Through Kelli's Eyes

We love to have volunteers come and work with us. We love to see things through their eyes and watch them as they learn about the culture in Zambia and things that strike them as interesting. Kelli has been emailing her friends and family back home about her time here. I asked her if she would write the blog. Here is what she has observed and learned since coming to Nyimba. This is her email home on Tuesday.

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to provide an update on activities going on here in Africa. Today was a very busy day. The sun came up bright and early at 6:30am and there was no going back to bed. I'm still recovering a bit from jet lag and from all the daily activities and therefore I had 2 power naps! As for today, we walked through the heart of Nyimba and went to the market. I've tried to learn some of the key phrases and the African ladies laugh at me as I say things incorrectly!  Joy says that they aren't laughing at me, they are happy that I'm attempting to speak their language whereas many Americans do not even try. They called today my day of orientation or my day of learning a bit about the culture. In some ways, this place is very much like a soap opera! You learn about who is sleeping with who and who is jealous of who and so forth. I guess some things are similar in all cultures.

We also went to the prison to visit with Josias and he seems to be very humble and a person with a gentle spirit. He has been falsly accused of murder and won't even get to state his case until July 26th. The other sad circumstance that we learned today is that shortly after he was imprisoned, his son died of malaria. He is truly an individual in need of great prayer. After visiting with Josias, we went back to the market to try to get some scraps of material.

They make these rugs here that I want to learn to make so Joy and Zeria are going to teach me how!

As for food, we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast and I also tasted a bit of native honey and it was FABULOUS! For lunch we had shima and rape (which is what they call the mixture of greens, onions and tomatoes). I will definitely try to make the rape at home but still don't know that I could make the shima! For dinner, we had chicken pot pie and again it was delicious as well! I have not been in need of food and so far all digestion has gone well! :)

Once dinner ended, we did a Bible study (Acts 1,2) and then we also added Daniel and Revelation to the study agenda for the rest of my stay! Kendall and Joy are extremely knowledgeable about the bible and I feel like a fish out of water but again, one of my main purposes for coming was to reestablish my faith and reinvigorate my walk with the Lord!

Tomorrow, we will be going to a "Women's Meeting". Joy did not organize this one so we are basically going to crash in and see what it is all about. It will be interesting to see what happens. I will also be participating in evangelism and sharing of my testimony in the upcoming days! Please pray for me as I need to learn to step back and let the Holy Spirit lead! The spirit realm is quite prevalent here. It can be felt in the people you meet and even just walking through the market. It is very different than what we experience in the US. Things here are "spirit" driven (sometimes not of the Holy Spirit) whereas in the US, we don't always recognize the spirit world because we get so involved in our own actions and we are a "do it yourself" society.