Sunday, April 29, 2012

Zambia Team Update

This morning we attended a special church dedication service at Teta, which is where Brookside helped build the roof. It was such a rich blessing to be sung over by 200 Zambian believers!!


Up next on the trip is a visit to Kundalila Falls with the orphans. This waterfall is only about an hour away from Serenje but many of the children have never had the chance to visit this beautiful place!!


Continued prayer appreciated to be the hands and feet of Jesus this week...

2012 Zambia Team

Friday, April 27, 2012

Zambia 2012 Update


Traveling to Zambia is always quite eventful. After traveling over 20
hours, having very tight layovers, and losing four suitcases, we
arrived in Lusaka. We did lots of things during our first morning in
Zambia. We got our food and supplies, met the Fairview Baptist team,
and got our four lost bags. After a very productive and eventful
morning we drove to Serenje. We had dinner at the Mapontella, which is
where half of the team is staying. We also got unpacked and got to bed
at about 1am.

Our first day in Serenje was GREAT! There were 4 main events:

1. We met the caretakers (Godwin and Dorene) and we met the kids! The
kids welcomed us with several songs and we also got to play some games
with them! One of the most exciting moments was during duck duck
goose…Erin had an awesome wipeout! In her defense, it was because she
was having so much fun loving the kids. Some of the men played soccer
with the boys, while most of the women played with and hugged the
kids. Everyone on our team has their own unique gifts to offer…today
we were definitely blessed with Devin’s joy, Pam’s love, and Jen
Oliver’s compassion. All three were SO evident.

2. Ketty shared with Chelsea a major prayer request. Her and Pastor
Navice’s 3-year-old granddaughter, Juanita, was severely burned last
week. Her burn is so severe that her skin burnt almost completely off
from her bellybutton down. The hospital couldn’t do anything, so she
is lying in Navice’s house in pain. Amy cut up some ibuprofen to make
it child-sized and explained how to correctly use it. Mike figured out
how to make sure the wound wouldn’t get infected. The two of them and
Marjorie went over to the house and treated the little girl as best
they could. Please pray for healing.

3. Brandi trained the rest of us for the camp. She has put SO much
work into Camp CHRISTOS and we are blessed to have her knowledge,
insight, and love on our team. We are all extremely excited to see her
planning in action with the kids. The Brookside and Fairview teams
prepared together for a skit, some games, and lots of other
activities. God is going to work in HUGE ways this week! Keep praying!

4. Pastor Navice shared his testimony. He has an amazing story about
how the Lord saved him from a life of drunkenness and anger. It was
great to listen and learn from him. His faith and joy in the Lord are
so encouraging, and what he shared was something many of us needed to
hear. It really is a delight to learn from our Zambian friends. They
have so much to teach us!

2012 Zambia Team
 

Saturday, April 7, 2012

April Update

Please be praying for this spring's team as they serve in Zambia between April 23 - May 6!

The Brooksiders participating are...

Erin Achebach
Mark Adams
John Alford
Jack Archer
Carrie Bailey
Michael Bailey
Pam Bass
Susan Breese
Brandi Goeser
Jenny Hofer
Devin Holdorf
Amy Kieser
Mike Lempke
Jennifer Oliver
Chelsea Wax
Tim Wiebe


In addition to pastoral training and training of pastors wives, Brooksiders are joining members from Fairview Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia to give the children of the Hope Center a camp experience they will never forget. We're excited to launch a three day camp entitled 'Camp CHRISTos'! Be praying that the children are shown God's love throughout this camp experience and learn valuable lessons to strengthen their spiritual walk with Christ!