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Emily is back in Zambia
Here is my final update! (12 September 2010)
Well, life has been so incredibly hectic over the past 2 months! I was in a pretty nasty road accident a while back which seems like a distant memory now! I am having to cut my trip short as God decided he had other plans for me! I wasn't very impresed at first but after thinking about it, it is the opportunity I have been waiting for. After getting 5 rejections from uni, i was offered a last minute place to study at Hull University, this September!! My dillema was that my flght back to the UK (having been changed 4 times already) wasn't booked til mid November and a part of me never wants to leave! I think that part might root itself here! So, whilst trying to manage and run a Mision Direct team I had to try and sort all the papers out for uni! It has been incredibly stressful, but it all seems to have worked out. I am now flying home on September 21st and I start uni on the 27th. This is both the end and the beginning of very significant chapters in my life. For a first it means I am leaving my home in the city I love and the church that over the past 5 years has been my family. As I leave Wharfedale, I go having learnt so many things and having been ministered to by so many. I will be moving to Hull Vineyard with Jeremy and Elaine Cook as my new pastors!
As the chapter ends and a new one begins, I am both excited and scared. I am so excited to be studying for my degree in nursing but also a little (ok quite a lot) scared and nervous. Everything is happening so so fast and I do feel as though I haven't quite caught up yet! When I get home I hav so much to do and so little time.
Zambia!!! I am going to miss it and it's incredible people so so much! I have been staying with Don and Christine now for 4 months and I feel like part of the family. It is going to be so hard leaving them all, I love every single one of these boys like they were my own family and they mean such a lot to me, as do Don, Christine and the rest of their amazing family. I do believe I will come back to Zambia and one day I long to make it my home!
So, my time is coming to an end and I have been reflecting on the highlights...
1. Seeing so many of the people I met last year again and being blessed by their faith and love for their people.
2. The story of Francis! (see below)
3. The amazing privilege I have had of getting to know and live with the incredible family that are the MacDonald's!!
4. Sharing my experiences wth the Wharfedale team.
I want to thank everyone who has supported me in my trip, without you it wouldn't have been possible and I can honestly say it has CHANGED my life and I will never be the same again!
Zambia has really taken hold of my heart and my heart has laid deep roots in Zambia. I have had the most amazing time here and I am so excited to see what God has got instore for me in the next few years!
Emily x
Prayer points:
.That my last week in Zambia is a blessed one and that I get to say proper goodbyes to my Zambian Family
.For safe and on time travel
.For Don and Christine and Abi as they run the farm
.For all the boys as they write their big exams in the coming months.
.That God pours out his blessings on Zambia, that corruption be ended and truth and justice should reign.
A story from Zambia (27 August 2010)
When I was on a home based care visit I met a family. The mother was hiv positive and had a baby she couldn't afford to feed. Then her 10 year old daughter came in. She looked in a lot of pain and her joints were all swollen. She has sickle cell anaemia. Things were looking up for her, as she had a hospital appointment in the coming weeks. My heart went out to her, she was 10 bit with no life because all she could manage was a few painful steps!
A couple of days later I found out that the family had been evicted and were having to go to the village. That would have been awful, she would have got no treatment and more than likely ended up with a witch doctor.
I was quite upset by this and prayed that God would make a way for her family. The next day I was told that the family in the village would sell some of their livestock in order to get their home back, all they needed was 30 pounds to get to the village to get the money. I was so happy, God had come through yet again. I managed to raise the 30 pounds and hopefully the family will be able to get back to some normality!
God is continuing to amaze me, and my prayer is that he'll keep doing it!
Update from Emily: 12 August 2010
Another month has passed and I find myself wondering where exactly it went. I have been having an amazing time in Zambia and God is slowly revealing more and more of his plan for my life.
The last few weeks at the farm have been amazing and I can’t wait to be back. I have really gotten to know some of the boys and I love spending time with them! When the Wharfedale Team arrived in Zambia they came to the farm and we had a big bonfire and lots of singing and dancing was involved. It was sad to leave and the boys weren’t very impressed with me but I assured them that I would be back in a few weeks.
I moved to Chamba Valley to be with the Wharfedale team and the rest of the Mission Direct team. The whole team were fantastic, so friendly and kind. It was hard letting them go at the end of the 2 weeks. I won't say much about the 2 week trip as I am sure lots of the team would like to share their stories as well! One particular moment that really stood out to me was at the Fountain of Hope Street Children’s centre. A boy came up to me and shook my hand and I thought nothing of it, but then he said “do you remember me?” I couldn’t picture him or think of who he was, I felt terrible, but then he told me his name. “Francis!” I nearly cried with happiness. Francis had been admitted into a special hospice last year. He has AIDS and had taken a turn for the worse. It really saddened me as I didn’t get to see him before I left last year. All I could say was “oh my goodness!” He looked like a different boy, his condition had improved so much that he was unrecognisable from the poor state he was in last year. I am so thankful to God for looking after him, it was such a happy moment, to see him happy, smiling and being able to be a boy again!
The team left and I was quite gutted. I was meant to be at a wedding reception that evening so I had gone out to buy a new dress but as I was in the taxi home things went ever so slightly pear shaped. The next thing is remember was grabbing my head as my car spun into a wall. I can honestly say I have never been more scared in my life and at that very moment I was sure I was going to die, but thankfully I survived as did everyone else. I was in total shock and rushed to the hospital where I had to have stitches in my arm! After realising that I wasn’t in any immediate danger my attention shifted to the whereabouts of my new dress! Which thankfully was absolutely fine, you will be pleased to know! I never did make it to the reception!
Prayer points:
God’s healing and protection
That I will have no fear when travelling as it is unavoidable!
For strength and courage as the next team come and I do my best to lead them.
For my family as they are worrying about me back in the UK
For the Wharfedale team and for the other volunteers on our trip that God will continue to work in their lives and show them his plan.
Update from Emily: 15 July 2010
Well, I can't actually believe I have been in Zambia for nearly 2 months already! Time is going too fast. A lot of stuff has been happening at the farm, some exciting, some heartbreaking. God has so been speaking to me massively, showing me parts of his plan, but I will talk about all that later.
I arrived in zambia after 13 hours flying via Nairobi and Malawi! It was a long journey but I really felt like I'd come home when I stepped back on Zambian soil. I arrived back at the farm to 24 huge hugs! I am such a lucky person! I got into things straight away and LOVE it!
Normally I teach 3 boys in the morning then 5 little ones after. It is amazing to see how they have changed and developed. Then in the afternoons I can end up doing absolutely anything! These have been the times where I've really gotten to know the boys. Their stories are heartbreaking but amazing at the same time. I just love these boys, they've been through so much and are just fantastic young men who have such faith in God! It excites my heart knowing that I am able to be a part of their life.
I'd like to say it is all amazing 24\7 but that would be lying. There are really hard times and things can get on top of you. Even though the boys can be really hard work, I just remind myself of what they have been through and God gives me more and more love for them.
I got an email from the lovely Becky Dowling a week or so ago which made me think about my future. Most people know I didn't get a uni place this year. I was really upset, but looking at it now, God was only saying No because his plan was bigger and better. I was sat with the boys listening to them singing and it just clicked. God called me to Zambia and back again and it is where he has planted my heart. It became really clear to me that Zambia is where I need to be. I am not ruling university out, I have every intention of going, but at the right time.
I am extremely blessed to be able to come back to a job in the UK and I am really looking forward to it. My plan is to come back to the UK in November for about 18 months. I've been taking to Don and Christine about this and I plan to come back for a year!!
This is a huge step for me but I really feel it is the right path. Please pray that God would continue to make his plan clear to me.
A few prayer points:
Pray for Don and Christine as they run the farm.
Pray for the boys that they would grow in faith.
Pray for me that I would continue to hear God and that I would be overflowing with love and compassion for these amazing boys.
Pray for the team from TWV coming out in just over a week. May God equip them and bless them.
Thank you to everyone who supports me in so many ways! I appreciate you all so much!
Emily x
I can’t believe that it has been almost a year since I last left the UK for the beautiful country of Zambia! I’m really privileged to be able to return this summer for 3 months to do a whole host of things.
 I’m leaving England on June 2nd and flying to Lusaka, where I’m being met by the MacDonald’s. I’m staying with them in Ibex for just short of 2 months. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone on the farm again. I made some really special relationships and it’s going to be so good to see how the boys have come on since I was last there.
Whilst I’m at the farm I will be doing all sorts. Most of my mornings will be spent teaching the older home schooled boys and the preschool children. Please pray that it goes well. The boys can be quite trying in school and make it difficult to maintain control. Also pray that the boy’s confidence grows daily as it is so good to see them really believing in themselves and it has such an amazing effect on them when they go back to school.
I’ll also be doing lots of other small jobs for Christine. Pray for protection as I’ll be going into some of the compounds and being the only white person, will be quite conspicuous!
There will be a lot more happening but I will tell you about it when I am out there! 
Hopefully, I am also going to have a long weekend in South Africa! All being well I plan to meet up with the Peeters family for a few days!
At the end of July a team of volunteers from TWV are flying out to do a 2 week mission in Lusaka. (This is where I was based last year!) I’ll be joining them and sharing their experiences in Zambia. Pray that everyone arrives safely, bags and all! It will be a full on 2 weeks but I’m sure it will be amazing. When the TWV team fly home on August 8th, I will be moving to my 3rd house! (For those of you who know me well, that is nothing out of the ordinary for me! In fact I feel quite at home with it!) I am staying in Zambia a further 3 weeks to help Mission Direct run a parallel team from another church in the UK. One thing I would really value your prayers on is immigration and my visa! I have a permit to get back into Zambia in June but it expires on August 10th, so I need to get an extension. Pray that the immigration officers will be co-operative and let me stay in Zambia!
Finally I will be flying home on August 30th. I don’t know exactly what I’m coming back to yet if I’m honest, if I come back at all! There may be an opportunity for me to stay longer! I read a quote somewhere which said “I don’t know what my future holds, but I know who holds it” That is pretty much my story right now!
So, that’s my 3 month trip in a nutshell! Get in touch with me if you want to know more!
Emily
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Emily Marshall, 12/09/2010 |
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