: to cause (something) to stay in your mind or memory
Each life that we touch and in turn touches us has the opportunity to leave an imprint. Some of the the imprints that are most embedded in my mind and on my heart have taken place in a country that holds part of me and is one of the places I call home. Five years ago as a way to live out my love for orphans and God's mandate as set out in James 1:26-27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world," I journeyed to Zambia for the first time. I embarked on this pilgrimage praying that God would use me as a vessel to share His light and love. How these trips and the people that I met along way would shape and change me was not my focus, but God does not work singularly and impressions left by two lives touching effect both parties. The following is a journey through pictures of the lasting imprints of those touched by God's work through Horizon International, Inc. and those that are permanently etched within me.
Trip One, October 2010
A gentleman
who is in his eighties, his wife, and his granddaughter, they proudly stand with a hippo roller used
to transport water from the well that was provided through Horizon
International, Inc. His prayer is that
he may live long enough to raise the three children in their care.
This day we were visiting children in their homes. Children joined us as we traveled by
foot through the bush. Seems like one of the closet experiences
I will ever have to journeying like Jesus did.
Kenneth, our former
sponsored son, and I. I can not express
how wonderful it was to meet each other for the first time. I had the opportunity to meet him twice before he relocated. We are no longer able to
sponsor him, but our family will carry him with us always and pray for him
every day. I have been able to continue a relationship with his grandmother and former caregiver.
Trip Two, 2011
As we hosted a Health and Hygiene Workshop in the church in an urban setting of the capital city Lusaka called, Chaisa, we had let those attending know we would provide childcare for the orphans and children in their care. Since we were under a tent in a highly populated area, children kept joining us. We were thrilled to share stories of Jesus with them, music, crafts, etc. Yet when it came time for lunch we only had enough for those children we were expecting. The situation quickly got out of hand as we asked the children to line up whose caregivers were attending. Somewhere along the way we tried to feed them all. Children pushed in line, were joining the line over and over, and the older kids were getting switches and trying to stop the younger ones. I can not explain to you how helpless we felt! How desperate we felt to have so much and in this situation to be able to provide so little to meet such a basic need. Without being there, I am not sure you can understand that it was literally traumatizing. Some teammates actually experienced post traumatic stress. This trip as a whole was the hardest of the four that I have been on. I can not say that I truly enjoyed it. There were amazing moments, but as a whole it was just plain hard. Yet God used this journey to teach me what obedience really means. Living out God's mandate on our lives even when it makes us uncomfortable, even when we do not get the warm fuzzies.
Third Trip, 2012
These are the bags of eleven women headed on a mission trip to Zambia and some to South Africa following.
These are the bags of over one hundred women attending the first ever Women of Worth Conference we hosted in Chongwe, Zambia. The women slept on the floor of the church and bathed in a make shift shower made of plastic. To them this was like a retreat!
Trip Four, 2013
During my time in Africa I have seen poverty and brokenness in ways never before and yet I have seen and felt joy to the marrow of my bones and the depths of my soul. Here we freely danced, fellowshiped, worshiped with abandon and joy.
This young boy, Moses, was afraid of the mzungu, or white person, when we first met. He is the grandson of a lovely spitfire woman named Bessie who knows English quite well. Over the duration of the conference he began to warm up to me. During the dance session above he was my partner for some time (his little head is at the bottom of the picture). On the last morning of the conference he sat on my lap. Moments prior there had been two little guys, but as soon as the other little man vacated he fell asleep. I sat holding Moses as he rested peacefully on my lap and felt pure joy. At one point his mother, Bessie's daughter, offered to take him and I said that it was okay. Later as the conference wrapped up, his mother and I embraced. She began to cry. Such a small thing to hold someone's son for them as they attended a conference, but such a big gesture to her.
These trips have changed me and shaped me. They have left imprints, those pictured above and so many more. I can not know in full how God has used them to imprint others, but I know that they have as two lives do not touch without leaving lasting marks on each. Thank you to all who have supported me through these journeys and those to come. You are part of making the prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," a reality.
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