Ochocki's Overseas

From 15,000 to.....the Muhan House

2010-12-03T23:25:00.004-07:00

We finally sent out an email about what we are going to get to be a part of in Nepal. It has all the information and in lieu of writing it all again, I posted it here :-). Thanks for taking the time to read it, and we'd love to tell you more! Let us know if you want to be involved.

Hello Family and Friends,

We are so excited to finally be writing this email to you all to tell you about what God is doing in Nepal and how we are going to be involved, and how you can too!

So let's get right to it. Almost 10 months ago, now, we sat on the front lawn of our friends' property in Nepal where we lived for 2 1/2 months, and God really impressed upon us an idea. Now at first, we thought this idea was a new concept that God specifically given to us, but it turns out that He had been planning this for quite some time now and was about to make us part of His plan.
Before we unveil the plan, let’s start at the beginning… and that is 15,000. What's the deal with 15,000? 15,000 is the number of Nepali girls that are sold into the sex-trade EVERY YEAR! That's 1,250 girls every month, 41 girls a day, and 3 girls every 2 hours that are uprooted from their homes in mountain villages and taken away from a life they will never know again, to be sold into the ever-increasing sex-trade across the border into India and beyond.

Now, as appalling and horrific as that "sounds," it was even more horrifying to see this issue in person. As we spent 10 weeks in Nepal, we visited the mountain villages where unsuspecting girls live their lives, we drove on the roads which the brokers use to transport them across the borders, and we met and spent time with young girls that have lived through this trauma.

Our friends in Nepal have already taken in four amazing girls that were at one point sold, or about to be sold, across the border into India. These four girls have been living with them for two years, experiencing what love is really like and beginning to heal with Jesus' touch. We were blessed to be able to get to know these girls and spend time with them and hear their traumatic and sad, yet redeeming stories.

We learned all about different groups and organizations that are going into India or patrolling the border to rescue girls. It is AMAZING that there are organizations that are slowly being able to do this, but for several very complicated reasons that are difficult to understand for us, the girls are not welcomed back into their own homes and families, and therefore, have very few places to go once they are rescued! Also, the age at which the girls are being "sold" is becoming younger and younger; there are 8 and 9 year old girls being trafficked across the border! When these young girls are rescued, there are very few organizations that have the capacity to sustain long-term care for these young girls.

That hit us hard! Harder than anything we saw as we traveled and we really felt this was what God wanted us to become involved in. We continuously prayed as we were overseas that God would show us what He wanted us to do. We were open to moving somewhere and living overseas if that seemed best and what He wanted, but this is what He placed on our hearts. This also became more real when our friend in Nepal got news that five more girls were rescued from brothels in India or from the border and needed a place to live now. With limited resources, our friend faithfully trusted God and took them in, but here is the issue......

There is no HOME for these girls. They are temporarily staying in a renovated piece of our friends' property that we were able to help build (with amazing support from you guys!), but this living situation is not sustainable and can only house up to 9 girls.

So, back to the idea! These girls need a home! Let’s help build them a home. After praying about it a lot we brought up this idea with our friends in Nepal and the EPI staff and to our amazement this was something they have been thinking and praying about as well! At this point our idea became a little more tangible and we became EPI staff with this as one of our first projects. With God's help, we are going to help our friends in Nepal build a HOME for girls that have been rescued from sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. We hope to use our God given gifts, Justin's project management skills and budgeting; and Krista's counseling skills and heart to help these young victims.

What will this look like?

1) We will be doing what we can to raise awareness and funds so that we can raise enough money to build the actual house and then keep it up and running for years to come, with the ability to house 16-20 girls.

2) Krista will be putting together and implementing a counseling training curriculum to use with the staff of the house as she works with them to figure out the best way to help the girls fully heal.

3) We will not be moving to Nepal. We feel very strongly that God wants us to do all of this from the States (at least for now) and therefore, we will be living here and periodically taking trips to Nepal throughout the year. In fact, we’ll be taking a team back to Nepal this March! Want to come? The EPI partners (our friends in Nepal) are absolutely incredible and are fully capable of managing the project from the ground.

4) MUHAN HOUSE - this is the name of the future home to 16-20 girls rescued from the sex-trade. "Muhan" in Nepali literally means "source." It usually refers to the source of a river, and implied in its meaning is a source that never runs dry. In conjunction with our Nepali partners we came up with this name because we believe that Jesus is the true source of life and healing. Like the source of a river, He never runs dry and is the living water (John. 4:14) that satisfies every need and truly brings life back into dead situations.

What can you do?

1) Ask us questions. We have so much more information, but this email is already long enough and in lieu of writing a novel, please ask us questions that you might have about this and we would be more than happy to try our best to answer you.

2) Pray!! Please cover this whole project in prayer. Satan would like nothing more than to sabotage a place where girls will come to know Jesus and heal from this unbelievable trauma.

3) Stay connected through our Facebook page and eventually our website. Click HERE to go to the Face Book page,

Make sure to click on LIKE once you get to the page, and you can stay posted on the latest and greatest and learn more about the issue of sex-trafficking in Nepal.

3) Come and See! Join us on a trip to Nepal! We have our first one in March and then we will be going on a yearly basis (maybe more). Stay connected and find out when we'll be going and come with us!! If your are interested in going this March, let us know!

4) Give. The estimated cost of the house at this point is $150,000. In Nepal, land and building supplies are very expensive, but we are trusting God will come up with this figure. In addition, we are trusting that He will provide the funds to keep the house running and the girls supported indefinitely. To give to this project, go on the EPI website (www.eagleprojects.com), click on donations and put Muhan House in the options line.

What a great way to make this Christmas different!!

We look forward to partnering with you on this project! And please feel free to come to us with questions, concerns, thoughts, or anything!

In Him,

Krista and Justin

What we were doing last Halloween?

2010-11-01T10:29:00.003-06:00

Today, November 1st, I'm working on putting together a computer file of all the counseling/training hours I compiled during our year abroad. In doing that, I opened the computer file that contains the daily journal that we kept while we were traveling. Yep, that's right, we kept a DAILY journal to remember everything we did this past year. At times it got a little annoying and cumbersome, but now that we're back, it's AWESOME! Especially now as I'm trying to remember how long I trained there and what we did then, etc.

Anyway, as I was working this morning, I came upon our journal entry of last October 31st. It's weird to think that one year ago, we were in Zimbabwe doing this on Halloween. This is the exact journal entry that we wrote that night (I added the pics to the blog post for proof :-))....

Saturday October 31st:

Today, the plan was to leave at 10 to head straight to an African Wedding! At this point we are not sure who the couple is, but we are excited to see how it all works. We got all dressed up, Justin in a tie and khakis, and Krista in a nice skirt and blouse. We had a super breakfast of eggs and bread and coffee (yay!); and met some visitors that had come in for the wedding and had arrived at 3am that morning. 10 am came and went; and we found out that the guests didn’t know where to go so we needed to wait for them. The wedding organizer was a little frustrated since she was hoping to get there as soon as possible. It was interesting to see a local get a little anxious about time since we seem to feel it all the time. Finally at about 11 we were off to the wedding, but gas first, and then the wedding. We walked right in and it was hard to tell at first if we wereat the ceremony or the reception. Nearly everyone was sitting down in rows, but people were cheering and talking; and there was a large crowd at the front around the Bride and Groom. Some seats were found for us at the front… it’s good to be with such honored guests like Lucia and the visitors. Turns out they are the pastor and his wife from the Groom’s church in South Africa, and the newly married couple will return to that church. So yeah, being associated with the big dogs gets you good seats. The large crowd at the front consisted of the Bride and Groom, a whole entourage of camera-men and videographers, a lot of bridesmaids and groomsmen, all sitting down behind the camera crew, and then behind them another set of bridesmaids and groom-children – just a younger and smaller version of the typical wedding party… probably all around 10 years old. There was a bunch going on in Shona, so we were pretty lost. Then they kissed… well that part is the familiar. And they did a receiving line of everyone in the place (which was quite a few, maybe 150 to 200), again, pretty familiar, we could see this happening in the states.
So we’re thinking we are probably about done, but nobody seemed to be getting ready to leave. Oh, there is more… they cut the cake, at the ceremony, a little different, but cool. Then they presented bigger pieces of cake to family members and respected people in their lives (Lucia got a big piece), and they gave out bite sized pieces to everyone there. It was delicious.

The AMAZING cake (even with Fall Harvest colors)! Check out the Africa Hut!

Other stuff happened and then the toasts and speeches started. About 4 or 5 from each side of the family… then Lucia got up there and talked for a little while (she is always a crowd pleaser) and introduced the couple that had gotten there that morning, and they went to the front and gave a little sermon and advice to the lucky couple. At least that part we could understand since they spoke in English and someone translated,

not sure what they spoke in SA, but the common language was English. And at some point relatively soon after that they all danced their way out of the ceremony hall… the little one’s first, then the “regular” bridesmaids and groomsmen and then the happy couple. And we were done. At this point it was probably about 1 ish, and the wedding technically started at 9 – Yeah, 4 hours for the “Ceremony”. We then followed the whole wedding party to where they were going to take pictures; Lucia wanted a picture with the Married couple. And apparently somebody wanted us to have a picture with them as well, because before w

e knew it we were standing next to the newlyweds and everyone was snapped photos of us as well.

See, I wasn't lying. They really had us take a photo with the Bride and Groom!

Then back to the hall for some lunch and the reception. We hung around outside for a while after lunch, bought some ice cream, talked to a few of the people there we knew (we talked about the big church service we were going to go to on Sunday), hung out some more, and then finally we went in. They were at the gift receiving stage… not sure what was going on while we were outside, maybe just gift giving, I hear it can take a while. People come up family by family, or person by person, and give a gift, and the emcee announces to everyone what they gave. Crazy huh? I wonder what would happen if we did that in America? And then churches give and the emcee announces that too!… so we went up with Lucia and everyone from Eternal Word Ministries and we even gave a little donation (as “Eternal Word America”). Then we finally headed out… it’s about 4 or 5 pm at this point....but the party probably kept on going.

The End

There you have it. What we were doing last year on Halloween. Wow, it seems almost surreal that a year ago we were doing that when yesterday we were here in Colorado, mountain biked with friends, went to church, ran some errands, and handed out candy to neighborhood kidos. And now that we've been back for a month now, I'm realizing that God is found in both the extravagant and romantic as well as the mundane.

Back Home! What's Next?

2010-10-11T12:31:00.002-06:00

Disclaimer: This post is very similar to an email we just sent out. Just thought it was worthy enough to make the blog as well, as we hit the two week mark of being back in America!

So you've probably heard these clichés before:
Time flies...
It seems like just yesterday...
You'll be back before you know it...

Time does indeed fly, and it seems like just yesterday we were packing up our house, selling a car and getting ready for our year overseas, and as we have been back for two weeks now, we are definitely back before we knew it! We used to think these clichés were silly, not anymore!
It has been a while since most of you have heard from us (sorry for that, "we were out of the country"...we still love saying that:-)) so here is a quick recap of our "year overseas" which we generally broke into two parts:

Part 1:

The first half of our year was what we considered our intentional ministry and humanitarian portion of the year as we partnered with the non-profit organization, EPI (Eagle Projects Int) and visited 3 of their overseas partners in Harare, Zimbabwe; Kisii, Kenya; and Kathmandu, Nepal. We were also very blessed to be able to visit some of our friends laboring for Christ in Nalchik, Russia.

And for an even quicker version of our first 6 months, check out this video we made!!! Click HERE to launch the YouTube video.

Part 2:

The second half of our year included our not-so-intentional ministry and humanitarian portion of the year, or we could call it our sightseeing portion. :-) We visited some beautiful countryside and met up with some great friends and even family as we explored Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, and Germany. We even had the pleasure to spend some time with an EPI partner in Cesena, Italy. For a look at some photo albums from Europe, click HERE.

But first check out this video we made of our 4 months in Europe, click HERE!! (It's hard to choose 106 photos out of 12,000, but we did our best)

And now for another cliché...

The real world...

What are we going to do next, as we are now back in the real world? Justin's day job will be back at EnCana as he is lucky enough to be able to get his job back and has already started working. Krista is trying to narrow down a long list of possible options for her time which could include working towards a counseling practice, volunteering in some capacity, and taking a few more Seminary classes. And for the rest of our time we are excited to share with you two recent developments that will allow us to continue traveling and working overseas!

We have recently become official staff with EPI! We are now working with EPI in Special Project Development. This will allow us to continue to travel and visit EPI's great partners to see how their ministry is developing and what their needs are. Check out our profile HERE.

One of our first opportunities with EPI is managing a project with our EPI partners in Nepal. We are very excited to continue our relationship with the awesome couple that is working in Nepal (you have probably heard us talking about them) and the need that we are hoping to help with, which is very close to our hearts. They are doing some amazing work with young girls that have been rescued from the sex trafficking industry and we have a way we think we can help, with your help as well, of course. But as this email is already long enough, we will be sending another email with more details! So stay tuned.

We feel very blessed to have had this opportunity, and we are super excited about the future! Thank you so much for your support, prayers and well wishes!

In Him,
Justin and Krista

All Good Things Must Come to an End

2010-10-04T12:10:00.003-06:00

One of several amazing sunsets in Cinque Terre

Now, obviously this is a common saying, but to be honest, I don't like it. And part of me doesn't believe it (or more accurately, doesn't want to believe it), but like all age-old sayings, there is some truth to it. Change is inevitable, and a necessary part of life. It is change that helps is grow and become the people that God created us to be. So even something that seemed so good at the time, must end and other things must take it's place. Just like a beautiful sunset turns into peaceful night.

Our four months in Europe were absolutely amazing! We had such a great time with each other and loved seeing the in's and out's of God's creation. It was so GOOD. But in this case, obviously not sustainable, unless someone wants to give us millions :-). Therefore, this GOOD thing had to come to an end. We will forever cherish this time we had together (literally 24/7) and will remember all the amazing things we got the opportunity to do.

To wrap up our four months in Europe, we spent a week in Cinque Terre, Italy.

The adorable town of Vernazza in Cinque Terre, Italy (home for 3 nights)

This was one place that several people told us we HAD to see if we went to Europe. So with that in mind, we scheduled a whole week here at the end of our trip, sort of like a grand finale. And it did not dissapoint. Cinque Terre, or "five lands" is a grouping of five towns on the Italian Riviera. Cars are not allowed in the towns, so the only way to get from town to town is by train, boat, or foot. In addition, there is a National Park so there are lots of hiking trails connecting the towns and going all over the beautiful cliffs, hills, and vineyards. And finally, what makes it even cooler, it's in Italy, so you have Italian food and gelato!!

Hiking above the town of Monterosso

We had a great time hiking from town to town and above the towns through the vineyards. Our only recommendation if you plan on going to Cinque Terre in the future - prepare yourself for crowds and book in advance. We luckily had booked a month in advance, but even that was difficult, and while we were there, we did have to strategically find places where the crowds would not be. It is no longer a "hidden gem" if you will, but nonetheless, it is still gorgeous, fun, and definitely worth going to.

To take a better look at this BEAUTIFUL place click HERE! We took lots of photos and hopefully the captions show up as well.

Where is the Pope?

2010-09-28T13:22:00.020-06:00

So if I asked you about Church in Italy, what would come to your mind first? The Pope? A large, Catholic Church with organs and choirs? Or would you first think of The Da Vinci Code? I bet the last thing you would think of is a small,evangelical church next to a Kebab Restaurant with a few guitars and a Brazilian man at the pulpit preaching on God's unconditional love! That is the exact church we got to experience in Cesena, Italy with Pastor Fabiano Nicodemo a few weekends ago. We knew about this church from our work with EPI (Eagle Projects International) who have been working with Fabiano for over 20 years. When Phil Eyster (EPI Pres.) heard we were going to be in Italy, he said we had to visit Cesena to meet this great man and his family, and to get some excellent Gelato... we did all that and more. Here are some of the highlights:

Meet Pastor Fabiano and his new English Club Poster. One of his outreach tools is to hold church sponsored English Clubs each week that can help locals practice conversational english, and occasionally hear about the love of God! We got to attend one of the meetings and meet some great people. They need some help, anyone out there speak english and want to visit Italy?

One night we enjoyed worship and teaching with the local college age Christians and after that some time to hang together and eat:

And a little Gelato after that (Gelato has already been consumed :-)

On Sunday we got to visit their church service:

And then play with the kids after that... it doesn't matter how old, or in what country, Justin usually gets beat at video games.

And of course, a little Gelato with the whole family at the famous La Cremeria!

After we reluctantly left our good friends in Cesena, we hoped on a train to the famous, beautiful and popular, Cinque Terre! Stay tuned for some pics and a chance encounter with some friends from Colorado... Who you ask? Well, you'll just have to catch the next blog (or stalk our Facebook page :-)!

Lugano and Venice!!

2010-09-20T02:13:00.002-06:00

Left the mountains of Switzerland for the waters of Lake Lugano and the Adriatic Sea. Both places were absolutely beautiful, but don't take my word for it. Enjoy these pictures!

Click HERE to see pics from Lugano and Venice!

Week with the Parents!!

2010-09-16T09:41:00.003-06:00

Well, the much anticipated week with my (Krista) mom and dad has come and gone. It was technically a little over a week and we jam packed all kinds of goodness into those 9 days.

We covered three countries and 11 cities. Luckily we had a car to whip around to all of these places quickly.....and it also gave the men a chance to drive on Germany's autobahn :-). They got up to speeds of 180km/hr!!

We started in Germany and went along the Rhine River to Bacharach, then on the Romantic Road to Rothenburg, and then in to the mountains and castle country to Garmisch. From Germany, we went in to Austria and explored Salzburg, then the Lake District around Salzburg in the town of Halstat, and finally in the Austrian Alps in Innsbruck. After Austria, we went to Switzerland to see Lucerne, the Alps in the Berner Oberland area, and finally Zurich.

It was tons of fun and a great way to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. We experienced Spaghetti Ice together, rode an alpine slide overlooking the lakes in Austria, did a few awesome bike rides (even one with belting some Sound of Music songs :-)), and had some great dinners overlooking gorgeous lakes and rivers. I'm so glad they came over and braved traveling with us :-). After Zurich, they headed to Scotland and England for a few days, and Justin and I headed to southern Switzerland (Lugano) and then into Italy (Venice).

Click HERE to see some awesome pics of our week with my parents.

We now have less than two weeks left on this crazy adventure and we'll be in Italy for the rest of the time. Tomorrow we leave Venice to go spend four days with an Eagle Project's Partner in Cesena. And then we finish our trip up with 6 days in Cinque Terre!!

A Tale of Two Cities

2010-09-12T16:24:00.003-06:00

It has been quite some time now since we've posted and that is because we've had tons and tons of fun with my parents the past week or so and have had no time to make photo albums and write blogs. Pictures of our week with George and DeeDee are coming soon :-). But we did a few things between leaving Italy's wonderful Dolomites and meeting up with them.

We went to Vienna, Austria and Prague, Czech Republic! We liked both of these cities! They were super easy to get around and had lots of cool sights. In Vienna, we even got to see some Mozart in the Vienna State Opera House (I can never complain about Justin not taking me on cool dates again after this year)!!

In the nicest clothes we stuffed in our backpacks, ready to see some Mozart!

We were a little skeptical about Prague just because we had heard so much good stuff, we thought it had been built up too much in our heads and we were going to be let down, but it lived up to it's rep and was super great. The food is not as cheap as it once was we think, but still cheaper than most of the places we've been.

So, as some pics are long overdue, here you go.

Click HERE for pictures of our adventures in Vienna.

and

Click HERE for pictures of us in Prague.

The lesser known beauty of Northern Italy...

2010-08-28T15:55:00.005-06:00

Northern Italy was absolutely amazing. I know we say that about a lot of the places we have been, but really, Northern Italy is incredible. We spent a few days on Lake Como, playing in the small Italian towns and of course on the lake,

Sometimes we had a little too much fun on the boat we rented for the day. Justin is just too funny, I can't help it.

and then we spent a week in the Dolomites. We spent a few nights in one of the central towns there called Cortina where we did our first Via Ferrata (roping in to a cable and climbing up huge rock peaks),

Here we are at the top, after the Via Ferrata (for more pics, click below on the link to the album)

and a 40 mile bike ride (don't worry, half was downhill) and then we did some backpacking. We hiked in for two nights to two different mountain huts or "rifugios." If we thought Nepal trekking was cush with all the tea houses, this blows that level of cushness out of the water. The so called huts were unbelievable, complete with full-staffed restaurants, bedrooms with small flat screens, Italian food, Italian coffee, and Italian wine! We had such a great time and we feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to do itl. If Northern Italy weren't so far away, we'd suggest going every year with all our friends and family :-).

We took lots of pics as usual and this time Justin even wrote captions for the Dolomite Album. He took that location on as his own little baby and planned most of our time there. It was great!

Click HERE for the Lake Como pics!

Click HERE for the pics of the super cool Dolomites!

There is more to Switzerland than cheese and chocolate....

2010-08-19T14:27:00.004-06:00

After leaving Chamonix, we wondered how things could get any prettier......well, going deep into the Swiss Alps is as pretty as the edge of them in Chamonix, if not more stunning! Switzerland as a whole is a super cool country. The cities are crazy clean and there are tons of free things to do for the public. We biked, swam, saw bears, and hung out in parks all for FREE. Now there are lots of things that cost an arm and a leg too, but let's not dwell on the negative. And then, to add to its cool cities, Switzerland has.....well duh.....the Swiss Alps.

For the majority of our Alp exploring, we met up with one of my best friends from college, Maggie, and her husband Brett. They are an absolutely amazing couple on staff with Campus Outreach in Indiana. It was such an incredible blessing to see them (I hadn't seen Maggie since our wedding) and we all had a blast.

Brett, Maggie, me and Justin in the Alps!

After saying goodbye to Maggie and Brett :-(, Justin and I headed down to Zermatt, Switzerland for a couple of days, and then to the east via some scenic trains before going back into Italy where we are now.

So, all together we were in Switzerland for a week and a half this time around. We'll be going back with my parents when they come over in September. We took lots of pictures of our week and a half, so when you have a few minutes or need a break, take a look at the Alps!

Click HERE to see the Switzerland Album complete with captions :-).

A Little Slice of Heaven....

2010-08-17T10:54:00.003-06:00

...in the town of Chamonix.

We absolutely LOVED Chamonix. Really, we have loved everywhere we've been, but for some reason, Chamonix will always hold a special place in our hearts (cue in cheesy music here). Here are a few reasons why and some pics to prove it....

1. Beautiful Mountains (e.g. Mt. Blanc....who wants to go back some day and climb it w/us?)

2. A great train and gondola system to take you to the starting point of any amazing hike.

3. French speaking people (we love the French.....they totally get a bad rap, but they're amazing)

4. French Bakeries!

5. Crepes

6. Great mountain biking trails

7. A river that goes right through town

8. Economical lodging!

9. Getting to Chamonix via three gondola rides up and over mountains from Italy!

10. Our THREE year anniversary!

So, needless to say, we miss it a little bit, but don't feel too bad for us (I know you don't), because we move on to new amazing places everyday. To see some pics of God's amazing creation (mountains and crepes!) in Chamonix click HERE

The Coast with the Most!

2010-08-15T11:15:00.004-06:00

After Rome, we hoped on the train and headed south to the town of Sorrento which is right at the start of the most beautiful stretch of the Amalfi Coast. On our way down, we made one stop in the town of Pompei where we saw Mt. Vesuvius (the volcano that erupted and preserved the town of Pompei back in the day). It was pretty cool!!

Once in Sorrento, thanks to Justin's traveling he did for work early on in our marriage, we were able to stay at a sweet Hilton Resort overlooking Sorrento and the Mediterranean Sea for FREE! It was awesome and we took full advantage! We spent one whole day just hanging out at the cool pool.

Another day, we rented a scooter and lived on the edge as we drove the hairpin turned road down to the town of Amalfi through Positano on the Amalfi Coast. It was so awesome (as it always is) getting to see some of the places that we've always heard about or seen in movies. We loved the Amalfi Coast and tried to think of reasons why we'd HAVE to get back there someday......like maybe we have to fly through here on our way to Nepal or something :-). It's totally on the way, right?

We had great weather and an absolutely fabulous time!! Check out some of the gorgeous sights that we were so blessed to see by clicking HERE.

When in Rome....

2010-08-12T09:57:00.004-06:00

Here are some highlights and pics of our three days in the "Eternal City" of Rome.

The HIGHS:

The History!!
Tons of sweet sights, such as the Colosseum (with guided tour!), the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, the Trevi Fountain, and Bernini's Sculptures.
Drinking ice cold water out of all the fountains in the city (those Romans we're clever).
Our favorite meal in Italy thus far.

The LOWS:

Trying to drive into Rome to return our rental car.....not really Rome's fault.
Justin didn't see what the fuss was all about with the Spanish Steps (feel free to enlighten him).
Nothing else, Rome is Rome!

For Pictures of the eventful three days click HERE

Under the Tuscan Sun!

2010-08-08T16:10:00.002-06:00

It was such a perfect place to spend three days.....sandwiched between Florence and Rome, Tuscany was like a small peace of Heaven, well at least it was cooler in temperature :-). And Justin would like to go on record to say it wasn't that bad in Florence. He would! :-)

After leaving Florence, we rented a car and took to the Tuscan roads. We purposefully drove on some scenic routes, which turned out to be well worth it. We made a couple of stops along the way, Monticino (for lunch), and Montipulciano (just to see it and grab some coffee), which were really fun. We even learned that a scene from a certain popular movie was filmed in Montipulciano (you'll have to see if you can figure out which one). We finally arrived in Cortona, where we stayed for three nights. Cortona was amazing.....it was beautiful, cool, and had great food and gelato! We even saw Francis May's house (and maybe Fran herself, funny story, ask us later), the author who wrote Under the Tuscan Sun which the movie was based off of. And we also made it to Assisi (home of Francis of Assisi) and to a vineyard to learn all about how they make true Italian wine.

In short, we loved seeing the beautiful Italian countryside and were blessed by God's creation immensely.

Check out all the pics from Tuscany HERE.

Florence, the good, the bad, and the HOT

2010-08-06T14:49:00.004-06:00

We're a little behind in our picture posting and my (Krista) mother is dying for some of Italy to get up here, so here we go....and instead of trying to give a detailed account of our first three days in Italy in the lovely city of Florence, here are our top three highs and lows and some pics for your enjoyment (well at least I know my mom will enjoy them :-))

Florence:

The Pics: Click HERE

The HIGHS:

Michelangelo's David - it doesn't disappoint

The Gelato - our first experience of the true Italian treasure

A cool river with lots of good views on it, especially at sunset

The LOWS:

It was HOT, like sweating walking at night hot.

We don't know Italian, and the locals we came into contact with there were less than thrilled about this.

Although the gelato was amazing, it was a little pricey.

Scenery, Sun, and Sweat in the South of France

2010-07-31T16:39:00.004-06:00

We've been busy little bees traveling about, and I can't believe it's been over a week since our last post. We've done a lot since then.....made our way from Belgium to Southern France and then on to Italy! We've been in Italy over a week now and our having a great time.

Wanted to share some of our pictures from Southern France, though, before venturing into the stories and pics of Italy. One main change from Scandinavia and Belgium and the south of France in July . . . . the HEAT. Oh yeah, it got hot and at times I (Krista) almost had some meltdowns (no pun intended). But anyway, moving on, in Southern France we stayed in a smaller town called Arles, which is in the Provence region. The Tour de France got pretty close to where we were, but we were unable to see it. We did, however, spend an afternoon with some locals who adopted us for the day.....invited us over to their house for a great meal and took us sightseeing. It was awesome! We were in Arles for three days and then we headed east and a little south to Nice! We stayed a couple nights in Nice and had a great time exploring the French Riveria. We even met up with some of Justin's family for a day who were in the area.

Click HERE to see more pics than just this one :-)

Waffles, Chocolate, and Bikes

2010-07-20T16:11:00.003-06:00

Belgium is amazing! We only spent four days there, but we loved every minute of it and are thinking of how we can go back. Our favorite thing in Belgium . . . the WAFFLES!!! They were incredible and we tried to make sure we got at least two a day. :-)

So, take a look at what we loved so much.

Click HERE to see the album from Bruges and Brussels, Belgium.

Right now we are finishing up our time in Southern France. We'll have some pics up soon. Next stop = Italy!! Headed to Florence tomorrow.

Summer in Scandinavia!

2010-07-15T13:29:00.003-06:00

We had an awesome two weeks or so in Scandinavia! We spent time in Norway on the fjords, 5 days in Sweden with a former tennis teammate of mine (Krista) and her husband and two adorable girls (so fun!!), and then 4 days on an island in Denmark.

Everywhere was beautiful and we are constantly pinching ourselves to remind us that it's all real. We are so blessed and it has been amazing to see God's creation in other parts of the world.

So, here are a bunch of pictures from our time there. Lots of daylight as the sun doesn't set until like 11:00pm, which means lots of pictures :-).

Click HERE for the album! Hope you enjoy them!

We're in Belgium right now eating way too many waffles, and tomorrow we head to southern France for a week.

Pooped On In Norway!

2010-07-07T15:21:00.003-06:00

So Norway is BEAUTIFUL! We spent 4 days there, spending most of our time on a fjord on the west coast in a little town called Aurland. We took tons of pictures, so we don't have an album yet because we haven't sifted through all of them, but for your enjoyment in the meantime . . .

So on one of our days, we decided to take a boat cruise on the fjord. It actually ended up being a means of transportation for us to get to another city we needed to go to which was a bonus. Anyway, so we're cruising on this beautiful fjord . . .

Enjoying life and feeling unbelievably blessed . . .

When a lot of people decided that it would be a good idea to try and feed the seagulls in the sky around our boat. I have to admit my judgmental heart here, because I was kinda annoyed and thought to myself, "that is so stupid, why are you attracting birds to our boat, disrupting this nice peaceful cruise?" But alas, they fed despite my internal thoughts . . .

This went on, seriously, for the whole first hour of the trip. And then, to prove that God has a sense of humor, this guy (well maybe not this exact guy but I like to think so . . .) . . . .

Did this to me . . . .

So if you needed an end of the week pick me up, I hope you enjoyed a good laugh at my expense. Justin did go get me napkins before he started recording, which was nice :-). And if you listen closely, you can here how he is trying to hold back throw up as he attempts to help me.

Ahhh, Norway, we will always have fond memories of you: your beautiful countrysides and fjords, your expensive . . . everything, your supermodel-like people, and your stupid seagulls!! :-)

Hanging with the Brits! (Photos of England, including Wimbledon!)

2010-07-05T14:42:00.002-06:00

Oh yeah, we're on a roll now with uploading photos. Here are some pictures from our week in England. We stayed with some of my (Krista) distant family and had a great time hanging with them, sightseeing in and around London, and seeing Wimbledon!

Check it out by clicking HERE.

Beautiful Norway pictures are next. Today we arrived in Sweden and are staying with a former tennis teammate of mine from Furman and her family. We already had a great day going to the beach and trying to catch crabs with their girls!

Our Time in France

2010-07-03T14:01:00.004-06:00

France was amazing! We spent two days outside of Paris at the Beaches of Normandy and in the Loire Valley and then 6 days in Paris itself (including the Palace of Versailles). It was unbelievable and we loved every minute of it. We could talk for days on this cool place, so instead of rambling on and on, here are a bunch of pictures from the week.

We have decided to abandon Flickr and are now trying our new Mobile Me account. Click HERE to go to the album. If you go to the slideshow mode all the captions for the pictures will be at the top. Let us know what you think.

We should have England pics up soon too!

(If the link doesn't work, type the following into your web browser: http://gallery.me.com/kochocki#100015&bgcolor=black&view=grid)

Freedoooooooom . . . . Scotland Pictures

2010-06-27T17:12:00.004-06:00

Hi! Wow, we have been busy little travelers. We're a bit behind on pictures and blogs and will try to be better. Since we last blogged, we spent a week in Scotland, a week in France, and 4 days in London. We are still in England, staying with some of my (Krista) distant family (my third cousins!). It's been wonderful. They are absolutely great and the sights have been cool too. We even got a day at Wimbledon, which was just amazing and surreal for us. We'll get some France and England pics up here soon, but until then, enjoy the ones from beautiful Scotland. In four days we head to Norway!

Click HERE for a Flickr Photo Album from Scotland

The Beautiful Country of Ireland!

2010-06-16T15:19:00.006-06:00

We have now been in Europe for two weeks! We spent our first week in Ireland and our second week in Scotland. At both places we were able to stay with awesome friends - friends we met in Kenya on our short-term medical mission trip with EPI this past January. The hospitality that we experienced was amazing and inspiring. Some of our friends even gave up their master bedroom for us!! We learned a lot about our version of hospitality and realized our own selfishness at times. Our friends in Ireland and Scotland are just amazing!

We just left Scotland today and are now in a little town in France near the beaches of Normandy (we flew into Paris and drove right out). I (Krista) am resurrecting the little French that I once knew :-). We will hopefully have some pics of our time in Scotland up shortly, but until then, check out the beautiful sights we got to see in Ireland. God is such an amazing creator and we are so blessed to be able to enjoy his brilliance.

Click HERE to see our Ireland photo album in Flickr.

We're still figuring out Flickr so if the above link doesn't work, try copying and pasting this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51235431@N08/sets/72157624284298550/

And if we did something wrong with the album in Flickr, let us know too. We might not continue using Flickr, but for now, we'll give it a go.

A look back . . .

2010-06-01T10:18:00.008-06:00

Oh how I've missed you life of plane flights and traveling and calling credit cards to tell them where we will be going and drinking bottled water instead of tap water.....oh wait, scratch that last one. Not this time! I'm pretty sure it's okay to drink the water in Europe!

This is so crazy! We are going to Europe for almost 4 months (we leave tonight, check out our updated calendar for our schedule)!! Who gets to do this kind of thing? We are so unbelievably blessed and are so excited about this opportunity. We are learning so much about God's grace and love and how we don't deserve any of it, but how He lavishes it upon His children.

We were also so incredibly blessed by our last 7 months. Over the past few weeks here in the States, we have had the opportunity to share about the past 6 months in a variety of ways (slideshows, videos, long conversations, etc.). And speaking of video.....we were able to share a little video we made with a couple of churches as we shared what God is doing around the world and in our lives. And since we can't go around to everyone's church (well, unless you want us to come, let us know! :-)), we thought we'd post it up here. So here ya go -- our last six months condensed down to 4 1/2 minutes!

Ochocki's not-so-much-Overseas...

2010-05-17T22:33:00.013-06:00

So, we've now officially been back in the States for one month. Not a whole lot of blogs during this time, because, really, we are clearly not very exciting people when we're not traveling around the world. This may quite possibly be the most exciting thing we've encountered in the last 30 days.

Living overseas without a car for 6 months was so much easier :-).

Not that we haven't done some fun stuff in the last 3 weeks - we had some great times with our friends and family.......

The whole gang! (Ochocki's and Thomson's)

Our first nephew (Keaton) getting dedicated!

My parents' fourth child, Dillon :-). Our fabulous running mate!

We went to Maine and had an awesome week with the wonderful folks of EPI, Eagle Projects International (www.eagleprojects.com). For those that don't know, they are the super awesome organization that decided it would be a good idea to take Justin and I under their name and send us out to visit some of their partners in Africa and Nepal (I know, pretty daring right). Anyway, their headquarters is in Maine and we were able to go visit them, do some presentations on our last 6 months (we'll try to get a video of one of the presentations up on this soon), meet their board, discuss some future options, and also get some time to rest and play on Maine's amazing coast......

The awesome cabin that EPI let us use for the week. We got some much needed rest here.

Exploring the coast around Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park

Biking around Acadia National Park

The wonderful carriage roads we biked on throughout all of Acadia National Park (so much better than the mountain biking trails that cause high levels of anxiety for me :-)).

But, ahhh, most recently, as we've been bumming at my parents house in Colorado Springs, we have spent our days immersed in maps, guidebooks, and even apps, trying to plan the next 3 1/2 months of our travels all over Europe. Yes, I realize that we can't complain about this task because many would scowl at us for it, but let me tell you, it is a job. Europe is a big place with lots to see (profound, I know), and in order to save money and time, it really is best to try to have a plan of some sort, and even reservations, etc. I never used to be the major planner, always a strong "P" on the Meyers Briggs, but Justin is infiltrating my system with his "J" ways! We have this ridiculously large spread sheet (if you know Justin, this doesn't surprise you) with information on where we'll be when, what will take place, and how much it'll cost, on every day of our currently 116 day adventure (I got that stat from Justin)! It might be a little much, but hey, you know you'll want it if you ever decide to do some traveling in Europe and if you do, we'll let you see it.....for a charge......all the proceeds will go to our future work in Nepal!

So, yeah, that's a quick snap shot of our super exciting month back in the States. We head to Durango at the end of this week to go and stay with Justin's parents, and then it's back up to Colorado Springs for Memorial Day weekend and then we fly out on June 1st for Europe!

Now, amidst this time of hanging out with family and friends, visiting Maine, and planning Europe, there has definitely been some re-entry culture shock, but we'll just save that emotional roller coaster for another, more sentimental blog. :-). We just saw Iron Man 2 on Imax (awesome by the way), and I can't seem to bring myself to talking about my feelings right now. I'm still processing them (good excuse huh?).

Till they're processed . . .

Top 10 Things We enjoy about being back in America

2010-04-20T22:29:00.014-06:00

1. Brushing our teeth with the tap water and not being sick in bed the next day

2. Mexican Food

3. Signs written in English (not always the specific words; is it almost May?)

4. Krista getting to wear her engagement ring (come on, I am a girl :-))

5. Electricity whenever we want it

6. Sandwiches with fresh cheese and deli meat

7. Going for runs on beautiful trails and in breathable air!

(Us with my sister Lisa after a run/geocaching adventure)

8. Going to our home church, Flatirons, and worshiping in our own language

9. Hanging with our awesome friends

10. Spending time with our super fun family!

Rockies Game with Krista's Family!

Out and about with Justin's family (gotta love REI)

Oh and a bonus number 11: A NEW computer to replace our dying friend!!! Yay!!!!

Our time in Russia - Photo Album

2010-04-20T22:25:00.003-06:00

Russia

"Friends, Countrymen, Russians" (what movie?)

2010-04-07T11:40:00.014-06:00

We have been in Southern Russia now for over a week, and have yet to get a blog up, so here we go! Our time here has been a whirlwind so far, from the landing in Moscow to our adventure getting here, to our fun times in and around the town working with our friends here. Here is a quick look back at the last week and a half:

We spent the whole day flying to Moscow from Kathmandu and then lugged all of our bags on the Moscow Metro that same night, by ourselves! It was crazy and I actually fell getting off the escalator once with one of the big bags. I was not a happy camper. We stayed overnight in Moscow with some American friends and then, by the grace of God, we decided to stay at their apartment the next morning and relax instead of going out to sightsee before catching our afternoon flight down to Southern Russia. This was the same morning that the Metro was bombed and there is a good possibility we would have been close to the site of the bombing had we gone sightseeing to Red Square. (This is me on the Metro right after falling on the escalator, but I actually don't look that bad....still not a fan of that bag!)

We made it to the Northern Caucus region, safely and immediately got to hang out with the locals and our friends that are living here. From the airport we drove to a House Youth Group that meets weekly. It was great to meet some teenagers and college age students who are seeking the Lord, many the first ones in their family. We quickly learned that the Caucasus is a predominantly Muslim region, and since we have had several conversations with Muslims who are investigating the claims of Jesus.

Throughout the rest of the week we enjoyed getting to know the town and seeing the life our friends James and Jane Hutchy live here. We joined their English Club . . .

. . . played lots of games with 300 Chechen children . . .

.... spent Easter at a small Russian House Church, and then Easter dinner at an American family’s house complete with ham, mashed potatoes, and green beans! Justin and some guys got to take on some of the Chechen children in a game of soccer (Can you find him? He looks like a local wherever we go!)......

......while I hung out with some of the local girls that Jane has formed relationships with. Last weekend, Justin spent a day in the mountains with some of the American guys here while I got to play with our friends two adorable children......

....and then had a girls’ night once they went to bed.

I must say though that one of my favorite things so far about being here instead of Kathmandu is that we can go running! There is a huge park and the air is clean! This morning we even went with a local, Russian girl that we met at English Club, Vilka. She showed us around the city, running here and there, attempting to teach us what was what in her limited English and our non-existent Russian. It was so fun!

We are currently spending the afternoon and evening babysitting. What? Yep, babysitting! We are mustering up some courage and watching our friends James and Jane’s two children so they can have a day off. Even though they are both under the age of 2, it’s not too hard, because they are the cutest things on the planet.

We’ll see, however, if this pushes us closer to or further away from having babies ourselvesJ.

We're Married!!!

2010-03-25T11:21:00.014-06:00

So, as our days are winding down in the beautiful country of Nepal, our friends here had a little surprise for us . . .a Nepali wedding!! No, not attending someone else's, our own :-).

So, today, we got married! Our hosts here are so nice and hilarious - it was such a great demonstration of their love for us and how we are officially a part of their family. And they also said that since we have been "married" in front of them, we are now held to an even greater degree of accountability in our marriage :-)!

Getting Ready: So, just like on our first wedding day over two and a half years ago, someone did my hair and make up and then of course dressed me because putting on a Sari takes years to learn (at least it would for me) :-).

Hot, I know. Check out my eyes! :-) I could not stop my eyes from watering when she was applying all the eyeliner. It was awesome.

Justin had to get ready for the big day too - he could get most of his outfit on himself, but not all of it (the belt was a little tough), so he was helped as well.

Ceremony time: Justin had to explain to the officiator how much he loved me.

And of course, as a demonstration of our love, we exchanged rings (which was easy since we already had them).

It's official! We've now been married on two sides of the globe! Check out the knife Justin got to wear for the ceremony! He was pretty upset that it wasn't included in the deal. But don't worry, everything else we're wearing was, so you might see us walking around Denver in this get-up :-).

Picture Time: It was so great having guests with no stress over the guest's list and invitations!

Aren't these guys awesome? We are so going to miss this place!

Reception Time: Complete with wonderful Nepali snacks and Coke! :-)

And, one last picture of the newly married couple, from head to toe.

Now, in two days it's off on our honeymoon. Where do we get to go......Mother Russia!! It might be a little different than Tahiti :-).

15,000

2010-03-23T03:55:00.002-06:00

In America: the amount of students attending a medium-sized university, the population of Durango, Colorado, and three-fourths of the crowd at a sold-out Denver Nuggets NBA Basketball game.

In Nepal: the amount of girls that are sold into the sex-trade EVERY YEAR!

That’s 1,250 girls every month, 41 girls a day, and 3 girls every 2 hours that are uprooted from their homes in mountain villages and taken away from a life they will never know again, to be sold into the ever-increasing sex trade across the border in India and beyond.

We knew “about” this problem before coming to Nepal, but as we have been here the past nine weeks we have come up-close and personal to this tragic situation that is plaguing the country right now. Over the next few months, we will share with you what we have learned, seen, and felt . . .

. . .and a way to help.

11 Day Trek to Annapurna Base Camp Photo Album!

2010-03-17T07:36:00.003-06:00

So, with a lot of patience and prayer over our dying computer :-), we were able to make a photo album of some of our pics from the Himalayan Trek! So, I encourage you to, in true Nepali fashion, take a few minutes to rest, grab a cup of chiya (tea), and enjoy a good story and some sweet pictures of His creation!

Annapurna Base Camp Trek

May His Glory be known ALL over this Earth!

2010-03-15T04:25:00.016-06:00

Hi Strangers!!

It’s been a long time since our last post and I, Krista, have several reasonable excuses for thatJ. First and sadly enough, our computer seems to be dyingL, so that makes any computer work (downloading pics, writing blogs, etc.) painfully slow and difficult, and at times want to throw it out the window frustrating. Second, we have been traveling around Nepal quite a bit in the last several weeks and therefore did not take our almost dead computer with us. And third, for the last two weeks we were out in the Himalayas trekking to the Base Camp of Annapurna 1 (which was awesome and if I can work on my patience long enough with our computer, there might be a photo album up in the next few days). Here is a sneak peak, however, just to whet your appetite :-). That's us at Base Camp -- 4,130m or for you Americans, 13,550ft :-)!! (we have ~1,000 pics total!!)

So hopefully those are good enough reasons for those of you who check our blog every day for a word or two (I know there are only a couple of you who do this –thank you by the way!!). With that being said, we are back in Kathmandu and back online with stories to tell! Before speeding right to our beautiful Himalayan trek, however, I must share with you about an experience during the four days we spent in Pokhara before hitting the trail…..

Pokhara is a city west of Kathmandu, nestled up against the Annapurna Mountain Range of the Himalayas. There is also a beautiful lake on one side of the town which adds to the picturesque quality of the place. Pokhara is frequented by lots and lots of tourists because of these factors, many only staying for a few days before or after their trek into the Annapurna Range.

We went as “tourists,” with the primary goal of doing an 11-day trek, but we were blessed with the opportunity to spend some three days with local “believers” and venture out into some areas where no tourist (or even white person for that matter) has gone before.

On our arrival we met a “leader” in the area who immediately took us under his wing. We spent three days with him, visiting “gatherings,” encouraging believers, and having meals with his family. On one of our days with him, we were unbelievably blessed through a visit to a House Fellowship in a remote village outside of Pokhara.

Now, to be honest, I was not looking forward to this outing. He told us we were going to be hiking into a believer's home where every week a group of them would get together to praise and worship the Father. Now, that sounds wonderful and romantic and totally what you envision when you think about reaching the unreached of the world, but in my experience thus far of being overseas, you never get what you expect, so I was a little skeptical to say the least. But, I put on my hiking boots and a smile and we ventured out of the safety of the tourist town one hot, sunny afternoon. Justin, on the other hand, was stoked, so he did help “carry” me for the first half of the day.

So, we hopped on a local taxi which took us about 30 minutes outside of the town to the top of a small hill (by some standards a mountain for sure, but not here in Nepal). We stopped in what looked like a very random location, but off to the side of the road, we found a small trail that led down into the valley, the “leader” we were with pointed out a small house way down the mountainside next to the river – our destination -- and we started walking. And, it was down…..like 45min to an hour straight down a mix of trail and manmade rock steps. The whole time I kept thinking about how I didn’t want to hike back upJ, luckily our leader had another idea for our departure, but you’ll see that later.

Now, in the scheme of things, this is a very short hike compared to what most of the “believers” here do all the time to reach their country with the Good News, and compared to the 11-day one I was about to embark on two days later, but my selfish, want to be in-control heart needed some operating on, which this little hike eventually was able to do.

By the time we reached the valley and crossed our first “Nepali bridge” I was doing 50% better (that smile is half real). Regardless of the sweat dripping down my back, I was at this point excited to be there and do what we came to do…..oh how silly I am sometimes.

After crossing the bridge, we arrived at the house of a believer in the village. He and his family open up their home every week to a handful of surrounding believers so that they can study the Word and worship His name together.

We were immediately welcomed by huge smiling faces and warm greetings. Okay….maybe the hike down in the heat was worth it. At this House Fellowship, anybody was welcome, no matter what your age, caste, or status in the village. From age 4 to 84!

This beautiful old man, had just found the Son two months ago and is extremely joyful in spite of the tough circumstances he finds himself in. His wife passed away many years earlier and all of his children are either estranged from him or dead. He lives alone, survives on very little food, but is beginning to find a new family in his believing brothers and sisters.

After meeting everyone, we spent the next two hours singing praises to His name together, sharing with one another about Him, and then sharing our prayer requests with each other. Justin and I got to do a portion of the sharing which was amazing!

By this point the Father had worked on my heart and opened my eyes to see His glory and the amazing way He is bringing people into His kingdom all over the world! In a remote village, in the hills of Nepal, where some have been forgotten, He has not forgotten them. He is sending people to share the Good News of the saving power of the Son. He is freeing people from a life of either endlessly trying to be better to be accepted and have a better lot in the next life or hopelessly giving up on this life, believing that the karma cannot be changed.

Here is a group picture of all of us right before we left.

That hot, sunny afternoon, we were witness to His work and will be forever changed. A week later, when we were trekking to Annapurna Base Camp, I came upon these verses in my study and couldn’t help but think of this experience.

“I will praise you, Lord, among the nations, I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted O God above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.” Ps. 57:10-11

Praise His Name!!

P.S. So remember how I was hoping we wouldn't have to hike all the way back up the mountain to get out.....we started walking the two hour walk out of the valley, following the river, which was longer but flatter (okay, I'm in), and spotted these guys giving their tractor a wash, and with a little request from our friend, we hitched a ride on this, making it back out of the valley in record time :-) !! Besides being a little on the bumpy side, it was the coolest ending to an AWESOME day!

Is he the ONE?

2010-02-25T08:03:00.001-07:00

Oh yes, the question that every girl asks herself when she begins to have feelings for someone of the opposite sex. Could he be the one I’m supposed to marry? Is he my soul mate? Can he complete me? What should I do? How can I know?

Just like college age students and older in the States continually ask these questions, we have found these all too familiar questions on the hearts of students in Nepal. Last week was a very busy week for us and amidst our several events and activities (Women’s Conference, teaching at their college – Justin on leadership and me on counseling, and visits to the Children’s Home), we got the opportunity to speak to about 100 college age students on God’s Will in finding a life partner.

Yeah, how did we get roped into this you might ask? It all started one evening when our hosts (well the wife) asked us to tell her our “love story. We told her our whole story from the very first time we met to our beautiful wedding dayJ. If anyone is familiar with our story, you know that is quite a humorous one (well humorous now, maybe not during it). I of course was very very picky and thought that if I didn’t know the guy was the ONE within seconds of knowing him, than I shouldn’t even get to know him anymore. Most of the time this was a good thing and protected me from a lot of heartache (I had never been in a relationship until Justin), but as I got older, this thinking made me very fearful and God had to really work on my heart to take a step of faith in this part of my life

Anyway, she loved our story! She loved the fact that I didn’t date Justin right away and that he had to spend a lot of time pursuing me. She related to this a bit herself, and she really liked how Justin was so patient and waited on God’s timing. Also, she loved how we had a period of time apart (3 months when I went to the Dominican Republic) that helped solidify our feelings for each other and confirmed in our minds that we were going to get married. So, after listening so intently to us, she told us she would like us to share at the program for college age students they were having on Friday. They were having a full day program consisting of worship and teaching and the topic was God’s will in our lives – specifically our career and finding a life partner. She would take the morning session and then we would have the afternoon. I shared a little bit about God’s will and figuring out your career in life as our host also loved my attendance to medical school for ONE dayJ. Then Justin and I, together talked about finding that special someone.

So what do you tell college age students about finding a spouse in a culture that is totally different than your own - a culture where arranged marriage is still very much practiced? Yes, before we spoke, several girls who were believers asked me my view on “love marriage” versus “arranged marriage,” and the majority of them preferred arranged marriage and were going to marry whomever their parents chose for them. This might seem crazy to an “independent” American woman, but the girls I spoke with truly believed their parents would chose someone that they would love. Now, don’t get me wrong, I would never want this for myself (no offense mom and dad), but I think I need to be careful not to judge so quickly.

So, as the basis for our teaching, we simply shared our storyJ, which we think went over very well. We got lots of laughs and many comments after the program such as,”we were very much blessed by your love relationship story” and, “now, I am going to go and pray a lot more.” Not sure if they felt compelled to pray for us more, but nonetheless, still happy that they felt compelled to prayJ.

We shared how each of us had a “list” in our head of requirements for our future mate, and as we shared this, our host decided it was such good information that she wrote it on the white board and all the students took notes! Oh gosh! We shared how it took a long time for anything to really develop for us and we weren’t always sure it was God’s will. We shared how we were always seeking counsel and praying about things, and eventually knew that it was what we wanted. What was really cool to share simply by our presence in their country was how we were doing ministry TOGETHER and making decisions TOGETHER about our life and future. I fear this is not done as much here as women are often looked down upon and treated as the inferior partner, with the husband ruling the relationship and their lives.

We pray that through our story, God spoke to the students about his love for every person in this world equally and his design for marriage in this same vain. We also pray that through our joy and laughter (you know we can’t do anything without a few jokes and laughter) they saw life and a picture of how much HE loves HIS bride! Please pray for the young believers here that they would fall more in love with our Savior and then sense His will for their life – learning to seek Him first and then when married love their spouse with His love.

Nepal: Weeks 3 & 4

2010-02-15T04:57:00.001-07:00

VIEWER BEWARE! There are some gruesome photos of sacrificed animals at a Hindu temple. Those with a weak stomach, consider yourself warned. :-)

Nepal Weeks 3 & 4

Tour of Kathmandu:

2010-02-15T04:12:00.008-07:00

We have been in Kathmandu, Nepal for almost a month now, and we thought we would give you a little description of our temporary home. Despite some of the less than enjoyable attributes of this city, we have grown to love those we are staying with and everyone we meet associated with The Way. Their love and kindness make up for anything the city lacks. That being said, we introduce to you… (Drum roll please) Kathmandu:

Elevation: 1350 meters, 4,423 feet

Temperature: Cold, above freezing most of the time, but cold, especially when it’s cloudy outside or rainy, then it’s even colder. None of the homes are heated, and even though the concrete and brick can hold some heat from the day, even inside it’s pretty cold, especially in the rooms that don’t get much sunlight. We mainly wear a fleece and our down REI jacket’s all the time, because it’s cold. We are very comfortable at night though with our 3 thick, blankets. And it does get warm when we sit in the sun, either on the grass or on the roof.

Currency: Nepali Rupees, or NRs. It’s about 72 or 73 NRs to one US Dollar.

Religion: Mostly Hindu, but there is also a large Buddhist population. The Buddhists and Hindu get along quite nicely; in fact they even share temples for some festivals. Neither of these groups gets along very well with those of The Way, especially Hindus.

Population: Kathmandu has around 1 million people in the city, up from 700,000 just 4 years ago, and there are 3 million people in the “Kathmandu Valley”, which is the large area around the city, although it is hard to tell sometimes when the city ends and another area begins.

The People: The people are for the most part helpful and friendly. The children we come across around town are always very friendly and love to practice their English on us. There are a few exceptions as one lady stuck her tongue out at Krista and kind of glared at me as we walked on by (not really sure why any of that happened – maybe something spiritual).

Anyone associated with The Way has been very, very nice to us and we are always given really great tea wherever we go, and usually a meal, although sometimes we decline as it may not sit well with our sensitive American stomachs.

Sights, sounds and smells: Kathmandu is very crowded, dirty and dusty. Any stream or water we see usually has quite a bit of trash in it, and some places on the side of the road have become local dumping areas. There also seems to be a haze that has settled over the city, probably a mix of exhaust and dirt that has been kicked up by traffic in the very dry winter months, an occasional rain, although cold, sure cleans up the air, and makes for some great views of the Himalayas. A lot of locals, and bus drivers, wear masks to keep from having to breathe this haze.

The city is pretty loud as well, with a constant hum of horns, some of which are quite fun and entertaining, dogs barking, and during the day, children playing.

As far as smells go, there seems to be a slight underlying odor of car fumes and trash that is mixed with the occasional whiff of incense being burned in one of the shops. You tend to get used to the smells so that a whiff of incense kind of shocks you.

Infrastructure: Most of the streets are very narrow, and it’s amazing that people, bicycles, motorbikes, cars and buses, oh, and chickens, goats, dogs and cows, can actually share the road. Which means walking on these streets makes for quite an adventure (no sidewalks) and both Krista and I have been hit by side mirrors of cars while they were passing us. Now, most vehicles honk to let you know they’re coming, but with so much honking going on, it’s easy to just tune it out and not pay attention.

There is one “large”, two plus lane (unpainted) road which wraps around Kathmandu, like a big “ring” and is therefore called Ring Road. This is the main road in Kathmandu, and nearly everything is accessed from Ring Road.

The central and older parts of the city have very old brick buildings, sometimes with roofs made of dirt and grass. The newer areas have nice, newer homes that are usually multiple stories and made of concrete and brick. Any piece of land that doesn’t have a building on it will be used as a garden or farmland. Every square inch in the city, and some of the country, is used.

Our Lodging: We are staying at the Blessing House, a four story concrete and brick house. We have the 3^rd floor all to ourselves, unless they have other guests, and we are blessed to have a bathroom right off our room, and to be on the south side of the house, which means we get the best sunshine in the day. The house is also in a great location, it is 3 blocks from the Ring Road and close to all the “projects” that our hosts are running.

The Food: Typical Nepali food is Daal Bhaat Tarkari and is eaten with your hands. Daal is like a lentil soup, bhaat is white rice, and tarkari is a generic term for vegetables cooked, usually cooked in some kind of curry. On special occasions, or if you are wealthy, you also get masu which is the generic term for meat and can include chicken, buffalo, goat, or wild boar (no cow here, so buffalo, or buff, is the “beef”). We’ve found that Nepali food is generally not very spicy by itself, but they usually have some achar on the side, ground up pickles, and this is spicy! Be careful how much of this you throw on your plate. For spicy food, grab some Newari food! The Newari is another people group that lives around Kathmandu, and their food is spicy, but delicious. And we can’t forget Krista’s favorite, the bread! Here it is chapati or roti, both are similar to India’s Naan, and both are delicious.

Shopping: There really doesn’t seem to be a “downtown”, mall, or central shopping area for the locals, every little area has shops within minutes that will have everything from chicken (alive or dead) to wild boar (mostly dead) to internet to medicine to chocolate to photo printing… pretty much the works.

There are some bigger market areas that will have larger selections of goods. For the tourists, there is Thamel, which has all sorts of outdoor gear (funny though, how every jacket looks the same but has different brand names on them, from North Face to Mountain Hardwear), restaurants and places to stay. And there is one grocery store/ department store call Bhat Bhateni that has everything in one place, inside a nice building, with good parking, and at a fixed cost, we do get a “special” price when we visit some of the smaller shops and the price isn’t on the item. Big fan of Bhat Bhateni. Items are for the most part less expensive here than in the States, especially considering the exchange rate. We just bought a medium size jar of Peanut Butter for $2 US. The big exceptions are Cadbury’s chocolate and Snickers, they’re pricey.

Transportation: Lots of walking! Everything is pretty close to the Blessing House… 5 minutes to the main “gathering” building, 20 minutes to the children’s home, 25 minutes to the Bible College, and 30 minutes to Thamel, the tourist shopping area, and Justin’s favorite coffee and internet cafe!

Taxis are another option, and are relatively inexpensive. To get a Taxi to Bhaktapur, an hour away, it costs 550 NRs, or roughly $7.50 US. To get to Thamel, it’s around 200 NRs, or $2.75 US.

There are also buses, big ones and little minibuses, which travel around Ring Road. These busses are very cheap, but crowded and you have to be able to communicate with the “Bus Master” (every bus has a driver, and then someone who hangs out the door to drum up business and inform potential customers of the route for that bus). One time, on the way to visit a Buddhist temple, we had our host write down the name of the temple in Nepali, which was very helpful when the Bus Master wasn’t sure what we were trying to say. We just showed him the hand written name and we were all set, he even informed us what stop we wanted… all for about 30 NRs, or $.42 US, for both of us.

In any vehicle, or walking even, the trend is to stay to the left side of the road, but really it’s more of a free-for-all with a few honks of the horn to let the other vehicle know you are overtaking them. That makes any ride an adventure, with lots of horn honking and sudden stops, especially when you are trying to overtake a vehicle that really doesn’t want to be overtaken and the on-coming traffic isn’t giving way to you either. This jerky style of driving can lead one to become a little car-sick, but rolling down the windows just adds dust and various odors to the situation, not really helping. Not to mention it can get quite hot in a vehicle during the day, but again, rolling down the window has its own side-effects that may make a hot drive seem the favorable option.

Shoe Story #3: Sue

2010-02-09T04:16:00.003-07:00

Meet Sue*

I (Krista) met Sue at the Children’s Home here that we have had the opportunity to hang out at. The last time I was there, I heard her story and had to share it with you.

Sue was born into a very high caste, Braham family in the Hindu religion. Because of this she was married at the age of seven (an arranged one of course)! She was a very devout Hindu and lived in her village, just outside of Kathmandu, with her husband’s family for years. As she grew older she developed what she called a “mental illness.” She said she “would sit in one spot and never move and hardly ever eat.” She was in this almost catatonic state for 18 years! In this state she and her new family searched for healing. They consulted many “Gurus” of the Hindu faith and even some witch doctors, but nothing seemed to help. One day, twelve years ago a team of believers came to her village to share and found her there. They prayed over her and immediately she was healed!! At seeing this, she and her mother-in-law became believers! They right at once gave up their Hindu faith! Others were not so moved….her husband and her daughter wanted nothing to do with her new found faith and they left her.

Her husband left her for another woman and her daughter went with him. He began a new family and now they have nothing to do with Sue – they are actually over in the States. Sue and her mother-in-law stayed very close and took care of each other. They joined a community and grew in their faith. A few years ago, her mother-in-law passed away. Sue was left all alone at this point with no family. Through the community she was a part of, she learned about a Children’s Home that existed. So she visited this home and immediately was welcomed and fell in love with it.

Today, if you took a walk in Sue’s shoes, you would wake up alone in a village outside of Kathmandu. As the sun was rising you would tend to your farm and cattle and do the daily tasks around your home. You would then begin the lonely one hour journey by foot on winding, dirt roads into Kathmandu. Your journey would end at a Children’s Home where you loved on and helped care for 50 orphan children. There you would find love and acceptance – a new family given to you by your new Father – a daughter and lots of grandchildren. At the Children’s Home, she calls the House Mom her daughter….a “daughter that He gave me since mine left.” You would find purpose and hope for your life, and a way to serve the loving Father who healed you.

This beautiful woman was so excited to share her story with me. It is amazing to see her strong faith and joy! Her life is a testimony to the power of His love and to the love of His followers. Here is just one example of what the Big Man is doing in Nepal through healings and the love of His people.

As we take some steps in Sue’s shoes, may the Father open our eyes to the areas in our lives that He has brought healing and restoration, and may we seek out ways to show others that same healing love.

*Names have been changed for security reasons.

Nepal: Weeks 1 & 2

2010-02-05T03:06:00.002-07:00

Nepal Weeks 1 and 2

End of Chitwan and more Kathmandu...

2010-02-03T04:32:00.002-07:00

Well, we are back from our Chitwan adventure with Nitu, our guide and niece of the people we are staying with, and after our fun with the elephants, rhinos, and crocodiles (where we left off last time), we made it to a children’s home and a “gathering”.

Friday, we went and visited a small children’s home in the area. Transportation where we were in southern Nepal is a very tricky thing, as very few people have cars, and where we were, there aren’t any taxis, and few buses… so the best alternative is a motorcycle. Good thing I (Justin) got my motorcycle license a few years back, because that is how Krista and I made our way to the children’s home about 30 minutes away. As I remembered the basics of driving a motorcycle, and tried to follow our guide on the motorbike in front of us, I quickly found the two most important functions in Nepal, the horn and the throttle (the break is only used as a last resort). Upon a grateful arrival, we spent the day with the leader there showing us his community building, and plans for growth. About 1 pm when the children were done with school for the day, the Nepali school has a half day on Fridays, we spent some time with the children learning songs and dances, and teaching them songs and some dance moves… their dances were way cooler than ours. And we shared some stories from the Good Book and even handed out some treats. We then played a very exciting game of Bucket Ball (a variation of basketball) until we were all too tired to continue. And we ended the day with some typical Nepali food for dinner… we’ll explain more on the Nepali food in another blog.

Saturday, which is more like their Sunday, we went to a “gathering” and sang some songs, and just when I thought I wasn’t going to have to speak, everyone looked at me, and I guess I was on. So I gave a short message, which with translation actually turned into a 45 minute message, and then we ended the “gathering”. Krista went to the leader’s house, while the leader, one of his top guys, and I took a little tour of his other “gathering” buildings and a spot for a future building… all via motorbike, one motorbike, which I drove with the other two guys on the back. That sure increased my prayer life, especially when the dirt road I was on turned into a narrow bridge over a canal. Yikes. After the tour we joined up with Krista and enjoyed lunch with the leader and his family at their very simple house. In fact it was more like a little hut with mud walls (we’ll post some photos)… surrounded by chickens, buffalo, and goats (kind of a loud place). Oh and a house cat… good for killing mice and rats they told me. After our meal there, we headed back to our hotel to relax before dinner at Nitu’s family’s house of a very good and traditional Nepali meal, complete with the delicious Nepali tea, Chiya.

Back in Kathmandu, we have done a little more site-seeing around the city. We enjoyed a tour of a very ancient part of town, where cars are not allowed, that has many Hindu Temples and some local artisans, especially potters. We also got to go to the farm of our host, Brother Chaatri. He has a few projects he is working on these days and this farm is one of his big projects. They have about 3 to 4 acres with some chickens and goats, and beautifully terraced farmland where they will cycle through 3 crops: rice, wheat and vegetables. It’s also a place where he can employ some of the poor of Nepal… the couple that run the farm were at one time very poor, not believers, and about to get a divorce when our host gave them the land to work on and counseled them. Now they are both believers, thriving financially and their marriage is restored! While we were there, they made us a super lunch which we enjoyed in the warm sunshine by the creek that runs right by the farm! It was a great place and he has some great ideas of expanding it. We’ll post some photo’s soon.

We have been enjoying ourselves at their house as well, staying warm with multiple layers of winter clothes, thick socks and hot Tea. We have been reading a lot, having great conversations with our host couple (they have some amazing stories – we’ll post a few of these here and there as Shoe Stories) and even enjoying a little TV once and a while (way to go Federer in the Aussie open). Now that we’re back in Kathmandu, we’re excited to begin visiting their Children’s Home and their college soon. Tomorrow we are planning to get up early, 4 am, and head to a local area that has a great view of the sunrise over the Himalayas and Mt. Everest (The highest mountain in the world)!!

Adventure in Southern Nepal

2010-01-28T06:54:00.003-07:00

We jumped on a bus early Monday morning, with a niece of the couple we are staying with as our guide, and headed down to an area known as Chitwan. It's a popular tourist destination in Southern Nepal with safari type activities and warmth :-). Our hosts arranged a mini vacation for us it seemed.....surprise! So we're down here now and enjoying some time with the locals....the people and the animals. Today we got to play in the river with some elephants! I'll post some pics of that once we get back to Kathmandu. Their pretty funny...especially the ones of the elephant knocking us off it's back into the river. We are loving our time here, especially all the time we are getting to read the Good Book. And the family that is hosting us is wonderful!
Tomorrow we are going to a children's home and then on Saturday we are going to a "gathering" and to hang out with one of their leader's family afterwards. We'll try and post some pics and more about our time in the plains of Nepal when we get back into Kathmandu on Sunday. Keep us in your thoughts (especially for the bus ride back....it's a little crazy on those mountain roads :-)) and thanks for all your support!

Shoe Story #2: Johnson and his parents

2010-01-20T20:51:00.003-07:00

So, we’re trying something a little different on the blog J. You can read the first Shoe Story for more information.

This week, try to get into Johnson’s shoes:

I (Krista) met Johnson at one of the medical clinics that we did in Kisii, Kenya on the EPI project last week. He is a 12 year old boy (sorry, I didn’t get any pictures of him) and lives in a poor, rural village. There are three children in his family and he is the second born, also the only son. He and his parents came to the clinic and his father shared with the doctor that his symptom was that “he faints when I beat him.” The common practice in many African nations is to use physical discipline as a means of teaching children right and wrong, but this one seemed a little more severe and so I got the chance to sit down and talk with Johnson for a while. After speaking with Johnson for quite some time I learned some saddening information….Johnson was not only getting beaten at his home, he was also getting beaten at school. He described how he felt by saying “I have no peace” while trying to hold back a few tears as to not be seen as a weak boy. I also learned that when he is beaten by his father, his hands and feet are tied up while he is either whipped or cained. The fainting occurs because he probably has some sort of panic attach during it (understandably so). Johnson admitted that he has been thinking about running away from home.

I then got the opportunity to talk with Johnson’s father who said that Johnson was getting into a lot of trouble by stealing money from them, disobeying, etc. His father was very open and honest with the fact that he beats his son and this was a surprise to me at first. I thought, wouldn’t you want to hide something like that, especially from foreign doctors and counselors? But this man didn’t hide it; he really wanted help in trying to raise his boy up in the right way. He was terribly naïve and did what he thought fathers do to discipline their children….which made talking with him very non-threatening.

So I was able to talk to both his parents about providing a safe and loving environment for Johnson and rewarding him when he does things right, and some more counseling stuff J….and also nicely warned them that the physical discipline was destroying him and he might run away some day. The local pastor that we were working with also met Johnson’s parents and shared with them about trying to raise children up the right way and gave them some great encouragement and his contact information should they ever need help. The parents were extremely receptive to all of this advice, just soaking it up, which was amazing. It was like they were hearing it for the first time….like there really was another way to help Johnson.

At this point, I went and got Johnson and had him come so that we could all talk about it. It was like a mini family counseling sessionJ. Johnson was reassured that his parents do really love him and that they make mistakes, but more importantly his parents agreed, in front of him, to loving him in different ways now. The pastor was supportive and also told Johnson that he could come to him if he ever needed to talk to someone. We prayed with the family and all walked away feeling pretty hopeful about the situation.

About a half hour later I saw Johnson out of the corner of my eye as I was counseling another woman. When I was done talking with her, I asked him what was up and he said that his father allowed him to come and ask me if he could go with me. So, trying to hold my tears back this timeJ, I asked him to go get his father so I could see what was going on. While he was doing that, I thought about how I was going to break it to Justin that a 12 year old boy was coming with us to NepalJ. He went and got his dad and when they came back I told his father what Johnson had requested. His father explained that he gave him permission to come up and talk to me, but didn’t know he was going to ask to go with me. But then, what happened next was unbelievable! His father looked at me and said, “You know, I think the reason he wants to go with you is because you have shown him love. “ I was speechless for a few seconds and knew that God was there with us at that moment. It was like a light went on for this man and I really sensed that he was going to try and change. Before leaving he said, “When you come back next year, I will invite you to my house and you will see how it has changed.” With Johnson standing there, I explained why he couldn’t go with me and how I would be very delighted to come to their house if I came back to Kenya.

I left feeling more hopeful, although still saddened by the fear in this boy’s heart and what he has been through. I do trust God was at work that day and I believe that He will continue to be with that family. Please join me in praying for Johnson and his parents. Pray that they would begin to change and that Jesus would work miracles. Also, praise Him for bringing Johnson and his parents to the clinic that Friday afternoon.

All of this took place on my birthday....I thank God for allowing me to be used by Him that day! It was truly an amazing experience and a great birthday present.

Thanks!

Kenya EPI Project 2010 Photo Album

2010-01-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

Kenya EPI Project 2010

Shoe Story #1: Energy

2010-01-08T04:18:00.003-07:00

We are going to begin a little series of sorts. It's called Shoe Stories. We realized that our blog was a lot about what we are doing and what we are learning, which is great, but we want to add another dimension to it. So every so often we are going to post a "Shoe Story." It is going to be some information about someone that we have had the priviledge to meet and love. Their story and their pictures will be a way for you all to "get into their shoes." So, here is one of our friends from Zimbabwe, whom, if you've been following our blog and picture albums, you've already seen quite a bit. We miss him terribly!

Meet Energy:

Here is Energy enjoying his first marshmallow when we made smores with all the orphans at the Borrowdale orphanage where we lived for the 11 weeks we were in Zimbabwe. Energy came to the Borrowdale orphanage about a year and a half ago.

We first met him last Christmas when we came over for one week and during are most recent stay we immediately fell back in love with him. He was fairly shy around us at first, but after a little bit, he warmed right up and was even following us around and going on runs with us. He loved Justin!
Energy, who is now almost 4 years old, does not have any parents alive anymore. Right before they brought him in a year and a half ago, he was found sitting next to his dead mother, the only person he had caring for him in his life at the time. For the first few months at the orphanage, he would stay awake and watch as his house mother went to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes he would go over to her and pry them open to make sure she was still alive. His story brings tears to our eyes for sure.

Now that he has been at the Borrowdale orphanage for a year and a half, you can see joy springing up in his soul. He has several friends and one best friend named Farai who is the same age. He is one of the youngest children they are looking after, so he gets lots of attention! How can you not give this little guy attention when you see those big eyes and cute smile? He also attends pre-school every day at the Borrowdale orphanage and enjoys coloring lots!

Now that you have a small glimpse into Energy's life, please pray for him as he grows up without his biological parents. In a couple of years, he will hopefully begin grade school. Pray for God's provision and protection on his life as he gets ready for this.

Hopefully this has helped you get into Energy's shoes, although small, and oftentimes non-existent as he runs around barefoot most of his days. Thus concludes our first "Shoe Story" with hopefully more to come. Thanks!

Photo Album - Last 2 weeks in Zim...

2010-01-04T05:57:00.001-07:00

Last Two Weeks In Zim

Makatendeka Jesu!

2010-01-04T05:50:00.000-07:00

In one of our favorite worship songs from Zimbabwe, they sing, “Makatendeka Jesu” which means “you are faithful, Jesus.” As we say goodbye to Zimbabwe and begin our journey to other places (Kenya for a week and then Nepal for 10 weeks), we are overwhelmed by how faithful God is. He was so faithful to us throughout our time in Zim. Every time we were told we were going to a new place in the country to minister, we were anxious and at times questioned whether it was God’s plan for us. Yet, every single time, we came back from each place extremely blessed. Blessed by His people that took us in like we were family, blessed by the joy that those who had so little exuded, and blessed by the way in which God used us to encourage and strengthen His church. It was unbelievable! And although, in a couple of the places the hotter than Hades temperatures did not seem like a blessing to my soul, in the end, God was faithful, and even in those places, we were blessed and saw His hand at work.

So, now we’ve been in South Africa for 6 days. It has been a really great time of processing our time in Zim, as well as resting and recuperating. If you consider the last 11 weeks a marathon, then the last week of our time in Zim was the sprint to the finish line, which left us pretty exhausted. The “sprint” at the end was the Eternal Word December Conference (Eternal Word is the group of churches we’ve been helping with). The December Conference is their largest, most important event of the year as it is when people from all of the 295 churches that they have planted all over Zimbabwe come together for a 3 day time of preaching, prayer, and worship. It’s held right over the Christmas holiday so more people can come (Dec 23 to Dec 26,) and they pack it in! The day begins at 4:00am with morning prayers and then preaching starts right after breakfast at 8:00am and goes until 10:00pm with small breaks for lunch and dinner. Pastors from all over Harare, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and the United States J come to preach at this event. This is also the time when Tatenda casts the vision for the next year, deals with any church issues, and ordains elders and pastors. This year 1,000 people made the sometimes difficult journey into Harare from rural areas and villages all over the country to spend Christmas in a much different way than most people around the world.

This year we were much more involved in the conference than we were last year when we came over for one week. We got to see and help with a lot of the behind the scenes work including transporting 45 orphans to the conference from Borrowdale (where we lived). In addition, we also made an intro video that was played on a big screen at the conference for the first time ever. Here, we quickly become experts in filming, editing, and video production. Justin did a ton on this video and that wasn’t even his main role at the conference. He was given three, two hour preaching spots in the program! So, each of the three days, Justin got to bring the word to 1,000 Zimbabweans – both extremely terrifying and extremely rewarding for him at the same time. For the most part I got to sit and enjoy the preaching and the praise and worship, except for a few hours on two of the days when I did a counseling training for some pastors and orphan caregivers from the rural areas whom I hadn’t trained before.

God demonstrated His faithfulness to us in the mere scheduling of our time in Zimbabwe, because although this event is crazy busy and exhausting, it was the perfect way to end our 11 weeks of ministry there. We were able to reconnect with many people whom we had had the opportunity to encourage and teach throughout our time in Zim. The highlight of the conference for us was the last night of the event when Tatenda ordained 25 pastors and over 200 elders. As new churches are being planted and people are rising up to lead them, this is the way in which Tatenda sets up leadership within the churches. Last year we almost fell asleep during this partJ, but this year, we knew many of the ordained elders and pastors, and we were able to share in their excitement. It was awesome and we had to hold back tears for some of our new, dear friends. In addition, with some of our support money, we were able to purchase 85 Bibles in Shona (the native language) that were distributed at the conference. Now 85 rural churches have a Bible in their language that the congregation can share! We also were able to give one Shona Bible to our friend Noel from Mbare, whom I wrote about in another blog (coolest Christmas present we’ve ever given)! This was awesome to be a part of as well.

After the conference we only had one full day to finish packing and say our final goodbyes before flying out early on the 29^th. We spent our last afternoon spending time with Tatenda and Lucia’s family and playing with the Borrowdale orphans that we had gotten to know and love, and now miss terriblyJ.

We have four more days in South Africa before we begin the second phase of our journey – Nepal. Before going to Nepal, however, we are meeting up with a short-term EPI team in Kenya for a week, and although we are nervous and anxious about what these next adventures are going to bring, Zimbabwe has helped to remind us that God is faithful in everything and everywhere!!

Makatendeka Jesu!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

2009-12-21T10:25:00.002-07:00

Weeks 7, 8, and 9 Picasa Photo Album

2009-12-19T04:34:00.002-07:00

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

2009-11-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

Zimbabwe Week 5

Thankfulness

2009-11-28T07:04:00.002-07:00

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

2009-11-23T05:47:00.003-07:00

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

2009-11-17T01:20:00.002-07:00

Zimbabwe Week 4 - Hatcliff Visit and Kotwa Trip

Hitting the One Month Mark!

2009-11-17T00:01:00.006-07:00

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

2009-11-10T05:12:00.001-07:00

Click here to go to our updated Picasa Photo Album:

Zimbabwe Week 3 - Orphan Feedings

A PLAN is just a PLAN...

2009-11-10T05:09:00.002-07:00

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...

2009-11-05T05:13:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-11-03T08:27:00.008-07:00

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

2009-10-28T05:58:00.001-06:00

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!

2009-10-28T05:52:00.002-06:00

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

2009-10-28T05:46:00.003-06:00

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

2009-10-28T05:28:00.002-06:00

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. :-)

2009-10-28T05:27:00.001-06:00

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!!

2009-10-20T09:23:00.002-06:00

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...

2009-10-15T00:20:00.003-06:00

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 . . . .

2009-10-13T19:05:00.004-06:00

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...

2009-10-02T19:43:00.012-06:00

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

2009-09-28T17:13:00.008-06:00

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!

2009-09-21T21:10:00.002-06:00

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

...with sleeping bags.

2009-09-15T21:46:00.002-06:00

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....

2009-09-13T21:59:00.006-06:00

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...

2009-08-30T16:40:00.008-06:00

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?

2009-08-13T20:11:00.008-06:00

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!!

2009-08-03T10:15:00.005-06:00

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.