• Rachel Borchard
• Katie Kronebusch
• Kaili Markgraf
• Leanna Miller
• Kayla Wiechman

It was great to see the nursing program reaching out and partnering with the community, as well as partnering with other disciplines around campus.

Activities at the respite day included games, face painting, sports, bingo, music, and the highlight, Milwaukee Brewers mascot Bernie Brewer!

We had about 75 children attend this event and more than 140 volunteers. This respite day not only gave the WLC students the chance to learn about special needs, but supported the servant-leadership qualities that are developed and supported within WLC students on and off campus.

Thank you to all who participated and made this day special!!

It is raining in London this morning, seasonal for this location, but also reflective of how we feel about leaving behind our new-found Zambian brothers and sisters. Many students are wearing flip flops, having given their shoes to their little football player pals. Some talk of creative ways of using their chitenges. All are looking forward to familiar food, but feeling proud of eating n’shima almost daily.

Mwendi bwino (safe journey)

“If I speak in tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong…I am nothing…Love is patient, love is kind… When I was a child, I talked like a child…. When I became a man I put childish ways behind me…”

One thing I noticed while reading this was that if I were to substitute “my name” for the word “love” in this passage, the whole thing would read a lie. “Ryan is patient. He does not boast…” If I were to continue, the passage would be a list of falsehoods. While I don’t intend to be presumptuous, I think it is safe to say that this is true of all of us.

Despite our best intentions to provide care out here, we ourselves have formed the greatest barrier. Poverty is terrible. Language barriers are hard to overcome. But the personal struggle to truly love might be the most insurmountable goal of all.

We came to Zambia full of excitement and the will to serve, but often we have taken more than we could ever hope to repay. Each of us had personal moments that have left us awestruck by how much Zambians can give (and how rich they truly are). Dan with Abel. John with KK. And all of us with Mrs. Nyrenda.

But for all our ineptitude to repay the love we’ve been shown, Christ is able. If we go back to the text and insert the name “Jesus” for “love,” nothing could read truer.

“If I have faith that can move mountains, but have not Jesus, I am nothing… Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Jesus never fails.”

If we nurse through our own nature, we can never give love. But if we deny ourselves for Christ, our ineptitude makes way for his glory. Through baptism Christ has changed the very nature off humanity, giving us the means to love.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wickedness, then I will forgive their sins and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14.

The Zambians realize this and know that healing is only through Christ. We, too, can be that loving, but only through Christ.

Students observed orthopaedic and endoscopic ventricular surgery; assisted with dressing changes of decubiti, burns, skin grafts, and club foot repairs; mourned the loss of an AIDS patient whom we cared for a day earlier; supervised a blood transfusion initiated by Irish med students (who looked to our students for direction); ate nshima with the hospital staff; watched the rice blow off their plates due to the winter winds; drank Coca-Cola regularly since it just hits the spot after a meal of nshima, relish, and beans (or chicken or eggs, or “beef”).

Some have almost overcome their fear of spiders. Most still fret over the giant fruit bats. No snake sightings have been reported.

Overheard recently:

• This has been a zamtastic experience.
• The kids think her name is Carrot.
• We have a pretty good nurse choir, don’t we?!
• Did you see those kids hanging all over Brandon and John?
• Micah calls me Lion.
• “A roof without Harvey tiles is like a school without teachers – there will be illiteracy.”
• Banana spit: 25000k
• Did you know a diesel truck can run without a battery?
• When you said it got cold, I didn’t think it would be THIS cold!
• TIA (This is Africa)
• Your nursing students are always welcome here.
• I miss my family.
• This has been good practice for when we have to share an apartment in fall.
• The water is off.
• The brown-out should start any minute now.
• I have slept so well.
• I haven’t slept all that well.
• There was a bug on my food, and I just flicked it off and kept eating.
• Mrs. Nyrenda has been so good to us.
• Bupe means “gift.”
• The “I” is pronounced “e” and the “e” is pronounced “a.”
• I haven’t lost any weight.
• My family won’ t believe that I ate all this strange food!
• It will seem strange driving on the other side of the road again.
• It has been amazing to see how the Zambian nurses make do with what they have.
• The first thing I am going to eat is pizza, a Big Mac, and ice cream.
• There is confusion.

Before you know it your loved ones will be returning from Africa, filled with stories, laden with curios, and wondering how they ever thought the way they used to think.

Each evening they have sung songs of thanksgiving, stirring our hearts to recommit to a God-pleasing life of serving others.

Genesis 4:2b-7 “Now Abel kept flocks…The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering…If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?”

Many of us are familiar with this section of Scripture. It is rich with lessons not only about stewardship but also about priorities.

On Monday while we were visiting the Mwembezhi clinic, I had the blessing to talk with Abel Mozambuka. We talked for about an hour and discussed many things, including this year’s cotton prices and an explanation of ice-fishing. The most revealing part of the conversation was his priorities. Abel was at the clinic seeking help for his mentally ill daughter, while facing cotton prices of 1500 kwacha/kilo of cotton (less than 50 cents) and trying to send his kids to school. Yet he took time to talk with me and teach me about Zambia and Martin Luther Church and continued to shake my hand and explain how great it was to be talking with someone of the same faith from a world away.

While on a trip like this, I think it is important to re-prioritize. As Prof. Carey says, the point of the trip (and this devotion) is not to make us feel guilty. The intention is not to look at how little Zambian farmers have and how much middle-class Americans have.

Abel’s gift was not necessarily better than Cain’s because he gave a good looking lamb. Abel had his priorities straight; he loved God first, which put everything into perspective for him. Cain’s heart was not in the right place. Cain lacked love, causing him to lose perspective.

Fortunately for us the story does not end here. Another son of Adam came and showed us love – a love that is so incredible that the only way to attempt to show thanks is to imitate that love. The apostle Paul urges us in 1 Corinthians 4 to imitate him as he imitates Christ. In John 15:13 Christ explained that “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” When we imitate this love, everything falls into place, and like Abel we can give our first fruits, our purest fruits.

Lord, teach us to love as you love so that we are able to prioritize, putting love for you first so that everything falls into place. Then, like Abel, our gifts may be pleasing in your sight.

This group photo was taken in front of the David Livingstone statue at Victoria Falls Saturday afternoon. Victoria Falls are a spectacular sight on border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Six students attended to patients at Our Lady’s Hospice in Kalingalinga. While most patients receive palliative care for RVD and PTB, and are discharged to home on ARV’s, some arrive in a terminal condition, suffering from Stage 4 AIDS. Today, MUVI Tv interviewed the staff – watch for us on the evening news!

The six students at Beit Cure Hospital observed surgeons in theatre, doctors performing ENT exams, and a clinical officer tapping a baby with a blocked shunt for his hydrocephalus.

Pastors Mutentami, Kawiliza, and Phiri shared the History of the LCCA and Lutheran Seminary. They encouraged is to continue building relationships through these study opportunities. The Millenium Development Goals (MDG’s) are the basis for program development in health and education.

Each morning three student taught health education classes at the Matero Community School. The students are already sensitized to nutrition, hygiene, and dental health.The MDG’s are well integrated into their curriculum.

Two students per day accompany Mr. Alisad Banda and the home-based caregivers to West Chelstone compound, where they assist with the needs of the chronically ill.

Our students appreciate their semester-long preparation at WLC where they studied the MDG’s, WHO, NGO’s,ARV’s, AIDS, and perinatal and Under 5 M&M.

Tomorrow we depart at 530 hours for Livingstone and a weekend viewing Victoria Falls, as well as taking a game drive. We will return to our Practicals bright and early Monday morning!

There’s no plumbing either! The chimbuzis were clean, albeit challenging. Most of us chose to limit fluids rather than take the chance of a midnight walk down a path to the chim – especially after hearing the missionaries’ dramatic snake stories!

The star- filled sky of the southern hemisphere was magnificent.

Earlier in the day, we were escorted by Pastor Baloyi, who introduced us to many of the villagers. Of special interest was Mr. Shachiendi, a prominent village elder. He welcomed us into his home, shared his pumpkins, watermelon, and mucoyo with us, and returned to the study center this morning to say farewell. He is notable for his 3,000 head of cattle, which are pastured several kilometers from his farm.

Tomorrow the students will go to different clinical sites throughout Lusaka in small groups – Beit Cure with Tara Brennan, Matero Community School with David Brighstman, home-based care visits with Alisad Banda, and Kalingalinga Hospice with Rebekah Carey.

Today five pastors graduated from the Lutheran Church of Central Africa seminary. The first hymn we sang at the service says it all:

We are called to service,
To witness in God’s name.
Our ministries are diff’rent; Our purpose is the same:
To touch the lives of others
With God’s surprising grace,
So every folk and nation
May feel God’s warm embrace.

We were all moved by Pastor Mwete’s message to recognize the calling by the Holy Spirit. The three choirs, interjected by ululating, sent echoes through the church building!

This afternoon, we walked to the Chelstone post office, hoping to also stop in at the local grocery store. Because it is Africa Freedom Day today, most Zambians are on holiday.

However, the little shop is owned by an East Indian man, who interested in our shopping excursion for groundnuts, soap, rice, and baking soda. All will be used as part of the student health education classes at the community schools in Matero and Kaunda Square.

On our way home, some of us stopped for fresh vegetables, sugar cane, and bananas at the street vendor, Joyce.