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