While in Omelyonova we came upon a funeral procession.  The people walk from the Church to the cemetary following a man holding a cross on a pole.  Then women come two by two carrying large flower arrangements followed by six women carrying the top of the casket.  Next is the Orthodox Priest and more women with arm bands.  Then a flat bed truck comes carrying the open casket which is followed by family and finally men at the end.  They stopped and sang a song asking God for mercy.  It was very interesting.

Back in Kalinovka we practiced with the new Praise Team which will lead worship for the first time this coming Sunday.  There are two guitars, drums and a keyboard.  We are singing the songs in English and they will sing in Ukrainian.  Please pray, these are new musicians and they are very nervous.

Tonight at 11:45 we finished Christmas Eve Dinner.  It is traditional to have 12 different dishes.  Some of what we had were red bortsh, pork, stewed prunes, perogi w/potatoes, pickles and a dish made from buckwheat, raisins and poppy seeds.  The family gathers, reads the Christmas story, prays, eats and then we sang Christmas songs.

We made Nina sit down and rest while we washed all the dishes.

Tomorrow there will be a service at 10:00 a.m. and then we will go to a Christmas service in Irpin where Alex is in charge of the music.

Sunday we will conduct the entire service.  Please pray for us.

Thank you for reading out blog!

Darla for the Team 

Turkeys arrived and were cooked, corn pudding, stuffing and sweet potatoes went well.  Thank you for the Christmas cookies, they were all enjoyed!!  Had a great Christmas celebration together.

Pray for the ladies outreach meeting tomorrow night.  Bev will be speaking.

Everyone is well.  The weather is very mild, no snow.

Thank you for checking the blog!

Darla for the Team

I won’t bore you with the details, but instead let the pictures do the talking today. Every morning (even the rainy ones) were just gorgeous, the water was warm and refreshing, the sun perfect for tanning/burning me to a crisp, and outside of a life threatening snorkeling adventure (which was quite pretty until the current decided to steal my snorkel), it was an extremely relaxing and rejuvenating week.

                       
We are now back to school, and I am trying to cram in as many hugs and memories in before I leave. However, I still have this week left so we aren’t talking about that whole ugly departure thing yet.

Loves to all,

Sara Anne
P.S. Hope received 100% passing rate on their seventh grade final exams. Praise Him!

It is now the middle of our time here and we have been very busy.  We celebrated New Years with a service and all night party - got home about 4:00 a.m.  They postponed Sunday service until noon - we were very happy - and then we had supper with our families.

We have seen Bogdan.  He is home, but is isolated in a bedroom in the house.  We were able to stand in the door and see him and take a couple pictures.  He has beautiful blonde curley hair.  Alla is doing well, however confined to the house most of the time.  This includes not going to Church services.  Lilia does help with Bogdan’s care, but Alla feels it is more important for her to go and Alla stay home.

We had a three hour New Years service in Omelyonova on Monday.  It was very long, but pretty well attended.

Genevive, Keith and Darla spent about 3 hours with a man who is searching for God and had so many questions.  We ended the time in prayer with him and invited him to the Church.

On Tuesday night we went to Brovary for a ladies meeting.  Bev was introduced, Genevive spoke on Mary the Mother of Jesus and Darla sang.  It was a great time spent with our dear friends from Brovary, Roshnee and Kalinovka.  We did get Alla to go with us and stopped for ice cream on the way home.  It has been so long since she has been able to get out that it was good for her.

Today is a big challenge.  Igor has run all over looking for turkeys.  He finally found this morning.  They were very expensive.  When we were trying to get them ready to put in the oven, the men came to work on the sinks in the kitchen so we had no water. We carried them (three of them) over to Nina’s where we tried to wash them in her tiny sink while fighting off her three cats.  When we tried to put them in the oven, they wouldn’t fit  It is never easy.  So we took them back to the Church and got them in the ovens there and now we are PRAYING that they will be OK.  Nina lovingly says, “Darla, don’t worry, it’s OK”!

The guys have finished one wall and 1/4th of the second wall.  We are going back soon to clean up all the mess so we can set the tables for the Christmas dinner tonight.

Genevive has had one teaching session with the Pastors and will have the second tomorrow.  We have had some important conversations with Igor and tomorrow hope to meet with the American Doctor and Igor and Alla.

We thank you for prayers - we can feel them!

The team of 5 arrived safely on Friday.  Our flights were great and we had no problems with baggage.  Even Shirley’s 8 coffee cakes arrived safely in Keith’s backpack.

On Saturday it was decided it would be our only day to go into Keiv.  So Valera drove us to the Hebrew Market where you can buy any type of fruit, spice, vegetables, pickles, meat and cheese.  The colors are amazing, the aromas were captivating.    We then went to St. Andrews Church, a beautiful place overlooking Keiv.  We did have a dusting of snow in the morning, but not too cold to walk outside.

Valera then took is to the catacombs in an active monestary.  We descended into narrow tunnels where many men locked themselves into cells.  In the walls you could see tiny windows where bread and water were passed to the occupant.  There are now many caskets with the bodies of these men.  We walked with candle light among worshippers praying and kissing the caskets of these saints.

We returned to Kalinovka for the New Year’s service that began at 8:00 p.m and lasted until 10:00 p.m.  It was wonderful as people shared their blessings of the past year and wishes for the new year.  The service was ended with corporate prayer.

Following the service the New Year’s Eve party began.  Games, music and of course food were enjoyed by all.  Santa Clause made a surprise visit and everyone loved it!  He gave out Christmas candy to all.  The party lasted until 2:30 a.m.!  After helping clean up the dishes, we finally got to bed about 4:00 a.m.

This morning, Sunday, service was postponed until 12:00 (for this we were very thankful).  The service lasted two hours. It was so good to fellowship with our dear friends once again.

This afternoon part of the team spent a long afternoon/evening talking with a man who is searching for answers in his life.  It was very good and ended in prayer for him.  The other part of the team spent the evening in a home where the believers invited their friends who are not believers.

We have seen Alla, however not Bogdan.  He is being isolated due to the many germs that would put him back into the hospital.  We hope to see him tomorrow night when we will be having dinner at Igor and Alla’s house.  Alla is no longer able to go to Church as he needs constant care.

Tomorrow we will go to Omelyonovo for a service and John and Keith will begin tiling the walls in the Fellowship Hall here in Kalinovka.  There has been much discussion about what “design” the tiles should be made into.  It will be interesting to see how it turns out

Thank you for your prayers and comments.  We feel your prayers.  Everyone is well and we are catching up on our hours lost to jet lag.

It was Stacey and my classes preventative maintenance week, meaning our kids and us were to come to school and clean up the grounds. This term, Stacey and I decided to be a little ambitious and do more than just typical maintenance. What does that mean you ask? Oh, just tearing down a broken fence, rebuilding it, repainting the blackboards, classrooms, and baseboards, and weeding the garden just for a little extra measure. I was exhausted every night, but loved it. Also, it was just wonderful to hang out with some of my students again. George, one of my favorites, showed up, and I am happy to announce his English still knocks my socks off. We also hired someone to paint the alphabet and letters in two of the primary classrooms. If I do say so myself, they look pretty bomb diggity.

It was then all of a sudden my birthday, and Zambia/Stacey treated me good let me tell you. Good food, good friends, and lots of laughs. What more could a girl ask for? Maybe a inbox full of emails from home? Oh yeah, got that too! Sunday, Marci and Bill (an amazing missionary couple that have basically saved the holidays for me this year) invited us to a church for a carol service. If you don’t know, I LOVE singing, and Christmas carols are probably my favorite, so being without this year was starting to drain on me. Sunday helped to fill up my tank a bit. In short, Zambia has been very good to me these past few weeks.

Whelp, that’s all for now I think.
Loves to you all!
Sara Anne

Thank you again and God Bless,

Sara Anne

To start, we finished our end of term tests. Here in Zambia they go to school all year round, so these tests are comparable to our finals right before summer starts. Needless to say, my class was ready to be done! I would just like to insert a little brag here, again about how splendid my students are. While putting their final grades in their booklets, I was noticing a common thread. Many of my students had raised their grades (well, specifically their English grades) by like 8-9 points. I thought this was a huge achievement for them and could not have been prouder. It is odd; a passing grade here is only about a 50 percent. It is kind of difficult to really praise a student when they only received like a 62 on their final exam, but when only three months ago they were bringing in grades of around 54 I’d say they pretty much rocked it! To celebrate, Stacey’s class and mine raised money to throw a big final party on Thursday. The party basically consisted of dancing and eating, two of my favorite things, so of course I just loved it. Teacher Judy ran a little dance competition with the kids, and lastly Stacey, Judy, and myself were pulled up to compete. The results of that contest were never actually announced, but since I busted out the worm I think it’s fairly safe to say we all know who the winner was. We bought biscuits, sweets, juice, and made a HEAPING ton of popcorn for them all. One of my favorites, George, was put in charge of popping the popcorn, and I am fairly confident more popcorn ended up in his mouth than the bowl, but since after everyone was served seconds we still had leftovers, I would say it is ok. Hehe.

Then Thursday, or course, was Thanksgiving! Obviously, seeing as Thanksgiving is an American holiday, they don’t celebrate it here in Zambia, and so bright and early Thursday morning Stacey and I packed up our lunch box with some peanut butter and jellies and headed off to school to meet with parents about their kids. Thankfully, we weaseled our way into only a half-day, and so by around two we were with our dear friend Kristin baking away. I am going to try to keep this short and just say how blessed I realized I was this Thanksgiving. Marci and Bill, two missionaries from the States, graciously opened their house this year to many displaced Americans, a few Canadians, and even a New Zealander! Marci even found a Turkey here in Ndola that was shipped all the way from the good ole’ U.S. of A. We ate, played some games, ate some more, and fellowshipped all night long. It still didn’t compare to being home with the fam, but it was pretty great non-the less. I realized this Thanksgiving what an amazing family I have been blessed with, and how grateful I am for modern technology and the chance to talk with home. I love you guys.

Finally it was the weekend. However, this past weekend was not one of relaxation as Stacey, Kristin (from Alabama), Kristi (from Canada), and myself were running a teacher’s training. It was the first of what is hoped to be many, and for a first run I would say we did pretty darn well. Teachers from our own nonprofits, as well as some outside visitors, were invited to learn about time management, lesson planning, resources, active learning, and multiple learning styles. I won’t lie, I was pretty nervous. Teaching in front of students, no prob bob, I have that nailed. Teaching teachers on the other hand, that gave me some serious anxiety. However, our biggest complaint was that we served the teachers N’shima and beans instead of Nshima and Chicken so I we did pretty good for ourselves. Way to be ZamTeach!

Well I think that’s it for the time. Our friend Kristin is shipping out to the States this Saturday. I pray for safe travels for her, that she will be able to fully soak up her time at home, and a quick return back. Hehe.
Loves to y’all
Sara Anne