This page contains updates on our life here in Zambia. Please check back often for news of us and our mission. Scroll down for older entries; there are also links to other months on the home page.
Little known facts: When God called Paul and me to Africa, He did it in a definite clear way. He laid on both of our hearts the same message during a message from Pastor Mike in our home church. We both heard “You are to be in Zambia”. We are so thankful God lead us both in the same direction, on the same day, and in the same way.
We pray you all have a wonderful celebration of our risen Lord!! We, along with Chad & Amber are going into Lusaka early to attend a church with a little more American flavor. We will spend the day in town and the night at the Zebra Lodge. We have to be at the airport early in the morning to pick up the work team from America. I think there will be ten people altogether. We are excited to once again have friends from American stay for awhile. Lewis and Leah will be with the team and I know are looking forward to seeing those two cute grandkids!
Paul and I made three tips up the small mountain in the gator to bring down some pretty rocks for the rock/cactus garden Paul has made in the front of our house. It looks really nice. It was nice getting the rocks together, but my lily white hands are not use to such hard rock handling (grin).
Paul & I watch the video of the 2009 Singing Christmas Tree from our home church one night and it was just wonderful. We have such fun memories of helping with the tree and it was just good to see the story of Christ portrayed right before Easter. We thank Paul & Diana for leaving it here for us to watch.
Some of the staff is gone for a week helping with a crusade. Please pray for lives to change from darkness to light, and that they would find a good church and grow in the Lord.
The improvement of the campus continues and with 28 students—lots of work has gotten done. Everyone is enjoying the fresh veggies from the gardens and the watermelon and cantaloupe are starting to set on the vines. There are a few the sizes of big soft balls already. We are all waiting for that sweet flavor from the melons.
Paul & I had a super trip to town one day. We had everything on the list done early and were back to the college by 1:00 that does not happen too often.
The girls and I have been painting a lot again and compound one is complete except for some touch up spots. It looks so good. John and Chad have done the landscaping around each cabin. The girls and I have made a gift shop out of one of the cabins and the student’s made a sign for us. “Campus Gift Shop”. Right now we have many crocheted items. Rugs, dolls, hats, native lufa sponges and lots of handmade jewelry. It looks great. We will also have a college store soon.
We give God the glory for all the wonderful work that has been done and for safety for everyone on the campus.
The Ladies’ Bible study on Thursday continues to have the same great response. We continue in the book of Philippians, learning from the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Next week I will not be surprised if we have even more ladies at the study. We will be having a craft time with the ladies making a doll that they can keep and making some bracelets and necklaces with the colored beads showing the salvation story. They again will be able to take one home with them to have a reminder to share the story of Jesus. The ladies from America will be here to help so I know it will be a great time. Please keep this time of study and fellowship in your prayers.
We continue to be blessed with the students singing around the campus. Whether working, or playing we hear them singing praise unto the Lord. It is especially nice with Serah, Mildred and Faith living next door as they are always singing and it is so beautiful.
We can see the volleyball games and the horse shoe pitching from our house so we hear a lot of laughter in the evenings.
We continue to enjoy our house and never take it for granted having such a nice house to live in. When the team arrives, Jack will be getting the solar system up and running with the new batteries. It will be nice to have power again. The water hook up to the new tanks is making progress and we will soon need the extra water supply for all the new garden space.
We will check in with you again and give you an update on all the work team got done while they were here. Please keep the safety of everyone on the campus in your prayers. We thank you all for your prayers, love and support.
Update 4/12/10
Little Known Fact: Paul & Lori took Amtrak from Hastings, Nebraska to Grand Junction, Colorado for their 20th anniversary, now 15 years ago!!
Greetings from the International Bible College in Zambia.
It seems like forever since I have written to all of you. It has been a busy few weeks.
Paul fixed Pastor Arnot & Betty’s kitchen hutch that had gotten broken in the move out to the college, and they were very grateful. Chad & Amber have been helping with general clean up as we prepare for the American work team arriving on Monday.
On Easter Sunday we went in to Lusaka with Chad & Amber and attended the Miracle Life Family Church. They have a Pastor from America who speaks great English and gave one of the best Easter messages I have ever heard. It was a blessing to celebrate our Risen Lord in surroundings more familiar to home.
We met the bus at 6:20 am and all ten members arrived safely with their entire luggage!! The team members are: Lewis & Leah, Kris & Jennifer, Suzanne, Betty Jo, Michael, Michael, Allan and Jack. We all had a wonderful time with introductions, fellowship and a great breakfast.
The new team did their money exchange, bought a few groceries and we headed off to the college as the men were ready to get to work.
The welders, Michael & Allan did a lot of prep work to get ready for the big job ahead of them. Kris started making the trusses and we were off and running.
Jennifer, Suzanne and Amber worked with Kris on learning how to do the re-keying of locks and did a super job. I think they got eight of them done. This is a very tedious work and you must have patience for detail. I told them they did not want me to help them.
Betty Jo and I sorted out the colored beads to make the colored bracelets that represent the salvation message. We then sorted out the boxes of fabric we have by size. We have two boxes ready for Thursday Bible study and craft day.
We had 48 ladies on Thursday and I think everyone had a wonderful time. I will get some pictures on the web site. Lots of dolls were started and some of the ladies finished theirs. I put the boxes of fabric and stuffing in the middle of the room and each lady picked out the piece they wanted to make their doll out of. We (Jennifer, Suzanne, Betty Jo, and Amber) passed out the succors and thread and the ladies did the rest. Mildred, Faith & Serah helped draw the doll out line for some of the ladies. Lucy & Christine also did a super job of drawing the patterns out free hand. Ladies from the different churches were able to take turns sharing in song and the doll making continued. Jennifer, Betty Jo and Suzanne each shared from their hearts and the ladies were blessed by their sharing. It was so cool to see the ladies just take off making the dolls and sharing ideas with one another. The ladies will bring their dolls again next week and finish them. It was great to have our friends from America here to help and encourage the ladies.
Kris, Jennifer and Jack brought us so much stuff it was like Christmas in April. I am surprised that they had any room for their clothes. I will list some of things they brought for us, just so you know how blessed we are.
Cookie sheet, bread pans, muffin pan, brownie & muffin mixes, crochet hooks, embroidery thread in many colors, medicine for the students, drink mixes, candy, granola bars, and chunky peanut butter, and lots of things for outreach and for the children at Kazemba School.
Paul was able to fix the welder with a new carbonator kit and was grateful to his brother in law, Bob, who taught him how to do it. Jack & Chad have been working on getting the solar hooked up, but the power controller kind of blew up, so no solar power for now.
Jennifer, Suzanne & Betty Jo sorted out the medicine for the clinic and got it all labeled and organized. When we get a Nurse or Doctor to come over things will be sorted out. Lewis, Henry, Davis & Chad all went to town for errands. Chad was able to pick up his work permit, so now we can officially make him work harder.
The new big generator is being used at the library. Some of the trusses are up and the BIG steel beams are up. It was really cool to watch the men get these heavy steel beams in place. They used the backhoe to lift the beams into place and everything went well with everyone staying safe. Lots of welding, measuring, wood cutting and many things I have no idea of what all the work and noise were about.
Betty Jo, Amber, Suzanne & Jennifer and I all painted David & Christine’s house two coats. It looks really nice if I do say so myself. I have to finish up the top trim yet as I seem to be the ladder person.
The team members all shopped at the new college gift shop. The handmade jewelry was a big seller, crocheted scarves, coasters, animal boxes; hot pads were also some favorite items. It was fun to have our first customers be so enthused about the gift shop.
Suzanne is sewing some pieces of plain fabric for us for us to embroider on. We have some plain fabric so Suzanne is hemming it up for us, so we have some fabric to work on.
Jack got our generator hooked up and we now have some power for compound #1. It is so cool having light in the evenings. We will run this small generator for 3 hours each evening so that will be a big help in charging the computers.
Suzanne & Jennifer went to Kazemba School and shared the gospel with the children. Some of the children remembered them well from last year. One of the students went along to translate and everyone rejoiced as three young people made first time decisions for Jesus. We celebrate along with the angels. The college students are on break now, but six of them have stayed on campus to take care of all the gardens. With the rainy season over, watering is a full time job. The crops all continue to produce well. The tomato, onion and peppers are started in one area and then transplanted to the big garden and this seems to be working very well. The national people are eating the corn right off the cob, but we do not like it, as it is tough and not sweet, but they all just love it. We are waiting for the next batch of sweet corn.
We are all really tired. Everyone has worked very hard this past week. We thank God for safety for everyone on the campus during this busy week. Everyone on the campus is so excited to see the progress on the library and the steel beams rising high above the top of wall. I took lots of pictures so look for them on a special album page! I need to sign off as my eye lids are drooping. Thank you all for your prayers, especially for the ladies’ Bible study. Please continue to pray for safety for everyone on the campus and for all the work being done to give Glory to our Lord.
You are loved by Jesus and us.
Paul & Lori
Update 4/23/10
Little Known Facts: When Paul was in high school he and some friends were throwing snow balls at things they should not have been. An off duty police officer saw this and went up to Paul’s car. Well Paul just took off dragging the police officer alongside the car. The police officer later showed up at Paul’s house to confirm this event with Paul’s parents.
Paul’s Mom asked Lori, “Why do your parents let you date Paul?”
Greetings in the name of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.
Life continues to be busy and progress made here at the college. So much has happened this past week.
Well, I will start with that the hard work by the team continued on, with welding and trusses up on the library. Alan, the young man who did some of the welding did have an injury to his hand. We are thankful it was not worse and of course he tells us he is tough and will have it looked at in the states.
Alan brought A LOT of flip flops to give away, and he did so with the college area families. He still left 2 bags full for us to give away to families as we are presented with the need, along with other items that he gave away. The children were treated to books, candy, toothbrushes, toothpaste and some fun toys by the team members.
I can’t remember if I told you about the ladies making dolls at our Bible study/craft time?? My mind, she is a slipping :) Well anyway the doll making was a huge success. Betty Jo, Suzanne and Jennifer were all there to help with passing out the fabric, scissors and needles. These three ladies were able to share their testimonies and some encouragement to the ladies while they sewed on their dolls. The following week I was not able to attend as Paul & I were in town. Christine had the lesson and some of the ladies finished their dolls.
Yesterday we met again and I took pictures of some of the ladies with their dolls. The ladies let the little girl inside of them out to play with the dolls they had made. It was such fun to see them check out the type of dolls their friends had made. The ladies were very grateful to be able to keep the needle they had worked with. Such a simple thing, a needle, yet they were so grateful for it. There are more pictures of the individual dolls on the doll page.
I am sharing from the book of Philippians with the ladies and I taught them to sing “This little light of mine”. The ladies are so beautiful and want to let their lights shine. The number of ladies for the Bible study continues to be between 35 and 42. Next week we plan to hand out full Bibles to each lady.
Sunday at church service Kris Bjorgen gave the message and Bill Gables during the Sunday school hour. Both men did a super job of sharing the truth from God’s word.
Jennifer and Suzanne went to the Kazemba Elementary school for three mornings and shared many Bible stories and presented the gospel to the children. Decisions were made to follow Jesus!!!!! The teacher’s from the school gave Suzanne & Jennifer really pretty weaved baskets as a thank you for sharing at the school. The ladies were able give many school supplies to the children.
With all the work needing done on the library the team did not go out and do the hut to hut, home to home evangelism. The nice packages of cornmeal, oil, toothbrushes, toothpastes, candy, soap and washcloths were then given to each of the village workers who had helped with the library work, and again they were very grateful. The team also had made up similar packages to leave in each cabin for the student’s. They also brought nice packages of fabric, needles, scissors to be given out to ladies. Our teams that come to work are just so creative in what they bring to give.
While Jennifer & Suzanne were sharing at the school, Betty Jo, Amber and I did a good clean up of the office area in the shop. I must share the traumatic experience we had. Our dog “Jess” keep sniffing in a corner and out ran a rat. Aughhhhhhhh!! I jumped up on a chair while Amber and Betty Jo remained pretty calm. Well Jess chased the pesky varmint into the shop, so now it is up to Paul to get rid of it. Well being the brave women we are we just finished up our cleaning and the area looked great when we were done.
A big thank you to all of you in the states who have brought over garden seeds and those of you who have sent over garden seeds. When you do this you are feeding the students and teams at the college.
Sometimes the ladies who live in nearby villages come to the door and ask for “piece” work. They are asking for a job that would take l or 2 days. Well while we cleaned the office area two ladies pulled all the weeds around the shop and cleaned the bathroom and shower inside the shop. They were grateful for the work and we were grateful for the work they did. Lucy, Christine and Betty have some ladies do piece work for them, so it is a win-win situation for everyone.
Jack was able to get the generator that Kevin bought for us last year all hooked up so not only do Paul and I have power but so does all of compound one. We can run the generator for 2-3 hours each evening, so we are VERY grateful to Jack for getting this work done for us. We don’t know for sure when the solar power will be hooked up as a new controller thing-a-ma-gang-e needs to arrive to replace the one that blew up. It’s never a dull moment!
Betty Jo helped me organize all the stuff in our guest room that had been left by this team and previous teams. I am short on storage room so a need for organization it critical. I hope to be able to buy some totes in the future to keep things sorted out until we give them away.
One day Kris showed some of the ladies how to rekey locks so they could be working on this project. Betty Jo, Suzanne, Jennifer and Amber spent time sorting and labeling all the medicine that had been sent over of the container so it is ready when we have visiting nurses and doctors.
I did take time out to bake some brownie mix that the team brought and we had everyone over in the evening for a brownie, pop and fellowship.
We all left for town at noon to prepare for the teams departure. The team was able to shop for more souvenirs and we all met at Manda Hill for an evening meal then off to the Zebra Lodge for the night. The next morning we are off to the airport. Paul & I saw the team go through security then we picked up Kevin and went to town. Lewis and Leah got the phone call that the team was unable to depart because of the volcanic ash in the air. Well to make a looooooooong story short, the team stayed at a motel in Lusaka for 6 days until they could then depart. It was a hard time for the team members as they were all prepared to go home. They could not come back to the college as they needed to be on standby and be able to get to the airport quickly if a plane became available. We praise God they are safety home now and pray this great adventure won’t detour them from returning to serve at the college in the future. We were really blessed by each team member. Kris, Jennifer, Betty Jo, Suzanne, Michael, Alan and Bill. Thank you for the memories :).
Well, I officially had my first short melt down. I got a cold on Monday, and I was defeated by it on Tuesday. I just felt so lousy I called my sister Carol and was just crying so hard and told her I was sick and just wanted to be home with my sister’s bringing me chicken noodle soup and feeling bad for me that I was sick. I also called our home church and cried to Sue who was the lucky person to answer the phone and listen to me cry and ask for prayers. My request was put on our church prayer chain. Well I can tell you prayers were answered as I was so much better the next day. I had to call Carol back and tell her I was done crying and was feeling lots better :) Thank you to everyone who was able to pray for me.
Kevin has the gift of evangelism and his first day here he went to visit old friends he has met on previous trips and see where they were in their walk with Jesus and share the truth of Jesus with anyone he met.
Today all the board members that were here for the meeting had breakfast at our house. We put a nice buffet: toast, jam, instant oatmeal (thanks to Michael) fruit, granola bars, eggs, coffee or toast.
It us wonderful to have company from America and I must say my cooking skills are improving. Tonight it is fresh green beans and beans and wieners!! Easy and good.
Kevin has been sharing the chocolate he bought in Italy and I must say it is VERY good.
The ladies bible study was again well attended with 39 ladies. We continue to work our way through the book of Philippians. I think the singing and dancing were especially joyful today. Some of the ladies brought the dolls they had made and I took some pictures.
We were not able to meet in the classroom as Pastor John is teaching all day today so we did find another spot to meet but part of the time we were in the sun and it is still really hot when that old sun beats down on you. The children that come with their mothers to the study are getting to know me as they reach out their hands for a cookie whenever I walk by. I always try to make sure each little one gets an extra cookie.
The peanut harvest is in full swing with the corn harvest starts in a few weeks. The corn is looking great and we praise God for His provision.
If Jesus has not returned I will write an update again next week.
Remember: Wide is the road that leads to eternal hell and narrow is the road that leads to heaven and eternal life. Our pray is that if you are reading this and do not know Jesus you will contact us and we will share the gospel with you and help you find a bible believing church in your area.
Paul, Lori & Jess show one of the new sinks in the clinic.
Update 04/30
Little Know Facts: Paul played the catcher position in baseball starting with little league and through high school and loved it.
Lori played center field & first base girls’ softball and just loved it. Lori’s Dad, Howard Knuth was the coach and that made the softball games that much more special.
Greeting in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, from the International Bible College in Zambia.
Well, work continue to progress at the Bible College and Pastor John Collier continues this week in teaching the student’s from the book of Revelation. The student’s tell me they are learning so much and are even more motivated to share the truth of Jesus after studying the future end times and how bad it will be for those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. I encourage each of you to share Jesus with friends and family.
Paul, I and Kevin all went to town last Sat. and Betty, Arnot’s wife rode with us. We had to drop her off at a clinic as she continues to have trouble getting her diabetes under control. Please pray for Betty and her health to improve.
Paul & Kevin had supplies to pick up at about four stores so off we went on the supply run. I just stayed in the car as they picked up more plumbing stuff. I did go in when we picked out a sink for our house. It is a double sink, but smaller then a regular one and it fits perfect in the space we have for it.
As I was waiting in the car at one store I saw a man walk by with the coolest Yankee hat on. Well, Paul is a big Yankee fan so I got out of the car and asked the man how much to buy his hat? Of course he looked at me like I was a goofy white lady, but once I made it clear I really did want to buy his hat he sold it to me at a great deal. $l.00 in American, but I paid him $10 as he looked like he could use a special blessing in his life. I took the hat home and washed it and Paul was very surprised and pleased with his new/old Yankee hat. Our son Ben sent Paul a new world series Yankee hat, and Paul is saving that one for special occasions. Ben also sent his Dad some of his favorite movies so that was a fun package to receive.
Some of our friends have sent many garden seeds and we just want to thank you again. Our pepper plants have some setting on now. We had fresh green beans for supper again last night along with fresh watermelon. Yummmmmmm. Kevin and Pastor John appreciated this treat. Kevin & Pastor John have both ate with the freshmen, sophomores and the girls students. Eshema, beans, cabbage and chicken have all been served to them. The men said the student’s are good cooks, and very gracious host and hostesses.
On our trip to town we also bought paint for the windows in the clinic, so once again a new painting job is ahead of us. Paul has all the doors hung at the clinic and Chad & Kevin have most of the plumbing hooked up. I heard the toilets flushing, the sinks and showers running so a lot of work has been done there these past two weeks.
The national workers have closed the wall in on the library. The wall had to remain open so the backhoe could get in to put up the big beams. The library looks good with the high beams installed and some of the roof trusses put up. More work to be done yet on this big project. Once again a big thank you to the team who worked so hard here at the college for two weeks: Kris, Jennifer, Suzanne, Betty Jo, Michael, Allan and Jack.
We stayed at the Zebra Lodge again last week and went to the Miracle Life Family Church once again. Kevin really liked the worship music and message as we did. It is good for us to go to a service with more of a home church feeling. After church we did some shopping at the market and Kevin purchased two neat small table’s that will fit into his suitcase. Both of the table tops had some African animals carved into them. These will be a wonderful reminder of his time in Zambia. We all had a lot of fun trading with the people and Kevin was able to share some gospel tracts and visit with many people about the truth of Jesus. Of course each trip to the market Paul comes home with some new plants. This time it was some pretty palms. Between Paul and John the landscaping continues to grow and looks really nice.
Pastor John is the Senior Pastor at one of the churches from Iowa who are sponsoring a trip back to DeMoine in October of this year for l6 of the student’s, Henry, Lucy and Paul and I. Plans are being made for the student’s to share in many churches in the De Moine are and to raise money for student scholarships, at $50 a month. After prayer if any of you would like to sponsor a student just let us know and we can get Gospelink your information. This will be a trip of a life time for this student’s!! They will all be staying in area home’s, get to share in song and give their testimony’s at the churches they visit. They will also be taking a college course taught by Pastor John Collier and Pastor Todd Stiles. Don’t worry, they are also planning some fun activates for the student’s so it won’t be all work and no play. Please keep this trip in your prayers and pray for the churches who are sponsoring this trip, that all the financial support will come in and all the plans made will go smoothly and most of all for God to receive the Glory in all activities and some people will walk from the darkness of the world to the light of God’s love and truth.
Please pray for God to provide the way for the road to the college to be improved. This is one of those prayers that are a BIG project that only God can provide for. I have heard that is a definition of a miracle. Something that is so big only God can make it happen. Will you pray with us for this miracle?
Here is a typical story of buying something in Lusaka. Paul & Kevin went into a plumbing store and bought our new sink. The man selling it to we said “The sink does not come with any drain baskets for the sink or any of the plumbing pipes to hook it up and that the store down the street could sell that stuff to us”. Well down the road we go to buy these plumbing items for the sink. It took us an hour in this store having the sales person get the stuff together. Well he found the baskets that would fit into the sink. We had them in our hands, and then he took them from us and put them back. He then brought out two other baskets and told us they would not work in our sink and that we could not buy them anyway?????? Does this make any sense to you??? We had to convince him to bring us back the other baskets that would work this took another 20 minutes, and after one hour we were able to leave the store with the plumbing stuff the man told us we would need to hook up our new sink. Well, this story gets better as when we go back to buy the sink, we wanted to make sure the baskets we bought would fit into the sink. The sales man brought the sink from the back room and guesses what??? All the supplies to hook up the sink and the baskets were all with the sink!!!! Aughhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! This is enough to drive a sane person crazy!!! Well at this point we were spent so we did not take the time to go and return all the stuff we had just spent over an hour purchasing at the other store. We will save that for another trip into town. End of story, but this is really a pretty normal way we have to buy things when we go to town. Now I know why Paul’s hair continues to turn more grey each day.
The ladies Thursday Bible Study continues to grow. Yesterday we had 51 women in attendance. We are in chapter 3 of Phillipians and God word to being proclaimed. Please pray for these women to continue to be united in Christ and for lives to be changed for eternity.
My new sink was installed by Kevin, Chad and Paul and it is Wonderful. I am getting more spoiled all the time. Just think, when we first arrived here God started blessing me with a long handle for my broom and now I have a house with indoor plumbing, nice sink, custom made screens, screen door, shelves, kitchen island, and pretty curtains. We have pretty area rugs down on the painted cement floor and it is a wonderful home for us here at the Bible College. God continues to go before us and meet all our needs above and beyond more then we could ever ask or imagine. One way He does this is buy the donations from all of you. Thank you for obeying God’s prompting and supporting us so faithfully.
One night we watch the movie “Faith like Potatoes” with Pastor John and Kevin and both men were blessed by this movie. I know I have suggested it to you before, but it is based on a true story and shows a very real depiction of the rural life of the African people.
Kevin and I have been joining Pastor John and the students each morning in praise songs as they start their day before class. It is a wonderful way for us to start the day with them. Paul is off and running by 6:00 am and has a good start on his day before breakfast. We have been able to share breakfast and supper both with Pastor John and Kevin and this is always a special time of fellowship and encouragement for all of us.
Paul took some fun pictures of the national men catching some mice (also known as African sausage). Keep in mind they do cook the mice before they eat them. One other unusual thing we found out this week that they eat is the “mound dust” the termites leave on the bark of the trees. We found this very strange to eat something that is dirty, but then again a lot of the things they eat are very strange to us: Caterpillars, flying insects, mice, minnows that they call kapenta. I am sure a lot of things we eat are strange to them. Different cultures, different foods, customs, languages, values, priorities, homes, shopping, family dynamics, you know just lots of difference’s on the outside, but God’s love is what is the same for all people. Praise God he created all men and women equal and He longs for His creation to Glorify Him. Let us all do that together.
