Preach it!!

Here stands my husband, preaching in the church of Kalingalinga , walking his calling!! When he was done preaching he asked me, "How did I do?" I simply said, "This is what you are called to. You are a natural. I have been praying for this for the last 6 years. Praise God for being sooo faithful and knowing that His timing is ALWAYS perfect." I was so proud of him.

The man standing next to Leon is Pastor Lazorous. This is his church and he is translating. He is one of the nicest people we met there in Zambia. You can see how the Holy Spirit just rests on him.

Please pray for him and his wife. They are newly married and while we were there we he told us that his wife was ill with malaria. Pls keep this man of God lifted up. Pray his wife would be healed completely by the Lord and be able to give Him all the glory!!

These are some of the children that were playing outside of the church. This church was precious. At the end of service we walked out and stood by the entrance way to greet everyone as they left. I thought it was just because we were guests but come to find out, this is what they do every Sunday. They begin to worship and as each one greets the pastor, they join the line. The continue to worship until everyone is out of the church. Everyone is greeted. I love this because sometimes in America, our church can get so big that there can be Sundays where nobody knows who you are or if you even attended.

We thank Pastor Lazarous again for allowing us to bring the teaching of Truth to his church!!

A day at the waterpark in Zambia...yes in Zambia!!!

Most of this post will be pics displaying large portions of fun that the children had. We were blessed to take them to a water park for the day and just ENJOY them. I know the kids had sooo much fun but I think Leon had a ton of fun too....just watch this video and you will see.

There were a lot of the littler kids that were afraid to go down the slide. The only way they would do it is if Leon went with them. True to who he is, he jumped right into the FRIGID water. This water was sooo cold that I didn't even want to play in the kiddie pool....

This video is of Lister and Leon going down the slide.

Katongo...

These were all the girls who wanted to go down but were scared..lol

This is Collins in the kiddie pool.

The kids were also able to enjoy an inside area that was like Chuck E. Cheese

I miss them already!!

So I just arrived home today and I think I have been awakee for about 48 hrs...or something like it....not sure...lol

I miss my children in Africa already!! It was sooo goood to grab hold of mine though, I tell you what!!

Other people that I am missing....Esnot and Hilda

Bishop Peter and Ted Lawler!! If God nad never given Ted the vision and Bishop Peter the heart to support Ted, Breath of Heaven wouldn't exist.

Seems as though it wasnt in Gods plan for us.

So as we prepared to leave for Livingstone, our driver Copa(Copper), came and informed us that it was going to cost us an additional $300 for our trip for gas. So we decided to stay hm and not go. For some reason God doesn't want us there and that's ok with me. I don't want to be anywhere the Lord wouldn't have us be. We wouldn't have had enough money for the rest of our trip if we went. Its a bummer but there is always next time.
I see this as a huge blessing in disguise though. We are going to spend the whole day Friday at Bishops Peters house. In the afternoon we are going to have a private teaching in marriage from Bishop and then have dinner with he and Hilda, his dark chocolate. We will be leaving on Saturday to arrive home on Sunday at 1pm in the LAX terminal.
Pls pray for our safe arrival home. love and miss you all!!!! :0)

Off to Livingstone

Tomorrow we will be going down to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls. I am excited to see what the pictures couldn't really convey from last years trip. We don't have to take a bus this time. We are blessed to be driving in a regular car. We are hoping that it will only be about a 6 hr drive.
Today we will spend our time organizing all the donations that have come in for the Village. We found out that almost half of the kids wont be able to move into the Village. Zambia is really being strict on age limitations rather then grade level completed in school. We are praying that the other children will continue to be supported in a "foster care" type situation. Even these type of environments are horrible to say the least. A possibility is to maybe put them to work at the Village. Ted and Judy are still unsure what it will look like but they hope to have something implemented in the next 4-5 yrs for the children after they graduate. They want to operate as the Lord leads.

The children that wont be in the village will still be part of all the ongoings just living elsewhere. Pls pray that the Lord begins to prepare their hearts for the news that is pending.
I dont think we will be able to post while in Livingstone but we will be home on Sunday!!! We cannot wait to see our kids!!!! I miss them dearly and am so excited to have them in my arms again!!!!

Bitter Sweet day

So today we took all the kids to the water park. They all had sooo much fun. They had an inside play area like Chuck E Cheese and a few different water slides. Leon was so awesome with the kids. There were several kids that were scared to go down so he let them sit in his lap and went down. They had a ton of fun. I will will post pics later. I haven't been able to download them yet.
We did have to say good bye to the kids today. We wont be working with them anymore on our trip. It was super hard and brought many tears to my eyes. One of the boys, named Katongo, gave me a hand written letter today. He had the scripture Jeremiah 29:11 written in it and said it was for his sisters. He meant my daughters, his sisters in Christ. He calls me Mama Lisa and it was signed "Your Son" I know now that I have children in Africa!!!!! He and his friend Lazarus want to come to the states someday and when they do, they will stay with us.
Oh, so much to tell....so little time. I hope to post again soon. We will be on our way to Livingstone on Tuesday, Wed, and Thursday.
Bishop will be coming to our house on Friday to give us a personal marriage counseling session. All 4 of us are really excited for this.

Suprised to find out...

So today while we were with the kids conducting the VBS program, we found out that some of the kids in the program have not yet given their life to the Lord. I had just assumed that being part of this program they already received Jesus as their savior, not the case. Today Leon helped lead Robinno to the Lord. Praise God. We have prayed continually for healing for him. He has MS and is loosing his ability to walk.
So tomorrow we will be preaching the gospel to these children and doing an altar call. We cant simply assume that people are saved and will spend eternity in Heaven. It is our responsibility to ask and find out. That doesn't simply include these children, it pertains to anyone you come into contact with.
I am fallin in love with these children. They have nothing and everything all at once. We were able to go to some of their homes on Tuesday and see their environment that they function in on a daily basis. Even the poorest person in America has more then these people. We visited Charitys' home and met with her grandmother. She is the head of 15 people who line in about 3 small rooms that are about 8x8 or smaller. These rooms double or triple as bedroom's, kitchens, living areas, etc. They eat whenever they have food. They only have money to buy food when they can find piece work washing laundry by hand. They only have electricity when they put a token in a box. it's like a timer. When their time runs out, so does their light. If they cant find any wash they don't have any money or electricity or food. I will try to post a pic of her next post. She is an amazingly strong woman and so grateful for our visit. I am not on my laptop now. The need is so great here and it cant just be solved by handing out a few dollars here and there. That is simply temporary. The problem is much deeper then that.
Tomorrow we will finish up the VBS program with the kids. They will all receive their own Bibles. Not all of the children are able to read but hopefully they will hold it dear to their hearts till they can.
Pls keep us in prayer for Malaria....there are thousands of mosquitoes and we all have been bit. Last night I slept with socks on my hands to prevent anymore bites. It was funny because I went to bed after Leon did so he didn't see my amazing invention. I woke up this morning and forgot that I had my sleeves tucked into my socks on my hands and he almost fell over laughing at me....I did look pretty funny!!

I hope to post again soon!!!

Not sure where to begin....

So we haven't been able to get to the Internet cafe due to 2 consecutive holidays here in Zambia. A lot has happened in the last 3 days.

I think it might be best if I just do a day-by-day post..

Monday....The first part of the day we finished painting the playground.

We went to an "All Night" prayer meeting. This is conducted once a month where Bishop Peter holds a service in which prayer begins at 7pm and goes until 6 am the following day. You had everyone there from babies, young, and old. When the Zambian people call out to the Lord it's like nothing I have ever heard. They use not only their voices but their entire body! They pray with such passion and reverence to the Mighty One.

Sorry it is a bit blurry but the flash was VERY distracting. I didn't want to take another one.

Bishops' church was packed. It was a full house, standing room only.

This is where the night became truly interesting for all of us. A woman who appeared to be slain in the Holy Spirit was in fact demon possessed. She dropped to the floor and began to steam roll the Church floor. Her shoes went flying,her body was contortting and convulsing, she was foaming at the mouth and throwing up. When she rolled our way Leon grabbed her and began praying for deliverance over her. Michaela and I stood back for a minute to asses the situation. Once we discerned the truth of the matter, we jumped in to help Robert and Leon. They both said later that she has the strength of 7 men, and she did. It was really intense. When we were done praying, Leon went outside and got some air. He came back in and said it wasn't finished. The woman was weeping on what we think was her friends shoulder and then dropped to floor again. All of the same symptoms presented and we prayed even harder for deliverance. The crazy thing was that the church became quiet because they were switching the prayers to worship. Leon was praying so loud that it over came the church. Do you think they stopped to leave or interrupt?? No way!!! they continued on. In the US...if this was happening, people would run from church saying this was crazy....

This wasnt the end all.....once the 2nd episode came to a close, she lay there weeping that she wasnt forgiven. We tried our best in English to explain that she was but it didn't resonate. She got up, collected herself, and went back to her seat. We all took a deep breath and continued the service. Michaela and Leon kept watching her in her seat until she got up and walked out of the church. Leon discerned that the demon wasnt finished with her and followed her out. He knew that she needed to confess her sins to the Lord to be FREE from the continued torture.

Sure enough he found her vomiting again behind a wall and he asked Robert to go get Bishop Peter so she could confess. Once Bishop came she confessed that she was a married woman and had been having an affair with a married man and just had an abortion. Talk about bondage!!! The demon presented because she was ready to be freed up and give her burden over to God.

Bishop had 2 women from his church pray with her and take her back for counseling immediately. Praise God!!!

Tuesday....We went to the Arcade to have dinner and watch a movie but the movie was sold out. We ended up hanging out with Du.

Wednesday....We began the VBS program with the kids....here are some pics from today..

We have arrived!

So we arrived this morning at 6 am into the beautiful country of Zambia. We made it with practically no hang ups. We had a 2 1/2 hr delay out of LAX due to "electrical issues." They borded us and then had us leave the plane. Not too comforting to have the plane you are about to spend the next 9 hrs on having "electrical issues."
All of our bags made it and so far so good. We don't think that there is anything missing from any of them. There are still 2 that we haven't even looked in yet but we are hoping its there. After we were all able to shower, we went to the arcade to have some breakfast and exchange our money. We know have a pocket full of Qwatcha.
The first person to greet us was Bishop Peter!!! Wow, so good to see him. He told Michaela and I that Leon and Robert would both be preaching tomorrow but not to tell them...lol. The 4 of us are going to the same church and the men are going to be sharing the preaching duties! I cant wait. I have yet to truly hear my husband preach..
Today we went to the property to see the orphanage. The team that preceded us were able to complete the playground that they came to set up. It looks amazing and I already know that the kids are going to love it. After that we came home and took a much needed nap. We are back at the arcade now after eating a gourmet meal prepared by Ted himself.
So here is what I have been focused on today:
Col. 3:2.....Think about the things of Heaven, not the things of earth.
2 Corin. 4:18......we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen,....but the things we cannot see will last forever
Isaiah 26:3....you will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thought are fixed on you.

I want to try to make sure that we are staying kingdom minded while we are here. We came to walk out Gods will for our lives in this season. Praise Him. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners..Romans 5:6
I will try to post again soon!!!

At the LAX airport

So far so good. We are waiting at the airport and our check in went very smoothly!! We have about a 3 1/2 wait and then we will be boarding our first flight. Uh oh...just checked our departure time and we are currenly delayed 50 min.
We just finished eating El Paseo mexican food. We are sitting next to some serious air-conditiong, wow. We are so excited. I hope to post some pics soon. We were lucky enough to be able to borrow a camera from a friend for our trip and I am still trying to figure it out.
Tata for now. I am saving our battery so Michaela can post too.

Isaiah 61 :1-3

Luv you all!!!

We leave tomorrow to Zambia!!!

So tomorrow night, just a bit over 24hrs away, we will be on British Airways Zambia bound. Wow...even now I am tearin up. The kids are packed up and ready to head off to stay with our dear friends and family. Oh man..I have been holdin it together for so long but I know tomorrow when we drop them off it will be hard. To leave my kids for 17 days, man. God grant me the strength. Grant me Your peace that passes understanding. It's only because I am confident that we have been called out that I can go.
I am super excited to go though. God has just been breakin my heart for these children that I haven't even met. There is no better place to be then smack dab in the middle of Gods will. My husband has been telling me the past few days that now all my dreams are coming true. See about 6 yrs ago, I started having dreams about bringing the gospel to the nations. God began to show me what we would be doing with the rest of our lives. See, we are the perfect example of His timing being perfect. It took about 6 yrs for this to be a reality. We have to be patient and wait on God for His divine timing. He made it very clear that He wanted us on this very trip with the kind of donations that came in. I have been to Mexico on a short weekend mission trip but this, this is the beginning of being in the center of Gods will. Hopefully we can organize another trip to Mexico in the fall. I will definitely be bringing the kids on that one!
I am going to try to post while we are in Zambia. I am bringing my laptop and will see what i can do. If nothing else I will be journaling and then post when we get back.
If you are a praying person, pls lift us up as you remember. We are going to need a wall of prayer around us while we are encountering the things of the enemy. We want to see people set free, healed, restored, and saved!! Our God is an awesome God who reigns from heaven!! There isn't anything that is too big for Him. Thanks for your support and we will chat again very soon, hopefully from Zambia, Africa!!!