The Whitfield Watering Hole: August 2014

May through Aug update:

Hello family and friends!!!

The winter is ending here in Zambia and come October, we will be sweating again. It's not quite like a Chicago winter, but we have had to break out our long sleeves and many evenings are spent around the camp fire. Winter means no rain, few bugs, wild winds, and the beautiful view of green wheat fields from the neighboring farms. Hot season brings the rains, bugs, gorgeous sunsets and the green lush tropical plants! Both the seasons are magnificent in their own ways and are a beautiful reflection of our amazing Creator.

May was an exhilarating month for us as we hosted the Love Africa team from South Carolina. The weeks prior were filled with lots of shopping, planning and excitement for their arrival. The team consisted of 12 college students from different states (mostly South Carolina) and it was led by Nathan and Levacy Smith and their 2 daughters, Gracie and Sofie. The team was not only able to do some great sightseeing in Livingstone, a safari and even bunji jumping, but they also held a 4 day kids camp out on our village property, called Ngangula. The kid's camp ministered to over 1100 kids over those four days who have not had much interaction with white people. It was cool to see all the kids get so excited each day as we all returned. The team also shared a meal with the head men in the village, ministered at the local village church and a few of the nurses held a first aid clinic for the children.

The team brought props such as ropes for tug of war, a big colorful parachute, a tarp with holes cut into it for playing different ball games, all sorts of balls and much more. The team members shared their testimonies, sang songs and loved on these kids. It was great getting to know each one of them and hear their stories around the camp fire each night. God did a lot of awesome things in their hearts and in the village kids they ministered to.

In June we had a sweet reunion visit with our friends and old team mates, the Allen's. They lived in our old neighbor hood in Lusaka and they have five beautiful daughters. They have been back in America for 2 ½ years and their visit was a sweet time of fellowship for us all.

Also Luke's dad, Drew made a surprise visit. He surprised Luke and the kids on Father's Day, by walking into church as I was announcing some special fathers in our congregation. It was a very fun three weeks with him. We played lots of cards all together, went on a four day get away to see animals, had great talks, bonfires and the kids slept in the container with him almost every night. We are so blessed to have had that time with him and new special memories.

The end of July/beginning of Aug. we also hosted another smaller team of four guys for two weeks, from the Love Africa organization. They did a few soccer camps/outreaches, Bible teaching, painted our church and held a kid's camp on our farm. We had a great time of ministry and fellowship with them. We are thrilled at our new connection this year with Love Africa and look forward to have three or more teams come same time next year. It's a blessing to us to have these teams come and help us do both practical mercy ministry and also minister to the spiritual needs of the people here. We are passionate about teams because that is where God impacted our hearts for overseas missions and we want to spur others on toward what God is calling them to do!!

Mid August we had friends from Texas, the Binkley's visit us for four days. They are involved in ministry in Zimbabwe and decided to come see us on their trip too. We had a great time of fellowship and enjoyed showing our life and ministry to them. We are thrilled to be partnering with them and Trinity Cedar Hill School to build a lapa, (large thatched gathering hut) on our village property that the chieftenness has given us. This lapa will allow us to do more ministry and hold more gatherings out in this rural area. This new partnership is exciting and we will keep you updated on the building of this new

We are also very excited to share that our oldest three kids, Macie, Emma and Payton will be visiting the States and going to school during the fall. They will fly on their own, leaving here next week, Sept 2^nd and will return with Luke Dec 2^nd. Luke will be visiting and connecting with family, friends, churches and supporters during the month of November. It has been 2 ½ years since Luke and the kids have been back to the states and we feel it's important for them to reconnect. On the other hand, we have some sad news that our ministry partners here The Roberts, will be leaving us in November and moving back to the States. We are excited for the new opportunities that God is bringing their way, but they will be missed here in Chikankata. Their departure does affect our ministry and support and so that is another reason Luke feels the need to make a visit to America.

On the church front (Mazabuka Community Church…an hour into town), Luke continues to preach most Sundays, and is doing a great job of challenging and leading our leadership team. We have seen growth, a hunger for God and the white and black races coming together to worship! We are blessed to have a few new families that have moved to our community in the last year. They have really encouraged us and also helped in very practical ways! We have quite the team and really are excited about what God is doing and will do in and through our church.

Closer to home, Kerri Roberts and I continue to lead a weekly women's Bible study for our neighboring white farmer's wives and we feel so encouraged and close to this group of ladies. We also have a once a month tea/Bible study for the local ladies on our farm and although the language barrier is quite large we enjoy this interaction with our Tonga friends!

Well, that's a brief update of the past few months. Thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are humbled and thankful to be here, serving God and loving the people groups of Zambia.

Blessings,

Elise for the Whitfield family!