Stranded.....

Well - with a title like stranded it would seem like a trial, but we have to praise God. As you can see, we have been driving quite a bit on our journey... Out to a farm daily for the fish farm project, on a safari, returning the team to Lusaka and back, and out to the bush to view the property, as well as here and there in Ndola. All the while with an annoying squeal in the drivers side wheel. Before we left for Ndola we took it to the shop and they said it was an alignment issue. Yes - after the alignment it ran better, but still it was crying to us. Sunday afternoon while I (Bonnie) was driving of course, I felt a klunk. I stopped the car and the wheel was no longer straight, but angled out like a newborn colts legs or a giraffe trying to drink water. We ( pastor Francis, two YWAM missionaries, Charles, Matt & Myself) literally picked up the back of the truck and turned it 90deg to go up a street, and then again to turn into a driveway because God was sure to let us break down 5 houses down from a friend of Pastor Francis with a locked area to store the car. James, one of the YWAM missionaries had just preached about Davids mighty men having the power to do feats only because of the power of God... we were able to test that in action.

Today we went to the rental office and they gave us a "saloon car", suitable for in town use only. (very nice by the way), and went with us to look at the car. They found that the "wishbone" actually broke in half, so they are still working on it and hopefully we will be able to pick it up tomorrow. We can only praise God that it broke in a location where we could store it, less than a few miles to walk home, and the rental company would tow it and we didn't have to pay for a tow. It is truely a huge blessing... I'm sure the rest of the team can truely understand what an ordeal it would have been if it broke at the farm...

Anyway --- on to bigger and much much better things..... Sunday was a baptism at the "river jordan", actually the river Kafubu, but it is affectionately called the river Jordan. Several of the young adults were baptised including Charles, Mupe, Delnard, Efraim, Nswana!!! It was really awesome to be there for such an important day in thier life. I have video for Mark and Michelle and Debbie because I know you will want to see it!!!!

Please pray for our poor sick truck!!! Thanks so much... Hopefully we will be on the road to the EAST tomorrow!!!

love you all! Matt & Bonnie

The Longest Road Ever!!!

We are resting today after a marathon journey to visit the Chief Machia (spelling?) at his palace and view the land. The road there was over 120km of dirt road. Let me define a Zambian dirt road... red dirt, pot holes, rocks, ruts, and dust dust dust... The road is large enough to make the map, but it was so rough that our max speed was 40km/hr (about 20mph) I know what it feels like to be put in a washing machine on the max cycle... There are several protocols to follow when visiting a chief. One is to keep your head lower than his. Since he was about 5' tall, this was difficult for me, so I was practically sitting instead of standing..All in all it was an experience and we really enjoyed our camp out and fellowship with Pastor Francis and Felix.

The land looked very promising, but the journey there is long and expensive to transport goods to. We are praying what God wants out of this opportunity. The chief asked for an answer within a month, so please be praying with us, and communicate any thoughts, questions, or prayers! Thanks!

Tomorrow at church we are having a baptism. It is very exciting because they only do it twice a year here. We will get to take part and see many of the new Christians be baptized. Also, a new bible college is opening in Lusaka and Livingstone, so two missionaries have come to do an intensive bible study course this week and we were able to meet them, and they will preach tomorrow, and let people know about the program.

Finally, we were able to build a few of the FAST (Faith and Sustainable Technology) Kenya Spirit Burner stoves. We met Travis Hughley before we left, and brought the stove manual here. The people primarily use a charcoal stove inside their house and suffer from Respiratory Illnesses from breathing all the smoke day in and night. The spirit burner is made from 2 cans, some cotton, and simple tools and will burn methylated spirits which appear to be cheaper and are definitely cleaner than charcoal. We are experimenting to find the best cans locally to use and have presented the idea to the pastor here in Mapalo and Lusaka. Hopefully, some people will learn to make and use them here. The stove burns about 15 minutes, but their staple food takes approx 1 hour. This would require more than one stove, but we are going to try to make one that would burn longer.

We are planning to leave Monday, and head East. please pray as we will not have a guide, or a definite place to stay. We have two hospitals to visit and hope to find a guest house nearby. There is not a www.holidayinn.com in these kinds of places, but God has the ultimate plans, so we will trust Him!!

We give a shout out to the rest of the team safely back in Virginia with their luggage .. praise God. Thanks for the post Mark!!!!

We love you all and miss you, God Bless!! Matt & Bonnie

Homeward Bound

Hello all!!! The internet has been down, so I hope this posts in time... We had a bittersweet send off for Debbie, Mark, and Michelle yesterday. They will arrive in Norfolk on August 16th at 9:56am (United Airlines 7716 from DC). If you can make it, I'm sure they would love to see you! Bring Debbie a Starbucks!!

We leave in a few minutes to travel to a chief in the West who would like to build a game reserve. Seeds of Hope have been working with him in the past and it is a great opportunity for another church plant similar to the one we launched last Friday. We will see what God has planned for this opportunity. We are praying for discernment!

We miss you all and love you very much! Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

love,
Matt & Bonnie

God is Faithful!!!!!

Wow is all I can say!!! Someone prophesied when we left that the demons were trembling because of this trip, and I have to say we have witnessed it!!!

Thursday we had the women's conference. I taught about faith building by remembering what God has done. We used bible stories as examples and asked them women to share their testimonies and use them to minister to each other. Debbie continued with a teaching on Gods promises and how they build your faith. She felt led to pray for an infilling of the Holy Spirit and we (Debbie, Pastor Flavia, and I) were able to pray for 25 women to receive the Holy Spirit. There was a lot of demonic release but God prevailed, and as the Holy Spirit came with power almost all the women were slain in the spirit. It was so powerful and awesome to witness. We are so grateful to God to be able to participate in such an incredible conference.

Friday we had our huge evangelistic campaign at the "farm". A group of villages led by a chief who has donated land to Mpalo Vineyard. Michelle and the Mpalo team including the phenomenal worship team held a VBS, Dr. Betu, Pastor Flavia, and I ran a medical clinic for almost 100 people, we fed over 450 people, and the men discussed the fish farm with the village elders.

• Update on the fish farm.....During the week Matt and Mark with a team of workers, found a year round water source, cleared out the spring to ensure the volume of water, chose a site for the fish farm, began digging, built the chicken coop, and set up all the tents for the outreach. The fish farm will use the chicken poop for fish food and the chickens will eat the termites found all over the area. The only cost to maintain will be for antibiotics for the chickens. Once the fish are plentiful, this will be offset by sales. This is a great project, and the village is very excited.

The night was capped off with a viewing of the Jesus movie by Campus Crusade in the local language. Pastor Francis had an alter call and over 100 people gave their lives to Christ. They will establish a church there and the Mpalo and Virginia Beach team were so excited to minster and pray for all those who accepted Christ. God showed up mightily and it was a night we will never forget. As we left the village we sang praise together while driving the 12KM dirt road at 5mph over bumps, ravines, anthills, bush and more. The ride took over an hour and we were still ecstatic when we arrived at our house.

Saturday we had another medical clinic at the Mpalo clinic. The local nurses assisted while we ministered to over 100 people. Michelle had a small vBS with activities for the children while they were waiting. There were many, many patients with malaria and HIV. Pastor Feruka and the team transported the critical cases to the hospital for treatment. It was a good day for the church and their future goal to establish a medical clinic at the new training center currently being built.

Tomorrow we will worship together and praise God for such a powerful week and relax in the afternoon with Pastor Feruka and his family. Thank you for your prayers and support! All the things accomplished here are riches in heaven for your account. We love you...Praise the Lord!!!!

Bonnie, Matt, Debbie, Mark, & Michelle

VBS Bonanza!!!

Thank you for your prayers... Michelle's VBS training went great yesterday and the team of 6 successfully carried out an all day VBS today with no less than 250 children!!!!!! It was a fabulous day and the kids were able to participate in stories, teaching, skits, worship, face painting (they loved a lot...), making a witness bead bracelet, tug of war, and a new playground sent from California that was put out today. We broke bread together with a traditional African meal cooked by the women of the church over the fire and charcoal stoves. The kids were very excited and happy. Tomorrow we pick up more supplies, and meet for the medical clinic, pray for God to provide volunteers to assist with the clinic. It is not customary for people to volunteer who are not members of the church, but we do not have enough licenced personnel within the church to meet the need. Without the volunteers we will have to serve less people.
Thursday is the women's conference, and Friday the evangelism outreach to plant the new church. We will be teaching the women on faith building and Wimber's 5-step prayer model. Please pray the women open up and really build stronger relationships with God and each other. Also Friday is a big day. The chief of the village is coming and there should be hundreds of people. They are building a latrine and a hut for the clinic, as well as the fish farm. They found a spring today and began digging. We claim the area in the name of Jesus....

Thank you for your support and prayers we love you and miss you all....

Bonnie, Matt, Debbie, Michelle, & Mark

Shopright!!!

Hello! Today we learned how to shop at the local grocery... It was an interesting experience and since the Kwacha is approx 4000 to every US dollar, your bill can be in the hundred thousands very quick...

We had several meetings today to plan the rest of the week. We met with the doctor, the local farmers, and with Pastor Francis and developed our strategy for the week. You can pray for each day... The leader of each project is listed, and group means each of us is heading a different area of the group project!
Sunday - church at Mpalo Vineyard - Matt is preaching, and team in ministry!
Monday -fish farm (Matt & Mark) & Vacation Bible School leader instruction (Michelle Morrin)
Tuesday - fish farm & Vacation Bible School for 200 children at Mpalo Vineyard (group)
Wednesday - fish farm & meetings with local department of health for clinic (Bonnie)
Thursday - fish farm & Women's Ministry Conference for 40 women (Debbie & Bonnie)
Friday - Outreach at the fish farm... Free medical clinic, Vacation Bible School, Community meal, Jesus Film shown in Bembe, and Ministry time... Church plant will be created from this outreach targeting 200+ people (group)
Saturday - Outreach at local health department - free medical clinic, small VBS activities, and ministry targeting 200 + people (group)
Sunday - church at Mpalo Vineyard (group)

Thank you for your prayers!!!!

Love -

Matt, Bonnie, Debbie, Mark, & Michelle

Whew!!!!

Hello all and Praise to our Father who guides and directs our paths!!! The good news is that we are here at SHIP, we have a good vehicle that runs, ALL our luggage is here, and we are all healthy.... How the day went is another story, but your prayers and persistance were effective. The enemy put several snares in our path, but God was in control. Now it is 10pm and we are getting ready to enjoy a spaghetti dinner cooked by the great Debbie Worells and we are so joyful!!!

Tomorrow we will begin our day a little behind, but eager to begin our projects. Thank you for your prayers and support - we would not have survived the last two days without them...

We love you and will write more tomorrow!!!

God Bless - Matt, Bonnie, Debbie, Mark, and Michelle

Good Morning All!!! It is that day and we are preparing to go to the airport! Medications, Pump supplies, books, children's ministry supplies, tractor operation manuals and more all arrived and we have made the weight limit according to Matt's handy bow scale!! Hopefully calibrated as good as the airport scales which could be off themselves!!

God Bless us all on our journey and thank you for your prayers. Words have been given regarding a great battle and great gain for God's kingdom on earth, so please keep praying for us, our unity, our discernment, and our ability to see God's leading for our journey... We hope to help Pastor Francis plant a church and need your prayers to prepare the way.

Today's scripture is Is. 40, please read and pray how God shows you related to these verses.

I will try to post again when we arrive in Lusaka on the 2nd! God Bless!!

Welcome

Hello! This blog has been created so all of you we love in America can follow us on our trip to Zambia Africa. It is Saturday, July 28th and we are meeting today to pack our supplies. Pray for us and our journey next week!

love and God's blessings - - Matt, Bonnie, Mark, Michelle, Debbie