We leave tomorrow, and the question I hear the most is, "Are you ready?" And I keep thinking, "Is anyone ever ready to jump completely out of her comfort zone and into Africa?" But ready or not...here we come!
You may be wondering who the "we" are. A new group from Brookside Church is heading to Zambia on Monday, April 13th. "We" are Pastor Steve Moltumyr, Pastor Tim Wiebe, Pastor John Alford, Michelle Asay, Molly Loneman, Tracy Gratopp, and Amy Kieser (that last one is me :)
We're going to Serenje, Zambia with several purposes in mind. The pastors will be conducting pastoral training for local Zambian pastors. The women will be leading a VBS program for about 50 orphans, and I will have the privilege of teaching a group of pastors' wives. All of this will take place at the Hope Center, a facility we are building in partnership with Cornerstone Church in Ames, Iowa.
Will you be partners with us in prayer? Please pray for our travel, our ministry time, for the children, the pastors and their wives. Please pray that God would use us to minister to them and more importantly to bring glory and honor to His Name.
I grew up in an Air Force family and whenever we would be uprooted from one place to fly off to another (often on short notice), my mother would attempt to bolster our spirits by saying, "We're off on another one of life's great adventures!" It became a family motto...mostly because it's really hard to get four little girls to be happy about moving to places like Korea and New Jersey! But as I think of it, it's a really good motto for our trip. We are off on another one of life's great adventures. And, by God's grace, I think I might just be ready!
Amy Kieser
P.S. The next post will probably not be written until Thursday, as we will be in "travel mode" until then.
P.P.S. Earlier posts on this blogspot were written by Jack Archer during his three month stay in Serenje.
Yes, I will partner with you all in prayer. Today's words from Oswald Chambers in "My Utmost For His Highest" are prompting my prayers now: "If we undertake work for God and get out of touch with Him, the sense of responsibility will be overwhelmingly crushing; but if we roll back on God that which He has put upon us, He takes away the sense of responsibility by bringing in the realization of Himself." May you all have an awareness of God's holy presence as you embark and serve. Be blessed and be a blessing!
ReplyDeleteCarrie (Amy's sister)
Praying and thanking God for your willingness to be adventurous in Him, with HIm, for Him
ReplyDeleteThat shot an NJ was uncalled for! =)
ReplyDeleteWe are praying for all of you.
Matthew (Amy's nephew...who grew up in Jersey)