Bittersweet Thoughts about a Sweet Experience

Friday Night Worship--March 29, 2013

After a long day of excitement at Victoria Falls, the Mission Team members were pretty tired.  Chaplain Rob's worship focused on the emotions they were experiencing as the trip was coming to a close.  "Trips like this come to an end inevitably," he said.  "You must miss your families.  It's kind of different for us.  I don't know that we feel quite like that about Zambia.  But we will miss what we've done here and who we've done it with.  It's been just about two weeks that hopefully are the beginning of something different in your life.  Ellen White talks about it . . . how the disciples reviewed different stories after Jesus died and then left them.  It's kind of bitter sweet.

"I want to add some sweetness to that.  The Bible tells us, 'Lo I am with you always even unto the ends of the earth.' Maybe this is the end of our mission trip in a few hours, but this should be the beginning of a lifetime of service.  A life worth living.  A life that's fun and enjoyable and peaceful.  Some of the most peaceful moments were just being here working with you guys.  A life with Jesus can be peaceful and enjoyable.  Think about it as a turning point to a new beginning in your life.  The people here need what you have here.  Jesus died and rose from the grave and it was the beginning.  Changed the world."

Cool Experiences

Alejandra/Narce--bungee jumping

Alex--someone in town asked me if I was SDA.  Said he had seen me hanging around with kids at the Maramba Church

Jaden--I was desperately trying to find soccer jersies and couldn't find them.  Then I came to a third place and there were a bunch of them.

Mrs. Maloon--last night during worship I had a long heart-to-heart talk with one of the girls who works here.  We had a great opportunity to share.  We prayed together.

Jacob--I got my wallet back.  It was an answer to prayer.  I'm really happy about that.

Chaplain Rob--We saw an awesome force of nature.  We got here at at prime time for the force of water to show itself

Ms. Aastrup--I'm really proud of our kids.  They have been so good--haven't complained much, have done what they needed and what they were asked to do.  It's been a blessing to spend this time with them.

Mrs. Pearson--I loved all the cool rainbows...especially the full circle one

Johann--I got to talk with some of the Zambian soldiers (Ms. Aastrup did too)

Jaden--I enjoyed the safari yesterday.   Had the best jeep people

Grant--the baboons were really funny

Eric--it's kind of sad because we've met so many nice new people on this trip.  We created this mission trip family and I'm sad it's ending

Cook Christi--this morning when we were doing all the money changing...you are only allowed to change $1000 and he let me change $2000 and wrote a receipt for $1000 and said "You'd do the same for me in your country."

Chaplain Rob--there's a lot of that in this country.  It's all about community.

Dr. Muncy--on the combo event today with the lions, we actually got to walk the lionesses down these trails with no leashes.  We could hold on to their tails and follow them wherever they would go.  It reminded me of what heaven will be like.

Flexibility Awards

Jaden--Christi--because she did a lot to make it happen for me to get my jersies; Mr. Maloon because I could only go because of him; Robbie because he didn't let it bother him

Eric--got bitten by a lion cub

Narce--Chaplain Rob, Mr. Maloon, Ms. Aastrup and everyone who did something to help me go bungee jumping

Jacob--Mr. Maloon and Ms. Aastrup the way they helped my sister and me out

Mr. Maloon--Cook Christi

Alex--Pastor Ralph

Nightly Reading:  Matthew 5:13-16

[Photos c/o Eric McArthur from his helicopter ride over the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls.  He went with Keaton, the Warrens, and the Maloons.]

Worship Thoughts

Notice the intricate decorative thatched roof!

Thursday Night--March 21, 2013

For our first evening worship, Chaplain Rob challenged us all to reflect on what we needed and wanted from this mission trip for ourselves.  “It’s all about you,” he said—which might sound a little strange when you usually think about mission trips being about others.  But the truth is that it’s all about the change that comes over anyone who does something good for others…and for God.  “So think about what you want God to do with you and for you on this trip,” he said.  “It’s going to be something great.”

Then he asked for team members to share their experiences and impressions of the day:

Alex was appreciative of how the church family welcomed them at the evangelistic meeting.

Rebeca loved the feeling of working with the children at VBS.

Narce learned how to say good morning.

Ms. Aastrup realized again how small the world is when she, along with Cook Christi and Chaplain 

Rob, met people from AZ at the local grocery store.

JT reflected on how happy the kids seem to be with so little. 

Pastor Ralph thought the TAA kids are "super." He thought they would be zonked out after the long trip to get here, but they did very well that first day on the construction job. “Tomorrow we’ll build on what we learned today,” he encouraged. 

Narce loved her day with the medical team.  And at VBS, she enjoyed how the kids loved the camera.  They kept saying “Copy me!”  And "they went crazy with tooth brushes."

Cook Christi confers with her Friday helpers
about the meals for the day.

Everyone loved the food that Cook Christi made.  “It was so good,” they all affirmed.  And they were thankful that we were blessed with safe bus rides.  Chaplain Rob said that the taxi driver who is on-call all day for whatever we need really enjoys working with us.

Everyone is being so flexible, going with the flow without complaint.  It’s been an excellent experience so far.  God is blessing.

Friday morning--March 22, 2013

Pastor Jay's worship thought on Friday morning focused on the blessing of service.  One of our drivers said to him that “it's more blessed to give than receive.”  He thought that was the perfect way to describe this mission trip—giving and receiving.

He then told us that it's 9,612 miles from Scottsdale to Livingstone.  We’ve come almost 10,000 to serve others!  Think, then, how much farther Jesus came to serve us.  “Service is our theme today,” he said.  “We traveled a long way to come here.  We are doing it to emulate our Savior who traveled infinitely farther to serve us.”

Native photos are from the medical team's work on Thursday c/o Dr. Gary Muncy.