January 21, 2012

   Well another Saturday has come and gone. The 1^st weekend I got back a new tradition began, between 2 and 10 of my pupils show up knocking at my door to visit. Today they came just before 7:30 am, I was still asleep and was woken by sounds of banging on my front door and a multitude of kids shouting, “Teacher!! Teacher!!” I quickly jumped up and hurried to the door, hoping they hadn’t woken my neighbors as well. There were 4 of my boys at the door with huge smiles on their faces as they eagerly waited for me to unlock my security door’s dead bolts. They hurried in the front door, quickly took off their shoes and made their way to the living room. Moments later there was another knock and 3 more boys scurried in. They spent time coloring, reading, playing games, chasing each other around the house and watching movies.  A couple of hours later, while I was making them all a lunch of rice and beans, yet another knock and 2 more boys.  Luckily, I made enough for all 9.  They all sat on the living room enjoying the meal and making jokes about the sounds beans cause…what do you expect when you have a house full of boys. I really couldn’t help but join them in the laughter, its contagious. After they finished their meal they finished watching, Night at the Museum as I made chocolate chip cookies. A few of the boys snuck into the kitchen to try and figure out this apparently new smell. The watched as I took the 1^st batch out, placed them on a plate and began spooning the next round of batter onto the cookie sheet. They watched with curiosity in their eyes and then one of them finally asked, “Teacher, what is that?” I explained they were biscuits (what they call cookies) with chocolate in them. They did a little “happy dance” and bent down to watch the dough in the oven expand as it baked. I turned to get some water for a few of the other boys and when I made my way back to baking caught one of the boys tasting the cookie dough. HA! I guess that is not a learned behavior. Once the 2^nd batch of cookies came out of the oven most of the boys were peaking into the kitchen wondering what was smelling so good. I had them all make their way back to the living room and started passing them out. Needless to say and not surprisingly at all, they loved them.  Such an “American staple food” was something none of them had ever tasted before. Seeing them enjoy every bite made my day. I love filling little bellies. By the time they left it was after 2 and a storm was starting to roll in. I called one of my regular taxi drivers (after giving them one last cookie) and we packed the 9 of them in and he took them to the school plot so that they would not have to walk so far and risk getting stuck in the rain. Walking to my place can take them anywhere from 40-70 minutes depending on which part of the slums they come from. We will see how many show up next weekend. 

January 17, 2012

   Well its’ year two of teaching in Ndola, Zambia at Lighthouse Christian school. My 1^st year was full of so many joys and challenges and I am eager to see what this next year will hold. Last year I started with 30 pupils and by the end was down to 27. This year I have 28 pupils, which includes 11 boys, 3 of which are triplets and 17 girls. Week one I had to break up 4 fistfights, week two was a little better with only 3. But hey it keeps me on my toes and gives me ample opportunity to work on their character as well as mine. It’s a learning experience for us all. I am excited to see all God will do in this school year and am confident his grace will continue to be there for me to do all he has called me to do. All I need to do is rely on his strength and cry out to him on a daily basis. Please continue to lift me up in your prayers and here is a list of my current students, I would appreciate your prayers on their behalf as well:

Boys:

Triplets- Aaron, Amos and Haggai

Ackson

Benson

Charles

Cuthbert

Evans

Gift

Jonathan

Steven

Girls:

Abigail

Angela

Emeldah

Febby

Gift

Joyce

Jamila

Mwamba

Mary

Nelia

Pricilla

Salome

Thelma

Taonga

Nguinu

Eunice

Wana

January 10, 2012

   Well we arrived to Ndola in the late afternoon of the 8^th after 18 hours on two different planes, a 9-hour layover in London and about a 5-hour car ride from the airport in Lusaka. Praise God all of our luggage made it. After we brought up all the bags I took a quick cold bucket bath and headed into town to buy some electricity (one of the many things here that is pre-paid) and go grocery shopping. I walked down to the nearby shops to buy my electricity and ran into so many familiar faces. I spent a good 20 minutes greeting different people, exchanging hand shakes, hugs and updates. After finally getting my electricity I headed to the grocery store. I hadn’t bothered making a list and as I walked through the aisles of the store I tried to remember what I needed to buy and then realized…everything…lol…the house is completely barren of all food and most cleaning supplies. I first went down the water aisle and found there were no large containers of water, only the 500ml bottles, I grabbed 9 bottles. I got most of our “food essentials” so headed to the cleaning supply section. 5 out of the 6 cleaning supplies I normally use were completely out of stock and there were no substitutes for any of them. I don’t think that would ever happen in the states, when I was there on furlough I literally got overwhelmed at the amount of choices. But seriously, do I need 50 different choices of deodorant?? I finished at the grocery store then hit the market to get my fresh produce. As I walked into the market I saw many familiar faces of women I regularly bought produce from. The joy on their faces to see me truly warmed my heart.  After that I went to one other shop to buy bread and sugar…2 of the items I forgot to buy at the store. I believe my forgetfulness was a symptom of my sleep-deprived body. Nonetheless, I got what I needed and headed home. I called Swazi to see if her and Oksana (my friend from my home church who is visiting for 2 months) could help me carry up the goods. Only one of the 4 elevators was working and there was only room for one of us on the lift. I sent Swazi ahead of us and me and Oksana took the stairs. By this time it was dark out and I had totally forgot one very important fact:  Most of the lights in the stairwell don’t have bulbs so it was pretty much pitch black. We made our way up carefully and then on the stairs at the 3^rd floor Oksana tripped and fell hitting her leg pretty hard. I was so very concerned and wished right away that it had happened to me instead. I knew she was tired, in a new land and experiencing so many culture shocks all at once. I thought to myself, oh great!! I didn’t know if this on top of everything else would cause her to just break down.  We made it up the last flight of stairs and luckily it wasn’t too bad, she was just a little sore. I had her take some Aleve and then made her a grilled cheese and mad a bowl of rice crispies with banana for myself.  Soon after that we all got ready for bed. I spent some time praying with Oksana because I know how hard it is to be so far from those you love paired with exhaustion and being somewhere new. I’m so proud of her though!! She even took a cold bath on her 1^st day here!! She will be just fine.