Absence makes the heart grow fonder…
I could never have believed that after celebrating 17 of Tina’s birthdays together in the US, we would spend the 18th with her in Israel and me in Africa! I can’t imagine being on this crazy journey with anyone else and can’t wait to be together again soon.
Happy Birthday Tina!
Thanks to all of you who have been praying for our travel safety for the past few weeks. We had a great time in Israel and are thankful to our wonderful hosts: Tina’s brother Chip, his wife Barbara and their children Maddi and Bennett. I was only there for a week, but I’m quite sure that there isn’t a square inch of Israel left that we could have covered! (pictures coming soon I hope!)
It would be difficult to do justice to the experience in words, but I can say that Israel is a beautiful country filled with very gracious people. I’m afraid that we, in the West, are only afforded a skewed perspective of this Holy Land. While conflict and difficulty definitely exist, it is largely a beautiful place where most people co-exist peacefully.
We were also blessed to visit the many Holy Sites and historically significant places. No experience can match the reading of Scripture in the very place where the events occurred and to literally walk in the footsteps of Jesus!
After a whirlwind tour, I am now back in Zambia and already deep into the final two weeks of school. We have selected our new students and are preparing for a new preschool and for advancing the school on to Grade 1.
Please continue to pray for Tina and the boys and the rest of the extended family as they finish their time together in Israel then travel back to the States. Tina, Mack and the boys leave on Sunday the 26th and are expected to arrive in Chicago on Monday the 27th. I’m looking forward to arriving on June 4 following the conclusion of our school year here and hope to see many of you in person during my short visit there.
Other prayer requests:
- For a successful end to the current school year. The last day of school is May 31.
- For wisdom and clarity as we finalize the selection of the new Zambian teacher and other leadership roles.
- That a 1st Grade teacher would come forward quickly from North America. They are due on campus in less than 80 days and are still hiding from us!
- That God would begin (or continue?) to stir in the hearts of new leaders now to prepare them to come and serve in the future.
Again it’s been some time since we’ve updated you here (sorry mom!) but that’s not for lack of activity on our part. In fact, things have been very busy in our family and around campus as we juggle the competing tasks of finishing the school year and preparing to travel to Israel and the US to visit with family, friends and our many supporters.
We have also been blessed to have Tina’s father here for the past 3 weeks helping and visiting and giving the boys some much needed Grandparent time which they’ve been without since January! Mack will travel with us to Israel and then with Tina, Lindsey and the boys back to the States.
In the meantime, things are as hectic as ever as we wrap up PTA, the volunteer program, harvest and sell crops, and prepare for the end of school. We are also just ramping up for an incoming work team, new construction projects, interviewing new teachers, building them a new home, and selecting next Year’s preschool class.
Thanks for your prayers and we look forward to seeing you soon!
I have a confession to make. I get grumpy sometimes. I know, I know, that is conduct unbecoming of a missionary. But realistically I, as with most of us here, go through occasional times of getting down, frustrated, tired. We are absolutely surrounded by blessings here and usually have more than we need, if we are honest. We typically try to highlight the highlights from here in the field when we blog, but at times we feel a little burned out. I will admit that I even sometimes catch myself feeling sorry for myself.
But we are so blessed and every time I try to go down the wide but winding road of self pity I am knocked strait by some event or circumstance. Sometimes it comes from what I call a “Divine Thunk” (c)! Just when I begin to indulge in a good wallow, God reaches down with a stubbed toe, an open fly or a literal bump on the head to remind me not to take myself so seriously.
Other times he reveals my blessings or opens my eyes to the plight of others to remind me how good I really have it. Nothing slaps a person back into reality like a headline about another’s tragedy, news of the illness or death of a child, witnessing a nobler man courageously overcoming a true barrier in his own life.
We are also uplifted daily by the obedience of others who make sacrifices to follow God’s call to bless others. Selfless servanthood is God’s gameplan for His Kingdom and no believer is exempt from its call. I can no longer stand bound in my own baseless commiseration in the light of some selfless gesture from another. Just this week we have seen bags of precious maize dropped off by neighbors, had a father tearfully share his gratitude for the changes he has seen in his Preschool daughter and had other local missionaries bless us with their time and support. We also have had families who are required to work 16 hours a month to pay for school working up to 100 hours each so far in April.
We are also so indebted to the many churches and families that support us with financial assistance and prayer support. Finally, I want to personally thank two special groups of people who don’t get enough recognition but whose small contributions go so far to keep our chins up: those who offer words of encouragement and those who have sent items with visitors.
We made a decision early on not to try to respond to every comment made on our blog (it’s obviously hard enough to keep up with the blog itself), but we are so energized by these kind words as well as other emails, cards and letters sent by so many of you. From family to friends to relative strangers, it is so encouraging to know that we are being thought of and prayed for when we may otherwise feel somewhat isolated here. We have also learned to appreciate simple pleasures and have been so blessed by the small luxury items that so many of you have bothered to procure and expedite. After one too many cockroaches in the kitchen, mice or scorpions in the bathtub (both this week), long sweaty days (i know – I’m getting no sympathy from our friends in Michigan and Canada) and frustrated attempts at progress – it’s amazing how good a cup of Starbucks, some Skittles or some real parmesan cheese can taste!
Thanks to all of you for all you do. With your support and God’s grace we will carry on!
I thought I would put our travel plans in a little more readable format for those of you who are interested.
- Tina’s father, Mack, arrived this morning for about 3 weeks.
- We all leave May 11 for Israel to visit with Tina’s brother and family who are stationed at the embassy in Tel Aviv.
- Kevin leaves Israel and returns to Zambia on May 19
- Tina, Mack, Lindsey and the kids leave May 26 for the US, arriving in Chicago on the 27th
- Last day of the Esther School May 31
- Kevin leaves for US on June 3, arriving in Chicago on June 4
- Kevin leaves for Zambia on July 13, arriving in Lusaka July 15
- Tina, Lindsey and the boys return sometime in August
thanks for all of your prayer support as we enter this season of travel!
We can hardly believe that we are nearing the end of the first year of the Esther School! Our last day of school is scheduled for May 31st and we are already actively preparing for next year’s Preschool class. We have faced many challenges – some expected and some unexpected – but God has been so good to us and we are overwhelmed with our many blessings as those difficulties become minor distractions.
We are working hard with our paid employees and parent volunteers to clear, develop and maintain the campus, as well as to run the school, community programs and sustainability components of the school. While difficult at times, it only takes a few minutes of seeing our students’ faces, hearing their laughter and, especially, hearing them sing praises to God to remember why we are here.
We humbly request your continued prayer support with these few new areas of need:
- That God would have his hand in the recruitment, selection and preparation of the next 25 students and their families who will constitute the next Preschool Class. We have a Pre-Registration Community Meeting on Friday April 19th and will be holding an Assessment Day on Friday April 26 to determine which children are most ready for school.
- That God would raise up and work in the hearts of a few local people who could serve in key leadership roles among our work and volunteer forces. That he would identify them to us and set them apart as disciples and servant leaders.
- That God would also identify and prepare the 2 new 1st Grade teachers needed for next year (one from Zambia and one from North America) as well as begin to cultivate those needed to replace those whose terms are up in 2014. We also pray for God’s Spirit of peace and unity as we all become acquainted and adjusted to each other and to life in rural Zambia.
- For blessings as we prepare to travel. Tina’s father will be arriving here on the 22nd for a few weeks, then we will all travel together on May 11 to visit with Tina’s brother and family who are serving in Tel Aviv. Kevin will then return here for the last few weeks of school while the rest return to the US for the summer. Kevin will be in the US from June 4 to July 13. Needless to say, that is a significant amount of travel and we pray for safety and blessings on our time with family.
We just finished a busy few weeks with several visitors on campus. Drew’s parents were here for awhile as well as long time Esther School supporters Harry and Henrietta Reinders (who brought their son Kirk) and Ray Scheepstra. Tina traveled with Henrietta, who is also the GEMS Board president, on her first trip to Zambia in 2008 and I had the pleasure of serving with Harry and Ray on my scouting/work trip last February. It was good to welcome them back to the Esther School and show them the progress thus far. They were also very helpful with the school and with a few maintenance projects – including the installation of two new well pumps and the return to solar power for our water supply! They didn’t have the pleasure of seeing the tanks overflow while here, but they did spill over at 10:15 on the morning they left!
Thanks to all of our visitors for the hard work, fellowship and encouragement!
For more updates on what’s happening around campus, please check out the official Esther School website/blog at www.estherschool.org
Zikomo kwambili!
This past week we laid to rest a great man and a dear friend to The Esther School, Chief Bunda Bunda of the Soli people. Chief Bunda Bunda was instrumental in the creation of the Esther School in that while God was working in the hearts and minds of the leadership of GEMS Girls Clubs in North America to create a vision for this school, he was also preparing this Chief and other local leaders to hear and accept the call to invite the project into their area. We have often said that it is no mistake that the two communities were brought together, from different sides of His earth, to make this dream a reality. In many other places, this work might be impossible or at least much more difficult.
Chief Bunda Bunda was a faithful man of God and understood the challenges but also the blessings of development. He knew that bringing The Esther School to Nyangwena would greatly improve the lives of his people for generations beyond his time on this earth. He was a visionary in that way and very wise, but was also always seen as a simple family man and a hard working farmer.
Conflicting reports exist as to when exactly the chief died. It actually was likely some time ago as the common practice has been to keep such an event quiet while the leaders convene to develop a succession plan. We also are required to participate in local mourning practices, some of which are appreciated: no drum shall be beaten during the time of mourning; and some of which are difficult to accept: no cock shall crow nor the earth be turned – which means that all roosters in the chiefdom were slaughtered (or hidden at a relatives house out of town!) and we could not weed the fields.
We were also, though, blessed with the opportunity to attend the funeral and burial services this weekend. We were seated among guests of honor along with some of the other leaders from our village and parents from the school as well as national leaders and dignitaries. We witnessed many familiar and even more novel ceremonies to honor the chief. It was a rare opportunity to appreciate such a unique event.
We are deeply saddened by this loss and are praying that God will raise up another faithful servant who will serve the people of this area and continue to support our cause. Please join us in praying for such a leader and also for the immediate transition time. We are told that the next chief will be appointed in late August.
Don’t believe MKs when they tell you how difficult it is growing up on the mission field! We are enjoying a nearly perfect weather day today so I got an early start in the fields and school and returned for breakfast to find Hudson relaxing in the morning breeze. We are gearing up for a very busy few weeks with our first attempt at parent/teacher conferences, tending the new harvest at the school gardens, new construction and preparing for two groups of visitors. It’s all good stuff but will keep us very busy!
