Three 40-foot ocean containers are loaded with supplies for Camp LIFE, the Tree of Life Children’s Village, and the Father’s Heart program and are headed to Zambia!  The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of planning, purchasing, packing, and PRAYING!  T-shirts, backpacks, Bibles, chairs, and peanut butter (and lots and lots of shoes!) are just a sampling of the items that will arrive in Lusaka in several weeks.  These items will gear us up for camp, outfit the homes at the Children’s Village, provide necessary resources for our Community Resource Centers, and equip our Zambian staff to expand their on-the-ground ministry in the coming months.

One huge blessing this year is that we are now able to provide shoes to all the children in our remote camps – children who have never before received a new pair of shoes at Camp LIFE. Paul Mulenga, our Remote Expansion Ministry Department Coordinator, has prayed for and sought this opportunity for years.  Thanks to a generous donation from one of our long-time partners, this prayer has been answered.  This milestone was made possible by a gift of approximately 10,000 pair of shoes through Buckner International’s Shoes for Orphan Souls program.  In addition to the shoes, Buckner also provided space at their Center for Humanitarian Aid to prepare and store our items for shipping.  Furthermore, they offered the assistance of their staff and volunteers to help process and pack the items so that they could be shipped in a timely manner.  We are grateful to Buckner both for the shoes and for the services they have provided in making these container shipments possible.

We are planning to load a fourth container in the next several days which should be our final container for this round.  Please pray that these containers make it smoothly (and quickly!) over land and sea to their destination so that the contents can be put to good use - serving the orphans of Zambia with tangible, meaningful expressions of Christ’s love.