We arrive the the beautiful country of Zambia...

This week's Blog Editor is Melinda Hornback. Melinda is a Social Work major.

We arrived in Zambia exhausted and excited. It was an odd feeling to be so weary, but too excited to close our eyes for fear we would miss something. The bus ride to Choma was bumpy and the road paved with sad, hungry faces. Women selling coal and corn smiled and waved as we jolted past them. Men would clap a few short times which we later discovered was their way of greeting us.

Our guest house was not ready for our arrival so we are at a rented guest house. It is more comfortable than we were expecting. Mrs. Bohta is our cook, and she had the house spotless. She has already become our dear friend. We have seen the new World Hope International Zambia (WHIZ) guest house. It is amazing and will be worth the wait.

We attended worship as a team Sunday morning. The worship music took us to the throne of Heaven, and when I arrive in Heaven I want to sing like that. It did not matter that the words were foreign. The Holy Spirit was so strong that our hearts were joined as brothers and sisters.

We have been attending classes to orient us about WHIZ programs and Zambian culture. We all agree that we have never seen such a comprehensive outreach. The staff work hard, and do not know the meaning of a 40 hour work week. Their work never ends. We look forward to learning from them. We have already learned so much about poverty and the tremendous obstacles that must be overcome to end the terrible suffering here.

Tomorrow will be our first day in the field (the villages). We are helping WHIZ staff evaluate the community trust programs. We will help the staff find out which trusts are working well and which ones need more training and assistance. You will hear much more about community trust model at a later time. The short version, however, is that WHIZ empowers communities to work together to provide subsistence and care for vulnerable children and HIV/AIDS patients. They give hope and dignity back to the people by assisting them to provide for themselves.

For family and friends who are following our blog, please be patient with your loved ones on this team for not emailing often. Until we are at the new guest house, internet is very limited for us. Pray for us faithfully. Pray that God will use us as His hands and feet, and that we will be an encouragement to the WHIZ staff and the people of Zambia. Pray that people will come to Christ while we are here, and that we will see mighty works of God. It is our hope that as you read our blog you will fall in love with the Zambians as we are. They are dear people. Hold them up every day as you pray for us, for our hearts’ desires are now entwined.

We are blessed and privileged to be here serving a mighty God!