, and my friend come visit me in 16 days!!!!! Hey, it's not as if I'm checking out or anything! :) 

Cook out with the junior girls

     This evening all of the kids had a chance to have a cookout, senior boys, senior girls, junior boys, and junior girls. I got to help the junior girls (grades 1-4) with their cookout. It was a blast! We headed down to the Sakeji River, and started five different camp fires and had the girls cook hot dogs, sweet potatoes, and marsh mellows over their fires. The girls did a great job, only lost one hot dog in the fire, kept their fires burning, and didn't start any forest fires! So yeah, we had a really good time!

Proud to be an American

My fellow American teachers

Happy Independence Day!

Teaching on July 4th was sort of an odd feeling, but I had a good day anyway. Lina and I sang the national anthem at tea time, and I made an American flag cake which was shared with all of the Canadian and UK teachers. I'm sure that this comes as a surprise to all who know me, but apparently I'm a pretty patriotic person! Who knew!

Caution - Work Zone

Lord, I come to You, 
Let my heart be changed, renewed,
Flowing from the grace, 
That I found in You
Lord, I've come to know, 
The weaknesses I see in me, 
Will be stripped away, 
By the power of Your love

Hold me close,
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near, 
Draw me to Your side 
And as I wait, 
I'll rise up like the eagle 
And I will soar with You, 
Your Spirit leads me on 
In the power of Your Love

Lord unveil my eyes, 
Let me see You face to face
The knowledge of Your love, 
As You live in me
Lord renew my mind, 
As Your will unfolds in my life
In living every day, 
In the power of Your Love

-Geoff Bullock

We sang this song yesterday at our Sunday night meeting, and it was really cool as so much of it applies to me! It seems that the longer I do ministry the more I realize how weak I am, and how much I need Jesus, and the power of His love. 

I have been in a few situations lately where my love for others just doesn't cut it, and I've been praying a lot that I can authentically love the people that He decides to put in my life with His love!

It seems that God mostly wants to change me through each new challenging experience, and that my heart is what needs the renovating. The good thing is that apparently my under repair heart is a big enough deal with Him that He puts me in situations where I need to work on it, instead of just letting me continue in my sinful nature self. 

The other neat thing is that instead of leaving me all alone, He stays right here with me through each step of this journey and promises to keep working until He's finished! 

I'm glad that God is God and that I'm not, and I'm glad that He decides to work in me even though it hurts sometimes.