Day Four - Sunday, July 3: First Full Day in Ndola

It is now 6:15 p.m. on Sunday and we have been trying to get internet access on the Northrise lab and have just had success. What this means is that the report for the last two days may take awhile to get fully entered so check back for updates. I am also not sure that I am going to be able to upload any photos. So once one goes up from Ndola you will know I have figured it out. At any rate keep checking back for updates even if the day has passed. (at the moment 8:23 It does not look like I am going to get this solved which means I may only be able to write briefly at night) God intervened and I have been allowed to work in the flat which has internet. Praise the Lord!

We got up at seven after a great night's sleep. Tylenol PM works wonders. Our meeting time to head for church was at 8:50 so we had time to shower and negotiate breakfast. Showering was a bit problematic as there was no hot water but no problem as the key work is "flexibility." I went down first and checked out breakfast and had a fresh cooked omelette, but there was absolutely no coffee. I tried some tea bad thing that turned out not to be tea.

I then realized that I should have gotten dressed for church before breakfast so I went back up to get dressed and get Christine. I met her in the breakfast area and then we headed over to Caravelle a little early but there was not coffee available from "Zambean" as there apparently was some kind of plumbing issue.

From there we headed over by bus to the Ndola Baptist Church and had a blessed morning of worship.

Many in the group thought that it was quite different from worship at their church but both Christine felt that the service was actually quite like an East Parkway service. Great hymns. Great contemporary songs. Public reading of the scripture. Pastoral prayer. Sermon. Communion. Benediction (the same passage from Jude) The main difference was the great singing and African rhythms on contemporary songs. They had a group of singers up front for the entire first set of hymns.


The message was delivered by one of the pastors who is with us from Houston and then we all had communion together. After service we got to hang around outside for awhile and we even got to talk with some people from Ndola which was very special. The buses then wisked us back to the hotel where we had lunch and then relaxed until out tour at 3:00.

The tour was quite moving and amazing. We headed out out town to the school where Christine and the girls will be working at a VBS called Mupalo which is a school mostly for orphans. I was told that 80,000 people or so live out in this area and this school is for kids who really have no where else to go. As we drove up the kids literally began following us and gathering and there were probably well over 100 whe we arrived.


The headmaster, who is a Northrise graduate, spoke with us and told us about the school and we even got to peak into a classroom. the highlight was when we were led into a room and they had the kids sing to us.

I have a video and I only wish I could post it. They we spent a whole bunch of time taking pictures with the kids. More great photos when I can post them.




We left there and then went to a local Children's Hospital where the medical team will be working. I even got to go into the hospital for a brief tour. Also at this site the medical team will be building an addition onto their outpatient area. Hard to believe that it can be completed in four short days.

Next we drove out of town to see the small village where Moffat grew up. All the homes and little shops were very interesting to see. We then drove back to the hotel and chilled a little until dinner at 6:30. During this this time was when I had my first crack at the internet