How To Follow This Blog

Good morning, Everyone! Two days from now we will probably be boarding a plane for our adventure in West Africa. That is the plan, but of course we know that "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." (Prov.16:9) So trusting in God's perfect plan and not our own, we go forth.

Many people have asked how they can follow this blog. If you scroll down to the very bottom at the right, there is a box to submit your email address. than a pop-up box will as you to enter the letters you see (to prove you're not a robot), you'll see this screen:

 you'll get an email confirmation to respond to, and you'll be all set.  

I apologize for the gibberish letters down the left side of the blog - I have an expert web designer helping me try to figure it out but so far it's eluded us.  Good thing God's plans are not hindered by faulty technology!  

TRAVEL PLAN (Subject to change according to God's plans, which may not be the same as ours)

   3rd                         1st                               2nd   

Part I.
We travel under the auspices of S.A.V.E., Sierra Leone Agape Voluntary Effort, a ministry begun by our friend David Musa following a ten-year civil war in Sierra Leone. 

Since that time, S.A.V.E. has also assisted in relief efforts for hundreds of families in  Sierra Leone affected by the ebola virus. 


July 2          Leave home; travel to Freetown, Sierra Leone, via Brussels;
                   David will meet us in Freetown.  

July 5-7       Leave Freetown and travel with S.A.V.E. team to Kenema Village.
                   Chris, a board member, will work with Kenema villagers on food
                   preservation.  Diane (a vet) and her husband Peter, from OK,     
                   plan to assist the village people in animal husbandry. 

                   Our church body has supported S.A.V.E. since its inception.
                   Dick and I will simply be observers, meeting the people, 
                    interacting with their lives, and trying to capture stories                                        and images to share with our ZF family, and other                                         family and friends.   

                    We have a large amount of school supplies to share with the
                    schools in Kenema and Freetown.  We will pray for God to show
                    us how to best distribute these.  We look forward to meeting the 
                    teachers and the children!

July 7 - 13    David, Dick and I return to Freetown.  We meet with the
                   leaders of the main Christian ministry partners of S.A.V.E.  Dick 
                   found helpful curriculum developed by Open Hands to train
                   people in essential business principles according to God's
                   foundational truths.  We will go through this with them, to equip  
                   these leaders to teach the people in their respective 
                   organizations.  We also plan to teach essential computer skills.                                    

 July 13        Leave Freetown for Accra, Ghana. 

 

The Mission Ball

The Mission Ball is one of our recent fun finds.  

We have ordered these soccer balls to take to two schools in Sierra Leone, the deaf school in Ghana, to our blind college-bound student Matthew in Ghana, and the Bible College in The Gambia.  We are pretty excited to share the message of Jesus on soccer balls that children (and adults!) can play with.  


 

Check it out on their website:   The Mission Ball

"Don't Leave Home Without It!"

There are many television commercials for American Express which all end with the slogan, "Don't leave home without it". Without the American Express card, one ad says, "isn't life a little scary"?

We have our own version of "Don't leave home without it", and that is Prayers.  In the past few weeks, we have been tremendously encouraged by so many different groups of people and individual friends who have gathered to pray for this trip.  We could not imagine leaving home without the prayers of God's people, for we know that without prayers, this part of our life could, indeed, be a little scary!  

Paul has already gone before us:  
 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."   Phil. 4:6-7

Getting Ready - School Supplies

In Sierra Leone, we will visit the village of Kenema.  They now have a school, medical clinic, a church, and good water. We have a huge case full of fun supplies for all the school children.  

LOTS and lots of crayons ...

Flash cards, games, books, markers, ...

Pens and pencils and glue and folders .. 

We hope the teachers will have fun opening these bags and boxes!  

Getting Ready - Equipment

Many generous donors have provided for the needs of this venture to West Africa.  We were given multiple laptops, printers, plentiful piles of school supplies, a new printer and cartridges, and many donations. Every need has been met, and we are humbly grateful. 

Dick has worked for weeks preparing the computers. They have been scrubbed and re-built with software for their new users. The majority will become the computer lab at Servants of the Word Bible College in The Gambia.  Several have been set up for some of the ministry leaders in Sierra Leone and The Gambia, and one will go to a blind young man in Ghana who is entering college. 

Today we learned that the first five boxes shipped to The Gambia have arrived in Banjul.  Just one more stop for them to arrive at the Bible College!   

Just a few of the recent electronic members of our household.  
 

They just seem to pop up everywhere ...