Marci & Henry’s Mission Trip to Zambia

Our summer mission trip to Zambia with Every Orphan’s Hope (EOH) was an outstanding success and a simply awesome experience.  We are so thankful to all of you who supported our trip with prayer and/or finances.  We really needed those prayers for this trip, and we could feel the prayers being lifted up for our protection as well as for the uplifting of orphans in Africa.  We are not sure where to begin telling of the wonderful and mighty works of the Lord there, but let’s just get started.  The plane travel to and from Zambia is so long that our actual time in country was only from Saturday August 6^th through Monday August 15^th. Sundays were church days at a wonderful Lusaka church (Deliverance Church), Monday through Friday were for construction of the eleventh EOH orphanage AND Bible Camp for 215 orphans, and Saturday the 13^th was spent visiting the orphans already in the existing orphanages.

Margaret, Zambian director of the EOH staff there, was just wonderful in many ways, but especially in orienting us to the EOH mission our first night there.  She explained that the orphanages being built are not just  buildings to provide for the children’s needs, but are intended to provide as much of a normal home environment as possible with typically eight orphans and one widow “mama” forming the family in each house.  Children there are free from fears and wants, something that is different from their previous lives.  They also get schooling and Bible instruction.

The first Sunday afternoon in Zambia we had the opportunity to see the local school (an hour ride from our guest house in Lusaka) where we would hold Camp Hope, which was much like vacation Bible school in the United States.  That afternoon we also walked a few miles from there out into the bush (that is the name the locals give to the countryside) to see some houses of local families.  The houses were made of adobe mud, were only one or two rooms, and had no conveniences whatsoever.  Cooking was done in another little building or thatch hut, and the toilet was just a hole in the ground.  Most of these families scratch out a living by raising a small patch of corn or turning small trees into charcoal to sell in Lusaka.  They don’t have any money to speak of and have no resources to send their kids to school.

On Monday August 8^th, Henry went to the construction site at Chongwe Village where the eleventh orphanage house (each is called “My Father’s House”) was to be built.  Only the foundation and a few rows of bricks had been laid.  Bob Sendgikoski, who serves as the EOH builder, split up the missionaries into the five construction teams, each with a local Zambian boss.  The first day’s progress was amazing, with the walls quickly rising head high.  Henry’s team worked with Vincent, building out one exterior corner and adjacent walls and windows.  Ultimately, this “My Father’s House” was completed by Friday.  On Saturday, the house was named “Molly’s House” in memory of Molly Mizerak, wife and mother to four of the primary construction workers on our mission team – John (husband), Chris (son), and daughters Sammy and Jamie.  What a legacy to Molly and what a blessing to eight orphans and their house “Mama”.

That same Monday, Marci started teaching Bible school to seventeen boys and girls aged ten.  She had no assistant teacher but had a great interpreter, Beatrice, who helped immensely.  None of the children spoke any English except Beatrice’s daughter Ruthie so an interpreter was a must.  There were more than 200 students who showed up at the camp, so after the first day the EOH staff asked for a few construction missionaries to come over to the camp to be teachers. Henry volunteered to help with the Bible school and found it to be very rewarding.  He assisted with an already formed class, with a young teacher named Samantha and an interpreter named Christa.  Their class had twelve students, aged nine to eleven.  These children were just wonderful to work with, being very well mannered and simply soaking up the Word of the Gospel.  At the end of the week, all of those children (Marci’s seventeen and Henry’s twelve) who had not done so previously in their lives ended up accepting Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.  What a blessing it was to be a part of this, having the Lord touch these young lives through our few words and His Holy Spirit.  Some of these children had not even heard of Jesus before, and they were so happy to know how much hope and saving grace He can bring to their lives.

In addition to teaching Bible school, Marci had double duty as the Camp Nurse, and her small “camp clinic” was so needed.  She was very glad she had packed the small amount of medical supplies that she did take with her.  She ended up treating Andsen who amputated the end of his toe while playing soccer, and James who had advanced chicken pox with approximately sixty infected sores.  With most children in Zambia having no immunizations, she also treated mumps, four more serious foot injuries, HIV/AIDS, and several cases of tuberculosis.  It was really a blessing to have Marci there doing her medical treatments and attending to the patients’ emotional and spiritual needs at the same time. Several missionary team members would gather to pray over these children for healing.

All too soon, our long week of work on Molly’s House and Bible camp came to an end.  On Saturday, August 13^th, we went to Chongwe Village of Hope (the location of most of the My Father’s Houses) to meet with the EOH orphans and mamas, to have a picnic with them, to generally celebrate the work that had been done, and to help the children fly almost a hundred kites.  Marci’s mother Myrna had made beautiful pillow cases for each of the mamas, and Marci presented them at that time.  They were so full of joy to have the bright pillow cases and to be remembered in that way.  All of us had great food, played games, flew kites, and had great fellowship.

On Sunday we again had church in Lusaka, went to a game reserve in the afternoon for a little decompression from all the cares and concerns that filled our hearts all those days with the orphans, and then packed up for the two day trip home.  Monday started the flights home, and after a layover in London we were back in Northern Virginia by 2 pm Tuesday.  What a whirlwind trip, exhausting but so very rewarding.  We will never forget the kids we met there, the friends we made there, or the wonderful works of the Lord we saw there.

In the way of afterthoughts, we can hardly wait to go back and again be a part of the good work being done there.  Marci sees a real need for medical services, and she also would like to get more shoes for the children.  Henry is ready to support her in those activities and to support the mission in any other way that the Lord directs us.  Again we are so thankful to all of you who supported us with prayers, and help, and funds.  For any of us to go there as “missionaries”, there must be “senders” who participate in the mission as supporters in prayers and finances.  Thank you for participating with us in this way.

May God Bless You,

Marci & Henry

CPC will be sending a group of student and adult missionaries to Zambia in July 2012. Keep watch for details about what God has planned for this group!