Did you know there is a water park in Africa??

Well, today is Monday here in Zambia. We are in week 2 of our trip. Sunday was a blast. We were picked up by a wonderful guy named Webby. I think that is his name. Here they exchange l's for r's and r's for l's. So, if your name is Kelly in the states, it will be pronounced Kerry here. We have a friend who will be taking us to Livingstone to see the Victoria Falls agian tomorrow untill Thursday and his name is Copa ( but spelled Copper). See. This should explain why many of the Zambian people cannot say or remember my name if they had to . I will introduce myself to them and they will look at me and say, "Ok." HAHAHA!! It is funny. They all remember Robert of course. Not because of his name so much but because of his skin. It amazes me that we are surrounded here by black people and Muslims with a sprinkle of white and they remember Robert. He is considered a Zambian here. :)

On Saturday we took the kids from the Orphanage to Adventure City. It is a water park. They had a blast!!!!!!!! Many of them went on the water slide and played soccer. THere was this guy who was not with us and he went down this big slide standing up the whole way!! Never in AMerica. The kids were very blessed to go. It cost 5 dollars for adults and 3 dollars for kids. Great deal. :)

Sunday, Robert preached. We went to basic school where they were holding 4 services. We had service in one of the classrooms. Robert was welcomed and did a wonderful job speaking what God had put on his heart about being filled with the HOLY SPIRIT. I believe that they were blessed. We enjoyed worshiping the Lord with our brothers and sisters in Christ. RObert even managed to preach without letting the few women in the front breast feeding. We were privileged to pray for some people that needed encouragement, break throughs, healing and recommitment.

We traveled to the black market to buy 2 dvds for 6 dollars. Then we spent the night trying to get them to work on someone's lap top. It worked and we all sat around laughing at Madea. Before that we spent time at the Bazzar shopping and enjoying the art and stress of the art of bartering. :)

Today we will be organizing items brought by all the teams to donate to the Children's Village which needs prayer for the upcoming openning. They are trying to get approval to become a Non Government Profit agency. But, there is a lot of red tape. Pray for break throughs and easy smooth roads.

Tomorrow we will be off to Livingstone. We will come back on Thursday and finish up our trip till we come home Sunday. The bishop has been wonderful to see as well as all the people.

It is fun to learn more about the culture here where being called "fat" is a good thing and means that you are blessed by God. I guess many Americans are "blessed". Oh.. did i say that :)

Thanks for your prayers. Keep praying that God will have other things for us to do for His glory and His Kingdom.

Catch Up

Today is Saturday and we just left the house because of a black out. It is common though we have been lucky not to have many.

Our VBS went wonderfully. The kids learned a lot, played a lot of rough soccer games and did tons of crafts!! We had a blast. Those kids are such a blessing. The Lord has cared for them in wonderful ways. Though they have little to no material possessions, their love for the Lord and their trust in him is unpresidented to ours in the states. They were blessed to get a bible each. Many of them went walking around the church playing "preacher" with thier bibles. THey were praying, praising and thanking God for the bibles.

Today, we went to Adventure City. It is an African water park and was a blast. The kids were running around in underwear and whatever they had to swim in. Many kids had a blast. We ate pork stuff and beans for lunch (we are grateful for what food we get here when we are with the children) and we played soccer and went down water slides.

We had a heart felt goodbye with the children today. We were prayed over by Lazarus a 19 year old who desires to be a preacher. He wants to come to America and preach the word of God. He wants to save souls with the gospel. Amen to that. Pray for these kids to stay close to the Lord. Tomorrow is Church. Robert and Leon will be preaching. Pray for thier mouths to speak what the Lord has for His people to hear.

Monday we will be going to visit the community schools where teachers do not need a high school diploma to teach. Tuesday-Thursday we will be visiting Livingstone. Thanks for your prayers.

God is moving!

Things are good. I am experiencing a serious case of jet lag still. It has been hard to snap out of it but it has been difficult. I can not even begin to explain the sights we have seen, the miracles we have witnessed and the emotions we have experienced. I want to tell you all in person... those of you who know me know how I love love love detail, it will be hard to write it all out.

Sunday- Robert preached a wonderful sermon. He was led by the Lord and preached all about repentance. The Zambian people are wonderfully animated when it comes to worshiping the Lord and welcoming visitors from America.

Robert living in the zone

Monday- Painted the kids playground in a dust cloud and were used to cast out demons at an all night youth prayer meeting from 7 pm to 6 am. ( See Lisa's blog, just click on her face to read it) Praise God!! It took 7 of us and God's grace. Amazing!

Tuesday- We went to visit some of the orphan's homes. It was a humbling and heart touching experience. One grandmother takes care of 15 people and they stay in a home that is 3 small rooms without beds. They get electricity 2 days out of the month. There is no work for them to do so they eat every couple of days. If they can pick up work washing clothes they may get some food. However, they are all VERY WELCOMING and abunduntly joyous. The Lord is all they need.

Wednesday- We began the vbs today. It was great! Please pray for Rabinno who has Muscular Dystrophy. We prayed for him to be healed today! I recieved prayer too for my vitiligo. THe kids were blessed to have us and we were blessed to be with them.

Continue your prayers. If you want to contact me and can't here, please email me at michaelaandrobert@gmail.com

Read Lisa's blog for further details. Love, Michaela

Day 1- Praise God we arrived safely

We arrived safely by the Grace of God! We got in at 6 a.m. this morning. Bishop Peter was there awaiting our arrival. All 8 of our luggage pieces made it in tact and safe. As we left the airport, the feeling of being "home" came over me and tears swept my cheeks, clouding my view of the grass and flat trees. Did we ever leave? I love it here. The smell of burning trash, I don't love :)
We went to eat in Manda Bay at Kilamajaro Restaurant and then exchanged some money for 5000 kuacha to the dollar. After getting the basics out of the way, we traveled down a long, worn, bumpy dirt road. After seeing woman caring sugar cane or vegetables on their heads along with a baby swaddled to her back walking, men on bicycles, lots of colors, boys playing soccer and a dump where kids live and people go to eat and find useful things, we arrived at the Children's Village property.

The last team spent 9 days building a big play set for the kids. The property has been cleared, water pumps and water tanks have been put in and 3 homes are almost built. Pray for speedier service and no complications in completing the work so that it will be ready for the kids in September.

We ate dinner at the guest missionary house called Father's Heart and are now at the outside mall called the Arcades. The weather is colder than last year and masquitos are flying around very thirsty.

Robert and Leon have been told that they will be preaching tomorrow at a church. THis should be fun. The Lord reminded me earlier to put armor on and that we need to rely on Him for His strength. We have much ministry to do. And, it is not about us. Isaiah 61:1-4 was prayed over Robert and I and I believe that that is what we are here to do.

Keep us in Prayer. Things are wonderful but we definately can not do things here on our own strength. Tuesday- Friday we will be seeing the kids from the orphanage. We will be holding a vacation bible study. As a team, we need strength, unity and creativity. Please pray for that. God is with us. Thanks for all your prayers, encouragement and support. Please pass this blog address to anyone willing to read it or friends that we may have forgotten to give it to.

May God richly bless each one of you.

To my family- I love you very much and wish you were here with me to experience this. I miss you. Tell Ruby and Boss, "Who let the dogs out... Boss, boss boss boss" and " Bushba" Jamie knows what I am talking about. All our love!! xoxoxox

LAX

Here we are in LAX! We have gone this far. Our flight is delayed 40 minutes. We are currently sitting in a very air conditioned food court eating El Paseo Mexican food. Our check in has been smooth. 8 pieces of luggage checked in fine and we are all good to go. The Lord has been a blessing so far. Pray for our safety and for us to be open to the Lord to using us in any and every way to his glory. It is about time for some Haagen- Dazs. While we are waiting we eat, talk, eat, talk, read our bible and eat more.

So far the Lord has given us a few consistent messages to pray for:
Isaiah 61- WOW!!!
There is FREEDOM in JESUS!!
Walk by faith and not by sight

AMEN!

Africa here we come. Lord, keep us safe. May you recieve glory. Get us there with positive attitudues and may we walk humbly and boldly in YOUR SPIRIT!!!

2 Weeks Away from Africa

Well the time is nearing that Robert, Leon, Lisa and I will be boarding a plane out of LAX for London and onto Lusaka, Zambia in Africa. It has been a crazy few weeks. Spiritual Warfare has been prevelent but not breaking. Leon was stung by a bee yesterday and is deathly allergic. He made it to the hospital before his airways closed up! Praise God! Robert and I are moving on June 30th to Clairmont area and are packing our house and packing for Africa. We already have our personal belongings packed and most donations from Africa. Many of my students and thier families brought in school supplies, toys, books and hygene products to give to the children in the village. They will trully be blessed. We must pray the the luggage arrives safely in Zambia without being picked through or lost!! Thank you to you all who donated financially, or physically to this trip and to these wonderful children and ministry. You will be rewarded.

Zambia

Robert and I will be going to Zambia, Africa in July to aid "Breath of Heaven" children's village. We belive that God is calling us to serve Him and to help these orphans that are grateful for just a genuine smile. Every day is a struggle and yet many of them do not cry. They have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and we desire to love them and encourage them through their tough times. We are currently fundraising and looking to fund our trip and then some!! Pray that God's provision is over us and that we glorify Him in all we do!