Final day!

As our final day in Lukulu comes to an end, we are writing this with heavy hearts. Today started with our last campfire prayer service at sunrise followed by a morning of tile washing and moving in the furniture to the dormitory. The girls who live there were able to come and meet us and see their newly remodeled home! To say that they were excited would be an understatement. We gave each girl a handmade blanket and a care package full of toiletries as well as keepsake items such as bracelets and lanyards for their room keys. We had to demonstrate how to use dental floss and the girls got a kick out of that! After we were finally done, Alexis, Megan, and Fr. Bob had a meeting with the parish council where they went over potential projects for future Love for Lukulu trips and the council once again extended their gratitude for us coming to spend time with them another year. Father Rene informed us that from now on they will be praying over the names of each of our donors during Sunday mass, we thought that was very special. After that, we had our farewell mass with the community led by Fr. Bob..everybody here will really miss his homilies. Then began the hardest part of the trip.. the goodbyes. The community held a celebration send off dinner for their "Michigan Family" where we danced, ate a final Lukulu meal, and both presented and were given special gifts. Speaking for the entire team, we fell even more in love with Lukulu and the people here on this trip and leaving is so hard on all of us. At the same time we are excited to return to the states and share our wonderful experiences with you all! We will be waking at 5am to get an early start to the 13 hour drive we have. We ask for your prayers for safe travels as well as prayers of blessing to all of the amazing people we have had the opportunity to meet here.

That's it for this year!

Musiyale Hande! (goodbye in the native language, Lozi!) 

The final product!! Girls dormitory!

The girls were so excited for their new home!

We love you Michael! We will miss you so much 

Sunday Funday!

Today started out with a weekly village celebration that lasts 4 hours....MASS!! Much different from back home where people arrive 10 minutes late and leave right after communion. Everyone arrives an hour early to socialize and prepare for prayer then stay an hour later to mingle and converse. During mass it is literally a huge celebration where the procession takes an hour alone. We loved being able to experience such amazing culture by singing and dancing along to the worship of Christ. We were given an incredible tribute by the children of the choir for our time here and how much they appreciate our trips to Lukulu every year. Following lunch we retreated to  the Zambezi and enjoyed a peaceful canoe ride down one of the most vast rivers in the world. We had the opportunity to swim again today and most definitely took advantage of it! Plenty of locals tagged along for the ride and swam right along with us! That concludes today's adventures! Thank you again for following our trip day by day! Tomorrow will conclude our trip and we couldn't be more thankful for our support system back home!! 

Days 8 and 9

First of all, sorry we missed the blog yesterday! It was a very busy and exciting day and we got a little side tracked. We are so thrilled to inform you that the dormitory is finally finished!! We only have a few finishing touches left to do on Monday. The morning started out with Tom, Megan, Alexis K, and Crispin flying through laying tiles. While they did that, the rest of the group completed the painting in each room and bathroom. After lunch, Tom, Steve, Alexis K, Lyssa, and Crispin finished the tile and couldn't be happier about it! Come Monday it will all be so worth it seeing the girls so excited about their new dorm that got a huge facelift!! The rest of the group got to go visit the children at the local preschool! We took toothbrushes and toothpaste for each child and the kids were so excited! They sang "Jesus loves me" to us and we played duck duck goose until it was time for them to get back to learning. From there, we went to mass led by Father Chris, another priest in the village who is from the northern part of Zambia. Then, it was time to celebrate! Hannah Metevia, one of our mission members was celebrating her 19th birthday with us so the sisters put on a dinner for the whole group! We had an amazing time and spent the evening laughing and making memories that will last a lifetime. 

Today we were able to sleep in until 10am since most of our work is now complete. Once we finally got moving, were off to the beach! It was about a 25 minute walk to get there but was well worth it. About 50 kids followed along with us and we spent the afternoon playing frisbee and swimming in the Zambezi..while being sure to watch out for crocodiles of course. We had a blast and it was definitely a well needed day of relaxation. Our last few days here will be spent enjoying the beauty of Lukulu and soaking up as much culture as possible!

Megan forcing Hannah over her fear of jumping in the Zambezi!

Happy birthday Hannah! So glad we got to share your special day with you :)

Mitchell doing a special handshake he made up with the help of his basketball team!

Shoutout to everyone keeping up with our blog and what we're doing here in Lukulu.. We are so thankful for your love and support! 

Day 7

This morning began with a prayer service at sunrise around a bonfire. We sang Amazing Grace and offered up to God the prayers that were on our hearts. This is an especially amazing experience whilst sitting beside the Zambezi River, which any of us can attest is one of the most beautiful views in the world. 

From there, we enjoyed breakfast and were then off to the Mothers Milk Program! Today sister pat planned a special visit from some of the children that have already been discharged from the program. After witnessing the new additions to the program who are slowly recovering from being severely malnourished it was so cool to see all of these happy, healthy little kids running around and playing soccer, catch, and using hula hoops! The progress they have made is absolutely outstanding. Sister turned to us and said "these are the babies whose lives you have saved thanks to your fundraising efforts back home," what she humbly forgets to recognize is that this program wouldn't even exist without her and her diligent following to the call God placed on her life. We are beyond thankful for her! 

After visiting the program and playing with all of the children it was back to work on the dormitory. Some of the group pushed along with the tiling with the help of Crispin, while the rest of the gang continued to paint! We are starting to think this paint covering our bodies from the splatter won't ever wash off! 

Megan and Alexis were then off to the traditional Lukulu dinner with Katendi, the mother of Nyambe. He was one of the kids from Lukulu that we sponsored to come back to the United States and attend SVSU. 

We are looking forward to tomorrow when we get to celebrate Hannah's Birthday at the sisters house with cake and a great meal! 

Thanks for your prayers and interest in the work happening here, God bless!

This kid showed off his awesome skills!

Lol Dave are you jealous?? Katendi says hi and she missed you this year! 

Robby and Mitchell making targets for the kids to hit with the ball! They loved it!

Shoutout to the Kingsbury family! Good luck on the grand opening of Driven Sunday! Love you all try to keep moms blood pressure down for me -Alexis

 

Day 6

Today started out with breakfast followed by over half of the group working on the dormitory and getting closer and closer to the end result! Steve made sure we kept on task and helped anywhere and everywhere. Tom and Megan took lead on the beginning of the tiling! Tom was showing Megan the ropes however she caught on quite fast! While the rest worked diligently to finish each coat of paint! It's amazing seeing the focus and determination from our group sun up to sun down. We know how important this is to the girls and their safety so we are so happy we took this on as a project! 

Alexis K, Hannah, and Megan traveled with Sr. Pat high and low to visit babies who have been discharged from the program in good health. It was incredibly moving to see the pride each guardian shows as Sr. Commends them for their great care taking. Sr wanted us to experience the distance some women walk to get the milk for their babies of which could be up to 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. Each child received a blanket that Cathy, lyssa's grandma, made, biscuits, a toy car, and a dress made by the ladies of gage town! Their smiles lit up the village and it was a blessing to be able to witness such pure happiness. 

Alexis N and Sarah took the afternoon to spend quality time with the children of the village! While they were in the middle of painting nails a donkey rode by and they took the chance to hop on and go for a ride! Kendal braided a locals hair which was a very funny experience for the village kids! Mitchell ran a basketball camp with several eager players!! He had a great time and mostly focused on fundamentals as well as played 3v3! Edward and robin were his star players for the day. 

Thank you so much for the continuous love and support! Please spread the word of our mission you never know who you could reach out to that just needs an extra nudge :)