Natasha

Name: Natasha
Age: 16
Birthday: July 24th
Grade: 7th
Prayer Requests: Eyes to be healed and headaches to stop. To know her father's love and support

Natasha is a vibrant, energetic, fun young lady. She lives with her mom and 2 younger sisters. Her parents divorced in 2001 and her father has lived in another province since then. Her mom doesn't let her see him and this makes her really sad because she misses him. Her mom sells socks to support the family, and they attend church together. Natasha suffers from severe headaches due to her eyes being bad. She has seen several of the "free" eye doctors but glasses and medicine have caused her eyes to swell, so she was told to stop wearing them and has found nothing else that helped. The picture below is from shoe day...Natasha is praising God for bringing her new shoes!!

Lewis!

Name: Lewis
Age: 5
Birthday: Unknown
Grade: 1st
Prayer Requests: Body pains will go away. That he won't miss his dad or brother anymore

Lewis lives with his mom, 2 brothers and 2 sisters. His dad died a while ago and he misses him alot. His 2 uncles also live with him. He attends church with his mom. His youngest brother died a few months ago, and he dreams about him sometimes, which makes him sad and sometimes scared. His mom works in town and sells clothes. Lewis loves football, and when he grows up he wants to be a dishwasher or cleaner.

Elizabeth

Name: Elizabeth
Age: 13
Birthday: Unknown
Grade: 6th
Prayer requests: Good grades in school so that she can be a lawyer. That she will open up so that she can make new friends.

Elizabeth was a sweet, shy girl who seemed to just want to make other people happy. She lives with her mom and sister. She has known Christ as her personal Saviour for many years and attends Pentacostal church with her mother. Elizabeth is very smart, and she wants to be a lawyer when she grows up. She is frustrated by her shyness and wants to open up; she says she only has one friend because she is so shy.

Kelvin

Name: Kelvin
Age: 8
Birthday: Doesn't know it
Grade: 2nd
Prayer requests: Stomach, headache and arm pain - all of which he has had for awhile.

Kelvin was one of my favorites (even if we're not supposed to have favorites!!). He was always talking to me (teaching me nyanja and imitating my english with lots of giggles!) and playing with my hair. He lives with his Dad, Mom, 3 brothers and 1 sister. They attend Catholic church together. His dad is a doctor. Kelvin wants to be a policeman when he grows up. He said his favorite thing is soccer (football!) and his least favorite thing is "playing". When I asked him why, the sweet boy said he doesn't like getting dirty, and when he has to play, he can't help getting dirty. When it was time to play soccer at camp, even though it's his favorite, he didn't play because there wasn't a grass field and he didn't want to get dirty! Instead, he sat with me and practiced his English

Back in action

Muli Bwanji all! So I've been settling in to my new home in London, and school and all that goes with arriving at a new school have really been filling up my days (and nights). But today I was just really struck by how selfish I'm being in ignoring the lives of my little ones. I'm struggling to find 5 minutes to devote to working on making their lives better, because I'd rather get 5 more minutes of sleep, or attend yet another party, etc. etc. Anyway, no more excuses, I'm back, and I'm going to get you the stories of each and every one of my kids. Also, I've been reading up on what is going on with Family Legacy, and there is a world of change on the horizon for my sweet kids! I will be posting more in days to come on how you can help continue to make a difference!

Thank you for your patience and support!
Love,
Hilary

Week 2 pics!

Hi all! Just wanted you to know I haven't disappeared, I'm just busy busy trying to pack up my life to move to London for 2 years! Stories and a more posts and pics will be coming, but in the mean time, check out this photo album of my 2nd week kids...4-6 year old boys! They were PRECIOUS!!!!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=126266864110.503317864110.1187108474051&page=1

Safe and Sound in the USofA

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that after 30+ hours of travel I have arrived safely in Dallas! It's going to be a crazy couple of days, but I have lots to post, so I'll probably do it in pieces, especially since I don't have a computer in my home any more! I promise to update soon!!

Most importantly, thank you for all of your prayers for safe travels. Now I just ask you to pray for the last group serving in Zambia this week, and of course for my kiddos - that they are safe and protected and remember that they are indeed loved.

1st Week of Camp LIFE

WOW. God is at work here in a SERIOUS way. This week was amazing. I don't really know where to begin. To be honest, it wasn't at all what I expected (although I don't think I really knew what to expect, yet that statement somehow makes sense)

First off, we are staying in a really nice, safe compound. There are about 8 villas that have our group living in them. Mine has 4 rooms and had 10 girls staying in it. 1 full bathroom/shower room, 1 bathroom with a bath only, and 1 "powder room". We have a big family room and kitchen so we can all hang out and talk about the next day and pray for each other and our kiddos. Sunday we went to church, and it was AWESOME. They are just so full of the HolySpirit here and just really know how to worship and praise the Lord. It's contagious. After church they took us to the market area nearby, where I had lunch with my new friends and then wandered the market. Bought a couple of fun things (yea for Christmas shopping!) And then managed to get that short entry off before it was time to go. We had to be back to our village for a meeting and dinner. We met our partners, mine was Teza Nampasa. We hit it off well. She is also 26, and to be honest, I'm pretty sure she's much better off than most of the Zambian volunteers. Her father is a college professor in Botswana, and she had some nicer clothes and a really nice bag for her stuff. She works as a social worker, so I felt good about her ability to help me through some of the tougher things I was expecting to encounter with my kids.

Monday came and the Americans are all bused in from our village to the church where we hold Camp LIFE. When we get there, the Zambian evangilists, apostles and deacons (different roles for the volunteers) were already there singing in a big circle. We joined in and then one of them leads a prayer. Holy cow can they pray! I mean, the passion and emotion that they just pour out to the Lord is inspiring. And these people have NOTHING compared to me, yet they are just so grateful to their Father. It really is eye opening to my tendency to think that I have the things I do through my own work. This was kind of the ritual of the morning every day. Then we would go with our Zambian partners to discuss the plan and pray together until the kids arrived. But oh my gosh! Monday the arrival is SOOO much fun. The busses start coming in and the kids are screaming and cheering and singing at the top of their lungs. They are just so precious! They march off their busses and get into lines grouped by schools, and the Zambians sort them out by age groups. Then they start pairing up Counselors to the groups of kids. Teza and I stood there watching and the little ones were just so adorable, and we really wanted little girls. But I noticed this one group of big girls with a little tiny boy and I seemed to know they would be ours. But it was funny because I didn't realize it was even that group when we first got them, probably for at least an our. We got to our spot and Teza got names and then I had to go get materials for our name necklaces, and then it was time for the first assembly. During the necklace time a teacher came and took away one of my sweet girls, Mervis, but I didn't know why. She came back just before the assembly, and she had the tiny boy with her. He is her oldest sister's baby - he's only 4 but he looked 2 at the most. Gangya was his name and he is just the cutest little pumpkin. As we entered the auditorium, one of the deacons took him to join a group but when we got back to our spot after the assembly, there he was again. We had lunch and played a fun game of keep away that they play - but instead of keeping away from just 1 person you're on teams. Like basketball with no goals. That seemed to bond me quite a bit with the girls. From there we went back into the auditorium for another assembly, and sweet Gangya crawled onto my lap and feel asleep! When it was time to dance I laid him on the ground and he didn't wake up with over 800 kids singing and dancing...he slept right through it! The poor pumpkin must have been exhausted! We did decide to talk to Mervis at the end of the day though, because she was like 2 different people based on him being around. She is only 13 years old, but was practically a mother to this kid, and the light completely left her eyes and she was totally focused on his safety and not on learning or opening up to us whenever he was around. At the end of the day the girls were so sweet with their prayer requests - things like patience, and not being moody in the morning, and being nice to their care takers. And now, after the week is over, i realize what HORRIBLE things go on in their world, but they just take it in stride and have this simple view of what they need from the Lord.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty similar to each other. Assemblies on the different themes I mentioned in an earlier post. Then small group to discuss application of the sermon and to let the kids pronounce "In Christ I am loved!" "In Christ I am Accepted!!!" "In Christ I am Secure!" Which was amazing. Especially I am loved. We do one-on-ones with each of the girls too, to make sure that we get into their hearts and know about anything that is a chain for them to try to help set them free. One of my girls was just so shut down, and I just had this thought that I needed to ask her if she ever felt loved by a human. She just burst into tears and said no, that nobody loved her, and she had been trying to commit suicide for many months, and thought about it daily until camp. This was on Wednesday. She said that she had realized on Monday though that she was loved by God, and that our teaching made her realize she wanted to live. What an amazing blessing. A terrible thing happened on Tuesday morning. Theresa, one of my girls from Monday wasn't there, and it was because her Father was mad that she had come to camp LIFE and beat her. I really struggled with guilt over this because I couldn't help but feel like if I hadn't been there than she wouldn't have come to Camp and that beating could have been avoided. But then on Friday my girls told me that he beat her again, and this was just for no reason. They said her eye was really bad and there was blood all over her face. Please pray for her safety. And that despite her terrible father that she remembers the one day of Camp LIFE and the fact that no matter what he says to her, she is loved. By me, by Teza and by her heavenly Father. I have so many stories, but I think I'll save some of them and do some updates to this blog still after I return to the states, because otherwise this will be a novel!!

Thursday is totally different. It's shoe day! The kids arrive, and the Zambians line them all up outside and march them in by school, and we get to give the kids brand new socks and shoes. All the shoes are donated through Buckner (spelling??) in Dallas, through their Shoes for Orphans program. What an amazing blessing. These kids are sooo grateful. It was the first day that my girls all ate lunch without bare feet. They were so proud. We also give them t-shirts and bandanas. Then we went with them to their communities. Wow. I mean, it was like visiting a shooting of a Compassion International ad. My kids were from Luyando school which is in one of the poorest, darkest parts of Lusaka. They send us in with our kids, our Zambian partner, and since my partner was a woman, a male Deacon to stay with me at all times. We got in there and the kids are to share what they've been learning at camp. I was just bursting with pride for my girls and amazement at how the Lord can work through children. These kids were sooo proud to march up and tell people about being a child of God, and what it means to be loved, accepted, significant, secure, victorious and FREE! And people really listened. One man asked them how he could have Christ in his life, and he was saved by children! How awesome that is, to know that our kids are going back and changing other's lives in their communities. Judith, one of my sweet oldest girls, told me that when she went home on Monday night, at first her father was mad at her for going to Camp LIFE because he thought that we are devil worshippers. But then she went to her uncle who has been mistreating her, and told him she forgives him and loves him...to which her uncle responded by apologizing and telling her he loved her!! And then her father told her she HAD to come back because he realized what a good thing we are doing for her! SO SO AWESOME!

Anyway, after visiting their community I realized that I still don't really get it. I don't see them living there. I don't look at that, and see the little girls that I have come to love living in that desperate poverty. It'd just not connecting. My emotions have a sort of brick wall up. I cry at night during dinner while people give testimonies and are retelling these awful stories, but when my 13 year old girls tell me they are approached by strangers for sex on their way to the market every single days, or when Christine told me that her mother tells her she's not really hers and beats her and sends her to live on the streets for no reason, or when they tell me that their teachers beat them with a hose pipe TWENTY FIVE times when they do something "wrong", I just am in a sort of disconnected shock. No tears. I don't know what it is, but it's like I'm looking at it through a camera lens or something. I just am not connecting to their pain. Please pray for me that I can let go of the guild I feel for this. I don't know what's causing it, and I feel like worrying about my lack of emotion is sort of getting in the way of me serving the kids. Yesterday, when it was time to say goodbye, my girls were sobbing. Tears poured like rivers from their eyes and I just held them and told them I loved them and to know that I would be praying for them every day, and that they needed to pray and remember me and remember that when everything seems dark that I'm praying for them and that God loves them. Still, no tears. I cried after they left when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to help them any more. And that was a bit of a sweet release, but I still just feel mostly dead of emotion. It's so odd.

Next week I"m going to request little boys. I want a totally different experience. Last week I didn't request anything because I just decided I would take whatever the Lord wanted for me and then ask for the opposite the following week. I'm really excited for the challenge, and excited to be able to give out more kisses and hugs, because my teenage girls weren't really into that until it was time to go, and I just feel like I came into this ready to give away so much love.

To anyone reading this, I would love for you to leave me some comments of encouragement or send me an email. I'll be able to check my email tomorrow and I'm feeling a bit lonely since most of my friends departed this morning. I"m sure I'll make new ones, but it would be nice to know that I have people thinking of me and praying for me and my kids!

Love and blessings to you all!

1st Day tomorrow!

So i only have 5 minutes to get this done an then have to run for the bus back to our village. Arrived at camp, got my bags (yea clothes!) and met lots of nice people. We had our welcome briefing and I'm praying a lot at the moment...mainly because I'm just a little freaked out that I'm not ready to handle this. I know that's not God's intentions though, so I'm just praying for calm and preparedness of heart. Please do the same! I have to head back now to meet my Zambian partner for the week. Please pray for communication and cooperation and of course...Fun! I will post my next update on Saturday when we are next allowed back in town. Hugs and love to all!
Hil

Safari!!!

Today was the all day safari! So much fun and so cool. We didn't see anything dangerous though, which we all decided would have made it seem a little more adventureous. oh well, guess i'll have to return to Africa someday!! I'm thinking I'd like to visit Cape Town.

Exciting things today mission wise. At the end of our full day, we had to cross the river back to Zambia (our safari was actually in Botswana) and there is just a small boat owned by the company, so the 26 of us had to split up. Only another company's boat had broken down, so some of their people jumped on ours and 3 of our peeps stayed on shore with the guides for a little extra time until the boat could come back. During that time, they asked the group why we were all there and got talking about the mission trip and about their religion. 2 of the guides were Christians and the other, "Lucky", wasn't. Then my friends asked if they could pray for them and they all gave prayer requests, but Lucky said to pray for whatever they wanted for him. And they told him they wanted him to know Jesus Christ and he thanked them. Then they all exchanged email addresses and the guides said they wanted to know more! God is working already through our group! Awesome things friends! :)

Here's to another gorgeous day in Africa!! Pray for warm weather (my pants are getting quite dirty!!)

Thankful for prayers about flexibility!

Hello all! Most of you should know that I paid extra to go on a couple days voyage to see Victoria Falls prior to the start of camp next week. Last week I had great adventures in London and Spain, and I made the journey to Africa starting on Monday evening and ending late last night.

I made it safely to Victoria Falls, but unfortunately, without my luggage! That's right...I'm in a place where you are constantly soaked by waterfall spray or sweating from the hot sun during the day, or freezing at night, with only 2 shirts, 1 pair of shorts, and a thin sweatsuit type thing that I wore to travel in! boooo! But I suppose this is part of why I prayed for flexibility in the first place! Anyway, my sweet roomate shared her sweatshirt with me (of course, I now will have an Aggies shirt on for all of my Vic Falls pics!) and then today one of the girls needed to go to town to get her passport stamped b/c of something that was messed up when she went through the airport, so I caught a ride with her and our taxi driver escorted us to the Immigration office, and then to the Pep store where I bought another shirt and a pair of long pants. Now I have enough to wear while I rinse out my stuff and let it dry. But I'm still praying my stuff at least shows up so that it is waiting for me when we return to Lusaka. Man...after wearing the same clothes every day in Pamplona, this is just becoming a running theme for me!! Maybe I don't need to move quite so much to London afterall! :)

Anyhow, the crew that is here at the falls are all really fun and sweet. The resort is gorgeous...there are zebras and giraffes and monkeys on the actual grounds! I haven't seen any yet but some of the crew has. This morning I went to breakfast with about 7 of the peeps, and the breakfast at this resort is AWESOME! (and most importantly, included!) Then we headed for the Falls, which are literally less than a 10 minute easy walk from our resort! WOW! I wish i could post pics, but the internet here is too slow. so that will have to come later. But it's crazy. We walked around a corner, and I was amazed by what I saw at first. But then we kept walking...and it keeps going...and going and going and going! There is just so much water! I truly don't understand where it all comes from...the Zambesi river is big and all, but still, it's just sooo much water! Really gives you an appreciation for God's creation. We paid for ponchos and hiked all the way to the mid-point that you can get to. That's where you can watch the bridge where people bungi jump. It's awesome looking, to watch, but I just do not get the appeal of paying money to jump off a bridge and have your body jerked around. No thank you. I'll just be happy to watch and take pics! But the walk is crazy because it's truly like it's pouring rain. But it's just mist from a water fall that is quite a distance from you! totally bizarre. On the walk back I spotted an elephant across the river! It was too far away to get any good pics...kinda looks like a funny shaped rock. But when it moved it's trunk we could tell what it was!

After the Falls I went home and changed into flipflops and then that was when I caught the girls going into town. We got back just in time for our trip to the Zambesi River Queen. It was a big river boat with food and drinks, and we cruised way up the river during sunset. Got some really pretty pictures! We saw hippos and an elephant!

After that we went to dinner and I just had a great time getting to know everyone. I've heard some amazing stories from people and am just so excited for next week. I'm really praying hard that I will not be reserved and that I will just turn myself over to the work of the Lord so that these kids can be loved and can understand the love that comes through believing in Christ!

Tomorrow we are off on a safari. As always, please pray for the orphans that I will be teaching next week and for my continued preparation to serve them in the way the Lord has planned! And of course, for safety through this adventure. And if you have some extra time, maybe that we would see all of the Big 5?! :) Doesn't hurt to ask, right?

I am loving it here and am getting more excited every day for my time with the orphans. Thanks again to all of you for making this a reality!
Love and blessings,
Hil

safe and sound on the ground

I made it to London. Flight was uneventful which is very nice. I'll be off traveling for the next couple of days, but will update prior to departure for Zambia!

Ready to roll

Well, we're all here in the airport ready to go, but unfortunately the storms in Dallas are holding us up. It's a great group of week 5 people just hanging out, you can tell everyone is excited! I arrive in London at 7:20am London time, and will be traveling through the 9th, when I'll meet up with the people going to Camp for week 6 to fly from London to Africa! I am so excited and can hardly wait to get there and have this experience that God has sent my way. I'll update from London! Thanks for your prayers and support!

Credit where it's due...

So I just found out that God has worked in a great way, and is spreading my blog among many of the other folks going to Camp LIFE and their supporters. But from one of the notes I received, I realized I never gave credit for the pics on my blog! All of them were shamelessly copy+pasted from the Family Legacy Missions website...that's about as far as my credit can go at this point, but I'll look into it a bit more tomorrow. If you know who took the pics, please leave a comment so the appropriate peeps get their credit!! And if anyone knows of some reason why I should take them down...let me know that too!

Update coming tomorrow....

T-Minus 10 days til departure!

I leave for my travels in just 10 days! For those of you who wish to follow my non-Zambia life and portion of the travels, check out my personal blog. But basically, I'm going to fly from Dallas to London, where I'll be staying with a friend and dropping off some of my stuff to move to London. 2 nights there, then it's on to Barcelona, where I'm meeting a friend from work for a couple days. Then my friend from London is joining us, and a friend of my friend's from B-school, and we're all headed to Pamplona to experience the Running of the Bulls! (Experience = watch, not join in, just to clarify) :) 4 crazy days there, then back to London to catch my flight to....

ZAMBIA! I am getting so excited. The funds are raised, the prayers are near constant, and I am just so excited for the awesome experience. I can't say thank you enough to all of you who have made this a reality. The updates we're getting from the Camp leaders are that the weeks are going well - they're biggest concern is that people aren't bringing enough jelly for their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that we eat every day for lunch!

Tomorrow is my last day at work. I'm taking next week off and will be running all my errands, going to doctor appointments, etc. to prepare for Zambia, my other travels, and of course, my move to London! On Monday I've got my appointment to get my Malaria meds and get the sign off for my travels, so please pray that goes well!

This Sunday night, all of the peeps from Watermark Church that are going to Zambia in the coming weeks are having a prayer night. I'm hoping to make some new friends that will be going to Vic Falls with me and staying during my 2nd week (most of my friends are going a week earlier, and therefore leaving a week before me) I'm sure everyone will be wonderful, but I'm a tid bit anxious (who will I be sharing a room with???) Anyway, i'm really happy for this get together, because I don't feel like I necessarily have a core group of prayer partners in my daily life, as I enter this journey. If any of you reading this would be up to the task, please let me know!

And I guess I'll leave it at that for now. I'll update again as the prep week begins!

Love and blessings to all of you!
Hilary

6 Weeks and Counting!

Wow...I just realized that in exactly 6 weeks I will be on an airplane on my way to Zambia. It's hard to believe it's that close! The first group leaves on Thursday, so please pray for safe tavels and a successful kickoff to the program. I am so excited to get to meet my kids and let them know that they are loved. It seems like everywhere I turn these days I am reminded of the sadness so many children in Africa live in every single day. It certainly makes me feel silly for the times when I complain about stupid stuff in my life that isn't "perfect". I am so blessed, and I am so thankful that the Lord has called me to serve this summer.

As for prayer and support requests...I'm going to repeat a previous one. I've begun to slack again on the verse memorization, and that's no bueno. So PLEASE, ask me how I'm doing. Shoot me an email or give me a call, and help me to be accountable! I feel like the past month has been a total whirlwind, and the weeks just slip by...I have good intentions on Monday, then suddenly I'm waking up Friday morning and realizing that I haven't achieved half of what I had planned for the week.

Also, I will be traveling to London next weekend for my Admit Weekend at LBS. Please pray for a safe and fun trip!

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement!

Love,
Hilary

CLAP CLAP CLAP WOW!

I'm busy busy at work, but I just had to take a moment to give a huge CLAP CLAP CLAP WOW! I'm so amazed by the way God has provided for this mission! 4 days ago, I was $2000 short of my goal...and I just got off the phone with Family Legacy Missions and they informed me that they think I've only got about $500 to go! You guys are the best! Thank you so much for your support and helping make this a reality! I am so excited and relieved, I can stop worrying about making it happen, and focus on preparation for the trip now! (In case you were wondering...I've been really good about my verse study this week!) Anyway, gotta get back to work, but one more time before I do...

THANK YOU!!

T minus 4 days!

Hello all! As usual...THANK YOU to all of you who have contributed financially and/or decided to support me in prayer! I am getting close to the deadline, and although there seems to be a pretty good surge going at the moment, I'm still short of the required $4000! Please consider donating to this WONDERFUL cause! Think of the smiles on the orphans faces as we place new shoes on their feet and comfort them with the knowledge that in Christ they are LOVED! At this point, if you wish to donate and have it be tax deductible, you really need to do so by credit card. You can call FMLI or do it online, although I believe online has been much simpler.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Challenge me please!

Hello all! So I have a request of you. I've had lots of exciting things going on lately, and am keeping myself very busy, which is lots of fun...but I'm allowing those things to become distractions in my preparation for Zambia. I haven't learned as many verses as I had hoped by now, and if it was purely b/c I was no good at memorizing, I wouldn't be worried. But I'll be honest with myself and all of you in that I haven't been devoting the time I should to memorizing the verses. So please, hold me accountable! When you talk to me, ask me how my preparation is going, ask me which verse I'm working on this week! I love all of your support!

Speaking of support...5 days til the donation deadline for your donations to be tax free! I'm still less than half way there, so please consider making even a $25 donation! Please call or email me if you need any help with making a donation or if you have any questions! And thank you to all of you who have already contributed! You all are the best!

Weeks 6&7, here I come!

I received official confirmation that I am signed up for Weeks 6 and 7. Somebody had to drop out of week 6 because they were unable to raise enough money, so I get their spot. I thank the Lord for this opportunity...but it also makes it that much more important that I find the funds, because now my contribution will be accountable for ensuring that 80 kids get to attend Camp LIFE! 80 kids whose lives will be forever changed by the knowledge that they are loved, and that they will have eternal life with Him who loves them so much!

Thank you to all of you who have contributed, and just a reminder that the deadline for donations is April 15! Every dollar helps! $20 means 1 child gets to go to camp. $10 buys an orphan a pair of shoes! Please consider this cause!

In Christ I am Loved

Wow...Today was my first training meeting and I am feeling very relaxed about the trip, the country, the AIDS epidemic...but I'm more nervous about the potential impact I will, God willing, have on these kids. Pretty powerful stuff.

The training session started with lots of information on HIV/AIDS - what it is, how you get it, how it's 'treated'. I don't think really any of the information was new to me, but it was comforting and shocking to hear again. The hardest thing to understand is that living in a world torn apart by AIDS is what these kids do every single minute of their lives. We watched a video of a skit they did, and they talk about it, and it's just every day truth. "AIDS took my mother" "AIDS took my brother" "AIDS took my family". 10 year olds have to live with that, and with no true sense of hope that it won't take someone else near and dear to them the next day. It was heartbreaking to watch on video, and I'm just praying that I'll be prepared to interact with these kids in person, to know their stories, and feel their pain and loneliness. We were told how the AIDS orphans that attend Camp LIFE aren't all necessarily orphans the way we think of the word. Some of them have only lost one parent, some haven't truly lost either, but have been sent away to live with relatives b/c their parents can no longer care for them. These kids are sent away and they feel that it's because it's easier than trying to love them and care for them. They're sent to their relatives who usually don't care either. Many of the people in Zambia believe that families that are hit by AIDS are cursed, and that the kids are cursed and aren't worthy of love. So our job is to love on them and to let them know that in Christ they are loved. Each day of the camp will focus on a different theme as follows:

Monday: In Christ I am Loved

Tuesday: In Christ I am Accepted

Wednesday: In Christ I am Secure

Thursday: In Christ I am Significant

Friday: In Christ I am Victorious!

This week I will be working to memorize scripture that tells us that no matter what we have done, no matter what others tell us, when we accept Christ as our Saviour, we can rest in the knowledge that we will ALWAYS be loved. John 3:16. John 15:9. Romans 5:8. 1 John 4:18 are the verses I will be starting with. I'd love any input into others that are appropriate. I will be doing my own study to prepare me for my time with the kids on Monday, and for those of you looking for how you can prayerfully support me this week, it'd be that I am diligent about studying the Lord's word, and that He will show me the verses I should know so that I can best serve my kids.

Thank you to all of you who have donated to assist in the expense of my trip. So far I have raised about 1/4 of the cost. The funds are due April 15 - only 3 weeks away! - but I am still encouraged that God will provide what is necessary to make this trip a reality for me and the 40 orphans that get to attend camp as a result of my fundraising. I will keep you all updated on my progress! I continue to pray that God blesses all of you for your prayers and support!

A Call to Serve

Hello to all my fabulous friends and family! You may get tired of hearing this, but THANK YOU, for your prayers and financial support. I will keep this page updated over the coming months and through my trip to Zambia, so that you can keep up to date on my prayer requests, my thoughts, concerns, excitement, etc. Please check back whenever and leave me a note if you wish!

As a first post, I wanted to give you all a little more insight into my personal decision to serve in Zambia. I received some feedback that the original letter many of you received didn't sound like me, and pretty much came as a giant surprise. So, my apologies! I'm new to this Mission thing, and asking for help is something that I've always struggled with, and I think I felt so compelled to share all of the information with you about the trip that my personality and personal conviction for the camp were lost. Anyway, I definitely want you all to know that this is something I have put a lot of thought and prayer into over the past several months. Four women from my Bible Study served at Camp LIFE last year, and their testimony of their experience moved me and I felt drawn to participate. I grew up babysitting, and was a camp counselor at the YMCA of the Rockies in college, and I just basically love working with children...this seemed the perfect opportunity for me to serve. But I was hesitant too...I don't often feel equipped enough to even discuss my faith with my friends, let alone travel to Africa to work with children who may not even speak English. I spent a lot of time in prayer, and there were many times when something would happen that made me kind of look up and say "I know, i know, you want me to go to Zambia...but really??!!?" I started this process before knowing much about Zambia or the people, all I really knew about was the Camp experience of the women in my Bible study. So I spent time researching Zambia, reading up on FLMI and Camp LIFE, and talking with the women who attended last year, as well as some more of my friends that were signing up each day to go this year. I finally came to the point that the conviction to go couldn't be pressed out by any of my dwindling concerns, because the only ones left were pretty selfish...I'd be using up time that I had planned to relax before going to b-school, it would probably cost me a lot of my own money, I don't know if I'll be able to make a difference...I just finally answered God's call and so I'm going. I'm excited but I'm also nervous, so I'm just spending a lot of time in prayer that God will equip me as neccessary, and I would appreciate your prayers for the same!

I feel that God has laid this on my heart and I am so excited to have the opportunity to serve Him internationally during my break before going to get my MBA. Along those lines, I really appreciate all of you who have decided to support me financially on this Mission...The $4000 is a financial burden that I am prepared to tackle as much as God requires of me, but since I'll be heading to Zambia after beginning my educational leave, I won't have an income (for 2 years!) So...anything you can do or have already done is very very appreciated! (By me, and the orphans who will benefit from your donations) Right now I am signed up officially for 1 week, but am on the wait-list to serve a 2nd week.

Please feel free to email me or leave me a message here if you have any questions about the trip, FLMI, or Camp LIFE. Next weekend I have my first orientation meeting and will probably have lots of things on my mind after it, so check back here for an update! Thank you again to all of you for your support and prayers.