overdue

Time has slipped away since I last sat down to write about what's been going on over here. Part of it is due to the fact that my blog site is nearing capacity, and I don't want to spend money every month just to keep it alive (solution to that will be explained at the end of this post). Another part of it is letting too much time go past and not knowing where to start on summarizing things that have been going on over here. All that to say, this post is overdue, and I hope you enjoy reading along!

Looking over my pictures since the last time I wrote shows just how much of our weeks are filled with sports (in the best way). Youth Day is a public holiday in Zambia, that celebrates the role that young people play both currently, and for shaping the future nation. We went to a nearby school for the day, and spent it enjoying netball, and both ladies & men's football. It is always cool to partake in a community event that brings all the locals together! We arranged for a few local guys to cook for our team, so we were even able to enjoy a meal all together!

Another great day was when Seeds of Hope hosted another graduation! This one was for the class of 2025, and five (only 4 pictured) of the Living Hope youth were part of that! Living Hope just has 9 remaining youth living on site full time. Because they are all older (around 13 years and older) and Living Hope Christian Academy only goes up to grade 4 right now, the Living Hope children that live on site are bussed to Seeds of Hope for schooling. We are so thankful that they are able to get a great education at such a nearby organization! What a happy day to witness this graduation!

School in Zambia is closed for the month of April, making it very quiet on site. No more school kids filing in first thing in the morning to eat their breakfast in the cafeteria. No recess laughter carrying over the walls! School for our kids has continued as much as we can, working through the Zambian public holidays, gearing up to finish by mid-June! We just had a Zoom call with our support teacher from Canada, and are on-pace to complete on time!

Our volleyball team has been busy lately! We have had a bunch of off-site games, and one day that was a full tournament! Playing strong teams is both fun to watch and a challenge for our team to rise to the occasion! It's not abnormal for people from the opposing teams to offer pointers and tips to other team in their downtime - which is just so cool to see them willing to extend their knowledge to others! It is an absolute honor to be their coach, and I love seeing the guys steadily improve as time goes on!

We are still part of the football league, as well. This means every Sunday there is a girls' game, and a men's game. It's been so cool to travel to other places and see other communities. Some are a way off the main road, making it an adventure. There are always things to look at during these games - from the actual game itself, to a group of curious kids slowly inching closer and closer, to locals selling seasonal fruit, to excited fans running on the field after a goal. It is one of my favorite days of the week! Someone asked me the other day just what it is exactly that we love so much about the sports - and I actually found it hard to properly capture my thoughts. It's so much more than just the sports themselves. It's the friendships built, the working together, the competitiveness, the atmosphere, the team prayers, the leadership learning, the joy in the wins and the learning in the losses. It's all of that all rolled into one!

Jon's mom, stepdad, uncle and aunt trekked all the way to Zambia for a visit this month! We did not do anything grandiose - we did daily life with them. We were able to have a crowd over for swimming, check out a local market, visit our favorite coffee shop, tour the campus, bike the local roads, pick vegetables at a local field and have our friend cook a traditional Zambian meal, watch karate class and play a round of golf (guys only). It was so nice to have time to explain what life looks like for us, answer lots of questions, and discuss the beauty of life in Zambia. One of them could not get over the state of the roads, which just makes us chuckle. They are pretty bad!

Jon continues to be busy with the maintenance side of things. The crew is just finished a renovation of the staff offices. The office building was previously used as a dorm, so it had multiple showers, and unusable spaces. The team worked hard to make it so much more functional and practical for its needs, and they did a beautiful job! They have moved on to converting an unfinished building into a multi-homed unit for staff housing. It's incredible to see the rate at which the work is being completed!

John Calvin Christian School, our beloved (former) school back in Canada, had fundraiser back in the winter for Living Hope. We were in SHOCK with the generosity in which the school community gave of their financial blessings! Living Hope Christian Academy currently has 125 students, and there were 6 swings to be shared. JCCS raised $12,000 (!!!!!) dollars to put towards new playground equipment! What an absolute blessing! We have already added additional swings and have a local American engineer working to build a bunch of playground structures to add to the mix. We cannot wait for this to be completed and for the students to have more options to burn their energy during recess! John Calvin Christian School - we are beyond grateful - first for choosing to raise money for LHCA, and secondly for such giving hearts! Thank you, thank you. Or in Bemba (the local language) we would say, "Natotela."

This pretty much wraps up what has been going on for the last few months. Lots of pool parties, lots of sports, a bunch of spaghetti nights (when we cook spaghetti for dinner and watch Premier League Football with a crowd at night), peaceful morning walks, and the end of rainy season! Yesterday I got a message that read, "I just want to say thank you so much for u and Mr John for what you are doing to me and my family more blessings to come." That was such an affirmation of the whole heart and reason we came and are here. It's hard to fully describe the depth of purpose that comes with walking alongside the community here, but it truly is a wonderful blessing to be able to do it.

For those who wish to continue to follow along on updates, I plan to start an email update instead of doing it on this blog. I believe I can just use the email addresses that you have entered to subscribe to the blog and just send out a mass email that way. The format will look different, but the heart behind it will remain the same!

With love,

Renae