Update from Megan

Greetings all. Today’s news is brought to you by Megan (yes, I’m really here, despite Dan forgetting to mention me - I won’t hold it against him for too long). I am so happy that God brought me back to Zambia for a second year. The team is already such a tight family, and we’ve been called to support each other in so many ways that we never could have expected.

In Zambia, our plans never seem to turn out as we intend, and this morning was no exception. We had told the students at the Mufulira Teachers’ College that we would be playing sports with them for a few hours, but since Monday is a holiday (African Freedom Day, or so I’m told) all the students have left town for the three day weekend. Financial restrictions definitely don’t stop people from travelling all over the place. So we showed up to discover that there were no students to play with, but we remained undaunted and set up our volleyball net in one of the nearby fields, to see if anyone would join us. And it turned out really well – lots of local kids turned out to kick their homemade balls around, an official-looking girls’ soccer game started up, and we found plenty of people who wanted to play volleyball. Elizabeth and I also got some of the little kids to play Sheep Sheep Come On, which we learned last year in Murundu.

Then we all piled back in the Jesus van to go to the Zambian Crocodile Hunter’s home where we got to handle all kinds of snakes, including an absolutely enormous boa constrictor. Which started hissing. I stuck to the little ones, and made very good friends with a small albino constrictor. We also held some baby crocodiles and saw a very shy jackal, which looks rather like a large gray fox. The would-be Crocodile Hunter was not there himself, but we were led around by Ringo, one of the local farm workers, who was willing to humor our curiosity. I can’t imagine what we look like to the locals, 13 muzungus in matching t-shirts crammed into the trusty Say Yes To Jesus van, wanting to see snakes…

To crown the day, we went to the house of Dr T’s Italian friends for an authentic Itailian pasta dinner. Delicious food and fascinating conversation – Enrico has been in Zambia since 1951, and his wife Daniella, who is originally South African, pretty much grew up here, so they were in Zambia when the British withdrew and gave Zambians their independence.

We didn’t get back to the house in time for showers – the water still turns off every night at around 10pm. But at least we’re not getting electrocuted in the shower anymore, since the ingenuity of Jim solved that problem… After grounding everything he could find, we were still picking up an 8V potential every time we touched the shower handles, which REALLY stings when you’re standing in a pool of water. But as they say, if you can’t ground it, break the circuit (yeah, no, nobody says that, sorry for being a huge nerd). So our shower handles now have rubber protectors, affectionately named Shower Condoms…you’ll have to see the pictures.

So, life is good, a day of rest and play is always welcome, and we’re looking forward to Duane preaching tomorrow. I’m very curious to see how our Zambian friends respond to a sermon about HIV/AIDS. I think it’s going to blow some minds and cultural barriers. So prayers for a Spirit-filled message tomorrow morning would be appreciated, and just that the ears and hearts of the congregation would be opened to the challenges Duane is going to bring. Thanks for all your support!

Megan Sheridan
Stop the Spread Team