Two Years Since Arriving in Zambia

Today marks our two-year anniversary of arriving in Zambia to serve with ACTION Zambia again. This time around, we were coming as a married couple not to work with street kids, but instead to coordinate the C.R.O.S.S. Project. We are very thankful that God called us and continues to call us to be in Zambia. We really do enjoy living and ministering here, even though there are a lot of challenges to us personally, in our marriage, and in our family.

As I think back over these last two years, there are so many things that come to mind that Kristin and I are very thankful to God for. We do really marvel at His goodness to us. There are a lot of things that we could write down, but here are some of the main (and usual) ones that come to mind thinking about these past two years.

-Our marriage. It has been such a blessing to both of us to be here as a married couple. In so many ways, coming back to Lusaka was like coming home for both of us in our relationship. This is where Kristin and I met, dated, and, for all practical purposes, where I proposed. And even though it can be very painful, God uses living cross-culturally to teach you a lot about yourself, each other, how healthy your marriage is, and it shows you a lot of areas you can improve in. We are thankful for the sanctifying work that God does in us through our time here.

-Charlie. He is such a joy to both of us! We are so thankful for this little guy, who is a bundle of energy around us, but around everyone else, he is quiet, shy, and full of stranger-danger. He truly is a “little boy’s boy.” He loves to growl, bang his hands on everything, run full speed into your legs with his walker-mobile, hit, wrestle, and be tossed into the air. He’s totally fine getting his head accidentally bonked, but blow your nose or cough, and he melts into tears.

-Family. We both have loving and supportive families. And they have really supported us these last two years while we have been in Zambia and while we were back having Charlie! There are a lot of missionaries out there that don’t have the support that we have, and we are grateful for our supportive families…even though it means one of their grandkids or nephews is here and not there. 🙂

-Friends/supporters. What a blessing it is to have friends! Friends are such a gift from God, and we are so blessed by our friendships both in States and here. You don’t know what an encouragement your card, email, or iMessage is to us! Please don’t ever worry about contacting us. You’re not bothering us. 🙂

-Finally, we are so blessed and thankful for our teammates that we minister alongside here in Zambia, our national staff, and Zambia itself. Even though this country has a lot of challenges and there continues to be a need for long-term missions to help equip the church, Zambia is a beautiful country with friendly, beautiful people, whom we have been blessed to get to know more over these last two years.