Day Five - Monday, July 4: Preparation. Visiting the Land

The Late Night Music Plays On! Realized last night that the music outside continues nightly until 3 a.m.! But nevertheless we still slept well. We slept in until nearly 7:30. Praise the Lord the boiler was fixed and we actually had hot water for the morning shower.
Got down for breakfast and had a great time chatting with Danny and Lisa from Phoenix. The breakfast drill gets easier every day. I even figured out how to make their instant coffee.

Zambean is Open for Business. We had been hoping that Zambean would be open at last and it was! We had fresh mochas as the brothers from Texas got it all set up and working. Not sure I have ever had a better mocha and the second latte I had was even better. Smooth and no hint of bitterness. :)

This Is the Day that the Lord Has Made. Chapel was scheduled at 9 and Moffat lead us in “This is the Day That the Lord has Made” to start of the morning. It as a great time of challenge and encouragement.

After chapel we met in our team groups and the Pastors Conference group spent our time getting our binders and books together. We will be working with up to 150 Zambian pastors from the Ndola area. Each morning there will be a time of worship, teaching, and discussion. Then lunch, more teaching and small group discussion which I will be taking part in. I will be facilitating discussion with 15-20 of the pastors. The discussion of what we will be doing was very low key and the Lord gave me the confidence that it will all be a great blessing. No worries.

Tour of the Northrise Land. Next was lunch and then at about 1 p.m. we headed out to tour the Northrise land outside of town. The group had grown as everyone had finally arrived so the trip took four buses.

As we drove up to the farm we were greeted in rhythm and song by some of the women who work there. This was spectacular. One of the great blessings of the trip has been all the native music we have been able to experience.

One of the places we visited was the Northrise abattoir where they butcher the chickens and then we got to see where the chickens are raised.

This is where a former colony of ants lived. They stay for a while and then move on. Northrise placed this beautiful cross on it.

Bountiful Bunches of Bananas! Our next stop on the farm was the banana acreage. I think they said they currently have four acres and many of the trees are producing a rich crop. I have always wanted to see bananas growing.

Dedication ot the NUClinic. Our next stop was the NUClinic which was dedicated today. They have just hired a full time nurse and much of the time of the medical team will be spent setting it up.

Kuhulu House. Next we went to the new classroom building, Kuhula House which was also dedicated today. I had a vision of actually teaching there one day. That is if they ever need an English writing instructor. :)

Last stop on the tour was the dorm facilities. What a beautiful place for the students to live. I had a short chat with Moffat and the vision is for all of Northrise to be on this campus in ten years.

Next at about 4ish we headed back into Northrise and were back resting in the Savoy by 4:30.

Happy fourth of July. Dinner was at 6:30 and the kitchen made us two beautiful 4th of July cakes and we had a great flag ceremony and singing of the US and Zambian national anthems.

After dinner I have been blogging, uploading photos and taking advantage of my blessed Wifi connection.

We tried the mosquito net but gave up after a short while. We shut the window again.:(