Newsletter November 09’

Dear friends and family,

I hope you all had a happy thanksgiving. We did. We had a long weekend of celebrations. On thanksgiving Thursday we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast (Amy made them from scratch), then we had a traditional meal with chicken instead of turkey, and even some butternut squash from our garden. It was delicious. The following day, Friday the 27^th was Williams birthday. We made him a carrot cake and he made a great mess. He had many presents from around the world. His friends Binwell, and Jane even gave him some apples and oranges for his birthday. It was his first time having an apple and he loved it. He would bite it, chew it, spit it out, and repeat. We took him to a picnicy place down by the Kafue River, and got to see a couple of wild hippos. On Saturday we hosted a bunch of missionaries for an American thanksgiving and had the privilege of meeting many new people who are doing missionary work in various parts of Zambia (mostly the copperbelt like us). So this is the merriment side of the month, but there were also some hard times. Don’t worry though it all turned out well.

A few weeks ago pastor Chanda’s house was robbed while he was out. Armed men came in and took all his money. One man tried to shoot Beatrice Chanda, but miraculously the bullet hit one of the burglars instead, and they all left. This was a tremendous blessing because money can be replaced, but Beatrice could not. Her life was saved, and the Lord has shown his great provision in already replacing the lost money. This caused us to cancel our trip into Pweto, or rather delay it. The Congolese are missing us, but it worked out well because at this same time that we were scheduled to go to Pweto, the pastor there, pastor kabamba, had to rush to help his son who was in trouble. We should be going to lumbumbashi soon, as we planned…. An other reason the delay turned out well is because while we would have been gone, we were in kitwe having meetings with the minister of lands about our farm. It turned out that on that week he was more open for meetings. For our third meeting (this Monday God willing), we will be going to the farm land and walking its parameter with them to show where we propose the demarcations to be. So hopefully that will lead to us obtaining the land. From our meetings we have found that there is no opposing claims on the land yet. We’ll go to as many meetings as it takes I guess…. The police suggested that ba Chanda move to a place more secure because of the robbery, and that Amy and I should as well (thinking that the orphanage has very poor security, and because they were after Ba Chanda it might be the next target). We started looking for a place and were blessed by finding a great two bedroom flat. This place is much cheaper then our old rent, and much bigger, so it will help us with our budget, and also afford me room for an office. We are very pleased with our new abode. Many of you prayed for us to find a place and the prayers were answered beyond expectation. Thank you for your prayers, and thank you God for your prevision. Ba Chanda is still looking for a place, please pray for him to find the perfect one. One more blessing that came from this robbery is that many people in the community were curious about the happenings, so they came to church that Sunday to see what the story was, but instead they heard the gospel, and two women where saved. The Lord can always make good out of bad, and in all of this He showed Himself to be glorious and loving.

So… Needless to say our month was eventful, but otherwise we spent our time in very fulfilling peaceful pursuits. At the orphanage we put up some steel doors to heighten security, and planted about 80 new banana trees on the grounds. These are not the hybrid strain that we will plant at the farm, but an unknown strain from chilube island. Ba Chanda brought one tree back with him when he went there a couple of years ago, and they produce small shoots that we are transplanting. They produce nice fruit, and seem to be disease resistant, but we are only planting them to feed the kiddo’s and workers. These ones are not set to be a cash crop (maybe in the future).

The work in the church at maposa is going very well. We are gaining solid members, and our Wednesday bible study has been amazing. We start at 2 pm, and it could go on all night. The only reason that we have been stopping is because Amy and I forgetfully plan things at 6 or 7 at night. I am shocked, and blessed by their desire to hear, learn, and discuss the bible, and all its implications on our lives. This area is in need of a lot of prayer though. I can see the people in this church making a tremendous impact on their community. There is a man who has been a regular at the church on Wednesday, and Sunday, and one day he asked for a ride home and it was about 10 kilometers away. I was impressed by his steadfastness, and willingness to travel so far to be taught, and to have fellowship. Wednesday and Sunday services have been great, and we really see some people maturing. Thank you for your prayers.

We went with the Chamboli choir to Lusaka for a crusade, and music festival where they where asked to sing. The money for the trip was stolen in the burglary, but God came through and provided for them to go anyway, and they sang amazingly, and the crusade was very successful.

My meeting with the youth on Sunday afternoon is still going well. I have been able to gain a lot of insight into what their life is really like, and how I can better minister to them. I am seeing a select few who are very dedicated to learning the bible, and I want to focus a lot of attention onto them in providing what I can from my side for their growth.

In the last newsletter I told you about our plan to visit children who have slipped through the cracks. We were headed to Emmanuel Banda’s house. Well we met with him, and discussed the reprocussions of what he was doing (not coming to school), and encouraged him, letting him know we were there to help. His mother is a widow who cares for him and two of her sisters orphaned children, so she is having a hard time providing, so we are trying to help. We have all three students coming to our school free, and we provide all their supplies, but sometimes they just need some more personal encouragement. This is our new Friday routine, to find children who haven’t been coming to school. It is getting hard though because school is now on break and a lot of the children are going to the bush to help out on farms. Last Friday we went to mulenga compound (treacherous roads) to try to find a boy named terry, but he was gone. We will still keep at it, but I am sure it will go quicker when the school is back in session in January. While we were out doing this it became clear to us that some of our orphaned children were showing signs of aids, and we are trying to make sure that they get the treatment required. Please pray for all these children. In Zambia nobody wants to admit that they have aids because of the stigma’s attached, and superstitions, so they don’t get tested, or take there meds, and they die very early. We are making a program to make sure that any children with risk are being tested, and getting the required treatment. Please pray for this work.

The house we were in before was already furnished, so we didn’t really have much for furniture, so now we are buying furniture, and appliances, and stuff, and it is going really well. William loves the new house, and because our bed is on the floor for now he loves to crawl on it and take naps. We are being blessed in so many ways, but because this is getting long I will cut it off here. I hope you have a great Christmas, and we are praying for you all.

Love,

`The Kountz Fam