February + March update

It has been two months since we last sent out an update. This will have to serve as a January, February, and half of march update. Since last writing, classes have started at ACU, Faith and the kids have gotten into a routine with homeschooling, and we are still having quite a few new experiences here in Zambia! 

Classes started back at ACU in the last week of January. Isaac is teaching History of Thought (an introduction to philosophy), General Chemistry, and Soil Fertility. This is his first time teaching philosophy and general chemistry which means that he is investing quite a lot of time into course preparation. Isaac teaches two sections for history of thought with approximately 25 students in each section. Teaching philosophy in a culture that is more prone to animism than materialism provides an interesting perspective from which to reflect on our own culture. In chemistry and soil fertility there are only 3 and 2 students respectively. In addition to teaching, each faculty is assigned one-on-one mentorship relationships. Faith is also mentoring a couple of young ladies at ACU. We have continued to host a large group of students at our house every other Thursday for food, fellowship, and singing. We all look forward to our Thursday gatherings! 

During one of the first disputatios of the term, Isaac was able to present on the Christian worldview and teaching agriculture. The following week Faith was able to help teach a sewing class at ACU with a retired couple who had come from the US for a three week visit. If you are retired and interested in helping out at ACU, feel free to reach out. There are lots of great opportunities to serve here! 

Family life continues to progress at a fast pace. All of the kids are growing so quickly! We have started back at homeschooling and Korinne finally started reading, which is exciting! It's so fun to see each of the kids making progress in their schooling! As part of the kids education, we hired an ACU student to teach the kids Chinyanja. Sadly, Isaac has neglected his Chinyanga lessons since the beginning of classes at ACU. Also, Faith is involved with a group of homeschooled moms and is helping to start a homeschool co-op for families with preschool/kindergarten aged kids. 

Toward the end of January we hosted some friends from church and ACU to watch the Zambian national soccer team play in the African cup of Nations. Unfortunately Zambia lost, but it was still quite exciting to watch! Africans sure love their futbol! 

 Last week we got to visit the Zambian Flying Mission base and get a tour of the facilities as well as visit with some friends there. It's been fun to go out on little adventures when we get the chance. We are enjoying Lusaka quite a lot! 

We are still attending Christ Church Lusaka. Beatrice was baptized there in January, the first baptism of the church!  We are enjoying growing in fellowship with the saints here. 

On another note, Zambia (as well as most of Southern Africa) has been experiencing a pretty bad drought this year. The drought has come at a time when the price of staple foods (corn meal) is already extremely high due to inflation. Please remember to pray for the people of Zambia as there is likely to be hunger this coming dry season. One side effect of the drought is limited electricity (almost all of Zambia's power is hydroelectric). This means most of Zambia is experiencing daily planned power outages. Thankfully, in our part of town, the power is out from midnight to 8 am, so we have power during the day. 

We hope you all are well,

In Christ, The Madsens,

Isaac, Faith, Korinne, Dietrich, Esther, and Beatrice

1. Prayer for classes at ACU. Teaching philosophy in Zambia has proven to be quite challenging. Please pray that Isaac's instruction would be clear and that students would be able to understand. 

2. Prayer for ACU. ACU is dealing with the largest freshman class ever ~75 students and there are quite a lot of growing pains associated with this large of a class. 

3. Pray for Zambia as many people as we are likely heading into a time of food and power shortages due to the drought.