Greetings!

Sitting here in the local shopping center "Arcades" internet cafe and reflecting on how incredibly faithful and Joyful our God is!

Our team has built some incredible unity in only this past 7 days time...it's amazing to me that you can feel like you've lived almost a years worth of experiences in such a short time.

We are still adapting and adjusting to the fact that we are in an incredibly new and different culture, from food, faces, interests and time changes. Last night was a really cool break through with the members of the local DTS who are living on the YWAM base we're staying on. Pauline is a beautiful woman who lives on base and is in charge of the Friday night program, she insisted on throwing a formal dinner and talent show where we the American team or better known as "Muzungoo's" could share some of our culture. What better way to do that, then to perform a dancing through the decades skit, it was hilarious and ended up being an entire dance party on the lawn....never would've thought I'd be dancing to "Single ladies" on the grass in Africa haha.

As for our outreach, we've just begun to make a bit of a breakthrough relationally with the kids, which is fabulous! It takes time, (understandably) for the kids in Chisomo to open up as well as ourselves too. These kids are used to rejection and have seen so much in their lives, so to gain their trust takes time. We spent most of the morning Thursday reading and working through some basic school skills. It's incredible to me to see children so eager to learn and how often I have taken my education much for granted. Simple reading and writing abilities gives these kids such an advantage in Zambia and a chance for more here, something I so will carry with me as I find myself ever complaining about those student loans....

Yesterday, (Friday) half our team went to the local drop in center and the others went to the market to shop for food this weekend. We will be making "breakfast for dinner" tonight and a fabulous Mexican fiesta tomorrow! The others helped "Mwamba", the youth or street outreach director of Chisomo with the kids at the drop in. An American missionary who lives here in Zambia and is from Arvada, CO (go figure, small world BIG God) comes regularly on Fridays to present a drug and HIV intervention program. Kind of the equivelant of our D.A.R.E. drug intervention programs. It went pretty well, I unfortunately got sick yesterday, it was sort-of a one day flu, so I stayed on base to rest.

Tomorrow we'll spend the morning visiting Pastor Aaron's church and then helping lead the kid's Bible study after wards.

Please pray for continuous protection and strength (both physical and emotional) for our team. Pray for our unity, but even further please pray that we would be broken. A verse the Lord gave me yesterday was "Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns, circumcise (set apart) yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts) ~ Jeremiah 4:3-4

Please pray that not one of us on this team would go through this experience unchanged. Please pray that we would give our hearts over to God and be overwhelmed with compassion for the poor, fatherless and widowed here. That we would get outside ourselves and our comfort zones and serve with abandon following the heart beat of God for this mission!

Also, please pray for my (Crystal's) grandpa "Papa", I found out yesterday that he is in the hospital with pneumonia and is currently on a ventilator...I have felt at a loss of what to do but wait and pray. Please pray he would hold out through this and be okay, for my family going through this with him, and for peace...it's difficult and so hard to be away from all of this and feeling helpless.

Thanks all for supporting and praying for us!!

More updates to come....

C