CHRISTMAS

Well our first Christmas in Kaputa went great. We sure missed our families but we had a wonderful time with our Zambian friends. We woke up early and the kids got their presents. Hutch requested a blue dolphin when he was asked about a month ago "What do you want for Christmas?" It seemed strange at first, but he was persistent and so we were excited to be able fulfill his desire on Christmas morning.

Lulie got a baby doll. She was wearing the same color as the doll on Christmas morning and the two look strikingly similar. Except Lulie is the real deal and much cuter.
We headed to church around 8:00am. The church building blew down about a week ago in some strong winds that we had, so we met at a local school. We ordained the first deacons in the church and it was a great time. MM was especially excited about the goat we had for lunch. She just can't get enough goat!

Hutch was just happy to be one of the kids and probably ate more than me and Mary Margaret combined.

We had a good group as some of the members of the other churches made the trip to town to celebrate with us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you and thanks to all who gave to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering this year. You made our Christmas in Kaputa possible.

It's Almost Christmas!

We are spending our first Christmas here in Kaputa. We've been here for 4 years and have never spent a Christmas here? Ok. But this year is different. The churches in Zambia have a tradition of having a celebration service at church on Christmas day. I don't know about the churches around the rest of the country, but in Kaputa they all have a meal afterward. So yesterday we finish the Bible study at the Mumba's house and drive almost 15 miles down the "worst" roads i've ever been on. I'm serious, this was more like a dried up river bed than a road. It was comical how much the kids were bouncing around. We reach the end of the road, literally, any further and you'd be in Lake Mweru Wantipa, in a village called Kawama. We came to buy a sheep, but it was as if the circus was in town. There were at least 100 kids trying to get a close up of Hutch and Lulie. What's the big deal? Kids are kids right? No, I'm pretty sure these kids of Kawama have never, I mean NEVER, seen white children before. Hutch loved the spotlight. Surprised? Me neither. Bupe Chomba, his two sons, and their friend were highly amused. The man who sells the sheep was not there. So we could not buy one. Which means another trip tomorrow down to the same village. Another circus show. It really doesn't bother us anymore, it's funny and it gives these kids something to talk about/look at.

There will be 4 churches participating in the event. It should be fun. The weather has been perfect this week, no sun! It's been cloudy! We love the clouds! Merry Christmas everyone! We'll post pics of the celebration later!

Duck Hunting

I got a chance to do a little duck hunting Africa style this past Saturday. It consisted of these three Zambian friends of mine paddling me around in a small boat on this river while I shot ducks. It was a lot of fun and we killed several birds. One of my friends saw a fish in the shallow water and jumped out of the boat and caught it with his hands! It was great fellowship and I even convinced Mary Margaret to eat a little of my roasted duck recipe.

Home Again Home Again

We made it back from the big city, and when we arrived God gave us the best gift ever. Cool weather in Kaputa! We were pleasantly surprised to have clouds and a nice cool breeze at home. After unloading, and unpacking, yuck, we got out the Christmas tree and starting playing Christmas music. We even got a tree scented candle in the mail from the Kimbroughs!! Thank you! Hutch and Lulie LOVED setting up our little tree, they go over and stand in front of it every few minutes. It's so funny. It's a good thing we have all plastic ornaments too.

We are excited to celebrate our first Christmas in Kaputa. In years past, we've been in Luwingu for Christmas so this will be something new.

We even bought fireworks in Lusaka to have a fireworks show here on Christmas! We'll have an update about that no doubt!

Now that the rains have started, we are praying that numbers at the various Bible studies will not fall. This time of year people are so busy preparing their fields and we are just praying that they would commit to Christ like they are committed to growing their crops!

Update from Lusaka

Sorry i've been out of the blogging world. We've been enjoying the big city life. We're in Lusaka until Sunday. We had a great Thanksgiving with the mission family and have been eating really well!

We'll be back in Kaputa on Monday with more updates!