Let's Catch up...

Hey reader! Hope that things are well with you, wherever this may find you! Our last month has flown by, and the best word to capture what September was all about would probably be 'community'. We are smack dab in the middle of our third hot season here in Zambia, (2021, last year and now this year), and pool is not just a reprieve from the heat, but also such a great place to gather together & enjoy company. We have had a steady flow of guests, and I love watching the characters of people shine as they play. Some are flashy with big dives, some are timid and just dip their legs, some full-send into the deep end with little experience of how to swim, some relax on a floatie, and some play keep-away like it is their last mission in life. Needless to say, having this space has been incredible.

As far as the maintenance side of Jon's work, the focus has shifted to the school side of the property. The crew is working to expand the playground area for the students and are removing small trees that are below the canopy that are just making a mess with all their leaves. An irrigation tank has been moved from a different part of the property to help with keeping grass alive and well throughout the year. Around the rest of the property, they are fixing up some walkways, adding curbing around lawn areas before the rainy season begins etc. There's always something to stay busy with!

Jon also took a few days off to go flying with a friend that just got his pilot's license. Jon has always loved airplanes, so that only added to the excitement of getting away! This friend owns a honey business, so the purpose of the trip was to purchase honey from locals. They flew to an area of Zambia that Jon hasn't been to before (Northwestern Province) and got to have a few days unplugging from regular routine. Jon was able to see how the honey purchasing all works, stepped foot into the Congo without any border patrol or crossing, and bought fresh pineapple from the locals.

A big event in the last month was Living Hope hosting their first volleyball tournament! We wanted to keep it smaller scale because it was the first one, so we had four teams involved: ours & three others. We started the day hosting our team for a pre-tournament swim & lunch together. In a country where soccer is everything, it was a pleasure to see the campus come alive for volleyball. The teams played hard (especially in the heat!) and there were some close matches! Jon helped to get MVP shirts printed, so every team has one person receive a shirt for their most outstanding player. Ending the tournament in a large circle prayer and keeping God as the focus was just such a great way to close it off. Then it was back in the pool for two of the teams, and lunch leftovers for dinner. We hope to be able to host another one of these in the future - to take what did and what did not work well, and plan another one!

Jon had quite the night a few weeks back. At 9:45 at night he received a call from someone who had done piecework on our pool. The caller told Jon that his brother-in-law just passed away, he had called around without finding help, and they were asking if Jon would be willing to help out. Jon jumped in his vehicle and went driving in the pitch dark. It's rural here, and things get dark! When Jon met up with the family, they explained that when someone passes away at home, the family has to report the death to the police station, then get a doctor to sign off a death certificate before the body can be stored in the morgue. The family was asking if Jon could transport the body for this purpose. They wrapped the man in a sheet, and many piled into the vehicle to go with to the police station and hospital. Afterwards we couldn't help but reflect on how different this whole process was here. What a stressful thing to have to deal with right after someone passes away! And super hard when they live a fair distance from the nearest police station and hospital! The family was so appreciative, and it was just so nice to be able to help the family in a time of grief and struggle!

On our campus, we received two additional children in the last few weeks! While we are phasing out of the orphan care side of LH, we are still an Emergency Care Facility for social welfare. That means that if there is an urgent need for a child to be cared for, Living Hope can provide care for as long as needed. These cases can be for days, or indefinitely - each is a case-by-case situation. Obviously, the immediate need for having a child come into care means they have endured some pretty serious hardship, and that's never a reason to celebrate. I never want to paint their trauma as some sort of sob story to tug on people's heartstrings. Their story is their story, and they deserve privacy in what they've endured. But what their story does hold is hope. God is with them, and has placed them under Christian care, and for as long as they are under LH care, I pray God uses this in a powerful way in their lives.

We just passed Thanksgiving Day (for Canada), and it's a holiday that I've always loved. What a special holiday to pause and reflect on the goodness of God over the last year. There have been a few hard weeks of feeling far from home, and quite honestly, a little misunderstood culturally. Despite the feelings of loneliness, there are always reasons to give praise to God. We're choosing to sit in those feelings of thanksgiving.

We wanted to bring a little Canadian Thanksgiving to campus. It's never a bad idea to prompt others to reflect on the good in their lives. As sports teams, we always do Monday devotions after training. Both the volleyball and football teams come meet together, do devotions together & discuss what has been heard (which is often so fascinating to hear how much culture affects the interpretation of things!). For Thanksgiving Monday, we decided to meet together with a devotion based on gratitude and have the teams go around to say what things they are thankful for. While most of the responses were in Bemba, it was still so special to hear people thanking God for good things in their lives. We topped off the evening with a little ice-cream for dessert just to make it feel a little extra festive and special!

That would be all for this month! Thanks for reading along!

Love,

Renae