Our First Day of School

Today we began our more "formal" schooling. The children have all been reading, reviewing their math, and doing some writing since we have been here in Zambia. Today we started our study of African history which I must admit is far more fascinating now that we live here.

Caylie certainly has a long attention span. I've always known this but today, she was determined to keep up with the big kids so she did more work than was required. She sat here for two hours working on her lessons. She truly is an amazing little girl. What pure joy it is to teach her.

Note the look of deep concentration.

Steven is working on his writing skills. For penmanship, all of the kids copy a section out of whatever book they choose as long as they get all of the grammar and punctuation right.


They are also doing memorization work which they all love. They are learning Bible verses so that if they are called on Sunday mornings, they have something to contribute. This week they are focusing on Psalms 1. Above Carlin practices reciting the scripture. It is very disheartening for him if he doesn't get it perfectly right.

This is something we've been working on from the very beginning. Carlin wants to already know everything, he finds no enjoyment in the process of learning. I have explained to all of the kids that the reason I can do the things I do is that I am always willing to learn.

As long as they can learn how to learn, they can accomplish just about anything. I have learned many skills that are way above my academic level only because I learned how to find information and then to never give up when I thought something was too challenging.

In the picture below, Jason hands a new NIV Bible to this pastor of the Holy Spirit Church of Zambia. I will be sharing more about this man and his family in future posts.

We are beginning to really settle into our new home. I thoroughly enjoy my "office" area as it is upstairs right off the master bedroom. We have plenty of room here for all forms of ministry and Jason and I have our own space.

We think of you always and pray for you often. Thank you for your prayers and for all of the emails. We are enormously blessed.

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

Together for Zambia!

What a glorious privilege it is to join with you in building a strong spiritual foundation here at the Foursquare Gospel Church Ndola Central. Although it may seem a small thing to give Bibles to those in the congregation who have none, I believe it is actually one of the most life-changing events that "we" (meaning our family and ALL of you in America who support this ministry prayerfully and financially) will ever be involved with here in Zambia.

A few Sundays ago, Jason asked how many in the congregation had no Bible of their own. Almost every hand went up! Some have tiny little versions of the New Testament but very few owned a copy of the complete Bible with which to read and study during the week.

Jason was able to find NIV Bibles at a small Christian bookstore here in Ndola at a reasonable cost. Thank you JESUS! Inside each one, I wrote the following:

A gift for

(first and last name)

From SibZam Ministries
and
Foursquare Gospel Church
Ndola Central

Above, Jason explains the value of daily study of the Bible coupled with its application to every day life. It is important to know the scriptures and to do what they say.

As you can imagine, many Zambian names are difficult to pronounce. So Jason asked Pastor Mwanza to read the names. Pastor Mwanza said "No, you must read the names." Everyone chuckled as the pastor shared Jason's struggle to correctly pronounce Pastor Stanley Mwaba. Now it looks easy on paper, but the "b" is almost silent. Have you ever tried to barely pronounce the letter "b"? It comes out like "m".

The funny thing is that Mwama means "robber" in Bemba. Everyone laughed and laughed.

Just a side note: Jason and I have tremendous respect for Pastor Mwanza. He truly is a man who devotes his life to serving Jesus no matter what trials come his way. We love and admire him for standing firm in what is right even when the culture he was born into says it is foolish to do so.

Do you all recognize this lady? This is baby Mary's mother. She was in tears when Jason presented this Bible with her name written in it.

Several youths also received Bibles of their own. Isn't it awesome to partner with God in touching the next generation?

Okay, this is yet another time when Jason bungled the name. Pastor Mwanza and the whole congregation found his attempts at pronunciation very entertaining.

Here, a mother shows her Bible to her daughters. I love this picture!

After all the Bibles were handed out, everyone began singing thanks to God for His Love and for His Word. Sincere rejoicing continued for several minutes. What an honor it is for us to be a part of what God is up to in Zambia. Truly there are no words to describe our gratitude.


I hope you all enjoy your Sunday! Watch a football game for the Sibleys. We MISS football a lot!

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

Our Zambian Home From Space

Wow! Google Earth has improved dramatically since I last used it to check out Ndola. Scott Whipple sent us an overview of our area and asked where our house was. I just found it yesterday! Addresses here are not registered on Google Earth.

In fact, here is another cultural difference. Bills are hand-delivered at the gate. They are not mailed. If a company needs to contact a person regarding their account, they visit at home.

When our internet was installed, the person in charge made a mistake on the hand-written carbon copied receipt. The next day she came to our house asking to correct the receipt. Time is not important here. It doesn't matter that the account representative had to hire a taxi and then drive out here not even knowing if we were home just to change a small error on the receipt.

Another major difference is that 24 hours before water or electricity is to be shut off for lack of payment, a car equipped with a bull horn drives down each road and street warning people that if their accounts are not brought current, services will be interrupted. Isn't that amazing?

Well, it appears that the first rain of the rainy season has hit us tonight. The metal roof pounds with each huge drop that falls. Along with the rain is thunder and lightning so I better power down my computer.

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

Christmas in October???

Greetings from Ndola! I'm sure you all remember the old saying "If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Well guess what? I found something, okay Justin told me about it, that is really terrific! Skype!

Justin told me about Skype quite a long time ago but for some reason, it never worked for me or the people I call regularly. It was choppy, delayed, annoying. Not anymore! Once again Justin strongly suggested I try Skype since we are connected via high-speed internet. This way, he can instant message me if he sees me online.

So. . .I decided to download Skype once again and give it a try. I was not at all optimistic that it would work, BUT it does! All Skype to Skype calls are free no matter where in the world you are. I called my brother Fred and after working out a few kinks, we were able to converse using the web cam. It was wonderful! Fred and I use to talk almost every day before we moved here so I missed those calls like crazy.

Not anymore! We've already talked several times for FREE! I also signed up for a Skype-in number so that people who don't want to or can't use Skype for whatever reason can still call me using my Skype phone number. You can talk on your phone and I will talk through my computer. Isn't this amazing? Since I was able to select an USA phone number, those who have flat-rate calling plans can talk to us for whatever your plan charges.

I'm not real comfortable giving out my phone number here on the blog but if you want the number, email me and I'll send it to you.

I ALMOST feel guilty to have such luxury as constant communication with all of you back home. I know missionaries of years past did not have opportunity to keep in touch with friends and family back in the states. Trust me, I am enormously grateful for the privilege of regular communication.

I hope to hear from some of you real soon!

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

Lizards, lizards, and more lizards. . .

I thank God every day that I am not fearful of lizards. The reason? They are EVERYWHERE! I captured the first two images during our move from the guesthouse. When I pulled the top sheet off my bed, this tiny guy was there to startle, uh, "greet" me. He was no more than an inch long. We have seen some as small as 1/2 inch. They are about the size and color of the crickets Ben Hartley use to feed to his red-bearded dragon lizards.

I used a wider angle on the picture below so that you might get an idea for just how small these little guys are. Certainly, they must have hatched just a few days before.

The next three photos are at our new house at my computer. I came upstairs to work on my blog. Who did I find there to greet me? This little guy I affectionately named Mac since he seems to love my Macintosh computer.


Mac doesn't seem to be a bit afraid of me unless I move too fast. The other day, Jason caught him and placed him on the window screen. The next morning, I found him back on my desk sitting on the external hard drive.




Of course we also find much larger lizards in the house as well. Seriously, they seem to like living in the house even with all the activity that goes on here.

On a different note, there are many things about Zambia that I truly love. One is importance and where and on what it is placed. Before we moved here, it seemed that much of the media focused on Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and others like them. Jason and I always wondered why there was so much interest in their exploits.

Here, all of the talk and preparations surround the impending arrival of the rainy season. Jason commented just yesterday about how there is great anticipation around town on the coming season as it changes the way people will live their daily lives.

Farmers will plant their crops no later than November 15. Tomatoes, which were in abundant supply just a few weeks ago, are becoming harder to find. But now cabbage and other crops are taking their place. I must say, it is very easy and economical to eat healthy here as crops grow year round.

I guess it's time to bring this post to a close. Thanks again for all of your prayers and emails. Jason and I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Blessings and joy to you all,
Beckie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Birthday wishes from all of us in Zambia! I know that Fred plans to take you to Pueblo to celebrate this special day. When you two are enjoying Starbuck's coffee, sip one for me! I miss good coffee!!! I know if I were there with the two of you, Fred would probably tell one of his many "Fred" stories causing us all to laugh hysterically. I miss you!

Your chick-a-dees send their birthday wishes! We have enjoyed lots of Gramma stories today. We love you gobs and bunches!!!

Jason jumped up to the roof to capture this shot and the one of the sunset below.



The following photo is of a beautiful Zambian sunset Jason captured from the roof of our house. The colors are brilliant during both sunsets and sunrises here. A positive by-product of all the burning that goes on here, (everyone burns their trash), is the colors created by all of the smoke and dust.


Now that my internet service is at home on my own computer, I will spend this next week re-vamping (is that even a word?) our SibZam website.

I hope everyone enjoys this glorious day!

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

Join us for a pool party!!!

Of course you know I say this tongue-in-cheek. I snapped some photos this morning of the kids playing in our luxurious pool. This is part of the "patio."



The children work their way into the shallow end. No worries about the water being too cold!


Look! They are all touching bottom in the deep end! (Jason and Isata were in town.)

The kids had a ball during this photo session.


This may be hard to believe, but this pool is actually in better shape than all of the others we looked at. The landlords moved into this house in 1991. The pool was only used the first year. It has been empty ever since.


This is a built-in bench on the upper part of the patio. Off to the right (not pictured) is a tomato garden. This whole space was dormant for years until the landlords decided to grow tomatoes to sell.

Again, I share these photographs to try to give you an idea of how different things are here. When this house was presented to us, it was described as a beautiful 5-bedroom, 3 bath, home with a large pool.

What they failed to mention is that parts of all three bathrooms are unusable, the pool is nothing more than a deep hole, several windows are broken out, and the entire place needs an overhaul.

And one more thing, we have water problems AGAIN! Please pray that we can shower tonight. We are hot, sticky, and in dire need of showers.

Another "little" problem that I need to overcome is the shower. The tiles were not installed correctly so everything behind them is rotting creating a horrible smell. Jason said the drain also has a horrible odor so he dumped bleach down it which didn't even phase it.

It is really hard for me to shower in these conditions. I use to look forward to showering. But now it is something I dread. I really need to get over this and am praying with all my might for God's help to do so. Like I said before, everything we do here requires tremendous thought, planning, and problem solving.

I know this is all part of learning to live in a new culture. I look forward to the day when it isn't so hard to do so. I feel like a real whimp! But then I think about my precious friends at home and smile because I know that everyone of them would understand my weaknesses.

On a positive note, having my computer and internet available at home has made a tremendous difference in my day.

I love you all and miss you tons!

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

I'm ba-a-a-ck!

This is the first time I've been on the internet in almost a week! Talk about withdrawals! Because it's been so long, I'll probably be here all night just trying to catch up.

I am so glad to know that you missed these updates. Seriously!!!! Thank you to all who emailed wondering what was keeping me away for so long. I truly appreciate your loving concern.

And now I have a question for you. . .can you guess where I am right now? I am not at the internet station. I am emailing you from my own computer in our Zambian home! Yes, you read that right. If you look toward east real hard, you will probably see me jumping up and down squealing with delight. Taking a taxi into town everyday, coupled with paying for my internet sessions, is very costly.

We now have high-speed, yes HIGH SPEED internet. Wooooo Hoooooo!!! And now for some pictures.

This is the home you have all been praying for. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be a real family again. The house has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a pool. Now before you start to think we are living in pure luxury, wait until after you have seen the pictures to form an opinion.

That said, the house is perfect for teaching our classes and for Bible studies. There is plenty of room and the area is secure.

Do you remember the photos I took of a tree clothed in brilliantly colored red-orange blossoms? We have one of those beautiful trees right in our yard! Here is Carlin saying "hello" to everyone from his favorite spot in the tree.

And here is our little monkey, Miss Caylie! She loves to climb and hang upside down.

Carlin wanted to show me this lizard up close since I haven't seen one unless it is scampering up a nearby tree. Naturally, Caylie jumped in as soon as I raised the camera to my eye.

Here is a close-up photo. These lizards like to hide in trees and are very fast. I don't know why this one is being so cooperative.


The house is split level. This photo was taken in the living room. I include these photos to show you how different it is to live here. Most of the houses we looked at just were not livable. This one has many things about it that need attention but we are thrilled to finally be in a home.

I was standing in the dining room when I snapped the shot above. The stairs go up into an area we will use for our office. In fact, it is where I am right now! To the right of the stairs is the master bedroom and bathroom. The toilet works in the bathroom but there isn't enough water pressure to use the tub.

I also want to point out that the picture above is not distorted by my lens. The floor is really that sloped. At first, I was afraid to walk over to the left side of the room for fear it would fall through to the ground below. There are huge cracks in the floor in the bathroom and office area. I suppose they are from the house settling over the years? I honestly don't know.


This is our dining room window. All of the downstairs windows and doors are protected by these bars. On one hand, it is nice to know that a person can't just break a window and climb into our house. But then on the other hand, we are working on a fire escape plan since jumping out a window is not an option.The walls are cracked in many (most) areas and the floors are in desperate need of repair.


This is a toilet in one of the bathrooms. There is the toilet bowl and lid, but no seat. However, this is one thing that should be easy to fix.

This is the bathtub in the same bathroom. I'll photograph the shower room tomorrow. If we were near a Home Depot, I'm sure this tub could look as good as new.

This is the kitchen. Trust me, this isn't the latest fad in wall treatment from HGTV! There is nothing "faux" about it!

This is still in the kitchen.

Here is another example of the condition this house is in. Please understand that I am not complaining about the house we have been blessed with. I just don't want you all to think that Jason and I are lounging comfortably poolside and sipping pina coladas while soaking up the African sun. 'Cause trust me, we are doing nothing of the sort!

The sinks are in good shape, but the wood in these cabinets is rotted completely and has an odor that is tough to deal with.

I just can't get enough of this tree. Also, the property is surrounded by a high wall. I like the way this wall was built. Almost every property is enclosed, this is the first time I've seen a wall that had character to it.

I promise to share more photos tomorrow. There is so much to tell you but it will all have to wait until later. Until then. . .

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

Cultural Differences? And we bought Bibles. . .

Greetings from Zambia!

I'm sorry that I don't have photos to post today. Jason and I have been dealing with issues regarding the home we are suppose to move into soon.

The day we signed the rental agreement, the landlord asked for a substantial amount as down payment when the agreement was signed. We reluctantly gave it to him. It is very difficult to function in a new culture, try to be polite, and avoid stupidity all at the same time. The landlord said that the house his family is moving to had some renovations that must be made which is why he needed some money up front. Oh, and by the way, we will have to pay the first six months rent in advance as well. Every six months, we will owe 1/2 year advanced rent.

Once we got over the initial shock of that, we signed the agreement, gave them the down payment, and they promised to be out no later than October 21.

Earlier today while Jason was down at the internet station in Kansenshi, the landlords stopped by the guesthouse requesting the remaining six months advanced rent, for more renovations. I knew this could not be right as the only leverage we have to get the house in a reasonable amount of time is that the money is to be paid when we get the keys after the landlord and his family are completely moved out. I told them that I would discuss the matter with Jason.

When Jason returned home, he called another pastor friend (Pastor Mwanza is in Botswana until the middle of next week). The pastor agreed with us that something was fishy and that the landlords are needing money for their mining operation. He prayed with us for wisdom. He also advised that we not give more money until the keys are handed over.

Jason called the store which they own and spoke with the landlord's wife. He just stated that we cannot give them any more money until they are moved out and we are given the keys to move in. This is very different than renting from Paul and Kathy Rodby (who are absolutely perfect in our minds, especially after dealing with this)!

Joyce, "Mrs. Landlord", sounded offended and said her husband was out and would drop by the guesthouse to speak with us. We waited for an hour and then came into town to complete other business here as we had planned when he didn't show up.

My initial reaction to all of this was, why couldn't the living arrangements already been in place before we arrived on the scene! And yet, it is through all of this that we are learning much about Zambian, indeed African, culture. We are learning that we must hold people accountable for what they say. We cannot expect things, especially anything that involves money, to flow smoothly because it just doesn't.

We are praying for wisdom in all things. It could be argued that if people are desperate enough to lie and steal, then what difference does it make if we are out some money. Evidently they need it, right? WRONG! Zambian culture and way of life cannot change unless the corruption is stopped or at least slowed down some. It actually keeps people down when they succeed at ripping someone else off.

I realize this is part of the culture; however, the Bible transcends all cultures. Corruption is wrong no matter what country or village you live in. Feeding that corruption only makes it worse and the people even poorer.

So our housing saga continues. Ughhhh!

Now on to the good news. I shared before that only family representatives are able to attend church because of a lack of transport money. Another real problem is that very few people, including pastors, have Bibles! Jason got a list of people who needed Bibles. He just called me here to ask that I share with you all that the Bibles have been purchased! I cannot wait for Sunday when we are able to hand them out.

Blessings and joy,
Beckie

Some pictures and a word about our Zambian church. . .

This is a Zambian sprinkler head. It is made from an old water bottle! Someone just put the end of the hose in the bottle, bound the top with material, turned on the water and wa la! You have a sprinkler!

The ingenuity of the people all around us is incredible.


This is Steven on the swing. He just chased a lizard out of the bathroom and is quite proud of himself. Even though he is growing up, he still has those kissable cheeks. He is truly a gift from God!

If you look closely, you can see a large green tank sitting on a metal frame. This is our water reservoir. From the well, water is pumped up to this reservoir from which all of our water flows. We have figured out that one of the workers continually waters plants and garden with the pump OFF! This drains the tank, puts air in the lines, and presto! No water.

The last time this happened was Saturday. A very important guest was in the shower covered with shampoo and soap when the water went dry. Needless to say, he was more than a bit unhappy. Out of our 5 1/2 weeks at the guest house, the water has worked the way it should a handful of times.

I don't know why I forgot to photograph the whole tree! These trees are stunning in their brilliance and beauty. They are covered with reddish orange blossoms. Some of the branches extend horizontally 20+ feet. In the above photo I was standing under the tree looking up. Isn't it gorgeous?

Here is a closeup of the blossoms.

Here is the boys' favorite tree to climb. They climb high and spy on all the happenings on the other side of the wall.

Hello everyone from Steven and Carlin!

Here they are showing me how fast they can navigate the tree.

About our Zambian church.

There are many things that are the same but so many more that are different. One of the things that has taken some getting use to is Sunday school before Worship. Then after worship is the main sermon. During Sunday school anyone can be called upon and is expected to contribute to the discussion.

At first I didn't like this. But I have grown to appreciate the benefits of preparing for church spiritually as well as the usual putting on clothes and combing hair. No one wants to be unprepared when called upon.

This past Sunday, the worship leader wasn't able to attend and neither was Pastor Mwanza as he was preparing to leave for Botswana. So we arrived at church heard the news and expected everyone to turn around and go home. But nooooooo. . .the church service continued.

The congregation takes seriously the scripture in I Peter (I'm sorry I don't remember the exact scripture and my Bible is at home) where it says something like "Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."

One of the ladies got up and led Sunday school. Three people went forward to lead worship. The pastor who was suppose to speak arrived about 5 minutes before he started teaching. AMAZING!

I can't wait to get our own internet service so that we can listen to Pastor Steve's sermons with all of you!!! WE MISS YOU ALL TONS!