Momma

This mommas heart has been stolen by R...He is 15 years old and can barely read. He has no family and lives with 4 other teenage boys. Today he called me momma...

This week he lied to me about one of his roommates being sick. He wanted me to go to his house and see his roommate. R is worried if his friend misses more school he will be kicked out. 

He loves his friend.

We discovered a very neat and tidy house. In a compound where life is dirt, filth, waste, poverty and chaos we found a small house filled with 12 teenage boys skipping school and the house neat as a pin. Some of the teenage boys live there alone...one of them is R. He also cleans the house and does the laundry for the other boys who are all older than he his. This mommas heart is so proud of him...He loves his friends and wants them to be good...they are not! I asked who did the cooking...he shyly grinned and chuckled "cook what?".  "Where do you eat?", I asked. "We don't eat", he said... 

And this mommas heart hurt!

 So every day he comes for tutoring. We see him everyday. And everyday we send him home to no dad, no home, no dinner, no warm bed and no momma...He goes home to teenage boys with nothing.

I want to scoop all 6'+ of him up and give him a home, a family, clothes, shoes, a warm bed, to read him bible stories that he never got to hear when he was little, make him a warm breakfast...

 and give him a  momma! 

So today was a PTA meeting at Lifesong School. R asked Robert if he would stand in as his parent? OMGOODNESS...OF COURSE! But Robert had work offsite today so I would stand in instead. I held back tears...all he wants is to read and a family...

AND...there are 160+ million others in the world just like R. What in the world is this momma supposed to do? I HAVE NO IDEA!! I have no scripture, I have no answers, I feel empty like I have nothing good enough to give...

But today was my miracle day because I had the honor of sitting under the nsaka with 60+ other Zambian caregivers/parents who were standing in for their kids. Today I was a lovely Zambian boys momma. Whiter than white in a sea of black covered by the crimson blood of Jesus... 

because He is not done with me yet...

Momma

Stolen Kwacha

Where to begin...how about before we left the States for Zambia. There were multiple conversations about the nature of the culture here. One of the facts of life here is stealing. It's a way of life for some, it's survival for some, it's a lack of values and morals for others, its desiring what they see on TV and in the lives of the white people. Sometimes it's those you are helping the most...It's confusing!

Mitzi stopped one day to give some kiddos a lift. Walking is the transportation mode in our community. Very few people have a car so the roads are filled with pedestrians. FILLED! You would think they would appreciate the lift off the dusty dirt roads and from the heat. But alas they just saw it as an opportunity to get what they don't have. So out went the iphone before she knew what was happening. Stolen with her in the car! It was probably sold. They maybe bought food with it but more than likely they used it for...well lets not go there. There has been so much more stolen it would take pages to recount them all. 

So as I always do I chirped annoyingly as only I can about locking your things up. You know... when their faces glaze over and you can tell they are not listening anymore? Or the roll of the eyes...Like I have heard this all a hundred times why are you saying this again look? Yeah well thats how much I have chirped. Lets just say that we were well aware that everything needs to be locked up at all times. Even around those you know and love and love you. It's just what you do here, you lock things up.  

Last night Caleb had ALL his money stolen. 2000 Kwacha or $400 US dollars. Mitzi said that is about the same to a Zambian in this community as $10,000 to us. WOW thats a lot of Kwacha! 

So what did the Chirper say? Yes...I did...You would think after 23 years of parenting I would not have been so stupid. But I did... Right out of my mouth came the accusation "I told you! You have to lock everything up!"

What if God accused us and threw our mistakes in our face ? What if every time I sinned he accused me? Reminded me how stupid I was? NO! That is Satan who does that. He is the accuser who points out our failures as if to say I told you so? I mean really what kind of lesson was I trying to teach?

The hours after Caleb's money was stolen he probably learned more than if I had continued to chirp in his ear for months. It's a story he will tell the rest of his life. 

Memories of a lifetime...

5 young Zambian boys, 2 young missionary men (Caleb was one), searching compound (slums) in darkness of night, finding culprit, denying, black mamba paddy wagon, Mitzi...OH YES MITZI!, more denying, police station (hut with 2 men), searching, digging for stolen money in yard, father, police station, AK47, prison threats, under carpet, ....4 hours later Kwacha returned! Then Police payoff...HA! Back to stolen Kwacha...

Mom could have never offered that! But if I only would have...NO! That is satan! That is exactly what I did to Caleb. If we don't take our mistakes and determine that God has what is best for us and learn from it the accuser wins...

So today I commit to forgetting the accusations of the accuser and remembering the act of my savior and will try to offer grace!

Hebrews 9:14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! 

So today is my miracle day! Because I am free of the accusations of the accuser...because He is not done with me yet!                                    

Sandy

Spengler 2 week update...

Wow...it's only been 2 weeks. HA! I feel like I have been here for months. I guess we did hit the ground running. We are still not in our home but I am hopeful it will happen this week. PLEASE?!?!?!?!?

Robert and Caleb have hit their stride building the high school. The 1st 17 days on the job will be the hardest as they are pouring the slab...17 work days in a row. It's hot and it's slow going but they have started making friendships with the men they work with. They will be with these men every Monday - Friday for the duration on the project so please pray for favor and influence with these men for God's glory. 

I have been tagging along with Shane and Mitzi learning how they operate and how I can best help.  Their days are filled with the constant interruption of need. How anything ever gets done is still a wonder to me. You just sit down to get some work done and here comes someone who needs medical attention, then a teacher needs supplies, then someone needs a ride to town, and then and then and then... It's actually quite amazing. At home and at work. It seems there is ALWAYS someone waiting for you. One morning there was a mother and her daughter waiting outside the gate for a ride to the hospital. Her daughter had a broken arm...just sitting on a tree stump waiting. So when Mitzi had a long list of to do's and 5 children to care for that day she just rolls with the punches and adds to her list...This will be my life and I pray for the grace to say yes.

I will get to office in the Library of the school to help keep the library open as often as possible to encourage reading. What better spot! I have had the opportunity to tutor a couple of times already. Two boys that are actually men, 17 & 19 I think. They are in grade 7 and read on a 2nd grade level...maybe. EVERYDAY...I mean EVERYDAY they show up for tutoring. And they will wait and hour or more if they have to. They are desperate to learn. They want a future. I wish we could bottle their hopes, dreams and desires and sell it in America...Pray for S and R that God would open their minds to learn how to read. PLEASE PRAY!

I have had so many experiences in my 2 short weeks; Caleb meeting Africa for the 1st time and making friends and loving someone because Christ does. PRICELESS! Hearing conversations about what to do with a widowers children after his 30 year old wife passed away. Seeing shoeless, clothes-less  hungry people by the droves, waiting, bargaining, paying $$$$ for simple groceries, picking lemons from our lemon trees and making fresh squeezed lemonade, having a Zambian ask if I was married (HA!! the lure of the pale white skin),  driving on the wrong side of the road in downtown Kitwe, listening to Robert and Caleb talk about how they want to make the workers lives better, playing Uno with 3 of my sponsor kids for hours, African praise and worship...

Well...today is my miracle day! Because God brought me to Africa and He for sure is not done with me yet!

Sandy