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 :) 

Day 5

Today was full of adventures! This morning started with mass led by Father Bob at Sister Pat and Sister Liz's house. From there, we were able to experience once again the wonders that God is doing through Sister Pat and the Mothers Milk Program. Twenty babies came with their mothers or caretakers in order to receive formula and HEPS, which is a high energy protein supplement made by the women of the village. These are used when the mother does not have enough Breast milk to properly nourish their babies, or, when the mother has passed away in childbirth or is too sick from HIV to breastfeed. Often times in this case, a grandmother or sibling of the child will take over care of them. The babies we saw today were all healthy and thriving because of this program and the amazing things it is doing. 

While some stayed with the mothers and babies at the program, another group went to work with the new industry started by Lukulu's current priest, Father Rene Talabo. This industry is brick making in order to build new housing on the parish grounds. It has created many jobs and is now a thriving business here! Our group was happy to help by moving the bricks from where they are being made to neat piles of 1000 bricks. The goal is to make 60,000 and they are currently at 3,000 finished. Although they have a long way to go, the workers are thankful for the work and were extremely excited to demonstrate to us how they are made! 

Following this morning's activities we continued to make progress on the girls dormitory! The painting is coming along nicely and we are excited to begin laying tile starting tomorrow.

Before dinner, Father Bob, Tom, and Steve sat outside entertaining one group of children with the "Amen" song that is sung in mass while Hannah and Megan played with another group! Mitchell spent time at the basketball court running some drills and playing with the boys and they had an awesome time! They said he is the best coach ever! 

Now, the group is getting ready to head to a special presentation of a traditional African dance put on by some of the locals. We are very excited and hope to get to show off our own moves..that will surely get a laugh. 

We are looking forward to what God has in store for us tomorrow.. 

(Robby posing with triplets on the Mothers Milk Program since he is also a triplet! Ps.. Miss you Joey, Nico and Matthew!) 

(Shoutout to Lyssa's grandma Cathy for the beautiful blankets she made! The mothers and babies absolutely loved them!)

(Sister Pat and her little buddy who has come so far on the program)

(An orphan child who is currently on the program and thriving)

(Sister was so impressed with Mitchell and Robby's excitement to learn more about the program!)

(Sho and Alexis passing out biscuits to the families) 

(Lunch consisted of minnows again which Alexis was brave enough to try!)

Shoutouts:

Steve and Kristin want to tell Cathy and Alex Kueffner they love and miss them both!!

Day 4

Today started out with an early mass given by Fr. Bob at 7am. During his homily, father explained how he first ended up in Lukulu and how we have to listen to the urges God places on our hearts to do something. We all have a call from God and great things come when you follow the plans he has for your life. It was exciting to think that less than a year ago we all decided to answer the call and commit to this mission trip. Now here we are, surrounded by beautiful people inside and out, working and loving and growing in faith.

After mass and a breakfast complete with bread, oatmeal, and hard boiled eggs, we got right to work on the girls dormitory. We made great progress and completed the long hallway and 3 bedrooms before finally calling it a day. We had many people in the village eager to help us with this project including Crispin, the local who also volunteered his time to complete the basketball court with us last year. He made it a point to ask where John Billette is this year and asked for us to say hi for him! 

Around 2pm, some of the girls had the opportunity to head to the village of Simakumba for the Mothers Milk Program. When they arrived, Sister Pat began meeting with the babies who have been on the program to record their progress. The kids each received toys, biscuits, a beautiful blanket made by Lyssa's grandma, and a new outfit graciously made by the women Gagetown, MI. It was very rewarding to see the children come so far who had once been so malnourished they were on the verge of death. They are now happy and healthy little kids! After handing out all of the gifts for the children on the program, we thankfully had enough biscuits leftover to give to the rest of the children in the village. 

The mothers were so thankful for this lifesaving program funded by Love for Lukulu and you all, the donors, that they generously presented us with gifts of their own. This meant so much because even though they have so little, they were so happy to give us what they had as a way of saying thank you. 

We are now about to head over to a bonfire with some of the locals to unwind and enjoy delicious popcorn and Mosi (African beer) in order to get the full cultural experience! 

Tomorrow we are looking forward to joining Sister Pat here in Lukulu to meet many of the babies currently on the program and can't wait to tell you all about it in tomorrow's blog! 

Goodnight and God bless! 

(A handmade truck made by one of the children, amazing skill!)

Shoutouts:

Hey Nana, grandma and grandpa, mom, dad, Tom and all the rest of my AWESOME family... Thanks for being so supportive!! Love and miss you 

-Hannah 

Hey mom and dad! Take good care of Mia (my puppy) for me while I'm away!! Miss and love all of you! 

-Meg

Sunday's Adventures

Hello there! Today one group traveled at 7am to an outreach village to continue our mission and share our faith. We started out the trip with a intense game of duck duck goose.  Alexis Notter and Sarah did a wonderful job reading a children's bible story to the group. Ann then related the bible story that was read to our faith and experience as missionaries. As we were taking seats in the church, it quickly began to fill up.  Therefore, we had to continue mass outside. This is where Tom and Mitchell excelled at dancing, just like the locals. Kendal and Shomari were presented a tied up goat along with many other gifts from the generous people of the village. We then were able to present all of our gifts to the locals such as clothes, school supplies, and some fun games that the village of Kamilende was very excited about. After church was finished we were able to play some soccer games and paint the children's nails. This heartfelt experience was one that will never be forgotten. 

The other group was hoping to leave for Muyondoti village at 7:00 but our land cruiser fuel pump didn't cooperate so with the help of our mission mechanics we were on our way by 7:45. Our team crossed the Zambezi River on a ferry and eventually arrived at Muyondoti village around 9:15. From there, we hung out with kids until the school was cleaned out and church was set up. In this village, 4 or 5 other church outposts joined up for mass and a day with their michigan missionaries. A moving mass, literally and figuratively, was the start of our day. Father Lazarus had us sit up next to the alter where he would whisper to Steve in English what was taking place and Steve would pass it down to the rest of the team. After mass we had lunch at the assistant principals house. Chicken, rice, nshima, yum yum! Sassa and Harriot graciously traveled with us to cook the lunch we had. As well as introduced us to the Zambian way of dessert. Alexis, Megan, and Robby found their adventurous side and indulged in rice, spoiled milk, and sugar for a Zambian delicacy. To their surprise it was decently scrumptious. Although their stomachs didn't exactly agree! Always exciting to soak up the culture of the locals. After lunch we split the team up with Megan, Hannah, and Lyssa hanging out with the youngest kids and playing soccer, doing the limbo, and painting beautiful fingernails. Father Lazarus  wanted to make sure that the mission team addressed the young adults as well so Alexis K, Kristin, Robert, and Steve met with 60 or 70 between the ages of 16-35. They introduced themselves, talked about why we they were there and shared a personal story along with a reading from the bible. Each of them tried to emphasize the value of faith, education and hard work. Robert was very passionate in his moments at the podium about this and seemed to really make an impression. They all took turns speaking and eventually answered questions from the elders. Afterwards father Lazarus thanked us for relaying a critical message of staying in school, finishing your eduction, working hard, and thanking The Lord for this life he has given to us. Father Bob stayed back in Lukulu today and had two different masses where his homily had the whole church laughing..they love when Fr. Bob gives mass here in Lukulu! 

It was an amazing day and we are very excited to get back to work on the girls dormitory tomorrow as well as spending time helping with the Mothers Milk Program! 

We can't thank you enough for your continuous prayers and support. 

(Our greeting by numerous children upon our return on the ferry)

(Locals teaching Robby to play their handmade instruments)

Shomari also wants to give a shout out to her mom and grandma for being there for her throughout her journey to get here! 

Day 2

Hi everyone!

Today we made great progress in the girls dormitory! The dorm is used for vulnerable girls attending school to have a safe place to sleep and study. They travel great distances to get to school and most places that are for rent have the option of using their body as payment. So the parish created this safe house to prevent any of this corruption from occurring. We cleaned, scrubbed, dusted, and painted the celling and walls. We had amazing helpers from the village pitching in and giving a helping hand anywhere they could. We also had some wonderful entertainment from the kids of the village as well. Ann, Kendal, Lyssa, Shomari, Alexis Notter, and Sarah had some of the kids draw pictures of whatever their heart desired. They loved being able to draw and make us "Macuwa" smile. Throughout the day we tied in Father Bob's homily of "God did it" and expressed that our faith and determination come from our Lord! Thank you for continuing to follow! Tomorrow some of us will venture across the river to spread the word of God!