A Day in the Life...

Of a Rapid 14 Base Staff Member!

I thought I'd share with you all about what an average day as a base staff member here on Rapid 14 is like. My role with Overland interchanges with being base staff, expedition leader, and personal assistant. I'll post examples of my days for the other roles sometime in the future.

7:30 am- Wake up and hit snooze on my alarm at least twice... a bad habit from college.

7:45 am- shower

8:00 am- breakfast which typically consists of bread, tea/coffee, and the occasional oatmeal/porridge or cereal (sometimes we treat ourselves to eggs, pancakes, or french toast but on rare occasions)

8:00 am- Personal morning devotions, staff planning for the day

9:30 am- typical start of work day
The work days can find me in town doing supply runs, working on trucks in the warehouse, or doing administration in the office

12:30 pm- Lunch. The meal is usually nshima (local corn meal which resembles mashed potatoes but doesn't taste anything like... well anything) and a relish (beans, cabbage, eggplant, or kapenta (tiny dried and fried fish- not my favorite!).

1:30 pm- resume work projects
Usually by now your plan for the day has been tossed out of the window by either something breaking down, new and urgent projects coming up, rain, and/or town battles

4:30 pm- Work day ends for the local workers on the base

5:30 pm- Start preparing dinner

7:00 pm- Generator goes on and everyone logs onto the Internet and Skype

7:30 pm- Dinner

10:30 pm- Generator goes off. Everyone goes to their tents to read and/or sleep


So that's a typical work day on the base. Not as thrilling sounding but it's actually fun in a strange sort of way. I have one to thing to say and that there's never a lack of work to do around here. For example, here are few of the projects I am currently working on:
~ Pulling and fixing the clutch line on my overland truck
~ replacing the oil pan on my overland truck
~ oil changes on all the vehicles
~ end of the year accounting
~ Cleaning and organizing the warehouse
~ cooking dinner every Friday
~ coming up with decorating ideas for Christmas for the main center- very fun! :)

Hope that gives an idea of what my days have been like since expeditions ended in September! God bless!

A Plague of Snakes

Okay well maybe not really a plague. Today I was in the warehouse continuing work on my truck, Maverick, and found a decent sized snake visiting me... of course posionous. The guys were saying it was a green mamba but the description doesn't match. Either way, I ran and got some of the workers to kill it for me. Can I just express how much I hate snakes. I really, really hate them. It's not that they're gross or anything but the fact is that if one bites you, it can kill you very quickly. Here in Africa, it dangerous because you'll have to drive the 20-30 minutes into town to the private clinic, wait for a jet, and get flown to south africa to get the antivenom administered. It's a long process which I never want to go through or see anyone go through. Sheesh! Praise God, though, cause no one has ever been bitten with Overland Missions. We have the protection of the Lord on our lives!
Many of you might be wondering whatever happened with my Thanksgiving Day plans. Well, we didn't end up celebrating. Things here got too busy and we decided that it would be too big of a mission to cook the large dinner. I've found it funny trying to explain the american tradition of Thanksgiving to my African friends here in Zambia. They understand the giving thanks part of the holiday but i think that americans have turned the focus onto the meal, which they pointed out to me as I was explaining the holiday. Oops! ;-)

The Great Turkey Hunt (Day 1)

Okay so Thursday is Thanksgiving and I am not about to forget it just because I am in Zambia! :) I've been planning out my thanksgiving menu for about a week or so now and today was the start of the hunt for our turkey. Yes, you can get them here in Zambia but it's not easy. There are some places in town and in the villages that raise turkeys but sometimes they are not always willing to sell them (Yes, you buy them alive and have to kill them yourself). We found one today for $30 and it was a whopping 25 pund turkey. That's a lot of turkey for 4 people. Needless to say, the hunt shall continue tomorrow. We did happen to order a pumpkin pie from the bakery in town and are also on the hunt for sweet potatoes and celery. Some things are not so easy to come by but it will be a great thanksgiving nonetheless. :)

The Ups and Downs

Every job in life has its ups and downs, and being a full time missionary is included. There is nothing I would rather be doing in life, and the Gospel is my passion, but I could deal without the cultural stereotypes. First of all, being a woman in ministry is tough here, much less being a single woman in ministry. Some have no problems in being under authority to a woman, but there are some who can be quite disrespectful. They definately let you know that they don't agree with your position. It's one of those things you have to learn to not take personally and let roll off your back. Nevertheless, it is a reality and something I'm learning to address and hopefully see change. I would love to see more women pursuing studies in ministry, and to pursue whatever God has put on their hearts. There is nothing we cannot do because we have Christ living within us!
Take me for example. My friend Maureen, one of our staff from Malwai, and I were discussing the other day that I am one of the strangest and most interesting women she knows (and this probably goes for a lot of you who also know me). I am a professional musician, teacher, diesel mechanic, truck driver, preacher, truck driver, chef, baker, accountant, personal assistant, trail blazer, adventurer, safari guide, theatre lover, outdoors lover, and who knows what else. I've picked up so many different skills and talents but seem almost random and strange but much needed in overseas ministry. I used to have no interest in working on vehicles but now its one of my favorite things to do, especially working on my overland truck- Maverick. It's amazing what God can do through you when you open up your life to Him. The possibilities are endless!
So any woman that is reading this, I want to encourage you. There is nothing that limits you! Do not view yourself with lack or below standard. You can do anything you desire. God will use you in awesome ways, whether it's to preach the Gospel in the rural areas of Africa or to raise your children in a Christian home. He will use you if you are willing!

On a side note: please pray for the rains to come here in Zambia. We've have a few showers but the farmers in the villages are anxiously waiting the rains to kick in to the fullest. The should already have started planting for the first harvest but cannot until the rains come. Everyone depends on good rains during this season in order to survive the year.

Welcome to November!

Well the last week and a half or so have passed by quickly. We are now down to 4 people here on the base so things have been quiet yet busy. I've had my hands full with vehicles breaking down. Just when you think one is fixed, either it breaks down again or another one does. There is definatley never a lack of work around here. I also have some awesome news: the rice donation has been approved by Zambia and should be released to us within the early part of this upcoming week. Once our toyota truck is back up a running (has a broken shift cable) we'll be distributing rice and tonga bibles (due to arrive end of this month) to the rural villages in southern zambia.
The rains have officially started here in Zambia. We had two days of rain so far, and the ground is slowing turning muddy. The nice part is that after it rains, the weather is nice and cool for a day or two- a nice break from the heat. :)
Until next time...

Women of God

Today was an awesome day! I had the chance to preach the Word at a women's meeting at Stepping Stones Church. The pastor there is a good friend of mine, Pastor Dragan Zondani. He's my Zambian brother. The church is located in Songwey Village, about 10 minutes from our base. It was such an awesome time to spend with these women. The Lord had me speak on what God can do through women; the possibilities are endless! It was awesome to encourage these women and I hope to do so again so. Just fellowshipping with them and praising God is worth everything.
Even though this is my third time in Africa (as my longest so far) I am still learning about the culture more each day. I really want to understand these people, the lives they lead, and what their hearts desires are. I want to see them on fire for the Lord and realizing they have what it takes to fulfil whatever call the Lord has on their lives. Walking on the path that He has for you is such an amazing life that it can compare to nothing! Are you walking that path?