MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Weeks 7, 8, and 9 Picasa Photo Album

We miss you all! The last few weeks have been great, but busy... so just a Photo Album and captions this week.:-) Thanks for all the prayers! ~ J & K

Zim Weeks 7, 8, and 9 - Trainings, Ochocki's Visit, and J's Haircut!

Week 5 Picasa Web Album

Zimbabwe Week 5

Thankfulness

HAPPY BELATED TURKEY DAY!!
Well we have past the halfway mark for our time here in Zimbabwe and in the spirit of the American holiday that we celebrated ourselves on Thursday on a small “date night,” we are so THANKFUL. Now, we must admit that we are not thankful every moment of every day here, as you have seen, but as a whole, we are so very thankful for our time here in Zimbabwe. Thankful for the people we have formed relationships with, thankful for the places we have been able to see, thankful for the opportunities we have had to bring the Gospel to many people here, and thankful for being able to use our gifts in helping people here learn how to counsel and lead for God’s glory.

Where we left off on the blog last week, we were preparing to go to another “bush” area of Zimbabwe. The plan was to head out on Thursday, and we did end up heading out, but not to where we thought we were going :-). Before going into more detail though, I must tell you about our day in the slums of Harare!! On Tuesday afternoon we went to Mbare, basically the projects of Harare. Lots of old buildings that house hundreds of people in very unsanitary conditions. We went to Mbare because in our time here, we met a young teenage boy who lives there. This boy, Noel, has decided that he wants to leave his life of drugs and live for God. We were able to talk with and pray with Noel one night at Tatenda and Lucia’s house. During that talk, we decided that it would be good to come and spend some time in Mbare, meeting Noel’s friends and introducing as many people as possible to Jesus. Noel was so excited about this, because he feels very alone amongst his friends now that he is changing his life. So last Tuesday afternoon, we brought a soccer ball and the Jesus Film and set up camp in a dirt open area, with trash and broken glass, in the middle of the “projects.” Lots of people came out to play and watch soccer and hundreds stayed to watch the Jesus Film at night. Justin played soccer with some unbelievable players, and I tried to entertain about 200 children (a difficult task in Mbare, let alone with the language barrier :-)). The whole experience was even more eye-opening to the poverty and need of the people here – physically and spiritually. We are hoping to get back there again before leaving and when we are able to buy some Bibles, one is definitely getting in the hands of Noel. Pray for him. Check out some of the pics on the Picassa Album of Week 5 Pics.
So, Wednesday we did more ministry around Harare, we visited a pre-school (check out the pics in the album, so cute!), Justin did a leadership training at one of the churches, and then on Thursday we were ready to leave for the “bush.” Like I mentioned earlier, we did leave, but not for the bush. We ended up heading southwest of Harare to three towns along the main road to Bulawayo (the 2nd biggest city in Zimbabwe). We had never been to this area before, so we were pretty excited, and it was just us and one of the pastors in this area as our guide, so we felt pretty adventurous and independent. However, maybe we probably should have asked more questions about this area, because apparently not everywhere outside of Harare in Zimbabwe is hot like all the other places we have been. It rained almost the whole weekend here and was even cold at times. We were kicking ourselves just a bit for only packing flipflops and clothes for extreme heat. Oops! Except for that, the weekend was awesome, jam-packed with goodness. The pastor that accompanied us lives in Kwekwe, so that is where we spent the three nights. He and his wife were super hospitable, which was so inspiring when seeing how simply they live.
So, while being based out of Kwekwe, we did lots of things. Friday we stayed in Kwekwe (technically, a township of Kwekwe, Torwood), Saturday we traveled to Gweru for the day, and Sunday we stopped in Chegutu for the day on our way back to Harare. Throughout this time, we showed the Jesus Film two and a half nights in Kwekwe (one night it just was raining too hard, so we had to end it early) and crowds as large as 500 people stood around the town center to learn more about Jesus which was amazing! In all three places, we attended some church services where Justin preached, and we each did trainings for the leadership and caregivers of the churches. I did a counseling training and Justin did a leadership training. It was great meeting the people of these churches and we are looking forward to reconnecting with them at the December Conference when all the churches of Eternal Word come together for four days in Harare. In Gweru, we formed such a bond with them, that we received our first live thank you gift…..a chicken! It came home with us in a box and we left it with the pastor who was our guide for the weekend. I did get my picture taken with it though!
This week we have been doing a lot of office work as we are preparing for some larger trainings next week. I will be doing a three-day counseling training to the top 10 coordinators of the orphan program here. They are hoping to open up a counseling center next year! Justin will be doing a one-day business training, focusing on micro-enterprise to 10 selected people, and then he will spend the rest of the week working with their accountant helping them organize their books and creating some organizational structures for the church and their non-profit. Yeah, I’m glad I get to do a counseling training!
Please pray for these trainings and Justin’s work with their organizational framework and record keeping. We are so thankful to have a community of people behind us in this! Thank you for your prayers and support. We value you all so much and are so THANKFUL for you! We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with friends and family and continue to have a great holiday weekend! We did end up having a delicious “date night” thanksgiving dinner at Leonardo’s, an Italian restaurant close to where we are staying. So we didn’t get any turkey or mashed potatoes (my fave), but we did have some great salad and pasta (which we don’t get a lot of here) and even ice cream for dessert! And that is totally something to be thankful for! :-)

The Plight of the Orphans

We don't have a lot of time to spend on the Internet today so we'll post a blog later this week with details of our adventure this past weekend. It was jam-packed goodness! Oh we ended up going to a different place than we thought we were going too (surprised?).
In the meantime, if you get a chance, take a look at this article. In light of some of the counseling training I (Krista) was able to do this past weekend and will do a lot of next week, I thought it would be fitting. A very dear friend of mine sent it to me and I think it does a very good job of giving people an idea about what is going on in Zimbabwe and the need for counseling. The people we are working with, Tatenda and Lucia, would like to eventually open a counseling center as well, which as you will tell from the article, would be filling a huge need.
Okay, here it is.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8349788.stm

Zimbabwe Week 4 Web Album

Zimbabwe Week 4 - Hatcliff Visit and Kotwa Trip

Hitting the One Month Mark!

We have now officially been here for over a month! Here is what we did this past week:
This past week we got to participate and help out with a lot of really cool things. And for one of the first weeks, we did a lot of it on our own which was cool. On Wednesday we went to another orphan “feeding,” kinda like their version of a soup kitchen for orphans in the communities that they have a church and an orphan program in place. This time we went to Hatcliff (check out the four pics in this blog and more on picasa). There were the fewest number of children at this feeding, but this area is probably the poorest out of all the places we’ve been. The community was uprooted from their homes during the dangerous election time when Mugabe just transplanted several communities. So now these people live in makeshift shacks with walls of cardboard and plastic. There is no plumbing or electricity and when it rains, their home definitely gets wet and begins to wear down. The children here were so sweet and it was a precious time. We want to go back to this place and also think and pray about how we can help this group of people. I mean, just some bricks for them to start building some actual structures to live in would be a huge blessing! Make sure to check out the Picasa album for all the pictures!
Then on Tuesday and Wednesday nights we went to minister in another area around Harare, Glen Norah. Here we met up with a pastor and his family (two really cute kids, named Praise God and Worship God….Praise and Worship :-)) to show the Jesus Film to people in his community. Tuesday night the sound wasn’t working, but Justin and our friend Danmore were able to get everything working again for Wednesday night. It was really cool to meet this family, hang out with his kids (the little boy, Praise was attached to my hip both nights), and watch God work through a film that was created many years ago.
The highlight of Thursday, especially for me (Krista), was going on a run with some of the kids at the orphanage where we are living. After a pretty relaxing day of getting ready to go to Mozambique by running some errands and getting supplies, we came home and around 5:00pm took 9 kids on a little run with us. One of the youngest kids here, Energy, even came with us, and definitely lived up to his name. Most of them ran barefoot and still kept up with us! Halfway through the run we stopped and even did some exercises like lunges and jumping-jacks :-). I loved it! I wish we had pictures of this, but we didn’t take the camera. We’ll just have to do it again and get some pics to share.
Friday we left for Mozambique…..or that was what we thought. Remember how a PLAN is just a PLAN….well, we ended up not actually going into Mozambique :-). We went to Kowta which is just 15 minutes from the Mozambique boarder, but when we got there, we found out that we would just be staying in Kowta for the weekend and doing some stuff there. At first, we were frustrated, especially since Lucia decided to head back to Harare and we would be there by ourselves. BUT, it actually ended up being one of our favorite weekends so far (funny how God does that)!! We stayed with the pastor of the Kowta church and the overseer of the whole province in that area and his family. His wife is a certified counselor and they have two super cute kids. They were extremely hospitable and did everything to make us feel welcome and comfortable, which at times was a difficult task because Kowta is another very HOT place :-). This time around, I brought my fan which I had blowing on my face all night long! Anyway, they are great people and we would love to go back there someday and work with them again! Saturday we both did some training for the leadership and orphan program coordinators in the Kowta area. Justin did about 2 hours on Leadership, which was really good, and I did a 2 hour counseling training which went well too (check out the pic). The people were so appreciative and responsive! Then on Saturday night they had a special service just because we were there, and I got to preach. I’m learning to like preaching, but it still isn’t my favorite thing in the world :-). Anyway, I preached on the Parable of the Good Sower and how the condition of our heart determines how God’s truth will produce fruit in our lives. They really resonated with the idea of giving ALL areas of your life to God and His truth, which was really cool to see. Then on Sunday, Justin preached at their big church service. Two other churches from around the area came into the center of town because we were there, which meant some people walked 10K just to be there – crazy dedication! Justin did an awesome job preaching on the Kingdom of God and how we must be poor in spirit, like a child, and humble to enter into it. They loved it! (see the pic). Church was from 9:00am to about 1:00pm with lots of Praise and Worship, some testimonies, and prayer. We were able to pray for anyone there who wanted prayer as well, which was a huge honor.
After church, the pastor of Kowta and his wife who we stayed with (amazing family by the way – check out the pic), took us to go see the Mozambique boarder! So we drove 15 minutes north to the big gate and waved at Mozambique :-). That might be as close as we get this time around. Maybe we’re just not meant to go to Mozambique, who knows, but, I’m really glad we didn’t go this time, because our time with the people of Kowta was so wonderful and something we will remember for sure! After waving at the border and dropping the pastor back off at their home, we drove back to Harare. Justin is pretty much a pro now driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road! We made it back to nice and cool Harare where we have electricity and running water, which becomes a huge blessing when you spend any time in hot places without it. This coming weekend we are supposed to head down south into the bush of Mwenezi. It’s about a 10-12 hour drive (we think). They are still working on getting a car and a guide to go with us (it’s the bush with lots of dirt roads so you need some kind of truck). We would love prayers for this trip! Thanks!

Week 3 Photo Album

Click here to go to our updated Picasa Photo Album:

Zimbabwe Week 3 - Orphan Feedings

A PLAN is just a PLAN...

So, the PLAN was to go to Mozambique this past weekend to help plant a church there, but we have learned that a plan is really just a plan, especially in Zimbabwe. We woke up really early and ready to go on Friday morning, well, scratch that, Justin woke up really early and even moved our stuff to out by the door, but I stayed in bed and told him just to tell me when we were 10 minutes from leaving (I’m learning how things work and when it comes to sleep, I don’t mess around). He went out and talked with Lucia and we found out that the trip got canceled for a combination of reasons – we were first told that they didn’t have all the paperwork ready for everyone to cross the border (ok, good reason), and then we also found out that there was a shortage of petrol (gasoline) in the city and Tatenda was worried we might not have enough (ok, great reason). We experienced this petrol shortage ourselves later on in the day when Justin had to go to three different gas stations and came up empty! It’s amazing how easy it is to get things you want when you want them in the States. To be honest, I was both disappointed and relieved that the trip got canceled. I got sick with a fever again (yeah, I know, what the heck?) two days before we were supposed to go last week (I think my body is telling me not to go to the bush :-)) so I was still a little weak and traveling a bunch might have been tough. Our PLAN now is to go this weekend – leave on Thursday and come back on Sunday (we’ll let you know).
So, now with a weekend around Harare, we of course found some other things to do. We went to two areas around Harare: Kuwadzana on Friday and Epworth on Saturday, where Tatenda and Lucia through their non-profit, Voice of Peace, have several hundred orphans in their care. At these places, we got to experience the first of the weekly “feedings,” which was awesome. They are going to do them every week now! So, all the orphans in the community gathered at the central church location (plot of land) and were fed a nice big meal of rice and soya mince. At Kuwadzana, the kids were also given a package of millie meal (which makes sadza), cooking oil, and soap bought with money from a grant Tatenda and Lucia received from Mercy Corps Zimbabwe (only $350, but still really cool). There were about 150 kids at Kuwadzana and over 400 at Epworth! So, we hung out with lots of kids, taught them songs, tried to speak some Shona, and took lots of pictures and videos. I’ll post them for your enjoyment :-). Then we came back to the house and hung out with the orphans here (couldn’t get enough children this weekend). This time, we sang a song in Shona! Oh yeah, I’ll have to get a video of that up here at some point! So instead of Mozambique, we spent a ton of time with kids, which was a super fun surprise.
Then on Sunday Justin and I split up to both preach at separate churches, because “with two great pastors having you in the same location is a waste of time.” Yeah, that is what they told us….we’re “pastors” here and now preach on Sundays….it’s crazy! I didn’t necessarily learn how to preach, let alone to an African culture, in my counseling program even though it was at a Seminary! And I’m sure Justin didn’t learn it in his Organic Chemisty classes ;-). But God is faithful and in our weakness He is made strong! So, Justin went to Epworth all by himself and spoke to about 150-200 people and I went to a small church in the city center and spoke to about 30. It was pretty cool and God is totally growing us, which is inevitable I guess when you have to start knowing His word enough to share it with others.
Oh, and Tatenda went somewhere else and so did Lucia. We even drove separately, which we have been doing a lot of recently which has been really fun (except for the occasional police stop when we have no idea what to do ;-)). Hopefully we’ll have all the correct paperwork for both of their cars soon so that the police don’t give us a hard time anymore. So, even though our PLAN of going to Mozambique didn’t work out, our weekend turned out to be awesome! We are constantly reminded that having plans are good, but we must hold them very loosely because they are just plans and they are really only ours and maybe not God’s – something we will have to take back with us for sure! ~ Proverbs 16:9 – In their hearts human beings plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.

Week 1 and 2 Picasa Album...

Hey guys,

We put a Picasa album up with pictures from our first few weeks in Zimbabwe. Check them out:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jochocki/Zimbabwe2009Week12?authkey=Gv1sRgCK6M0Nvc0sOsSw&feat=directlink



Miss you all!

In Africa everything is longer...

Coming from the States where we are so time conscious it is very apparent how long things take here. From just getting ready to leave in the morning (“leave at 9:00” usually means leave at 10:00), to getting time on the internet (the best internet café in town is still slow and sometimes just goes down completely), to making dinner (home at 5:30pm hungry, means we’ll eat at 8:00pm). Now, all these things try our patience at times, but we’re learning to be flexible and hold things loosely :-). Other things, however, last a really long time, but are actually really good things that we can learn a lot from. Yesterday we went to a 7 hour church service!!! Yes, we spent 7 hours in the exact same seat (not always sitting of course). This is surprising to most of us American church goers as we get a little anxious when our services start going past the hour mark. Here, there was no sense in looking at our watches, because we had no idea when it was “supposed” to be over, and even if there was a goal time, they always overshoot that by an hour or so. It was somewhat of a special church service as the ministry, Eternal Word, was celebrating their 18th year anniversary, so we thought “oh, normally they don’t go THIS long,” but then we were told that usually they feed everyone and it can last until dark. So, we got there at 9:00am and didn’t leave until 4:00pm with no lunch :-). Luckily we still had some cliff bars that we snuck in, but everyone else didn’t eat anything! Talk about commitment and faith huh? Also, we were meeting in a makeshift building that only had a roof over part of it, so several people were out in the hot sun or peeking in through cracks in the walls. We were sweating under the roof! We’ve gotten pretty used to just being hot a lot of the time during the day, and are very thankful that it cools down here at night in Harare!! The service was pretty amazing and people loved it! I wonder what would happen if our church service went 7 hours without feeding people, kids and all?

(<- Everyone leaving the Service)

(Here we are AFTER the service... still smiling ->)

Before that, on Saturday we went to a wedding. We were there for 5 hours which isn’t that different from a U.S. wedding, but we didn’t go to the whole thing. The ceremony started at 9:00am and then the reception was still going on at 5:00pm with a family celebration to follow. It was really cool to experience our first African wedding!

Things were a little different….they cut the cake during the ceremony and then give pieces of it to everyone there and bigger pieces to important family and friends….there is much more cheering and celebrating during the actual ceremony than ours of course…..and then there is the whole gift giving thing.

(<- The CAKE, or what was left of it. Cool huh?)

So, during the reception, people bring their gift up to the front and present it to the bride and groom and the emcee announces what it is to EVERYONE! So, if someone gave some pots and pans, it would be announced, and if someone gave cash, the exact amount would be announced. Churches also come up together and give presents from their particular church, and that is announced! It was crazy. Justin and I felt a little pressure to join in with Eternal Word, so we went up and gave too :-). Imagine what kind of presents you would get if we did this in the States. Can I go back and have my wedding over and do it this way? :-)

<- YAY, Ice Cream!)

<-Somehow we ended up getting a picture with the bride and groom. Maybe because we were white or because we knew Tatenda and Lucia... they're kind of a big deal.

So, that was our weekend….a long wedding followed by a long church service, but both very cool! Yesterday, after waiting a long time to leave the house :-), we went out and actually did something really quickly! We were able to help Tatenda and Lucia buy a new vehicle!!! After the accident a couple of weeks ago they have been without two of their ministry’s primary means of transportation. All the kids at the orphanage we are staying at were not able to attend the church service yesterday because they didn’t have transportation. So, today we went used-car shopping in Harare, Zimbabwe! It was actually fairly similar to buying a used car in the States except the car salesmen here don’t hassle you as much when you’re looking which is nice. After going to several lots or “garages” as they call them here, we found two that we liked, both were minivans that would seat 7 people and could act as a really good intermediate vehicle until they had enough money to buy a minibus and a 4x4 truck for the bush areas. We had a mechanic come and check them out, and he informed us that we could get a better deal with one of his buddies. So we ditched the two we had worked for all morning and went to another lot, which turned out to be the greatest thing we did all day. We met his friend who had a bigger minivan than the ones we were looking at and it was a lower price! So after some negotiating, done by Lucia, not by us white folk, we got him down to a great price and did the paperwork and voila, new vehicle for the Gunguwo household. It’s a Toyota Gaia (I think that is how it’s spelled). They were so excited and it was really cool to see how God has provided. It was just about the exact amount that we had raised to come here! PTL and thanks for all your prayers!!. While we were really excited to help out with the car, we are still looking for ways to provide for some more needs while we’re here, like purchasing Bibles and bikes for their pastors in the bush areas, helping them with some of the expenses for their large December conference, and paying some of the school fees for the kids at the orphanages. On that note, just pray that we have wisdom to help in the right places, since there is so much to help with! :-) So even though some things here take a long time, most of them are really wonderful things and I’ve been encouraged and inspired by this group of people. This past weekend we experienced two of them, celebrating a marriage and worshipping God. Why not consider setting aside a whole day devoted to worshipping God and fellowshipping with other believers? Why am I so quick to want to get my To Do list done all the time? It’s still there on Monday and things will get done….eventually. I am learning this and I know I have lots more to learn. Well that it’s for the past few days here. We might not be on the internet the rest of the week, so keep us in your prayers this weekend. We will be venturing to Mozambique! We are going to go encourage some people and plant a church in a village just across the border. The drive is probably a long one (although we’ll probably hear, “oh it’s not that far”), and it will probably be super hot, but I now know what to expect :-). And we now have a great and reliable (cross your fingers) vehicle to get us there, with working air conditioning even!

Week 2 Blog and Pictures

Hey everyone,

There are three blog posts with pictures and then there is a long blog about all that we have been up to in the past week. The pictures are first and then the update. Just wanted to make sure you didn't miss all the info. It was a little tricky adding the pics and stuff.

Week 2 Pictures!

Giving seed to the orphans of the Mt. Darwin area! Maize seed.

All the maize seed and fertilizer.
The garden at the orphanage that I talked about in the blog post. They now sell vegetables in the village!
Showing the Jesus film after a seed distribution.

More week 1 pictures

The conference out in the bush.
An overseer pastor and his wife. She was a life saver, prepared our food with clean water (we think), and always made sure we were okay. Rotendo (means faith) is her name.
Ahhh, back at the house we are staying at in Harare. This is our room.

Me, tearing it up on the soccer field, check out how I'm totally beating this girl out!
Seed distribution! (talked about in the most recent blog post)

Pics from week 1

Our first night!
Our first breakfast! Cow liver and spaghetti, yum!
Yep, then they started bringing the cow in house. As we were "eating" the cow liver.
This is what we affectionately refer to as the "bush"
And this is the hot box I talked about in last weeks post.

Here come the runs . . . .do do do do. :-)

It’s been almost two weeks now since we have left and our second week in Zimbabwe has been just as eventful as the first (although maybe not as traumatizing) And amidst the events of this week, yep, we both got the African cold – the runs (clever title huh….you know like that song….here comes the sun….do do do do). Anyway, here’s the rundown of the last week’s events (no pun intended, I’m just on a roll right now). Last Tuesday and Wednesday were really fun. On Tuesday, we visited a support group for women with HIV and I (Krista) got to do some encouraging there (talking about where we find our identity and worth). We went back this morning to the same group and lots more people came this week which was super cool. That afternoon, we also got another cell phone and air time for both of our phones, so now we can call people here and even call back home! That night we had dinner with Lucia and her four youngest children who live at the house. It was like family dinner. We even ate a traditional African meal (no, not cow liver…thank goodness), sadza (a white, cornmeal concoction that is thick and THE staple food of Zimbabwe, greens, and chicken. We even tried eating some of it with our hands like they do, but aren’t quite there yet. I mean, at least give me a napkin if I’m going to eat with my hands. The whole no napkin thing is still a bit strange (they go the whole meal and eat with their hands and then wash them afterwards with water and a towel). I have to admit, I used my clothes occasionally during that meal.
Then later on that night, Justin got….. the runs and was up a good portion of the night with that loveliness as well as a cough. I slept great, minus Justin’s occasional coughing fit that would wake me a bit :-) (this came back later to haunt me). So on Wednesday, we went out to another area of Harare, Highfields, to a church there where the women gather every Wednesday afternoon to play some soccer and hang out with one another (so cool!). And of course, soccer here is just a big dirt field and some posts on either side. I got to play some soccer (not very well, but that didn’t really matter here, I fit right in) and Justin was the ref…he called a handball on me once which was so not cool, but I think the other ladies then knew that I wasn’t going to get any special treatment. He felt a little better by this time and was a good sport running up and down the field. After the soccer match (my team lost…boo), Justin and I had some time to speak to all the ladies and encouraged them to continue to meet together and be in community (and to continue playing soccer too). After that the pastor of that area took us to his little home and we had coca cola with him and his wife and kids. They also gave us some popo (a type of fruit kinda like a mango…it was okay). It was really cool to see his little house and hear his plans for future investments in real estate….quiet the entrepreneur/pastor.
Then that evening, after dinner, I started to feel a little weird…..and then that night…. I got the runs. Although, I beat Justin because I also got a 100+ fever. It was not fun and I was pretty sick that night… at one point, I even used a lot of my air time to call my mom (Justin had taken a Tylenol PM and wasn’t very supportive at 1:00AM ;-)), but who else do you want to talk to when you’re feeling really sick? My mom told me exactly what to do, even from across the world.
The next day we were supposed to head back into the “bush” for 5 days, but since I wasn’t feeling well (still had a fever and the runs and slept pretty much the whole day), we decided to postpone the trip. Later we found out that the car we were going to use broke down and they learned all kinds of problems it had, so probably a good thing we didn’t take it 10+ hours away (I can’t say I wasn’t too disappointed we weren’t going back to the hotter than Hades bush, although I would rather have not been sick).
I started feeling better the next day (Friday), so we joined up with a team of missionaries from Iris Ministries that was in town for a few days to distribute seed to orphans and widows in the rural areas around Harare. They are staying at the same house that we are staying at and working with Tatenda and Lucia to find the poorest of the poor to give to. So, we spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a super nice Englishman and a couple of pastors and caregivers here going to rural areas where there are lots of orphans that are in the orphan program started by Tatenda and Lucia (same one that I have done some counseling work with). We even camped out on Saturday night at one of the orphanages 3 hours away (the Englishman had a super cool pop-up tent….so this time, not too hot). At this particular orphanage (Mt. Darwin), the kids have used seed that they received last season to plant a large garden. They are not only becoming self-sufficient and growing their own food, but they are also now the ones selling their vegetables to people in the village (people come to them for help!). We are told that this has totally changed their confidence level and has empowered them to succeed in other areas of their lives too. So, at each place, we distributed lots of maize seed and fertilizer, and then at night we would show the Jesus film. Several people made decisions to follow Jesus for the first time and many were physically healed (it was awesome and something pretty new to both of us!). Spending the three days with this team was really cool.
Yesterday, we rested a lot in the morning, typing a lot of this up so as not to spend an eternity at the internet café, oh and we bought a toilet. I know random huh? One of the guest toilets here at their house is cracked and leaking onto the floor of the bathroom (not the most hygienic of scenarios, especially since they have so many visitors from all over the country in this place), and so we went out with one the team members from Iris who had the idea and bought a new cistern for the toilet. It was pretty nuts…we went to this huge market (like miles long) in the city where they sell everything and bargained our way down to a $40 toilet! After the toilet was in hand, we went to the grocery store for a few items (still weird to see a cash register full of U.S. dollars). We got some staples to have just in case we have the runs again….bread, crackers, tuna fish and Mac and cheese!! Oh and I’m eating a Cadbury chocolate bar right now (totally easy to find here)!!
Talk about a change in attitude from last week huh? A lot can happen in a week in Africa. You can go from hating life and wanting to totally leave, to thinking eh, it’s okay, to getting really sick and wanting to totally leave again, to loving every minute of it, to being really glad you are here, but hesitant about what the next 9 weeks still hold (which is where I think we are right now). We are excited for Tatenda to return to here tomorrow (he’s been in South Africa since we’ve been here), to see what our schedule and some projects will look like for the next couple of months. And as we settle in more, meet more people, and learn more Shona, it’s a lot more fun. This weekend we are actually going to get to go to an African wedding!
We’ll try to get on again next week with another update and some pics.

Welcome to Africa!!

So it’s been one week since we left Denver and started our journey to Zimbabwe. We arrived last Thursday and everything with our 3 flights went well. All of our bags made it and getting through immigration was great. A few of the highlights, however, we felt a little sick in London (Justin is still getting over whatever he had when we left….it’s on to the sore throat, runny nose, cough stage), a few times of tears for me (Krista), and one really big time of tears in the Johannesburg airport when I realized I had left my Iphone on the plane and they couldn’t find it. At this point, we were running on maybe 7 hours of “flying” sleep in two days, and that, added to the thought of being gone for a year, which I was constantly thinking about at this point made for a very interesting episode in the terminal. Luckily no more British Airways reps were around for my emotional breakdown, although maybe if they were, they would have given their phone to me. Justin did a great job of trying to calm me down and we eventually made it to Harare in one piece.

We arrived around 1:00pm on Thursday, were picked up by one of Tatenda’s pastors and went to the house that we would call home for a few months. We showered, rested for a little bit, ate dinner, and then were told that we were leaving to go to a funeral in the bush on the way to a two day conference further into the bush. So, not knowing really what to expect, we packed up our sleeping bags and mosquito nets and headed out to the bush in the minibus with 12 other people (we learned later, the band). A truck with a bunch of sound equipment and food and people came along too. We arrived in the “bush” around midnight (one small brick house, and one traditional African hut in the middle of lots of dry, arid vegetation), thinking that we would just go to sleep, but we quickly learned that a funeral in Africa is very different from one in the States. They set up the sound equipment and some lights, all connected to a portable generator, and began singing and dancing, and more singing and dancing, and some preaching, and more singing and dancing, until SUNRISE!! We were shown a place to rest at 4:00am in a small brick house, but didn’t get much sleep as the band was right outside and then the sun started coming up making the room super hot. Oh I was not loving life at this point :-). After two days of traveling, this isn’t what I would prefer, especially knowing that the next day we were off to go further into the bush for two days. What the heck are we doing again?

So, we maybe got an hour of rest, woke up, and were served spaghetti noodles and cow liver for breakfast. Oh yes, from a cow that was slaughtered that morning, which we later saw the rest of as they rolled him up to the small brick house and brought him in piece by piece. Awesome! That afternoon, 14 of us piled in the minibus, with a trailer attached to the back full of sound equipment. Justin and I, the band, and another preacher were off to Chimbuwe, a village 9 hours away from Harare really close to the Mozambique border and at only 1000 feet elevation, which means very very hot (in the Zambezi valley)!! We had no idea the drive would be that long and also didn’t know that most of the drive would be on a very bumpy dirt road (which is a main road for them)! I almost had another breakdown, because I was still exhausted and thought the trip would maybe take an hour. When we arrived in Chimbuwe around 9:30pm, we were shown our small concrete room for sleeping which was probably the hottest place I have ever slept. That night, however, I was so tired that it didn’t matter. Sleeping in pools of sweat was no problem that night :-).

For our first day of the conference, Justin preached three times and I spoke for about 15 minutes before one of his talks. He spoke on Hebrews 11 and walked through what it means to have faith, how we serve a good God, and abiding in Christ using the vine and the branches passage out of John. It was outside and there were probably a few hundred people there – some who had walked 3 days to get there!! There was lots of praise and worship and preaching from a couple other pastors too…..and did I mention that it was hot….and it didn’t cool down at night. I can’t be sure, but I might have been suffering from a little heat stroke. We even ran out of bottled water, but luckily had our bottles from the States that have a built in filter. That night was another really hot one with little sleep. The next day, Sunday, we had the conference in the morning with lots of praise and worship and dancing and some preaching. We left Chimbuwe around 11:30am, and this time for the ride back, we had a few other passengers – 19 people to be exact! This time, the drive was better, because we knew a little more about what to expect…flat tire and all (oh yeah, we got one and all the men, including Justin changed it without a jack….who needs a jack when you have 10 strong men).

We made it back to Harare around 9:00pm and you could feel it getting cooler with every mile closer. Ahhhh, back to a cool house and an actual shower and bed…..we were pretty dirty and dusty from 3 days out in the bush. We cleaned up and went straight to bed…yes a good night’s sleep after 5 nights without one! Welcome to Africa!

Yesterday, we rested and unpacked and hung out at the house all day. This week we have a fairly busy schedule again. Tuesday and Wednesday we will visit 3 churches and speak at 3 support groups for women and men there (lots that are HIV+). I have prepared some stuff to talk about our identity in Christ and how we need to find it in Him, and how there are several places in Scripture that point to how we are loved and valued. Then on Thursday, we are going back out into the bush with one pastor. The three of us will be there until Sunday doing some open-air preaching and encouraging people in the village one on one. Again, no idea how long the drive will be and what our sleeping arrangements will be like, and I’m sure it will be hot. Pray I don’t have another breakdown :-)! We learned today that the village is probably 600km away, and that is probably not going 60km/hr.

So, that was our first week here in Zimbabwe. Are we really here for 10 more weeks? We’re already learning a lot about ourselves and God is breaking us in ways that I would really prefer He didn’t, but it is growing our faith and my dependence on Him.

We’ll try to update you in another week. We won’t be back to the internet until we get back on Sunday night.Thanks for your prayers. We'll try to add pictures next time. Learning the internet system here :-).

Denver Video...

We got the video to work! So, we are in Jo-berg, South Africa now, 8:25 am our time. I think we were in London... it was kind of a blur. :-) Didn't feel great and it was early our time, and this time Starbucks didn't help. We found some tolerable chairs and slept for a few hours. Next stop Harare... it may be a while until the next post. We'll get something out when we can.

"He is before all things... and in Him all things hold together." Col 1:11

Justin and Krista

From Jo-Berg

Out

Leavin' on a jet plane . . . .

Well, we are all packed up and the house is empty, awaiting our renters who will arrive tomorrow. Today was a full day of last minute packing and cleaning, eating some good ol' Chick-fil-a with Krista's family and getting one last hot shower in for a few months. We just got dropped off at the airport by Krista's parents (Krista got a little teary eyed, but is doing a little better now :-)) and are now at our gate for our flight to London which leaves at 8:15pm. All of our bags made the weight limit!! We'll get to London around noon tomorrow (their time) and will have 7 hours to hang out in the London airport.

Justin is feeling a little bit better but still has the sniffles and Krista is starting to feel a little sick, so please pray that she doesn't get worse. At least we don't have a ton to do in the next two days, just lots of sitting on planes and in airports, so we can rest lots. And the miniature pharmacy is close at hand :-).

Thanks everyone who helped us pack our house up, clean the whole house and prayed for us throughout the last few weeks. We could not have done it without you guys!

So we tried to upload a video of us on the train in the airport, but can't figure it out right now and we're about to board. So we'll try again in London. Love you all!!

Five Minute Update...

In an attempt to update you all on the latest in 5 minutes or less... here is our first "Five Minute Update..." (don't worry, there will be longer, more personal updates as well... mostly from Krista :-))... enjoy.


-We have our Kenya Visa, Russia was a little harder, we had to get a second passport and we'll have to wait until we get closer to our entry date into "mother" Russia to start those Visas.
-The house is packed up and in the basement! Thanks fam for all your help!
-We have made our final trip to REI for gear. (PTL - Praise the Lord! As much as I love REI, and as hard as it'll be to leave all of our REI friends behind... I'm glad we don't have anything more to buy!)
- The roof can probably last another year. Thanks Matt!
- We have cash now! We have loaded up with some small bills for our first leg in Zim, where it's not easy to get money. It was kind of a task to get a relatively large sum of small bills, I think we had a whole row of tellers interested in our request.
- We had a great night with friends chatting and praying about our trip. Thanks guys!

We still have some work to do on our bags! It's hard to figure out how many gallons of shampoo to bring. :-)
We're cleaning on Sunday if anyone wants to stop by!

Later Friends!

Justin and Krista
From Broomfield
Out

(Bonus points, for who ever knows what movie I'm taking this from.)

Click....click....click....click

You know the sound you hear as you head towards the sky on the biggest roller coaster you've ever been on -- as you hear that sound it usually evokes some emotions :-). We leave two weeks from tomorrow. Two more weeks! It's real and it's coming so fast! Here are some of my (Krista) thoughts and feelings at the "two weeks to go" mark:

I feel like I am on that huge roller coaster - each day I experience a plethora of emotions....excitement, anxiety, confusion, frustration, sadness,etc. I feel like I'm on that very slow huge hill of the roller coaster, clicking up and up and up before the real ride begins....the anticipation is killing me!

Of course there is a part of me that is sad to leave family and friends and looking forward to soaking up any time I can get with them in the next two weeks, but a large part of me just wants to be there!! I want to be on the ground in Zimbabwe, getting ready to head out to all the villages we are going to visit in the first few weeks, instead of planning and thinking about what to pack in order to do this. I want to get on the flights that we have been planning for months. I want to use the visas that we have been working on getting for the past few weeks. I want to just jump up and leave our house with a magical finger snap that packs everything up and cleans the whole place. I want to be on the ground seeing what kind of counseling training I can bring to the orphan caregivers instead of putting together training materials that might not be effective. I want to face the challenges we are going to experience head on instead of sitting here getting anxious about the potential problems we might run into.

With all this, however, I know God's timing is perfect and He is preparing us every day even up until that last minute. So despite my feelings, I know His plan is better than mine. Even in the past few days we have done some things we wouldn't have been able to do: we have been able to apply for a secondary passport in order to get our Russian visa processed while we are in Zimbabwe (something we found out we would need to do when our passports and visa applications were denied at the Russian Embassy on Friday because we attempted to get them to early for traveling there in March). We have been able to communicate with our partner in Zimbabwe, Tatenda, and obtain some things for his ministry such as educational books they are in need of for teaching their 5th grade orphans. I get to see my sister this week, who gets back into town from working at a Young Life camp all summer.

So, really as a reminder to myself, I write this. To remind myself that God's plan for this year is perfect and that I need to trust and go along for the ride. He is molding and transforming us into who He wants us to be. It's going to be an awesome roller coaster, much like the Superman at Six Flags Darian Lake that I rode as a high schooler :-), and as we slowly start up that monster hill, the anticipation builds with every click, and it must be embraced, not run from. Join me in praying for strength to embrace the challenges in all of our lives instead of running away from them. Thanks for coming along side of us in this!

Zimbabwe Visa is in!

We have our Zim Visa! One down and two to go... Kenya and Russia! Thanks for your prayers!

...with sleeping bags.

That was a last minute comment from our partner on the ground in Zimbabwe! I quote: "please get yourself a note book and pen, and bible WITH SLEEPING BAGS. When you get to harare I need to take you around before rain season to visit a number of our churches especially those that are far." Needless to say, we have added sleeping bags and pads to our packing list, and we're calling our doc to up our prescription of Malaria medicine! Oh boy. We'll take pics. :-)

One month and counting....

Here we go....One more month and then we leave the country! Oh man, are we experiencing every emotion in the book on a daily, sometimes hourly for Krista :-), basis. On October 13th at 8:15 pm we will be boarding a flight from Denver to London which, after a couple more stops, will land us in Harare, Zimbabwe on October 15th at 12:00pm!

A few new developments for us:

Praise!! We have renters!! We have found a super awesome couple to rent our home for the year while we are gone. This was a huge concern for us and we really didn't want to start advertising on Craig's List. So thanks for your prayers! Through a good friend of ours, we found an amazing couple that is going to take such good care of our place (and they don't have pets which is a bonus :-)). And, because they are so great, we are able to store all of our furniture in the basement which saves us a ton of money and time, since we won't have to pay for storage or move everything out. We are so thankful that this burden is taken care of!! God is so good and has provided for us so well in this!

We have purchased our first flights! So there's no turning back now (at least to our first destination :-)). We have our flights to Harare, Zimbabwe and also from Harare to Nairobi, Kenya. We'll be in Zimbabwe from October 15th to December 29th, and then we're planning on taking a little rest in between those two places, probably in Cape Town, South Africa. And then we'll fly to Nairobi to meet up with an EPI short term team. Actually purchasing flights does make things that much more real, which is both exciting and scary at the same time.

We are continuing to work on our visa applications and general travel itinerary for the rest of the year. We are still unsure if Nepal is going to be a safe option for us, but hopefully we'll know that pretty soon. With that in mind, we have changed a few weeks of what was going to be Nepal to Russia (another really super safe place, we know :-)). We are planning on spending 3 weeks in Russia, with our friends who are missionaries in Nalchik. This won't be until after our time in Nepal (late March to mid April). We are excited to see what God is doing in Nalchik and help in any way we can.

Prayer Requests:

Please pray for our last month here. We still have lots and lots to do! Packing for a whole year (which is a very daunting task, especially for Krista who does like to be comfortable sometimes :)), packing up our house and getting it ready for renters, getting our training materials prepared, and seeing friends and family before we leave. Yesterday we talked through our "To Do" list and with only 4 weekends left, both of us got a little sick to our stomach :-).

On Wednesday we both are flying to Nashville for the American Association of Christian Counselors World Conference. Please pray that this time will give us some beneficial training that we can use overseas. Krista will be going to a lot of international counseling workshops, and Justin will be going to some of those and some spiritual discipleship and business training workshops. We are looking forward to the conference (some of the big speakers are John Piper, John Ortberg, Richard Foster, etc!), but pray that we can really soak it all in and not worry too much about all the other stuff that needs to get done back at the house.

I think that is it for now. Thanks again for joining with us on this adventure. I (Krista) will leave you with a couple of pictures that I look at when I am in one of those "why am I leaving everything comfortable and going away for a whole year again?" moods. I look at these and remember that I get the chance to work with kids who remain joyful amidst traumatic experiences and dier circumstances - kids that God loves so much and wants nothing more than for them to know who He is and how much He loves them. And since I know that my big, compassionate God will take care of us too, I am simply overjoyed at the chance to be a part of it all and share His love with someone else. Then my fear fades away (well it at least gets a little smaller) because with God as my foundation, no matter what the circumstances, I know it will work out for good!

Prayer Request Update...

Happy September! Almost one month until we leave the country!! Here are a couple of updates/prayer requests. Thanks!

House:

Well, we had another little speed bump recently regarding our house and what should we do with it for the year. The ladies we hoped would live here have some good opportunities down in south Denver and it just doesn't work out for them to live here, so we are looking for some tenants. Know anyone? We have a few good leads right now and are praying through our options. We would also appreciate your prayers as we work though this.



Nepal:

Also, we don't have any more great info on Nepal, whether we should go or not. So we are trying not to get too anxious and trust God in this. We had planned on being in Nepal from the middle of January to early April. Which leaves a pretty big gap in our plans if things don't pan out with Nepal. We are working and praying through many options, and we would love your prayers for wisdom in this stage of planning.


Thanks! We'll keep you posted.

So what's the big idea with heading overseas?

So, what the heck are we doing? Why spend money and time to leave this country, and our family, and friends, and church, and jobs, and a house, and Starbucks, and Air Conditioning, and all the great things this county has to offer and spend time with other Christians around the world? Well, really we just feel that God wanted us to go... and that's about it so far.


We're not exactly sure what we are going to do. We don't exactly have a specific list of action items and tasks to accomplish. In fact, our 12 month schedule, as rough as it was, has already been modified as our first planned stop may not be a safe and viable option.

There are a few important things we DO know, and that drives us:
- God loves EVERYONE and wants us all to know that!
- We are all lost and God wants to reconnect with us! And thanks to Jesus and the Cross that is possible!
- God wants to free us from the heavy burdens that we put on ourselves... from culture, the world, and other gods.
And most of all, we know that He uses people to help spread that good news, and we want to be a part of that!

So, we don't know all the details, but we know God wants to use us and we trust God to fill in the details later. He has already blown our minds with how things have worked out so far, and we pray for continued trust in Him, His love, and His plan. Please join us as we plead with God to go ahead and fill in the pesky little details. Thanks for reading and more to come...

P.S. Something that has encouraged us that we wanted to share:
"Missions is not about a recruitment project for God's labor force. It is a liberation project from the heavy burdens and hard yokes of other gods." - John Piper

Welcome to Our Blog!!

Hi Everyone!



It's true! We are spending a year overseas beginning in October! We will be doing mission work by parterning with Eagle Projects International for the first 6 months of the year in Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Nepal. Then we will be in Guatemala learning Spanish and doing a little traveling around Central America for a couple months. Finally, at the end of the year, we'll be backpacking Europe for a couple of months. And then a stop in Russia to see some friends! There are a lot more details about where exactly we'll be going, what exactly we'll be doing, and why we are going, so stay tuned :-). We are so excited for this opportunity!!



We will be using this blog for all kinds of fun and interesting things. We'll be posting pictures of our adventures, as well as stories and journal entries of our life around the world. We'll be sharing specific prayer requests for ourselves and the people that we will be serving. And sometimes, we'll just post our thoughts on certain topics that come up in our lives.



Please join us on this journey! It would be so great to know that we have people back in the States praying for us and interested in where we are and what we are doing.