Question 2

"Please tell me about someone who you're close to in Africa"

Winnie is one of my good friends in Zambia. She's about my age an

d is from Nsongwe Village, just down the road for our base. I first met Winnie when she volunteered to be an interpreter on one of our expeditions in 2008. We quickly grew to be close friends as she continued helping with our teams. It was awesome to watch God move through her as she started sharing the Gospel with people in villages, not just translating. She has grown to be a woman on fire for the Lord with a passion for bringing the Gospel into the rural villages.

Question 1

"What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?"

This is the most common question I think every missionary is asked. The answer really depends on what your definition is weird. Two meals that come to mind is the one night we had hippo curry and the local dish called kapenta.

The story about the hippo curry is that we live on the Batoka Gorge, overlooking the Zambezi river. Certain times of the year (when the river is high) animals will wash over Victoria Falls and usually end up at our base. This one instance, a hippo was found (dead) in the gorge and the local villagers butchered up the meat. A portion was

given to our base which was served in the form of a curry that evening. I can't say it's my favorite meat but it wasn't terrible. :)

The local dish, kapenta, is a small, dried fish served. It's cooked in oil with onions and

tomatoes. Many people can't get over the little eyes staring at you from your plate. I just can't stand the salty, fishy taste that they have. However, if you enjoy sardines then you'll probably like these.

I did have goat heart in a village last year, which I really enjoyed!

Keep the questions coming! Send them through the comments, email, facebook, or twitter!

30 Day Challange

Lately I've been thinking of different topics I can blog about. I'll hopefully be back in Africa in a month and until then I'd like to do a post a day. Every time I meet with people and share with them about the ministry I do in, I get all sorts of questions. These questions can range from "what's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?" to "how are you received as a missionary by the local people?". For the next 30 days I will post a question commonly asked to missionaries with an answer from my personal experience. I hope that you all get to know me, the Zambian culture, and Overland Missions a lot more. Feel free to post questions that you'd like answered via the comments section, email, facebook, or even twitter. Look for the 1st post tomorrow!

Blessings!

Simple Gospel

Last week was 3/16/11. While driving, I was listening to K-Love radio and they were sharing about how it was declared "John 3:16 day" and were encouraging people to share the love of God with at least one person. It got me thinking about how often we (Christians) overlook that beautiful, yet simple verse. Many times we just assume everyone has heard it before. We're looking to share some new, revolutionary idea that will completely change the world as we know it. We've gotten away from the fact that this is the truth of the Gospel. "God so loved the world that He gave His only, begotten Son so that we shall not perish but have eternal life." That is it, my friends. Easy, simple, and beautiful beyond words. You matter to God. You are His heart's desire. How cool is it to be the very desire of God? It blows my mind...

Many of you might be wondering what is the update on the ministry in Africa. I'm so excited for the upcoming changes in ministry and cannot wait to be back in Zambia. Currently, I am raising up my ministry budget in order to return to Africa before summer. I'm in Chicago meeting with family, friends, and churches. If you're in the area, please let me know. I'd love to meet with you and share what God has placed on my heart for the rural villages in Zambia.

Twalumba! (Thank You in Chitonga)

Two Worlds

I feel like I haven't moved in weeks. It's such an adjustment to come back to Africa and have a "9-5" schedule. I've been in Florida the past month, working on support raising from the Overland Missions USA offices. I have an office job. I miss the batoka gorge, the zambian sunsets, the long, bumpy road to town. I miss even the difficulty of accomplishing a simple task such as a town errand. However, I love seeing family and friends that I haven't seen in months. I love not having to watch for elephants while driving at night. I love the vast selection of everything found at wal-mart. What a strange world I live in. :)

My goal is to be back in Africa at the end of April and I cannot wait! Until then I will enjoy every day to it's fullest and cherish every minute spent with family and friends. And at night I will dream of the villages to be reached with the Gospel in Zambia once I return.

Catching Up

It's been awhile since an update. A lot has happened- AMT ended with a success, I spent a week in England visiting with friends and supporters, flew to Florida to catch up with the Overland staff in our offices, and am now in Chicago with my family for the holidays. One main thing that's happened since leaving africa, I've been constantly cold. ;-) It's weird to leave summer one day and be in the middle of winter the next.

I'm looking forward to returning to Zambia at the end of April. Until then I will be working on support raising, as well as visiting with family and friends.

I would like to personally invite each of you to our upcoming One Tribe conference. It will be held in Tampa, FL on Jan 6-8. For more information and registration, please go to www.overlandmissions.com

Merry Christmas!

Impromptu Road Trip

Two weeks ago, my friend and co-worker, JD, received notice that his vehicle was ready to clear after 3 months of waiting. Later that night (at about 9:30 pm), we were talking about whether he wanted a ride in the morning to the bus station to travel the 600 km where the vehicle was waiting. As we talked, we decided that we could just take my vehicle instead of having him battle Zambia's public transport. It was instantly decided that JD, Matt (our intern), and I would leave at 4 am for the Kariba border at the north end of Lake Kariba. Gotta love last minute road trips! It took us 8 hours to make it to the border post (through beautiful mountains) where JD's vehicle was waiting. Along the way I did have the unfortunate experience of accidently mooning a zambian man when doing a toilet stop along the side of the road. Whoops! He had the biggest grin on his face... I think I made his day. ;-)

It was our hope that everything would be ready for us to just pick up the vehicle and maybe even get to spend the night in Lusaka and see a movie in a real movie theatre. However, Africa is as it is and we found ourselves sitting for hours waiting on one form to be completed. Eventually it was time for the office to close and the form wouldn't be ready until the next day. Thus began an adventure of finding a decent, and affordable, place to stay for the night and dinner. We found ourselves in a little lodge run by a couple from Myanmar and sleeping in a room that had to be at least 90 degrees all night. I made the unfortunate mistake of only having a pair of jeans to sleep in... rookie error.

The next morning, we planted ourselves back at the border post until the vehicle finally cleared. By lunch time we were back on the road to Livingstone, battling crazy truck drivers, cow crossings, and the fact that you cannot find a bag of ice anywhere to save your life. In one small town, I found the only Cherry Coke I've ever seen in Zambia. The 150 ml can was $2 but it was well worth it. What was even more bizarre was that it was canned in Switzerland. Random!

We made it back to the base and crashed into bed. What a great African adventure!