Transformer is up!
Zesco has rescheduled their site visit for Sunday at noon! Thanks for praying!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Pray for Electricity!!!
These next few days are CRITICAL to us getting electricity out to the land!
Today, Blu and a crew of guys are working to get the transformer up onto the stand using a chain block. Please pray for wisdom and safety for the crew!
Tomorrow, Zesco will come out to the land for a final site inspection. If everything is up to their standards (we have already fixed everything they asked us to fix), then they will set up a plan for switching on the electricity (hopefully next week!)
Please pray hard with us for these 2 things, and I will definitely keep you updated! Happy New Year!
Today, Blu and a crew of guys are working to get the transformer up onto the stand using a chain block. Please pray for wisdom and safety for the crew!
Tomorrow, Zesco will come out to the land for a final site inspection. If everything is up to their standards (we have already fixed everything they asked us to fix), then they will set up a plan for switching on the electricity (hopefully next week!)
Please pray hard with us for these 2 things, and I will definitely keep you updated! Happy New Year!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas from Zambia!
It's hard to beat pop-tarts from the USA! :)
A toy phone from cousins Andie & AJ
Mulenga enjoyed opening his stocking from us!
We got Kalenga a bicycle so that he can travel to new places to preach
Fruit rollups from Isabel, Abigail, Isaac, & Amos!
A set of flavored teas and Japanese cherry blossom stuff in the background! (and it was 6am here...)
Kalenga dancing with Cambree after he opened his stocking. :)
Jeans & flashlights for Blu
Barbies from Andie & AJ
The kids all got new backpacks from Mama Dee & Grandpa and they were filled with cool toys inside!
We are having a great Christmas and are looking forward to Wes & Lala coming over tonight to stay a few days. Blu bought last week's NFL Game of the Week and is planning on watching it on a huge projector with Wes! Merry Christmas from our family to yours! :)
A toy phone from cousins Andie & AJ
Mulenga enjoyed opening his stocking from us!
We got Kalenga a bicycle so that he can travel to new places to preach
Fruit rollups from Isabel, Abigail, Isaac, & Amos!
A set of flavored teas and Japanese cherry blossom stuff in the background! (and it was 6am here...)
Kalenga dancing with Cambree after he opened his stocking. :)
Jeans & flashlights for Blu
Barbies from Andie & AJ
The kids all got new backpacks from Mama Dee & Grandpa and they were filled with cool toys inside!
We are having a great Christmas and are looking forward to Wes & Lala coming over tonight to stay a few days. Blu bought last week's NFL Game of the Week and is planning on watching it on a huge projector with Wes! Merry Christmas from our family to yours! :)
Thursday, December 23, 2010
A Pre-Christmas Update
I thought I should take a break from making chocolate covered peanut butter balls to give you a building update on what is happening at New Day!
Transformer: The new one has arrived and is sitting on the ground at the land! We have to make some adjustments on the stand, get it up on the stand (it weighs one ton!), and do a few other things before we can call the electric company to come and switch on electricity for us!! We are praying this process can be done in the next 3 weeks!!
Our House: Is basically finished! We have one plumbing problem (guest bathroom sink), but other than that, we are down to just building shelves in the house! As soon as we have electricity, we will do the last of the packing and be living full-time in Mapanza!
Luyando House: (orphan house) Exterior is completely finished. Interior has been wired and major plumbing appliances are in. Ceiling has been put in. A lady is cleaning out the whole house and then we will be ready to paint the ceiling, paint the walls, and put down the floor.
Girls Workers House: Exterior is completely finished. Interior has been wired and major plumbing appliances are almost in. The inside is still being plastered, and the workers have just begun the ceiling on this house.
Guys Workers House: Kalenga and Mulenga have been busy making their house their home. They have given their walls another coat of paint (oil-based this time!), painted the floors a deep green, and put a black trim around the bottom. They have recently added a huge veranda outside that they love. We will soon have someone plaster the outside of their house using a mixture of Mapanza red dirt and cement, to give their house the same color as the other buildings, as opposed to the gray cinder block. They still need plumbing done on their house. (For the benefit of our summer teams who worked so hard on this house!)
Kitchen/Dining/Laundry/Pantry/Classroom: Exterior is completely finished. Interior has been wired and plumbing appliances are in. Floor has been put in. This building will go faster because we are leaving the interior the natural brick as opposed to painting. We are only putting a ceiling on parts of the building (kitchen & classroom), so we hope to have this building completely finished SOON.
Grinding Mill: We stay busy and charge WAY lower than other grinding mills in the area. Right now, we aren't quite covering the cost of diesel to run the machine, so we are going up a little on prices starting January 1st.
Store: Our store has done SO well. We make about $50 a day, which is shocking to us! Hottest commodities this Christmas season have been bread and flour!
We have a team of highly skilled men (and 3 ladies who will do an ESL class) who will be spending ten days in Mapanza with us January 17-27. They will work in teams to complete electrical work, plumbing, ceiling, and building cabinets/shelving.
We are in need of funds to finish these projects and hopefully start the next round, which will consist of the next orphan house and a guest house for US volunteers! Do you need some tax write offs for 2010? :) Give on our website: www.newdayorphanage.org
Merry Christmas!
Transformer: The new one has arrived and is sitting on the ground at the land! We have to make some adjustments on the stand, get it up on the stand (it weighs one ton!), and do a few other things before we can call the electric company to come and switch on electricity for us!! We are praying this process can be done in the next 3 weeks!!
Our House: Is basically finished! We have one plumbing problem (guest bathroom sink), but other than that, we are down to just building shelves in the house! As soon as we have electricity, we will do the last of the packing and be living full-time in Mapanza!
Luyando House: (orphan house) Exterior is completely finished. Interior has been wired and major plumbing appliances are in. Ceiling has been put in. A lady is cleaning out the whole house and then we will be ready to paint the ceiling, paint the walls, and put down the floor.
Girls Workers House: Exterior is completely finished. Interior has been wired and major plumbing appliances are almost in. The inside is still being plastered, and the workers have just begun the ceiling on this house.
Guys Workers House: Kalenga and Mulenga have been busy making their house their home. They have given their walls another coat of paint (oil-based this time!), painted the floors a deep green, and put a black trim around the bottom. They have recently added a huge veranda outside that they love. We will soon have someone plaster the outside of their house using a mixture of Mapanza red dirt and cement, to give their house the same color as the other buildings, as opposed to the gray cinder block. They still need plumbing done on their house. (For the benefit of our summer teams who worked so hard on this house!)
Kitchen/Dining/Laundry/Pantry/Classroom: Exterior is completely finished. Interior has been wired and plumbing appliances are in. Floor has been put in. This building will go faster because we are leaving the interior the natural brick as opposed to painting. We are only putting a ceiling on parts of the building (kitchen & classroom), so we hope to have this building completely finished SOON.
Grinding Mill: We stay busy and charge WAY lower than other grinding mills in the area. Right now, we aren't quite covering the cost of diesel to run the machine, so we are going up a little on prices starting January 1st.
Store: Our store has done SO well. We make about $50 a day, which is shocking to us! Hottest commodities this Christmas season have been bread and flour!
We have a team of highly skilled men (and 3 ladies who will do an ESL class) who will be spending ten days in Mapanza with us January 17-27. They will work in teams to complete electrical work, plumbing, ceiling, and building cabinets/shelving.
We are in need of funds to finish these projects and hopefully start the next round, which will consist of the next orphan house and a guest house for US volunteers! Do you need some tax write offs for 2010? :) Give on our website: www.newdayorphanage.org
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Step inside my house...
We have been working hard in Mapanza this week trying to get the house finished. Our electrical transformer made it to the capitol city from South Africa and should be delivered this week! ("should" is relative in Africa..)
As I hang things in my new house, I am in awe of what God has done and how He has provided for us. I can't help but think of Cloud & Blu first walking the New Day Orphanage land, of Larry and his team, who worked hard on the drawings for our house, of Steve, pointing where it and the septic should go, of Paw, climbing electrical poles, of Grace Point, getting to lay the first bricks, of Fellowship Lubbock, dusting off bricks, of the Alvarado crew, putting on the roof, of Blake, putting the first piece of tin on the roof, of Wes & Cole, putting up ceiling trim, of Ashley, painting the ceiling, of Lala, painting the outside bricks, of the Clanton guys, getting the water tank up, of Paw, working on plumbing, of B-Maw, painting window frame after window frame, of my amazing husband who has built us a house start to finish...and of SO many of you who have faithfully given in 2010 so that we could live in the midst of the people we are ministering to every day...and to so many more of you who have prayed us through every little detail every step of the way.
After so many months, and so many boxes, and so much moving...we are HOME. :)
Cambree's room..didn't take long for them to make a mess of the bookshelf!
Our room..I love my Coke decorations!
The guest room--come see us!! :)
Master bathroom
Blu built this bookshelf for all his seminary books (or nerd books as I call them)
He also built this homeschool bookshelf for me! I was very impressed!
It was fun to unpack boxes that have been packed for 18 months and say "What in the world was I thinking?! Why did I bring that to Africa?!" :)
As I hang things in my new house, I am in awe of what God has done and how He has provided for us. I can't help but think of Cloud & Blu first walking the New Day Orphanage land, of Larry and his team, who worked hard on the drawings for our house, of Steve, pointing where it and the septic should go, of Paw, climbing electrical poles, of Grace Point, getting to lay the first bricks, of Fellowship Lubbock, dusting off bricks, of the Alvarado crew, putting on the roof, of Blake, putting the first piece of tin on the roof, of Wes & Cole, putting up ceiling trim, of Ashley, painting the ceiling, of Lala, painting the outside bricks, of the Clanton guys, getting the water tank up, of Paw, working on plumbing, of B-Maw, painting window frame after window frame, of my amazing husband who has built us a house start to finish...and of SO many of you who have faithfully given in 2010 so that we could live in the midst of the people we are ministering to every day...and to so many more of you who have prayed us through every little detail every step of the way.
After so many months, and so many boxes, and so much moving...we are HOME. :)
Cambree's room..didn't take long for them to make a mess of the bookshelf!
Our room..I love my Coke decorations!
The guest room--come see us!! :)
Master bathroom
Blu built this bookshelf for all his seminary books (or nerd books as I call them)
He also built this homeschool bookshelf for me! I was very impressed!
It was fun to unpack boxes that have been packed for 18 months and say "What in the world was I thinking?! Why did I bring that to Africa?!" :)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Vacation!
After working and working...and working...for the last 11 months, we decided it was time for a family vacation! We joined some good friends of ours for a 3 day camping trip in Zimbabwe! We are only a 2 hour drive from the border, but the Yngsdals had to drive for 3 1/2 days to get to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe! We first met the Yngsdals at missionary training in Virginia back in 2003 before we all went onto the field. We loved them and their kids, who are now so grown up!! Little Cameron was 5 when they headed to South Africa and he is now 12 with a South African accent!
We were surprised by how much we enjoyed camping for pleasure! We've spent so much of the last 11 months camping out in Mapanza, but it was very different at a campground with showers and toilets that work and a swimming pool! Our kids had a blast, and we hope this is the first of many awesome African adventures for them! :)
Cason was very impressed with Victoria Falls
Us beside the huge baobab tree--so beautiful!
The boys at the Falls
Cambree in the pool at our campground
Cason after getting thrown by Daddy
Love this pic of us at Victoria Falls!
Group pic of us at the watering hole trying to spot an elephant!
Relaxing outside the tent
Our family at the Falls
This is a great time of year to see the Falls and you can see 2/3 more of the Falls on the Zimbabwe side than on the Zambian side
The Yngsdal Family - missionaries to the Zulu in South Africa since 2003...Dave, Julie, Mariah (17), Wesley (15), Corey (14), Cameron (12)
We were surprised by how much we enjoyed camping for pleasure! We've spent so much of the last 11 months camping out in Mapanza, but it was very different at a campground with showers and toilets that work and a swimming pool! Our kids had a blast, and we hope this is the first of many awesome African adventures for them! :)
Cason was very impressed with Victoria Falls
Us beside the huge baobab tree--so beautiful!
The boys at the Falls
Cambree in the pool at our campground
Cason after getting thrown by Daddy
Love this pic of us at Victoria Falls!
Group pic of us at the watering hole trying to spot an elephant!
Relaxing outside the tent
Our family at the Falls
This is a great time of year to see the Falls and you can see 2/3 more of the Falls on the Zimbabwe side than on the Zambian side
The Yngsdal Family - missionaries to the Zulu in South Africa since 2003...Dave, Julie, Mariah (17), Wesley (15), Corey (14), Cameron (12)
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Racheal
Racheal was born in the Western part of Zambia to her mother and father. She had one older sister and a younger brother who died very young. When Racheal was a young girl, her father died. Her mother moved to a new town in Zambia and could only afford to take Racheal with her, so the older sister remained behind with other family members.
Racheal is 18 now and just finished the 9th grade (very common in Zambia). Her mother had remarried and Racheal has 3 younger brothers. Last weekend, Racheal’s mother passed away. The family gathered for the burial and all of the aunts/uncles/older cousins met to discuss where the children would go. The sister of Racheal’s stepfather took the two youngest boys and moved them to another part of Zambia. Another sister agreed to take the other brother to the capitol city. And that left Racheal.
A man approached the family and offered to pay them a small bridal price to marry Racheal, but after discussing this, the family opposed due to the fact that she hasn’t finished her education. Mulenga, Racheal’s cousin, mentioned New Day to the family. The family quickly agreed that Mulenga could take her and try to get her a job there or just put her in school somewhere, as nobody else wanted her.
So Racheal arrived at New Day today. The goal and vision of New Day is not to take 18 year old orphans; however, in this case, we felt that God wanted us to help this girl. She will be staying with a woman near the orphanage land until the end of January when she receives her Grade 9 Exam scores. If she did well, she will head to a girls boarding school near us and return to New Day on term breaks to help with the younger children.
Racheal’s story is the norm in Zambia. As Racheal climbed into bed last night and asked me to leave the door open, I knew that it was the first night in her life that she would sleep in a room by herself. She immediately bonded with Cambree and later told me that her youngest brother is the same age as Cambree. It will probably be years before she sees him again.
Though New Day is not set up nor has a goal of taking in older orphans, we do know that God has called us to Zambia to help hurting kids, and it feels like we have begun…
Racheal is 18 now and just finished the 9th grade (very common in Zambia). Her mother had remarried and Racheal has 3 younger brothers. Last weekend, Racheal’s mother passed away. The family gathered for the burial and all of the aunts/uncles/older cousins met to discuss where the children would go. The sister of Racheal’s stepfather took the two youngest boys and moved them to another part of Zambia. Another sister agreed to take the other brother to the capitol city. And that left Racheal.
A man approached the family and offered to pay them a small bridal price to marry Racheal, but after discussing this, the family opposed due to the fact that she hasn’t finished her education. Mulenga, Racheal’s cousin, mentioned New Day to the family. The family quickly agreed that Mulenga could take her and try to get her a job there or just put her in school somewhere, as nobody else wanted her.
So Racheal arrived at New Day today. The goal and vision of New Day is not to take 18 year old orphans; however, in this case, we felt that God wanted us to help this girl. She will be staying with a woman near the orphanage land until the end of January when she receives her Grade 9 Exam scores. If she did well, she will head to a girls boarding school near us and return to New Day on term breaks to help with the younger children.
Racheal’s story is the norm in Zambia. As Racheal climbed into bed last night and asked me to leave the door open, I knew that it was the first night in her life that she would sleep in a room by herself. She immediately bonded with Cambree and later told me that her youngest brother is the same age as Cambree. It will probably be years before she sees him again.
Though New Day is not set up nor has a goal of taking in older orphans, we do know that God has called us to Zambia to help hurting kids, and it feels like we have begun…
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