Midnight at the Oasis

OK, so more like 3:30 AM in the dining room. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NgYumBLjE8&feature=related Not Maria Muldaur's version, don't know if the cactus is my friend.

Heard from Liz, they are back to Choma with some great things coming before she comes home on Tuesday:

Just wanted to let you know that we just arrive back from Simwaanda this morning and are slowly recovering from a busy day in the village!

We did however successfully start three savings groups in the village! The people here have been amazing- and I have a Zambian family who wanted me top tell my US parents that they say hi and will miss me terribly :)

...life in the bush is so simple, yet so incredible! This trip has probably been the hardest thing I have experienced in awhile but God is SO faithful and has been so incredible at reminding me of His presence.

 

We are planning on visiting the savings and loan groups that were started last year and are thriving on Friday in Simaubi, and will be traveling to Livingstone to go to a game park and to Victoria Falls on Saturday! We leave fopr Lusaka on Sunday and will fly out on Monday to Johannesburg and then NY, to dulles, and finally I will be at RDU!

See you in ONE week!

LizzY

It was great to hear from Liz again.  Looking forward to hearing her voice and giving her a great big hug.  We had Liz's cousin and friend come down to visit us over the holiday weekend, as Abby put it, "Just isn't the same without Liz here".

So what am I doing up so early / late?  Well, my head hurt ... have some sort of infection under my scalp and it woke me up, did hot compresses and took 800mg Motrin, throbbing has ceased, so I'm going back to bed.  Don't have to tell any of you that I need my beauty sleep!  Bek graduates from high school June 12th (only 9 days away!).  Lucie and I go to her college orientation on the 27th and 28th ... She starts in mid-August, and she is already ordering her sheet sets and the like.  Both she and Rachel have been house sitting / dog watching this week.  No more little girls!  Pray for us, this is a real season of change, and we'll need guidance, peace and strength through it all.

Simwaanda or Bust: Away from communique's for the next 9 days

Won't hear from Lizzie over the next nine days.  She's actually in the villages (Simwaanda) teaching them about microfinance, delivering a curriculum to set up local savings and loans. Simwaanda is 27 miles out of Choma, along a "cow path" so internet cafe's are a lacking!  She'll work there with a partner (another student from Messiah College) and an interpreter.  She's asked for prayer, you see Liz usually speaks to one or both Lucie and I every day, sometimes several times a day.  She also emails, talks to friends, Pat, Abby ... and then there was the continuous drama of living on campus with deadlines, grades, job searching ... well, she has none of that right now.  It is a great time of introspection and relying on the Lord ... but all very scary just the same.  Can you take some time and ask that angels would minister to her and that she would feel His presence, very closely and very real?

Liz also has cankles ... which is not a technical term, but she does get swelling in her feet and they've been bothering her (aside from giving her less than Betty Grabel-esque looking legs, they can be quite uncomfortable).  Don't know if the tropical temps exacerbate the condition, but she is being hampered by the swelling feet.

Liz is in Zambia, alive and well

Hello my loves!

I just wanted to let you know that I am ALIVE :) and very well!

After 2 days of travel, and a day spent in London, we arrived in Lusaka Zambia this afternoon with everyone and all of the luggage! (woot woot!) I am sorry I couldn't get a hold of you (mum and dad) sooner- I meant to bring my London cellphone but forgot to pack it at the last minute!

We will be traveling to local MFIs starting tomorrow and will be leaving for Choma on Saturday. I will email again if I have access to internet however I am not sure when that will be!


I love you all and miss you terribly! If you could send up prayers for health and safety for the team, that would be fantastic! Currently I have not taken my malaria as I didnt want to get sick while traveling and my feet resemble sausages due to changing pressure in the planes and the inability to actually lie down at night for the past 2 days. haha. I'm hoping the swelling be go down by tomorrow!

 LizzY

Liz landed in the UK today, and is now en route to Ethiopia

From Adis-Abbaba she flies to Zambia.  We last spoke to her last night at around 10PM as she was boarding her plane from Dulles to Heathrow.

This picture was taken Sunday in Grantham PA.  If you want to see some more pictures, visit Pat's picassaweb site.  I'll get updates regarding Liz's adventures through the groups blog.

Graduation Day, May 15, 2010

We got to see Liz walk across the stage and get her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Messiah College. She graduated Magna Cum Laude, and with departmental honors. She worked hard these past four years and it paid off. Photos of the Graduation

She heads out to Zambia in a few days, and will return after she helps teach some microfinance courses to locals. Here is a link to the Zambia blog. They should post during the next 3 weeks.

When she comes back, she prepares for yet another departure to the Dominican Republic, where she has been offered a position with Hope International.  My little girl is not so little anymore.  Please pray for her as she travels to Africa, then Hispaniola.

HOPE International / Dominican Republic from Kendra Jones Morris on Vimeo.