Was it just a Howard thing??

Yesterday I went with my roomie, Deanna, to Norfolk, Va. She had a job interview and I had the day off.
So to get to Norfolk you must drive through a 2 to 3 mile long tunnel. I got very excited when Deanna informed me of our imminent adventure...I was all smiles and giggles (imagine that). When we entered the tunnel I immediately rolled down my window, stuck my head out, and screamed at the top of my lungs. When I came back inside the automobile Deanna had a perplexing look on her face and asked me what in the world did I just do. "Are you serious?" was my reply. I thought everyone knew the tunnel rule...which is when passing through a tunnel one must yell, honk the horn, or make as much noise as possible.
She had truly never heard of such nor had she ever taken part. I was shocked! I proceeded to tell her how when we were growing up and traveling with our parents and we encountered a tunnel, my dad would always roll our windows down and we would cram our heads out the window and shout at the top of our lungs....and all the while, my dad would be honking the horn and yelling out his window while my mom would cover her ears and watch nervously from the front seat making sure that we did not fall out the window. Ahhh, good times road tripping with the Howard's in our Pontiac station wagon!
The more I think about the tunnel rule I am realizing that it did not only apply to driving. I remember growing up on Lake Providence and going fishing with my family. There was one tunnel inparticular that you could go through in your boat that went under a road. This tunnel was always a highlight in our fishing experience because everytime we went through it we got to yell and holler and scare away all the fish.
So really, was this just a weirdo Howard thing or did anyone else abide by the tunnel rule when they were growing up? Either way it doesn't matter because I plan to carry on the tradition.

Better than the playground at McDonald's...

Since it is my weekend to work, I am unable to leave campus. I can do anything I want, but I just can't leave . And what does this "campus" look like you ask....well, it is actually quite nice and out in the middle of nowhere on 260 acres of Virginia countryside. It is a conference center so it has a fully equiped kitchen/cafeteria, a library, computer lab, an auditorium to hold over 500 people, numerous classrooms, quads (like a house, but is divided into 4 separate apartments that can hold 4 people in each apartment), dorms, a soccer field, sand volleyball court, a river, a gym (the basketball court kind, not work out) several playgrounds, a barn and silo, a lake, a gazebo by the lake, and a globe shaped water fountain.....and I have access to the golf cart.
So, as you can see I have a lot of room to roam and this weekend has been quite nice. Saturday there were people still on campus but now today (Sunday) they are all gone and I am the only soul on campus...my roomate, Deanna, is on vacation and Jeremy is out with friends from church. It has been a wonderful day! Today I slept in, swang on the swingset, went for a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive in the golf cart, raided the kitchen for some cashews and a Pepsi, made some salsa, listened to just about every Jack Johnson song ever recorded, washed some clothes, walked down to the river, and am seriously contemplating doing pilates via the movie screen in the huge meeting room.
Speaking of Jack Johnson....man, do I like him a lot! Did anyone catch him on SNL last night? He was quite fabulous and on one of his songs G. Love performed with him...it put me in a good mood at 12:45AM! And G. Love......I have a little crush on him......along with Jack, John Mayer, Steven Tyler, and the Maroon 5 guy....actually that list could go on and on. But I think G. Love is the front runner as of last night b/c he was on the harmonica and I am a sucker for that musical instrument for some reason.....except I will say that John Popper from Blues Traveler does NOT do it for me.

Hmmm, I wonder which one of these would make the best match for Ashley???

Let's take a vote....

G. Love

Jack Johnson

John Mayer

Steven Tyler

Adam Levine (Maroon 5)

John Popper....Sorry, nothing personal

Now that I have revamped the website, there is a comments section. So leave a comment or two...you know you want to!

So today is Friday. Normally I would be excited about the weekend but this weekend is an exception because I have to work on Saturday and Sunday from 7am-11pm....yuck. But the plus side is I get Monday and Tuesday off...yippee!
I hate to admit it but I have become hooked on several tv shows. Some of my favorites are Alias (I think every girl secretly desires to be Sidney Bristow), American Idol, Survivor, and The Amazing race. Is it strange that all but one of those shows is a reality show? What is it with reality tv? Why is it so addicting? I mean, the shows themselves are not that outstanding so how come they can suck me in so easily and captivate my interest?
Oh, another show I catch myself scheduling around is Oprah. Seventeen years strong and she still has an ever-growing, faithful following. Now I certainly don't buy into her new-age, many roads to God, remember your spirit theology but the woman really does do and has done some amazing things. Granted, she has the money to do amazing things, but so does Donald Trump and yet I do not hear of him fully supporting orphans in South Africa or building a Boys and Girls Club in Mississippi, or throwing a baby shower for over 600 expectant mothers whose husbands are fighting in Iraq. And besides, her show is the only one on when I get home from work.

So, I changed the color scheme a bit. We will see how long it lasts.

I think it is time to update the look. Expect changes coming soon...not that anyone still reads this or that I even write often......

So what in the world is the deal with the weather in Virginia??? Yestersday it was in the 70's and the sun felt so good on your skin....I even thought to myself that if I were the kind of person who liked to lay out then yesterday would have been a great opportunity. So this moring I woke up to a dark, rainy day. I thought the rain and chilly temperature was enough of a contrast....and then came the SNOW! Yes, that is right, snow. I was sitting at work and looked out the window and saw nothing but white snowflakes being furiously blown about by the wind.

Unfortunately (or maybe luckily), drastic weather changes is about the most excitement I am seeing these days. I think people should come visit me here. I promise to make it worth your while. Oh, my dad had a birthday last week, so that is note-worthy news.

Happy Birthday, daddy!

Not a lot to report from Richmond. Although yesterday was exciting because it started snowing! It snowed hard enough that the ground was blanketed in about 45 minutes. The only bad part is it was too powdery and a lot of it blew off the ground by 5pm....so we did not get to sled down the hills. But the good news is it is supposed to snow some more this weekend. MLC is a great place to be snowed in...you are snowed in with other people to play with, there are many hills to sled down, an endless food supply, and a roommate who has a chick-flick friendly video/dvd library.

On Tuesday I flew back home to La. I was met at the airport by my mom, cousin, and two friends, Kristin and Kim....good times!
The weather here has been pretty yuck since being home...sleet, ice, rain. Today we braved the treacherous conditions and joined all the other hard-headed holiday travelers on the road. We were bound and determined to make it to my grandparents house in Heber Springs, Arkansas. In some areas the roads were completely iced over and many cars were in the ditches. I was so nervous sitting in the back behind the drivers seat. It took us 8 hours for a trip that is usually only 5. I spent most of those 8 hours playing with the gum that I was chewing by wrapping it around my finger and biting it....yeah so my finger is nothing but a bone now. At one point my brother looked at me and said if I was trying to get rid of my finger, he had a pocketknife that would make it go a lot faster. Well, we are here and we made it safely.
So right now I am sitting in my grandparents den typing away while my grandpa (he and I are the only ones still awake...it is not even 8:30pm!) is sitting in his recliner watching "Pet Star" hosted by Mario Lopez (yes, AC Slater himself!) on Animal Planet. A pony just did some trick and the judges gave him a ten.
I always like being here at my grandparents house.
UPDATE: a cute, toothless, little redheaded boy is on "Pet Star" with his bird and they are about to sing some MoTown....should be interesting.........oh shame, the bird totally sold the little boy out and did not perform. I am embarrassed for him. Good thing the judges threw out the mercy score and gave him a high score for his effort.
Well, I guess I am gonna join my grandpa in front of the tv and watch the conclusion of "Pet Star."

So it is Christmas time again. Truly, where does the time go.
So it has been 3 and a half months since I returned to the states. I wonder if a day will ever come that I do not measure time according to when I was overseas.

Today is Friday and I am thankful for that, although I do not have a big weekend planned. I am guessing that I will be spending most of my weekend preparing to go home for the holidays. This will entail washing clothes, taking out trash, and cleaning the bathroom. Actually, all that won't take but a good 30 minutes so I guess I should look for some social outlets to fill my time. Last weekend I went on the mother of all road trips. I went to New York City and back in 24 hours!!! Crystal (a new friend that I will discuss later, and a former jman), Deanna (my quadmate and other jman here doing the same job as me), Jeremy (another jman doing my same job, yes it takes 3 of us!), and myself left Richmond at 1:42 am Saturday morning and drove 6 hours to New York. At about 8am Saturday morning we were driving past Times Square! It was so amazing. We all pretty much decided to go on a whim. It all started b/c Deanna watched a movie set in NYC at Christmas time and threw out the idea that we should go. At first we decided it was a great idea but was just not possible. So Friday morning at work we all talked it over once more and decided to go for it. We definitely did not lolly-gag in our 24 hour experience. In our trip we managed to see Lower Manhattan...Times square..5th avenue...St. Patrick's cathedral...Rockefeller center...Radio city music hall...Staten island...Brooklyn bridge...Statue of liberty...Empire state building...WTC site...and an accidental train ride to Brooklyn, which was ok b/c we got to see the Brooklyn Bridge!! It was truly a great day and I spent many minutes on the phone with my sister telling her, "Oh my goodness, Brandi, you won't believe this, there is the............."
This trip to NY was more for the tourist aspect. Next time will be more for culture...Broadway musicals, museums, partying with celebrities, etc!!
I love living 6 hours from NYC, 2 hours from DC, 2 hours from the beach, and 2 hours from the mountains!! Now if we can just get some proper sweet tea, gumbo (and all the other fabulous Cajun dishes(crawfish included)), and Louisiana friends and family up here life will be perfect!

Well, after a two day ordeal I finally flew into Richmond, Virginia today. It was harder to get from Louisiana to Virginia than it was to get to Zambia! It was frustrating, but I rather enjoyed my stay in Atlanta courtesy of Delta Airways. I saw Stephanie and Tommy (both journeymen in Zambia) first thing and ate lunch with them. We had a good time talking and laughing about our time together in Zambia.
There are two other journeymen here at MLC doing my same job so today I went around with them and got acquainted. They seem to stay pretty busy. Tomorrow is when I will begin doing whatever it is that I will be doing. I think it is going to be weird living and working at MLC. Now I have power and responsibilities, I am not here just going through orientation. I even get to drive the golf cart around campus!
Tomorrow my friend from college arrives here for orientation andI am so excited to see her! That is definitely one perk of this job, I get to see some of my friends when they come through here.
Maybe one day when my life here settles down I can start posting pictures again. I just have not had a lot of time to take pictures since being back. Well, that's all for now....

This post is coming at you from the Franklin Parish library in Winnsboro, Louisiana! Yes, that is right, Winnsboro and not Ruston. Since being gone my parents moved to Winnsboro so now that is where yours truly will be residing for the next couple of weeks. I have been home almost a month now and it already feels like a lifetime ago that I was calling Zambia home. Since being back I have done some traveling in the Little Rock and Dallas area visiting family. I have also gotten to see a few friends along the way. I have been so busy I have not had a lot of time to even think. In fact, I have not even unpacked my 4 pieces of luggage that I brought home with me from Africa.
So the other big news besides me being back in the states is that I am moving to Virginia in 2 weeks. I will be extending my term as a journeyman and will be working at the place I went to for 6 weeks for orientation before I left the states. I am pretty excited about it. I will be there for at least 6 months and possibly up to a year. So if you are ever in the Richmond area, give me a call!

Ode to Kelley Grace and Jackson....

At the beginning of August I took a road trip to Malawi to visit the Boersma's, friends from home who are missionaries in Lilongwe. I have known them for several years and I was even Kelley Grace's first babysitter. I visited with them for 3 days and they showed me all the hot spots in Lilongwe. It was nice to see them again and talk about not only African living but life in Ruston as well. So, without further ado(Brandi and Amy), here are my pictures of Kelley Grace and Jackson.


They just love one another


Silly Kelley Grace



Jackson in the sandbox



Our supper of hamburgers and strawberries



Kelley Grace looking sweet



Jackson, with mustard on his face, showing me how long his tounge is




Their scary faces...in the words of their father, "They ain't right."



Jackson at riding lessons



Kelley Grace cantering


And this concludes my ode to the Boersma children.

I just recently got back from Zimbabwe. We went down there for our annual mission meeting. I wish I could say I had a blast but it was actually quite boring. All we did was sit in the most uncomfortable chairs imaginable for 8 hours a day listening to some really long-winded people talk about issues that did not or will not affect me. But no worries, I did pretend to be very interested in the issues at hand and even asked a question or two during one of our meetings.
This was my last time to see Victoria Falls (one of the 7 natural wonders of the world)...probably the last time in my life. I have seen Vic Falls about 4 or 5 times, I can't remember. And every time I see it, it is still an awesome sight. Too bad no one took advantage of my being here for these last two years...I could have driven you down to Livingstone to see it (and not to mention game drives and other fun african adventures!).
Tomorrow I am traveling to Malawi for the week. This is going to be a great time for sure! I am going to vistit some great friends from Ruston, La, who are missionaries there. Most people reading this will probably know who I am talking about...the Boersma's! I have known the Boersma's for 6 years. I started babysitting for them the summer after I graduated from high school. Kelley Grace, their oldest, was only 6 months old. The Boersma's have been back in Lilongwe since December. I have been trying for months to work out a trip to see them and it is finally happening, yippee!! I should return back to Lusaka on Saturday, August 7.
When I get back from Malawi, I will only have 17 more days till I fly home! WOW!
I will be spending that time packing up and moving out of my house and into the guesthouse at the mission. There is much to be done before leaving here on the 24th. I have a list a mile long of loose ends to take care of. How can it be that it is all almost over?? The time now is coming like a freight train!

And once again my gift of procrastination rears it's ugly head. I currently have about 6 must-do items on my to-do list for the day. Instead of getting busy and completing those tasks, here I am posting unimportant information for people to read. I got this email forward from Melissa Knobloch (known as "snobs" from here on out). It is about "knowing your friends." Why do I always feel compelled to fill these things out? I think I do one once a year. Instead of forwarding this on to others like the instructions say, I am just going to post it here for your reading pleasure. Love ya, Snobs!

 

1. What time do you get up? 
8:00am

2. If you could eat lunch with one famous person, who wouldit be?  
Julia Roberts, I think she and I could be really good friends. But if she is busy I'd opt for Nelson Mandela.
 
3. Gold or silver?
Silver

4. What was the last film you saw at the movies? 

SpiderMan 2

5. What is your favorite TV show? 
Alias...we get the show taped in the US and imported to us

6. What did you have for breakfast?  
toast and eggs

7. Who would you hate to be stuck in a room with?
I cannot say for fear that they could be reading this. 

 
8. What/who inspires you? 
Not to sound all super holy, but I'd say the book of Romans. 
 
9. What is your middle name? 
Brookes

10. Beach, City or Country?
 this fair skinned, red headed girl is gonna have to say the country, preferably the mountains
 
11. Favorite ice cream?
 new york stawberry cheesecake by the dreamery or ben and jerry's cherry garcia.....mmmmmm, i can have that again in 42 days!

12. Butter, plain or salted popcorn?
 butter
 
13. Favorite color? 
blue
 
14. What kind of car do you drive? 
thanks to Lottie Moon, I am currently driving a really nice dark green toyota corolla
 
15. Favorite sandwich? 
grilled cheese made with velveeta chesse
 
16. Favorite Sunday or daily comic strip? 
i like that blondie & of course the peanuts
 
17. What is in your CD player?
a mixed cd that a great friend gave me! she even titled the cd "bush boogie"

 18. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation,where would you go? 
New Zealand, but can i bring a friend?
 
19. What color is your bathroom?
  grey stone tile, both floor and walls

 
20. Favorite brand of clothing?
for the past two years it has been anything that volunteers leave here when they go back to the states.
 
 21. Where would you retire to?
somewhere in the south. I want to be the lady who sits in a rocking chair on a big wrap around porch, wearing big funny hats, who has lots of cats and gives cookies out to all the neighborhood children who plays in my yard.
 
 23. What did you do for last birthday? 
I taught a class, hung out with Paige, and the ladies here took me out to tea.
 
24. Where were you born? 
Vicksburg, Mississippi

25. Favorite sport to watch? 
american football, but i have come to find out that the other sport known as football has lots of very attractive players
 
26. What fabric detergent do you use?
Omo....doubt anyone has heard of it

27. Coke or Pepsi?
coke

28.  Are you a morning person or a night owl? 
night owl

29. What is your shoe size? 
anything from an 8 to a 9

30. Do you have any pets?
why yes I do and in 5 weeks they could be yours!! any takers?

Last night I had the mother of all sleepovers. Three lovely young ladies spent the night with me.  Me, Meredith Davis (8 yrs), Peyton Davis (5 yrs), and Rebekah Neely (8 yrs) played dress up and did all kinds of girly things to our hearts content. When the girls left my house today, their faces were stained pink from all the blush and lipstick they kept applying over the past 24 hours. During our girl fest we were also able to squeeze in a couple of movies, The Cat in the Hat, and The Lion King 1½.  Sorry I don’t have pictures for this. I was busy popping popcorn, applying eye shadow, and telling the girls to not squeal so loudly. This whole experience made me admire my parents even more!
 
On Monday we are headed down to Zimbabwe for our annual mission meeting. It is crazy how fast the time is flying! July is already more than half over. How in the world did that happen? While in Zimbabwe I will be attending meetings and struggling to stay awake during them. I will also try to muster up the courage to bungee jump. I never even gave it a second thought last year; there was no way I was going to do it. Although I think this year if someone twisted my arm hard enough I could be easily swayed.
 
I am currently working on a power point presentation about my two years in Zambia. I have yet to choose a song to play in the background, there are too many to choose from. Anyone have any suggestions? If so, please send all suggestions to ahoward@zamnet.zm.  My next dilemma with the power point is God has done more work IN me these past years than through me. How do you present that in a nice and tidy 4 minute presentation? Recently I have been looking through old pictures of mine. As I look at these pictures all I can think about is how different I am now….but praise God for the difference! What a shame it would be if I went home the same way I came. But just to ease your minds, I am indeed still as silly and laughy (is that a word?) and klutzy as ever. 

 *A side note-  My wonderful friends Tommy and Stephanie Knighten sent me a package, yippee!! And in the package was a huge plastic bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans. I mean, wow, how great! I really do enjoy Jelly Belly jelly beans. But let’s get serious for a minute….is there really anything more disgusting than the buttered popcorn flavored Jelly Belly?? In the immortal words of my dear friend Amy Wilson, “C’mon, get real!”

For several weeks now I have been pretty busy helping out with volunteer teams that come from the states for a couple of weeks for a mission trip. Many teams have already come and gone. Not only are we in winter here in Zambia but we are also in what the missionaries call "volunteer season". Yes, it has been tiring at times but I have thoroughly enjoyed it.
This past week I have been helping out the Neely's with a team that came from their home church in the states, First Baptist Church in Taylors, South Carolina. They held a medical clinic in two villages. Besides rashes and other fungal ailments I'd say the most common problem they saw was women who were experiencing back pain. It really isn't much of a wonder considering that the women here are the ones who do all the hard labor. A typical village scene is a woman who has a baby on her back while carrying water with one arm, using her free hand to hold the hand of another child who is able to walk, all while balancing firewood on her head. I mean these women are seriously strong (and have super buff arms!). The sad thing is these people don't have the access to medicines such as Tylenol. And even if they did, there is no way they could afford it. For 16 tablets of panadol (Tylenol here) it costs $9! And $9 is about 4 days of work for the people out there. See where I am going with this?? So think about how privileged you are the next time you pop a couple of pain relievers for a head ache.
Tomorrow (Monday) we are gonna be going to House of Moses with the nurses on the team. That should be a lot of fun, hopefully I will have a lot of pictures of that.
Today we took the team out to a bush church. I think that was my last Zambian bush church experience. I was looking at the calendar and every other Sunday is going to be busy doing other things. The bright side is that the church we went to was a good one to end on. I had a great time there and was actually able to worship and not feel like I was on display for all to stare at.

After church we took the team to a really good Indian restaurant in town. As I was sitting there eating I could not help but think of some of my friends from Tech, Regin, Benjamin, and Suv. They are from India and were kind enough to invite me over to their house a couple of times to eat. Man, those are good memories! I wonder if they ever read this website? In case they do, thanks guys for your hospitality!
Actually today I strolled down memory lane for quite a while. I could not help but think about many of my friends from college. Just this week I have heard from many friends out of the blue. Every letter, email, package, picture, or even instant message I received from these folks made me giddy! It made me excited to see them again and to catch up on what is happening in their lives. Speaking of friends....am I going to have any in Ruston? I believe most people have moved from the promised land and gone to seek adventures elsewhere. That is a bummer for me. Everyone else is off being a grown up. Actually, now that I think about it, I will have one friend in town. She will be returning back to Ruston from a distant land about the same time I will.

Well this is starting to turn into a ramble.
And just so you know, I have been sitting here writing this while listening to Billy Joel...good times for sure!

*I hope to have some pictures of the Neely team up soon.

And then there were…….


And then there were four. Alan left last week for the States leaving me, Jill, David, and Mallory in Zambia.




Then a few days later Jill and David left leaving me and Mal……And then there were two.

Well, today Chris came back to Zambia!!!!!!! Yes, that is right, the new poster boy for journeymen at the IMB, who would most likely grace the cover of The Commission magazine if it were still in print, is back in Zambia!!!!
And then there were three!!!

Chris is back….and it is great! It was never even a thought in anyone’s head that he would come back to Zambia. The guy got sent home in February to have stinking heart surgery. Everyone is pretty amazed at all the circumstances that GOD has orchestrated. It has been very surreal to see him again, but very awesome nonetheless.

Funny story (but maybe also a “you had to be there” story.)……

Tonight we (me, Mal, and Chris) went to the movies to see Spider Man 2 (which I liked very much). So as we are walking into our row of seats we encounter something slippery on the floor and tell each other to be careful not to slip. So our three seats (you are assigned seats at the movies here) are the ones that the slippery stuff is in front of. We sit down and Chris immediately says, “Man, something stinks. It smells like throw up.” So we all start taking in big sniffs to see if we concur with him. Well, we definitely concurred. Then Mal says, “ Oh my gosh, I think it is that slippery stuff.” (I am dying out laughing hysterically at this point and am unable to get a word out.) So Chris goes in for a closer look at the unknown substance and was able to verify that the mystery stuff was indeed puke. By this time we are all in unbelief and laughing uncontrollably. Now the theater was VERY warm b/c they did not have any a/c or air circulating and also the whole cinema was packed out…..which only made the stench stronger b/c of the heat . At this point the trigger to my gag reflex was getting very sensitive and I was afraid I was gonna spew myself, but luckily I did not. Chris did wind up telling an usher and eventually he came to clean it up. Unfortunately there is no Lysol in Zambia.
So the moral of the story: Even vomit can be funny.

Tonight is Alan's last night in Zambia. At 6am he leaves for the airport headed for the United States. Alan and I have known each other for a while now. We met at orientation in Virginia in 2002 and even come over to Zambia together. It will be sad to see him go but I know he is headed home for some exciting adventures. Tonight all of the journeyman went to the Dickard's house for supper. It was a last hoo-rah for us journeymen. Not only is Alan leaving July 1, but David and Jill will be leaving July 6. So that leaves me and Mallory left until August(when I leave) and September(when Mal leaves). This time last year there were 9 journeymen in Zambia but come this Tuesday there will only be 2.


Me and Jill


David, Mallory, and Alan discussing Mallory's iv. Yes, Mallory has an iv in his hand because a piece of a stick got caught in his leg and caused an infection so he has to get injections of medicine for a few days. Oh yeah, he also has malaria along with the infection.....poor guy has been out of commission for a few days.


Alan, Jill, and Mallory


Our gracious and hospitable hosts, Stan and Nancy Dickard



Departing journeymen from Kasama, Zambia....Jill and David

Going to the valley......



We left at 6:30am Sunday morning to pick up some volunteers in the valley. It was really early, but it sure was beautiful! Too bad this picture does not come close to doing this sunrise justice.


This weekend I took a brief trip to the southern province of Zambia. I went down to Gwembe, where career missionaries Wes and Laurie Wilcox live. The only place I have ever been to in the southern province is Livingstone to see Victoria Falls. I went down to Gwembe with Mallory to pick up his mountain bike team. In my opinion I think the southern province is the prettiest place in Zambia.


On our journey down to the valley we pulled over so we could take in some of the landscape. If you look closely in the distance you can see Lake Kariba.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Matthew 19:14

Since September I have been teaching a Bible club at Lusaka International Community School (LICS). We meet once a week after school for an hour. This time last year my roommate Stephanie was teaching there and I would tag-along with her (mainly for moral support). I never had any intention of doing that as a ministry for myself. As it would turn out I became good friends with a co-worker here, Helen, whose children attend LICS. She asked me if I would be interested in doing a Bible club this school year and I said yes….but what I thought I had agreed to was teaching for one term of the school year (about 8 weeks) and also not that I would be the primary teacher but rather Helen’s helper. Both of those assumptions were wrong on my part. I was committed for the entire school year and I was THE teacher. Now before I go much further I want to give you a little detail about LICS. This is not a Zambian school, although many do attend. This school is full of ex-patriot children from all over the world, most of whom their parents are diplomats. Some of the countries represented at LICS are Germany, South Africa, Iceland, Finland, India, America, Cypress, Mozambique, England….and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

The first Bible club of the year was a little discouraging for me and I felt as if it was a pointless ministry for me to get involved in. We only had 5 children attend and two of them were Helen’s children who are already believers. I do not want to give the impression in this story that I was concerned with numbers at LICS, but rather I was wondering if I was wasting my time and God’s time. Looking back I can see what a blessing it was to have such a small number. I was able to give more one on one attention to the children and get to know them better, meaning I was able to encourage them and build a relationship with them individually. As the weeks and months passed on I began to see God moving in our small weekly group.

Every week when I would walk on campus to where the children were they would run to me while yelling my name and hug me and were genuinely excited to see me….and I was equally excited to see them. Talk about a great feeling! Just to shorten this story I will go ahead and jump to the really good stuff that you are all waiting for……………..April marked the beginning of the third and final term of the school year here. In the beginning of every new school term the children get to pick the afternoon activities in which they will participate for that term. When I showed up for our first Bible club of this term I was floored when I saw that over 20 children had signed up!
In the previous 2 terms of Bible club I mainly taught stories such as Adam and Eve, Moses, David and Goliath, etc. I had never just plainly presented the entire gospel message for them. In the beginning of this term I could tell that the Lord wanted me to teach the children about Christianity and what it means and takes to be a believer in Jesus Christ. The Lord had also impressed that same message upon Helen to tell the gospel to these children. And so it began…….

For 6 weeks I began teaching these precious children about the gospel. We covered everything from what is sin to who was Jesus Christ and why did he have to die for us. Each week Helen and I would review with the children about we had been teaching and then would build on the previous weeks teaching. The ages of our kids range from about 7-11 years of age. Most of our students are actually 9 or older so they were really able to grasp what Helen and I were teaching.

When Helen and I felt that the children understood the message of Christ we gave them an opportunity to respond and make Jesus their savior. So two weeks ago at Bible club I led the children in a prayer of salvation and gave them the chance to accept Christ if they had never done so. After the prayer, but while their heads are still bowed and their eyes are closed, I asked them to raise their hand if they prayed with me. My eyes filled tears as I saw 12 out of 21 children raise their hand. Helen and I looked at each other and just smiled with excitement and joy over their decisions. Helen took down their names and as we looked over the list we realized that most of the children who had accepted Christ were older and truly understood what they had just done and knew what it meant for them personally. Then Helen and I began to think about the 9 children who were not on the list. Seven of those nine children we knew were already saved. I was speechless at what God had done! Most of all I was so humbled that he would use someone like me and give me the privilege of seeing something so amazing happen.

The icing on the cake came this week. Two of our girls in Bible club were unable to attend the previous week because they were gone on a field trip. On Monday they saw Helen at school and started talking to her. Helen was catching them up about what happened in Bible club and in the process led those two girls to the Lord! Helen called me on Monday and told me and I just about could not believe it!

Helen is the brains behind our operation. She realized that these children in the coming months and years are most likely not going to have much (if any) discipleship in their lives. She suggested we get together some material to help them along in this beginning stage. We came upon a children’s survival kit guide. This guide takes about 6 weeks to complete and is made for children who are new in their faith. It covers the basics of Christianity and helps to build a firm foundation with scripture and prayer.

This week when we met for Bible club I talked to the kids for a little bit and encouraged them in their decisions they had made. While doing this, one of the girls that had prayed with Helen on Monday raised her hand and very unashamedly and happily told me that she and her friend had prayed to receive Christ earlier in the week. That made me so happy that she was so unafraid and was proud to tell about what she had done! She was not timid about it at all. Praise God!

Also this week in Bible club, 3 boys who are in 6th grade and are the only Christians in their class told a story of what had happened in class that day. Before I tell of what happened let me preface it by telling you some of the things we have taught them in the past month at Bible club….sin is sin in God’s eyes, lying is not “better” than murder to God; God can forgive you of any sin, you can never be too bad for God to not love you or forgive you; and when you ask for forgiveness of sin, God casts it away as far as the east is from the west.

Ok, back to the story…….these three boys told me that their teacher was telling the class that murder was the worst sin you could ever commit and God could not forgive you of it and would not let you into heaven. These guys took a stand and told their teacher and classmates what the Bible says!! I was so impressed that as young as these children are that they know the truth and are able to recognize anything that is contrary to God’s word!

Things to pray about....
*the LICS kids for discipleship and growth in their walk with the Lord
*the LICS kids who are Christians to remain strong and willing to make stands for the Word of God, even when it is not the popular thing to do
*for the children who have not made decisions for Christ
*someone to take up and continue teaching the Bible club this coming school year
*for the Holy Spirit to have His way with these children and the entire school