A great case of the Mondays

Happy Monday! We started out our day with prayer around the campfire as a mission team. In our reflection we talked about learning to have more faith in God and not to doubt him. We once again used this reflection during our daily projects. 

Many of us started our day off either working on the basketball court or handing out dresses to the local girls. We each found fulfillment in each thing we did.

Our basketball court is moving along nicely as Bob, Dave and John have taken a great lead on the project and have also spent much time teaching the local people how to pour concrete as well. The community once again came together to help our mission team accomplish a days work. 

Over the course of our trip so far many of us have had the opportunity to create special bonds with some of the people here. Today we were able to hand these kids new clothing and shoes. It brought tears to many of our eyes to see just how one new dress or one new pair of shoes lit up their faces. It truly is amazing to see just how one little thing can make a difference to them. One little girl in particular, Katunga, received a new pair of tennis shoes after wearing no shoes all day. We watched as she smiled ear to ear showing off her new shoes and running home. Later that day she came back with a note from her father, Dominic, saying just how thankful he was that we had done that for his daughter. Again the appreciation in this town is overwhelming. If that doesn't perfectly define mission work I'm not sure what does.

Furthermore Sr. Pat yet again makes an incredible opportunity possible...

Before we get into that we would just like to take a moment to give "appreciation" to how wonderful Sr truly is. She is the most humble and modest nun you will ever meet. When we arrived at the airport she introduced herself as Sr. Pat and nothing else. She failed to mention that she is saving thousands of innocent lives and cherishing the sanctity of life everyday. She has brought light to so many people's darkness and has shown a brighter future for many. Lukulu would look tremendously different if it were not for this angel on Earth. We are so eager to support an amazing cause founded by an even more amazing woman. This short paragraph does not even begin to explain how grateful we truly are but it's a start. Thank you Sr for being you. 

Anyhow, today Sheri and Alexis were blessed enough to be able to go to the village homes of the mothers and children who have been discharged from the program and also some who currently are on the program. Sr wanted us to experience the distance some women walk to get the milk for their babies of which is 8 hours there and 8 back. Just to give you a visual that is walking through flooded plains, sand, in smoldering heat, while having a baby tied to their back. These women are incredible. 

We took flip flops, beanie babies, bracelets, and dresses for the children and adults. To say this was an experience of a lifetime would be an understatement. We were again given gifts and songs of appreciation and were overwhelmed by the act of kindness. This opportunity makes everything come together and helps you realize the work we do back home is undoubtedly impacting a precious life across the world.   

Our team continue to work on the library setting up the computers and finishing painting. Others finished up our playground project by putting up a tire swing for all the preschool kids to play on. 

Today seemed very special to all of us. We all were able to impact many kids lives and watch just how much Christ lives in them.

As a tradition Dave, Megan, and Alexis had the opportunity to have dinner with Nyambe's family. Nyambe is the local that we funded to further his education in America. They had a great time enjoying a fantastic meal with great company. 

After dinner, Bob, Sherri, Suzanne, Liz, Hannah and Lisa all took blankets and earrings to the local girls in the dorms. Again the appreciation was wonderful and we were so glad to be able to give them such great gifts.

Tomorrow is our last day of projects. We have a lot to accomplish but we look forward to once again being as Christ and seeing Christ in this town. 

God is good all the time!

Relaxation Sunday

Hello again everyone!! 

With it being Sunday the whole village celebrates mass in the Sancta Maria mission. It truly is a celebration with dancing, singing, laughter, and worship. 4 hours go by and you don't even realize it. We had the privilege to witness 15 teenagers being baptized which was so incredibly moving to see the youth so determined in their faith. To our surprise the children of the parish dedicated a welcoming and appreciation song to us singing "kumbaya my Lord" and "Jesus Loves You" the children were absolutely amazing and brought tears to our eyes. We have never felt so at home, we truly consider each and every local our family. In response, our group sang a song of thanks as well. It most definitely did not compare to the former song but it's the thought that counts :) Dave and Alexis gave a final speech thanking everyone for  their amazing hospitality and stated how much faith we bring home with us each year. 

During the afternoon many of us got our hair corn rowed by the local woman. Once again the people here showed us just how kind they are by taking the time out of their Sunday to do this for us

After church, the kids were eager to spend some energy so we brought out the jump ropes and soccer balls. Suzanne, Hannah, Megan, Nico and Joey taught the kids how to jump rope and, after that, we learned a few things in an intense soccer game with the older boys. It is always so much fun watching the children interact with one another and with us as well. They think the way we do and say things is so funny and spend a lot of time giggling at us. We enjoy entertaining them in any way possible and always have a good time no matter what the activity is! It's incredible to know that even with a language barrier, something as simple as jump rope is the common denominator between our smiles. 

Also this evening, we had the experience of a lifetime when we were able to take canoes that have been carved out of logs down the Zambezi River at sunset. They carried us from Lukulu across the river to the other side where we were able to get out of the canoes and walk around. The sand on the other side is so clean that it squeaks beneath your feet when you walk. It was so relaxing and beautiful to watch the sun setting on the horizon and showed us once again just how profound and magnificent God's presence is in this place. We are so thankful to Sr. Pat for arranging this experience for us.

Thank you again for tuning in God Bless everyone, keep up the prayers!! God is good all the time!! 

5th day in Lukulu

Hello everyone,

We began our day by an hour and a half car ride to Mbanga to celebrate Eucharist with the village. On the rigorous journey there, Fr. Chibwe's vehicle got a flat tire, demonstrating the gospel from Thursday and how sometimes there are obstructions to our goals, but gods plan always comes together in the end. Due to distance and lack of transportation, this parish only receives Eucharist once a year. We had the privilege to witness Christ within them today. 

 

Again, we were able to receive the incredibly gracious gifts from the village. The ladies of the village made us a generous lunch, and sang to us upon departure from Mbanga. 

We ended our relaxed day by going to the old and new market of Lukulu with the help of Rafael, Michael, and Makai. We observed the night life of the locals after sundown and ended our night around the fire. 

We wish Alisha Grzegorczyk a very happy birthday from her favorite missionaries! 

Thank you for the people at home who are keeping up with the blog and our daily activities. Your love and support carries us a long way. May God's love be with you always. God is good all the time!

4th day of Projects

Hello again everyone!

As always we began our day with our daily prayer service around the bonfire with our guest of honor being Sr. Pat. 

Ann, Liz, Alexis, Lisa, Suzanne, Sherri, Megan, and Hannah found a more suitable project for themselves by painting the library walls and shelves bright primary colors. Creating a more inviting experience for school teachers and children to further their education. We have Father Chibwe to thank for the colorful paint he traveled to 5 different markets to get us the paint that we thought would best fit. The hospitality again is unreal.  In addition we have a donation from Trent Grzegorczyk's former business consisting of three flat screen computers that are being installed in the library as well. 

Sherri, Megan, Joey, Liz, Matthew, and Alexis were able to visit the village of Simakumba to see the children (past and present) on the mothers milk program. The generosity and appreciation from the mothers and gaurdians is overwhelming. Our group took presents consisting of donated beanie babies, necklaces, toy cars, handmade dresses made by the ladies of gagetown, and drinks. To our surprise we were reciprocated with the most gracious of gifts. With how "little" they have it tugs at your heart strings when the ladies danced and brought us beans, nuts, pumpkins, and casaba root. When we say "little" we use the word very loosely because we come to Lukulu Zambia we have so much to learn and gain from the beautiful locals here. They have so incredibly much spiritually and we always come home with even more than we've brought. 

Thank you again so much for staying tuned feel free to share! God bless and keep up all the prayers! God is good all the time! 

Happy birthday Josie!! -Suzanne

3rd day of Projects

Hello everyone! We are on our third day of our mission trip in lukulu. The word of our day was appreciation. Our day was filled with appreciation starting out with prayer around the camp fire. Our reflection talked about how sometimes we have little patience with old ways and customs. Sometimes it is better to let go of those ways to make the most out of the situations given to us. 

In the morning Suzanne, Liz, and Lisa went to the local preschool to read to the children. For Suzanne, a second grade teacher, reading to the classrooms was as eye opener because she believed she had it hard with 25 kids in a classrooms but the teachers here have double or triple that amount. They were very inspiring. 

Also many of us had the joy to meet many of children that have been discharged from mothers milk. We were able to play soccer with all these children including twins that would have not survived without the donations from everyone back home. As much as we are thankful for your help in donations, the people in the program are just as appreciative. We were thanked through emotional words and song. 

Throughout the whole day many of our missionaries worked on the basketball court with many of the local people. Through the grace of a community and john and Dave leading this project we have made more progress today then we planned to. John took the lead to teach many of the local people some of which were children how to mix and pour concrete. Without John's faith and skills along with Dave's leadership this project would not be as successful as it is. We look forward to sharing the progress of this project throughout the rest of our trip. 

Later in the evening our missionary group gathered at church where we co lead the mass. Robert read, Matthew gave communion and the rest of the team took the intiative to sing (please look for our YouTube video coming soon) 

After mass we went to Sister Pat's and Sister Elizabeth's for dinner to celebrate the Feast of St. Ignatius. This is where we continued to grow as a mission. We reflected on the appreciations we have on each other as well as the appreciation we have for those back home and for the people in Lukulu. Overall, we agree that the appreciation has been overwhelming and has reminded each of us why we have come to this mission. 

Lastly, we celebrated Hannah turning 18 today (Hi Nana). Hannah spent her day giving to those in this town by leading over 100 children in songs and dance.

Thank you again for all those have given to this mission. We appreciate all of your help. God bless and we look forward to sharing more tomorrow! God is good all the time! 

Second graders at Kolb Elementary Mrs. Billette has toliet paper.

2nd day in Lukulu

Mousahili (hello) everyone! 

As always we start our day with prayer. With mass being celebrated in the evening we had a prayer service around a bonfire which is a first for the Love for Lukulu mission group. Today our reflection of the readings greatly applied to our trip as we let go of all of our materialistic things and focus on what really matters when it comes to creating a Christ centered life. When you see the smiles of the children and young adults from just simply holding their hand it really makes you reconsider what is most important in life. 

Suzanne, Joey, Lisa, Hannah, and Megan went to read to the second graders only to have plans change last minute. So instead the team decided to read in the middle of the concourse. Joey read chicka chicka boom boom to about 100 children. Their smiles during this time and laughter brought a lot of joy to everyone's eyes. 

In the afternoon our mission team was able to tour the local hospital and preschool. At the hospital we were greeted by a smiling doctor and we were able to see how they make good with what materials they have. At the preschool we got to see their classes and how some teachers teach over 52 students in the morning and then 52 other students in the afternoon. They again amazed us with how they do with what they have and enjoy every minute of their jobs. 

After our projects we played volleyball with many of the local older high schoolers. Joey, Bob, Matt and Alexis played on one team while Megan, nick, Robert and Lisa played on other with the locals. We each had our own experiences but we all enjoy how fun and competitive it was. The people in Lukulu always show us how to have fun regardless of how good you are at something. Brother Zach is very passionate about empowering youth through sports. It gives them something to escape from poverty, lack of confidence, and over all be apart of something. It's amazing how regardless of the language barrier we still could come together as a team and encourage each other. 

While the older kids played sports the younger kids had the privilege to color and get their nails painted thanks to Liz, Ann, Sherri, and Suzanne. By the grace of God and some help from the locals they were able to tame 150+ kids. 

Lastly, we visited the high school girls dormitory that the mission team from 2012 helped reconstruct. The girls were so extremely excited that we visited them and had plenty of songs and dances set up for us! One of the songs being "Happy Birthday" to the wonderful Hannah Metevia who turns 18 tomorrow!! Can't wait to share all the wonderful memories she makes tomorrow! 

Thank you for continuing to read and share our blog please keep us and the people of Lukulu in your prayers! God is good all the time!!!

Sup Allie -Joey 

Hey Kristen -Matthew

Hi Madi -Robby Rob 

1st day of projects

Hi again everyone! Today was our first full day in Lukulu. We started it out with mass in the Loreto sisters home. Father Chibwe's homily explained how when in doubt to trust Jesus to lead you. Also he stressed the importance of listening to everyone you that come in contact to. We applied this to our daily projects by any doubt we may have had we gave it up to God knowing he would make it into something successful. This was very evident that God is most definitely with us during our basketball court reconstruction. It has home very smoothly so far and we hope it continues

Today we also had the opputunity to see the mothers milk program operate. It was wonderful to meet the mothers and children that many of our donations have gone to. We spent a lot of time holding the babies and understanding the history of how they have gotten stronger and gained weight since being part of the program. We also had the chance to learn about the mothers and guardians and how they have traveled days to visit this program every Tuesday. We are more than happy to fund this every year and we are blessed to have sister Pat lead this program for us. 

As the day went on many of us were trying to understand what to do next and try to understand what we wanted to do with the kids. Many of us sat talking about this and as we walked outside we all worked together to create a volleyball court and play games with the kids. One of the best memories for Lisa, Hannah and Megan was trying to teach the children the chant "head and shoulders, knees and toes" only to have some of the kids already know it and we ended up having a huge group join in. As much as we are trying to help the kids, the kids are teaching us about always being kind to others and making the most out of every situation. 

We have arrived!!

Hello everyone,

After 3 long days of travel we have finally arrived in Lukulu Zambia. We have been blessed with a great welcoming from both Lusaka and Lukulu. We are incredibly grateful for the hospitality from the parish priests as well as great driving from Sr. Pat and her helpers! Please continue to keep us in your prayers and we will give a better update tomorrow!

God is good all the time!