The Transplant Church

Today we went to Madalitso (Blessings) Baptist Church. As we drove to the church, Kendall was telling me that they had bought a new plot and were going to build a new church on the new plot! As we drove along the road, we came to the place where the church should have been and it was gone, with the exception of three benches. It was crazy! Kendall said, "Oh my goodness! I was just here two weeks ago and they have removed the church since then!!" We decided to turn around and go back down the road we had just traveled and go to the new plot. To our utter surprise, they had MOVED the entire church building to the new location! It was crazy! They didn't think that it would be smart to waste a good building, so they just took it apart and moved it down the road about 1/2 mile and they have already erected the main trees for the church! It was so encouraging to worship with this church. The leaders at Madalisto are incredible and really have the gift of encouraging and empowering. Praise the Lord for these leaders and the congregation that is motivated to get the "new" church built! This is a picture of the "old" Madalitso Baptist Church. This was the first Sunday that I did not take my camera! I was so mad at myself!

Helgren Haircut Day

When we moved to Zambia, one of my many questions was "what do you do about haircuts?". Well, there are a few places in Lusaka that you can get your haircut but I have decided to cut the kids hair at home. It is always a fun day when we cut hair! Last night, I was looking at the Boyle Family's pictures and their little girl, Kendyl (who was named after our Kendall), had the cutest haircut! I showed it to Lily and she agreed that she needed that haircut too! So, after church today, I cut her hair! She is so happy because she has hair just like Kendyl (kind of)! Easton got his mop cut, and Lauren Callaway had her FIRST haircut! She was such a good customer! I am learning how to cut hair, but thank goodness we live out in the bush, so if I really mess up, it has time to grow before we go back to the big city of Lusaka!!

Lily's "Kendyl haircut"

The first cut of hair!

I love her face! Precious!
She survived her first haircut!

Speechless...

Last weekend, I taught at the Nyimba Women's Associational meeting. My friend, Mrs. Tembo and Mrs. Chipanga came from Petauke to teach the women as well. Usually, I rush home from meetings and blog immediately. This time was different. My heart was full but my words were scarce. I failed to put into words how I was feeling and how I truly felt the meeting went. Some of the words that came to mind were...excited, overwhelmed, confused, misunderstood, dumbfounded, frustrated, and tired. Praise the Lord that 25 women prayed to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior! Pray for the women that were and are living with evil spirits. My heart is heavy and my words are few. Please forgive my lack of description of this meeting, but please pray for the women of Nyimba. They have deep troubles that can only be rectified by the love and salvation of Jesus Christ. Pray for them to let go of the evil and satanic acts that they participate in all for the sake of "tradition". Pray for the leaders of Nyimba that they would care enough about the women they lead to grow in their walk with the Lord in order to lead these women to salvation.

Kasenga Village, Mozambique

Kasenga Village is located 51 kilometers/30 miles from our home in Nyimba. The travel time to reach Kasenga is about 2 hours. Kasenga is 1 1/2 kilometers from Meze (see older post for more information on Meze). Currently, Kendall and the men traveling with him are teaching in Kasenga 'B', there are two other portions of Kasenga, 'A' and 'C', that they have not reached yet. Pray for Kasenga 'B' to begin to share with their neighbors in 'A' and 'C'. As of now, there are 12 new believers in Kasenga. Continue to pray for this village and Collin as he teaches there and encourages the people.

From left to right: Robert Tembo from Kasenga in Mozambique, Derek Mumba from Mwengelele Baptist in Kacholola in Zambia, and Laxson Mumba from Mwengelele Baptist in Kacholola. Derek and Laxson are two of the four men who go into Mozambique from Zambia each week.

Robert Tembo lives in Kasenga Village. He comes to all of the meetings but has not received Christ, that we are aware of. He is one of the only people in Kasenga Village that can read. He has a Bible and is reading the Bible to the new believers in Kasenga so that they can hear God's Word.

Collin teaching the people. Collin is a new believer and is from Meze Village. He is the one who went to Kasenga Village after his conversion and began sharing Christ with people and began to meet with people on his own. He truly is taking the Gospel to his brothers and sisters. Collin is also teaching people to read in Kasenga using a book published by the Baptists called "Mwai", it is a literacy book with Christian stories and words.

This large tree is called a Baobab Tree. The one in this picture is very young. They grow very very tall! Kendall teaches underneath this tree in Kasenga Village.

The children of Kasenga

The yellow jug that the lady is holding contains dried corn. She pours it into the "bende"(ven-de) (what they pound the corn in). After they pound it with the "munsie" (moon-see) then they will sift the corn and pound it again.

The game that this boy is playing is called "Nkhuli" (N-koo-lee). He has a stick with a thin strip of chitenge (fabric from skirts worn here) material tied on the end and he whips the stick and spins the nkhuli. The nkhuli is the plug that is placed in the bottom of the "bende" that they use to pound their corn to make mealie meal (their staple food). Watch this amazing video! It is quite short but you can watch it over and over again!

Happy Daddy, D-Daddy, Paw Paw Day!

Kendall, Richard, and Spike are three men who love the Lord and have an amazing dedication to their family. We praise the Lord for blessing us with these men! Happy Daddy Day! We love you!

DEDICATED TO OUR FAMILY AND SERVING JESUS.

ALWAYS KNOWS HOW TO HAVE A GOOD TIME!

DARES TO BE UNIQUE...

DOESN'T FEAR THE KITCHEN AND KNOWS HOW TO BAKE!

YOUNG AT HEART, FULL OF LOVE, AND A STRONG MAN OF GOD.

"We Love Daddy"

Joy's Dad is "D-Daddy" so for his card, I dressed the kids up like D-Daddy. He is a coach (Lily), a minister (Easton), and a big Auburn fan (Lauren).

Kendall's Daddy is "Paw Paw" and he loves to play golf, so Lily and Easton dressed for a golf game and got their golf clubs out for his card picture!

The Tea Party

Monday afternoon, Kevin and Suzie arrived at our house for a one night visit. We always enjoy having the Rodgers come to visit. I was so excited that Suzie came and I wanted her to meet our neighbor, Sarah. I gave Sarah a call and she was so happy to hear that we were wanting to come by for a visit that she said, "I am putting the kettle on now for our tea party!" The kids were so excited to go to Sarah's house and to have a tea party. We packed everyone up and made our journey! We had a wonderful time visiting with her and eating some pumpkin bread, roasted pumpkin seeds and some tea. What a wonderful afternoon we had!

Hannah Rodgers and Lauren

Sarah and me, my long lost Canadian sister!

Hannah, Suzie, Lauren, Sarah, Zeria, Easton, and Lily...the Tea Party Gang

Walking home after a fun time with friends! Look at Lily and her pink purse on one arm and her puppy in the other! Priceless!

Paul and Timothy Weekend

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:23-25

Earlier this year after our training in South Africa, I began praying about how God would allow me to really focus on a small group of women that I could encourage, mentor, and invest time in. In April, God laid it on my heart to invite a few leaders from Petauke to come and teach, encourage, and love the leaders in Nyimba. I invited 4 leaders that I know have a personal relationship with Jesus and asked them to bring a young woman that is a Christian as well that would be a future leader in the church. Then after learning each woman would have a friend that could encourage and love them in a unique way. After much prayer and planning, God's plan was executed with amazing grace, love, and excitement.

On Thursday, 3 leaders from Petauke and 6 women from Nyimba all gathered at our home. We had a weekend of games, worship (singing and dancing), teaching, learning, discussion, and a great deal of excitement! I was so excited to have these women at my home for this weekend. God really used the 3 leaders to teach and encourage the women. The Nyimba women were so encouraged that they invited the Petauke leaders to come next weekend to teach all of the women of Nyimba at the women's associational meeting! Praise the Lord! I was so fearful of jealousy and fearful that the Nyimba women would feel like the Petauke women were better than them and either not listen and learn or become discouraged. Praise the Lord that neither of these things happened.

What next? I cannot wait to see how God is going to continue to develop these relationships and what God is going to do when these women unite in order to encourage each other on to good deeds and love. They have already planned another Paul and Timothy Weekend in September! Thank you for your prayers!

The Petauke Leaders

Please pray for the women below:

Adis Daka- Chisomo Baptist Church
Josephine Tembo- Home missionary in Petauke at Kawere Village

Amai Lungu- Chairlady for the Nyimba Women's Association and leader at Mtilizi Baptist

Amai Mwanza- Leader in Petauke

Amai Mwenda- Leader at Chisomo Baptist

Amai Sakala- Leader at Nyimba Central Baptist

Bertha Phiri- Leader at Sinanongwe Baptist in Petauke

Christina Tembo- Leader at Mnyazi Baptist in Nyimba

Please pray for Christina. On Thursday morning her daughter gave birth to twins. Both of the infants passed away on Thursday. When I arrived to bring her to the meeting she met me at the road to share the awful news. Although she has endured this tragedy, she still came to the meeting on Friday. The women had a great opportunity to encourage and love her and they took that chance to demonstrate God's love to their sister, Christina.

Daisy Chipanga- Leader at Kawere Mission in Petauke

Amai Maseko- Leader at Nyimba Central Baptist

Zeria Nkhoma- Member of Nyimba Central and a huge advocate for the partnership between Petauke and Nyimba!

Typical Zambian meal, nshima and relish. I loved serving friends at my home!

They had small group time of studying and discussing God's Word.

Friday morning the women asked me to prepare food that I LOVE...they would say "songulusho" (something that you LOVE). I told them that we would have Mexican food because I LOVE it!! We had tortillas, meat, spanish rice, beans, and salsa. We lined up and fixed our own plates, just like America! They really enjoyed seeing how Americans would "do dinner". This was such a fun time! After our Mexican, we danced and sang, then when the sun went down we watched the Jesus Film in our backyard. As a surprise, the women had popcorn and coke during the movie. Our neighbor, Chilufiya and her 4 teenage kids came over as well. Pray for them, they do not know Jesus.

Amai Tembo taking her first bite of Mexican food!

God blessed this weekend. All of us were encouraged in one way or another. Pray that the excitement and the new friendships that were built will remain and grow in Christ! God is GOOD!