Liberty Baptist Church - 4th Anniversary

First off, I'm very sorry that these pictures are out of order, but I think you can still enjoy them. On Sunday, we celebrated Liberty Baptist Church's 4th Anniversary. Everyone had a great time. Here I am with some of the kids. There was not enough room for them to all sit in the main service so most of them sat outside and tried to peak in the windows when they could.
Hours of waiting, but they still have smiles on their faces.

This is Bana Kaputula and Bana Lufunda joking around for the camera. They might have been hungry, but I don't think they could have eaten that whole pot of rice.
Here is Bana Adrian, Bana Maria, and Beauty preparing the plates to take to the men.
The children sure did enjoy their food. There was plenty for all, and we were all full.
I sat with Bana Lucky and her son, Ed, strapped on her back. In the past, she has always asked me for my leftover chicken bones (some like to chew on them). So she kept thanking me for the bones. It seemed a strange complement, but she really meant it.
This is Ruth eating her share of the food. After this, she followed me around constantly to see what I would do with the camera next.

These ladies brought their babies to be dedicated to God. This is only the first group. In all, there were 12 babies dedicated to God.
The visiting speaker, Pastor Luwawa, brought New Testaments for everyone.
This is where they did the cooking on charcoal. This is Beauty, Bana Ruth, and Evans Mwila. The children are Vernon, Ruth, and Mwila.
Here the ladies are preparing the plates. It was quite a chore, but they really enjoyed it. Everyone got rice and chicken. The visiting pastors got Fanta while everyone else had some juice.
This is Bana Lufunda and Bana Tasila having fun putting chicken on the plates.

There were so many people that I had to try to take the picture from different angles.

I couldn't fit everyone in with the picture from the front. My back was at the neighboring building to fit this many of them in.
Kneeling are 3 students from the Bible Institute at Kafulafuta. Standing from the left: the first two are also students from Kafulafuta. The student in the brown jacket is Potiphar who is from our church, but it attending the Bible Institute at Kafulafuta. The man in the center is Pastor Rabson Musonda from Masaiti. He was Gaudencia's pastor before she married Pastor Frazer. Then there is Frazer. Beside him is Pastor Luwawa, the pastor of Kafulafuta Bible Baptist Church. He was Frazer's pastor and also mine for a while. Then there is Gaudencia and Daniel.
I just had to put this picture of Daniel Kane since he is looking so sharp. He asked his dad if he was a pastor now since he had a suit.

My Crazy Chicken

This chicken actually jumped up in the chair behind Clara.
After a few minutes, we found it proudly posing beside its egg.

Snacking, Zambian Style

This is my mango tree in the back yard. My tree is not very big, but we still get hundreds of mangoes every year. Unfortunately, they only last for a couple of months. When it is mango season, people like to come and take a bagful of mangoes home with them.
Clara demonstrates what to do when the mango is just too high up. If you hit it enough, it will eventually fall down. With the bigger mango trees, children usually climb up to pick the mangoes.
Now Clara demonstrates eating a mango. Mangoes are very stringy and juicy. I usually end up with a messy face by the time I eat a couple of them. That is why Clara is the one demonstrating here. It does get a bit annoying to pick all the strings out of your teeth. I've contemplated giving up on mangoes many times, but I always come back for more.
Sugar Cane is another popular item especially in Kalulushi. There is a certain place where the cast off sugar cane remains are about 6 inches thick across the whole field. It makes quite an adventure for walking. Anyway, sugar cane tastes like sugar. You have to just about break your teeth to take off the outside layer. Then you chew on the middle before spitting that out. I don't enjoy it very much. I must have weak jaws. And I think I prefer my sugar with a bit of chocolate. By the way, this is my friend, Cotildah.

Home Away From Home

Going along with my previous post, this is the road leading to my house. Maybe I should start a poll as to whether or not this is a road. What do you think?
This is the gate to my house. Yes, it is green. Every single one of my bills describes my house as the one with a green gate. I guess I'm unique in that way.
God has blessed me with this beautiful house. I can't take any credit for it. Morgan keeps the yard in shape. It is such a blessing to have this house because we have so many church activities here. It is a preschool, Bible study, office, and storage for the church.
Here is my garden in the rainy season. I think it was rather flooded this day. To the left are a bunch of banana trees. Then three is a couple guava trees. In the garden, the kalembula (sweet potato leaves) are most prominent. There is also onions, beans, pumpkins, cassava, and peanuts.

Happy Birthday, Faith

I just want to wish my favorite neice, Faith, a happy first birthday. I wish I could be there with you. I'll be celebrating here. I've decided to make some brownies tonight so that I can celebrate properly. (Thanks for the brownies, Mom) I'll even smear some on my face because I'm sure that is what Faith would do.
I love you, Faith.

Getting Around Without Cars

Most people in Zambia cannot afford cars (myself included), so they get around on foot. With roads like this one, it is actually quicker on foot than by vehicle. It is so full of potholes that cars can only crawl along.

Mercy Banda (9 years) brought her sister, Elizabeth (2 years), to preschool every morning on her back in a chitenge. It was a 1 mile walk each way, but Mercy didn't seem to mind. After taking Elizabeth home, Mercy would then go on to her own school in the afternoon. And I used to complain to just wake up and walk to the living room for homeschool!?
Andrew Mungandi had 2 sons, Sam and Adrian, in the preschool. He would sling one over his back and he fixed some wires to the bicycle frame for the other boy. The boys always had a fun ride home.