visit to a student's church (7)

with part of the congregation after the service

 On Sunday the 12th we visited a student named Fastem, who is the pastor of a Baptist church in a village close to the main road, only about 10 kilometers from the College.  Fastem told us that the service would start at 10am, so we left the house about 9:40.

We had been told to pick up Alex (whose pentecostal church we visited before- he seems to be joining us on a lot of these church visits because the other students are inviting him around! popular guy!) on the way as he would be joining us.  When we phoned him to say we were leaving he said, 'I'm almost at the place.'  When we reached the main road, where we expected to meet him, he wasn't there so we called him again and he said he was only a couple of hundred yards away.  So we pulled out to meet him, and found that there were 2 men joining us!  Alex was joined by Moses, who is a recent graduate of the College (2011) and who now serves as the College librarian.  Fastem happens to be Moses' uncle, so Moses had been invited along.  So Alex climbed into the bed of the truck and Moses got in the front seat to direct us to the village, and off we went.

Fastem was supposed to meet us by the main road, but we didn't see him anywhere.  Moses and Alex didn't know exactly where the church was, so we asked a couple of passers-by and eventually were headed in the right direction, when Fastem showed up next to the car.  Apparently he had been beside the road, and we just missed him.  There were 3 churches lined up in a row on this road which was apparently "Church Road."  :)  First the Catholic church, then the Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ) and lastly the Baptist church.

And.... so we pulled up in front of the church at a couple of minutes before 10am.  And the door was locked.  And there was no sign of life.  And we had been told that the service would start at 10!!  Immediately we realized we were in for a wait.  :)  Fastem unlocked the door and welcomed us in.

As you can see the building was constructed of brick with a metal roof, and the seats and floor were of mud.  The kids spent the next while climbing on everything and having a great time.

still waiting....

still waiting....

We waited for a long time.  After 10:30 a few people started trickling in.  The service finally started at.... 11:00am!!  :)

 They greeted everyone and then said, 'Now it's time for Bible study.'  Oh no, I thought, please don't tell me that I've got two bouncy children who have been really unsettled for an hour, and they aren't just starting the service now!!  They introduced Moses as the one who would lead the Bible study.  So I settled in to wait and keep the children as settled as possible.  :)

Moses leading the Bible study - sorry it's blurry

Thankfully Moses kept his Bible study brief and was finished in about 10 minutes!  Then they started the main service.  It was a very simple, reverent service without any dancing or wildness.  :)  They sang hymns from the hymnbook in the local language, had a prayer and offering, welcomed us as visitors, and the choir sang 2 songs from their seats.

Then David was welcomed up to preach.  He asked Moses to read the Scripture passage in the local language and then Alex translated for him during the sermon.  David was re-using a sermon he has preached in other village churches, from Romans 3:23.

Elijah sitting with the choir who were directly in front of me - I was facing the congregation

our student, Fastem, the pastor of the congregation

his wife Mary

Ketzia's turn to sit with the choir

After the service, but before we got up from our seats, the congregation greeted us by introducing their 'leaders'... i.e. their pastor, pastor's wife, congregational secretary, choir leader, etc.  It was a very friendly touch which we appreciated.  Overall we were impressed by their humble yet sincere welcome and gratitude for our visit.

The service ended around 12:30.  After taking a photo and saying goodbye, Fastem and Mary directed us back to their house, which was back out at the main road.  They live in a little brick house with a red door.

Behind their house was a watering hole so you can imagine what a busy area this was - every herd of cows within miles was directed here!  In the photo above you see a group of cowboys.  These young boys are responsible for taking care of the herds of cows.  They don't get to go to school like other children, or even go to church.  They stay with the cows all day long, every day.

 

Ketzia LOVES cows!! All she wanted to do was chase them and touch them (NOT a good idea!)

behind their house- the cooking hut is on the left where they prepared the meal

Ketzia being 'herded' away from the cows again!!

We didn't have to wait long before the food was served -- nshima, chicken, and beans.  It was tasty.

about to eat together - Fastem, a man from church?, Alex, Moses, and David

Their house was very simple and very poorly furnished.  As you can see they don't have much furniture!  I was amused by a tattered picture hanging on the wall from the 'Titanic.'  :)

During the meal we asked Fastem how his harvest was this year.  'Not good,' he replied, 'We will not have much.'  He mentioned how thankful he was for the recent Farming God's Way class taught at the College in the local language for the first time by Jackson, the new Farm Ministry leader.  This class was taught to both the students AND their wives, together, so that they can benefit as couples and know how to work together to apply these Scriptural principles of agriculture and work ethic in their own fields.  Fastem said, 'We were so grateful to learn these things.  And next year, we are going to plant better because now we have learned Farming God's Way.'  It is good to see him with hope for the future!

Not a good photo but you can see what a Zambian kitchen is like - the tub in the middle where she washes dishes, the pots on the right are full of water for use in cooking and cleaning (cooking is done in a separate hut)

After enjoying our meal, it was time to head home.  We got a photo of some of Fastem's family first:

We left around 2:15 and drove Alex and Moses most of the way home so that they wouldn't have to walk all the way back into town.  Elijah and Ketzia fell asleep on the way home, of course, so there was no rest for Mommy and Daddy that afternoon!  :)  We got home around 3pm.

Fastem told us that there were a number of folks missing from church because they were too busy harvesting their crops to honor the Lord's Day.  He seemed very grieved about this and it was good to see a village pastor who has not only an understanding of the Lord's Day but a desire to teach his people to honor it.  Fastem also asked us to come to his village to provide teaching to his congregation.  'They need someone to teach them how to live according to God's Word,' he said.  We hope that the more we visit our students in their homes and churches, the more encouragement and support we can give them in their ministries as they seek to lead their congregations in the truth.

women's conference

This past week we hosted a conference for the wives of our students.  This is an event which we host twice every year, once in April/May and once in August, with the aim to provide encouragement and Bible teaching to these ladies. 

And also to get to know them!  Because Covenant College is a boarding school (i.e. our students board here during the week and go home to their homes and families each weekend) and we sadly don't have the ability to provide accommodation for students to bring their families to stay here, it's difficult to get to know the wives. This is one of our opportunities.

The conference this time was unusual because classes still continued as normal for the students while the women were here for the conference.  Often we have scheduled it in such a way that the students' week of classes ends a day or two early, the women arrive for their conference, and the men head home. We have had them overlap by one day, in the past, and had sessions for the married couples.  But this time, the women arrived on Monday, just like the students do, classes began as usual on Tuesday morning and so did the women's conference program, and the ladies were here all week long and left with their husbands as usual on Friday afternoon.

the entire student body, and the wives who were present, with Jackson, studying Farming God's Way

We did this specially so that the ladies could benefit from joining in the 'Farming God's Way' classes which were taught to their husbands this week.  The 'Farming God's Way' program here at the College Farm provides agricultural training based on Biblical principles of responsibility and good stewardship.  Most of the men who study at the College are, like the majority of people living in Eastern Province, poor villagers who support their families by an agrarian lifestyle.  But farming the traditional Zambian way is not efficient, and many people go hungry because they don't know how to farm better.  That is why our farm training program exists.  So this week these couples had the opportunity to learn the Farming God's Way material together.  Each morning from 7:30-9:30, they were taught in the local language by Jackson, the new Farm Ministry Leader.

After tea break mid-morning, the students and wives went their separate ways... the men back to their classrooms for another 2-hour class period, and the women to the open-air 'old classroom' building (the original classroom structure from when the College first began on this property) where we held our women's program for the rest of the day. From 10am-12 noon each day we had 2 hours of Bible study.  On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings Marjanne led a Bible study from Romans 12 with the topic 'Love.'  On Thursday morning I led a Bible study on the topic 'What does the Bible say about marriage.'  On Friday morning there was no Farming God's Way session, so the first part of the morning was a Bible study led by Violet, the wife of Pastor Lovemore who is the Acting Principal of the College, and the second half of the morning was Marjanne's conclusion to her Bible study and farewell to the ladies.

Marjanne and I taught the Bible studies in English,  but we were translated by Violet, because a number of these women do not speak English.  You would be surprised how many of these women cannot read or write, even in their own language - they cannot even sign their own names.  Yet that is so common here.   Violet and Mercy both taught in the local language.  We are so thankful for these women whom God has raised up to assist us, who can help by teaching in a culturally relevant way - much more than we can!

Marjanne teaching her Bible study

In the afternoons on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the ladies first had a lunch break with their husbands.  Then after lunch the students had study hours and the ladies met from 1:30-2:30 for 'health class' with Mercy, a qualified nurse who is also the wife of one of the College graduates.  Mercy has been such a blessing to us in her willingness to come for these conferences and help by teaching on vital health-related topics.  After health class, we then had a time of fellowship while doing crafts together during the remainder of the afternoon.  There was a choice of different crafts they could do - some needlework, some decorative projects such as making a pretty decorated paper or CD to hang in their home, etc.

crafts!

needlework

using letters to create Bible texts on paper to hang on the wall

this is new baby Prince, whose parents Wilson & Miriam are mentioned in a 'student church visit' post!

In the evenings they had free time and devotions with the students after dinner.  The days were full and I think that the husbands and wives really enjoyed being able to spend a few days in each other's company when usually they are apart!  Our conference was attended by 15 student wives, out of a possible 19.  We are always grateful when they are willing to interact with us during the Bible studies as it makes the time of fellowship so much richer as we learn together from God's Word.

Friday was a busy morning because it was the last day of the term, and all the students were finished with their classes.  So as soon as the ladies finished their Bible study, it was time to pack and have a quick lunch.  And then fit everyone (husbands and wives) AND their bags and babies into the trucks!  We gave everyone a lift -- some only as far as the main road, where they will find transport to their homes, and others into the nearby town. It took 2 trips to the main road and 2 trips to town to fit everyone in. :)

like putting a puzzle together

departure

in celebration

This post is in celebration of the fact that our satellite internet is finally, after two months down after the lightning strike at the beginning of March, FIXED... and we have great internet again!!  So I am finally able to post photos on my blog again.  Starting today, I am going back through old posts and updating them with photos.  I'm starting with the most recent and working back consecutively, so keep checking back...!!  And to celebrate, here's some recent photos to share with you of life around here:

Elijah getting more courageous climbing trees in our garden

our own crazy little monkey!

Last night the internet technician arrived as we were eating dinner, and started work to replace the radio receiver which connects our house to the compound where the satellite is located.  Elijah was SO EXCITED that 'Grandma was being fixed'.  In the weeks preceding the major lightning strike which 'fried' the internet at the beginning of March, we had been talking to my parents using ooVoo almost every day... such a treat for the kids!  Elijah's been really missing it and been asking incessantly, 'When fix Grandma?' ever since.  So he was really, really happy when he was told that the man was here to fix the internet - he knew what that meant!  He was so excited that he didn't finish his supper, or want his bath... he just wanted to be hovering where the men were working!  :)

yes.. she really does get that dirty! posing with her brother's hat and a broken flashlight

Ketzia's favorite thing to do is dig in the dirt

Yes, she did manage to get herself further in than this, amazingly!

our little dress up queen :)

This morning I took the kids to the farm so that they'd be out of the way while the technician was still fixing settings on our computers.  At the farm we found Jackson, the farm manager, giving a tour to a group of missionaries in the area for a 2-week training course.  Elijah was really keen to join them (there were a bunch of small kids) so we tagged along for part of the tour, through the vegetable gardens and then out into the fields to see the crops partly harvested.  While we were in the fields Jackson was showing the children the sweet potatoes and dug up a few so that the kids could see how they grew.  Elijah and Ketzia each got one. Even though I told Elijah that I would cook his sweet potato for his lunch if he was patient until we got home, he was bound and determined to EAT that raw sweet potato.  He must have been hungry, because eat it he did -- the whole thing!!  Everyone was laughing at my crazy child.  As we got home he was chewing the last bite.  And what do you think he did?  He walked straight into the kitchen, grabbed a pot, spit the last chewed bits of the sweet potato into it, and handed it to me, 'Here, Mama, cook it!' 

At the Farm the last thing Elijah got to do was take a ride in the oxcart with the other children... and unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me!  He was so overwhelmed that you could practically hear him bursting with happiness a mile away.  :)  It was really cute.  Hopefully it will happen again sometime so that I can get a photo!

And finally... a family photo in closing.  Courtesy of Rev. Andrew Allan, who took it in mid-April.  So we have a current family photo at last!

visit to a student's church (6)

Bartholomew, his wife Aneli, and their children in front of their home

 On Sunday the 28th of April we visited the church of our student named Bartholomew.  Bartholomew is a very smiley, very cheerful and very dedicated student whose very short stature has earned him the affectionate nickname 'Zaccheus.'  He serves as one of the elders in a 'section' of the Reformed Church of Zambia (RCZ) in the Sinda area, which is about a half-hour's drive east of us.  The larger RCZ congregations are divided into smaller 'sections', small congregations which meet separately but are under the shepherding oversight of the larger. 

The RCZ is a Dutch Reformed church planted from South Africa years ago.  Unfortunately it is no longer as 'Reformed' as it once was, as evidenced by some larger more liberal congregations which are welcoming women ministers, and the worship is becoming very modern and unsound.  However we have really enjoyed visiting several of our students who come from RCZ churches, and Bartholomew was no exception.

Bartholomew told us that we should leave at 9:30am for the service which would start at 10am, so we did so.  He rode along with us, and we were also joined by fellow students Alex (whose Pentecostal congregation we visited 2 weeks ago) and Kawaleka (who is a pastor in the larger Sinda area RCZ main congregation).  In case you were wondering how we all fit into the vehicle, since there were not enough seats, Alex and Kawaleka sat in the bed of the pickup (there's a canopy so they were sheltered) where we have an old mattress to provide a bit of padding and comfort as we lurch down the road.  They were most happy there and I think Alex even took a bit of a snooze on the way home!  :)

We headed down the road, and in the end it took closer to 40 minutes to get to Bartholomew's congregation, which is in a village about 10 minutes' drive beyond the tiny town of Sinda.  So we got there a few minutes past 10am.  But instead of directing us to the church (which was plainly evident at the roadside), Bartholomew directed us to his parents' house, which was about 100 yards away.  We parked the truck there and were introduced to his parents and ushered into their living room.  In the past we have been greeted and 'entertained' and offered drinks before a service started, so we thought perhaps that was what they intended.  No... they just wanted to visit.  There was no indication of the service starting anytime soon.  :)  This is where you learn to just be flexible, because you never know what a church visit will have in store!

So we were sitting in Bartholomew's parents' living room.  They actually had a good-size house by Zambian standards, a large living/dining area, and three smaller rooms, presumably bedrooms -- and a small kitchen room in the back.  They had two solar panels on the roof which powered two electric lights and a small television, on which they were watching an evangelistic service which was being broadcast from a HUGE pentecostal church somewhere else in Zambia. As we were sitting there, a few men came trickling in one and by one and greeted us - they were other elders from the church.  They sat down and still there was no sign of church starting.  :)  David asked Bartholomew a couple of times, 'When will the service start?' and was told, 'soon...'  :)  After another ten minutes David asked Bartholomew, 'Is the congregation just waiting for us?'  and Bartholomew said, 'Yes....'  :)  Hard to fathom sometimes what exactly is going on!?  Finally about 25 minutes after 10, Alex & Kawaleka said that they would walk to the church and find out what the plan was.  They came back in a few minutes saying that it was almost time to go over.  Within another few minutes, we heard singing, and to our surprise, a group from the church was walking the 100 yards to the house to greet us with singing and escort us to the church!  So we joined them and walked up the path to the church as they sang.  It was an experience we hadn't had before.  :)

the church building

The church itself was a very simple building made of bricks plastered with mud, and the roof was constructed of grasses and branches.  The floor, the benches on which the congregation sat, and the pulpit were all made of mud.  We were given two rickety wooden chairs next to the pulpit, at the front of the church.  There was a steady cold breeze blowing directly on us through the vent in the wall just behind our heads!  It was difficult to get the kids settled as there were no seats for them, and I couldn't balance myself on the chair very well with a child in my lap.  Elijah and Ketzia were distracted by the lovely mud benches which were just MADE to be climbed on, so the first part of the service was me trying to keep them from being too noisy and distracting while they insisted that they were going to 'sit' on the front bench and then climbed into the hollow between it and the next bench.  Sigh.

this gives you an idea of the inside of the church...

Anyway, the service started with singing - unlike most of the churches we've visited recently, the RCZ actually sings some hymns, not just praise choruses, so that was a nice change.  They sang a couple of hymns, and had a fairly basic liturgy: they repeated the Lord's prayer together, had an offering, repeated the Apostle's creed, sang a couple more hymns, and so on.  Eventually the choirs were called upon to perform.  There were 3 choirs in all: a mixed (men & women) choir which sang only two songs, then a women's choir, then a second women's choir.  The singing lasted for quite a while.

the first choir singing (from their seats)

Meanwhile I was wrestling with Ketzia who was so, so unhappy.  She was exhausted having not had a morning nap!  Normally she goes down for a nap a few minutes past 8am, no later than 8:30, and sleeps until close to 10am.  On Sunday mornings we always take a short walk with the kids, to help them get their wiggles out before church, and this particular morning our walk had been delayed slightly so we weren't back until late -- about 8:40am.  At that point I asked David for some advice, 'Should I go ahead and put Ketzia down for her nap, and at least she can sleep for 40 minutes before we have to wake her up and leave?'  And his advice was, 'No, keep her up, and she can sleep in the car on the way to church.'  My response was, 'Well, she doesn't always fall asleep in the car, so that might not work...' but I did what he told me to do.  And of course Ketzia did NOT sleep in the car.  So here she was at church, absolutely beside herself with tiredness and becoming crankier and crankier.  I was hoping that maybe I could convince her to just relax and fall asleep in church, while knowing that there was absolutely no chance -  she just doesn't sleep in church.  (For the record, that is the LAST time that I listen to David and intentionally skip her morning nap assuming she'll sleep in the car.  From now on, we are sticking to the schedule because it WORKS!)  Church is stressful enough without a screaming toddler!  :)

So, in the end, having already been out twice to help Elijah relieve himself, I had to take Ketzia out just as David was called into the pulpit for the reading and preaching of God's Word.  Both kids came with me and I sat them down outside the front church door, in the shade, hoping that I could get Ketzia calmed down. She was beside herself.  She is just at the stage where she can communicate only a little bit, and it's enough to frustrate her, so she's recently been just 'venting' by screaming about everything that she doesn't like, and sleep deprivation is something she doesn't like.  So she was just screaming.  So we were sitting on some bricks outside the church door and I could hear a little bit of the introduction to David's sermon -- he was preaching on being dead in sin from Ephesians 2 -- while distracting the kids with some munchies.  But Ketzia was just inconsolable, and as soon as one mouthful was finished she would be sobbing again.  I tried for a long time to get her soothed and calmed down, hoping maybe she would even just collapse on the chitenge (multi-purpose piece of cloth used here for carrying babies, blanket, as a shawl, etc.) and go to sleep, having worn herself out.  But nope, it wasn't going to happen.

After at least 15 minutes of wondering what on earth I was going to do, knowing I wasn't going to hear a word of the sermon but not knowing what I should do with Ketzia, Bartholomew's mother came out of the church and told me to come back to her house with Elijah and Ketzia.  I felt so bad that she might have left the service because of me -- but I was very grateful. So we went back to the house and sat back down in the living room.  Then I spent the next hour trying to keep Elijah from killing their VERY patient and long-suffering little cat with affection, and trying to keep the kids distracted from the fact that the clock was ticking and it was now 12:30pm and past lunchtime and getting VERY close to nap time.....  It was a long time to wait for the service to be over.  :)

Elijah and Ketzia 'loving' their very long suffering cat, Jane, to death

  Eventually David and the rest of the group rejoined us, to Elijah's great delight.  We then waited another 10 or 15 minutes before food was served to us -- the typical meal of nshima with chicken, greens, and what they call 'gravy' (a tomato sauce).  Bartholomew, Alex, Kawaleka, Bartholomew's parents, and the other 'section' elders all ate with us.  I was glad that Elijah and Ketzia ate their lunch even though they were both at the end of their rope.

Elijah was DELIGHTED to see his daddy coming back from church

 

Ketzia was delighted, too!

Afterwards, we greeted everyone - Bartholomew's wife and children (he has 4 children) live in the house just beyond his parents' house, where the cooking of the meal was done - and a group from church wandered over.  So they wanted their photo taken.  :)

the group from church... Bartholomew's father is on the far left and his mother is 4th from the right

I should mention that this was a REAL treat for Bartholomew to get to visit his home and family during the semester, because he cannot afford to come home during the term!  You think, he only lives about 40 minutes away, but it's too far for him to afford the cost of traveling.  So he is one of our 'weekend students' who boards at the College over the weekend, and he is very faithful about always doing jobs in order to earn a little bit of money, and always helps with the Children's Ministry (outreach program) on Saturday afternoons.  But imagine being separated from your family and only getting to see them twice a year - during the school holidays!  His kids were delighted to see him at home.

We left around 2pm for the drive home, and got home around 2:45.  The kids slept the whole way home and woke up when we arrived, so there was no rest for weary Mommy and Daddy.  :)  Just one of those days.  We really enjoyed visiting Bartholomew's church and the fellowship that we had with his parents who welcomed us into their home, and the other students and elders.  It is such a privilege to get to know our men a bit better this way.

home again, home again, jiggity jog...

This past week has been rather a blur because we got back from 6 nights away in Lusaka on Tues the 23rd, and returning in the middle of the work week always makes things feel a little hectic.  :)  Our trips to Lusaka (the capital of Zambia) are always crazy, so I thought I'd describe it a bit for you.  We left on Wednesday the 17th, around 10am, along with Rev. Allan who would be flying home to Scotland the next day.  That was our primary reason for going to Lusaka - to take him back to the airport.  It's about a 5-hour drive (can be done a bit faster, but not with 2 small children!).  Elijah is toilet-trained now, and doing fantastically well.  In the car we use a small plastic potty which he can even use while we are driving - but then he's a bit jammed on the floor between his seat and the back of the front seat and it's hard to maneuver him back into his seat without potentially spilling the contents of the potty - so that 'on the go' maneuver is saved only for dire emergencies, and we found a place to pull over whenever he felt the call of nature, so that he wasn't having to balance on the floor of a moving vehicle!  :)

a common sight along the Great East Road

The road to Lusaka (there is one road - the Great East Road which runs through the entire province) is not too bad, but not wonderful either.  At least it is a paved road...  But it is very dangerous because of the heavy traffic of trailer trucks (lorries) and large buses hurtling up and down this road, so we do not take safe travels for granted.  Nearly every time that we travel up and down we see an accident or break-down along this road.

Rev. Andrew Allan seizing the moment to photograph the huge baobab tree on the way to Lusaka

I packed a lunch and we made fairly good time along the road, arriving in Lusaka around 3;30.  There are 3 big shopping malls in Lusaka now and we stopped quickly at one of them on the way through town, to buy nappies as our supply was finished.  (We can buy nappies locally, but not size 5's! -- why? because the Zambians who can afford disposable nappies would never keep a child in nappies until they are that size!) 

It is hard to find an affordable place to stay in Lusaka, but we've been blessed to find a small guesthouse run by a missions organization called Flying Mission Zambia, which is affordable for our family to stay, and a REALLY lovely place, besides!  It's located on the FAR side of town from where we're coming from, so it actually takes a extra hour to drive all the way across town and out into the countryside where FMZ is.  So we didn't reach the guesthouse until 4:30, just missing rush hour which would have delayed our arrival significantly.   Traffic is always a problem in Lusaka, but certain times of day are an absolute nightmare, especially if you're trying to get from one side of town to the other!

The FMZ guesthouse is a very peaceful and relaxing place to stay, and they take such good care of you.  Breakfast is free and lunches and dinners are available at a very reasonable cost, so I was very thankful to have a few days' break from cooking and cleaning.  :)  The guesthouse serves all meals at the big dining table, so all guests eat together, and you never know who you will meet during your stay.

Every time we're in Lusaka, there is always SO much we have to take care of while we're there.  And this time was NO exception!

Our first day in Lusaka, Thursday, didn't exactly go as planned.  Our vehicle was due for a routine service, so David left early (by 6:30am) to take it in to the shop.  Services here are annoying, because you have to make an appointment, but then when you turn up, it's first come first served on the day.  So David left as early as possible in order to be in the queue before it was terribly long... and it was still terribly long.  He ended up waiting there the ENTIRE day for the truck to be attended to!  In the past we've always gotten the vehicle back by midday, but not this time. He finally got the truck back at 4pm and then had the 40 minute drive back to the guesthouse from the center of town.  It was a long day.  I was at the guesthouse with the children the whole day, thankful that they have toys for the kids to play with which kept them happily occupied.  After dinner, we put the children to bed, and once they were settled, David took Rev. Allan to the airport for his flight (which left just before midnight).  It was an hour's drive each way, so a late night for us.

playing under a nice shady tree at the eye hospital, waiting for the eye drops to take effect

The next day, Friday, Elijah had an appointment in the morning with an ophthalmologist at the Lusaka Eye Hospital run by the Seventh Day Adventists.  This doctor had been recommended to us.  We wanted to get Elijah checked out because he had experienced sudden crossing of his eyes on the 1st of April - just to make sure there was nothing wrong.  We were extremely pleased by the care we received at this eye hospital.  It wasn't too far away from where we were staying - the same side of town, which was really convenient.  The doctor was very good with children, and had clever ways of making them think she was playing a game with them while she was really examining their eyes!  We stayed there for quite a while because after the initial examination, Elijah needed to see a second doctor to check if he needed glasses, which involved a series of eye drops and then waiting 1 hour for his eyes to dilate.  The poor guy was really struggling at the end - not able to see properly because of his dilated eyes - but he was very brave, and very obedient, and we were so proud of him.  The results from their very thorough examinations showed that there is nothing wrong with his eyesight, for which we are very thankful.

Poor little guy... you can tell his eyes were really bothering him by this time!

After his appointment we took Elijah out for icecream to reward him for his excellent behavior at the doctor's office!  We had gotten a packed lunch from the guesthouse (we did this most days that we were in Lusaka so that we could use our time most effectively with all the errands that needed to be run) and ate it in the car on our way into town.  We went first to the KLM ticket office to speak to them in person and find out whether we could change our tickets to allow us to travel to the UK before the baby is due in October (our original tickets were booked for 22 October).  We were told that this was no problem at all, and that we could get a flight out on the 3rd of September, which was really good news.  We decided to come back to the ticket office on Monday after my antenatal appointment, once we had the due date confirmed and knew how things were going with the pregnancy, to book the tickets at that time.  After the ticket office, we stopped at UTH - University Teaching Hospital - one of the biggest hospitals in Lusaka, to meet up with our colleague Rev. Zulu's wife, who has been in Lusaka for weeks for medical tests, and give her something from her husband.  It was nice to see her.  We also stopped by the Immigration office to check if our renewed work permit was available yet.  They wouldn't serve us because it was before 2pm and that is still 'lunch break' -- and we weren't willing to wait around in the car with tired kids.  At that point it was mid-afternoon so we decided to head back as it was still close to an hour's drive to get back to the guesthouse and we didn't want to wait too long and get stuck in horrid traffic.  When we got back we let the kids play in the guesthouse swimming pool - they didn't actually swim, but they had fun splashing around.  It wasn't the warmest day so neither David and I went properly swimming either, but we had promised Elijah we'd let him get into the pool!  (Funnily enough, Elijah is scared of swimming pools and kept telling us there were 'sharks' in the water -- Ketzia, on the other hand, is extremely brave and would jump right in knowing her daddy would hold on to her!)

Ketzia learned how to eat with utensils on this trip!

On Saturday morning we headed out after breakfast, back into town.  David had some errands to run for the College - like going to the hardware store, and filling up the gas cylinder which we use for cooking at home - which we didn't want to drag the kids around for, so he dropped me and the kids off at a new place in town called Bump Birth and Beyond.  Basically it is a center run by a retired midwife which offers all sorts of antenatal classes, birth preparation classes, and support groups for breastfeeding, child safety classes, etc. to help, support, and inform parents.  A great place.  I wanted to meet her because I've been trying to make as many contacts in the Lusaka area as possible, since we were originally thinking of having the baby.  Margot, the lady who runs it, was in a class but she told me on the phone to just hang out in their cafe area and let the kids play, and she would be finished at 11am to come meet me for a chat.  So I spent a couple of hours in their pleasant garden area, which has been turned into an outdoor child-friendly cafe, and the kids had a great time playing with the toys and on the swingset.

 

watching the man who came to paint the rest of the lines for hopscotch

trying to do a chin-up...

succeeding with the chin-up! what a big boy!

 Margot was finished right around the time that David came back to pick us up, so we both got to meet her, and that was really encouraging.  We drove straight back to the guesthouse for lunch, and the kids got a proper nap (not in the car) that afternoon!  After they got up from our naps we drove back out as far as the main intersection (20 minutes away) where there was a supermarket, to pick up a few things for Sunday.

On Sunday we drove 40 minutes and went to the morning service at Kabwata Baptist Church, a Reformed Baptist congregation which is pastored by Conrad Mbewe, an internationally-known preacher and speaker who also happens to be one of the Trustees for Covenant College.  His church is conservative, friendly, and has good Gospel preaching, so we often worship there (or at one of the KBC church plants in the Lusaka area) if we are in Lusaka over a weekend.  After the service we met a few more people - it's nice that every time we seem to meet a few more folks, so we're getting to know people bit by bit - and chatted for a little while.  Then we drove to our friends the Williamsons', an American family with 6 children, who had invited us over for the afternoon.  We had a yummy lunch with them, and enjoyed a relaxed visit.  Around 4pm we all headed out together to an international Bible study which meets at the Baptist Mission of Zambia guesthouse.  The Williamsons had started attending this Bible study, which was really benefiting themselves and their children because of the fellowship and teaching, and so we had heard about it from them and decided to go, hoping to make some new contacts.  I knew that there were different classes for different age groups, and was hoping that Elijah would be in the youngest group so that I could enjoy listening to a Bible study without wrestling a 3-year-old for once... but alas, he was still too young.  They were talking about what it means to 'meditate on God's Word' and I could see his eyes just glaze over!  So that was that.  I stayed out in the small tots' play group with Elijah and Ketzia with a few other moms and babies, and David stayed in the adult Bible study and really enjoyed it.  We didn't meet too many folks but it was nice to get out and see a diverse group of expats meeting to study God's Word together.  The Bible study didn't finish until about 6pm, and then it was a long drive back to the guesthouse, so we were back QUITE late... I had bought some sandwich fixings at the supermarket the day before, so we had a light supper and put the kids to bed as quickly as possible!  A full but enjoyable day with God's people!

Monday was also full.  :)  We left early in the morning, again, fighting some rush-hour traffic to get back to the Williamson family's house, where we dropped off Elijah.  Their oldest daughter, Sarah, babysat Elijah for us while I had my antenatal appointment.  We thought about leaving Ketzia, too, but she is still not comfortable with Mommy leaving her, so we decided to keep her with us. So we dropped Elijah off and he never even looked back -- he was so happy to be back with the friends and toys he had played with the day before!  Then we drove the rest of the way to Victoria Hospital, a small hospital which I had heard a good story about from someone who had a baby there, so I decided to try it out by having an antenatal appointment.  My appointment went smoothly apart from an office mix-up which meant I waited longer than I should have to be called back, but that wasn't a big deal.  Once they called me back, everything went very smoothly and promptly, and I felt like I got good care.  I saw a female gynecologist who was from Slovenia, and seemed to be a competent doctor.  She did a basic check-up first, and we listened to the baby's heartbeat, and then she sent us for labwork - blood check and urinalysis.  At her advice we decided to get David's bloodwork checked at the same time, to make sure he wasn't anaemic or anything.  I struggled so much with anaemia in my pregnancy with Ketzia in 2011, as a result of the malaria I contracted in the second trimester, and we've been really really hoping that my hemoglobin levels would have recovered since then.  And they HAD!!  My bloodwork came back looking perfect, and David's as well.  It's also nice to know that we haven't contracted any horrible diseases from living in Africa.  :)  That was good news.  While we were waiting for the lab results, the doctor did a scan and we got to see the baby -- healthy, happy, moving, growing baby.  :)  Everything looks great.  At the time I was about 16 weeks along.  The scan gave an approximate due date of 5 October.  We were so thankful to have a good doctor's appointment and that the Lord has blessed us so far with another healthy pregnancy.

After the appointment we picked Elijah back up, ate lunch in the car again, and headed straight for the KLM office again where we could officially rebook our tickets now that we knew everything was looking good with the baby so far.  I went up to the office and took care of the tickets while David stayed in the car with the kids.  Everything was processed smoothly and we are scheduled to leave Lusaka on 3 September, arriving in Glasgow on 4 September!  I will be almost exactly 36 weeks which is the airline cut-off for flying in pregnancy.  :-p  Please be praying with us that the Lord will allow this pregnancy to continue healthy and without complications.  At KLM's request, I will be seeing a doctor at the beginning of August to get the required clearance to fly. (I will have other antenatal appointments between now and then, but that one is required so that I have the medical paperwork to allow me to fly in September.)

After getting everything sorted with KLM, we went to the big Manda Hill shopping center to do some of our dry-goods shopping.  That didn't take too long, thankfully.  Then we had another stop to make to buy some office supplies for the College (like printer paper, and pens and binders for the students) at a wholesale supply place.  And then it was time to drive all the way back to the guesthouse again... having accomplished a lot!

eating breakfast at the guesthouse

 On Tuesday morning we were up early (as always... our children don't often sleep past 5:30am!) and getting the truck packed for our trip home.  We left right after breakfast, needing to make a couple stops first, and aiming to leave town around 11am.  Our first stop was Immigration (again) and this time they told us they couldn't serve us because there was a staff meeting scheduled for that morning.  So we weren't able to check on the status of our renewed work permit, but in the meantime we have gotten another temporary extension from our local immigration officer.  Then we went back to Manda Hill, to the big supermarket there which is called Shoprite.  That's where I do my shopping for things I can't get where we live.  :)  Thankfully I was able to get everything on my list this time - including mozzarella cheese!  :-D  My wonderful mother-in-law has sent us pepperoni so I think homemade pizza will be coming up sometime soon.  :)  On our way out of Manda Hill, we ordered takeaway pizza as a special treat for lunch - on Tuesdays they had buy 1 get 1 free! - and also got small icecreams as a farewell treat.  Then it was time to hit the road. First we took a small detour to pick up our colleague Rev. Zulu who had come to Lusaka unexpectedly to be with his wife during some invasive medical tests over the weekend, and who would be riding back home with us.  Then we got on the road -- right around 11:30am, with pizza for lunch.  :)  After a long day of travel, we reached home around 5pm which meant we had time to unload the car and make some dinner, and then we could get the kids settled in for the night after 6 nights away from home!

Hopefully I haven't bored your socks off by writing about this... I thought some of you might enjoy reading about our 'big trip to the big city'!  We hadn't been to Lusaka for 3 months, and we won't go again for 2 months, so this is a big deal for our life here.  :)  We are thankful to the Lord that we are able to go somewhere to have doctor's appointments and do shopping which is not possible where we live.  He provides so many blessings and encouragements for us!