Rawries and Rovers

After a great day in Livingstone and Victoria Falls, we had an early 6 am wake up call to head out on Safari in Chobe National Park. With nothing but a backpack we all went on our way to the Zambia-Botswana border. After crossing the border on boat, and getting our passports stamped we met our guides who took us on our way. We started safari on a boat tour and saw many animals like Cape buffalo, elephants, crocodiles, water buck, and birds galore. After 3 hours on the water we took a break for lunch at a nice resort. At our seats for lunch we could watch a baboon shake trees for fruit and warthogs skim the ground. It was a great morning and really got us excited to see more Jesus animals in the wild.

Post lunch we quickly went to our vehicles and proceeded to enter the park in Botswana after going through customs. We had been in the park less than two hours and had already seen a plethora of animals. Hippos, giraffes, elephants, lions, water buffalos, leapords and worthogs were some of the most amazing animal sightings. At one point we had 50 elephants cross in front of our jeep, a leopard in a tree, with a big male lion right at the bottom of the tree after he had stolen the leopards Impala kill. There were so many animals doing so many different things in a short period of time it almost forced you to choose what you wanted to watch! After driving and pausing to stop whenever we saw animals we made it to our camp in the bush around 630. There we ate dinner and talked about our highs and lows from our trip thus far. It was great to look at all that had happend in a few short days. Then we went to bed to the sound of lions and baboons in the distance. We even had a honey badger and baboon scurry between tents in the camp at separate points in the night! What an awesome cap to a great day in Gods creation to be able to spend the night amidst all the sights, smells 🙂 and sounds of the African bush!

From Africa,

Drew and Luke

Victoria Falls

Hello All!

Sorry for the delay, we lost internet connection and then left for the states. We are now home!

But we wanted to give you an update on our day at Victoria Falls.

We left Macha early in the morning and headed for Livingston. It was sad to leave the Thumas behind but we were excited to see the beauty of  Gods creation. After a 3.5hr drive to Livingstone we checked into our hostel and headed to the falls. It is such a beautiful place. We were able to go swimming in the pools on top of the falls since it is the dry season the falls were much smaller. We had so much fun swimming around. We then went to the other side to get a full view of it. It was gorgeous!

Afterwards we went to the market and bartered for some souvenirs, followed by a great Italian dinner.

The day at the falls was special and I feel so blessed to have gotten to see one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Our God is so good,

Claire

 

 

Final Day in Macha

It’s hard to believe we’re wrapping up our final day in Macha.  We started the morning like usual – breakfast at the Thuma’s, followed by our morning sports camp.  It was an enjoyable walk to the field as several kids were waiting for us along the way and when we got to the soccer field, there were even more ready to play with us.

We broke into our three groups again and lead stations for soccer, wiffle ball, and lacrosse.  It was fun to see the kids really enjoy the new games and the group did a great job cheering everyone on.  Lots of hugs and smiles today as the kids knew that today was our last morning with them.

To wrap up the morning, all 13 of us joined together on a team to play a soccer game against a team put forward by the Zambian kids.  It was a hard fought battle, learning how to read the bounce of the ball off the dirt and playing through wind and dust.  Thanks to 2 goals by Danny, 1 goal by Luke, and an unfortunate own-goal from the Zambian team, we came out on top 4-2.

After a lunch break, we got to go on a tour to the Macha Missions Hospital. It was so interesting to learn all about what Eric’s grandfather Alvin Thuma started and to see how it has grown. The tour really opened our group’s eyes to the healthcare system in Zambia and the malaria research taking place in Macha.

Next we got to take a trip to the Macha market for slingshots and cold colas. Even with just a five minute walk to the market, we had some kids following us, grabbing our hands, and looking for smiles and high fives.

During the afternoon session, everyone got to do their own thing. It was awesome to see everyone doing things they loved and the kids enjoying it as much as they did. There was disc golf, soccer, volleyball, board games, and more soccer. At the end of the session, we handed out candy to a crazy mob of kids trying to hide their first lollipop so they could get a second. We also took lots of pictures with our friends who we will miss dearly. After the kids left, our team got to play our favorite game, a competitive game of volleyball.

It was a great way to end our time in Macha.  Tomorrow morning we head out to Livingstone to spend some time at Victoria Falls.

Sydney & Caroline

 

Sabbath Sunday

It’s Sunday in Zambia, so after eating an incredible pan of cinnamon rolls that Corie Thuma made us for breakfast, we were off to church. After a ten minute walk down a dirt path, we arrived at the historic Macha Brethren in Christ Church. Founded by two female BIC missionaries in 1906, it’s the first church in the area. It now serves a large congregation of about 400 and has planted many other churches throughout the region. It was such a blessing to experience the global church and worship with our family on the other side of the world. When we signed the church guest book, we saw countless signatures from Messiah College friends who have visited Macha BIC throughout the years.

In the afternoon, we attended a village soccer game. The Push the Rock staff plays in a local league, and Danny got to guest play for the team. We hung out with all the fans and played with the kids on the sidelines. Chad and a few kids spent the whole game watching from up in a tree. Everyone had a great time and Push the Rock won 2-0.

In the evening, we built a little camp fire outside the Thuma’s house and sat around it eating the S’mores we brought with us to share. We talked about our highlights of the day (aka our rose) as their cat “boots” would periodically rub up against somebody’s leg and scare them half to death. We spent time praying together around the fire under the African stars. It was a good day.

Danny and Lisa Thompson

Hakopa Village Visit Saturday

Hey everybody!!

Today started out a little differently then the rest of the other days. After a wonderful breakfast over at the Thuma’s, we packed into two trucks and headed out to Hakopa, a village about 13 miles away. Hakopa looks a little different then the base here in Macha. It is much more “in the bush”, and because of this, we had to drive through narrow  dirt back roads filled with potholes which made the trek to and from an hour long. When we arrived at the village, we went to their Brethren in Christ Church where about 100 kids and 20 older members were gathered waiting for our arrival.

After a brief message given by their pastor, the individuals were split up into 4 groups and cycled through 4 different activities: soccer, jump rope, lacrosse and wiffle-ball. One of the groups consisted of middle-aged women who carried infants on their back with various cloths to hold them up. You would never guess that however, when they would come up to bat or get involved with the jump roping. Their child was just along for the ride. After the sports and activities, our group and the community headed down to their hand dug well where we demonstrated how to use the Sawyer water filters. Showing the families the brown water turning into clear, clean water was amazing because they were so happy to have some pure water to drink.

Following the water demonstration, we headed back to their community center for lunch. Little did we know, when we first arrived and saw the chickens and goat tied up, that they would turn into our lunch. The women had been cooking all morning to prepare this awesome, authentic meal for us. Although it was scary to try at first, the meal they prepared was very good. Along with the goat, we had nshima (mashed maize, something they have with every meal) and some type of green leafy vegetable. We expressed our gratitude for their amazing hospitality, and then piled back into the trucks to head back to Macha.

Thanks so much for your support,

Alex Reinhard and Emily Quatrale.

ps. hey ma, im alive, see you soon. -em

 

Fantastic Friday Part 2

Hey everyone this is Zach Luman. Today, one of my main highlights was visiting the Macha hospital and volunteering my time with the children’s unit. Most of these kids seemed to be recovering from surgery or burn wounds. It was very difficult with the language barrier, but simply spending time with the kids and helping them with activities such as puzzles, coloring, or bouncing balls with them made their smiles light up. I could see the joy in their eyes and it was such a humbling experience. We couldn’t even communicate, but simply loving them was all the communication we needed. God was definitely present as always in this moment.

The other highlight of my day was sharing a small testimony of my life to the children in the afternoon at the rec center. I planned absolutely nothing and just let Jesus take over and my story seemed to come out perfect to them. Zambia is challenging me to step out of my comfort zone and be more courageous in my walk with God. The main thing that stood out to me the most today was that while we couldn’t communicate with some of the children, they always want to high five you and their smiles could light up the world. It’s incredible to see God moving in these children’s lives and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for the rest of the trip. I love our team and everyone we have talked to. Tomorrow we are going to another village and helping filter water, so that should be an amazing day! To everyone back home, thank you for continuing to pray for us. You’re the best!

Love, Luman

“Fantastic Friday”

Today began with a tour of the new disk-golf course and the soccer field that is being built. Both were located near the malaria research center. While the soccer field was still being built, it is looking promising that, with a good rainy season, the field will soon be ready for games. After that, we made our way to the main field. We played some of the same games with the kids, and taught them some new games. While that was going on, four of us traveled to the nearby hospital and played with recovering children. The language barrier made it difficult to fully play with them, but their smiles made it all worth the struggle.

In the afternoon, we collected at the rec center to watch some children perform a dance routine. After that, we broke up into stations of gaga, an obstacle course, capture the flag, and shark and minnows/red-light green-light. Following the game, Zach Luman and Jon Mullin gave testimonies to the children, who were then dismissed. Immediately after that, there was a full-out team Zambia volleyball game. The gang then went back to the dorms, showered, and ate dinner. After dinner came “game night”, full of brownies, card games, and pool. It was another successful day of sharing God’s love.

Jon Mullin.

Day 1: ZAMMMBIAAA!

Howdy!

After waking up in our little dormitory we headed over to the Thuma’s house for breakfast and fellowship. Following breakfast Eric Thuma lead our group through Macha to the soccer field where we prepared for our first day of camp. At first we had 3 or 4 kids but after 30 minutes or so we had upwards of 25. The kids were everywhere and getting into everything we brought! Lacrosse, soccer and baseball all ensued in a form of organized chaos over the next couple hours.

One of my favorite moments was watching the older group of guys (14-18) get into lacrosse. We set up a mini half field game and let them go for it! The ball was on the ground 99 percent of the time and they only played with one hand on their stick…but needless to say it looked like they had an awesome time. Their eyes got so wide when I explained to them that you could “check” the ball from other players to dislodge it. What a fantastic experience to share the game I love with people so apt to learn it!

After this we had a full field soccer game and then brought it in together so Danny and I (Luke) could share our testimonies through a translator. We shared stories from our past and how God has changed our lives through the particular sports we played growing up and the trials that came along with them. It was a great time being able to simply share the love that Jesus has to give each and every person there!

Here Chad will take over for the second half of our day…

After our morning session we returned to the rec center near the Thuma’s for a traditional Zambia meal consisting of Nshima (ground maize), rice, and plenty of different garnishes.  When we finished lunch we had some free time, so some of us went back to the dorm to relax and try to catch some lizards… which was pretty unsuccessful.  As 3’oclock arrived we returned to the rec center to spend more time playing games with the kids.

We started by having a volleyball match with a couple of the PTR staff and then dispersed among the kids; frisbee golf, soccer, ping pong, and puzzles were some of the activities.  Near the end of the session Danny pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to go talk to the fire people with him (the fire people are families who camp outside the hospital in Macha either waiting to give birth or waiting for a family member to get released from the hospital).  This was definitely the highlight of my day!  We walked around saying hello and trying to talk to random people as we went, which we soon discovered was harder than we thought, since very few people speak English.  Most of our conversations consisted of being talked to in Tonga/ being laugh at while we just repeated our names, and even though they were laughing at us it brought us so much joy to see these people smiling and having a good time in their current situations.

We met two people who spoke English, the first was a younger girl who was staying with her family on maternity.  She gave us a hard time about not knowing the language but was still very nice and welcoming.  The second person we ran into was a man name Mwehee (my best attempt at spelling it) who was walking with an older man named Thomas, both of who were blind in one eye.  We talked with them for a little and asked about their eyes, if they could see or not, how their health was and so on.  Upon Danny’s asking we prayed with them and asked God to heal them of their ailments.  After we prayed they said they experienced a bit of improvement, so we were happy to be able to help them in a small way.

By this time dinner was almost ready, so we return to the Thuma’s for a meal and unwound by watching the olympics and sharing funny stories from home.  We closed our day with a debrief back in the dorms and everyone shared their high points from the day, which is always encouraging.  The night concluded for some by reading/journaling in their rooms and for the rest of us around the table in the kitchen talking, joking, and having a good time talking about who knows what.  For being the first day, the bar has been set pretty high.  We are excited to see how God will continue to move throughout the rest of the trip!

With love from Macha,

Luke and Chad

Arrival Day

After a long 36 hours of travel we finally made it to the beautiful village of Macha and we could not be more excited to have gotten here safely! After arriving we had some time to settle in and unpack a bit. The Tuma’s made a delicious dinner for us that we all devoured after so much travel. We are so grateful for the Tuma’s and their willingness to open their home to us while we are here. The work here they are doing is so pleasing to the Lord! From their smiling faces, to the amazing food Corey cooks for us, we are so grateful for them.

After dinner we headed back to our dorms and had a quick debrief. Although we were all exhausted, it was a special time to here everyone’s first impressions of Macha, and share our excitement we have for the coming week. Surprisingly, we ended up staying up and playing card games, and spending quality time together. We are so grateful for the time we had to laugh and had fun before beginning the clinics for Push The Rock. Once our heads hit the pillow we were out and we all slept like rocks.

We are so thankful to be working with these amazing athletes who love Jesus. This is a special group of people and we would not want to share my time in Macha with anyone else. Thank you for your prayers and we ask that you continue to pray for us. For safety, for strength, joy, and unity among our team. God is with us and we are so excited to see what He will do.

Much Love,

Claire & Drew

 

 

Travel Day

Apologies for the late blog posts. Internet was down in Macha and we were busy serving the Lord, but we have arrived safely and everyone reading this blog can stop worrying. : )

After a 2 hour drive to Dulles, a 45 minute flight from Dulles to JFK, sharing our testimonies during a 3 hour lay over, a 14 hour flight from JFK to Johannesburg (I still don’t know how that happened), a 2 hour flight from Johannesburg to Livingston, and a 3.5 hour drive to Macha, we finally arrived at our final destination. Our total travel time was an estimated 36 hours. We are so thankful for safe flights and smooth traveling. Thankful that none of our bags got lost on the way to Livingston. Thankful for the smiling faces of Push The Rock Zambia for picking us up at the airport, hosting us, feeding us, and so much more. We are also thankful to be to serve the Lord through sports ministry and share His amazing love with everyone we encounter over the next week.

We have been planning and preparing for this trip for quite some time. However, it’s time to let go of our own agendas, and trust in the plan that God has for us this week. We are so excited for what God has in store.

-Sydney