Arrival of the brick-maker

Newsletter Mar/Apr 2010

Hello friends and family-

    Well, I know it has been some time since you last heard from us.  I am sorry about that, life just seems to get ahead of you sometimes.  I think I will keep this short because we are coming home for an extended period of time in just a few short days.  I hope to see all of you while we are home and share with you what God has been doing in Zambia and in our hearts in person. 

    Lets start all the way back to March.  Life was the same as usual for most of the month.  The most exciting news of that month was that Mat had a birthday, Ba Chanda made it home safely from his travels to the USA, and we received our hydraform brick maker!  We celebrated Mat’s birthday with some missionary friend of ours fishing in the Kafue River.  We did not catch anything but had a great time.  We then went back to our house for some brownies and ice cream; it was a lovely evening.  Just a day or two after Ba Chanda came back to Zambia from a one month visit to the USA the brick maker arrived.  It was a sight to see.  This is a very big machine, it took about 10 men an hour to move it from the truck safely into the orphanage.  Ba Chanda also held a leadership conference shortly after he returned at which Mat gave a talk about the brick maker.  The people of the churches here were very excited to learn about it and are very ready to give of their time and energy to supporting this new form of ministry and business.  We were all very blessed and are excited to see the Lord move as he opens new doors for Chande Orphanage.

    April was a month of great blessing and busyness.  Chande had two teams from America.  The first was a large group from Texas who came to Chande to do a vacation bible school with the children.  The children loved it.  The team also brought a full bible for every child that attended which blessed me so much to see.  It was nice getting to meet so many new people.  I got to know a few of the women during their stay here.  Their testimonies and the time they spent just chatting with me blessed me so much.  They were a great encouragement to me.  I have been feeling lately (long before the teams came) that God wants me to go through a season of deeply studying his word on what it means to be a godly wife and mother in preparation to teach the young women in Zambia who are preparing for marriage.  One women I got to know from Texas gave me a book she had brought with her about the mission of motherhood. I was so touched by this gift and thanked God for giving me another tool to dive deeper into his word.  The same day the Texas team left we were blessed by the presence of  a small team from Wyoming. This team was made up of some old friends and a couple of new faces.  The men on the team went to Congo to do a pastors training conference and the women stayed in Kitwe to teach the women from the book of Esther.  Both Mat and I were asked to teach alongside these teams.  It was such an honor and a blessing to join them as they brought God’s word to so many people.  The team in Congo had a wonderful trip and came back with many stories of God’s awesome work being done there.  My time with the women was amazing.  I love my Wyoming sisters in Christ and was so thankful to spend time with them.  The teaching from Esther also went well and I think it was a time of growth for Americans and Zambians alike.  I also can see God opening the doors for me and teaching the women here.  I know I must spend time sharpening my sword first, but I am encouraged to see the way God used both these teams to open doors for ministry to come. 

    The team from Wyoming left just over a week ago.  Since that time we have been getting things in order for our journey home.  It has only been one year but it is already so hard to leave.  There is a lot to arrange for while we are gone and I know I will be missing my Zambian brothers and sisters very much.  I am, however, very excited to see all of you as well.  It has been equally as difficult to be away from you.  We are leaving for Lusaka after church on Sunday and flying from Lusaka on Tuesday.  We arrive in St. Louis Wednesday morning.  We will spending a week in St. Louis getting our sweet little boy adjusted to his new environment  before we head up to Chicago for my sisters wedding on the 30 of May.  After that we will spending a good chunk of time in St. Louis and a good chunk in Wyoming, all the while traveling here and there to speak at churches that will have us and visit loved ones.  Mat is retuning (God willing) to Zambia alone from late July to late September to continue in our work here in Zambia.  He is then coming back to USA for the birth of our second child due on October 15th.  We will be traveling back to Zambia as a new family of four in late November (God willing yet again).  Please pray for us during this time.  We have seen God work many miracles in providing for our family physically and spiritually and have faith that He will do it again, but prayer is an essential part of life and we need all we can get. 

    There is another prayer request and praise I would like to share with you all.  My brother Ryan and his wife Amber had the their first baby on Mother’s Day.  The gave birth to a baby boy named David Ryan Kinner, who I hear looks just like my brother.  Right now David is in the baby intensive care because he is having some heart problems.  I am told that he is doing well and the doctors think that he will pull out of it on his own, but please keep this sweet baby boy and his parents in your prayers.

    Thank you all so much for your prayers and support this past year.  God has used you all in a mighty way and for that we thank you very much.  God bless you all and hope to see you very, very soon!

Love,
Amy, Mat, William, and baby Peanut Kountz

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

Newsletter Jan/Feb 2010

Hello Family and Friends,

We hope and pray that 2010 has started off well for you all. Ours started with a needed breath of fresh air. Mat’s Mom and Uncle Henry spent the month of January with us. It was such a blessing to be around family again and just to show those we love where we live and to have them meet our dear Zambian and fellow missionary friends was such a joy. We spent the month working as usual with company to join us and help in whatever came along. Uncle Henry gave us a lot of great advise on how to run our farm when we are ready (he is a farmer in Ohio) and BK (Mat’s Mom) taught health classes at all of the Chande schools and did health check ups on all of the orphans (she is a nurse in Wyoming). They also pitched in around the house. It was awesome! I cooked only 2 times, and barely touched the laundry and dishes for an entire month! Praise the Lord for a break! They also sent Mat and me on 2 dates while they stayed home with William. We had a slight bought of missing the baby, but had so much fun it passed pretty quickly. We ended their stay with a trip to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls in southern Zambia. The Falls were magnificent, a true sign of God’s glory and majesty. The locals call them Mosi Oa Tunya or Smoke that Thunders, and they really do thunder. We also did a very successful self drive safari through one of the national parks. William slept through the falls and a good chunk of the safari, but woke up in time to see monkeys, birds (his favorite), antelope of a few variety, zebras, water buffalo, giraffes, a wild boar, a crocodile, and even a hippo. We had a wonderful trip, but like all things, they must come to end. After our visit to Livingstone we took our guests to Lusaka and sent them on a plane heading state side.

Mat, Wil, and I spent a few extra days in Lusaka working on the Chande Nut Butter project. We were able to find better labels, cheaper containers, and the right kind of packaging that interested wholesalers in Kitwe need to sell our product. Mat also talked with the national managers of Shoprite and Spar (big chain grocery stores throughout Zambia) about what it would take for them to sell Chande Nut Butter. They were very helpful and seemed interested in the product as long as we get barcodes on our labels. One manager who tried it said that it was the best and smoothest peanut butter he has ever tried. We left Lusaka with a new excitement, many possibilities, and a lot of hard work yet to do. As we were nearing Kitwe the sun was going down and you could just start to see the buildings appear. Mat and I looked at each other and said, “Home sweet home!” We were so thankful to see Kitwe again and to greet all the friends we missed so much. It was so nice to hear about everything that happened while we were gone and to share with them the events of our travels. We shared the compliment about the peanut butter with the women who make Chande Nut Butter. They were so thankful and excited. We also told them to be praying that the Lord would work all this out if it was His will to do so. They all got on their knees and said they would be praying very much about it. I love those women; they are always a joy to me. We also were welcomed to Kitwe by 5 packages from loved ones back home waiting for us at the post office; it was such a blessing to receive them.

The rest of February was work as usual. We spent the month continuing work on peanut butter projects, the child sponsorship program, bananas, and working with the church in Maposa. We had a very lovely Valentines Day. Mat took William and me out for pizza. It was so nice; we got dressed in our nicest attire and had a very wonderful evening. We also bought a couple chickens out in the bush; we named them Susan and Oliver. William loves them; he helps us feed them every morning and night. Ba Chanda (Chande’s director) left for the states in the middle of February. I know a lot of you will be getting to spend some time with him while he is in the US. We are helping in anyway we can while he is gone. So far everything has been running very smoothly, praise the Lord!

Well, that was the months of January and February, but of course every month comes with a new spiritual battle, and some well needed pruning by the Holy Spirit. After reflecting back on this last month I have decided that the biggest lesson I learned was about enjoying the goodness of God. As silly as that sounds it was a much harder task then my spirit was up to at times. Let me explain further… When we were heading back to Lusaka after our trip to Livingstone there were many police stops. As we pulled up to each one the police questioned us until there was reason to pull us over and give us a ticket. Three tickets later and a dent in our wallets we got waved to the side of the road by police once again and given a speeding ticket that the police had no proof of on their scanner (they usually have a print off), no receipts (you have to pay on the spot), and they were asking for a bribe of 50,000 kwacha (about 11 dollars) to let us go. Mat refused the bribe and told them that he would go to the police in Lusaka to pay the ticket. As we entered Lusaka I was tired and very frustrated at the day’s events. Mat kept his word only to find that our case had not been reported to the police station by the police giving the ticket. We were driving away still slightly bitter about the situation, but thanking God for taking care of it when we got a text asking us to come back to the police station. When we got there we found that the reason they could not find our case was because the police that filed it wrote that we were from Ndola, not Kitwe, on the form. The police men talking with Mat continued to mock him for about 20 minuets. They were accusing him of trying to corrupt the Zambian police, calling him a lying missionary for the Ndola mix up, and laughed at the thought of possibly getting to arrest him. Mat gave up his fight of trying to show that he was not guilty, paid the ticket, and left. When he got to the car he told me the story, he was still upset and now my bitterness from before flared to sinful un-forgiveness. In my heart I was enjoying my anger and felt sure it was a right reaction to the situation at hand. As I realized this I was immediately convicted by the Holy Spirit. Why was I so mad at those police men? The name of God was not being profaned; the only thing hurt was my pride. I asked God for help to forgive the men who hurt my husband and asked God to forgive me of my pride and un-thankfulness. God answered my prayers and I was immediately impressed by the goodness of God and the true joy in Christ it brought me. What an awesome thing it is to enjoy the goodness of God!

Speaking of another aspect of God’s goodness, we recently found out that we are expecting another baby! We are so excited! We were able to have an ultrasound done which put the due date of our second bundle of joy on October 15, 2010. Please be in prayer with us about this situation. We have a major decision to make with which I have been praying God would make the answer very clear. Our choices are to have the baby in Zambia or have the baby in the US. There are complications with each side, but I know God has a plan for this. Because my blood type is O- I have to be at a hospital where they have the Rogam shot (a medicine designed to make it safe for my blood to mix with the babies if the baby gets a + blood type). While that is not a problem in the US we have not been able to find a hospital here that carries this injection. This might make our decision very easy. We are also coming home to the US from mid May to mid July for my sister’s wedding, the birth of my brother’s first child, to speak at churches about Chande, and to raise support for our next year in Zambia (God willing), and of course to see dear friends and family. If we have the baby in the US William and I will be home from May to November. Mat on the other hand will need to come back to Zambia for about 2 months of that time. While I am so blessed he will be back for the birth of the child I and William will miss him terribly. I do not like being away from my husband for even a day, let alone 2 months! I do find comfort in the fact that every time the Lord has called us to be apart in the past it has been a time of great growth for us both. The other down side to this route is that my Dad and Step-mom will be working with Chande for 2 weeks in August. I wanted so much to be there for that. All these things aside we want first to serve the Lord in whatever way He has called us to. Jesus said in Matthew 10:37, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” It is a diffcult thing to follow the Lord, but always worth it.

Well, I think that is all for now. Please let us know if there is anything we can be in prayer about for you all too. We love you all and can’t wait to see you in May:) God bless.

Love,

Amy, Mat, Wil, and baby peanut

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

The New Face of Chande Nut Butter

Newsletter September 09’ sorry wrong order

Dear Friends and Family,

Well the month of September was great. It was very, very hot, but great. We do not use blankets or even a sheet to cover up at night. We have placed a fan to blow intermittently onto both of us while we sleep, and we still wake soaking wet. The rains are not supposed to come until November or late October, but we have had some the last couple days and I think it is a special blessing from God to help people from cold climates like us. Amy, Wil, and I like to sit on our front porch at night to breath in the rain smell and watch the lightening. William is 10 months old now and is not walking yet, but he is very mobile, and has learned to climb on things. He has started to brush his teeth, say “bye bye” while waving, and pick his nose, unfortunately. We gave him his first haircut about a week ago, and I even cut his mothers hair (thanks for the lessons Ang Oswald). We are adapting to Africa more and more as a family, and are learning to manage our time and take care of each other. No tropical diseases this month, or venomous bites (even though when Binwell and I were working in the bush he did almost step on a cobra barefoot), or car break-downs. I would count us very blessed.

The peanut butter is going very well. We found a plastic manufacturer in a city near by, that is now making our containers, and a newspaper company that is printing our labels. We no longer have to rely on the U.S. for any part of the P.B. production and this is very exciting. The orphanage is moving one step closer to monetary self sufficiency (One of our main long-term goals). I have also searched out cheaper ways of producing, and by getting wholesale ingredients in different places we have cut our production cost by about 30%. We have hired another woman to make peanut butter, and a full-time saleswoman to help move the product. I am very excited to see all of this coming more and more together, and just to see women who have lost their husbands get a good job to take care of themselves and their family.

We are still having trouble with our banana land. The permanent secretary is part of a group of men who have been commissioned to write a new constitution for Zambia. He has told me “ I want Zambia to have a constitution that will stand the test of time, one like the United States has”. This is a good thing, I think, but it means that he keeps canceling our meetings so he can be in Lusaka (Zambia’s capital) for meeting on the constitution. I have not given up hope, and continue to pray that it will work out very well.

At the youth meeting we went to at the end of last month, one of our churches, Chamboli, did very well at the singing competition. They have been asked to go to Lusaka to compete at a national level. They sing beautifully and I think they will do very well.

The pastors from the churches in Congo have traveled to Lumbumbashi for a leadership seminar led by Pastor Chanda, and a team from Inglewood Baptist Church in Texas. While he is there, pastor Chanda is getting some Swahili bibles for our next trip into Pweto, and the regions around. It is best to get the bibles there I have learned, because the dialects of Swahili, and French are different then those of eastern and northern Africa where most bible translations come from. We will be heading into the pweto area again around the first week of November. I think that on this upcoming trip we will be going into moba to scout it out as we plan to plant churches going in that direction.

The Orphanage school in Ndeke, Kitwe has got a new teacher named Barnabas, who is doing classes using audio and video. It has proven very effective, and the pupils are enjoying it a lot. I think he will be a great addition.

We got a chance to meet with several missionaries in the copperbelt for dinner a couple weeks ago. There was about ten of us from places like: Sri lanka, Holland, England, South Africa, Australia, and even the good old U.S.A. It was very nice to spend some time with people and not have the heavy language or culture barriers that we are used to. We met a nice couple of missionaries at the beginning of the month, and they have a 15 month old son (Micah) who has become fast friends with William. Having these contacts has already been a big blessing, because we can all learn from each others experience, and sympathize with each other when needed.

Amy has been very busy trying to create profiles on all the orphans chande supports, and has been spending long days at the schools trying to get things that are very unorganized, organized. It has been great to get to know all the children, and their stories. Some of the orphans are being supported by people in the united states, and Amy has been arranging letters to be sent from the orphans to their supporters. This has been nice to spend time with them, and learn their likes, and dislikes, and just to encourage them however we can.

Recently I have been spending some days in the bush in a village called “maposa”. There is a school and a church there that was started by chande. A team from wyoming came and put a new roof up to replace the broken down school/church building. The villagers job was to put up the walls. It is months later and nobody has done anything, so a man from church named Zachariah, and I, are trying to fill in. We have been mobilizing the people, making bricks, and trying to get the building constructed before the rains set in hard. I have been bringing volunteers from the youth meeting I started on Sundays, and they have been happy to serve. This church has also recently been left without a pastor, and has slowly fallen apart. The kountz fam has been out there every Sunday. I am preaching a series from Matthew 5-7, and trying to teach some basics of the Christian life. It will probably take a couple of months. The youth from my group are excited to help with this church. Binwell has been translating for me, and many others have offered to come to help build, help evangelize, to sing, and just to encourage this church. Our hope is to get the church a full time pastor to disciple and care for it. I feel very strongly that Zachariah could fill this position (he has been preaching there off and on for a while), but the Lord chooses who will be pastors, and he will have to be called for that to happen. I am very blessed and encouraged as I see this church growing and being revitalized. Please pray that we would get the building up before the rains, and that the Lord would raise up a pastor to fill that position.

All in all things are going well. It is a rollercoaster ride, but we know that God will work all things together for good. Thank you for all your financial, and prayer support. You are all such an encouragement to us. We will keep you all in our prayers, and let you know as things are moving forward…. I also have set up a blog to put little things up for people to see, and publish old newsletters for those who have missed them. If you want to visit it, it is www.kountzfamilyzambia.blogspot.com we love you all.

In Christ,

`The Kountz Fam in Zam

Newsletter October 09’

Hey Everyone,

The month of October went by very quickly I think, but it went very well. I read e-mails talking of snow, and thought “if I could get the temp in my house down to 85 I would be sitting pretty”. We did not have our usual Oct. weather, but we did still find a Zambian pumpkin to carve (white outside orange inside), and Amy made home-made apple cider which was delicious. Wil got some batman pajamas from his aunt and uncle so he got to dress up as batman for halloween. He looked pretty epic, cape and all. It was a really good time, but I don’t think Wil knew why we were taking so many pictures of him. I guess he is getting used to it. As the rainy season approached so did winds, and as winds approached so did children with home-made kites. One day William saw one in the air, and he was so excited pointing at it and talking. After this Amy decided we should make one, and so we did. Wil’s gift for turning eleven months old was a very nice home-made kite. He flew it and we have some great pictures of it. We also got to celebrate the Zambian independence at our school in Wusakile. The children all prepared different skits and dances, and it was a great time. Some of the teachers also danced and I am sure the cheers of the children could be heard for miles.

On the work side of things we spent a good deal of time in the bush this month. On average we were out there about 4 days out of the week leaving only two days to work at the orphanage. Like I said previously there is a school/church in the bush, and we have been spending a lot of time working with the people there. If our claim on the banana land is accepted and demarcated (it isn’t yet but I am excited about all the opportunities God has given us to serve in the mean time) it will be in the same community of Maposa, so I think our work with the school, and church there will always be part of our ministry here. We are putting up some bathrooms there to increase hygiene, and some temporary walls on the school to keep the rains off the children while they are learning. This is nearly complete. We did not come with enough time to make and fire bricks so we will have to make the permanent structure after the rains have finished. The church is doing well. It is getting more organized, and starting to have a worship service on Sundays, instead of the casual bible study that it was having. Many people from town have come to help, and we even had some girls come to sing choir music for a couple weeks. The church was very blessed by this. We have also started a Wednesday bible study to help the church members to learn more and grow, and to build community within the church. As I am writing this right now I am sitting at one of the schools wooden desks waiting for the bible study to start, as a fresh breeze cools me off, and the sound of school children and wild animals makes an ambiance. (birds and stuff, no lions ha ha)

The last week of the month we did evangelism, (if you don’t know what this is it is going around sharing the good news of the gospel with people, ie talking about jesus)in the bush. We went from hut to hut, and field to field (people are now sowing corn) sharing with people, and at the end of the day I would preach a message. It was a very good few days. Many people from my Sunday group came to help. Doing this kind of evangelism followed by preaching is often called a having a “crusade” by some. Before I never really thought about it, but now I am starting to like this name. If you think about it, it is very much a battle that a Christian worker fights, it is just different weapons that we use. -“for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood”- As I am out I see the light of the Gospel destroying strongholds that people have in their lives. One man we visited asked us to pray that he would not have such a desire to drink and be drunk. He saw that this was just one of Satan’s many tools to keep him from having true joy as a Christian. He was so excited to hear 1 Cor 10:13. There were many people who did not know Christ, but because He had already defeated the power of sin, they had simply to believe on Him and their plea for eternal life would be successful. A small band of children from the school followed as we set out after eating lunch. We called them our little evangelists. Binwell and I went to the other side of the village and met a man who was weeping bitterly. This man had lost his wife only a couple of weeks earlier, and he was young. He told me that nothing worked any more, and that everything at his house was falling apart with out her. He said all he could do is cry and drink. I couldn’t try to imagine what he was going through, and was broken hearted for him. I brought him some promises from the bible. We spent time under a tree encouraging him, and slowly saw his frown turn to a smile. He invited us into his house to pray together, and said he knew he couldn’t find true comfort in alcohol. He promised to get rid of all his alcohol, and as we left he was smiling and waving telling us to get him every time we were out in the bush. We were at another house talking to a family under a tree when he came walking up with an ichisongoli (curious bush fruit) saying, “I forgot to give this to you”. That man sat with us at every house we went to after that just to listen to what we were saying. He was so excited to hear the word of God. I think he will have a very bright future filled with light and hope. Please pray for the people in Maposa to cling to that great gift that God has given freely to all who will have it. Also pray that those who mourn would cast their cares upon Jesus who is able and willing to free them from these burdens.

At our schools we let orphans come for free. We fund it by having non orphans come to our schools for a fee, and by people supporting the children on an individual basis. When Amy was working on making profiles for the kids to send to America for people who were interested in sponsoring, we noticed that some children had slipped through the gaps. Some of the orphans are no longer coming to the school. This can happen for many reasons. Maybe their family moved and we didn’t know, or it could be bad. Maybe their life with their uncle and aunt, or whoever is caring for them is abusive. Maybe they are not being cared for at all. Maybe they have decided to run off and be street kids which all to many orphans do. Either way we are starting to investigate this. This Friday we are going to try to find Emmanuel who hasn’t been seen at school for some time. We will continue until all the kids are accounted for, and we are sure they are being cared for. If there home life is bad, or they have run away then we will have to try to bring them to the orphanage to stay, and pray for God to provide for them. Their provision is the reason we are trying to start businesses for the orphanage. Please pray for these children, and their wellbeing. Without an education in Zambia, an orphan is promised a very hard life filled with hunger and pain. Please pray for God’s love to be shown through His people towards these children.

We where set to go to Congo twice in November, once on November 3^rd to Lumbumbashi, and then again on the 15^th to Pweto. We did not go this Tuesday because William got sick, and then Amy got sick, and then I got sick. We are all three feeling much better. We thank the Lord for His healing and provision. I will be going to Pweto still, and will probably make the trip to Lumbumbashi in early December, but I must preface everything with “if God wills”. Please pray for the soil of men’s hearts to be prepared to hear the Gospel, and for our coming to be an encouragement to the local churches, and the leadership. Also pray for our safety, and for the safety of the wives and children that Ba Chanda and I will be leaving behind.

Thank you all so much for your prayer and financial support. God has put all of you in our life, and chosen to bring His provision for us through you. We thank you for your faithfulness in this. We rely on your support so much, and are so grateful for every prayer lifted up to heaven, and every penny given for our physical support. We keep you all in our prayers, and are encouraged greatly by what we hear about going on in your lives. With deep gratitude and love,

The Kountz Family

Movie from a while ago but better quality

Newsletter August

Hello Friends & Family,

I have many exciting things to report, and this is why I am sending this a little earlier then usual. I want to get it down while it is somewhat fresh in my mind, and before new things happen to make me forget. I would have sent it out earlier, but things are very busy here. Please forgive me if it is jumbled, or if my grammar is lacking I am writing very quickly. The month has gone well we actually spent today meeting with a group from the ymca in zambia who brought some snacks to bless the orphans, and went to a regional youth conference where some friends of ours are competing in a singing comp. But most of this e-mail will describe the trip in to congo. If something doesn’t make sense please e-mail me and ask about it. I have added a lot of small rabbit trail details to help you get a feel of what it was like. It will not be concise, not exhaustive, but not concise. Here goes.

Well, the month started out interestingly. Amy, Wil, and I were driving from Chande orphanage to Chande school in Wusakile (a very short distance by the way), and we heard a loud ‘POP’. This pop was the resonating alarm of a burst radiator pipe. This would normally be only a miner setback. Even though parts are hard to come by, we could wait it out. But in this instance we needed the car to pick up a team from America who would be arriving in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, the next day. We also would be needing it to get to Pweto Congo in a few short days after that. Long story short we call Juma, our mechanic, and we have a warped head that is creating pressure in the system. i.e. The car will be out for a while having the piece machined. We decide I will take Pastor Chanda’s vehicle, one that was scheduled to stay due to serious need of maintenance (small things, breaks, oil change, etc.). Either way, I get going, things go well. Half-way there I am at a police checkpoint and receive a ten dollar ticket for not having a reflecting triangle in my vehicle (I need to learn Zambian traffic law better). Upon arriving I get the team (Pastor Jason Smith, and Randy Lane from Wyoming) at the airport. We stay the night at the Baptist Seminary in Lusaka, I get to visit with a teacher there whom I highly enjoy, we head off buying my required triangles on the way. About 75 kilometers outside of Lusaka I get pulled over for speeding (A crime that gained me much mockery from my car-mates) My lack of break pads had no trouble slowing me down to receive my $11 ticket. All in all the trip back went well from there, and it wasn’t until we were about 15 kilometers away from Kitwe, where we stay, that a smaller ‘pop’ signaled another blown radiator hose, and brought a rapid stop to our trip. As we are opening the hood and making phone calls an Australian man stops by, and our dialog went something like this,

“Can I help ya out mate”

“We have some people coming, you have any water?”

“Nope…. probably the head, these Pajero’s are awful for blowin heads”

His last sentence followed him into his car and he drove away. In the morning Juma told us that Pastor Chanda’s Pajero had the same problem mine did….. But his was to a much higher degree. God blessed us though, and Juma found a head from some Pajero that was broken down and did automobile surgery in the middle of the night using limited tools and a borrowed l.e.d headlamp and lantern he got from Randy.

Things were seeming to work out for us to leave when we had wanted, but some part we couldn’t find left my vehicle un-operable. There was some frustration because the team had specific plans on what to do and only a short time to do it. By the time we finished we were a day late starting off. We were learning the struggles of trying to mimic God’s perfect patience.

The Zambians (Pastor Chanda, Gibson, Patson, Genius, Leven, & Peter) arrived at the orphanage in the morning, and we packed up. I kissed Amy and William goodbye with a deep twinge of pain in my heart. Having never left William for this long it was hard for me, but I knew he would be in good hands with a great mother like Amy. We started our fourteen hour drive with eager hearts. We hit the border within an hour and a half. We had to cross a small part of Congo that juts into Zambia, and by doing so we cut about 6 hours off of our total drive time, even with all the time spent crossing the border. Crossing the Congo border in a car can be very troublesome for Americans at times. There are some standard fees for visa’s and such, some customs fees, some vehicle fees, some transit fees, some ‘border police want extra money’ fees, and by the time we have argued the price down, and finished the paper work we realize that no short amount of time has been spent.

It is a stark contrast between Zambian border control and Congolese. We have friendly talks with the Zambian police, inquire on the work of the local churches in the area (things well known by most of the police and soldiers), and pass by after signing only a few papers. The 100 meter span of “no man’s land” brings us to something different on the Congolese side. Pastor Chanda and Gibson Lukoshi were fierce negotiators to lower the unsubstantiated tariffs we were charged. The Zambians got through easy. It was the Americans and vehicles (two things that when seen in Africa are often associated with tremendous wealth) that created problems. I got through alright by waving my Zambian work permit, and saying things like “Je suis un Zambian, regarde” (I found I could understand a lot more French then I thought I could, and I had the ability communicate in some settings rather well[yet still quite broken], particularly in dealing with police and buying things at the market. My work permit was also a tremendous blessing, often) but as I said before we were with some talented negotiators, and if God has a plan there is nothing anyone can do to stop it.

We got through and drove one hour on not a dirt, but a ‘dust road’(great for e-brake turns, but I had no occasion). We reached the exit border, negotiated and passed; whilst in “no man’s land” randy couldn’t miss the opportunity to get a photo with an AK-47 yielding bridge sentry, and so we did. We were back in Zambia and on route to Pweto when we stopped in Mansa to get some bread for our trip. A rather small, inebriated man came to greet the three Americans and was continuously saying in a peculiar shrill voice “DAY VEED BEK HUM”. It took a while before we realized he was saying “David Beckam”. To this day that man thinks he saw a famous soccer player, and I am sure that for some time to come I will hear “DAY VEED BEK HUM” being shouted to get my attention, as it has been ever since.

I was driving late into the night with snores and car noises being the only things that broke the dark silence, when I saw something beautiful. The horizon had become a dim red-orange color and small flakes started hitting the windshield. First it was only a few, and then it was a flood. It reminded me of the placid winter nights in Wyoming when powder snow would fall and quickly cover the earth with tiny shimmering ice crystals; reflecting the light over and over again from the snow on the ground to the snow in the sky, and effectively stopping darkness from wrapping the horizon, but this wasn’t that. Soon the smell of smoke consumed the car, and the horizon had gotten closer. I realized it was ash hitting my windshield. We could now see dancing flames darting about on the side of the road; tall plumes trying to climb the trees, and small waves making short work of the dry Zambian grass. It was a bushfire that farmers start to clear the land for sowing, and was only one of the many we would see. A sight during the day, but something far beyond at night.

We made it to the next Congo border, found a guest house, and stayed there. We all awoke after some quick rest and found two men butchering a goat in front of the guest house. I wanted to buy some for randy but he declined. We crossed the border again and where in Pweto in a very short time. We arrived at the partially built church of pastor Kabumba (he left around 1999 or 2000 due to the wars and by the time he came back someone else had his church) , and found twenty to thirty screaming people very excited for our arrival. Pastor Kabumba’s wife is very lively, and greeted us all with two kisses on each side of our neck (Congo has more of a French influence.) They Fed us an amazing meal. In Congo they eat more spicy food, and their nshima is made of cassava and not corn.

We left for Kokanona a small village outside of Pweto. Our original intention was to camp there, and do some evangelism in some of the villages farther out, but we found pastor Kabumba had different plans prepared for us. These villages are not reachable by cars, and are inhabited often by people who fought in the war. These soldiers would carry juju (magic charms made by witch doctors, to keep people safe and help effectiveness of killing), and eat fallen enemy soldiers in a superstitious hope of gaining advantage. This was the practice not more then five years ago, but when we arrived they were perceptive to the gospel. Last year in Oct. Pastor Chanda and a group of Zambians planted a church there in Kokanona that is doing quite well. To me they seem somewhat like the church in Thessalonica, but I will discuss that later.

We went to encourage the church, and I preached a message. We had to leave quickly and as we were leaving the entire congregation followed accept one boy who liked my message so much he fell asleep (Jason Smith has a good picture of him on facebook). We left feeling blessed by this new church, but there was two problems. The pastor was a polygamist, and a man was very sick. Pastor Chanda confronted the pastor, and planned follow up, and randy the “man who is never caught unprepared” gave some medicine to the man and we prayed for him(we found later that he improved greatly. Thanks Randy and particularly God).

The plans pastor Kabumba had for us were to do an evangelism “crusade” in Pweto with open air preaching every night on a large pedestal made of bamboo and scrap lumber parts. That Evening Jason preached a great message with pastor Kabila from Lumbumbashi (a very faithful man who has been quite a blessing in ministry, and whom I am sure will be as long as he is alive. A man who speaks English, French, Swahili, Bemba, and many other African languages with remarkable fluency) translating, we all partially fell through the floor of the pedestal a few times, and then we went to a guest house and fell asleep. The crowd of about 150 people were very cautious, and somewhat hostile to the Gospel so Jason planned a little harder sermon for the next night(a sermon he wouldn’t end up preaching until the last night).

That night at the guest house after taking my shower (a bucket of cold water and a cup in a small mud block room), I met the man running the Guest house. I had a conversation with him in what little French I could use, and what little English he could. All in all we could speak pretty well. This man was a Jehovah’s witness, and we reasoned together using a French bible we had brought from the Gideons. His religion is one well known for perverting the truth. The false view he had been taught about God and Jesus is one that smothers a soul that is crying for life. We where talking when he was called away by his duties. I still pray for that man, and that his eyes would be opened to the true gospel. I walked over to talk with some of the men and as I was sitting with them I heard Jason say “ba Chanda I need some help there is something in my room”, with ba Chanda replied “you’ll be fine”. There was some thing in his room that made a very loud growling noise, and we didn’t find out it was a frog until days later. I am sure it was a hard night of sleep wondering what he might have been sleeping with.

As I was sitting with the men I looked out in the distance at something they call the city. It is only visible at night. As you look it seems as if there is a city on the horizon, thousand of lights all gathered together, but in the morning when it is light you look in that direction and all you see is a lake that could be easily mistaken as an ocean. The illumination was thousands of fishermen that use little lamps to lure fish into their nets. Another view from our trip that struck me with its beauty

In the morning we planned to all cross the river, visit two newly planted churches, and be back in time for the crusade. We were very excited to encourage these young(5 month old) churches, who had been started because of the grace of God flowing through the work done in Pweto by our teams who had been there in the past. When we got to the river we saw our ferry; it was three canoes with a wooden platform connecting them, on which we drove the car to go across (you should receive a picture of it.) There was some delay because the landmine removal agency who owned the ferry “M.A.G.” was not working on Saturday in contrast to what we had agreed with them earlier. I drove to the M.A.G. head quarters to retrieve the engine, of which, they said was all that was needed to cross, but they didn’t have a vehicle to bring it to the crossing. Upon arriving the engine wouldn’t fit in my pajero, so they brought one of their land cruiser trucks (huh!) and grabbed it to take it to the crossing. We followed but had to stop to get water on the way. On the route back along the river there are many tanks and armored vehicles abandoned and stripped, strewn about from the war so recently fought there (these were common sights on many of our routes.) I had hoped to see Ba Chanda’s pajero already across by the time we got there, but it was still on our side of the river. They had brought the ferry engine, but had left the ferry driver. It was getting late and we had to be back in pweto to preach that evening(this delay would prove to be quite a blessing because of or bad estimation of travel time), so we had to make some choices. We reflected that we could have crossed on a canoe and hitched a ride with the U.N. vehicle we saw on the other side, but we decided that a group would go to the villages and camp in the bush overnight and one would stay to preach in pweto, and re-visit kokanona in the morning. We loaded up supplies and I took my (small) pajero with two Americans, two Zambians (genius and peter), three Congolese, (the pastor of the first church, and two members of the second), and myself. 8 men were in a small suv along with a large quantity of supplies (Tight fit!). We made it across on the ferry just fine (it worked surprisingly well despite the fact they had to bale out buckets of water in order to keep it from sinking under the vehicles weight). I still call Peter the “bravest kiondi” because he was the only one out of the four men in our group who came from the kiondi tribe(Gibson, Patson, Leven, and peter), who wasn’t afraid of the river.

Once on the other side I paid the ferry operator his due twenty dollars and we started our journey. Our plan was to greet the churches on our way out, stay the night in the last village (75 kilometers away) and do church services with them each on our way back. That was our plan. When we started the roads were ruff, but we made it alright to the first church. We were greeted warmly. We walked inside and they were playing music in the same style that all the churches we had visited there did. There is a large drum section composed of an old car wheel played with bolts, and several hollowed out logs that would make different degrees of bass sounds depending on the circumference. These instruments are played in such a furious way that at first listen you would think that it was a jumble of arrhythmic noise, but upon listening to it you find a rhythm that is incredibly complex and varied (something my five years experience of concert drumming could never recreate), and the dancers never miss a beat. The choir consists of mostly women, for most the men in the church are playing the drums. The church insisted on a message, and genius gave one in bemba because most of this village spoke bemba. I didn’t understand but the people there appreciated it. Our plan was a little off course, but we could still do as we intended if we left right then. They insisted on feeding us and we were very blessed by their sacrificial giving. It was an hour until sunset (it is winter there now and sunset is very early) when we finally went on our way, but we figured we would make it quickly to the next village, mutabe (now only about 55km away). When we started off we told the church that we would not have time to do another service in the morning, but would greet them on our way out. The road from there on out was terrible. If you like off-road driving, or “jeeping” as a friend of mine affectionately calls it, then you would really appreciate this road. I give two thumbs up to Mitsubishi and my mechanic Juma because we took that pajero through places where other vehicles would have scampered away crying. I am very proud of that little suv. The trip took several hours. We would ask often how much longer it would be, and get responses like “very near”, “around the next turn”, “over the next hill”, and “just a half an hour away” every half hour. This later was very amusing for all of us, and I still get these responses when I ask Genius or peter directions. By this time all of us had given up on “the plan”.

When we arrived (around 10pm ish) we expected to set up our tents and go to sleep. Mutabe was very quiet. It is a beautiful village, and we were excited to meet everyone in the morning. We pulled up to where the church is, in this remote little village and as we got closer we started to hear a beat in claps. No one was in sight until we turned to park and our headlights illuminated 100-150 congolese who immediately started singing songs of praise to the Lord. It sounds simple, but there are not many experiences in my life where I have felt more blessed then I did right then. After greeting those who were there we went to where they told us we would be sleeping. Another crowd of about fifty people were there singing and dancing. We started to unload our tents when some men brought us chairs and told us to sit. We sat as the people sang to us. I was overwhelmed with thanksgiving for what God was doing in Congo, and the great grace that He had, and has, on me. As we sat women prepared a small village house for us to stay in, and brought us in for a meal. The churches were so thankful for our arrival. I was humbled by their generosity, and in turn, felt deep gratitude toward God. While we were eating randy inquired of what type of meat we had been served, and peter quickly responded by saying “meh-eh-eh” in a vibrato voice. Randy put the goat meat back in the pot, and we used this incident to make fun of him for the rest of the trip.

That night there was a powerful dust-storm. Many of us shared the fear that the entire grass roof was going to fly away. It didn’t. We woke up well-rested with plenty of dust in our teeth, and went to church. In Mutabe they don’t speak bemba or English, they speak luba, Swahili and French. This put us in kind of a tight spot because the villagers spoke about as much French as I did(not much), and none of us knew luba or Swahili. God intervened and helped us though. Many in mutabe understood deep kiondi a language Peter could speak, and in turn he could understand much of what they said in luba. We found out these languages are very close. We went to church where Jason would preach, peter would translate into Kiondi, and Jean Claude would translate into Swahili. As they were playing music a well dressed man came asking for us. Genius and I went with him because we wanted to leave peter to translate for jason. He represented the Congolese government (everywhere we went these sort of people monitored us. There is a fear that people come in under the guise of missionaries, but are actually mercenaries or men of this sort. We had to meet the chief, and governor upon arrival in pweto; we had to give our passport info to the man running the guest house every night so he could report to the guv, and we even had some trouble for not reporting that we had left pweto to go to mutabe when we were arriving back in pweto. This is something I thought we would lose by going out into the bush, but it found us), and took us to an old Methodist complex that had been abandoned during the war and apparently re-inhabited by G men. We did the usual registering of our whole team: names, passport #’s, destination, purpose, etc. After this the man (falsely) told us that there was a twenty dollar fee per person, (all in French and broken Bemba, so it took a while and genius and I struggled with communication but it worked out alright) so we argued that we didn’t have that much money (which was very true) and he told us “ok give me all the money you have and that will be ok, because maybe someday you will even minister to me” We were not satisfied with this answer either (knowing these fees were unfounded), but to be arrested in some village in congo didn’t sound pleasant. I ended up paying him $10 and 20,000 kwacha (= $4-5), as well as giving him my phone number so he could visit me in Kitwe if he comes that way (and if this day comes I will charge him for the visit. Ha Ha.). This was satisfactory for him. As he pocketed the “government fees” we invited him to church, an offer he quickly declined, and we left ourselves expecting church to be over (we were gone an hour and a half). When we arrived they were still playing music waiting for us. Randy was still rattling from the drums the whole trip back. The church (five months old and in a village in the bush) sported over three hundred members who were lively and eager to hear the Word of God. Jason gave a great sermon on Naaman, and the church responded well. We left very late leaving French bibles with the leaders of the church, and commissioning them to read aloud to the village, just as we had done in the earlier village.

When we arrived at the river crossing we were several hours later then we had anticipated, and were afraid that the ferry might not be there, but it was. The operator jumped on shore and his greeting to us was “you gave me a bad twenty”. We were thankful that it had worked out this way because it insured that he would return to pick us up. I showed him my other twenty which was also unacceptable in his eyes (African money changers are very precautious, and often won’t change money if it is wrinkled or dyed, or printed before 2000.) I was out of money at this point, but randy produced a pristine $50 bill, thinking that it was worth the $10 dollar loss to get on our way. This also was rejected on account of a crease that was almost not there. Finally Jason found two decent $20 bills, and we left. Maybe that man is wondering why he talked himself out of $10, I don’t know.

That night Jason preached for the crusade with layers of dust from our adventure still falling off of him. I was impressed by his steadfastness. As we were driving to the church, a small group of children started chasing the car. They were beautiful. Poverty had taken its toll on them. It was not the lack of clothing, or ring worm spotted heads that we noticed though, but children who were excited and full of life, and quite ready to hear some good news. The churches of the city had all joined together for this, the last night of the crusade. Even the Catholics joined in and brought a choir to sing. As all the different churches had their choirs sing, crowds of people came from the streets came to investigate. At one point there was well over 700 people crowded around the small creaking pedestal Pastor Kabumba made for the event. Men women and children were all gathered together singing and dancing. When the music stopped some went away. Just like in American churches some were only interested in the music, but some wanted to hear the word of God , and these stayed. The preaching was powerful, and many people came to repentance publicly that night.

As we were leaving I met a man, he was a pastor from Goma (a war torn city on the border of Congo and Rwanda), who had come all the way there on a motorcycle because he had heard of our crusade. He had traveled a very long way to meet with us, and I am blessed to have his contact info. We plan to move north toward Goma, and east across Congo planting churches all the while.

Halfway through Jason’s preaching, pastor Chanda arrived from his visit to Kokanona, and we were very encouraged by what he told us later that night. When confronted with scripture the polygamist pastor resigned his office (conviction like the Thessalonians had), and a new pastor was established. We also heard that this church was already reaching the un-reached places we intended to go (setting an example like the Thessalonians). We were very blessed by this report.

In the morning we met with the leaders of several of the churches that had been planted in the area. We encouraged them, counseled them, and left them with bibles. Bibles are still needed in French, bemba, Swahili, and luba if we can find it. We are looking into it. We left later that day.

The drive home was uneventful. We stayed at Mansa because the border was closed. I didn’t see my little friend, but there was a black mamba outside the door of my guest room in the morning; a door that had a two inch gap at the bottom, and led into a room where I was sleeping on the floor. The black mamba met a quick end at the hands of a worker at the guest house.

The next day we arrived home. I was overwhelmed with joy to see my family. William had grown in the short time I was gone, and had learned how to do things like clap. I was so proud of him. Amy was beautiful, I was so blessed to see her again. The other Americans had sometime yet before they saw their families, and they were equally eager. We took them to Lusaka and sent them on their way the next day. It was a bitter sweet departure. We will miss their fellowship, but we are glad for the work that will be done in Wyoming.

In summary we were extremely blessed. We planned many things, but God changed our plans, which later proved to be so so so much better. There is great need for laborers in this harvest, so pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers. These churches are lively and active, they just need discipleship, and guidance. They need to learn sound doctrine, and we need teachers to teach them. If you are praying please continue; if you are giving please continue; if you are coming and working please continue, and if you are not I encourage you to seek the Lords guidance and follow whole heartedly. Thank you all for your support and your time for reading this very long e-mail. It has told much of this trip, but there was so much more, and God willing much more to come, soon. May God’s grace be with you.

`The Kountz Family

Newsletter July

Dear friends and family,

Things are going very well here. Amy looks amazing in Zambian fabrics, William has plenty of adventure, and we are all being grown by God, and provided for every day. We have not been hit by malaria, but this last 8 or so days we have been suffering with bacterial dysentery that has been a great hindrance. God is taking care of us though. We have found good antibiotics and are seeing vast improvement.

Two weeks ago a man from Chamboli church was telling me about his wife’s trip to a village in eastern Zambia called Isoka. She had wanted to go to church on Sunday, and there was only one around (it is a rural area) so she went. There she found the pastor (a man with many wives) without a bible, and it just kinda makes sense. He doesn’t even know what a man ought to do, so of course he wouldn’t be doing it. Many of us know what we ought to do, and we still don’t do it. Either way my heart was broken for the people in this area, the polygamist pastor, and the lack of churches. I asked Pastor Chanda what he knew about the area, and he said that it was a violent place where witchcraft is still in common practice, and this stirred me even more. I took this conviction and another conviction about the discipleship of the older youth in the church, and I have started a weekly gathering of young people who want to be in the ministry. We are going through some basic doctrines of Christianity, and we are praying with a goal in mind of raising evangelist, and church planters, and future pastors from within. So in the future, when we hear of a place like Isoka we can simply say “who feels called to go” and then send that person. Some of us will probably be visiting Isoka soon with the goal of church planting and descipling local Christians. I will keep you updated.

The peanut-butter making has been up and down. It was down because for various technical reasons no work was done by the peanut-butter ladies for about half the month. It was up though, because, in that short amount of time we did work we saw about a 60% increase in production. I and a man named Peter have been working on motorizing the hand crank machines to ease the labor on the ladies and boost the production and it is going very well. I see great prospects, and I think that peanut-butter will be of great aid in Chande becoming self-sufficient.

We continue to seek after banana land. We met with the Permanent Secretary, and little did I know that this title describes the man who has top executive governmental authority in the copperbelt region of Zambia. I was excited. Usually we would have met with somebody much lower on the totem, someone who specifically works with land and demarcations and such, but we never seem to do things the normal way. Zambia is changing its system of land ownership, and we are caught in an interesting place. We might not even get control of our own land, but from talking to the P.S. I believe we will get suitable land, and maybe even more then we had.

In a week from today I will be leaving for Pweto, DRC. I am sad to leave Amy and William in Zambia alone, but I am assured that all things will work out for good. Please pray for our team as we go. There has been a lot of violence on the border and we hope to not be involved in any ourselves. We also need prayer that God would be our guide, and that he would prepare the soil of the men’s and women’s hearts whom we will meet. Please pray that our faith will not fail, and that the wives, and families who are left at home will be comforted in the Lord. I am very excited to see how the Spirit will move.

Peter and I have also been working on making two small popcorn machines (popcorn sells well on the streets), and Lord willing we should be finished with those in a few short days.

We have hired a young man who some of you know, named Binwell. He is helping with all the ministry, and I will be raising him up to replace me in the foreman role of some of these small business ventures. Amy got some cookie recipe’s from our sister in law(quite delicious), and we will be selling cookies to help pay Binwell’s salary.

William is growing quite well. We see two more teeth coming in on top, and since he has become mobile we are seeing quite a personality start to appear. I think he will be very adventuress when he grows up a little more. He is already rather curious and courageous with his limited motor skills, so I am almost worried to see how wild he will be at his peak potential. He is a blessing (Mapalo as the Bembas call him), and I can barely even remember what life was like before him. I am sure that it wasn’t quite so joyful though.

Thank you all for your prayers and financial support we praise the Lord for your partnership daily. We will keep you all in our prayers. I have to go now to pick up Pastor Jason, and Randy at Lusaka airport. These men are coming from Wyoming to minister in Congo. I am very excited and blessed to work with them.

God Bless,

`Mat and the Kountz Family

Newsletter June

Dear friends and family,

It is good to finally be in Zambia. Joining in the ministry with our brothers and sisters in Kitwe is something we have been looking forward to for some time. There is not much to report for June. William, Amy, and I are adapting well after these first two weeks. Internet is hit or miss, but we are looking into options for mending that. We are experiencing a few hiccups in getting our vehicle but with grace it will be very soon (I believe this will heighten productivity enormously.) I was honored with the opportunity to preach at Chamboli Church this last week We will be sending newsletters monthly (God willing), which will keep you up to date on our lives and the ministry here.

Upcoming:

As some of you know, College Heights Baptist Church brought machines for making peanut butter in 2007. These machines have been in mild use from that time on, with women from the church volunteering to make peanut butter, and church members purchasing the product to raise support for Chande Orphanage. We are increasing the production, which provides paid jobs to the volunteers, moving them from one day a week to five, and potentially raising a lot more support for Chande. This includes building small shops to sell out of at the orphanage, and at Wusakile Church. We will keep you updated with this projects success or failure, but as always we could use your prayers.

The land for the bananas is purchased, and we are meeting with the Permanence Secretary soon to finish legalities so that we can begin work without fear of losing it all.

This August I will be accompanying a group from College Heights, as well as a number of Zambians and Congolese, into an area deep in the bush of Congo. There are two tribes in that area, the Seba and Tabwa, who would be considered un-reached people groups. This will be the third time into this region for pastor Chanda and others (my first time), so we will be preaching, teaching, encouraging new Christians from the last trip in, and hopefully setting apart leaders for newly planted churches. Please pray that God would be preparing the way for us. I always have to remember that He is already there; it is only new to me. It can also be very dangerous so we will need prayers for that as well. I will keep in touch with more specifics

We are still raising support for the brick making machine, it would enable us to build new churches, orphanage buildings, schools, plus a number of other things, and if you have an extra $12,000 lying around I know of a good use for it.

Supporters:

Thank you so much for your support. God is using you to provide fuel for our ministry. It is such a blessing to us to see people making such great sacrifice to give. Some of you are giving, out of love for God, when you barely have enough to take care of you, and your own. Your love for the Lord will be rewarded tremendously, maybe not in this life, but definitely the next. We Praise the Lord that He is doing as He always does, that is, He is doing a lot with a little. After hearing of Him feed thousand with five loaves and two fish I am encouraged to think of what he will do in Zambia and in the lives of these orphans and my family. We are continually thankful for all your prayers and support, it is a blessing to have you as part of our lives and as part of this ministry.

With Love,

`Mat, Amy, and William

Our New Blog

Hey folks. I set this up to heighten communications, and create easy accessibility for people.  I will be posting our newsletters, and updates, as well as  pictures and videos for every one to keep in the loop.  Feel free to give this website to anyone who is interested, and if anyone would like to be added to our mailing list please write us at matamy837@yahoo.com