It has been sometime since we wrote an update and there have been many changes. Since last writing, we have had a number of visitors from the US, explored some more of Zambia, and been faced with a number of challenges.
The first of our visitors in March was Carlos Paul, a former lecturer at ACU. He now lives in Canada, but was in town for a few days and stayed with us during his time here. He and his family lived in our house here before us and they have been such a blessing and made our transition to life here so much easier than it would have been without their help! They got the house all ready for us before we arrived and they have answered so many questions about life here and about things around the house!
Isaac, Carlos, and Ackim
Toward the end of March we hosted Dylan, a student from Bethlehem College. He came to visit ACU for a week and ended up teaching a few classes and leading chapel. It was so good getting to know him and getting to show him a little taste of life in Zambia!
Before Dylan even left, our friend and elder from our church community in Moscow, Matt Meyer, came for a visit! He works with Wycliffe Bible translators and was in southern Africa meeting with some teammates about a project they're working on. We're so grateful he made time to see us during his trip!
Matt reading to the kids
A week after Matt left, our good friend Jonathan Tullsen came out for a couple of weeks. He was here during break at ACU, so we went out to Livingstone (about a 7 hour drive from Lusaka) for a few days. We got to see Victoria Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world, which was absolutely amazing! It was definitely worth the trip and we hope to go back someday!
It has been such a blessing having visitors, we've thoroughly enjoyed the time we've gotten to spend with each of them, and it has made the home sickness not quite so bad!
The work at ACU is keeping Isaac quite busy. The first term ended at the end of April and we are now far into the second term. Isaac is teaching History of Thought (at the freshman level) and General Chemistry in the agriculture program. He is enjoying teaching both courses quite a lot, although preparing for teaching in philosophy can be quite time consuming. The discussions can be intense and exhausting at times as many students have not thought seriously about the types of questions addressed in this course. The freshman class is also large and comes from a variety of church backgrounds.
We continue to host students at our home frequently, and have found this to be a wonderful time getting to know the students, building relationships, and learning about Zambian culture.
We love student nights! Dietrich couldn't make it to the end though and fell asleep on the ground :)
It is a difficult time in Zambia. The effects of the drought are starting to be felt in the form of increased food prices and frequent load shedding. For the last month electricity has been very intermittent. Please pray for the people of Zambia during this time of hunger and lack of electricity. It is also very difficult for the students at ACU as many of them rely on the campus internet for doing their homework, and with less than 12 hours of electricity a day coming at unpredictable times, it can make studying and developing study habits very difficult.
Isaac reading to the kids with a headlamp because the power was out
Sometimes the challenges add up and life here can be difficult. We are daily faced with how desperately poor and hungry people can be and are frequently forced to think carefully about how God would have us use our resources. We have a generator which we can use to pump water up to a water tower, but even so the unpredictable nature of the power can make hosting large groups especially challenging. Additionally, small things can end up taking a lot of time.
In April, Faith was in a small car wreck that resulted in a whole day at the police station. Simple traffic violations can result in multiple days of trying to pay the fine correctly without paying a bribe, as most police and even the court systems will look for ways to add to their salary through corruption. In one interaction with a policeman Isaac was told, “Doing the right thing can be so expensive and time consuming.”
The kids 'fixed' mama's car after her wreck.
Home life continues as always. The kids are growing up quickly and making progress in their school. Beatrice is already starting to crawl and sit up! It's hard to believe she's already 6 months! Esther is going through potty training and generally hitting the two year old phase of wanting to do things her own way. She is a universal favorite among the students. Dietrich is running around like a four year old boy: climbing, digging, wrestling, and hammering blocks of wood together whenever he gets a chance. Korinne is growing up quickly, and is ever inquisitive and creative. She has become a great lover of audiobooks and is on her 3rd or 4th listen of The Chronicles of Narnia this year! If you have suggestions for audiobooks for a 6 year old girl, we would be interested in hearing! She also is progressing in reading on her own, which is exciting!
Another exciting development since our last update: we got chickens, which has been quite interesting. They were supposed to be at the point of laying eggs when we got them, but it took them a while to actually get there. It has also taken some time to get the chicken coop completely secure, and until we got that figured out the chickens were making it a habit to come inside and even occasionally lay eggs in the random spots around the house. The chickens have been an endless source of amusement for the kids! Sometimes we'll find Korinne or Dietrich just sitting out in the chicken coop with one or two chickens in their laps, and we regularly have to ‘rescue’ the chickens from being carried around in laundry baskets, trapped in a ring of chairs, being snuck into the bedroom, etc.!
On top of all the normal life, we have our little hobbies. We planted some more banana trees, and even some coffee plants. Isaac built a smoker so that we can start introducing our Zambian friends to Texas style BBQ! Isaac continues to do JiuJitsu when he gets a chance. We continue to enjoy worshiping with our church family.
Prayer:
For the ACU students and faculty: that we would hold steadfast to our mission amid pressures that would sidetrack us.
For the people of Zambia: that God would see them through this season of hunger, power outages, and inflation.
For the ACU community: that we would have wisdom of how to grow and disciple in ever more difficult physical circumstances.
For our family: that we would have the grace and time to love and build eachother up.
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