A blog from Vinj! Wow!
Yesterday I had a bit of a break down. I felt as though life had become so busy and there seemed to be so many things vying for my attention and time. Then I shared with Kath and she helped me unravel what was really going on inside me. Thank God for her, every day...
I WANT to walk every second of everyday with Jesus, to commune with the Holy Spirit and to hold the hand of the Father. I found that I was walking more and more on my own strength and i felt as though my strength was waning . Ever felt like that? Feeling it is one thing but facing the fact that you are not where you ought to be is another. So Kath I and I decided to make some changes. We (mostly Kath to be honest) cleaned the house. That seems to always be a good start!
Today we woke up, made coffee and had some prayer time with Kath. Kath read out Ephisians 4. It talkes about getting off your butt ( bluntly speaking) and going to do what God has called you to do. So we did. We decided to take a ‘walk about’ around our community and get to know our neighbors. We met a man who’s name is Collins and had a chat at his home and prayed for him. It was amazing to see how openly we were recieved. Seth and Taliah just blended in like they always seem to do and Kath and I chatted to this man. Our kids were helping one of the girls there with lunch prep. This involved taking the heads off dried Kapenta (tiny little minnow like fish). Sitting there in the shade of a tree with little boys running around and other kids getting ready to go to school and talking to man who did not know us from a can of paint, I saw again why God called me back home ( zambia) and called my family here. It is not just to build building and grow food but it is to take the time to reach out into the souls of men and enourage their broken spirit that God loves them and cares about every minute detail of a person’s heart.
So we began our day by asking God what He wanted us to do with our day, and he did. May this be the pattern of our lives here in Zambia. Because without HIM we can do NOTHING.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Another blog...
It is so weird to wake up every single day and pick out clothes to wear for HOT weather. How foreign to a Canadian! And how many outfits can a person have for such weather?! It definitely takes getting used to.
Today we woke up just before 7am, which is the BEST time to take a stroll outside in the cool morning. We open all the curtains and windows to enjoy the cool for almost 2 hours, then everything gets closed up, trying to avoid the very hot sun. Oh for an air conditioner! haha.
Last night vinj and I went out on a date, we have been SOOO BUSY with the clinic construction, budgets, DTS planning, and ywam in general. Which has brought vinj and I to a ummmm ... “testy” point, both of us having little patients for either. So we thought it’s time to just take some time off together.
So we went out into Lusaka to find something new. There is a chinese hotel, its called the “The golden bridge” I am sure you can google that. Anyway, we went in to see what it looked like, so we had a drink in the lounge area, it was soooo funny, seriously there were like 10 different colours used in the lounge in the painting! And they didn’t really match in alot of spots! : ) haha. It was quite pleasant and funny, so we decided to stay for supper (we were maybe going to go out to an Indian place) So we went to the restaurant, its a classic big open room full of tacky chairs and tables with gold everywhere, the main colours were baby yellow, and purple : ) ! Our waitress took us to a private room in the back with romantic light, it was nice, except the temperature was set at 31 C! AHHH, and we couldn’t change it! So it was a bit hot. We had different/ really good food, although the spring roles were not spring rolls! And we asked for soya sauce and she had no idea what we were talking about, so we told her there is no way the chinese came and built a hotel with chinese food and didn’t bother to import soya sauce, so we told her it’s brown/black sauce. So she went and found some! Even though her manager said they didn’t have any! What a good waitress!
Vinj went to wash his hands in a sink outside the bathrooms and the waitress came to him and explained how they work, since there is no where to turn them on, she said we don’t want you to be pulling things and brake something! GEESH talk about assuming someone has no clue! So Vinj was gracious and let her show him how to use the automatic touch-less taps. He came back to our table and told me it was so weird to be the one assumed to be “uneducated”.
Anyway, we finished and went to the open Shopping/cinima/restraunt center called Arcades. We looked for movies but all of them had started already, pretty bad planning! So we walked around looking at some of the new shops, all closed of corse. We found a new club that had been opened, and I wanted to see inside, since I haven’t ever seen inside a club! haha, yes laugh at me know, I was a “good girl”. It was SOOO COOL, mainly black and red interior, but very fancy. The bouncers at the door look us up and down and said ok, it’s fine you can go in... then we met the SECOND pair of bouncers who came really close to vinj and not going to lie kinda scared me! : ) But we said “sorry sir! We just wanted to see inside!” haha. But definitely not a place YWAMers are allowed to stay and play. So we left of corse after seeing the place. And we went to this arabic place where they have the best coffee in Zambia that we have found! It is SOOO GOOD people, better then anything we tried in Canada as well. So maybe I can the the best in the world! haha.
Anyway, the have opened a very cute stylish little ice cream shop, where they make their own ice cream! And you get small scoops (much smaller then you would get in canada) but you can get a different flavor for each scoop you get. So we got a mocca Chocca, and Vanilla of corse for vinjelu, and a mint chocolate one for me, which was totally amazing. And can I say AGAIN the ice cream was the best I have ever tasted! Better then that Marble slab place in Canada! So rich and creamy, and everything ice cream should be. And to top it off a very cool chocolate design frozen on top. Very cool, we love the place and will go back.
It was a nice date.
A new development, to give you some back ground. . . before we even came to Zambia we were told there was an older lady looking for work and the ywam people were thinking we could employ her to help with house work in our house. Right away we said NO! It would be so weird having someone older then us like our mother cleaning our floors and so on. When we got here that same lady was coming every other day asking if we would employ her. Kind of harder to say no, now that she is in our face, she wanted the job obviously for the money. She is a widow, and is 61 years old. So we finally agreed with reservation in the decision. It’s been since July she worked for us, Vinj and I have been uncomfortable with it the whole time, and feel it’s just not working for us, we can do all the work she does our selves in our home, and besides that we are missionaries, we should be an example to people as well! So we talked to her about it yesterday, and she will not be working for us anymore. Vinj told her we did it to help her, so we are going to be praying about how we should help her, so we will wait and hear from God about it. There are so many people to help though, it’s just endless, and we know we need to hear from God who we are to give to and so on. There are alot of girls 15 and up not going to school, who want to go, but don’t have the money, sick people needing health care... and so on, the stories run one after another after another. We just need Jesus, we need miracles! Please pray for these, and for wisdom, compassion and resources for Vinjelu and I!
I cannot post pictures from the aircard internet from home, sorry about that, there are pictures to post for you guys.
We might be going to visit an orphanage today. Wish us many blessings!
Love you all,
Kathryn
Today we woke up just before 7am, which is the BEST time to take a stroll outside in the cool morning. We open all the curtains and windows to enjoy the cool for almost 2 hours, then everything gets closed up, trying to avoid the very hot sun. Oh for an air conditioner! haha.
Last night vinj and I went out on a date, we have been SOOO BUSY with the clinic construction, budgets, DTS planning, and ywam in general. Which has brought vinj and I to a ummmm ... “testy” point, both of us having little patients for either. So we thought it’s time to just take some time off together.
So we went out into Lusaka to find something new. There is a chinese hotel, its called the “The golden bridge” I am sure you can google that. Anyway, we went in to see what it looked like, so we had a drink in the lounge area, it was soooo funny, seriously there were like 10 different colours used in the lounge in the painting! And they didn’t really match in alot of spots! : ) haha. It was quite pleasant and funny, so we decided to stay for supper (we were maybe going to go out to an Indian place) So we went to the restaurant, its a classic big open room full of tacky chairs and tables with gold everywhere, the main colours were baby yellow, and purple : ) ! Our waitress took us to a private room in the back with romantic light, it was nice, except the temperature was set at 31 C! AHHH, and we couldn’t change it! So it was a bit hot. We had different/ really good food, although the spring roles were not spring rolls! And we asked for soya sauce and she had no idea what we were talking about, so we told her there is no way the chinese came and built a hotel with chinese food and didn’t bother to import soya sauce, so we told her it’s brown/black sauce. So she went and found some! Even though her manager said they didn’t have any! What a good waitress!
Vinj went to wash his hands in a sink outside the bathrooms and the waitress came to him and explained how they work, since there is no where to turn them on, she said we don’t want you to be pulling things and brake something! GEESH talk about assuming someone has no clue! So Vinj was gracious and let her show him how to use the automatic touch-less taps. He came back to our table and told me it was so weird to be the one assumed to be “uneducated”.
Anyway, we finished and went to the open Shopping/cinima/restraunt center called Arcades. We looked for movies but all of them had started already, pretty bad planning! So we walked around looking at some of the new shops, all closed of corse. We found a new club that had been opened, and I wanted to see inside, since I haven’t ever seen inside a club! haha, yes laugh at me know, I was a “good girl”. It was SOOO COOL, mainly black and red interior, but very fancy. The bouncers at the door look us up and down and said ok, it’s fine you can go in... then we met the SECOND pair of bouncers who came really close to vinj and not going to lie kinda scared me! : ) But we said “sorry sir! We just wanted to see inside!” haha. But definitely not a place YWAMers are allowed to stay and play. So we left of corse after seeing the place. And we went to this arabic place where they have the best coffee in Zambia that we have found! It is SOOO GOOD people, better then anything we tried in Canada as well. So maybe I can the the best in the world! haha.
Anyway, the have opened a very cute stylish little ice cream shop, where they make their own ice cream! And you get small scoops (much smaller then you would get in canada) but you can get a different flavor for each scoop you get. So we got a mocca Chocca, and Vanilla of corse for vinjelu, and a mint chocolate one for me, which was totally amazing. And can I say AGAIN the ice cream was the best I have ever tasted! Better then that Marble slab place in Canada! So rich and creamy, and everything ice cream should be. And to top it off a very cool chocolate design frozen on top. Very cool, we love the place and will go back.
It was a nice date.
A new development, to give you some back ground. . . before we even came to Zambia we were told there was an older lady looking for work and the ywam people were thinking we could employ her to help with house work in our house. Right away we said NO! It would be so weird having someone older then us like our mother cleaning our floors and so on. When we got here that same lady was coming every other day asking if we would employ her. Kind of harder to say no, now that she is in our face, she wanted the job obviously for the money. She is a widow, and is 61 years old. So we finally agreed with reservation in the decision. It’s been since July she worked for us, Vinj and I have been uncomfortable with it the whole time, and feel it’s just not working for us, we can do all the work she does our selves in our home, and besides that we are missionaries, we should be an example to people as well! So we talked to her about it yesterday, and she will not be working for us anymore. Vinj told her we did it to help her, so we are going to be praying about how we should help her, so we will wait and hear from God about it. There are so many people to help though, it’s just endless, and we know we need to hear from God who we are to give to and so on. There are alot of girls 15 and up not going to school, who want to go, but don’t have the money, sick people needing health care... and so on, the stories run one after another after another. We just need Jesus, we need miracles! Please pray for these, and for wisdom, compassion and resources for Vinjelu and I!
I cannot post pictures from the aircard internet from home, sorry about that, there are pictures to post for you guys.
We might be going to visit an orphanage today. Wish us many blessings!
Love you all,
Kathryn
Monday, September 20, 2010
Stories from Zambia...
Most names have been changed in these stories for the sake of the people.
We thought we should share some of our stories from Zambia so far, I know many of you have been asking for “God stories” from when we came.
We have seen alot of hopelessness, disease, death, and poverty around us in the last three months. As we have always said, we are thankful we carry Jesus, because He is the only one who can make a difference in those lives.
Friends of ours have been married for a year and a half now, and were expecting their first baby in October, Glen is a teacher at a high school, and Breanne is a social worker in Lusaka. She was 7 months pregnant -- 3 weeks ago, when she felt she was going into labour early. They went to the main hospital in Lusaka the University teaching Hospital, many people see that hospital as a place to go and die, because when you are there it’s the end of the rope, others traditionally always encourage there kids to go there because of familiarity. Anyway, most of the stories from this hospital we have hear end in trauma or death. This time it was death of their baby. Breanne went into labour too early, in the tradition of the hospital the husband is not aloud in with the wife, so she was in with the nurses. But as she was not going into active labour the nurses just left her, waiting.... for more then 12 hours, they checked the babies heart beat and even told her the babies heart beat was going down.... and yet they still left her. After being induced she gave birth to a dead beautiful baby boy. He could have easily lived with a C-Section, which they give in Zambia everyday... but she didn’t know, and the nurses were not offering any other alternative. When we heard the news after coming home from Malawi we were so devastated, and mad at this unfair, cruel circumstance, if they were in one of the private hospitals it probably would be different. Now they are left with no baby, and she is still healing from the birth of her baby boy. Our hearts break for this couple, and we are trying to be a support for them, sharing the little we know of loss, encouraging them to hold on to Jesus, and grieve now, not to put it aside and be tough. Please pray for healing in their hearts, especially Breanne (God knows her real name), pray that they will be blessed with a baby, pray for strength and inspiration.
Last week an older lady told us her grandbaby was very sick, the same age as Taliah, vomiting and diharea for the past two days. That concerned us right away knowing how many babies die of those symptoms everyday. So we took her and the baby to the local clinic closest to us. (the one that is OVER RUN with patients) She had been diagnosted with malaria without a blood slide, meaning a nurse looked at her and said she has malaria, they gave her tablets to be dissolved in water and given for the malaria, but she was just throwing them up. When we took her in vinjelu asked for a blood slide, and the nurse said no they couldn’t do one because the d already given her medication and it would not be visible anyway (which is true) SO WHY GIVE MEDICATION if you don’t know what it really is!!! Since meningitis has very similar symptoms as malaria, and babies can die of that in 48 hours. Vinjelu was also shocked to find out the grandmother thought every man in the clinic was a doctor! Down to the guy emptying the garbage. The implications of this are huge, since she would listen to any of them, believing they are all doctors! Not good.
Anyway, after a few days of treatment and trips to the clinic the baby is on the mend praise Jesus! This story is repeated hundreds of times a day in our area.
Another two reasons we want to get our clinic finished!
We would love to fill the clinic with staff who love the patients, who see them as people no matter the money in there pocket or clothes they wear. Please pray with us for a Doctor who is a Jesus follower, who believes in the healing touch of Jesus and is also a VERY GOOD DOCTOR! We need lab technitions, nurses, receptionist, people who love people!
From Prison to Jesus...
We had two guys come to the base to inquire about our discipleship school, both express their desire to follow Jesus and be in His ministry, we also found out through the sharing and conversation they have both spend more then ten years in jail! I will tell one story at a time ok. First guy who I will call Jeff, shared that he had been part of an armed robbery when he was a teenager, he shared the pressures of being poor and wanting to face up to pressures of looking good at school and having pocket money. He and his friend were interrogated and beat to the pulp asking where the gun was, eventually they lied that a different man had it, out of desperation to get out of the beatings-- that man was killed by the police, an innocent man. He will forever live with that guilt. After being pardoned 3 year ago Jeff became a christian and has been following Jesus ever since. He wants to fight for the rights of prisoners in Zambia, as the living conditions are well below human standards. He shared that the men could never sleep in their cells, they were too full with double the prisoners then the prison capacity. He said the guys would sit up squooshed in the cell waiting for morning when they were let outside where they would stretch out and sleep.
He wants to do DTS with us, please pray for the voice of the Holy Spirit to speak clearly to us during this time of walking with Jeff.
Now for the second guy who came asking about DTS, he wants to devote him self to missions, spreading the gospel of Jesus. I will call him Michael, he was also involved in an armed robbery but he was put on DEATH ROW, to be hanged! Now to put it into perspective, at that time armed robbery was getting totally out of control in Zambia, people were being killed in their homes, women were being raped, etc. So the government came down VERY HARD on armed robbers, even if they were stupid youth. He was a youth when he went into prison on death row, for 10 years he waited to die. He got a review from President Mwanawasa, and he told them he deserved to die, he was guilty of what he did, and he was not going to beg for his life. After his review he was pardoned and freed. He became a christian in the prison, and since his life had been spared he wants to do nothing else but serve God in missions. He also wants to do the DTS we are running in March. Please keep him in your prayers as well. We were talking to him about rehabilitation of prisoners who went into prison as youth and come out as men with no money, education or money. He advocates for education in prisons now, and wants to work with youth who are at risk already, before they end up in prison. Again please pray for wisdom with these two men with hearts to follow Jesus.
And for our last story. There is a man who back in 2001 told vinjelu how he does not feel like a man, he felt like a totally failure, with no job and business always failing for him. His wife had a job, but he couldn’t make anything work. Back then Vinjelu encourage him to hold on to Jesus and one of these days things would turn around, that Jesus hears his hearts cry. We met him yesterday and he gave testimony after testimony, they have been able to renovate their house into a four bedroom house instead for a one bedroom with room for kids and family. They own now a few businesses, and are enjoying blessing on blessing. And he kept reminding Vinjelu what he had said to him year sago, and that he held onto those words for years. It was encouraging to hear that, and it blessed Vinjelu.
Those are all for now, not all our stories but some of them.
Another few prayer points:
Please pray for total health for the Muyaba family.
Pray for the couple who lost their baby boy
For the clinic staff we will need for our clinic
For the rest of the money needed for the clinic
Pray for wisdom for vinjelu and kathryn as they prayerfully accept students for next years DTS.
Pray for those two men who are now out of prison, and are seeking after Jesus.
Pray for the anointing to fall around us, for people to be healed, and transformed!
Blessings to you all.
Vinjelu and Kathryn
We thought we should share some of our stories from Zambia so far, I know many of you have been asking for “God stories” from when we came.
We have seen alot of hopelessness, disease, death, and poverty around us in the last three months. As we have always said, we are thankful we carry Jesus, because He is the only one who can make a difference in those lives.
Friends of ours have been married for a year and a half now, and were expecting their first baby in October, Glen is a teacher at a high school, and Breanne is a social worker in Lusaka. She was 7 months pregnant -- 3 weeks ago, when she felt she was going into labour early. They went to the main hospital in Lusaka the University teaching Hospital, many people see that hospital as a place to go and die, because when you are there it’s the end of the rope, others traditionally always encourage there kids to go there because of familiarity. Anyway, most of the stories from this hospital we have hear end in trauma or death. This time it was death of their baby. Breanne went into labour too early, in the tradition of the hospital the husband is not aloud in with the wife, so she was in with the nurses. But as she was not going into active labour the nurses just left her, waiting.... for more then 12 hours, they checked the babies heart beat and even told her the babies heart beat was going down.... and yet they still left her. After being induced she gave birth to a dead beautiful baby boy. He could have easily lived with a C-Section, which they give in Zambia everyday... but she didn’t know, and the nurses were not offering any other alternative. When we heard the news after coming home from Malawi we were so devastated, and mad at this unfair, cruel circumstance, if they were in one of the private hospitals it probably would be different. Now they are left with no baby, and she is still healing from the birth of her baby boy. Our hearts break for this couple, and we are trying to be a support for them, sharing the little we know of loss, encouraging them to hold on to Jesus, and grieve now, not to put it aside and be tough. Please pray for healing in their hearts, especially Breanne (God knows her real name), pray that they will be blessed with a baby, pray for strength and inspiration.
Last week an older lady told us her grandbaby was very sick, the same age as Taliah, vomiting and diharea for the past two days. That concerned us right away knowing how many babies die of those symptoms everyday. So we took her and the baby to the local clinic closest to us. (the one that is OVER RUN with patients) She had been diagnosted with malaria without a blood slide, meaning a nurse looked at her and said she has malaria, they gave her tablets to be dissolved in water and given for the malaria, but she was just throwing them up. When we took her in vinjelu asked for a blood slide, and the nurse said no they couldn’t do one because the d already given her medication and it would not be visible anyway (which is true) SO WHY GIVE MEDICATION if you don’t know what it really is!!! Since meningitis has very similar symptoms as malaria, and babies can die of that in 48 hours. Vinjelu was also shocked to find out the grandmother thought every man in the clinic was a doctor! Down to the guy emptying the garbage. The implications of this are huge, since she would listen to any of them, believing they are all doctors! Not good.
Anyway, after a few days of treatment and trips to the clinic the baby is on the mend praise Jesus! This story is repeated hundreds of times a day in our area.
Another two reasons we want to get our clinic finished!
We would love to fill the clinic with staff who love the patients, who see them as people no matter the money in there pocket or clothes they wear. Please pray with us for a Doctor who is a Jesus follower, who believes in the healing touch of Jesus and is also a VERY GOOD DOCTOR! We need lab technitions, nurses, receptionist, people who love people!
From Prison to Jesus...
We had two guys come to the base to inquire about our discipleship school, both express their desire to follow Jesus and be in His ministry, we also found out through the sharing and conversation they have both spend more then ten years in jail! I will tell one story at a time ok. First guy who I will call Jeff, shared that he had been part of an armed robbery when he was a teenager, he shared the pressures of being poor and wanting to face up to pressures of looking good at school and having pocket money. He and his friend were interrogated and beat to the pulp asking where the gun was, eventually they lied that a different man had it, out of desperation to get out of the beatings-- that man was killed by the police, an innocent man. He will forever live with that guilt. After being pardoned 3 year ago Jeff became a christian and has been following Jesus ever since. He wants to fight for the rights of prisoners in Zambia, as the living conditions are well below human standards. He shared that the men could never sleep in their cells, they were too full with double the prisoners then the prison capacity. He said the guys would sit up squooshed in the cell waiting for morning when they were let outside where they would stretch out and sleep.
He wants to do DTS with us, please pray for the voice of the Holy Spirit to speak clearly to us during this time of walking with Jeff.
Now for the second guy who came asking about DTS, he wants to devote him self to missions, spreading the gospel of Jesus. I will call him Michael, he was also involved in an armed robbery but he was put on DEATH ROW, to be hanged! Now to put it into perspective, at that time armed robbery was getting totally out of control in Zambia, people were being killed in their homes, women were being raped, etc. So the government came down VERY HARD on armed robbers, even if they were stupid youth. He was a youth when he went into prison on death row, for 10 years he waited to die. He got a review from President Mwanawasa, and he told them he deserved to die, he was guilty of what he did, and he was not going to beg for his life. After his review he was pardoned and freed. He became a christian in the prison, and since his life had been spared he wants to do nothing else but serve God in missions. He also wants to do the DTS we are running in March. Please keep him in your prayers as well. We were talking to him about rehabilitation of prisoners who went into prison as youth and come out as men with no money, education or money. He advocates for education in prisons now, and wants to work with youth who are at risk already, before they end up in prison. Again please pray for wisdom with these two men with hearts to follow Jesus.
And for our last story. There is a man who back in 2001 told vinjelu how he does not feel like a man, he felt like a totally failure, with no job and business always failing for him. His wife had a job, but he couldn’t make anything work. Back then Vinjelu encourage him to hold on to Jesus and one of these days things would turn around, that Jesus hears his hearts cry. We met him yesterday and he gave testimony after testimony, they have been able to renovate their house into a four bedroom house instead for a one bedroom with room for kids and family. They own now a few businesses, and are enjoying blessing on blessing. And he kept reminding Vinjelu what he had said to him year sago, and that he held onto those words for years. It was encouraging to hear that, and it blessed Vinjelu.
Those are all for now, not all our stories but some of them.
Another few prayer points:
Please pray for total health for the Muyaba family.
Pray for the couple who lost their baby boy
For the clinic staff we will need for our clinic
For the rest of the money needed for the clinic
Pray for wisdom for vinjelu and kathryn as they prayerfully accept students for next years DTS.
Pray for those two men who are now out of prison, and are seeking after Jesus.
Pray for the anointing to fall around us, for people to be healed, and transformed!
Blessings to you all.
Vinjelu and Kathryn
Stories from Zambia...
Most names have been changed in these stories for the sake of the people.
We thought we should share some of our stories from Zambia so far, I know many of you have been asking for “God stories” from when we came.
We have seen alot of hopelessness, disease, death, and poverty around us in the last three months. As we have always said, we are thankful we carry Jesus, because He is the only one who can make a difference in those lives.
Friends of ours have been married for a year and a half now, and were expecting their first baby in October, Glen is a teacher at a high school, and Breanne is a social worker in Lusaka. She was 7 months pregnant -- 3 weeks ago, when she felt she was going into labour early. They went to the main hospital in Lusaka the University teaching Hospital, many people see that hospital as a place to go and die, because when you are there it’s the end of the rope, others traditionally always encourage there kids to go there because of familiarity. Anyway, most of the stories from this hospital we have hear end in trauma or death. This time it was death of their baby. Breanne went into labour too early, in the tradition of the hospital the husband is not aloud in with the wife, so she was in with the nurses. But as she was not going into active labour the nurses just left her, waiting.... for more then 12 hours, they checked the babies heart beat and even told her the babies heart beat was going down.... and yet they still left her. After being induced she gave birth to a dead beautiful baby boy. He could have easily lived with a C-Section, which they give in Zambia everyday... but she didn’t know, and the nurses were not offering any other alternative. When we heard the news after coming home from Malawi we were so devastated, and mad at this unfair, cruel circumstance, if they were in one of the private hospitals it probably would be different. Now they are left with no baby, and she is still healing from the birth of her baby boy. Our hearts break for this couple, and we are trying to be a support for them, sharing the little we know of loss, encouraging them to hold on to Jesus, and grieve now, not to put it aside and be tough. Please pray for healing in their hearts, especially Breanne (God knows her real name), pray that they will be blessed with a baby, pray for strength and inspiration.
Last week an older lady told us her grandbaby was very sick, the same age as Taliah, vomiting and diharea for the past two days. That concerned us right away knowing how many babies die of those symptoms everyday. So we took her and the baby to the local clinic closest to us. (the one that is OVER RUN with patients) She had been diagnosted with malaria without a blood slide, meaning a nurse looked at her and said she has malaria, they gave her tablets to be dissolved in water and given for the malaria, but she was just throwing them up. When we took her in vinjelu asked for a blood slide, and the nurse said no they couldn’t do one because the d already given her medication and it would not be visible anyway (which is true) SO WHY GIVE MEDICATION if you don’t know what it really is!!! Since meningitis has very similar symptoms as malaria, and babies can die of that in 48 hours. Vinjelu was also shocked to find out the grandmother thought every man in the clinic was a doctor! Down to the guy emptying the garbage. The implications of this are huge, since she would listen to any of them, believing they are all doctors! Not good.
Anyway, after a few days of treatment and trips to the clinic the baby is on the mend praise Jesus! This story is repeated hundreds of times a day in our area.
Another two reasons we want to get our clinic finished!
We would love to fill the clinic with staff who love the patients, who see them as people no matter the money in there pocket or clothes they wear. Please pray with us for a Doctor who is a Jesus follower, who believes in the healing touch of Jesus and is also a VERY GOOD DOCTOR! We need lab technitions, nurses, receptionist, people who love people!
From Prison to Jesus...
We had two guys come to the base to inquire about our discipleship school, both express their desire to follow Jesus and be in His ministry, we also found out through the sharing and conversation they have both spend more then ten years in jail! I will tell one story at a time ok. First guy who I will call Jeff, shared that he had been part of an armed robbery when he was a teenager, he shared the pressures of being poor and wanting to face up to pressures of looking good at school and having pocket money. He and his friend were interrogated and beat to the pulp asking where the gun was, eventually they lied that a different man had it, out of desperation to get out of the beatings-- that man was killed by the police, an innocent man. He will forever live with that guilt. After being pardoned 3 year ago Jeff became a christian and has been following Jesus ever since. He wants to fight for the rights of prisoners in Zambia, as the living conditions are well below human standards. He shared that the men could never sleep in their cells, they were too full with double the prisoners then the prison capacity. He said the guys would sit up squooshed in the cell waiting for morning when they were let outside where they would stretch out and sleep.
He wants to do DTS with us, please pray for the voice of the Holy Spirit to speak clearly to us during this time of walking with Jeff.
Now for the second guy who came asking about DTS, he wants to devote him self to missions, spreading the gospel of Jesus. I will call him Michael, he was also involved in an armed robbery but he was put on DEATH ROW, to be hanged! Now to put it into perspective, at that time armed robbery was getting totally out of control in Zambia, people were being killed in their homes, women were being raped, etc. So the government came down VERY HARD on armed robbers, even if they were stupid youth. He was a youth when he went into prison on death row, for 10 years he waited to die. He got a review from President Mwanawasa, and he told them he deserved to die, he was guilty of what he did, and he was not going to beg for his life. After his review he was pardoned and freed. He became a christian in the prison, and since his life had been spared he wants to do nothing else but serve God in missions. He also wants to do the DTS we are running in March. Please keep him in your prayers as well. We were talking to him about rehabilitation of prisoners who went into prison as youth and come out as men with no money, education or money. He advocates for education in prisons now, and wants to work with youth who are at risk already, before they end up in prison. Again please pray for wisdom with these two men with hearts to follow Jesus.
And for our last story. There is a man who back in 2001 told vinjelu how he does not feel like a man, he felt like a totally failure, with no job and business always failing for him. His wife had a job, but he couldn’t make anything work. Back then Vinjelu encourage him to hold on to Jesus and one of these days things would turn around, that Jesus hears his hearts cry. We met him yesterday and he gave testimony after testimony, they have been able to renovate their house into a four bedroom house instead for a one bedroom with room for kids and family. They own now a few businesses, and are enjoying blessing on blessing. And he kept reminding Vinjelu what he had said to him year sago, and that he held onto those words for years. It was encouraging to hear that, and it blessed Vinjelu.
Those are all for now, not all our stories but some of them.
Another few prayer points:
Please pray for total health for the Muyaba family.
Pray for the couple who lost their baby boy
For the clinic staff we will need for our clinic
For the rest of the money needed for the clinic
Pray for wisdom for vinjelu and kathryn as they prayerfully accept students for next years DTS.
Pray for those two men who are now out of prison, and are seeking after Jesus.
Pray for the anointing to fall around us, for people to be healed, and transformed!
Blessings to you all.
Vinjelu and Kathryn
We thought we should share some of our stories from Zambia so far, I know many of you have been asking for “God stories” from when we came.
We have seen alot of hopelessness, disease, death, and poverty around us in the last three months. As we have always said, we are thankful we carry Jesus, because He is the only one who can make a difference in those lives.
Friends of ours have been married for a year and a half now, and were expecting their first baby in October, Glen is a teacher at a high school, and Breanne is a social worker in Lusaka. She was 7 months pregnant -- 3 weeks ago, when she felt she was going into labour early. They went to the main hospital in Lusaka the University teaching Hospital, many people see that hospital as a place to go and die, because when you are there it’s the end of the rope, others traditionally always encourage there kids to go there because of familiarity. Anyway, most of the stories from this hospital we have hear end in trauma or death. This time it was death of their baby. Breanne went into labour too early, in the tradition of the hospital the husband is not aloud in with the wife, so she was in with the nurses. But as she was not going into active labour the nurses just left her, waiting.... for more then 12 hours, they checked the babies heart beat and even told her the babies heart beat was going down.... and yet they still left her. After being induced she gave birth to a dead beautiful baby boy. He could have easily lived with a C-Section, which they give in Zambia everyday... but she didn’t know, and the nurses were not offering any other alternative. When we heard the news after coming home from Malawi we were so devastated, and mad at this unfair, cruel circumstance, if they were in one of the private hospitals it probably would be different. Now they are left with no baby, and she is still healing from the birth of her baby boy. Our hearts break for this couple, and we are trying to be a support for them, sharing the little we know of loss, encouraging them to hold on to Jesus, and grieve now, not to put it aside and be tough. Please pray for healing in their hearts, especially Breanne (God knows her real name), pray that they will be blessed with a baby, pray for strength and inspiration.
Last week an older lady told us her grandbaby was very sick, the same age as Taliah, vomiting and diharea for the past two days. That concerned us right away knowing how many babies die of those symptoms everyday. So we took her and the baby to the local clinic closest to us. (the one that is OVER RUN with patients) She had been diagnosted with malaria without a blood slide, meaning a nurse looked at her and said she has malaria, they gave her tablets to be dissolved in water and given for the malaria, but she was just throwing them up. When we took her in vinjelu asked for a blood slide, and the nurse said no they couldn’t do one because the d already given her medication and it would not be visible anyway (which is true) SO WHY GIVE MEDICATION if you don’t know what it really is!!! Since meningitis has very similar symptoms as malaria, and babies can die of that in 48 hours. Vinjelu was also shocked to find out the grandmother thought every man in the clinic was a doctor! Down to the guy emptying the garbage. The implications of this are huge, since she would listen to any of them, believing they are all doctors! Not good.
Anyway, after a few days of treatment and trips to the clinic the baby is on the mend praise Jesus! This story is repeated hundreds of times a day in our area.
Another two reasons we want to get our clinic finished!
We would love to fill the clinic with staff who love the patients, who see them as people no matter the money in there pocket or clothes they wear. Please pray with us for a Doctor who is a Jesus follower, who believes in the healing touch of Jesus and is also a VERY GOOD DOCTOR! We need lab technitions, nurses, receptionist, people who love people!
From Prison to Jesus...
We had two guys come to the base to inquire about our discipleship school, both express their desire to follow Jesus and be in His ministry, we also found out through the sharing and conversation they have both spend more then ten years in jail! I will tell one story at a time ok. First guy who I will call Jeff, shared that he had been part of an armed robbery when he was a teenager, he shared the pressures of being poor and wanting to face up to pressures of looking good at school and having pocket money. He and his friend were interrogated and beat to the pulp asking where the gun was, eventually they lied that a different man had it, out of desperation to get out of the beatings-- that man was killed by the police, an innocent man. He will forever live with that guilt. After being pardoned 3 year ago Jeff became a christian and has been following Jesus ever since. He wants to fight for the rights of prisoners in Zambia, as the living conditions are well below human standards. He shared that the men could never sleep in their cells, they were too full with double the prisoners then the prison capacity. He said the guys would sit up squooshed in the cell waiting for morning when they were let outside where they would stretch out and sleep.
He wants to do DTS with us, please pray for the voice of the Holy Spirit to speak clearly to us during this time of walking with Jeff.
Now for the second guy who came asking about DTS, he wants to devote him self to missions, spreading the gospel of Jesus. I will call him Michael, he was also involved in an armed robbery but he was put on DEATH ROW, to be hanged! Now to put it into perspective, at that time armed robbery was getting totally out of control in Zambia, people were being killed in their homes, women were being raped, etc. So the government came down VERY HARD on armed robbers, even if they were stupid youth. He was a youth when he went into prison on death row, for 10 years he waited to die. He got a review from President Mwanawasa, and he told them he deserved to die, he was guilty of what he did, and he was not going to beg for his life. After his review he was pardoned and freed. He became a christian in the prison, and since his life had been spared he wants to do nothing else but serve God in missions. He also wants to do the DTS we are running in March. Please keep him in your prayers as well. We were talking to him about rehabilitation of prisoners who went into prison as youth and come out as men with no money, education or money. He advocates for education in prisons now, and wants to work with youth who are at risk already, before they end up in prison. Again please pray for wisdom with these two men with hearts to follow Jesus.
And for our last story. There is a man who back in 2001 told vinjelu how he does not feel like a man, he felt like a totally failure, with no job and business always failing for him. His wife had a job, but he couldn’t make anything work. Back then Vinjelu encourage him to hold on to Jesus and one of these days things would turn around, that Jesus hears his hearts cry. We met him yesterday and he gave testimony after testimony, they have been able to renovate their house into a four bedroom house instead for a one bedroom with room for kids and family. They own now a few businesses, and are enjoying blessing on blessing. And he kept reminding Vinjelu what he had said to him year sago, and that he held onto those words for years. It was encouraging to hear that, and it blessed Vinjelu.
Those are all for now, not all our stories but some of them.
Another few prayer points:
Please pray for total health for the Muyaba family.
Pray for the couple who lost their baby boy
For the clinic staff we will need for our clinic
For the rest of the money needed for the clinic
Pray for wisdom for vinjelu and kathryn as they prayerfully accept students for next years DTS.
Pray for those two men who are now out of prison, and are seeking after Jesus.
Pray for the anointing to fall around us, for people to be healed, and transformed!
Blessings to you all.
Vinjelu and Kathryn
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