A Merry Christmas From Zambia!! So Christmas season.. snow, cookies, family, old traditions, big Christmas trees, lots of parties, and of course Santa. Well living in Zambia currently, Christmas was not what I just explained. Cold: id say more like extreme heat with a big case of humidity (its summer on this side of the world). Family: we became a new little family this Christmas. I live with 12 girls. McKayla (squad leader), Emily (point person), Katie, Courtney, Keia, Kendall, Sami, Gwyn, Maddie, Brooke, Eugene (a traveller from Switzerland, and our newest roomie, Tabby (she’s from Kenya). Traditions: we kept some old traditions, like secret Santa, and everyone waiting in the room before all running out for presents. I will say, we totally forgot to leave cookies out for Santa but it’s fine.. we’re fine..
Big Christmas trees: well.. if you’ve ever seen Charlie Browns Christmas movie, just picture the little tree he found, yup that’s what ours looked like, expect it was fake. No biggie right. Side note: (we still had lights and ornaments). Parties: well.. I think living in a house full of girls is just always one big party so I’d say we just have that all of the time haha. Santa: actually funny to mention him, there’s a Santa that stands outside the shopping center we all go too. So hey kids, Santa is also across the world. And last but not least, cookies: good news!! We had cookies! We made gingerbread cookies and chocolate chip on our tiny little oven in our tiny little kitchen. They still tasted good which is a plus! (I ate way too many). Christmas morning was very sweet, we opened presents together and just laughed and had a wonderful time. Later that day we had a American/African style brunch. Which included: pancakes, cookies, pop (sponge stuff Africans eat), greens, chicken (I watched it get plucked and cleaned. Fresh..), bread, onion chips, samosas, mash potatoes, cake, and peanut butter balls. A very strange mixture of food but hey, it tasted good. Sadly later on in the day Sami and I got sick.. I’m currently writing this from my bed 4 days later, I have been stuck in the house resting. (I feel better so Praise Jesus). If you know me than you know how stubborn I am when it comes to being sick, it doesn’t happen much but when it does. Agh. Being basically in quarantine for the week has been rough but I think the lord was telling me to take a break. Hopefully it’s the first and last time I get sick on the race. Fingers crossed right. Anywho, ministry: with it being rainy season it has been hard going to both ministries everyday. Both are a walk away and outdoors. At first it was getting frustrating.. aren’t we here to do ministry?? The answer to that is yes, just not exactly the type of ministry we thought at first. Ministry can be so many different things, not just the scheduled activities we have during the day. We figured out that ministry is also each other, learning from each other, and growing alongside one another. It’s been a very sweet time to live with these beautiful woman of the lord. We do morning bible studies together, worship, late night chats in someone’s room, and even cooking together grows us closer. This month may have not been exactly what we thought it would be but the lord turned it around and worked on each individuals hearts this month. We have 6 more days in Zambia and then we head to Malawi for debrief. We got the final word the other day, we have total team changes coming in a week. So prayers are welcomed! The lord is working here, and as we take on our last two counties, I can’t wait to see how he shows up!!
Love from Zambia, Mara
