ORU Missions Zambia 2009: Zambia--Week 1 (Actually, half-week 1...)

We.
Are.
Here!

Notes for the future well-being of travelers to this beautiful and glorious land:
-unless you LIKE dealing with South African customs officials, try to avoid layovers in Johannesburg when traveling with donations. It made our getting to Zambia with everything intact...interesting. Shout out to Jeffrey, and Shelly's "Team Zambia" t-shirts.

-look into bringing humidifiers for trans-atlantic flights. The air on the plane was drier than the flames of "a very hot place underneath the earth" (Phil).

-cankles are unavoidable. Unless you maybe use ace bandages and wrap your ankles beforehand, or maybe exhort your calves to stay where they belong and not embark upon a road of physiological imperialism. It's worth a shot.

-local food is so, so, so worth trying. And eating.

-despite your delusions, you will not be pronouncing the tribal languages correctly. Case in point: Phil's attempt at singing praise songs was actually closer to this: "Take a guava and mango for Jesus, a guava and a mango for Jesus!" mmm. Mango.

-all Zambians are better than you at football. And by that I mean soccer. This includes the 8-year olds.

Zambia is wonderful. God is teaching us many things, and starting next week we'll be doing VBS in the villages. Please keep us in prayer!