Hey Yall,

Just wanted to give you all an update on what has been going on for us the last couple of days. We spent the weekend in Ndola, a town about an hour and a half south of where we are staying. Ndola is a bigger city and some of the areas there are really nice. We stayed in a bed and breakfast place that was in a neighborhood that looked like it could have been suburban Anytown, USA (except for all the potholes in the road). It was really nice there though. We spent Saturday in a community named "Overspill." It was named that because they ran out of houses and had to build more. Zambians often aren't really creative with naming things, but they sure are accurate. Anyway, we were there all day and had our Stop the Spread meeting under a little tent while Dr. Thinus had a meeting with a bunch of pastors inside the church. The location of all this was on top of a hill and looking out off it, you could see into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Which of course did not look any different from Zambia, but it is one of those things that is cool for some reason even though I couldn't really say why.

Our meeting was attended by about 15 youths from the church and one town drunkard who was fairly disruptive at several points during the meeting but what can you expect from someone that is wasted at 10am. Chris took that guy under his wing and wound up praying with him and giving him his flip flops. Good stuff. I was proud. STS recently hired a Zambian guy named Henry to be the full time coordinator of the program. Henry basically ran the meeting and we provided a little assistance. Sarah put together some short skits and the team did a great job performing them. It was a good day all around.

Sunday, we got to visit a Vineyard church in Ndola. This was actually my first time to a Vineyard in Africa and it was absolutely amazing. It just felt like home. I have not felt that in any of the other churches I have been to. Everybody on the team said the same thing. The worship was amazing and the pastors (they have 3 on staff) were all really great. Sam did an awesome job sharing his testimony. He is becoming more and more of a public speaker...even though he would deny it to the end. I got to preach and it just felt real good. I have a love/hate relationship with preaching. I hate the stress of preparing it and wondering if you are getting ready to speak the word of God or if you are just about to run your own mouth so you can listen to the sound of your own voice for a while. I hate having expectations (my own) of what a successful message sounds like or what the results of it should be. I also hate the question of whether I am doing this for God or so that people will think I am a good person. But, I love doing it nonetheless. I love knowing that I can make a difference. I love knowing that God can speak through me. I love knowing that at times, he has spoken through me. I hate falling into the trap of thinking that it is me that is making the difference in peoples lives, and not God. I hate my tendency to be results driven with it, but I really do love it. It is definitely a niche for me. On top of having a really good experience on Sunday, I am going to be spending the next couple of weeks after the team leaves, in Ndola, working with that church. I am really looking forward to it. I will keep you all posted.

The next couple days, we will be wrapping up our VBS with the kids at Murundu. We bought a bunch of clothes and shoes and will be giving that stuff out on Wednesday afternoon. That should be fun. Please pray for us. We are all really tired and several of us don't feel well. It is nothing too serious at the moment, we are just run down. We need a little boost to make it through the next couple of days. Talk to you later, dave