Newsletter December 09’

Dear Family and Friends-

Welcome to the year 2010! We have now spent almost 7 months here in Zambia . A quick reflection of our time here could be described as humbling, gut wrenching, exhausting, frustrating, and more. To leave it at that would give you all an impression of despair, but that is truly not the case. I would like to report to you all that this last year has been one of overwhelming joy and praise and an abundance of God’s work being done in major and obvious ways. That is always the temptation, and though I cannot honestly say that is true in a worldly sense, I can most definitely tell you of the work God has done on our own hearts and I think you will find that the above statement is in fact true.

Our time here started with many meetings on the potential projects and possibilities that lay before us. I was immediately struck with the feeling of anxiety. The amount of things that needed to get done were and are endless. In my American mentality I felt like everything was just one step away from being accomplished and in no time we would be done with certain projects. That is not what happened. We still are prayerfully and with faith pressing into matters we feel the Lord is calling us to. We are still fighting with the Lands Secretary about the banana land, still waiting for the orphanage to be complete so children can start to move in, still trying to reach the people in Maposa (the church in the bush just outside of Kitwe), and still trying to find the right way to be Godly spouses and parents. While I know that these things are never ending jobs I must admit the struggle has been one of great difficulty. I think in America we sometimes force things because we can and the resources are there for us to do that. Here, however, forcing things brings immediate and sever consequences. The hardest part has been struggling to find the Lords will and walk in it no matter what. There is always the temptation to please man, to get fast results, to give up and live a life of the comfort you are use to, or to go to a place where you are just looked at as a person and not loved and hated at the same time for your skin color and the stereo types involved with all that. I find myself questioning to what extent will I follow the Lord; do I truly love God’s people in Zambia more than I love myself? Am I willing to give up the things I hold most dear to bring the only cure to this sinful world to the lost people God puts in my path? Some days that answer is no, but by the grace of God some days that answer is yes!

While complications with the banana land, completing the orphanage, and trying to reach the people of Maposa has been hard for me, my biggest struggle has been giving encouragement and support to Mat as he deals with these things on a much more personal level. When everything around you is going nuts sometimes you try to hold on to the one thing you can have control of…your home life. Our first few months here I was not the kind of submissive, strong, capable wife my husband needed me to be. As I lost comforts I was fond of I grew very selfish. I looked to Mat to make things normal again for me. I did not even realize it at the time, but the strain and stress he must have felt on my account was huge. He needed me to be at home taking care of the household like I am called to do in Proverbs 31, but I wanted to be apart of everything going on. This mix up caused immediate strain on our marriage and I think we both felt hurt and confused by each other. Before we left our pastor, Chris Oswald from St. Louis , gave us a lot of great discipleship resources. Mat showed me an article written by a woman about the importance and higher calling of being a house wife. What I read really gave me great perspective on the role of a house mother/wife and just how important it is to the kingdom of God . I began asking the Lord to accept my cleaning the toilet, scrubbing the bath, and doing dishes as an offering to Him. I asked the Lord to see me staying home and doing these things, as simple as they may seem, as a sacrifice I thankfully gave to do His will. Immediately I was not just cleaning and changing poopy diapers because I needed to, but I was also joyfully and with a thankful heart serving the Lord, my husband and my child. The change in my heart once again brought a sense of normalcy to the day. By submitting and surrendering just that small comfort to the Lord I no longer felt alone here, my veil was removed, I could see God’s light and it brought me a greater comfort than any that could ever be taken from me.

Besides the spiritual struggles, Zambia comes with its fair share of physical trails as well. As I am sure you all know this place has diseases that we are not use to in the US and can at times (especially when the mines are shut down and everyone is out of work, like right now) have a lot of crime. Being from the US we are a little more susceptible to both the crime and disease. I am not trying to tell you all this to scare you, but to not share with you the miracles I have seen in these areas would be wrong. The joy and security I have found in the Lord is like Old Faithful about to erupt! I am amazed at what the Lord has done, and to truly share with you my heart and what we have been through you must know this side of it as well.

One night we were sitting with William and out of no where he started to vomit. He had never been sick like this before so we called our friend Dianess to find out where the clinic was. We rushed William in the car and went to pick up Dianess’s son Kelvin so he could show us where to go. By the time we got to Dianess’s house William was unresponsive to talk and touch. When Dianess saw him she told Mat that there was no time and he must go quickly. I could see the worry in her eyes and I immediately got very scared and started crying and praying. So many things were going through my head. When we got to the clinic they immediately thought it was malaria. They did a blood slide and it came out negative, but showed that he was fighting a bacterial infection. The doctor gave us an antibiotic and treatment for malaria as well. The medicine to cure malaria is the same that they use to prevent it so there was no harm. After a week we took him back to the doctor for a check up. William still had a fever from time to time so they did another blood slide. This time they found that the bacterial infection was gone, but he did in fact have malaria! You can imagine my shock; we always used bug spray and kept him under a mosquito net. As I pondered everything that happened I could see all the ways the Lord was providing for us and taking care of us in a time when we did not know we need to be taken care of in that way. God got us to the clinic and put William on malaria medication before the disease even had time to hatch in his blood stream. I was so thankful for the miracle that God gave us and praised the Lord for his faithfulness! We truly can trust in God’s word and believe that He does work all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

As most of you know our pastor’s wife and children were robbed a gun point about two months or so ago. The full story of this event is amazing, but for now I will just tell you that due to this robbery Mat and I were an expected next target and began planning to move out of the orphanage and into a more secure neighborhood. One thing you must know before I go any further is that our night security guard at the orphanage was almost always sleeping when we would arrive home. Mat would have to lock me and Wil in the car, jump the wall, and wake up the night guard to open the gate for us. The night before Thanksgiving Mat and I pulled up to our gate and to our surprise the night guard was waiting for us gate open and everything. We happily pulled in, bid him a goodnight and pulled around back to our house. The next morning when we woke up we went to greet the workers and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. When we were talking to them we were told of a story about the night before. After we pulled into the gate and our night guard had just closed the gate another car pulled up to the orphanage. Our night guard questioned the men in the car. They replied, “We know you have white men in there, now let us in or we will hurt you.” Our night guard immediately told them no and said that he could not let them in because he did not know them. He then called to the people on the street and asked everyone to come look at the men and see if anyone knew who they were. When a crowed started to form the men in the car got scared and drove away. When we heard this story we felt two things, one was overwhelming thankfulness for our safety and very lives, and two was an immediate rush to find another place to live. This event was truly a miracle for many reasons. The Lord’s hand was over us in ways would could have never dreamed. Not only was the night guard being there a miracle in its self, but in most robberies of this nature the robbers will block your car in and either force you and them through the gate or get to you before the gate is opened. We are not sure if they followed us there or if they were waiting for us, but the fact that our car was in the orphanage with the gate shut before they arrived is a miracle all its own. Just 3 days later the Lord also provided for us a house in a safer neighborhood with great security! I am still shocked by the Lord’s goodness.

As you can see I have never felt so small and insignificant, never been so tired, never had such little control, never had to face the trials I am now facing, and I am thankfully and joyfully praising the Almighty Father because of it! These are just a few of the ways God has grown us since we came to Zambia, there are many stories and testimonies of His grace and goodness and one day I hope to share much more with you. Until then I hope you all will be encouraged and praise God for what we have seen Him do in our lives spiritually and physically.

On a more current note, we had a very wonderful Christmas. We had an early Christmas dinner with some fellow missionary friends of ours from Korea named Daniel and Grace Kim. They made us a traditional Korean meal which was very tasty, it blessed us very much. We spent Christmas Day with Chankwa Church in Maposa. We asked everyone from the church to bring food to share so we could dine as a church family after the service. Only one woman and we brought food to share. (This same woman also came early to church to sweep it out, she blessed us so much.) Not even the volunteer pastor of the church, Zachariah from Chamboli church in Kitwe, brought food to share. When we pulled up to church no one was there. As we sat and talked with Zachariah we found out that he was planning on announcing he was done working with this church because the people don’t care about the Word of God. Mat encouraged Zachariah to pray about this decision further and reminded him of Jesus working with us over and over again and of Paul’s struggle with the Corinthian church. We then began the service and Mat gave the sermon. It was a powerful sermon. The spirit was working in a mighty way through the words He gave Mat to speak and one woman accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. As we left to go back to Kitwe , Zachariah was filled the joy of the Holy Spirit. He was singing and once again felt excited about God’s work in Maposa. That night we had some other missionary friends of ours (the Speedy family from the US and South Africa ) over for a cup of holiday cheer. It was a very nice Christmas.

Mat also went to Congo in the early days of December. This trip had been pushed back time and time again since October for many different reasons. The morning they were set to leave, Ba Chanda announced that he could not go with because his father was very ill and needed his help. Mat was the one who would lead the team to Congo . The men who went were Mat, James Kiria, and Peter (Bashi Mpundu). This trip was meant to be a short one to meet with pastors and plan a program for 2010. When Mat arrived he unexpectedly was set up to do a two day pastors training conference with some of the men in the area. The Lord provided abundantly; this was a great growing experience for Mat and he came back so thankful to serve the Lord in those ways. Mat was so excited and encouraged to see that the 36 churches that had been planted the last time Ba Chanda was in Lubumbashi had grown to almost 50 and were doing very well. The harvest is ripe and it was such a blessing to see God once again put together all the pieces to a very mixed up puzzle.

Well, I think that should be enough for now. Last week there was another break in at the orphanage and the rabbit-modem that we used for our internet source was stolen; please forgive us, but we might be a little hard to get a hold of for while. We also picked up Mat’s mom and Uncle Henry from Lusaka on the 4^th of January. It has been so nice to have family here and to have someone who laughs at our jokes other than William. They will be with us for the rest of the month and we will be doing some medical classes and heath check ups with the kids of Chande. I think it is going to be a great month! God Bless you all, you are always in our thoughts and prayers.

Love,

Amy and the rest of the Kountz Family