We finished up a wonderful week with EOH.
The home at My Fathers House was finished with a roof. The family who financed the home in memory of their wife/mother were on the team this week and they were able to hang a dedication plaque in her honor.
We finished strong at Camp Hope with all the children so excited about their time! Many accepted Christ during the week. I was able to lead 11 from my class to the Lord, with others having similar reports. Now the local churches will go and see these children and begin follow-up.
Zambia has definitely left an impact on the Cornerstone team and we will leave a piece of our hearts as well.
We are going to finish up our time seeing some of the beauty of the country with Samantha's parents. we're looking forward to our next adventure in Africa.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Building Blessings
Building Blessings
Monday morning, our work began in earnest. Dave, Samantha, Bob and I all began on the construction crew. The team of 18 were divided into teams of 4 and each team had a young man assigned to us who were skilled at working with the block construction, with a couple guys assigned to wheelbarrow the blocks over to the house from the area they were made. Bob Sendigoski gave us an overview of the process and let us go.
Samantha and I thought the bathroom would be a good place for our group, after all it's small, how many mistakes could we make in a room that size? We soon realized that with long, straight walls, a person could lay a straight row pretty quickly. Corners and doorways required more time as the blocks had to be marked and carried over to the cutter, to be cut and part of the bottom area had to be chiseled out. This was the dirtiest, enjoyable, fun job that any of us have had for some time.
The blocks were up 12+ courses when we left, making for a great building day!
We ate food prepared by some of the EOH Mamas for lunch and Boss Builder Bob, gave us a tour of the chicken run and village and we went into one of the completed homes. It was so nice and such a contrast to the homes we had seen the day before in the Camp Hope area. After lunch we had a free minutes to play with the EOH orphans and learned some new games. Dave says he's going to bring one back for his CBC kids to play, so be prepared!
Our Cup Runneth Over
Due to the overwhelming number and ages of children at Camp Hope, the construction team was asked some of us would be able to switch from building to camp, so Dave and I became children's workers.
Tuesday was a wonderful day for meeting and working with the kids. Dave has 10, 10-17 yr olds and I am in the youngest group, ages 6-8. These are some of the sweetest, most loving children you could ever meet. The highlight for me today was after speaking through an interpreter all day, we were trying to settle the children down and went into a small classroom at the school EOH is using. I asked if any of the children would go up front and sing for us. After a few songs, a 7 yr old got up and in perfect English, started to sing The Lords Prayer. It was hard to hold back the tears. She followed it with a song about how it was time for Christ to return and she didn't the month or day or hour but it would be soon. My heart melted.
Dave says his highlight was getting to teach 2 -3 Bible stories and the children were asking for more! You can't beat that!
Samantha and Bob kept on building and the team is within 3 courses of block of being ready for the roof! Mary says this is the quickest one has been built by any team! The team also was able to go to a church in the village and give ten Bibles to the congregation from Smithville Bible Church. Samantha has pictures that will be posted soon. Zoom Mamas from the church were so happy, they began lifting the Bibles up and singing praises to the Lord!
As you can tell, Tuesday was a great day to be in Zambia.
Monday morning, our work began in earnest. Dave, Samantha, Bob and I all began on the construction crew. The team of 18 were divided into teams of 4 and each team had a young man assigned to us who were skilled at working with the block construction, with a couple guys assigned to wheelbarrow the blocks over to the house from the area they were made. Bob Sendigoski gave us an overview of the process and let us go.
Samantha and I thought the bathroom would be a good place for our group, after all it's small, how many mistakes could we make in a room that size? We soon realized that with long, straight walls, a person could lay a straight row pretty quickly. Corners and doorways required more time as the blocks had to be marked and carried over to the cutter, to be cut and part of the bottom area had to be chiseled out. This was the dirtiest, enjoyable, fun job that any of us have had for some time.
The blocks were up 12+ courses when we left, making for a great building day!
We ate food prepared by some of the EOH Mamas for lunch and Boss Builder Bob, gave us a tour of the chicken run and village and we went into one of the completed homes. It was so nice and such a contrast to the homes we had seen the day before in the Camp Hope area. After lunch we had a free minutes to play with the EOH orphans and learned some new games. Dave says he's going to bring one back for his CBC kids to play, so be prepared!
Our Cup Runneth Over
Due to the overwhelming number and ages of children at Camp Hope, the construction team was asked some of us would be able to switch from building to camp, so Dave and I became children's workers.
Tuesday was a wonderful day for meeting and working with the kids. Dave has 10, 10-17 yr olds and I am in the youngest group, ages 6-8. These are some of the sweetest, most loving children you could ever meet. The highlight for me today was after speaking through an interpreter all day, we were trying to settle the children down and went into a small classroom at the school EOH is using. I asked if any of the children would go up front and sing for us. After a few songs, a 7 yr old got up and in perfect English, started to sing The Lords Prayer. It was hard to hold back the tears. She followed it with a song about how it was time for Christ to return and she didn't the month or day or hour but it would be soon. My heart melted.
Dave says his highlight was getting to teach 2 -3 Bible stories and the children were asking for more! You can't beat that!
Samantha and Bob kept on building and the team is within 3 courses of block of being ready for the roof! Mary says this is the quickest one has been built by any team! The team also was able to go to a church in the village and give ten Bibles to the congregation from Smithville Bible Church. Samantha has pictures that will be posted soon. Zoom Mamas from the church were so happy, they began lifting the Bibles up and singing praises to the Lord!
As you can tell, Tuesday was a great day to be in Zambia.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Good evening. We are here in Zambia and are fortunate to have the opportunity to get online from Samantha's parents home. The guest house where we are staying, has a very weak connection if you sit on the floor a few feet from the office door (so we're told) but haven't seen anyone able to connect.
We arrived after two long flights, with a lovely few hour subway and walking tour of London, in between. All of our luggage and the tools and supplies we brought, made it with us. Saturday we arrived very early in the morning and took a much Medes afternoon nap. After supper, we heard from the Zambian Director of Every Orphans Hope about how God is working here. We also saw some of the 'Mamas' and several of the orphans from one of the homes. They have there first orphan starting at the university soon and he would like to study law and work here in Zambia. He has a sponsor who is covering his tuition here and they are all quite proud of this young man! It was a blessing to see some of the 'fruit' of EOH.
This morning we went to the 7:30am church service. It was a great time of singing and worship. The Pastor spoke on 1 Corinthians 13. Considering that our goal here is to show love to Gods children here, it was very fitting to hear about how we are to truly love.
In the afternoon we spent a short time at a marketplace, much like a swap meet, where everyone wanted you to stop and look at their wares. We bought a couple things from a sweet young lady and then headed out for the day's highlight, Chongwe village, where Camp Hope will take place and where we start working on the next orphan home tomorrow. We got to break up and 'walk through the village with an interpreter. The homes are spread a ways apart and I think we walked between 4-5 miles by the time we were done. We were able to visit many homes and prayed for several blind elderly women. It was a great experience.
Again, I think maybe Jenosted that I might not have Internet available again till next weekend, so I want to keep you updated when I can. Please continue to pray for the team and the people of Zambia.
We arrived after two long flights, with a lovely few hour subway and walking tour of London, in between. All of our luggage and the tools and supplies we brought, made it with us. Saturday we arrived very early in the morning and took a much Medes afternoon nap. After supper, we heard from the Zambian Director of Every Orphans Hope about how God is working here. We also saw some of the 'Mamas' and several of the orphans from one of the homes. They have there first orphan starting at the university soon and he would like to study law and work here in Zambia. He has a sponsor who is covering his tuition here and they are all quite proud of this young man! It was a blessing to see some of the 'fruit' of EOH.
This morning we went to the 7:30am church service. It was a great time of singing and worship. The Pastor spoke on 1 Corinthians 13. Considering that our goal here is to show love to Gods children here, it was very fitting to hear about how we are to truly love.
In the afternoon we spent a short time at a marketplace, much like a swap meet, where everyone wanted you to stop and look at their wares. We bought a couple things from a sweet young lady and then headed out for the day's highlight, Chongwe village, where Camp Hope will take place and where we start working on the next orphan home tomorrow. We got to break up and 'walk through the village with an interpreter. The homes are spread a ways apart and I think we walked between 4-5 miles by the time we were done. We were able to visit many homes and prayed for several blind elderly women. It was a great experience.
Again, I think maybe Jenosted that I might not have Internet available again till next weekend, so I want to keep you updated when I can. Please continue to pray for the team and the people of Zambia.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Anticipation
Clothing..... Shoes...... Gloves...... Hammers.....Mallets.....Saw blades.......Angle Grinders.....Bandaids..... Pain Medications......
So Thursday we fly.
As Bob and I get packed up for our little adventure'?' we are filled with anticipation. Do we have what we need. Is there anything else we can fit in? Are we up to the task?
I know Dave and Samantha are all packed and ready. The Reeds are not. We haven't left central Illinois and we are already behind. At our age, that's not surprizing, hence the pain medications :>) as we struggle to keep up.
Excitement is building as well. These new pictures of our destination were just posted, so I thought anyone following us would like an idea of where we'll be spending alot of the next two weeks.
Keep the orphans and widows of Zambia in your prayers tonight.
For His Glory.
So Thursday we fly.
As Bob and I get packed up for our little adventure'?' we are filled with anticipation. Do we have what we need. Is there anything else we can fit in? Are we up to the task?
I know Dave and Samantha are all packed and ready. The Reeds are not. We haven't left central Illinois and we are already behind. At our age, that's not surprizing, hence the pain medications :>) as we struggle to keep up.
Excitement is building as well. These new pictures of our destination were just posted, so I thought anyone following us would like an idea of where we'll be spending alot of the next two weeks.
Keep the orphans and widows of Zambia in your prayers tonight.
For His Glory.
Enter My Father's House
Village of Hope
Location of our Camp Hope
(Zambian school)
Foundation for My Father's House #7 and 8
where we'll be working
Friday, July 29, 2011
Preparations
Have spent the last couple days preparing.
Bob is making lists of things the girls will need to do around the house/pool during the weeks we'll be gone. We went out today to purchase tools and other items needed for the work in Zambia. Hopefully we will be able to transport everything safely.
Mostly I have been preparing my heart/mind.
I've been listening to "When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without hurting the Poor..and Yourself" by B. Fikkert and reading "Serving With Eyes Wide Open" by D. Livermore. I am still 'processing' my recent trip to Ethiopia and want to study missions on a deeper level. I keep coming back to the fact that we have been given a limited amount of time and resources and will someday be held accountable for those. The need is so great, what is the best way to 'spend ourselves' in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed? (Isaiah 58:10)
Please pray we'll be fully prepared.
For His Glory.
1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Bob is making lists of things the girls will need to do around the house/pool during the weeks we'll be gone. We went out today to purchase tools and other items needed for the work in Zambia. Hopefully we will be able to transport everything safely.
Mostly I have been preparing my heart/mind.
I've been listening to "When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without hurting the Poor..and Yourself" by B. Fikkert and reading "Serving With Eyes Wide Open" by D. Livermore. I am still 'processing' my recent trip to Ethiopia and want to study missions on a deeper level. I keep coming back to the fact that we have been given a limited amount of time and resources and will someday be held accountable for those. The need is so great, what is the best way to 'spend ourselves' in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed? (Isaiah 58:10)
Please pray we'll be fully prepared.
For His Glory.
Isaiah 58
1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Counting Down
Hello. This blog will follow the Buehrers and the Reeds from Cornerstone Baptist Church of Morton, IL as we travel to Zambia with Every Orphan's Hope, August 4th - 18th, 2011.
As members of the construction team will be to help with the building of a My Father's House home, which when completed, will house a Zambian widow and 8 orphans.
We are so excited to be able to share this time with you . As we go, we ask you to pray that God's love will permeate everything we do and say as we make this journey.
For His Glory.
As members of the construction team will be to help with the building of a My Father's House home, which when completed, will house a Zambian widow and 8 orphans.
We are so excited to be able to share this time with you . As we go, we ask you to pray that God's love will permeate everything we do and say as we make this journey.
For His Glory.
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We finished up a wonderful week with EOH. The home at My Fathers House was finished with a roof. The family who financed the home in memor...
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Have spent the last couple days preparing. Bob is making lists of things the girls will need to do around the house/pool during the weeks ...
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