February Update

Please welcome Godwin and Doran Mwale as newly-hired staff at The Hope Center!! Godwin will be the business manager and oversee agriculture. Doran will oversee the work with the children and assist with agriculture. Also on staff is Joshua who assists with the agriculture and Chadrick who helps with facilities and agriculture.


Training for the upcoming trip begins Sunday, February 12. Please pray for this team's preparation and for God to draw His children even closer as the result of participating in this trip!

January Update

Applications for the Zambia 2012 trip are due January 29! Prayerfully consider partnering with fellow Brooksiders and our Zambian brothers and sisters to help equip pastors and extend care to the orphans at The Hope Center! This trip we're seeking to give the orphans at the Hope Center a camp experience that they will never forget!

Please scroll down to see pictures from the 2011 trip. Also, please feel free to ask questions to people who have gone on previous trips; they're more than willing to share about their experiences!

The Hope Center is currently in the process of hiring a new administrator. Please pray for the hiring process and that a strong candidate is selected who will be devoted to providing quality care for the orphans.

Please also pray for past Zambia trip member Chelsea Wax, who will be traveling with this April's team and stay for 3 months to complete an internship at The Hope Center for college graduation requirements!

November 2011 Update

Greetings,

If you’re not a follower of the Hope Center Facebook page, this post is just an update on current events and to inform you of prayer requests from our Zambian brothers and sisters.

Marjorie praises how God continues to grow the church community in Lusaka. Building expansion is still on the horizon. Join with them and pray for financial help and clear direction in this realm how best this expansion can glorify Him.

Students at the Hope Center recently received new supplies as part of the ‘Back to School’ program. Praise God for the generous gifts! May these supplies help equip these students for a successful upcoming school year!

Our dear friend, Nyawa, joyfully reported that the orchard it doing well – supplying a variety of fruits like bananas and guavas to help meet the nutritional needs of the staff and children. Pray for continued growth in the area of agriculture at the Hope Center!

Check out new pictures on the Hope Center Facebook page. Not a follower? Search Hope Center Care & EM.

Prayerfully consider joining a team of Brooksiders to the Hope Center! More information available at the following website:

http://www.brookside.net/templates/System/details.asp?id=42904&PID=721708

The proposed dates are April 16 - 29, 2012.

pics of our ministry

Islam is beginning to make in-roads in sub-sahara Africa.

This mosque was recently built in Lusaka.

There are plans for 35 more in the city!

The Multi-Purpose building

that Brookside was able to pay for in 2008.

In Lusaka, we were able to make hospital visits

to a children's cancer ward with Fairview Baptist Church.

We prayed with the families and gave them booklets about Jesus.

At the Hope Center,

the orphans are able to get

at least one good meal a day

At the end of the week,

we gave the children a folder

with all of the weeks programming in it -

including a pic of themselves with us. They loved it!

A rousing game of duck-duck goose.

A good sign of these children's progress

and health is that they now love to play!

Kids showing off their "salvation-friendship" bracelets.

Brookside was able to give each

of the 60 orphans of the HCC Serenje

and 130 orphans of their extension ministry

a blanket to keep warm as they head into their winter season.

Gift to Fairview Baptist

This was the first time a Go Team has had the opportunity to spend a couple days doing ministry in the capital city with Fairview Baptist Church with Pastor Jonathon. Jonathon is on the board of the Hope Center and pastors a young, growing and strategic church in Lusaka.

The church is working on an agreement to construct a building on the denomination's land. This land is strategically located on the city's most important road - the "Great East Road" and is only a couple blocks away from the main shopping area in the city.

The denomination has a couple office buildings on the property but has some vacant land (see the pics). The wall borders the Great East Road. Once the wall is taken down, the church will have direct access and visibility to street.

Brookside was able to gift $1000 to seed the church's building fund.

Pastor Training

(Tim Wiebe)

This is my fourth trip to Zambia, and my time here continues to be a joy. During our time in Serenje, I spent most of the week training thirteen Zambian pastors. We have been in partnership with the Hope Center for enough time that this is our second group of pastors to train; our first class of pastors graduated last Fall. I am encouraged by the leaders God is raising up to guide, shepherd, and teach His church in Zambia. The men I spent time with in the pastor training had a clear thirst for God’s Word, a heart for ministry, and were men of great character. We had seven hours each day together to work through the following classes: Genesis, The Gospel of John, and a Theology of Salvation. The pastors ask great questions that further show their desire to better understand the Bible and minister in a faithful and relevant way within Zambia.

We were also able to spend a few of our evenings in Serenje mingling with the pastors socially, and I was so thankful for the opportunity to see them interact, and chat with them more myself, in that more informal setting as well. The pastors are so grateful for the training and some resources we provide to further equip them to adequately handle God’s Word, and I know they would appreciate your continued prayers for their daily task of serving God’s church in Zambia.

Sunday 3-27

What a great trip! It's Sunday night 3-27 and we leave in the morning. We are having some problem with the internet so we hope to have our final post with pics on Tuesday afternoon when we arrive in Omaha! Check back then!