Hey guys!
On our second full day of being in Zambia my new team and I met up with the boys team, on their “manistry” month, to go to see on of the seven natural wonders of the world, Victoria Falls in Livingstone National Park, Zambia!
I have never seen any of the wonders, natural or manmade. Now, after seeing Vic Falls there’s no wonder they are called “The Seven Natural Wonders of the World”. (Pun intended 😉 ) WOW! Our God is such an amazing creator! Like seriously, wow!
We walked into the park and saw the first part of The Falls and we were in awe… We couldn’t imagine it getting any better until someone said “Oh, this is nothing, wait till you see the main falls.” We practically ran to see the other sight. Every thing about the falls makes your jaw drop. The hight of the falls, the sheer amount of water from the Zambezi river flowing over the edge, the mist coming up and spraying you, the trees that have rooted themselves on the side of this cliff, and the water rushing though the rapids down below in the gorge.
A week later we got to go back to The Falls to go swim in Devils Pool. 10 out of 10 recommend that everyone do in their lifetime! we got to see the vastness of The Falls from the other side. My teammate and I even brought some Christ to the Devils Pool when we got baptized in it. An experience I will never forget.
Going on the race we are warned about culture shock. We are warned about culture shock when we get back to America. Never in a million years did I expect to experience culture shock in Livingstone Zambia. To get to Devils Pool we had to go to a resort called The Royal Livingstone. stepping into this resort looking like “racers” or missionaries/backpackers we looked so out of place. I felt like a fish out of water. It even made me homesick, reminding me of being at the Omni Homestead in Hot Springs Va, during Christmas with my family. Its easily the nicest place we have seen, let alone stepped foot into, since being in America. After we swam in the pool we had breakfast on Livingstone island with our tour guid. There was a private chef on the island and she made us eggs benedict, scones, muffins, and coffee. I had such a feelling of guilt.
If you drive five minutes away from the border, five minutes away from one of the wonders of the natural world, five minutes away from The Royal Livingstone and you will drive into the city of Livingstone. If you drive five more minutes you will arrive in Maramba and if you go a little further you will reach the Namatama compound, the neighborhood where we are living this month. Thats a total of ten minutes. In those ten minutes you enter a totally different world.
In this world kids play with chickens on the side of the road, fire crackers go off every night all night long, the water tap barley works, every time you leave the house you are met with little kids fighting to hold your hand, jumping on you, and yelling “Muzungu” (white people) at you 50 times.
This is the world were we do ministry. Where we walk six miles to ministry to work in an elderly home and play with kids in the local neighborhood. Elderly people whose only desire is to have us read the bible or a Steven King novel to them. Kids, whose past time is catching grasshoppers in the field and trying to feed them grass like pets.
Most people that come to Living stone to see Vic Falls and don’t go much further than that. But this word just as wonderful in an entirely different way.
In the mornings when we go to the elderly home I walk straight in a find my two friends, Elias and Mr. Harrison, sitting on a little wall, made of concert and mud and plastic soda bottles, under two mango trees. Every day, rain or shine, they would be sitting under these mango trees. I have come to see the love these two men have for each other and how sweet their friendship is.
Mr. Harrison doesn’t speak english very well so its hard to have conversations but boy does he love the Bible! He will pull out his pocket bible from his shirt pocket and he will flip to a book and then pick a chapter and i would read it in my own bible. He loves the Bible and he loves Jesus so much.
Elias, however, speaks English very well so we got to have some really good conversations. He used to be a teacher. He taught Math and English to grade sevens. i told him that my mom was a teacher and he responded with his favorite phrase “Oh, yes. Very nice.” He would draw triangles in the dirt with his stick and would have me solve to find the missing angle. My freshman geometry teacher, Mr. Schmitt, would be very proud I still remembered most of how to solve them. Elias misses teaching so much so I think he really enjoys getting to teach me. He has three kids who are all married and have their own children now and he and his wife divorced several years back and she lives with her new husband just a neighborhood over. He has been in the “Maramba Old Peoples Home” for five years and he hasn’t had a vistor in three years and he hasn’t seen his kids in four years. He got baptized when he was sixteen and has been following the Lord ever since. You can see it in the way he lives out his life. He is always helping the elderly. I will never forget when Elias and I were sitting under the tree one day and all of a sudden he shot up and started walking away really fast. it took me a few seconds to realized he saw a man sitting in front of his wheel chair who was trying to get in it and Elias ran over to hep the man up. He needed asitaince from two of us racers but still he saw someone in need and raced towards them. Elias and I also read the Bible every day. We read three chapters of Acts everyday and we have also been reading the old testiment. We have read all of the first three books of the Bible. His joy is infectious and i am gunna miss his simile and his friendship when we leave.
In the afternoons we go to the soccer field for “soccer ministry” with the kids in the local neighborhood. By “soccer ministry” I mean we sit on a soccer field while the local boys play soccer and the older girls play with our hair, get taught ballet by a girl from Switzerland who is staying with us for the month, and small children catch grasshoppers. Our long walks in the heat take a lot out of us and we can start getting really exhausted and tired but when I see Faith running up to me with the biggest smile on her face and come and jump up on me, all of the exhaustion leaves me and I am filled with joy and energy.
Faith is a five year old who has more spunk and sass in her left pinky than most people do in their whole bodies. Faith is one of the sassiest children i have ever met and i have three pretty sassy little cousins, that i love more than life but each one of them know how to push my buttons, and boy so does Faith. She is strong and brave and doesn’t give two hoots what anyone says about her. But she remains not prideful. She also has the most contagious laugh. I know she loves getting tickled and laughing her head off even when she swears she doesn’t. She plays with all the kids, older than her or younger, it dosen’t matter. She was always playing with someone if she wasn’t climbing over me, sitting on my shoulders, or braiding my hair. I could see her love for Jesus when we put on the daily skit of a children’s bible story. She sat there and watched like a hawk with a huge smile.
These people have shown me, in this last month, that the wonder in Gods creation don’t lie soley with the physical creation of the world but also in the people and in the friendships he puts in our lives. I will never forget Namatama or the people I have met here. A piece of my heart will forever remain in Zambia.
