Camp LIFE 2009 is only a few months away!  We are already fully into the planning stages as you can see with our new t-shirt logo.  We have decided that it is time to let you in on the biggest news for Camp LIFE…this year’s song! We chose the song based on the theme (Love) and the Lord’s primary theme song communication tool, iTunes.

We have as always two songs.  The first is the walk-in song which the kids will hear as they come into the big group.  It is called Hey, Jesus Loves Me.  Press the play button below to hear it and the iTunes button to get it for yourself.

[audio:http://www.legacymissions.org/wp-content/audio/Hey_Jesus_Loves_Me.mp3]

The second song is the sing-a-long.  This is our main song which of course will have motions that you will learn at the Team Meetings.  It’s called Jesus Loves Me.  Press the play button to hear it and the iTunes link to download it for yourself. Also you better start getting in shape so you can keep up at Camp LIFE 2009!

[audio:http://www.legacymissions.org/wp-content/audio/Jesus_Loves_Me.mp3]

Camp LIFE 2009 is only a few months away and we are very excited to show you this years t-shirt logos.  As you might know, the theme for this year is love and the theme verse is John 3:16.  On my last trip to Zambia, it had been a few months since Camp LIFE 2008, but walking around in the compounds you would have thought it was last week.  The kids absolutely love their shirts and fleece jacket and they wear them proudly throughout the year.  In the US we throw out free t-shirts at ballgames and give them away at parties, but in Zambia the kids may only have a shirt or two.  We can’t wait to see the excitement when they get this year’s shirt.  If you want to join us you can sign up here.

This past week schools have closed for the final term of the year and all the children in Zambia are having a month long holiday. Schools will start up again in January. This meant that the children at the LifeWay Vision Homes were ready to go back home for a visit to see their friends and relatives, if only for a short visit. Emma was soooooo excited to go see her step sisters; Bupe and Esther. She has such a big heart for her two little sisters. She had packed some gifts for them including bringing each of them a New Testament Bible as well. Please realize that the gifts that she brought them were some of her ONLY toys that she received while at the LifeWay Vision Homes (what a sweet heart she has to give her sisters the only things she has ever received). Little does she know, we’re going to have a special Christmas day with Emma (new toys and clothes are awaiting her under the tree)!

As the Father’s Heart Coordinator here in Zambia, I enjoyed the wonderful privilege of escorting Emma on her visit to her home. I knew this could be quite emotional and I was glad that I would be the one escorting Emma on her outing. I decided that we’d make a day out of the experience. I first took Emma with me to get lunch and then buy groceries for her family. While we were eating lunch we couldn’t help but get Emma’s face painted as there was a face painter near the shop where we ate a delicious lunch of chicken and chips (a.k.a. french fries!). After we got her face painted we also enjoyed an ice cream cone with our driver before heading to her old home in Kamanga (one of the compounds in Lusaka, Zambia).

Emma was so excited going through the groceries that the Father’s Heart program had purchased for her family (eggs, chicken, 25kg of mealie-meal (used to make the traditional Zambian food nshima), fruit juice, bread, cooking oil, sweets for her sisters, and apples). The smile on her face was from ear to ear! She was practically jumping up and down in the car waiting to see her family. Upon arriving in Kamanga, we first ran into her grandmother. Emma leaped over me and ran into her grandmother’s arms. Emma quickly presented her grandmother with some fruit juice and a loaf of bread. The next stop on our outing was a few more streets into the community of Kamanga. I think the emotion of the visit got to Emma, when she saw her sisters she couldn’t take it any longer and started crying. In the middle of our visit, she told me that she “couldn’t believe that she used to live like this.” She even brought a red and white checked dress for her sister Bupe that didn’t fit Emma any longer. While we were there she quickly presented her little sisters with the toys, clothes, food, and most importantly Bibles with letters to her sisters that she had prepared. I read the letters she had written to her sisters out loud. Then Emma read John 3:16 to her little sisters (it was soooo darling)!

Up to this point her mom had not shown up. However, at the end of the visit, as we were getting into the van to leave, her mother finally arrived. When she saw Emma, she didn’t even give her own daughter a hug. Her Mom began giving her a hard time and making her feel bad for not staying with her family for the holidays. She also told Emma that if she stayed home that she would beat her. Imagine being treated that way by your own mother who you haven’t seen in months. Emma didn’t smile until we were leaving. However, our back tire had punctured and we were stranded in Kamanga, sweating in our hot mini bus with 60 kids surrounding us while pointing at me, the muzungu (white person). Luckily, we were close to the Tree of Life Children’s Village (TOLCV) and I was able to call in a backup ride from my husband’s team. In less than 30 minutes, one of the trucks from the village picked us up and God had a special blessing in store for Emma.

You see, none of the kids have actually seen the TOLCV yet until Emma’s visit. We had to pick up Randy and his team from the village as it was at the end of the day and we couldn’t take Emma home. She had never seen mountains before and as we drove to the land she kept asking if we would see Elephants or Lions. I told her to keep her eyes open. The TOLCV is about 15 minutes outside of Lusaka with lots of trees and hills. Our driver kept telling her we’d go up the mountain so as we entered Emma couldn’t believe that she would actually be on a mountain. She borrowed my camera and kept taking pictures. Here is a picture that she took from the hilltop in the TOLCV. She said a prayer on and commented on how fun it would be to read the Bible up there.

Little did she know that she will be living in that very village in less than 6 months! She just thinks that this is where Uncle Randy, my husband, works. We then went down the “mountain” and she got a chance to play on some amazing playground equipment that has been donated to the TOLCV. She also wanted to see Uncle Randy’s office, which is actually in the house that she will be living in. It was so exciting watching her walk in the door of her future home and she didn’t have a clue!

Randy and I are planning to take her to Munda Wanga, the zoo here in Lusaka, along with some other orphans and vulnerable children in the Father’s Heart Program next week.  It is truly a blessing to spend time visiting the orphans here in Zambia!

Here is the second part of sweet Emma’s story!  Click here for Part 1.

Saturday morning came, and I was the first one out the door and on my way to go pick up my little one!  I was SO excited and praised God that this day would be the first day of the rest of Emma’s life!  My friend Paul accompanied me, and when we got there, I realized that Joy’s assessment of Emma was extraordinarily accurate as she almost looked “enslaved”…she wouldn’t look up at me, and who knows what kind of evil she had been exposed to in the dark hours of the night just hours before. I picked her up, sat her in my lap, and whispered quietly in her ear, “we’re coming to pick you!” Her little hands grabbed my right arm which was circled around her waist, and she squeezed it so tightly…it was like she was silently screaming, “oh, please, oh please…if only this could be true…” I think she was scared that her mom wouldn’t let her come, but no sooner had my friend Paul explained to her mother that we wanted Emma to come to our boarding school, than her mother just said, “yeah…take her…I don’t want her.”  Emma lept off my lap and went behind a torn sheet to separate part of the room, and came out in her “best dress”…(I was still dumbfounded that a precious child like Emma had to hear those horrid words come out of her own mother’s mouth)…Anyway, Emma quickly grabbed my hand and said, “lez go, Auntie Holly”! We walked out, and she didn’t even as much glance at her mom or say goodbye…nor did her mom say anything to us as we left. With Emma’s hand in mine, she led the way down her street and out of her compound to where our bus had parked. I remember these three old ladies sitting outside next door to Emma’s house, and as we passed by they started smiling and clapping! One of them even gave us a “thumbs-up”! Clearly, even the neighbors knew that this “household” was a wretched place for a child to live. In fact, in talking with Emma’s mom, it was clear that she was completely drunk, and it was only 8:30 in the morning…also, I noticed that Emma’s little one-year-old step-sister had horribly burned skin covering her head. I later found out that one night when her mother was drunk, her lighted cigarette had caught fire to the sheet hanging up, and burned the baby’s head while she was sleeping on the floor. It’s times like this that I wish all the countries in the world were as blessed as ours to have agencies like Child Protective Services.

When we got in the bus, Emma’s smile stretched from ear to ear and she kept saying over and over and over, “Auntie Holly! Tha Lawd eez My Shepahd! Uncle Paul! Tha Lawd eez My Shepahd! Tha Lawd eez My Shepahd!” I’m not kidding you, she must have said, “The Lord is My Shepherd” at least 50 times, she was so excited! Our driver took us back to Mulungushi Village where we were staying, and I ran into our house where all the donations were, and I went in and found some new clothes and some other blessings for Emma. Then we went back to our house, and first things first…it was bath time! She was elated when she saw the nice, clean, white bathtub with running water coming out so fast. For a minute I looked at her, and it was as if she was confused as to where all that water was coming from! Oh, she was so cute!

Emma took her clothes off, and my heart just dropped…raised scars covered her little body, as well as large, dark bruises. Continue Reading…