African Adventure: Winter Time

As I’m sure you all are dawning your socks, sandals, and Bermuda shorts right now, we here in Zambia are layering up like we are preparing to cross the Arctic Circle. The days grow shorter, the nights grow longer, the winds blow harder, and it seems my Canadian blood has grown weaker. I need some good ol’ Tim Hortons to thicken it up again. It seems that with the cold season the rats have come in full force. We hear and see them in our hut, in our kitchen, in our laundry room, and on our plates at night for dinner. Just kiddin’…not on our plates.

This past week I had the opportunity to speak for a couple of sessions at this inter-school weeklong convention on relationships and sexual purity. So when I was asked to do it I was not given too much information about it. I was told there could be anywhere from 3-100 teenagers, that I would just be speaking to the girls, and I had no idea how their English would be, and no idea what kind of venue we would be in our the resources it would provide. So I enlisted the assistance of my friend Amber, who is here visiting me, and we set off to the great unknown. We arrived to find out that there would be a few more than three teens…in fact that it would be more like 150 teenagers between the ages of 13-19 and that the boys and girls would be all together in this huge hall where you had to pretty much scream on the top of you lungs to be heard. Plus a short DVD we had hoped to play could not work. So we did a little improvising and dove in. It actually went really quite well considering we walked in cold to a group of teenage boys and girls to talk about a subject that usually would set the uncomfortable jokes and giggling ablaze. We did some interactive game type activities, had some good discussion, and all in all I think it went really well. There was quite a positive response. So I give all the credit to God because I definitely did not feel qualified to pull it off.

Since Amber is here visiting and we have Patti Hupp here to complete an adoption we took the bus down to Livingstone so they could see Victoria Falls. It was quite an adventure. The 6 hour bus trip turned into 11 as the bus broke down half way in. The bus also blared this Don Williams country CD at a ridiculous decibel level on speakers that could not handle old Don’s stylings at that volume. Then there was this very intoxicated man in the seat right behind us who eventually caused such a scene he had to be dropped off at the police post and then people on the bus got all upset that we were leaving him there saying, “We cannot leave our brother here!”. But we were fine with it as he had tried to grab Patti’s little girl. Then the next day we got pulled over by the police because we were unknowingly in an illegal taxi and were taken to the police station and still had to pay the fair. The police were very nice and understanding to us though.

So that’s another week ‘round here. Life in Africa continues to be an adventure and a lesson in patience. I have made fast friends with little Mary who is being adopted and lives with us right now. She has caught on to my “Cut the Pickle” game very quickly and I am very proud of her progress! So on that note I bid you adieu and wish you well. Your love and support continues to be a huge blessing to me.

God Bless,

Shannon

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” ~ 1 Peter 1:8-9