The Rest of 2010

JUNE 2010
In June, Tim, Amanda and I traveled to Tanzania to visit my sister and her family, the Shermans. It was fun to see them again and fellowship with family. While in Tanzania, we purchased much needed supplies for Grace Community School. After returning to Zambia, our friend Peter Thomsen came to visit us and teach the older boys at Grace Community. Peter taught the boys carpentry skills, and they loved it! Even some of the older girls got in on it! Later that month our dear friends Geoff and Narelle Stanbury from Australia came to visit us. Geoff taught the upper level boys electrical engineering while Narelle taught the girls Bible studies. While visiting us, Geoff fixed our washing machine, computer, Internet connection and worked on projects around the house. Both Geoff and Narelle helped us in so many areas of our ministry. Their visit was a real blessing and encouragement to us.

JULY 2010

At the beginning of July a team from Eastport Bible Church in Long Island, New York came to visit us. Looking back, it is unbelievable all the things that the Eastport team accomplished. Here are just a few ministries they completed: Vacation Bible School, a men's seminar, a separate women's seminar, a marriage building seminary, encouraging teachers in their meetings, an evangelistic meeting, preaching in church, special music for the Sunday service, sharing their testimonies, participating in Sunday evening Bible study, painting the pastor's offices, visiting the neighborhoods to share the Evange Cube and much more! This team was such a great blessing and encouragement to us. As a team, they were one of the most organized teams we have had, and they worked well together. They did so much for the ministry in such a short time! They also formed some amazing friendships. The school kids loved them and were sad to see them go.

AUGUST 2010

In August a team from Austin, Texas came to visit the school for a very short time. This team came as a medical team to do a school wide medical screening on all of our kids. They were able to visit the local clinics and a hospital. They also brought many gifts for the school that the children so appreciated [new underwear and toys!] At the end of August, Elizabeth, our second daughter, and her boyfriend at the time, came to visit us. Jaime and Elizabeth were only able to come for a short two weeks [much too short for this Mom!!] before Elizabeth had to return to school in Denver where she is working on her Masters in Clinical Mental Health. While Jaime and Elizabeth were here, Elizabeth was able to visit with old friends and check on old ministries she had been a part of when she lived with us in 2008. Elizabeth took us to an orphanage in Ndola where she had worked before with severely handicapped children. She was delighted to find many of the children still in the program, healthy and growing [some of the children also showed remarkable improvement which was a blessing from God!] We also were able to take a short, much needed vacation while Elizabeth and Jaime were here. We enjoyed having them here and were sad to see them go so soon.

SEPTEMBER 2010

September started the new semester for the students at Grace Community School. The big challenge of this semester was preparing grade 7 for their entrance exams in November. The pressure was on as the kids studied, and the teachers tutored them. A thrilling moment came in September when one of the young boys from our Sunday night Bible study accepted Christ as his Savior. Praise the Lord! Along with this exciting event, a new family joined our Sunday night Bible study, increasing our numbers and conversations! Also, during this month, Tim helped Pastor Emmanuel build his house.

OCTOBER 2010

October brought us to Kabwe where spent some quality time with Barb Sherman [my sister] and her daughter Steffi. The big project of this month was an electric stove for the school kitchen. Grade 7 students continued to study hard for their exams in November. Lastly Debbe began the huge project of planning and preparing a Christmas program for the 300 kids in Grace Community school and all of the school staff. She also managed to gather Christmas gifts for everyone.

NOVEMBER 2010

In November we held our annual Christmas program, and fun was had by all! The gospel was presented clearly and many of the school kids accepted the Lord as Savior! It was very exciting! Giving out gifts to the kids was a special event too! Grade 7 finally took the exams that they had studied so hard for, and their results will come the end of January or the beginning of February. Debbe prepared and planned for the school program to continue running while she was gone to America, and before Thanksgiving she flew to the states to be with her daughters for the holidays. While in America Debbe scheduled several doctors appointments and check ups for herself and for Tim who came later. Tim stayed behind in Zambia to continue the work, especially helping Pastor Emmanuel finish his home.

DECEMBER 2010

With December came several shifts and changes as Tim prepared the ministry to continue on while we were gone. In mid-December Tim came back the USA to see his father who was very ill. Tim's father, Richard Meier, had a spell that sent him to the hospital right before Thanksgiving. During that visit to the hospital the doctors discovered that Tim's dad was in need of a valve replacement in his heart. The surgery is scheduled for the beginning of January. It was very important for Tim to come home at this time as several major family decisions were made in the month of December. We also celebrated Christmas with our family this year, which was an unexpected treat! It was such a joy to have all of the girls together again for a family Christmas celebration.