Team Pics!

Me and my honey :)

This is what we do when teams are here...and when they're not here.. :)

The guys did everything on our project list! Here are shelves for the kitchen pantry.

Jodi with some cute New Day kids :)

Jodi handing out gifts to the kids. Here she is with Phillip. We let her, Reed, and Trevor give Mukuwa an English name, and they chose Phillip!

Kelitah has glasses!! Thank you Dr. Epp from Sayre, Oklahoma!

Margaret teaching the kids how to shuck maize

Reed and Blu with the kitchen accordion shutters they built

Jodi's mom made cute skirts that our staffers loved!

Reed needs a bigger lap!

Wheelbarrow!

Love that New Day sunset!!

Trevor and Kalenga doing some musician bonding!

Trevor and Mulenga built a ceiling for our school bathrooms in hopes to keep the snakes out!

Tire swings are fun for big people too!

Love this boy :)

Cambree & Axer :)

Christina working on a puzzle during Tutorials time at school

Pretty Cynthia

He's almost too big for this!

Debbie and her agriculture helper, Noah, planting strawberry plants!

Elizabeth

Shy Francis :)

New Believers!

Every Tuesday for the past 16 months, a group of women has been meeting at New Day for Bible study. We have been going through the book of Luke, in the hopes that these women who don't know Jesus will meet Him and He will become real to them! Last week, four of these women gave their lives to Christ! This is Dorica. She and her friend used to show up right at the end, but lately they have been some of the first ones there, with tons of questions!

This is my Lois, the women who cleans my house. She calls me her daughter, and I was SO excited to hear that she gave her life to Christ! The next morning, she told me (in Tonga) that Satan had been confusing and troubling her, so she decided, "Let's receive Jesus!" :)

This is Lilah. If you have been to New Day Church, then you remember the faithful man, Mubun, a faithful attender who only has one leg (he was baptized last August). Lilah is his wife, and he has been praying for her to accept Christ!

And the woman on the right is Erica. Not just any Zambian woman, but a traditional healer (also called a witch doctor). She has come with so many questions that Laurie has done an amazing job of answering. Laurie was able to lead her to the Lord and will soon begin discipleship with these women.

Satan is not happy! Please pray that these new believers will grow in their faith and that God will use them in a mighty way in Mapanza! Please pray for other women who come to the study to also make this decision to make Jesus Lord of their lives! (Eness, Abigail, Joyce, Sarister)

San Antonio Team

We are enjoying our San Antonio team of 3! Jodi, her son Reed, and her nephew Trevor are helping get a lot of things done at New Day! Reed, Blu, & Trevor building wardrobes for the Joy House (in matching tshirts :) They finished all 3 wardrobes in one day!

Jodi attended two Bible studies in Tonga on Tuesday! These are women from the New Day Women's Bible study

Trevor led music class in school - This Little Light of Mine!

Moonlight and Rainbow class at electives time!

The new school building is going up!

Teams!!!

It's summertime in the USA! Which means it's wintertime in Zambia, and it's volunteer time at New Day! I love having volunteer teams. I think it's interesting to meet new people and hear their stories, to greet repeat teams and see their reaction at what has been accomplished since they left, and of course, some good old American fellowship! It is also awesome to get to see New Day and Zambia through the eyes of someone else - it refreshes me and reminds me of why God called us here! If there is a hard part about having so many volunteer teams, it is the logistics! In 2012 alone, we have to figure out how to transport, house, and feed 110 volunteers! Teams that have over 8 people use an organization called ACTS which takes care of the feeding and transporting - a huge blessing to us! Teams with 8 people or less pay a daily fee to us and we do the feeding, housing, and transporting ourselves. Here is a glimpse of life before teams - a massive grocery trip to Livingstone to feed 2 teams over 2 weeks!

Happy Birthday x 5!

This past Thursday, we had a massive birthday for FIVE of our New Day Staffers! Abigail on May 3rd, Diana on May 9th, Hildah on May 13th, Wes on May 19th, and Carolyn on May 20th! We made special cakes for them of their faces!

They were all anxious about the New Day "water pouring" tradition, but Blu had something different up his sleeve for them! *insert evil laugh here* First, we made them come into the dining room and take a picture with their cake faces.

Then, we had them sit in 5 chairs all set up and we marched the New Day kids in for a special presentation. They did a skit and then we all sang Happy Birthday. At the end of the song, water came pouring down on them from the roof! Blu had rigged up a pvc pipe with 5 spigots to land on each of their heads. We have never seen them move so fast! It was AWESOME :)

Of course, then all of the kids got draggged into the water and it was complete chaos for awhile. I think we traumatized our new kids, Christina and Mukuwa! :) Check out Laurie's blog at www.wilcoxzambia.blogspot.com for some better pics of the party!

New Arrivals at New Day!!

Today is one of those days. One of those days where God nudges me and says "Hey, you know how this is sometimes hard? You know how you miss Sonic? You know how you are tired of dirt? You know how trying to communicate in another language is frustrating? It's worth it." Two new orphans arrived at New Day today, and we got to witness today being the first day of the rest of their lives. Christina is four years old, a double orphan. Mukuwa is five, and is also a double orphan. They are not related but lived in the same area. Their relatives brought them to New Day sometime last Fall and learned that the next house wasn't ready yet for kids. Once the house was done, and we had beds available, we did a follow-up visit, gathered infomation, and did medical check-ups on the kids. And here they are. Please pray for them as they settle in here, start school, and adjust to a new life. Please also pray for our other New Day kids (especially Axer!!) as they adjust to the changes and have to share some attention with their new "brother" and "sister." God is so good. Mukuwa, a tad bit overwhelmed :)

Christina with her new "mother" Margaret

In a dry and thirsty land...

We had NO trees when we moved here, so we planted some trees that are known for growing fast and providing LOTS of shade! This one is a jacaranda tree, which will bloom gorgeous purple flowers in September.

This one is a flamboyant tree, which blooms huge red flowers in November.

Here is the mango tree! We had to start over a few times because of the goats, but it is finally coming up! Also notice all of the nice grass starting to come in all over my yard!

This is Blu's peach tree that he grew from a single seed! We aren't really sure how to prune it, but it needs it badly!

I bought this plant about a year ago. It's slow-growing but I really like it!

These are my "Jerusalem flowers." Mrs. Choma brought me 3 tiny flowers last year and planted them and now they are looking good!

Here are some of my "elephant ears." I love these plants! One of my earliest memories were of the huge "elephant ears" at my babysitter, Beth Proctor's, house when I was about 4 years old!

Laurie's pretty flower beds!

This is a gorgeous plant on Laurie's porch - Wes spoils her and brings her home new plants and flowers every time he goes to town!

Look how tall these have gotten at Laurie's house!

New Vocabulary

Two years ago, we moved to Zambia permanently and started a huge construction project of New Day Orphanage. In that time, I have realized that my vocabulary has increased tremendously! Here are some words I know now that I would never have known if we hadn't moved to Zambia: channel iron L-beam diff footings lorry canter backload glow plugs ring beam PVC primer flex hoses spanner hip roof gable roof geyser corn force wire p-trap thread tape threader reducer gate valve I'm proud of myself :)