It has been an exciting couple months.  In the beginning of July, we joined the women of the Assemblies of God Zambia for their annual conference.  Below is Bishop Mando sharing his heart with them.  

I started shadowing at Circle of Hope Clinic.  I was excited to see a rotavirus vaccine has made it to Zambia.  Diarrheal illnesses are one of the most common killers of children in Zambia.  This vaccine will save many lives.  Besides doing HIV care, they also provide normal well child visits, call "under-5" and vaccines and prenatal care for any pregnant women.

This is the mobile clinic and Christine and her nurse who helps with the cervical cancer screening.  It is going very well and she hopes to do her first mobile visit next month.

I visited our CHE group in Choma and got to see little Rosie.  She is growing so fast like kids do.  I was very pleased to hear how well Moringa has been incorporated into their diets.  Everyone has a tree and uses the leaves in their veggies or as tea.  One woman's blood pressure is much better controlled since she has been taking moringa tea regularly.  I am so impressed with these women's work!  They have added a new food to a community's diet.  That is no small feat anywhere in the world.  I am excited to share now how they can expand the use to water purification, fertilizer, and animal feed.

In mid-July we also had a visit from Jerry Ireland, head of AG Care (compassion ministries in Africa) and several other visitors from the States.  We visited our CHE group in Liteta.  They showed us their amazing gardens and did a skit for us.  It was about a woman who was sick visiting a clinic, witch doctor and then pastor.  The picture is portraying the visit to the witch doctor.  The message was a balanced view of prayer and healthy practices (like eating moringa) to help stay healthy.

 We also visited a few homes.  This woman is a patient I saw several years ago at the hospital.  She remembered me.  We had a great time spontaneously singing with the kids.

During the week, we also did a vision seminar with the pastors and leaders of the Assemblies of God Zambia.  They were very excited to see how CHE could impact their communities.  Here they are looking at different appropriate technology projects.  We are looking forward to seeing God open more doors as people catch the vision.

In amongst the busyness, Christine and I took a day at a local preserve to enjoy God's creation.  It was amazing the amount of animals that came out that day to say hello.  We serve a creative, good God.

Some of the best news has been I got my work permit!  I know I have been shown God's favor.

Just this week I also picked up my official Zambian medical license.  I am a fully registered medical officer in Zambia!  Thank you all for your prayers because I know they made this all possible in just the first 2 months of being here.

The next 10 weeks I will be taking a language course.  I will be learning Nyanja/Chichewa.  I am so looking forward understanding the conversations going on around me and communicating without a translator.  I might not be looking forward to feeling like I am back in preschool learning basics and stretching my brain.  

Keep Zambia in your prayers the next few days as the presidential elections took place yesterday and we are waiting to see the results.  Thankfully everything has been peaceful so far.  

    In the past few weeks I have managed to settle into my house (mostly), visit several churches and good Zambian friends, have a couple housecalls, get my work permit approval and get all the paperwork for my Zambian medical license.  God worked graciously so that I didn't need to restart the work permit process but just renew my old one.  He also was good in allowing me to contact my medical supervising physician in Zambia just a week before she left for further training in South Africa.  She went above and beyond to get me the letter of recommendation and approval form so I can take it to the Medical Council this week.  I'm applying for full registration from a temporary license.  This will allow me to practice medicine in Zambia and I will just need to complete continuing education credit, like in the States.  Please pray for favor as I go to the office on Tuesday.
     I met with the director of Circle of Hope this week and have an invitation to come volunteer there.  It is a clinic from one of our Zambian churches, Northmead PAOG that focuses on HIV testing and treatment.  Christine is starting the mobile medical clinic there doing cervical cancer screening.  Once I get my license, I will go through the training for that and join her.  I will also be partnering with the PMTCT department.  That stands for the prevention of mother to child transmission.  We will look at community outreach as we go and I hear more.  I'm excited about this opportunity.
    I got to see how my moringa trees are fairing at the Ministry Center.  One has grown quite tall and I will have him cut after we get the pods.  The other two are in the wetter part of the plot and you can really see how moringa do not like water.  One started tipping over during wet season.  We'll have to start over with him too but at least I'll have some seeds.  I was excited to hear Lovemore telling me 3 of the CHE groups are using a lot of moringa leaves/powder.  We will be visiting a few places to see how to help fill in knowledge gaps and see how they are doing.  Community Health Evangelism has grown so much in two years it is a little unbelievable.  I look forward to following up with the groups and meeting new people.
     

Today I made a fun purchase at the market.  This hippo followed me home.  Help me think of a name for him.  

Greetings from Lusaka Zambia.  I am excited to be back on the ground.  I had an incredibly smooth flight from Milwaukee all the way to Zambia with 9 suitcases and a heavy carryon.  All the cases made it over and everything inside is intact.  That is a huge praise report!  I've been staying with Christine Little, my fellow missionary and nurse practitioner for a few days.  I did go to my new duplex/apartment and unpack most of my things.  God provided wonderfully.  One of our veteran missionary couples, Mike and Judy Santiago, retired after 50 years in missions and I took over their rental place.  They left it furnished for me.  So I got a great deal on things like a washer/dryer, mattresses etc and didn't have to shop for all these things and they didn't have to try and sell everything at a rummage sale.  I'm looking forward to making the place my home.

I started driving a little and fared well staying on the left.  I get to use the same Speed-the-Light vehicle I borrowed last time.  Thankfully driving stick came back to me pretty quickly.  Tomorrow I will move fully into my new place and start the process of renewing my work permit and Zambian medical license.  

Today we had a powerful service at Northmead PAOG church.  There was a visiting pastor from South Africa and her team.  There was such a unity of message from the worship to Pastor Banda's opening remarks to her remarks.  She then had two of her team members share what God had placed on their hearts in the first service.  It was a powerful word about Zambia being a land and people of peace, restoration and unity.  There was an emphasis on not focusing on the political scene (elections are coming up in August) but on the Church.  She shared how during South Africa's difficult time many South Africans came to Zambia and Zambians opened their arms and country to them.  After Independence, South Africans left Zambia and now there is violence against Zambians who come to South Africa.  (fear of them taking jobs etc).  There is also a story about how a group of South Africans came to Zambia and in conjunction with the elections, performed witchcraft rituals at a certain spot.  She asked forgiveness and reconciliation.  It was very moving.  She also emphasized Zambia is to bring this peace and Gospel to countries in Africa and the world...being birthed as a light and bread basket to the world.  This so matches up with what God has spoken to our U.S. missions leadership, my heart, and this church group.  Bishop Banda, the pastor of this church and a leader in the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, Zambia announced earlier in the service they are sending out their first missionaries to Angola!  This is a huge answer to prayer.  They started out a little over 30 years ago and have matured to be a sending church.  

     The other interesting part of the story takes us back to my itineration time.  At Mount Hope Church in Lansing, Mrs. Thompson told me about the impression she had when looking at my prayer card.  Zambia is highlighted with a circle around it on the continent of Africa.  She kept coming back to the thought of Zambia looking like a baby in the womb; a place of birth.  Zambia is in such a perfect place to reach its neighboring countries.  The Zambians have easier access and less cultural barriers than us in reaching those from Angola, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Malawi.  The personal counterpart to that is my work with babies and children and women.  I love how God confirms things to a whole people group, country, specific congregation and person all at the same time.  Aslan is on the move!

Here's a link to my newest email newsletter.
http://eepurl.com/b20VCf

Exciting news!   I have a plane ticket in hand and will be heading back to Zambia on June 1st!   Thank you to all who have partnered with me from across the country to make this happen.  I am truly blessed by all the new friendships I have made, especially in the Michigan District.
I have spent the first months of 2016 still criss-crossing the state, meeting so many new people in the churches every week.  I had a wonderful time meeting up with friends at sectional councils and district council in March and May.

I have moved out of my rental house in St. Joseph, MI and am living with my parents in Wisconsin now.  I visit Michigan on the weekends to finish the last churches I'm sharing at before I leave.    All my things are in storage (those I didn't sell or give away). The last detail is to sell my car.  Still looking for a buyer of a very nice 2014 Equinox LS.  It has 45,000 miles from all my travels but those are mostly highway miles.  I'm asking $15,500 if anyone is interested.  I'm keeping the kayak rack but here's a few pictures.

The last few weeks have been full of packing and throwing and lifting and giving and saying good bye to friends and family for three years.  It's quite the process, but I am so joyful to be saying hello to friends in Zambia I haven't seen in two years.  I am ready to hit the ground running with our mobile medical clinic.  I'll need to do some training with the Zambian Ministry of Health and renew my medical license and work permit.

God has blessed me with the opportunity to move into a fully furnished place to live.  One of our amazing missionary couples, the Santiago's retired last month after 50 years of serving in missions.  I am going to live in the place they rented.  They have left all their household goods to me to buy cheaply.  It worked wonderfully that they didn't have to rummage all their items and I don't have to go find and buy all the daily things.

Please pray that the last packing logistics and good byes go well.  Please pray for safe travels. Please pray as I meet with old and new friends, I listen well to what is needed and what I am to do this term.
Thank you for all your prayers and support!!!

Follow the link to my Holiday greetings!

 http://eepurl.com/bLwVdf

I'm excited to announce I was on the radio this morning on The Sunday Morning Drive.  They are interviewing missionaries and sharing their story each Sunday.  You can click on this link (or cut and paste) to hear the interview:  http://www.thesundaymorningdrive.com/missions/


Here is a snapshot of my itineration.
Grateful for a wonderful Sunday morning in early November with the lovely people at Sheridan Assembly of God. Thank you to Pastor Jerry and Sharon Carlson for the love, prayers and hospitality.

Mid-November I spent a lovely morning with the congregation at Owosso Assembly of God. Thank you to Pastor Herbruck for partnering with me as I head to Zambia.

Super enjoyed sharing about Zambia culture in Mrs. Wade's English class. They just read Things Fall Apart by Achebe and are reading Heart of Darkness by Conrad. It was great to tell them what Africa looks like now and how traditional culture, colonial power and missionaries have contributed to that picture.

I had a wonderful time at Flushing New Life Assembly. Everyone made me feel so welcome. It was rather apropros I talked about seasons of life with such the obvious change to winter this weekend. Thank you Pastor Tanner!

You know you are going into a missions-minded church when this is the entrance. Thank you Pastor Scott Thompson and Mount Hope Church for partnering with me and the people of Zambia.

I had a wonderful time at Poplar Creek Church teaching the kids in Camp 419 Thanksgiving weekend! It was great to share about Zambia and BGMC Bibles that I've given to kids in Zambia b/c they have given pennies, nickels, dimes and dollars. The picture is one prayer written on the prayer wall after.

I shared with them the story of Naaman. It's pretty amazing to think that the military leader of a foreign country came to serve God (and receive healing from leprosy) because of the faith and action of a little slave girl! My encouragement to children is God can use you right now.

What a tremendous day at The Chapel, EFC December 6th! I talked to the children for their missions window in each service and shared with the middle school ABF (Sunday school). Thanks to Cindy O'Neill, Suzanne Yonker, and Cathy and Frank Grumbir for making it happen. The kids did such a good job listening and responding. You know you are home when it takes an hour to catch up with everyone afterwards. I'm glad the family of God is so big!

The exciting project the children are going to do is raise money for antibiotics for ear infections and anti-malaria medicine for the Zambian children in the clinic where I volunteer. I told them how I get to give good medical care to the children and tell them about Jesus so they can be healthy in body and spirit.

Last week I spent visiting a friend from college in Memphis, TN.  Jocelyn and Mike and their girls, Olivia and Abigail, made me feel very welcome.  I spoke at Ridgeway A/G, her parent's church.  Thank you to Pastor Moscato and his lovely congregation.  They had such good questions!  I then shared with the Crucible, the college and career group Jocelyn and Mike run for their church.  We enjoyed a Christmas dinner and then a Christmas concert and day at the zoo and the park.  I caught up with missionary friends, the Willifords, for lunch.  The last thing was sharing at Bartlett First Assembly of God.  Thankful to Pastor Johnny Byrd for the opportunity to share about Zambia.  

What a wonderful weekend at Compelled Church! It was great to share with both the adults and kids in the Saturday and Sunday services. Thank you Pastor Nate and Wendy. I loved meeting so many different healthcare workers and people who have been on missions trips or are heading to the field in the future.