Wow what can I say, it has been a long time since we put something down in an update. We have been blessed this past year with teams all over helping with the work God has assigned for us out here in Zambia. We had teams that visited for two weeks to one month from Florida and Virginia in the USA, from South Africa, and even a team from YWAM Belize that had young adults from all over the world in including the USA, the UK, Canada, and Switzerland. They were such a blessing and encouragement and helped with so much from loving on children, organizing the library, putting on the school roof, tutoring our teens in Kalomo and leading Bible studies with them, to helping to paint and fix up the house in Kalomo. There were many many other things but the joy, laughter, encouragement, and love that they brought blessed many and definitely us. 
One big milestone that happened this year was the finishing of our own home for our teens in Kalomo. As many of you know, the nearest high school to us is 2 hours away in Kalomo and the educational quality and opportunities in school are much greater there than in the village. Since many of our original children are growing up we have been renting various houses in town for a few years but this has proved difficult due to the expense, quality and availability of housing, and finding a location that is close enough to schools, safe and not surrounded by a bar and unruly drunkards. 
But PRAISE GOD, due to HIS mercies and a large grant from a very loving and generous church , we were finally able to purchase our own piece of land and build a perfectly suited wonderful permanent home that will meet our needs and that of many other vulnerable youth for MANY years to come. After 2 years of searching for property, going through all the red tape to get proper documentation, and building with severe water outages in the city we are happy to say that we were able to have our official move in in February of this year. The inside still needs a lot of finishing touches such as painting, cupboards, closets, and some extra furniture but it is so nice to have our own place in a very safe neighborhood where the teens can live, study, learn life skills, and be discipled as they begin to make tough choices about who they are, what they want to become and what they believe. We currently have 10 teens studying and living in this home and our housemother Purity is doing a wonderful job with them. Please pray that God will help these children with their studies and to become the young adults that God desires for them to be.
It has been two very hard years out here for the local people because we all rely on the rain for our crops and we had very poor rainfall this past year. Because of this many people do not have enough food to sustain themselves and also with little rain it means that the water table is low. We are blessed to have access to two deep wells. These wells are giving water at this point to close to three thousand people around us (not without any problems however because first it has to be pumped with submersible pumps and second they are also running dry then we have to wait for it to full up again before pumping again). About one and a half year ago we fitted the well at the orphanage home with solar panels and a DC operated submersible pump which means we are saving some money on not running a generator for electricity. In July of this year we also invested in a DC pump and solar for the well at our home and with this saving money again from not running a generator. I do thank God everyday for His insight in this because with the community getting water from these two wells it would have been too costly to run the generator for power for the submersible pumps. Fuel now is currently at an all time high of $4.70 per gallon and there are talks that it is going to increase again greatly very soon. 
Even with very little rain in the planting season God has sustained us and we had a harvest that is providing us enough maize for food and sunflowers that we press for cooking oil. With both these commodities prices raising daily God has again provided a way for us to save some money. Our goats and sheep are doing well, increasing every month with new kids and lams. The cattle are birthing beautiful calves and we are blessed by it and how the numbers are increasing.
As of this year we also invested in farming with pigs and pray that with this we can from time to time have a bit more funds coming in. With the world economy being the way it is and with us losing some of our support for the orphanage we are in a big push to try to make things as self sustainable as possible so that we so that we can keep on with the projects that we have. The school is increasing and that means more supplies, more salaries for the teachers and not to forget the orphanage in the village where have over 23 kids that needs taking care of, 10 in Kalomo, and the salaries for the house mothers and in total 11 other staff outside of the school and so the list goes on. 
So far the rains seem to be starting off well and Jako and crew have been able to plant 6 hectares of maize on our field. Plans to plant sunflower are in place for January. Please pray for God’s hand of grace and mercy on the crops there and for Jako and crew to have the strength to complete the task at hand.
Since this ministry began, God has been ever so faithful to provide for all our needs and we trust that He who began this good work will be faithful to complete it but would you consider praying with us to see if God is calling you to partner with us in some way either through finances, prayers, or any other way that He might be calling.
If you feel that God is calling you to help this ministry with a once off or monthly gift you can give either by making a check out to Mission Of Love and send it to our USA office at 1191 Keating Dr, Tampa FL 33626 or through paypal (you can get the link form our website at www.missionoflovezambia.org). Please note that we are registered 501c3 and so all donations given through us will receive a receipt which can be considered eligible for tax deduction. for anyone outside the USA that would like to contribute please contact us directly so that we can give details as to how best to contribute in South Africa or Zambia.
Lastly, as we go into 2017 we would ask your prayers for us as a family. Being in ministry and on call 24/7 for over 10 years now has provided us so many true blessings but also sometimes is hard trying to balance the many needs of those around us with that of our family. With that in mind we have decided as a family that for the next year or so we will not be hosting teams or volunteers so that we can be a bit more intentional in making sure that our family is healthy and strong, that our boys are receiving all the love and attention from us that they desire, and that our marriage continues on solid ground. (Friends are still welcome to visit and if you interested please contact us personally). Would you join us in prayer for this so that we can give out of abundance and overflow and not serve out of exhaustion, this race that God has called us to and that HE would allow us to be good stewards of all that He has blessed us with, including our families. P.S. Please stay tuned for another 1 or 2 updates to come out soon. Hopefully later today if not in a day or two. Part 1 - Update on the wonderful children here and our newest arrival Baby Samson and Part 2 (possibly) a short photo blog of some 2016 photos of the children and mothers!
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