Oh Canada

We are back on solid ground as of Sunday afternoon. Our flight came in on time and going through customs proved incredibly simple...mostly because we had no luggage. lol. When we arrived in Washington D.C. to catch our connecting flight to Toronto, we were to gather our bags and go through U.S. customs with them...only after an hour of watching bags go round and round on the conveyor belt, we realized ours were definitely not there..along with a few others bags, so we did some paper work and we are hoping and praying that as our bags tour the world without us, they will return in one piece very soon....so we can do our laundry. :D

Coming back we were discussing the fact of what to say when our dear loved ones ask us "so how was your trip?" when so much has happened in such a short amount of time and we haven't had time to process everything yet. I know I can't answer for the entire team, but I will do my best to give at least my perspective on how the trip was...it was amazing.

In so many ways, when I left I expected God to challenge and stretch me in big ways... I felt like I was going to go through some intensely trying and hard times, and I know I even talked and prayed about this with a good friend before I left. Looking back and contemplating what has happened in the last four weeks, it just makes me shake my head in wonder at how God works..and how great and awesome He really is....

..I found it incredibly revitalizing. Zambia is a Christian nation. Like I mentioned in a note before, Christian music is played in the grocery store, on mini buses and in taxis. The Scripture Union team we worked with is free to talk about their faith and God in the public schools. Really, it is just a very free place to be as a Christian. I don't think I ever got used to how open we were allowed to be and were...I mean, I could feel inside me the tension and thoughts of "why aren't people freaking out about this music or what we're saying?" and then I would realize over and again that it's normal and ok. Over the course of the time we spent there, I just felt more and more at peace and inspired and really challenged to take this back to Canada. I just experienced this sense that if we are able to be so free and open and to really care here, why not back home? What is it that scares us from speaking out and not content to be so incredibly passive with our culture in Canada...?

I truly believe this was the challenge God was planning for me to face and be stretched with...and now the test starts because I'm back home, a week from now starting a placement working with African-Canadian Youth. What am I going to do? I've been so blessed to have been given the opportunity to take a step out of my culture and way of life and to live a different one for four weeks...yet with youth who still struggle and with a God who is the same there as here, yesterday and today. God has shown me so many things, and now it's my responsibility to be taking what I've learned and live it. To take the step of faith and trust and become a voice for Him in this nation. ...and in all honesty, it's a super scary and huge responsibility, but it's God who will take each of us through. It was for Him and through Him that we were able to go to Africa, and it will be for Him and through Him that we will take His message back to Canada.

I just want to thank each and every one of you for your constant thoughts and prayers and the support each one of you blessed our team with. ..and I want to encourage each of you to take a stand. God has given us His armor. We just need to take it up and be in prayer and fight this battle.

"Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he be with you and within you.

Love, Kristen
[ZTEAM sister]

Flight Info

Just to note...we leave Zambia at 2:50pm Saturday and are to arrive United Airlines terminal 1 in Toronto at 1:53ish on Sunday

Yay for getting to re-live 6 hours of our life!

We are time-travelling.

:D

God Bless and Keep...

Hey friends!

We have come to our last day in Livingstone, Zambia. God blessed us with his incredible beauty and majesty by showing us the amazing Victoria falls and baboons, zebra, giraffes, elephants, some wildebeast, impala, and even an crocodile and some beautiful birds...and a warthog too.

We have to be at the bus stop at 5:30am tomorrow and head back to Lusaka for a night to meet the SIM team there and then off to the airport by 12noon on Saturday. We most likely will not be undating this before we are home, but we will let you know when we're back!

The president of Zambia passed away this week, and the people are in mourning, but they are at peace. It is so incredible that a country has been without a president for so long (he's been in a coma for a long time....) and there have been no uprisings, so praise God for that and please pray for the governement as they now need to fill the position. This is such a beautiful nation and so open to God. We heard "It is well with my soul" playing in the grocery store the other day. The GROCERY store! Blows my mind.

Thank you all so much for your continued prayer and support. We had a beautiful time of prayer as a team together tonight and have been so incredibly blessed over the past few weeks that words can hardly describe it. Just such a sense of rest and peace and amazement at what God has done.

Love always,
your ZTEAM sisters.
God bless and keep you all.

Hello all! Just a quick note, letting you all know that we have made it safe and sound to livingstone. We stayed up all last night and got on the bus to Lusaka at Midnight. We arived in Lusaka at around 7:30ish, and left again at 9:30ish headed here to Livingstone. The bus rides were, um, interesting. The first one was freezing cold because someone left the airconditioning on, which just wasn't smart in the middle of cold season at night. And then the second half had a good long while on a nice bumpy, pot-holled filled road. So much fun, hehe. We spent all yesterday saying goodbye to all the Peer Educators and other friends we had made, so it was quite a heart-wrenching day. We're all going to miss those guys so much, but many of us just can't wait to be home to see all of our beloved friends and family again. Soon soon! we're here until friday morning, and then we head back to lusaka. our flight leaves saturday and we'll be home in Canada on Sunday! See you all soon then. love to all, -the Z-team sisters.

God is Good. All the Time!

Well – life has been full around here, and yet calm at the same time. We spend our mornings doing VBS with the kids, and they have a bunch of fun doing crafts and playing games, singing songs and learning memory verses. They are amazing at memorizing verses. They learn one a day with us and have been able to quote them all again each new day. Our afternoons have been filled with a variety of things – mainly spending time with different people. We’ve had a trip to a museum, gone to a few craft shops, and visited people’s homes. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it. Time seems to be so full, so I’m always exhausted at the end of the day. But it’s such a satisfying feeling, knowing your day has been filled with communing with people. I’m loving it to bits. I have just started to slightly miss some of you, so feel special =D . Though as much as I love you guys, I do want to stay here longer – four weeks is far too short for my liking. But don’t fret, I shall be home on our scheduled day (hopefully). Love to you all, see you in just over a week.
- Sarah



As the days progress, we are finding the weather becoming more and more warm. It hadn’t reached noon today when I went outside and felt the beaming sun against my skin. It is officially Saturday as I type this and it bewilders me still that we have been here for three weeks. I’ve had a bit of time to reflect over what has happened and it has just been such an incredible experience. To think that we made it through camp with the Scripture Union Team and our VBS feels surreal. The importance of relationships within the Zambian community is something I have deep appreciation for and all the wonderful people that we’ve met will remain indispensable to me. Today we’ve going to play beach volleyball with some of the SU volunteers so that should be a delightful time. There are two more days left until we leave on Monday at midnight; we will be bussing to Livingstone for the rest of the week then bussing back on Friday to Lusaka where (enter ‘gasp’) a flight home awaits us. But let’s not go there yet…there is still plenty of time to do things and one of the things I’ve learned (among a million other things) is that the quantity of time matters not where there are amazing people around to make that time worthwhile. I miss home dearly; and Nutella. Luckily, being a vegetarian is NOT impossible contrary to popular belief. I love you all.
- Jenelle



Our VBS program has finished and we are spending our last days in Mongu spending time with friends we have made. We had the scripture union girl volunteers over last night for dinner and a sleepover. Their friendship has been a blessing to us and we enjoyed just having some ‘girl time’ together! We are attending part of the ECZ conference tomorrow morning and then will be leaving for Livingstone late Monday evening.
Thank you all so much for your love and prayers!!!
Love, the ZTEAM sisters

Our Great Big Huge Update...

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to stay overnight for a few days at Katonga Village and help out with the Kids Alive program that was lead by an amazing man of God, Mr. Manueli. It was the beginning of our ‘roughing it’ adventure. It was our first time staying in a hut; the staccato of dogs barking during the night and the loop of hens waking us in the morning was quite the expected surprise for the first night. Unbeknownst to us, this would be the comforting sounds of the future nights we would spend. We had the chance to play with the kids who are beyond adorable; we taught them songs and did some Bible Trvia. During the evening we were able to sing worship together in different languages; two cultures fellowshipping by a single candlelight. It was a moving experience that opened our eyes to life behind the city. [Jenelle]



MIDWEEK AT CAMP:
On Friday we arrived at the Scripture Union Camp in Sefula.
We will be working alongside the peer leaders for the week.
The campers have lots of energy and our days are filled with many different activities.
They wake up at 6:00am every morning to participate in ‘Rise and Shine’. The best way to describe it is twenty minutes of brutal torture (which actually feels like four hours)!
Whistles are used to wake everyone up, announce meals and move them from one activity to another. We can honestly say that we would be happy if we did not hear another whistle for awhile.

Once we get through rise and shine the rest of the day is busy busy busy but great! We have breakfast and then go to our first session of the day…sessions are like services. After the first session we go to workshops which are put on by the peer educators. They teach the kids to make wise lifestyles decisions, discussing everything from dating to addiction. After workshops we have bible studies in our groups of about 30 youth. In those we get to discuss issues like stigma, self-esteem and the grand ol’ Holy Spirit. At first the youth were shy but know as they are becoming more comfortable they speak up more and discussions are more interactive and profound.

Next is lunch…our fist dose of Nshima for the day…and not the last! (We have learned to appreciates the simplicity of peanut butter and granola bars…and Kristen seemed pretty excited to be eating a banana this afternoon) After lunch we have bible trivia and talent shows. The youth here love to display their talents and so those become very competitive and entertaining. After talent shows we go play sports. We play everything from fruit basket to net-ball, which we still don’t really understand, but the Zambians are pretty intense about.

Next we meet together for dinner once again and then have our evening session. This camp has been extremely busy but we have really seen God at work in the lives of the youth here. On Sunday a group of about 100 youth went up to the altar to dedicate and some to rededicate their lives to the Lord! We have also had the opportunity to pray with and counsel some youth one and one. Please continue to pray for us as we tackle some really difficult issues with these youth. They have been very receptive so far!

Camp will be done on Friday and we just pray that the youth would not turn away from the decisions they have made but that they would continue to grow in their relationships with Christ.

Laura-Ashleigh: I saw a wall spider that was the size of my hand!!
Jenelle: She is having a fun filled African time and will be home soon!
Christelle: my ankle is feeling great! And I miss ice cream. And showers that aren’t taken in buckets…but God is good!
Sarah: I have managed to injure myself twice since we got to the camp – playing football (soccer) I tripped as another player and I went for the ball at the same time. My knee is nicely scraped up now. And just recently on my way to bible study I scraped my foot against the leg of a desk and took off a few layers of skin. But none-the-less, I’m thoroughly enjoying myself, and being “home”. I don’t really miss any of you, sorry to say. But I do miss toilets that flush on a regular basis. Those are nice, hehe. Lots of love to you all.
[Laura]
Love, the Z-team Sisters




AUGUST 8, 2008
We’ve come to the end of our week at camp and what an incredible time we’ve had. This week has been one of the greatest experiences filled with both hilarious and heart-touching moments. We closed off the week Thursday night with a campfire with lots of singing and dancing…we have yet to learn how to truly dance...we got showed up real well!!!

I think personally being at camp is one of the greatest opportunities for a mission trip. There is nothing like living and breathing and sharing personal space with people that leaves nothing unknown. The girls in our dorm were consistently up early…EARLY with singing and sermon practicing and showering and clothes washing. There were some great moments of “Mukua” whisperings about why we don’t shower all the time and why we’re so crazy…but by the end, we left everyone with huge hugs and requests for remembrances and lots of photos.

Working alongside the Scripture Union team has been most wonderful! We are looking forward to spending some chill time with them tomorrow after working so hard all week and being in charge of so many youth.

I think each of us has had amazing conversations with the girls at camp that we’ve prayed with and ministered to, and we would greatly appreciate your prayers for the youth. So many of them have made huge decisions in their lives to leave the sin they are caught in and have rededicated themselves to God, and as they move into their home environments, those temptations and friends will be calling them back, so please be praying that God surrounds and keeps them strong. We talked all week about keeping ourselves pure and not having sex before marriage and dating and all, and have encouraged them to put on the amour of God and stand firm and to take today as a new and fresh start.

Thank you so much for your love and support. I know that each of us have felt tired and overwhelmed at times this week, but knowing we are being surrounded in prayer has been such an inspiration and encouragement!
[Kristen]
Love always,
The Z-Team Sisters

We are HERE!!!

Dearest Family and Friends!!!

We have arrived all safe and sound!!! We were at the Toronto Airport at 2:30am to catch our 6:00am flight from Toronto to Washington DC. We made some super great stops...first in Rome in the middle of the night, so we saw lots of lights...and then in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia for about 2 hours where we swtiched planes. Then we flew to Malawi and finally ended up in Lusaka, Zambia. We stayed the night in Lusaka and were on the bus to Mongu in the morning. We woke up with no electricity and did ok for getting ready in the dark, were on the bus by 7:30am and left the station at 9:00. Two hours of our trip were through a game park and we saw some version of antelope..a few baboons..some super cool cranes and birds...apparently there was an elephant, but only Sarah was the lucky one to see it....and LOTS of warthogs. So we arrived herein Mongu about 5:00 and Dorothy took us to her lovely home overlooking the floodplanes...where we are SURE to catch some gorgeous sunsets.

So that's the bareboness...some fun moments.....

Trying to take off in Addis Ababa and had to turn around and try again because there were too many birds onthe runway...we had to wait for the "fire squad" to get rid of them.... the best part--it happened again in Malawi. WHO KNEW!!!!!

Sandy jumping out of the bus when we were all getting off to "save" Laura from a very welcoming [drunk] man who was very exciting to welcome us to Mongu

Buying fake hair...which will soon be braided into all our own hair and make it nice and think and pretty:D haha..

The tire burning on the bus....it got changed....

Ants in Jenelles pants..hehehe.....and our entire room. lol

Walking through the market today and experiencing life in Zambia...all the beautiful people and colorful materials and goods...

As for our schedule for the month..it is pretty much as planned. We are heading out to a village tomorrow afternoon until Thursday morning to visit and live village life and see an orphanage. Then we get ready for camp and Friday afternoon we head out to camp for the week. So a heads up: we won't have internet all next week while we're at camp :S Sorry!!!!! But we'll have loads of fun and will fill you all in when we get back to town...

Thanks so much for all your love and prayers!!! We are all doing so well and no sickness yet, of which we are most grateful.Travel has been long but smooth going and safe! So we will keep you updated as we can. We love you all and slightly miss you[LA]

God be with you all!!!!!! Love your ZTEAM sisters.

"Calendar" of Events

So the beautiful calendar Sandy sent us is not going to LOOK like a calendar right here, but if you scroll to the bottom of the blog page, you will be able to see it in REAL calendar form :D

Tyndale Zambia Team -July 25 to August 24, 2008

July 25 - 6 am. Depart Toronto
July 26 - 2 pm-Arrive Lusaka. Orientation
July 27 - Bus to Mongu
July 28 - w/ Dorothy & Per Educators. Rest & grocery shopping
July 29 - Camp Preparations
- Pray for the last minute details
July 30 - Camp Prep
- Pray for both teams (SU & Tyndale) as we get to know each other
July 31 - Camp Preparations
August 1 - Travel to Sefula – set up for Camp 
August 2 - Scripture Union Camp starts
- Pray for the students participating
August 3 - SU Camp
August 4 - SU Camp
- Pray for good opportunities to share with the students
August 5 - SU Camp
August 6 - SU Camp
- Pray for stamina! Conferences can be late nights/early mornings
August 7 - SU Camp
August 8 - SU Camp
August 9 - SU Camp ends. Return to Mongu Relax
August 10 - Church @ Kanyonyo. Participate with Youth program
August 11 - Community VBS
- Pray for this outreach to kids in various locations this week
August 12 - Community VBS
August 13 - Community VBS
- Pray for this outreach to kids in various locations this week
August 14 - Community VBS
August 15 - Community VBS
- Pray for this outreach to kids in various locations this week
August 16
August 17 - Church @ Katongo. Participate with Youth program
August 18 - Goodbyes. Bus to Livingstone
August 19 - Arrive @ Livingstone
August 20 - Vic Falls
August 21 - Vic Falls
August 22 - Bus to Lusaka @ Chamba Valley/SIM Office
August 23 - AM - Debrief. 3:10 pm – Depart Lusaka
August 24 - 2 pm–Arrive Toronto


Thank you for praying for us!
Sandy, Laura-Ashleigh, Kristen, Christelle, Jenelle & Sarah

Flight Info

For those of you interested in knowing how we are getting so far away....

We are to be at Terminal 1 in the Toronto Airport for 2:30am Friday morning. We fly out at 6:09am on United Airlines to Washington DC where we have a short layover. At 10:05am we fly Ethiopian Airlines to Ethiopia (and we touch down in ROME!!!!!!!). From there we fly at 9:30am to Lusaka and should arrive around 2:10pm on Saturday, Zambian time.

Travel prayers would be MUCH appreciated:
-Our families who are letting us go with God
-For the pilots and crew
-Safety and smoothness in our fast transfers
-Sickness...or rather...maybe NO sickness ;)
-Luggage to be in the same place we are...
-That no matter what, God will be honored and glorified

Going Live with our Updates!

Dearest Family and Friends and Fellow blog-readers,

Upon discussion of how best to be communicating with so many folk back home, we decided that a blog would be a super way for you all who are interested to keep up with our activities and prayer requests, so this blog is for YOU!!!!

First of all we would like to thank you all SOO much for embarking on this journey with us! We head out in only a matter of a few days now, and it is just so amazing to see and witness the love and grace God has shown us in preparing us to go. We had our last team meeting yesterday and as we prayed there was just such a strong sense of God's holy and calming presence. He has brought in an abundance of prayer and financial support and we thank you so much for allowing God to work it in your hearts to be our supporters!

It is our current plan to update this blog as often as we can so you are up-to-date about where we're at, but we fully realize things may change and we may not be able to do so as often as we'd like. SO: Sandy has come up with the most fantasical calendar of our planned events which will be posted as soon as I figure out how to do so. lol. That way, if in doubt, assume that what's on the calendar is most likely happening, even though we realize that it may be something totally different...all I know is that when it comes to prayer, God hears regardless of which plans may be in the works:)

Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts once again! May God bless you and keep you. May He be with you and within you all.

Love in Christ,
your Z-Team sisters

11 MORE SLEEPS!!!

So we are on our way in only 11 MORE SLEEPS!!! [...based on the fact that we WILL be sleeping before we go :)...] yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Sandy updated us on the most current itinerary for our time in Zambia!
Team Itinerary:
1 Arrive Lusaka, July 26, 2008
2 Kaingo Lodge-July 26th
3 Depart for Mongu by bus July 27th
4 Mongu: July 27th to Aug 18th
-at SU Camp: Aug 1st to 8th
-in the field w/ Peer Educators
-resident at Wiebe/Weiandt premises(ECZ)
5 Mongu to Lvst, Aug 19th
6 Lvst: Aug 19th to 22nd
7 Lvst to Lusaka Aug 22nd
8 Depart Lusaka Int'l Airport Aug 23rd

Love and hugs. Kristen

Oh Hey!

So I'm sitting in class right now. I have become the most borning of hermits. Friends come over and I sit in my 'hole' and write my papers and read my books...or just nap. But in a matter of three or four weeks it will all be over, so I've submitted myself to the routine of early mornings, late nights, and naps in between if I can.

All things considered though, I LOVE it. It's so crazy to be in class with 30 other people who are so much like me. From how we want to help people to our personalities, it's pretty weird if I actually think about it...my profs are great. Some are more exciting than others. Some are just too nice. Some are just crazy, lol, but a really great learning environment overall. I'll be out in the next few weeks walking the streets looking for a placement for September, which is both exciting and scary. I feel a lot of pressure to get the 'right' placement so I'll get the learning and work experience I need, but I keep reminding myself not to stress about it because God already knows where I'll be: I just need to find it.

So my summer until we leave (58 more sleeps!!!) consists of school till June 16 or 17 depending when our last test is. lol. No exams here :D ...then I'm off to camp up north for a week. ..and somewhere in between that I have weddings 2 and 3. Then the night before we leave is wedding 4...I miss weddings 5 and 6 because that's when we're away, and as of September 2 I begin placement and school for the rest of the year. lol. So this summer is nothing short of fun and exciting, one thing at a time.

Hope you all are doing well. Excited to see you all on Saturday again!!! God bless ya'll, sisters :D

Love Kristen

Update :)

Hey Zambia Team!

I just checked out the blog that Kristen set up and it is so pretty. However, I can’t figure it out! So I decided to give you all an update through facebook and then maybe Kristen can show me how to work the blog thing next weekend when we all meet.

[here you go LA!! :D]

Well let me start off by saying, I LOVE summer :) I moved out of my dorm room on the Wednesday after our mission’s team training. The following weekend I went as a leader on a youth retreat about an hour north of Kingston. It was an amazing weekend full of worship, prayer, food, games and sleepless nights. This past week both of my parents have been sick with some sort of virus and I have been taking care of my younger sisters and keeping the house in some kind of orderly state. I have also been able to spend some time with friends, which has been wonderful.

I will be working for my home Church this summer. For the past couple of years the Alliance and Baptist Church have partnered up and run sports camps throughout the summer months for kids. I will be working alongside Jesse James (for those of you who don’t know him he is a student from Tyndale). I will primarily be involved in all of the registration and pre-planning for the camps as I will only be able to attend one of the camps before our trip to Africa.

This job was such an answer to prayer! It fills the amount of time I needed to work before our trip and I am able to work with one of my friends. I hope you have all had a good couple of weeks and when you get some time give us an update on your life! Looking forward to hearing from each of you.

God Bless,

Laura-Ashleigh :)

Open for Buisness

Hey my pretty mission team ladies!
We're up and running so feel free to start posting and make whatever kinds of changes to the blog you would like!
Hope you all have a very blessed Easter weekend with your families.
Love,
Kristen