Back in the States!

Finally some pictures...

Two of my precious girls, Chapa and Mercy.

They all loved to wear my sunglasses!

Another one of my girls, Judith. I got to have blessing time with her by myself because she spoke really good English and we became instant best friends!

I arrived back in the States Sunday night after four flights! I left Zambia on Saturday around 2 p.m. and then arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa around 4.p.m. The Joburg airport was really nice, so I walked around to different stores with a few other friends from Zambia. One of the guys with us had an Exec Club membership with British Airways so we got to hang out in a really nice private lounge and eat free dinner! Around 8 p.m. my flight left for London. I was already worn out from the past week so I slept almost the entire flight! I definitely needed the rest, especially since once I arrived to London I was only halfway home. Copey woke up early and met me at the airport in London around 7 and we had breakfast and coffee at a cute restaurant in the airport. My layover this time was only 4 hours so we stayed at the airport but we got to catch up and tell stories for a few hours before I caught my flight back to Dallas.

Here is a picture of us in front of the Travel Bookstore, which is in the movie Notting Hill:

I arrived in Dallas around 3:30 p.m. after a 10 hour flight. I flew from Dallas to Little Rock and arrived back in Arkansas around 10 p.m. I spent the next few days at home adjusting to life and trying to get rid of my jet lag. Praise the Lord I slept through the whole night last night because I've been waking up at random times during the night (I know, I sound like a proud parent whose child just slept through the whole night). It's good to be back but immediately I felt a longing to be back with my girls in Zambia. They are so precious to me and are always on my heart and mind during the day.

My last Friday in Zambia was full of emotions because several of my girls from the last week were hysterically crying because they did not want to leave. It was so hard to see them so sad and to not know if I will be able to see them again. I told them all when they asked if I was coming back to pray that God would make a way for me to return! It's not just the kids either...all of the Zambians that either volunteer or are on staff with Family Legacy were really sad to see all of the Americans leave. I got to spend some time with my partner from my first week, Christabel, before I left. We both started crying because she doesn't know if she'll be back next year either. She is just a volunteer, so unless she gets hired as full-time staff by Family Legacy, she will have to find another job. Please pray that God would provide a way for her to continue working with Camp LIFE because she has such a heart for these children and the Lord has been using her in such powerful ways in the girls' lives.

Week three of Camp LIFE was such a blessing to me. I finally felt well and back to my normal self so I was excited to get my last group of girls on Monday morning. The morning was kind of chaotic and usually you have your group by 10 but by 11:30 I still hadn't received a group. I was told that they weren't coming until Tuesday so I decided to hang out with some of the staff. About 30 minutes later, they arrived and I ended up getting my girls, all 19 of them! Their circumstances were a little different because they already live at an orphanage in Lusaka started by a German man who married a Zambian woman. They are well cared for and provided for but most of them are either single or double orphans, so they still experience a lot of pain and sadness. They ranged in age from 9 to 18. They were a little harder to connect with at first compared to my other girls. The Lord instantly bonded me to my girls from the first two weeks and by the end of the first day they were clinging to me and showing lots of love. These girls were definitely slower to open up and make a connection with but by the end of the week I felt just as close to them. But it was definitely challenging at first, especially since most of them were older, to get them to open up. One of my favorite times with them was on Wednesday morning. Greer Kendall, the founder of Family Legacy, challenges all of the Americans to share our testimonies with the kids. I had done this the previous two weeks but began to pray that the Lord would use my testimony to impact these girls in a different way. I struggled the first two weeks with the language barrier and feeling effective in teaching them. The Lord reminded me of Moses' story in Exodus 4 and how he provided him with the words to say, saying, "Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." The Lord blessed my testimony time in such a huge way. I prayed that God would use my story to touch the girls' hearts and open them up. After I finished sharing the Lord lead me to ask them if anyone had a testimony to share about what God has done in their lives. I had never done this before, and wasn't sure what kind of response I would get. We sat there as a group in silence for about a minute and a half. I had learned over the past few weeks to be okay with silence because blessing times were usually filled with periods of silence, which usually lead to the girls crying and finally opening up. So I waited, and finally one of my girls, Dorothy, stood up to share. She smiled shly and I told her not to be afraid to share what the Lord has done. She began sharing about how she and a friend were walking home late one night and she felt something sharp on the bottom of her foot. She stopped to sit down because of the pain and then they saw a snake on the ground and realized she had been bitten. Her friend walked her to the clinic where she was hospitalized and her foot began immediately swelling and turning black. A pastor in the hospital came to her room to pray with her and asked her if she believed God could heal her foot. She said yes, and they prayed for the Lord to heal her. But her foot kept getting worse and the pastor told Dorothy that the devil was trying to fill her with doubt and unbelief. They prayed again, believing that God would heal her, and immediately the swelling began to go down and Dorothy was healed. My partner explained that most of the snakes in Zambia are poisonous and deadly, so the chances that Dorothy would live were not very good. Dorothy looked so joyful sharing her story of how God had restored her life. The girls clapped and Dorothy sat down and literally one after the other 8 other girls stood up and shared miraculous stories of how God has worked in their lives. I praise God for giving me this time with the girls and how He used their stories to bring us closer together as a group and open up all of their hearts.

Here are most of my girls from my third week, Week 8 of Camp LIFE:

Thank you all for your faithfulness in praying during my trip and for how you've encouraged me throughout this journey. My next post will include more stories and some videos of the girls! Blessings to you all,

Christy