Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Next Adventure: Zambia here we come!



That we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine

Romans 1:12

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the LORD. 

Romans 12:10-11


Once again it is a joy to travel to a CURE International hospital for the purpose of encouraging the staff through building relationships, offering training and shoulder to shoulder service.  As much as we desire to be a blessing on a mission journey,  we are often the recipients of God's blessings. Obedience always reaps blessings of some sort......often the blessing is a deeper joy and knowledge of our Great God and Savior. Other blessings include; viewing God's beautiful African creation and meeting brothers and sisters in Christ who share our love for the LORD and His kingdom.

As you can see from the picture, this voyage I will be traveling with Angela and her son Michael. What a blessing! So the 'we' in the previous paragraph is not a 'royal' one.  Angela is a gifted artist and art teacher from Trinity Christian Academy. This is the school that Mark, Anne and Marie attended when we moved to Kentucky nearly 20 years ago. Michael is a super and talented young man. I will love Angela and Michael as travel buddies!

We have different skills and responsibilities to share with the staff at Beit-CURE Hospital in Lusaka and Mukinge Hospital near Kasempa. We will be visiting Lynn Hacker, a nurse that our church Tates Creek Presbyterian supports. We hope to be a special encouragement to her too! (Yes, we are bringing her chocolate!)

Angela, Michael and I put our heads, hearts and hands together to share with you our prayer requests. Angela, who is obviously more talented in this regard organized a sweet prayer card that can be used also as a bookmark! But for those of you who are not within my reach I will put the highlights in this blog.

Angela and Michael are going to have a blog at:  zambia5senses.blogspot.com

If I am too busy with nursing duties, you may have to find out what I am doing via their blog! Those of you who follow me, know that I find it hard to sit down and write sometimes.

Please remember us in your prayers. Prayer is the real work because as we pray we align our hearts with God's kingdom purposes and work. May all we say and do bring honor and glory to the LORD!

Christlike compassion

Understanding of the cultures

Righteousness

Excellence


Zeal for the LORD

Attitude that is in Christ Jesus

Mindful of others' needs

Believe in His guidance and purposes

Insight and understanding

All to His glory

Those of you who have been praying for these journey since I began visiting CURE hospitals in 2004 know how to pray for health (no malaria, good energy, no stomach issues) and travel ( connections that work, luggage arrive intact with us, no visa issues etc) Please pray for graciousness and peace when things do not go as expected. Since I am not as young as I was in 2004, please pray that I will have stamina to keep up! Thank you dear ones who pray for these things!!

**It will be such a joy to have Angela and Michael along as I am not a photographer. Perhaps this trip will have some quality pictures that will be worth a thousand words!!