making friend on the "other side"

This is for the few of you that say my other posts are sad and make you cry...

I made some new friends on "the other side", they should make you smile...

 First up, the Burger's, I don't even know how to describe them. They are all crazy... I think Jan and the kids drove Mr Burger to crazy, but that's just my opinion! :) ----------------------------------proof------------------>
 
 

 

They invited me to be the lettuce of the family, as long as I am the crispy green leaves...  Looking forward to a life long friendship with this family.



Jan and I found ourselves on a little safari one afternoon while the rest of the crew was napping... we think it's a kudu, it was so wild, took both of us to calm it down and make it stand pretty for the picture...  Wild adventures at Chamba Valley Exotic Hotel...

On my Father's Heart trip I was joined by staff member Ashley and her precious daughter Riley. This is a sweet family, they have moved to Zambia to work with Family Legacy and are expecting their second child. Riley is an angel, she is so loving and sweet to the Zambian children (who are very interested in this small mazungu!)

 

These two girls love people, and clearly as Ashley walks

along this path with her daughter by her side,

they will make some drastic changes in the lives of those around them.

 

This mother let Ashley hold her child and Riley was right there to love him too!

 
She made fast friends with Chola's little sister Gift, and they both went to every home with us for our food drops. Seeing these two play all day was amazing!


After a long day of giving, we went to the city and grabbed a bite to eat, and luckily had a few extra minutes to let her play on the "bouncy house" outside of the mall. (for those of you confused, please keep in mind, the rich in Zambia are like us, the poor live on less than a dollar a day, so there are luxuries like restaurants, shopping, and fun activities, they are just not accessible to the people we are helping in the slums which make up a majority of the population of Zambia)

On Sunday, I gave Riley a Della's House shirt, b/c she is the cutest model EVER! We matched, like in every way!

Riley, "we have matching shirts,

we both have flip flops,

we both have blue in our skirts,

we both have blond hair, we match!"

 

For being such a big help on the food drops, I promised her some ice cream at the Sunday market (after we ate our lunch of coarse!)  Which added to the matching b/c we both got chocolate! Then we headed off for some shopping at the Sunday Market.

 

 

 

Then there is this lady... Brooke. She is the ketchup in the Burger family, not sure why I got so lucky to be the crispy green lettuce and she is ketchup, but if I had to guess she is probably Fancy Ketchup! :) She has a heart for these children that is indescribable. She has been to camp (close to if not) 5 times (I think). She sponsors a beautiful young lady at the Tree of Life named SELAH (say-lah) She is mamma bear to this cub of hers, anyone who says you can't love, worry, feel all the pain, tears, joy, and pure happiness in a child on the other side of the world, call this girl, she can tell you all about it! 

I wish I had a pic of her with Selah, I don't, so here is her showing her abundant love for all children with this little cutie we found outside of the school in the Garden compound.





 
Sami is officially adopted into the R clan! She is one of us! She went to Camp Life solo this year and I am pretty sure she is going to be back! She was a natural with her girls, and they fell in love with her in about half a minute! No surprise, she is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. A total trooper too! The minute we got off the plane she jumped on a bus with Trish, Erin and I to deliver some blessings and food to Erin's kids from last year. She was a photographer and a huge help with all the stuff we had to deliver. I am looking forward to this friendship, bc I truly believe great things are ahead for this special lady!







These are a handful of the folks that are supporting Della's House with our LOVE t shirts. If you want to support go to Della's House. Spread the word and show the LOVE!!








And now for the blessings I have prayed for since I left Zambia last year. Here is some quick background to help you understand why these two people were so special. Last year I got 6 kids that needed a lot of help, they could not speak English, I needed Zambian partners who were strong in faith, in our objective and passionate for the children placed in our group. Without harping on the negative, lets just say, I didn't have those two people last year. I prayed, I prayed, I prayed some more for a strong Zambian man who could understand these boys situations, feel empathy with their stories, and relate to the lives of each one of them. By the Grace of God (and Holly the girl in charge at FL) I got Elijah! He pastors at his church, I am pretty sure he knows every verse in the bible and he prays in big, loud, proud, thankful, believing Zambian style. There is nothing better when it comes to prayer than standing in the middle of a bunch of Zambian's, they pray out loud, and with some serious passion, the feeling I get when this happens is up there on the list of "my favorite moments in life".

Elijah took the tough stuff, sex, drugs, alcohol, HIV, and life in general and had a candid conversation with the boys. HIV is a big discussion, there are a lot of stories in Zambian culture as to how it is transmitted and what can be done to "fix" it. My boys are at the age that they need to know about these things, and Elijah made that happen! He prayed over them and shared his testimony, which was good for my boys to hear. They see struggle and pain every day, they do not see a lot of "Elijah's" who make it out on the right side with a job, a wife, a solid future and a love for the Lord. It was awesome to hear him tell his story and watch the boys listen so intently, glance up at him and nod when he said something that touched them. I will post and entire blog about Elija, so stay tuned, but I couldn't leave him out of my list of new friends!


The second part of the Zambian partnership was Elizabeth, she is adorable, she sings in the praise group at her church, leads a bible study for girls in her congregation. She was a blessing to my boys, she taught them the Evangicube (tool they use to Evangelize on community day), while Elijah and I were at one on one blessing time with a child, she would have the rest of the group doing an activity I brought, discussing the lessons from the big sessions or playing games to pass the time. I can not lie, she is pretty, and some of my boys are teens and I was a little worried they would be flirty with her, but she was like a big sister to each of them, and I was so happy with that. When we were in the community, she was so attentive to each of the kids as they evangelized to the folks in their community, she helped the boys lead 4 people to Christ and made sure each of the boys had the opportunity to explain the Good Word. She is kind of soft spoken, but the boys always listened when she spoke, and they respected her.
  

 And "this one" she is watching over my boys everyday! She is one of two, (Victoria) women who work as Discipleship Leaders in Chaisa. She and Victoria recommend each of the kids that go to camp, they go to each child's homes to assess the situation, they go to each home of a child who is sponsored to explain the program.. They are with all of these kids everyday. If a child stops coming to school, they go find them. Fanny knew were each of my kids lived. The first day I met her, I started rattling off names of each of my boys, she could tell me if they were good at school, what has happened in their family since last year and then could find them in a random group of children waiting on the side of the road. She promised to watch out for my boys and to give them a hug for me regularly. She is a single mother of one boy, Paul, she lives with her twin brothers (17ish) and mother in a two bedroom house. Her heart is big and her love of these kids is never ending. The kids love her too, as we passed through Chaisa, she would talk to all of them, greet their mothers and grandmothers and flash her big beautiful smile. I will be looking for her next year, she and Victoria have such an important job. There are thousands of children in Chaisa, they are responsible for finding the "least of these" getting them to camp and hopefully see them through the sponsorship program. They are responsible for communicating with the families of each of the children in school at Chaisa Lifeway Christian Academy and keeping the lines of communication open with the American staff in Dallas regarding each child. They have a big job, I believe it is only by the Grace of God and a Heart for the Children of Zambia that these two ladies have been able to do half the job they are doing!


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