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[ Saturday June 27th ]

The Crusades (Part 3)
I do not have the words to explain how awesome the third day of the Crusades was. In fact there were things at the Crusades that only the power of Jesus could accomplish. It was so very exciting and at that moment our team realized that on this day... it was the climate of our trip here in Zambia. We have been able to bless because of this trip and we have also been so blessed by it. Our God in which we serve is good and just! Our group has brought over 100 people to the Lord, rejoice with us and the heavens in God's kingdom growing because of your support! We have served all through out Zambia. God has transformed our hearts and has opened many doors. Our team has developed in ways we thought impossible. We have become brothers and have been changed. Not by our strength but only in the one above!

[ Wednesday July 1st ]

Homebound
Despite the awesome times and grave adventure my heart longs for home. A dose of the familiar is tempting me to return. Our whole team feels good about what we have done and it is now time for our venture back to the USofA. Please pray for us as our trip is not over. God willing I will arrive in the LAX airport on July 3rd around 2:45pm to where my dad will pick me up and take me home! See you soon!

In His Grip,
Jeremy Dennis Pedron

The Crusades

[ Tuesday June 23rd ]

Our Zambian Safari
Our team got a chance to go on a safari, and just about everyone on our team hasn’t ever been on one. Let’s just say it completely floored our team! Our venture to the Safari plains started early, 5:30 early, as we loaded tiredly into a typical safari vehicle. We rushed across Livingstone unexpectant to the brisk and chilly air that dusk provides. We picked up two other women from another hotel to make our vehicle packed. Then we boarded the plains of our safari! We drove across a long strip of land that was parallel to the Zambezi river. We looked like the typical tourist as we held our cameras in our hands and our expectant looks on our faces as we bumped across the land. We got to see a lot of exotic animals and were stoked when we found a new one to add to our photo collection. There are only herbivores on the safari we went on unfortunately, so there were no cats. Our collection consists of Hippos, Monkeys, Ibex, Buffalo, Zebra, random birds, a wild Carter, Giraffes, Big Lizards, and other various animals. It was absolutely awesome to be able to drive around and enjoy God’s creation and was just the fill of adrenaline I needed in the morning! Side story: Every time we found a cool animal we would have to stay on the vehicle so we would stand up on the sides of it to take some sweet pictures. There is a tarp above our heads. Carter had a wild idea to sit on top of it. Our team hears a huge ripping sound as Carters butt came screaming through the tarp. After immense laughter we stopped for tea and biscuits ending our awesome safari adventure! It was quite the ride!



Biding Exhaustion
After the safari we visited a local market to do some shopping for home. Local tribes carve out local wood and Victoria Falls rocks to make really awesome carvings. They then sell them to tourists to make some money to provide for their tribe. It was awesome to see them actually cut and carve the stone or rock into a piece of art. They all have various skills in different areas but all in all it was amazing. Right when we entered the market our number of friends bolstered! It was a fight for our attention so that they would lure us into their shops. They scream, “My Friend! My Friend! Looking is Free!” Some of the team went into bartering mode while others really had a hard time saying no or demanding a more actual price. After about six shops it get exhausting explaining that you don’t want something or you do not have enough money. But it was a fun experience.

Crocs
After making friends we went to a lizard farm. We got to hold big snakes, small snakes, small crocs and touch the biggest croc on the farm. It was massive and could easily kill us. We offered the guy some money if he could let us touch it from behind and normally he wouldn’t but today he seemed willing to lose his job and let us try! It was so awesome! The thing is MASSIVE! And the whole team got to pinch the tail of a crocodile.



[ Wednesday June 24th ]

Zambian Time
Light of Life put on a seminar for us to teach the church and had it planned for quite some time. They told us that it would start at 9 and in all actuality it started at 12. It is extremely hard for our team to adapt to this. We have come prepared and yet our time isn’t being used proficiently. We are adjusting but the planning on Light of Life isn’t what they are promising it to be and can be very frustrating for the team and especially Kennedy. We are learning and they are learning so God is good.

You Are Traveling in the Right Way
At the service a woman felt lead to sing a song that she made for us. It was about how we have been traveling in the right way and sung it very beautifully. She was thanking us for traveling with God in our hearts and it was a huge blessing to us and a confirmation to what we are doing here.

[ Thursday June 25th ]

Accidental Necessary Relaxation
Due to more Zambian time incidences we decided to use our time to rest and relax from preparing sermons and just enjoy each other. So we found a place by the Zambezi river and kick the soccer ball around, rest, we got some time to do devotions, wrestle, fish, and enjoy the sunset before our time at the Crusades.



The Crusades (part 1)
Our main event with Light of Life is what they are calling the Crusades. Besides the bad name it is a really cool event for us to use our publicity for bringing people to Christ. Our first encounter with the event is the thousands of papers posted around town with our faces on them (see picture below). This is how they planned on raising awareness and from then on we were known by name in Zambia. We arrive on time in Zambia (which is 3 hours late in American time) to a small market where the event was being held. There were about 150 people in the crowd singing along with the music. It was very rally-esk in nature and was completely raw. This whole event was put together to bring people to the Lord. Bret was our speaker for tonight and gave a great sermon then Pastor Jack took us home asking those who want to accept God has their own personal savior. Dozens came up and accepted Jesus into their lives and the heavens praised! We welcomed the new believers into the family as we praised later into the night! This is an awesome event and God is doing some pretty sweet stuff!



[ Friday June 26th ]

Livingstone Orphans
This morning we got to hang out with the orphans in Light of Life church and speak to them and give them the rest of our clothing. We gave them wristbands and took their pictures to be able to send all for all of those who have supported them by buying two bracelets as a reminder to pray for us and the orphans. That is exciting aswell.

The Crusades (part 2)
The second night of the Crusades had me as the speaker. It was a very good experience for me. I felt lead to speak during the Crusades and to give an alter call (which I have never done and was kind of intimidated by). I got pretty nervous the closer we drove to the market. Yet despite my nervousness, I felt that I was sent to give this message at this time to these people, so I was really excited. My excitement fairly outweighed my anxiety. When we arrived we danced and singed through a song for 25 minutes. Then we got introduced by Pastor Jack. One by one we got up on the small stage out looking roughly around 230 people. Then Kennedy explained our story and how we got to be where we are today and then asked the team to leave so he could introduce the speaker (me). Then I silently prayed to God giving the message to him and asked that hew would simply use me. As the team was leaving they left me alone with Kennedy, the mic, and hundreds of hidden Africans staring at me in the night. I opened my message with a prayer and then introduced them to the cheesy American greet and hug. After hugging and introducing I gave the message God had for them. The Holy Spirit did his job and used my passage on trials then moved it along to one about salvation. (I used the following verses; they helped me in trials and will help in bringing someone to Christ as well)

James 1:2
I Corinthians 10:13
Hebrews 12:10-11
James 1:3
James 1:4
Hebrews 12:5-6
Romans 5:1-5
Matthew 7:13-14
Romans 10:9-13

After the message posing the question on what road to you tread? One towards life or destruction? I asked the Light of Life leaders and our team to come to the front so that they would be able to pray for those who would want to accept Jesus as their personal savior. So I then asked the question I have never asked a large group of people before. Do you want to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior? If so come to the front. Complete silence swept the onlookers as my team scanned the area for anyone to join the family. I looked to the translator in slight confusion hoping that it was just a translation issue. But it wasn’t. I felt lead to push through this hard silence. So I started asking again, explaining, and encouraging and remained unsatisfied. It was a real partnership between Holy Spirit and me. I had hope that they would come and that there we those who needed to be saved. It was very scary. I looked out and saw one person slowly come forth out of the dark. Then one more came, then another, then another. Soon enough a couple dozen were in front of our team. I passed the mic over so that one of the Light of Life could lead the people to the Lord in Bimba their local tongue. It was a beautiful moment and you could see God in the orchestration. After the prayer Pastor Ruben and Jack both noticed a woman acting funny in the line of new believers. Pastor Ruben jumped off stage said something and pushed back on her head as she fell to the ground. Pastor Jack then almost instantly told the scared looked new believers and some skeptical teammates that she was manifesting a demon. I have had some experience with demons through our church and camps before but never one so close. They took the squirmy lady off to the side and started praying for her and declaring the name of Jesus to make the demons uncomfortable. I only know what was happening because I talked to Pastor Jack about what was happening because I could not hear due to my position and the loud noise of the chorus. Pastor Ruben asked the manifested lady how many demons are present and they replied, “We are three.” He then started the 25 minute process of deliverance (in her scenario) as some of our team on looked and some prayed. Pastor Ruben was demanding that they would leave and the demons said, “we are leaving we are leaving.” Trying to prevent him from praying. The persistent pastor kept on praying and as the last one was about to go it said, “If she goes back to her sin we will come back.” Then she gagged and woke up from being unconscious. She was instantly confused and was wondering where she was. It was a powerful witness to the spiritual realm. It was powerful to be apart of this process and Pastor Jack explained the questions we had. It was an intense and scary time but made me feel so thankful that we serve a God that delivers and saves! He has given us power over demons and evil. Praise his name! Pastor Jack said that there will probably be more tomorrow. So our team is prayerfully preparing. If demons are manifesting at our parties we know we are doing something right!

Livingstone

[ Saturday June 20th ]

Carter
Yesterday we arrived back in Lusaka for a rest period for a while. While Carter was gone to pick up his food the team decided to play a joke on Carter to see what he would do. So we told him that we didn't have a rest day today and that we would get up early (5:00) and help out Pastor Jack (crazy pastor) and do labor and preach all day. We had the team all go along with it to see what he would do. Bret acted like he really wanted to go and Chris acted like he really didn't and they got in a little debate. Let’s just say they acted like they were extremely pissed at each other. But in all actuality were laughing under each breath. So we wanted to see how much longer we could go with this as Carter was holding back his feelings about not resting at the scuffle. So we talked when Carter was using the restroom to escalate it. So we had Chris ask Bret to "talk" outside the room where we were going to have a meeting. They start getting louder and louder and Carter looked like he was going to blow up. We staged the leaders to go out and try to calm them down but they start yelling at each other and Carter and I pulled the two off of each other because they were threatening to beat each other. Carter got really loud and started screaming at Bret. While Chris finally yells, "We wouldn’t have gotten in this fight if we weren't trying to pull a joke on Carter!" Then the whole team busted up in laughing leaving Carter so confused! We finally told Carter what we did and pulled an all day prank on him and he congratulated all of us for executing it so well. So I guess I am saying this because we are all laughing together about the fact that we haven't gotten in any fights. Our team has been as strong as ever!

Livingstone
We are done now with Mufulira and have spent a day in Lusaka for rest. And now it is time for Livingstone so we packed our bags and picked up our Atila and got in a great air conditioned bus! Our attention demanding labor intensive days in Mufulira have come to a stop and rest has become very needed for our team. So a nice day off and a good bus that doesn’t smell like B.O. and sweat we a nice change of pace. We drove for seven hours from Lusaka to Livingstone. The ride wasn’t very thrilling at all. It was bare and flat with hut houses every once and a while. We settled in Livingstone and was found by Pastor Jack and some of his elders. They took us to two houses that are owned by church-goers. So our team has split between the two leaving Atila, Brice, Christian, Chris, and myself in one and Carter, Bret, Travis, and Kennedy in the other. We will be living in these homes for the remained of our time in Livingstone. It is ten minutes from Victoria Falls and wildlife! Livingstone is a lot more fun for my adventurous attitude.

[ Sunday June 21st ]

Light of Life Church - Livingstone
Our team has really been able to adapt to Zambian culture. We have gotten used to quite a lot of things. We are comfortable showing up everywhere we go late (which is on time here in Zambia), we are accustomed to mosquitoes being the common fly, we are familiar with eating Sheema everyday, we are understanding of being looked at everywhere we go because of our pigmentation, and now we are beginning to get used to Pastor Jack telling us to do a service after a one days notice. So this Sunday we have fully put together another service. This time we had Atila and Bret give their powerful testimonies and Brice took it away with a word on Love. It was a lot bigger than the last Light of Life church we visited and a lot more fun. Dancing and throwing money at singers was quite a fun experience. It was a joint service so it took three times as long. It was six hours long and lasted from ten to four destroying any hopes for lunch. Our stomachs brought us home for a nice meal with all of the Light of Life leadership. We had a chance to get to know one another and worship together. We will be doing God’s work together so they thought it would be important for us to expose ourselves with each other. It was fun!



Duskball
There is somewhat of a field behind the houses that we are living in so Brice and I decided to go check it out. The sun was just setting at the time and at the end of the field we saw four children running about playing a small game of soccer. The goals were rocks and there was no real out of bounds and the ball was like a hallowed out handball. We quickly asked if we could join up and play. We played for about 20 minutes because of the retreating light. It was a blast being able to hang with the boys and play some soccer!

[ Monday June 22nd ]

Dew
Today we got to see the famous Victoria Falls! I am awestruck at even the words to describe it. It is so massive you can’t really see the whole falls without being in a helicopter. We got to go down to the “boiling point” which was down at the bottom of the falls under the famous second largest bungee jump bridge in the world (which a select few of us were going to do until we found out it is $105, really bummed about that). The Victoria Falls to the local people was a sacred place where it was believed a huge snake called Nyami-Nyami (River Snake) lived. Therefore human being never stepped foot there especially in the gorges. As such the place used to be an animal sanctuary as it remained undisturbed. But now Livingstone is one of the biggest tourist locations in the world. And honestly I can easily see why. This place is absolutely gorgeous! There is another trail we took where we got to walk across in front of the massive falls and the water mists are so strong it feels as if it is constantly raining. As you look towards the falls the sun backs up the massively long wedding dress leaving it hard to see anything but white mist! After getting completely showered we ventured atop the bridge to try bungee jumping. On the way we were followed my monkeys that were rather mischievous. One taxi driver was mad at one and tried hitting it with a rock as it ran away it jumped on his taxi and pee’d on it and scurried across to the bush. Another almost attacked a trucker by jumping in its bed and jumped at his face. It was quite entertaining and laughable. This is the Africa my adventurous side really wanted to see, and today it felt more alive than it has been in awhile.



Balbub Tree
After we left the falls Oscar (our ride and graphic designer here in Zambia) took us to a Balbub tree up on the top of a hill which enabled you to see the whole falls. You have to climb a sketchy latter that brings you atop the Balbub tree. The tree was massive and once you were at the top of its branches the sight was absolutely amazing especially at sunset! Our God is so creative and makes the most amazing sights for us to experience and be in awe of.



Atila
We told Atila that “no-net-te-shush” means excuse me when in all actuality it means “I farted!” Hahaha! So we are just waiting to see when and where he will use this word to entertain not only us but hopefully a whole bunch of locals. Hopefully he wont read my blog until then!



[ Tuesday June 23rd ]
We are going on a Safari today. I will post more about today later because the day is not over and we have a lot to do today with many stories left untold!

In His Grip,
Jeremy Pedron

In Our Element

I posted the pictures for my last blog as well as this one.

[ Tuesday June 9th ]

Murundu
The orphanage at Murundu is really large. It houses a number of different buildings, farm land, broken pools, and has much labor to be had. Justin, who is the leader of the orphanage, gave us some brief history about the complex. The complex is being uplifted from brokenness. Even though the complex is falling apart slowly due to its age it is a lot nicer than all of the huts and shops in the slums surrounding it. Justin explained that during British rule how ever long ago the white people would come and live in the land for the transportation of slaves. They would venture across Africa with the supplies needed to build really nice residences. Once slavery was abolished in Zambia the white people would leave the nice abandoned buildings selling them to whoever. The Murundu orphanage bought some land that was used by white people. The old colonial building stands creaking and bantered. The sad thing is that it has been a long time since British ruled over the land and yet still over 80% of the population of Mufulira in the surrounding slums haven’t made houses even close to what the orphanage has now. People in the surrounding slum area have nothing and are looking to this orphanage as something that is excellent and sound in structure. The people live in grass and mud huts and they have trashbag protected toilets. They run across the dry ground with no shoes and little clothes. It is very sad to see the living conditions of this area in Mufulira. Although the somewhat modern orphanage is falling apart it remains a stronghold to what the surrounding slums are in. Eight strong men have found our way to this broken orphanage and we very much are into the fixing business. So slavery is back, just not what you would expect to see in Africa. We have been doing a number of jobs over the past week. Justin has put together a list of big projects that they wanted to accomplish in the next few years. Our presence and resources have definitely sped up that process.

Behind the Zambian Wheel
We drive from our guest house to the Murundu orphanage everyday to serve. Kennedy rents a car for us to transport and drive us there. Usually we need to make two trips because we only have a five person car and there are eight of us. Today Kennedy asked if anyone wanted to drive the patchy dirty roads leading to Murundu. Without a second of thought I volunteered myself after Carter gave me his spot. Imagine rally car racing utilizing quick decisions and a steady hand combined with off roading and abrupt stops all with a little dinky Toyota Corolla. My team members in the car grasped the sides of the car at first while I got familiar with driving on the left side of the road. When you are driving a car with no seatbelts screaming down a randomly paved road at 70mph you have to be careful and quick. After proving myself with some quick hand-eye coordination and dodging massive pot holes with ease and style. As my pride caught up with my driving I asked them to count how many scrapes happen on the way to Murundu. Usually there are between three to six scrapes that occur on the sketchy road. I knew that they would want a chance to drive someday so I would have to perform well. Upon our arrival at Murundu I can proudly say that I only scraped the car a whopping one time! I love driving here because of the adventure and randomness to the roads. It feels so very James Bond to barely miss a flat tire pot hole every 15 seconds. The scariest aspect to it is chicken fighting with busses over good ground. As the bus teeters towards my vehicle it becomes more of a first come first serve in relation to who get the pavement. Although it is crazy and scary it is so very adventurous and right down my ally.



Corrupt Police
Kennedy, Christian, and Justin all went back into town while the rest of the team was in Murundu. They went back into town to get wood so we could make the orphanage benches. They came back three to four hours later with quite the story. Apparently they were stopped at a police barricade by a local police officer. He asked Christian a couple of questions while Kennedy was showing another officer the car’s triangles (you are required to have triangles for when you pull over to show cars that you are on the side of the street). After questioning Christian he went back and talked to Kennedy and completely twisted Christian’s words. He made up a couple of imaginary violations and made Kennedy give him the keys and sit in the back of his vehicle. The police officer then got in the driver seat and threatened to take them to the station. He drove 20 kilometers in the direction of the station in hopes of a scare that would result in a bribe. The government can not afford to pay the officers very much so they become corrupt and find other means in using their power to get money. The police officer takes Christian’s name and starts scolding him for not being one. He asks Christian why a Christian would lie to an officer and say that this vehicle belonged to him. He says that Jesus wouldn’t lie to him so why should he? He threatens that the ticket they would have to pay would be about $200. So the officer drove back and forth from the station to the barricade talking and attempting to scare the group. After three times of going back and fourth Kennedy takes control and offers 20,000 Quatcha (four US dollars). After a lot of debating the cop takes it because he got scared that they would take this situation to a higher level of authority. And it would have taken them all day to go through the station. So Kennedy gave them four bucks and left. The real sad thing is that later we found out that the corrupt cop they ran into is a pastor at a church. That is so horrible.

Cooking
Since we have been at Mufulira we have begun cooking and providing for each and every meal. We had a really bad experience at a local food store and decided that it would be more fun to give cooking a go and pick up supplies at a local SHOPRITE every other day. It has been a really great bonding experience. Carter, Bret, Brice and myself have kind of taken the reins for destroying the hunger on the team. We have made a lot of dishes and had plenty of successes. I pretty much wrote this whole section to impress my mom…

[ Wednesday June 10th ]

Orphans and Machetes
The sun is beating down on the dirt covered ground of Africa. The battle of bug-spray and sun-block begins as the skirmish for our nostrils as the fragrance follows us out into the barren fields of Murundu. A devil weed grows on this orphanage. A weed that is not common to the west. It is a combination of a bamboo-like weed and grasping thorns. This weed grows overhead for about six feet as it tries to grasp the sky. We grit our teeth as we look onward towards our prize with hidden ambition. Following our unique perfume of repellent orphans run to catch up with the crazy Musungu attempting to tame the thorny beast. As we firmly grip our blades we remember when our hands were unfamiliar with its unique handle. Our shadows are becoming friendly with the local orphans of Murundu as they follow in our footsteps towards the grippy beast. As we step upon the fallen comrades of the retreating beast the children use the fallen sticks to play with and imitate our machete moves. As we reached our yesterdays mark of war with the weeds we see the tree we are trying to free. Glendale is the name we gave the tree in the middle of the thornbrush. Our objective is to set her free so that she can provide shade for the garden that will be made once all the weeds are non-existent. We run the blade across the bottoms of the vines and thorns to add to the weed graveyard we are trotting upon. The children keep us company as they teach us songs and the Bembia language. That is when I realized something these children are so very captivated with us that no matter what we are doing they will follow. Even if we are swinging a silver blade close to them. Yet we hear sad stories of Africans getting cut to pieces by rebel forces with the same type of machete. The difference between us and them is simply who we follow. And because of our purpose that same dangerous machete instantly becomes the best friend of the orphans as we carve away weeds to create a beautiful garden to provide unlimited food for generations to come. Sweat lurks on our forehead ready to pounce on the eyes as we finish up our cutting. At the end of the day I can smile as I put Aloe Vera on my red hot skin because we have successfully cut what would be years of Zambian orphan chores down to three days.



MUSUNGU The Theme Park
Today we served the Murundu orphanage a little differently. Normally we focus on work and relationship but work definitely look the forefront. So today a lot of the guys felt we should take a break from work and hang and serve the children. Usually when we do labor we focus mostly on that work instead of the children as they kind of clump up on the sides of our projects. So today right when we stepped afoot on the land we ran right into the children’s arms. The children that were around when we arrived were the two to four year olds. The children are so adorable and cute. They ran to us screaming “Musungu! Musungu! Musungu!” Their smiles greeted us first as I tried my best to snap a couple of pictures of the barrage of hands trying to grasp us. At first we just held and sat with the children. I took plenty of pictures of their lovable faces. After about ten minutes of casual playing Brice decided to throw a kid up in the air and catch him. So most of the team followed pursuit. We all started thrusting children in the air, putting children on our shoulders, spinning them around in circles, and being very active with the orphans. For every orphan that went airborne on the decent another eight arms grasped my hands for their turn. The common chanting of “And Me, And Me, And Me!” was something that got tiring in itself not to mention doing an orphan workout. I remember at one time having one child on my shoulders, and holding two orphans per arm spinning them all in a circle. I dropped the four smiling children to pick up another four. When you are normally in a situation like this you would stop, unfortunately these children are far to cute to say no to. So instead of choosing labor of the ground we chose labor of the children. They completely drained us just as if we were working labor all day. But not only was is physically draining but emotionally. We got to serve them their proverbial meal of Sheema, rape (a Zambian cabbage), and a small boney fish. This is the same exact meal that has been served to them for their entire orphan life at Murundu. This meal being a very good one to be able to have two times a day. Many of the people in the slums grow jealous of the food that the orphanage can provide. A lot of the team got hit emotionally as we served them their food and washed their hands for it. Bret & Chris both broke down during the day. Kennedy helped out Bret with encouraging words and prayer. After that Bret and myself helped out Chris when he was down. Chris asked us the same questions that I have for God. Why do these children live like this? They didn’t ask for this life nor deserve it! Why do they belong in this poverty and disease? And what is my part in all of this? What can I really do? After Bret’s encouraging words and prayer I told Chris that I have no clue how to even begin to answer those questions. I don’t know why God puts people in these predicaments. In fact I don’t think we are even capable of understanding. But all I do know is that the God we serve is a just and powerful God. His throne is founded on righteousness and justice (Psalm 89:14). He relieves his children of their suffering and pains. We many never understand why things work the way they do but we can understand that there is no one better to leave these situations in the hands of but Him. We can rest in the fact that God is a God of righteousness and justice. Amen.




(This is the orphans meal)

[ Thursday June 11th ]

The Needy
My mind works in a very crazy hectic way. It processes information so quickly and can randomly switch thoughts within milliseconds. My creativity at times can take over and I easily venture into the land of day dreams. I am currently processing my thoughts on the needy in Zambia. The poverty issue in Zambia is very sticky situation for our team. We are working with the needy and finding that it is harder than just giving them what they say they need. For example we brought a lot extra bags with clothes in it for the children in need. We decided to divide the clothes amongst the orphans and children that are in most need. But how do we really determine who really needs what they say they do? We are dealing with 130 orphans, all who need some sort of support, whether that is sustenance, clothing, or even love. 38 of the 130 are double orphans who may or many not even need more. We found that the necessities are different for every child and we really want to make our clothing to make the biggest impact for those who really need it. But how are we supposed to know how to divide up our aid? So we decided to ask Justin (the orphanage leader) for some help in identifying the children in need. He knows the children that who need certain necessities. So the first day at Murundu we did just that. We followed Justin’s lead and gave accordingly. The second day we followed the same schedule for passing out gear. These children in need with do just about anything to get something new. On the third day we found out that some of the children lied about not getting clothes the first day and took more from us on the second. We also found them stealing clothes from the younger children. These children will try anything to get stuff from us… let alone attention from a Musungu. These children have been treated as trash their whole lives and when attention and supplies are being divided amongst themselves they will do anything to get that small amount of attention. One verses 129 isn’t good odds unless some form of cheating is involved. This is really hard to understand and even harder to see. We don’t have something for every child and yet we are forced to selectively give. What I think is most difficult for me is that Jesus’ example provided for all he encountered. How can we effectively represent him in such a situation? We are in prayer about opportunity, necessity, and timing for all of these things yet we still have kids who purposely do not wear shoes to beg and ask for a new pair. The orphans are taught not to beg but when a Musungu comes along those lessons fly out the window. It is very troublesome to try and discern what to do in our predicament. It is so hard to have to turn down beggars who aren’t truly thankful. We don’t want to give with a cautious doubtful heart but with a generous and delightful one… but doing that in actuality is becoming pretty hard.


(The orphans waiting outside to receive clothes.)

Bandage my Bandages
Calices are being formed and blisters are becoming familiar as we do work in Mufulira. We have completed a lot of work. We completed a 6 feet deep trash hole. Which took two full days to complete. We then macheted our way through a majority of brush so that the orphanage could create a garden for food. We also made tables and benches so the children wouldn’t have to eat on the floor. We also bought $300 dollars of meal that will supply 130 orphans for one month of food. We also painted a side of a house for the high school guys. Our work has already shown fruit and smiles. Justin has been completely floored at our service and speed. He gave us a full list of projects and we have been able to complete all of them with haste. We have a lot more to do and unfortunately are beat and bruised. Some of our fire has been dipped in water and our patience has been trsted at times. We are beginning to feel burned. Today we talked about the importance to preserver through it all. Our pain is only temporary and our torment is only conditional. We will only be here for so long and in three weeks we will be able to really rest. We have come to serve and serve we will. We will endure until our body simply cannot. We are being stretched by God and have realized that we truly need him to be our strength. And he is… he has kept us together as the glue of the team. In everything we do in His name has been enough. For example my wrist has been able to handle just enough to do what it needs to. So praise God! I look across this orphanage and see only volunteers who don’t really help out in labor. The stuff we are doing, by Justin’s reactions, take a lot longer for them to do. We are eight strong God-fearing men who have come here able to serve orphans and do labor. The stuff we are doing here will have such long term affects. That only excites us more and more to do more. So now I will bandage my bloody bandages and get some rest for tomorrow. Because I don’t ever want to go back to the US regretting the things I will do here.

[ Saturday June 13th ]


Bushfire
Yesterday we mixed up the day and got a chance to visit another orphanage called Bushfire. It is kind of an offspring of Murundu. How it was birthed was due to corruption of the Murundu orphanage. What happened was that Zambians were put in charge of the leadership of Murundu and when sponsors donated money they would just pocket it leaving little for the orphans. So the leadership fired a couple of the corrupt Zambian leaders and replaced them with an American couple. Due to the corruption those American leaders split from Murundu and started Bushfire. Bushfire is a lot more modernized and has kept the supporters by not misusing the money. Murundu is still fighting off corruption and now has Justin in charge. Bushfire has been going strong in support and we found out that Kennedy was raised on this ground. He told stories and showed us his rickety bridge he made across a river. It is still standing and has been used by the whole community. The bridge is exactly what you would think if you thought of an African stick bridge.

Change
As we tread on African soil and mingle with its people, similarities are far and few between. But there seems to be something that us Americans have in connection to the people of Africa. As the cover of the familiar Time magazine reads “Great Expectations” with a picture of Obama’s face floods the plains of this land the word “change” comes to mind. It sours the tip of your tongue, its taste too known, like the greens your mom made you eat. Sitting at home from the couch its hard to imagine the weight of such a one word promise, but here, in a place largely ignored by recent America, you can see the rare offering of a second chance on the tip of every African tongue. “Obama!” is a common word to jump start conversation with the white Americans here in Zambia. It looks as if this change deal might be a living, breathing thing after all. Yet there are some, mostly those who are Zambian pastors, who are in disbelief. It is interesting to walk in the divide watching the reactions of everything here that one man is doing back at home. Our president. Our history. An idle profile of a man that, despite what he may do or not do for our problems at home, has already changed things for those of us who venture abroad. Standing here in the middle of a Zambian town, you can feel a sort of acceptance without distrust. Respect without reservations. No matter what stance you have on our president or what political background you support… that promise of change has begun whether or not we see it in our boarders.

Zambia College Life
Today we got to visit Copperbelt University in Zambia. It is the #2 school in all of Zambia. It was quite an experience and made me really appreciate all of the housing we have at our own universities. Amos, who is one of Kennedy’s friends, plays soccer for CBU. He lives on campus and is paying for his own schooling in which he can not afford. So he got to show us around his campus and give us a day in the life of a CBU student. The campus is pretty big and the first thing that stood out to me was the amount of clothes EVERYWHERE. There are no washers nor dryers so they wash their clothes in sinks then dry them outside. So laundry is a constant on this campus. Then we went up a couple of stairs to visit his room and found some people in his room. The size of his room is one that is comparable to an American bathroom. Not only that but it is four people to every room. And what got me was that there is no bunkbeds… two to a single sized bed. They share a bed with some stranger. That is incredible. Not only that but they have a stove underneath their one desk to make all three meals for each and every person in the room. Then on top of that they are a fulltime students doing homework all of the time leaving not a whole lot of time for socialization. These are the elite of Zambia, the ones who will make a future impact, those who will be the next gen of leaders in this country. All in all it seems to be a pretty good campus and some of the people were great. The thing that messed me up was what happened after. We essentially went to see Amos’ game. So we went out to the field when it was time and were greeted by a assembly of “friendly people.” We were rudely interrupted about twelve times throughout the game by drunks. We thought that they would come just for the game but Amos told us a different story. After identifying the vice principle of the school amongst the drunks he told us that drinking is the only thing to do for these students. He told us that they would spend hour upon hours wasting their time fondling alcohol. They would just abuse the wealth that has been passed down to them. Amos said that there are a bit of people who’s main drive is school and education but usually are drowned out by the drunk folk. This seems so sad to me. I look around in Zambia and want to make a difference and want to help in any way I can but the future of this country can’t even look me back in the eyes let alone stand up strait. This hit me hard when I saw the #2 campus of Zambia in a drunken scamper. It is so hard for me, even at home, to see people waste money in a fashion that demonstrates unthankfulness for what they have been given. It kills me to see the future being handed down to people who will only want self-gratification and personal glory instead of giving people like Amos a chance. People who are hardworking and giving, people like Amos, who can’t even afford to finish all the way through college because of funding. It tears me up inside.



[ Sunday June 14th ]

Oh Hello! Welcome to Your Church.
Last night Pastor Jack drove in from Livingstone with an elder from his church “Light of Life.” Pastor Jack is the high pastor in his church and has a church branch here in Mufulira. So he drove all the way up here to properly introduce us to his church branch. Pastor Jack is a funny fellow. He is a short African that has a lot of energy and says “Praise God!” every 35 seconds. He always has a smile on his face and goes above and beyond in everything he is apart of. Anyways he arrived on Saturday at our guest house after dinner with a surprise greeting. He expressed how happy he was and honored that we could be apart of his church service tomorrow. He was quick to talk about the church and about his travels then he opened our itinerary… We don’t have an itinerary. The team looked unsuspectfully around the room exchanging eye contact with one another. We then looked towards our leaders to see if they shared in the shock. They surely were just as confused as we were as they followed along with Pastor Jacks motions. Our schedule has been planned out to help out the orphanage for the next three days. Yet Pastor Jack had other things in mind apparently. Pastor Jack was so ecstatic about us being here that he planned the rest of our time in Mufulira for us. He was also very ambitious on what we were going to do for the service tomorrow. What?! Is this some sort of sick joke… screamed the looks on our faces. He planned us to put on a Sunday service and to teach on Monday and Tuesday without our knowledge. So now I find myself the C.E. major in a small school building greeting the Mufulira people to their very own church giving a sermon that I did not have yesterday. Little did we know that the whole church had been waiting for our arrival and had a huge sign greeting us in as we got flowers to pin on our shirts. God has been speaking a lot to me about these people and the trials that they go through so I spoke on that. God used and stretched our team this Sunday. Brice played the guitar and we all sang along to two favorite songs while Kennedy and Christian gave our team testimony and I gave the sermon about joy through trials. The night before we weren’t so put together but after a long talk and some good worship we gave the situation to him and he used us to orchestrate exactly what he had planned this Sunday. The sermon I gave had confirmation through out the jammed packed classroom of 70 and left me refreshed to know that God had his plan in it all. It was relieving to let him have full control and glory. Leaving us just enough to give him trust in our situation. God is so good!



[ Wednesday June 17th ]

Musombo 1340ml Shaft
Today was a true Zambian coppermining experience! Pastor Jack arranged for us to go underground and check out a copper mine. Normally an experience like this would cost about $30 per person but because of Pastor Jack’s connections we got in free. So we woke up at 5:30 to be there at 6:00 to start our decent. We got geared up in full suits which consisted of hard hat, earplugs, eyewear, gasmask, white jump suit, rubber boots and head light. It was legit! We went down the first elevator shaft for 500ml then lit up and walked to the next shaft that took us down to 1340ml. We then toured all the of niks and grannies of how the copper mine works. The deeper we went the hotter it got. We were completely covered in sweat at the bottom of the mines. It was so cool to actually see how the process works and how non-envious I was of the workers in the mine. It looks like really hard work for bad pay. But every face we met greeted us with a smile. I was so impressed with how sophisticated the whole process is and how much machinery it truly takes to get a mine up and running! It was an all day exhausting experience… but it was one I will never forget!



[ Thursday June 18th ]

We are now heading back to Lusaka for a day of rest and a prayer request to be answered. Atila will be flying in at 6:00am on Saturday to complete our team here in Zambia. His passport came through and he is on his way! The team is stoked!


(Making the best of our 3rd blackout at our guest house by doing some lightwriting.)


(Always Love in Africa: Wilson one of Kennedy’s friends that the team became really good friends with. I gave him my shirt in remembrance of us and to always love.)


In His Grip,
Jeremy Dennis Pedron

Still Alive.

UPDATED WITH PICTURES!!!

Our venture has been without internet for sometime now... We have had our hands tied with plenty of work. But it is also very important to give our prayer support team some meat. So I will do my best to catch you guys up with what has been happening as of late. Here are a couple of stories and situations that consisted in the last week or so.

(I will post pictures with this post when the internet is stronger.)

[ Sunday May 1st ]

Mega Church Zambia Remix
I thought I knew mega churches coming from the sun kissed California area. But Church today made full use of the word mega. We woke up early to go to a Zambian Baptist Church called the “Bread of Life.” Kennedy once informed us before our trip even began to bring a “nice” set of clothes. My western mindset convinced me that a button up shirt, Dickies, and no dress shoes would do the trick besides bring dress shoes would add more weight to my 45 pound bag. My westernized idea of what they would consider “nice” got blown out of the water when I got to see what everyone was wearing. Suits, beautiful dresses, and tuxedos flooded the dirty streets of Lusaka. Not many could afford keeping up with the expenses of a vehicle so they would just walk however many miles it took in their nice get ups. As our vehicle pulled into an area where we could get out and walk we noticed that their clothes weren’t the only thing that exemplified beauty. We heard the church before we could see it as the praise echoed throughout ghettoed streets. It was so very beautiful to hear the Zambians in complete praise. We walked into the muggy high energy church as I now was self conscious of my pick in clothing. We were guests, obviously, so we got escorted to the front of where the guest isles are. There were about 3,000 people packed into a space that was about as big as a California elementary cafeteria. The energy was very contagious and made all us Musungu dancing and singing out of tune with the marvelous gospel choir. Deodorant is a luxury in this country so the hot smell of B.O. took a little while for my nose to adjust to the familiar smell. The amount of movement and power in praise was one of the best church experiences I have been apart of. This church is pretty popular and gets broadcasted across all of Africa. Worship was both in English and Bimba (the native tongue). Praise and worship are two different things here, and we do them both at separate times. Then the head pastor strutted his bright white tuxedo as he spoke so well about forgiveness and judging. The Bread of Life was an awesome experience and one that I will never forget.



Typical Zambian Meal
Sheema is the main Zambian course here. It reminds me of a thicker version of cream-o-wheat. The reason it is the main course here in Zambia is because it is cost effective and has sustenance for survival. The thick sticky goo is used by rolling it in a ball and dipping it in whatever the house hold can afford. We got our first exposure to this meal at Chris’ house who us Kennedy’s friend. It was delicious and appreciated and we will hopefully get another chance to eat it again.

Back From Chris’ House
After the well appreciated meal we headed back to our guest house. Chris was driving quite quickly and then all of a sudden he did an abrupt stop. On our left was a Zambian man attacking a Zambian woman. It looked as if he was trying to snatch the phone from her in a very violent manner. It was scary moment for us and the other Zambian onlookers because we had to wait for an opportunity to help the woman. Luckily local police were in the area and prevented the man from doing anything else. As we parted from the situation Chris explained to us how even in a intense position (like the one the woman was in) women will not divorce. Even if she was abused, beaten, or cheated on the women will most likely not divorce the man. In this culture being married is the only way to survive for a lot of women. Even if there is great pain in the marriage life they will put up with that rather than living in fear of survival. This breaks my heart and is very unsettling for me. Prayer is needed for women in these situations.

[ Wednesday June 3rd ]

Orphanage Complex
The second orphanage we went to in Lusaka is Chezanga. It is a couple of structures with cinder blocks and rebar. Each room is entitled to a different age group. The main individual responsible for the orphanage is the Director. Who is an elderly God fearing woman who reminds me of a Holy Yoda type of figure. She originally planned on housing orphans but then her plans developed into a school because of the need of education in the area. The whole school is run by volunteers because she can not afford paying them. All of these teachers truly have a heart for these children and are getting absolutely no benefits in serving these kids. We got to walk in each classroom. As we did we were met with a greet of song. The kids knew about fifty songs that the teachers teach them. When we came in they would sing with great joy as their voices encouraged the other classrooms to sing along. The children were so very hungry to learn and the only thing that hinders them from learning is taking care of the family. It saddens me to see their ambitions to be completely opposite of the attitudes back at home. The director is now trying to turn the K-12 school / orphanage into a college and trade school for survival. Not all kids can afford government colleges so she wants to create a trade school for them to survive in the 75% unemployment rate.

Medical Attention
We did not bring a medical team on our trip. We brought Carter and Bret who have a heart for medicine and a BIG med-kit. We are only equipped to do so much but Zambia begs for more than what we can give. There are so many infected cuts, runny noises (from tuberculosis), and many many more diseases yet we are trying our best with what we have in skill and med-kit. The amount of disease is quite overwhelming for our team but we are doing the best in what we can do. I found this written on chalk in one of the classrooms for what I think is them raising awareness and what I think is some good prayer requests for Zambia:



“Social and economic problems in Zambia
HIV/AIDS
Zambia has one of the highest levels of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Most people infected are aged between 20-39 yrs. The number of healthy people are able to work and develop Zambia is decreasing. Children become orphans when their parents die of AIDs and eventually become street kids.
Unemployment
People struggle to provide for their families when they are out of employment. Some unemployed people commit crimes to get money or goods. This in return changes the wealth and development of a country.
Poverty
Most people in Zambia are poor. They depend on farming for their survival. If crops fail because of droughts, floods, or disease many people may not have the food they need. It is hard for most people in the rural areas to find money for medicine and school fees.”

Felix
Felix is a kid that we found with a serious infection on his foot from not wearing socks. The poor kid if not properly treated can lose his foot. We cleaned the wound and gave him our own socks. We are left in a position where we are completely reliant on God and prayer. (Update: We checked up on him just recently and found out his cut is doing a lot better and looks as if it is healing.)

Richard
Richard is a kid who stood out to me. He seems like a naturally leader in the orphanage. His smile shows his heart and his actions show his leadership. He will have a huge impact on Zambia’s future in Lusaka. He will be a great leader in God’s kingdom and needs prayer so that he will be built up.

Trash Ball
The kids here can not afford anything soccer related because it is not a necessity. So to make up for having a soccerball they make trashballs. They will find bags and light weight trash and fill it and shape it into a circle. Then the kids will sow cloth around it or tie rope around it to make it structured. Then they will play with them until they disappear into the trash fields that they are playing on. So I bought a couple of soccerballs in town and are trading them for their trashballs. It is so awesome to see how stoked these kids get when they get their own real soccerball! It see their face is well worth the cost of buying the balls.





Dirty Hands
We visited Chezanga again. The Director (Holy Yoda) asked us to take the kids out to a big open dirt field. The ratio of kids to us was about 1 to 45 easily. There were so many kids and so little of us yet every single kid wanted to shake our hands personally. Hundreds of bouncing children rushing through the dirt to shake our eight hands. Their hands held dirt, mud, snot, tears and an assortment of other things. By the end of the day it takes two trips to the sink to wash off all of the grime from our skin. These children are no different from me other than being born in two absolute opposites. One in poverty and one in wealth. Everyday I clean my dirty hands from playing with the children I think about how unfair all of this is for them. I have no clue why I was chosen to live in California or why Richard was chosen to live here in Cheezenga. I don’t think I will ever know why God does the things he does but I do know that it is so very important to be thankful for what God has given us and bless him for it. We need to remember to praise the one who hands out gifts. Even though Zambia may be in complete poverty there are some things here that America doesn’t understand. One could be jealous over the joy in this place. A part of me just sees these situations from a dollar value standpoint, but in all actuality these people have so much that California is missing out on. Like family, joy, and commitment. I think that wherever we are raised or born that we have been put there for a reason. God has put us in our families for a reason. He has graciously given us gifts in different nature and placed us in settings for a reason.



[ Friday June 5th ]

Ride to Mufulira
Our week in Lusaka has come to an end. The concrete jungle of mortar and rebar and the smell of burning trash has imprinted a memory of how far we have really come. We are the team that God has sent to this place. We are no longer waiting for the trip to happen, it is happening. And our first week in Lusaka ended in a busport while the locals stole our soccerballs and played while we waited for our whole team to board a certain bus. We waited for our 20+ luggage to be crammed in the underbelly of the giant beast of a bus. We watched seven hand picked bags who could not fit underneath the bus pass by and dropped in the middle of the isle for every unaware passenger to trip over. As we left the remains of overambitious third world developers failed visions behind us our minds and hearts were set on whats next… We got what our leaders called “a taste” of what is to come. We simply put our big toe in the pool of what is coming our way. Our packed bus is off on its bumpy burny road to Mufulira. The 5 hour estimate from our leaders holds no ground in actuality. Due to the whole country functioning on “Zambian time” means that the 5 hour estimate tie given to our leaders means an 8 hour amount in actuality. Thanks to toilet breaks, random stops, and road problems the ride to copperbelt sucked up a lot of time. When we arrived at a copperbelt station we found that the tickets Kennedy bought us had an imaginary and non-existent final destination. So plan B to getting to our final stop was packing all of our stuff and us in a tiny shuttle transportation vehicle. We tetris packed our burdensome baggage into the back two seats of the tiny Toyota bus. Which naturally left us eight seats. Perfect! Think again you westernized thinkers. Little did we know that this little shuttle wanted to business a couple more clowns into this clown car. So four others with their own luggage crammed into the little frail bus with us and joined us for packed 30 minute drive. We have witnessed the way people shuttle around Zambia before, but we couldn’t leave without experiencing it now could we? The little Toyota’s shocks were non-existent as we all got our very own harsh vibrating chairs from the beat up dirt and paved roads and every once and a while after hitting a mammoth speed bum a section of our luggage would fall on top of us. As soon as B.O. and sweat became familiar we arrived at our new guest house. This guest house was a bit nicer and even more cheaper in price.

[Saturday June 6th]

The Day All of Zambia went Wild!
We found out that our time in copperbelt was going to be complemented with an official match of futbol between Rwanda and Zambia. Because of the awesome opportunity we decided to go. What an experience! We drove to Konkola Stadium in two rental cars. At about 70 mph we were playing chicken with oncoming traffic for who would get the better driving space. Zig-zagging left and right, on and off the road dodging gaps missing in the road which seemed easy for the local drivers. But would be easily penalized if quick thinking isn’t complimented with timing and steering. Every penalization takes a toll on the car resulting as a scrape of its underbelly. When we arrived we were greeted by crazy colorful fans of the land in which we were standing. Horns honking, loud yelling and screaming, and Zambian colors graffitied the streets. We stuck out like usual and luckily were rooting for home soil. We busted our Zambia shirts and wore them with pride as we bought tickets from a seller outside because they were sold out. Kennedy bribed him down to a reasonable price. We then joined the congoline of Zambians to get in the stadium. We sifted amongst each other as we passed four guards who each had a tear gas gun. After passing the camouflaged carriers we gave our ticket to some big black men as they ripped our tickets they fell to the ground joining the thousands of other fan’s tickets who were already enjoying the game inside. Energy at games in the states really pose no threat to what we witnessed at the Zambia Rwanda game. Lets just say that Africa is passionate about futbol… People were decked in color and screaming like no other. Organized chaos is the best way to explain it. We watched an awesome high energy game where Zambia fell short of lucky and missed some opportunities. Until it happened. Zambia scored a goal. There is no way you would have missed this goal. The crowd erupted! My ears started ringing due to horns going off on all sides of the stadium. Fire torches light up to my right and a couple of colorful Zambians run the torch around the stadium. All this movement complimented the crazy drunks. Trying to get the smoke out of my eyes I decide to look up finding rain of all Zambia’s favorite drinks falling upon me as the bottles fly overhead dropping the juicy bombs. The bottles started to fly everywhere on the field for there was not one left in the stands! Zambian’s started rushing the gates and hanging on top of the fences screaming with all their might. As five minutes go by the audience doesn’t lose its fire. Kennedy then told us we should head out to beat the traffic. What Kennedy wasn’t telling us was that last year during this game 31 people were trampled on and died. Last year Zambia didn’t win and the fans made it hell for the Rwanda to get out of the stadium. So as we jet out of the stadium we rode the wave of fans getting out of the game. Luckily we made it out fast and headed to the guest house on the sketchy roads. We were greeted by all of Zambia on the streets as waves, branches, smiles, and praise were thrown at every car that passed. It was the most chaotic awesome Zambian experience! Zambia 1 – Rwanda 0. Good game, good game!



We are currently doing some hard labor at an orphanage called Murundu. I don't have any current journal entries to share about what is happening currently but will keep you guys posted as soon as possible.

In His Grip,
Jeremy Dennis Pedron

Playing with Poverty.

Playing with Poverty
I love good titles. I like them to be strong words that deliver a powerful message in hopes of capturing an audience. As hard as it was for me to use this title; I thought it was the most appropriate. Now please hear my heart when I say and truly believe that I was called to be apart of this team and to do ministry here in Zambia. I honestly and truly believe this and have seen God’s workings already.

I really enjoy graphic design and photography. I love to have in my grips a camera on me at all times. So it was quite an easy decision to bring it to Africa with me. I have brought a camera on every other trip I have been on which include Albania, London, Israel, Mexico, and Canada. But this time bringing my camera had a whole different meaning.

The 2008 Jeremy Dennis Pedron thought he had seen and experienced true poverty before but to the true sense of that word he hadn’t seen anything yet. I started snapping right off of the plan. The Lusaka airport was located in a more upper-class area of Zambia in which I was unaware. So I figured the majority of Zambia would look as the place of my entrance. I presupposed that everyone in Zambia had somewhat of a roof over their heads.

As days progressed we ventured further and further away from our guest house and deeper and deeper into slums and into the forgotten areas of Zambia. The deeper we plunged into poverty the harder it was for me to take pictures. The eyes of the children in the slums looked nothing like the eyes of the children outside of the airport. Their eyes looked back at me with a story, a story that I have never experienced nor could relate to. These eyes captured me and were so deep and emotional that it was convicting trying to snap a quick photo. These eyes deserved more than that, theses eyes woke me up.

To us (in our western mindset) we have come to do ministry. We came to pray for Zambia, help the needy and orphaned, be open to do God’s work, and to love the Zambian people unconditionally. Which is good and true in every one of our team’s hearts. And we also know that these people are thankful for what we are able to offer and do. In fact they light up when we are around and they smile when the unloved feel loved and focused on. The fact that we came from our castles (to their standards) in America to the slums of Zambia completely makes their day!

But there is something that doesn’t still doesn’t settle well with me. When the day is over we go back to our expensive ($10 a night) guest house, eat an expensive ($5) meal at a westernized food place for lunch and dinner, we drive back in a van in which many of them have never got to ride in, while I sit hovering above them with a lens looking for a good picture, then we leave them in dust and exhaust as we head home. Although we are very careful in the way we talk and the way we present ourselves so that we don’t look like white skinned Kings ruling over them. We have made it our goal to serve them and go beyond ourselves.

Yet have we really left our castles in their eyes or just ours? What are my real intentions for taking the pictures I am taking? To be able to show people at home who just want to see what I have done over summer break?

No.

I am no longer taking pictures just to collect and showcase like I have on many other trips. I am taking these pictures of these beautiful people so that they would active and call others to this ministry. We are only one team, with a certain amount of time, and with only so much to give. I want these photographs to have an external impact that will activate and inspire others to go beyond themselves and become a servant of the forgotten. We need to stop looking at the eyes of a photograph and look into the eyes of these children face to face. We need to wake up and feel called.



(This isn't the picture I was thinking of when I wrote this in my journal. I haven't had time to upload my current pictures. But this one will do.)

In His Grip,
Jeremy Dennis Pedron

Musungu.

[ Day 4 & 5 ]

There has been quite a lot of stuff that has happened in just the few days of staying in this first location. I will tell a couple of the stories we have had thus far because there are far too many to blog about...

Guest House.
This is the term used in Zambia which is a place for people to stay alongside a family grounds owner. We are living in a Christian owned guest house and it is a lot of fun. This guest house isn’t one you would have in the Americas; it is very nice for Zambia’s standards. Our team is split four and four in two different rooms. There are mosquitoes everywhere inside and out. So to sleep we need to have nettings at night. We have been using the guest house as our launching pad to all of the places in which we do ministry. We get up around seven eat and go out and do whatever ministry and get back and crash around nine and start it up again the next day.

Spontaneity.
So I want to talk a little bit about that orphanage that we went to before. We were planning on leaving and going to town to get supplies. But as we walked to the local store Kennedy started talking to the leader of an orphanage that randomly cross paths with us. Within seconds our team was in a van heading to some unknown orphanage. We can be so flexible and spontaneous and it makes our team so functional and dynamic. After about 20 minutes of driving through dirt poor shacks we ran across this orphanage. The leaders of it cannot offer the children food nor shelter but they are doing their best to give the orphans an education. They have been saving since 2002 for some land. They said that in two or so years that they would have enough money to purchase land that will not be taxed so that they can offer food and shelter to orphans. We asked how much money they needed to raise. The main leader said about $280. I cringed when I heard this number. That is half of my pay check back at home. Our team has decided that we are going to give up our breakfasts and dig out some money we raised to help fully support this orphanage. This way the leaders can fully focus on the children’s needs and be better equipped without being taxed. It is something we are so very excited about. God has totally used our flexibility and spontaneity to show us an orphanage we would have most likely never have seen or helped. God is so good!

Musungu.
Musungu means “White Man.” The name we hear all over Zambia. It is a fun title and easy to understand because we stick out so very much. I have never been the minority like this before. We went to go support a local soccer team that Kennedy used to play for. We brought jerseys, cleats, and other soccer gear for this team who didn’t have much. We drove past our last orphanage in the middle of slum houses to a much hidden soccer shrine. In the middle of the slum laid dirt soccer field one that had huge rocks as a part of its structure, small ditches, and no grass. Yet it was a place of greatness. There were hundreds upon hundreds that showed up for this game. People would gather all around hanging in trees, walls, and anything to get a better view. The crowd grew as the game progressed. The kids ran and jumped all over us screaming “MUSUNGU! MUSUNGU!” I really don’t think that any of them have seen many white people before and were more interested in playing with us then watching the game. Whenever someone scores a goal everyone in the stands rush the field and celebrate the score with the team! It was so very high energy and showed how important soccer was to them. The kids can not afford balls to play with so they collect trash balls and have their mothers sew cloth around it to make little trash balls to practice soccer. I am going to buy a couple of soccer balls and trade them for their trash balls. After the game we rushed the field and Chris gave a small testimony while Kennedy and his pastor friend asked if anyone wanted to ask Jesus into their lives. About a hundred of children and adults raised their hands and gave their lives to the Lord. It was so very powerful and amazing! So far this trip has already been worth it! Halleluiah!

Travis.
Ok now for a slightly funnier story. Last night Travis had a headache and needed to get some headache medicine from our care pack. Bret and Carter are in charge of medical supplies they asked Travis to show up later to get it. I was having a friendly conversation with Carter and Bret about the situation and thought it would be funny to see if we could convince Travis to go through a full physical and say that it is medical procedure for getting medication. So we did. Let’s just say that he went through with a full physical! Hahah! We convinced him to have a turn and cough and pee in a cup! All for two pills of Advil! Hahaha!



(On the sidelines watching the soccer game.)


(After the game: group of new believers.)


In His Grip,
Jeremy Dennis Pedron

Travels.

[ Day 2 & Day 3 ]

Traveling is a way for me to acknowledge and prepare for what is to come. It takes me time to realize that I have opened a new chapter in my life. The time it takes to travel, especially overseas, helps me take the time necessary to begin focusing on the next chapter that God has for me. The next chapter is Zambia, Africa. But what exactly does that mean?

Finding out my purpose for this trip is something that God has been slowly giving me vision for. I felt called to "follow Him" here and now that all comfort, routine, and security is stripped away... I am left here relying fully on Him. It is a mixture of excitement and fear. I know God is in control and will bless our team in what we are doing and I am really excited to grow in him through this experience.

We left Biola at 5:30 for the LAX. We arrived with a high level of excitement seeing the airport in a calm state. Our team dynamic has been a very positive and uplifting one. We waited in line to get our packs through checkout and get our tickets. After a small time almost everyone had their tickets except for Atila. Here was our first obstacle as a team. Atila couldn’t fly out with us. His passport had not arrived for the time of our flight. So we as a team prayed for Atila and had to fly off without him. We are in constant prayer for his arrival to Zambia. Once his passport gets approved by Zambia he is on the first flight here. Please pray for Atila!

We then were on a nine and a half hour flight to Heathrow, London. Brice and I had a good idea to watch a movie together. With a great selection of movies to pick from Brice convinced me that I should watch “Bride Wars” with him… I must have been running low on energy to fight off such a stupid idea or something but I decided to watch this film. It was stupid and I regret wasting that amount of time on a movie and I won’t let him off the hook about it. Oh and Wayne Brady was on our flight to London with his wife and child. That was pretty cool to see.

After our arrival in London we jumped on another flight to Lusaka, Zambia. This flight presented me with quite an overwhelming surge of thoughts. My mind was drowning in awe of how big this world is and how God has given us the authority to take care of his people. It is so hard for me to even process how hard it is to live a selfless life where we can have a missionary heart. I look around at how so many people are content to live such routine selfish lives. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking that people think our time here on earth is just to be fat and happy. God has huge plans yet we sit at home callusing ourselves from the truth. I feel so overwhelmed with our earth and the vast scale of work ahead of us as Christians. I feel like I am called to help people wake up. The idea I get is of the movie the “Matrix.” I feel that we need to be awaked to live with missionary hearts that are selfless and serving.

We arrived in Africa with the compliments of a beautiful brazen red sunrise. We landed on two wheels and bounced on to three. Once we set foot on Zambian land it felt different. We were the minority and it felt great. It was so cool seeing what is was like on the other side of a majority.

We crashed at our guest house where we will be staying for about a week depending on Atila’s arrival. Our bodies were done in for leaving our words in rambles and our muscles shaky. It was time for food. So we had some local grub and completely crashed. The next morning after roughly around 12 hours of catch up sleep we got to visit an orphanage.

Well I guess you could call it one. It wasn’t much of a building at all more of a couple of sticks holding plastic bags for a fence to keep about a hundred children in. The teachers of this orphanage couldn’t really give the children food or shelter but could offer education. So they would teach the children who sought education a small version on of one. We will be visiting them again and teaching. It is amazing at how little people can have and yet have so much joy. I can’t wait to begin working here!

As for now I have to go because I am running out of time on this computer.


(A teacher in the orphanage.)

In His Grip,
Jeremy Pedron

The Lasts.

[ Day 1 ]

Yesterday and Today have been the last couple of days to do things here. My good friend Aimee graced me with her presence and took me to Disneyland to hangout and have fun in the happiest place on earth. After that we got meet up with half the team at Bret's for some good BBQ. After a great meal and some good fun we went to Walmart for some toys, balls, and balloons for the children of Zambia. We closed the night at 3:40 after watching Meet the Parents. 

And now I sit here on Bret's couch awaiting 4:45 to come around so that our long awaited trip can begin. Our team put so much into this trip in just the planning, financial, and organizing aspects of the trip that now that it is here, it seems like a different beast. We now have the chance to do some self-reflection on how God has provided for us thus far. God's hands are so prevalent in this trip with the people assembled, the support we have gotten, and the personal growth that is happening.

I think our team feels a lot like Coda Bret's dog. He sits by the window and waits till he can go outside. Our team has been vision casting, planning, and waiting by our window. Today our door will be opened and we will get to walk out the trip we have been planning. Here we go!

In His Grip,

Jeremy Pedron

Home Away.

[ Day -2 ]

Its a desolate campus now... All my family and friends have left me here waiting for Tuesday (when I leave for Zambia, Africa out of the LAX.) I have finally closed the last chapter of my Biola experience for this year.  Now I can finally process the fact that Zambia is in two days and begin to get pumped!  I haven't had the time to let it sink in that I will be going 24 hours away to do God's work. 

I am so fortunate to have such an awesome group of friends at Biola. I was invited to live with a fair amount of friends. If you were one of those who offered your home to me I just really want to thank you... your are such a blessing!

One of my team mates Bret offered for me to stay with him at his families house which is right off of Biola road. I stayed the night at his house and will be staying here until Tuesday. Bret's family is very hospitable and loving. They have been such a blessing for me in this transition time.  I have had time to just relax and slows down. It has given me an opportunity to process what is ahead and be still and listen to God. I am loving this time of relaxation because I know the road ahead is going to be tiresome and a lot of hard work. 

A couple of things I could use prayer for:

• The team's dynamics.

• My wrist.

• Finances.

• The stretching and work that God wants to do in me.

(Bret's Wall)

In His Grip,

Jeremy Pedron