You Would Never Know

Well, the first week of Camp LIFE has past and it was incredible!! 960 kids came to camp and were set free from the lies that the devil tells us about how we are hated and rejected but 960 kids are now pronouncing the name of the Lord and are now in Christ and Loved!! Yesterday, we gave the 5 community schools that came a bag of crayons, pencils, and each school received one soccer ball and you would have thought the kids were going to riot because they were so excited…over PENCILS!! It was so great to touch the lives of these kids. I was mainly in charge of the day to day running of camp and making sure that everything that was needed for the day got to camp, which is actually incredibly stressful but it is all worth it when you see kids who were sick healed, girls who were beaten left alone, and kids who were stone cold on Monday morning go home shouting praises to the Lord and ready to take on life on Friday afternoon.
Now on to the meat of this entry. There is a picture of a little girl at the top of this blog entry. Her name is Grace and she is a healthy 6 year old little girl who goes to a community school called Ibex Hill, which is one of the schools that came to camp. On the outside she looks “fat,” as the Zambians say for someone who looks well, and happy. She runs and plays with her friends at camp and laughs with them too. But look a little deeper into those eyes. They are looking at the camera almost hauntingly, as if they are hiding something. If you were to just look at her at a glance you would never know. Every night for the past year she has been getting beaten and sexually abused. Not by anyone in her family, though, because she lives with her grandmother who makes her do endless chores. She gets beaten and raped nightly! By who? Two 12 year old boys who come through her window and threaten to kill her. Did you catch that? TWO 12 YEAR OLDS!! They come into her room and hold a knife to her throat and then have their way with her. Take one more look at that picture now. Do you see the same little girl as before? The happy one? Or do you see something else? Do you see a girl who is in chains but not in a bondage of her own doing? Because that’s what I see when I see that little girl. I held that girl. I have seen her face and felt her tears. Now, take that same little girl and put her in your bedroom and with your last name. How does her story change? What is different in her life? She probably has a mom and a dad. She even has a nice free public education through the 12th grade and food on the table every night of the week. So tell me why it is different because she was born in Zambia? Can you? Can you read this without getting choked up because I have to fight back tears so I can finish writing it. Do you wish to know the kicker of the whole story or do you wish to stop and find something more comfortable to read on the web? The part of this whole story that gets me is her American counselor; 11 year old Savannah Head. Wait, an 11 year old girl from America is the one who had to hear her story and hold her and comfort her? Of all the Christians in the world, God chose to use an 11 year old girl, who had no idea what sexual abuse even was, to touch and change the life of that 6 year old little girl. Can he use You? Grace accepted Christ on Tuesday just minutes after telling Savannah her story. I know it was real because I watched her do it and do you know what? We prayed over her that day and that night, the boys came to her window to do what they always do and then, without warning, they left. They just left. What an amazing tale of perseverance and answered prayer and that is only one story of 960! After reading that do you wish that there was something you can do? Well, you can. The ministry I am with this summer is building a Children’s village for Grace and 299 other orphaned children in Zambia! They have started on two of the 25 orphan homes and there will be so much more to follow on their 130 acre plot of land where the Tree of Life Children’s Village will be one day. They need money, and lots of it, but just know that there is no such thing as a small donation. You can donate, you can even come and work Camp LIFE and touch a child with story like Grace. Check out your options at www.flmi.org for the summer of 2008 and check out the layout for the Tree of Life Children’s Village. You can make a difference in the story of thousands of Children like Grace.

Music That Floods the Soul

So I really wish that all of you could have come to church with us this morning because it was amazing and I wish that I had a picture or a video to put up with this post as well. Anyways, music in Zambia is as much a part of their culture as consumerism is to the U.S. and it is amazing to hear the singing and praises that they all raise to our father. Most of the singing at the church we went to was acapella and just amazing. The music just washes over you as you stand there and listen. Several of the songs we sang were in English and familiar but the African way of singing adds so much more depth to the songs. It is as if they are reaching down the deepest fiber of their beings to try and find words that can even remotely come close to describing their love and their thanks to God for everything that they, which consequently is not very much. We would sing and dance in church, sorry to the Baptists (Just kidding), and raise our hands and as we sang it just sounded what I envision Heaven sounding like one day. In America we are very big on our individual worship and worship how YOU can experience God YOURSELF but the feeling at this church was much more corporate and unified. People still closed their eyes and sang their worship to God but it was the entire group in agreement lifting up their praise as one spirit and one body which is what someday all believers, despite disagreements we have had here on Earth, in Heaven together for all eternity.
Now to shift gears a little bit, the first wave of Americans made it safely to Lusaka yesterday and we have been going like crazy to get all the houses set up. This afternoon all the Americans meet up with the Zambian workers and get paired up with their partners because…CAMP STARTS TOMORROW!!!! We went around to the first 5 schools that are coming and visited them to hype up the camp and it is going to be awesome. There are going to be 2 of the 5 schools that have never been through Camp LIFE before and many of the children from those schools have never heard the good news that we are bringing to them. Just be in prayer for guidance and wisdom to all the leaders, both Zambian and American, that they will be moved to teach these children what the Lord wants them know about their freedom in Christ and that there is indeed a hope for them. Thank you all for reading my blog and please remember to leave comments. Also, please pass on the link to this site to everyone you know that we may spread awareness of the situation of these orphans of Zambia.