New Day(s) in Zambia

Flying into Livingstone, Zambia - you can see the mist from Victoria Falls in the background 

I have never felt so wholly loved as I already do at New Day.  Wes and Laurie (Papa Wes and Mama Lala) picked us up from the airport and we got groceries in Livingstone before making the 3.5-hour trek to the orphanage.  When we pulled up that evening, we were greeted by the staff and kids all clapping and singing.  The children ran up to give us hugs as soon as we stepped out of the truck.  Of course many remembered Mallory, but a lot knew my name as well and said, “Hello Rachel!” when they hugged me.  Anyone who knows me knows I am not a “hugger” but Papa Wes has assured me I will be a great one by the end of this trip and I believe him.  Mallory and I settled into “The Ark,” where we will be staying for most of the trip.  Jamee and Kailyn, the other two girls here for 6 months through school, are staying in the room across from us.  By the way, power goes in and out here (sort of on a schedule, but not really) so we unpacked everything in the dark with their help.  We also don’t have wifi, but I’ve borrowed Kailyn’s data stick so I can finally upload to this blog, so here I give you a gist of my journal entries for the past few days:

Day 1 

Ingrid, Emmanuel, and Kefbert doing their splits 

I already feel so comfortable at New Day you would think I've been here a month.  The morning was mostly intro to Zambian/New Day culture and going over our daily schedules, but this afternoon we jumped right into work.  I began tutoring Kefbert and Emmanuel in reading and they were so much fun to work with (I LOVE their accents!!).  Later that afternoon, Mallory and I let the older girls braid our hair.  They seem to really like that my hair is black and kept saying it was so soft *blushing*.  We also played with all of the other kids.  Emmanuel is really good at doing splits and was showing off so I showed him some yoga poses and taught him how to go from crow pose to a headstand.  That night after dinner, Mal and I wanted to exercise and Kailyn and Jamee joined in.  Of course this led to staying up until midnight talking, as girls do.  We all shared our testimonies, this being the first time I had shared with someone other than Mallory.  While all of ours were very different, by sharing them I already feel like we are much closer and growing together through fellowship.  After telling my testimony, I found my “theme verse” for here at New Day and after: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Emmanuel and Kefbert, my reading buddies

Day 2

Mallory and I began the day with children’s devotion, which we will now teach Wednesday and Friday mornings.  The kids’ knowledge of biblical stories and their understanding amazed me.  I actually wouldn’t doubt it if they know more than me!  We then helped Papa Wes trim doors to hang in the new boys house.  It was HOT and tedious, but fulfilling work.  When the women’s bible study met that afternoon, Mal and I volunteered to watch the younger kids.  WOW.   I have a whole new respect for moms, especially the house mothers here like Mama Tembo.  I am definitely going to have a strong back and arms by the end of this trip from constantly carrying kids and swinging them around.  The best part of the afternoon was when shy baby Emma started to warm up to me and even wanted me to hold her.  *She now gives me a kiss on the cheek whenever I ask and so far it is always the highlight of my day. 

Side note: Anyone that has spoken with Mallory prior to this trip knows that her biggest worry was her chipping a front tooth while in Africa.  Well, Day 2 and she chipped a crown on a cookie… BUT we are saying it is by God’s grace that it was a molar (back tooth) and not one of her anterior teeth (front teeth) so please pray she doesn’t have anymore tooth accidents! I’m not a dentist yet.

Kelitah, Machila, and Sisi "platting" our hair

Day 3

I tutored Misheck in math today and he did great.  We are working on multiplication and solving for the letter n.  I also worked on language arts with Cambree, Blu and Darbi’s daughter, and after her spelling test she quizzed me on horse facts.  Yes, I answered them all correctly.  I am supposed to think of a fun horse-related language arts project for her so please comment if you have any ideas!  This afternoon, I made big Cause and Effect picture cards for Mama Lala’s class.  That may be the first time I’ve drawn something out and colored it since high school.  Mal helped me color and we took a break to go paint the housemothers’ fingernails.  They absolutely loved it.  For dinner, we joined the kids for chicken and chips.  It was very fun and sooooo messy.  Kelitah asked if I knew any good riddles and I couldn’t think of any off the top of my head so I would love to hear some so I can relay them to the kids (Hunter I know you can help me here)!  After dinner we went to Wes and Laurie’s house to hang out.  We were going to watch a movie but the power went out, not surprised, so we played cards instead.  They were able to make popcorn on their gas stove, however, so I was VERY happy.  Everyone knows I love popcorn, almost as much as my mom.  They also asked us if we were struggling with anything and asked to pray for us, which was really heart-warming.

Last, but certainly not least, God is already doing some very cool things in our hearts this week.  Even though Mallory and I are doing separate studies and devotionals, we have still had verses match up most days with a key theme, to not worry about the future because it doubts God’s promise to care for us.  So please pray for us as we strive to remove doubt from our hearts. 

In solemn truth I tell you that if anyone should say to this mountain, ‘Remove and hurl thyself into the sea,’ and has no doubt about it in his heart, but steadfastly believes what he says will happen, it shall be granted him.  Mark 11:23

Sisi styling Mal's hair