Camp LIFE 2012 is officially over... what the heck? I have no idea where the time went, this summer has seriously flown by! God truly did some incredible things, and I’m so blessed to have experienced and have been a part of what he’s done. He’s stretched me, taught me, grown me, and humbled me in more ways than one. Here are a couple quick things He’s shown me over the past couple of months.
Loving orphans isn’t always easy.
I’ve said how these kids are so eager to be loved and ready to be held, but doing those things 24/7 isn’t human nature. As humans, it’s difficult to be sweet to a kid who you just saw shove another kid to the ground. It’s difficult to uninhibitedly wrap your arms around a kid who just peed on himself or has snot smeared all over his face. It’s difficult to be patient with the little boys who ask for you to give them your watch 50 times in a row, and then grab for it aggressively despite being told ‘no’ already. Like I said, it’s not human nature, but it’s God’s nature. Thank goodness that our God and Father is always patient, always loving, always forgiving. I love these orphans, but I struggled a fair number of times to love them as freely and as hard as God does. I had to call on the Lord for HIS patience and HIS selflessness more than once. It’s not easy, but the Bible says that doing Kingdom work rarely is. However, loving the fatherless with the love of the Father is the most rewarding work I have ever been a part of, and I have felt so blessed to have been called to Zambia to do it.
Without Him, we fail.
Now this is definitely a lesson that I’ve had to learn before, but somehow I forget it and He continues to impress this into my life. Working on summer staff isn’t just coming to Zambia to play with little kids for 2 months straight, it’s essentially doing the grunt work that full-time staff doesn’t have time to do. It’s delivering milk and juice to Americans at 11 at night, it’s organizing donated clothes and toothbrushes and school supplies by the suitcase full, it’s waking up really early and going to bed really late. I feel like God has generally given me a patient spirit, and I love serving others, but I realized that those things don’t last long when the Lord isn’t the source. It was really hard to find time to be in the Word every day with the insane schedules that we had (and the fact that we have hardly any privacy), so for a while, I put my quiet times on the backburner. It was in that span of time that I realized how ugly my heart is when it’s not being filled with Him. I failed when I tried to rely on my human dosage of patience and service, and I ran out of both very quickly. I poured out more than I was being filled up, so I literally was unable to give anything that was glorifying to Him. I am a failure when I’m not relying on or being filled up by Him, but I love that. I love that we as humans NEED Him in such a way that He is the only one that deserves the glory for the good in our lives. He knows how much we need Him, and He is delighted when we come to Him and rely on Him on the daily. Hard lesson to learn (relearn), but so valuable.
He CAN move mountains, and He WANTS to.
In America, we tend to put God in a box. We doubt His power and might, so we don’t ask for things that require that. We ask for things that we THINK He can do because we don’t want to be disappointed if He chooses not to provide the big results. When we need big things to happen, we try to make them happen by our own means before turning to Him first... our faith is so small that it is probably insulting to God how little we trust Him. The people of Zambia own have so little resources that they HAVE to turn to God and ask him to move mountains in their lives, they literally have nothing else to turn to. But God doesn’t disappoint them. He LOVES that they have the faith to ask HIM to move those mountains, and He is so able. He wants us to get on our knees and pray those prayers because He wants to ANSWER those prayers in big ways! Time and time again, we have kids come to camp saying that men rape them in the middle of the night or their auntie beats them for coming to camp each day. That’s why the first lesson that Greer preaches is about how to have the power of the Word in your life: hear the Word, understand the Word, believe the Word, and SPEAK the Word. We tell them to shout in faith “in the name of Jesus Christ” to stop the beatings mid-blow or the paralyze the men that approach in the night, and we tell them that God will hear their prayer and protect them. And even if we Americans don’t necessarily believe those things deep down in our hearts, the kids do and they come to camp the next day after having tried it out. And it works. The God of the Universe has the power to do whatever He wants; and as our Father, He wants and DOES move mountains for the good of His sons and daughters. So here’s my question for you... these orphans who have known who Jesus is for one day can trust the Lord to move mountains, but do you? Try it out and pray without limits.
Long post again, sorry! I just wanted to share how good our God is and what major lessons He’s been laying on my heart here in Zambia! What can you be praying for now? Well thanks for asking! Please be praying for my last few days here and for my trip home! I’m traveling through London alone and during the Olympics (not leaving the airport though duhhh), so prayers for a safe journey and that I make my connecting flight!
Blessings from Africa!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
my boys
Just finished a wonderful week of camp with a group of boys! Here’s a little bit about it!
On Friday, I said goodbye to ten of the most precious boys I have ever met! Jonathan, Simon, Martin, Michael, Edwin, Ernest, Teddy, Joseph, Patrick, and Arnold were the names of the boys that God put in my group this week and the names of the kids that I have been praying so much for this summer. They were all from Misisi, which is one of the most dangerous communities that we have pulled kids from up to this point. They came to camp so hungry for love and affection, which was great for me because I had lots to give! We really did have an amazing week together, and they blessed me so much!
All ten of these kids were coming to Camp LIFE for the first time. All ten of these kids had never heard about Jesus before this week. And all ten of these kids gave their lives to Christ throughout this week. What a beautiful thing that I got to experience! These boys live in poverty, sickness, abandonment, and darkness, but they all asked Christ to bring them into His marvelous light and released their burdens to him! I’m so thankful to the Lord that I personally got to be a part of the beautiful rescue of each of these kids and physically see him pluck his children out of the pits that Satan has surrounded them with. The angels indeed rejoiced this week when they asked Jesus into their hearts! I can’t wait for all of you to meet them in heaven some day!
Although each of them now have received hope and have light in their lives, their situations haven’t changed. They suffer abuse, hunger, neglect and hardly feel loved by anyone. Many kids that come to Camp LIFE tell their counselors that they are the first people to have ever hugged them or said the words “I love you” to them. But the worst part is that without a good education, they will have no means to pull themselves out of the cycle of poverty that they’ve known their whole lives. Without an education, they won’t be able to provide for themselves or their families. About half of my boys go to a community school, which is really only 2 or so hours a day of lessons taught by an adult with only a 7th grade education themselves, and the other half don’t have the money to pay for the school fees. Even the boys that do go to a school now may be pulled out in the future because their caregiver has run out of money to pay the fees or the child will have to help provide for the family. Long story short, I want my boys to have a chance at breaking out of their dark home lives, so I desperately want them to have an education.
Family Legacy has recognized this need and provided a beautiful solution. In so many of the communities that we work in, FLMI has already built and established high-quality schools to educate our kids. The Lifeway Christian Academies are run by Christian educators who have at least a college degree. In the national exams last year, the kids at the LCA’s achieved some of the highest test scores across the nation. But not only do the LCA’s provide a good education, but they also provide Christian discipleship and a good, nourishing meal with lots of nutrients that these kids wouldn’t get otherwise. However, Family Legacy can only afford to provide this opportunity to the kids that are in their sponsorship program.
The sponsorship program, called Father’s Heart, is a $40/month commitment to providing education (and all of the supplies that are needed for that), food each month, and discipleship to these kids. We have Zambian discipleship leaders in each of the communities that work closely with these sponsored kids and know them individually by name; they are the ones that will check up on them, deliver their food every month, and know if and how their situation changes. By paying $40 each month, these kids are given a chance at getting out of the impoverishment and darkness that they’ve known their whole lives. They’ll receive one of the best educations in the country. They’ll have someone continuing to teach them the Word of God throughout the year so that they can grow in their faith. They’ll get food for themselves and their whole family. They’ll grow up into men and women of the Lord and have the ability to change their nation. And they’re given all of this in the name of Christ.
I feel like one of those “feed the orphans” commercials, but I actually know the stories and hearts of the individual kids that you would be sponsoring. I’ve hugged them, kissed their cheeks, held them in my arms, laughed with them, and cried with them. I’ve been to their homes and seen how they have to live, and I won’t stop until I see each one of them given an opportunity to break free. So please be in prayer about whether or not God is leading you to sponsor one of my boys. If you’re not at a place in your life to do that, then I would really appreciate it if you would join me in prayer that the Lord would provide ten people that would be willing and able to do this.
Be on the lookout for pictures and stories of each of my boys when I get back to the States! (I don’t really have the internet capacity here to upload pictures in bulk, so be patient with me!) But please do let me know if you’re interested before then, and I can definitely get you more information. If you have questions about my boys, the Father’s Heart sponsorship program, Camp LIFE, or anything Zambia related, please don’t hesitate to email me at mariahglasener@hotmail.com or visit Family Legacy’s website at www.familylegacy.com.
Thanks for sticking with me through this really long post! I have a week and a half left here, but I’ll try to continue to update in my time left! Thank you for your prayers!!
On Friday, I said goodbye to ten of the most precious boys I have ever met! Jonathan, Simon, Martin, Michael, Edwin, Ernest, Teddy, Joseph, Patrick, and Arnold were the names of the boys that God put in my group this week and the names of the kids that I have been praying so much for this summer. They were all from Misisi, which is one of the most dangerous communities that we have pulled kids from up to this point. They came to camp so hungry for love and affection, which was great for me because I had lots to give! We really did have an amazing week together, and they blessed me so much!
All ten of these kids were coming to Camp LIFE for the first time. All ten of these kids had never heard about Jesus before this week. And all ten of these kids gave their lives to Christ throughout this week. What a beautiful thing that I got to experience! These boys live in poverty, sickness, abandonment, and darkness, but they all asked Christ to bring them into His marvelous light and released their burdens to him! I’m so thankful to the Lord that I personally got to be a part of the beautiful rescue of each of these kids and physically see him pluck his children out of the pits that Satan has surrounded them with. The angels indeed rejoiced this week when they asked Jesus into their hearts! I can’t wait for all of you to meet them in heaven some day!
Although each of them now have received hope and have light in their lives, their situations haven’t changed. They suffer abuse, hunger, neglect and hardly feel loved by anyone. Many kids that come to Camp LIFE tell their counselors that they are the first people to have ever hugged them or said the words “I love you” to them. But the worst part is that without a good education, they will have no means to pull themselves out of the cycle of poverty that they’ve known their whole lives. Without an education, they won’t be able to provide for themselves or their families. About half of my boys go to a community school, which is really only 2 or so hours a day of lessons taught by an adult with only a 7th grade education themselves, and the other half don’t have the money to pay for the school fees. Even the boys that do go to a school now may be pulled out in the future because their caregiver has run out of money to pay the fees or the child will have to help provide for the family. Long story short, I want my boys to have a chance at breaking out of their dark home lives, so I desperately want them to have an education.
Family Legacy has recognized this need and provided a beautiful solution. In so many of the communities that we work in, FLMI has already built and established high-quality schools to educate our kids. The Lifeway Christian Academies are run by Christian educators who have at least a college degree. In the national exams last year, the kids at the LCA’s achieved some of the highest test scores across the nation. But not only do the LCA’s provide a good education, but they also provide Christian discipleship and a good, nourishing meal with lots of nutrients that these kids wouldn’t get otherwise. However, Family Legacy can only afford to provide this opportunity to the kids that are in their sponsorship program.
The sponsorship program, called Father’s Heart, is a $40/month commitment to providing education (and all of the supplies that are needed for that), food each month, and discipleship to these kids. We have Zambian discipleship leaders in each of the communities that work closely with these sponsored kids and know them individually by name; they are the ones that will check up on them, deliver their food every month, and know if and how their situation changes. By paying $40 each month, these kids are given a chance at getting out of the impoverishment and darkness that they’ve known their whole lives. They’ll receive one of the best educations in the country. They’ll have someone continuing to teach them the Word of God throughout the year so that they can grow in their faith. They’ll get food for themselves and their whole family. They’ll grow up into men and women of the Lord and have the ability to change their nation. And they’re given all of this in the name of Christ.
I feel like one of those “feed the orphans” commercials, but I actually know the stories and hearts of the individual kids that you would be sponsoring. I’ve hugged them, kissed their cheeks, held them in my arms, laughed with them, and cried with them. I’ve been to their homes and seen how they have to live, and I won’t stop until I see each one of them given an opportunity to break free. So please be in prayer about whether or not God is leading you to sponsor one of my boys. If you’re not at a place in your life to do that, then I would really appreciate it if you would join me in prayer that the Lord would provide ten people that would be willing and able to do this.
Be on the lookout for pictures and stories of each of my boys when I get back to the States! (I don’t really have the internet capacity here to upload pictures in bulk, so be patient with me!) But please do let me know if you’re interested before then, and I can definitely get you more information. If you have questions about my boys, the Father’s Heart sponsorship program, Camp LIFE, or anything Zambia related, please don’t hesitate to email me at mariahglasener@hotmail.com or visit Family Legacy’s website at www.familylegacy.com.
Thanks for sticking with me through this really long post! I have a week and a half left here, but I’ll try to continue to update in my time left! Thank you for your prayers!!
Monday, July 16, 2012
a sweet reminder
After the Americans finish camp on Friday, they are taken down the hill to the Tree of Life Children’s Village, which is (as of right now) a collection of 23 permanent residential homes for kids that have been pulled out of nightmarish situations. These kids are now the most joyful, beautiful children of God and so full of love- such a contrast to their life before moving into the TOL. Yesterday, when everyone went down to tour the homes and the school, I was given a note by one of the girls that I’ve known and loved for 3 or so years now. It’s not uncommon for the kids to write notes to Americans, but usually when I’m given a note, it usually says something along the lines of, “I love you so much, God bless you, you are my friend.” However this time, her note said and meant so much more to me. It says:
“Dear my sweet lovely mum,
How are you by the lovely moment. I hope you are doing well. I love you so much. You are like a mum whom she has a heart for her child. It took a heart for the white people. God bless you for what you have done for me and he will bless your family. Jesus loves you so much. I pray for you every day and night, my lovely mum Auntie Maraha.”
Agness is 9 years old, she’s on the Tree of Life praise choir, and is in the 5th or 6th grade. She is one of the most beautiful children I’ve ever seen and is honestly one of my favorite kiddos at TOL. For her (let alone any of the kids) to say that I am “like a mum” to her and that she is praying blessings over me for “what I have done for her” is so sweet and humbling. This little girl is full of joy and love NOW, but she has seen horrors and was living in such darkness before she came to Tree of Life, so it means so much more reading those things from this girl. I don’t know for sure whether she is a social, single, or double orphan, but for an orphan to say that I am like a mum to her is so powerful. I am truly so blessed and humbled that the Lord would use me to love on these kids for the 4th year in a row. For me, this note was simply reassurance and confirmation of my purpose here, and it was a good and much-needed reminder of the reason I come here every year. I’m here to show love to the unloved and be the hands, feet, and voice of Christ for these kids. Knowing Christ is the best gift that I could give to these kids; and even though I miss my family, friends, home, and familiarity of my life back in Texas, it is SO much more important that I’m here doing what the Lord wants for these orphans. I am so very blessed by these kids, and I love getting to be a part of how the Lord is moving here in their lives.
In other news, we have had an unwelcome guest living with us for the past eight days. He’s a little brown mouse, and every few days, he scampers around our two bedrooms and the living room while we’re getting ready in the mornings. After the first sighting, we thought he had found his way to the open front door and left us. However, a few days later, the little nugget came back. Just in case you didn’t know, mixing seven college aged GIRLS with an unexpected mouse produces quite the bundle of high-pitched screams. Anyway, when we saw him for the second time, we decided to lay out traps and poison pellets... we weren’t going to take it any longer. Another few days later, we found him racing around one of the girls’ beds. We trapped him with suitcases and made such a barricade that the only way out would be into the cardboard box that held the trap. Later that day, we came home from camp to find that the cheese in the trap was gone, but the trap was still set and ready to snap. Still, we kept it there in hopes that it would catch the little vermin. The next day, Mackenzie, whose bed was the one barricaded, was tired of having to hurdle suitcases to get to her bed, so she started to move the box and suitcases away. When she looked in the box, she saw the snapped trap and the ugly, little rodent that it had caught! Praise Jesus! We were finally rid of the mouse who had terrorized us for over a week! Anyway, thought that would be a fun picture to paint of one of the daily battles we’ve had this summer!
I know this is a lengthy post, but if you’re still reading this, you must really love me! So you probably love me enough to shoot up some prayers for me! I have a group this week, 6-8 year old little boys, so please be praying for energy, a selfless spirit, and a broken heart for these kids. Just because I’m on summer staff, that doesn’t mean that I want my camp experience this year to be any less than normal. Pray that I would be fully invested in my boys and this group. Also, please lift up the health of the staff and summer staff, myself included. Today alone, 4 of the summer staff were sick in one way or another, so we’re all kind of battling illness this week and really trying to stay afloat. Personally, this morning during church, I started to feel like I had a fever and felt that way for the rest of the day. I slept it off before dinner, but that doesn’t mean it won’t come back, so be praying against that (especially since I have a group this week)! Finally prayers for focus would be really appreciated as well. Since I put my family on a plane back home on Saturday morning, my mind is jumping ahead of me to when I get to see them again and when I’m going home. I pray that those thoughts wouldn’t overshadow the reason that I’m here, and that I would really make the most of the time I have left. I have two and a half weeks left here, and I really do want the Lord to continue to use me to the fullest during that time. I pray for a mindset of “here and now” instead of “get to the finish line”.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support for me over here! I’m blessed by all of you during my time here, even if you’re on the other side of the world!
“Dear my sweet lovely mum,
How are you by the lovely moment. I hope you are doing well. I love you so much. You are like a mum whom she has a heart for her child. It took a heart for the white people. God bless you for what you have done for me and he will bless your family. Jesus loves you so much. I pray for you every day and night, my lovely mum Auntie Maraha.”
Agness is 9 years old, she’s on the Tree of Life praise choir, and is in the 5th or 6th grade. She is one of the most beautiful children I’ve ever seen and is honestly one of my favorite kiddos at TOL. For her (let alone any of the kids) to say that I am “like a mum” to her and that she is praying blessings over me for “what I have done for her” is so sweet and humbling. This little girl is full of joy and love NOW, but she has seen horrors and was living in such darkness before she came to Tree of Life, so it means so much more reading those things from this girl. I don’t know for sure whether she is a social, single, or double orphan, but for an orphan to say that I am like a mum to her is so powerful. I am truly so blessed and humbled that the Lord would use me to love on these kids for the 4th year in a row. For me, this note was simply reassurance and confirmation of my purpose here, and it was a good and much-needed reminder of the reason I come here every year. I’m here to show love to the unloved and be the hands, feet, and voice of Christ for these kids. Knowing Christ is the best gift that I could give to these kids; and even though I miss my family, friends, home, and familiarity of my life back in Texas, it is SO much more important that I’m here doing what the Lord wants for these orphans. I am so very blessed by these kids, and I love getting to be a part of how the Lord is moving here in their lives.
In other news, we have had an unwelcome guest living with us for the past eight days. He’s a little brown mouse, and every few days, he scampers around our two bedrooms and the living room while we’re getting ready in the mornings. After the first sighting, we thought he had found his way to the open front door and left us. However, a few days later, the little nugget came back. Just in case you didn’t know, mixing seven college aged GIRLS with an unexpected mouse produces quite the bundle of high-pitched screams. Anyway, when we saw him for the second time, we decided to lay out traps and poison pellets... we weren’t going to take it any longer. Another few days later, we found him racing around one of the girls’ beds. We trapped him with suitcases and made such a barricade that the only way out would be into the cardboard box that held the trap. Later that day, we came home from camp to find that the cheese in the trap was gone, but the trap was still set and ready to snap. Still, we kept it there in hopes that it would catch the little vermin. The next day, Mackenzie, whose bed was the one barricaded, was tired of having to hurdle suitcases to get to her bed, so she started to move the box and suitcases away. When she looked in the box, she saw the snapped trap and the ugly, little rodent that it had caught! Praise Jesus! We were finally rid of the mouse who had terrorized us for over a week! Anyway, thought that would be a fun picture to paint of one of the daily battles we’ve had this summer!
I know this is a lengthy post, but if you’re still reading this, you must really love me! So you probably love me enough to shoot up some prayers for me! I have a group this week, 6-8 year old little boys, so please be praying for energy, a selfless spirit, and a broken heart for these kids. Just because I’m on summer staff, that doesn’t mean that I want my camp experience this year to be any less than normal. Pray that I would be fully invested in my boys and this group. Also, please lift up the health of the staff and summer staff, myself included. Today alone, 4 of the summer staff were sick in one way or another, so we’re all kind of battling illness this week and really trying to stay afloat. Personally, this morning during church, I started to feel like I had a fever and felt that way for the rest of the day. I slept it off before dinner, but that doesn’t mean it won’t come back, so be praying against that (especially since I have a group this week)! Finally prayers for focus would be really appreciated as well. Since I put my family on a plane back home on Saturday morning, my mind is jumping ahead of me to when I get to see them again and when I’m going home. I pray that those thoughts wouldn’t overshadow the reason that I’m here, and that I would really make the most of the time I have left. I have two and a half weeks left here, and I really do want the Lord to continue to use me to the fullest during that time. I pray for a mindset of “here and now” instead of “get to the finish line”.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support for me over here! I’m blessed by all of you during my time here, even if you’re on the other side of the world!
Monday, July 9, 2012
a quick update!
Last week was CRAZY so I didn’t have time to update the blog! Sorry! But I’ll try to recap it all a little bit!
Break week started with a couple days of intense organization. Laura, Kelsey, and I were the only summer staff that were staying through break week, so it was the three of us against the donation room. We sorted, organized, and cleaned the donation room; and then we organized all of the paper handouts that are given out throughout the week. Then from Wednesday on, we were out at the Tree of Life preparing for the four houses that were opening later in the week! We assembled bunk beds, hung decorations, filled closets with clothes, and cleaned for two full days! Then on Friday, Melina’s House, Glory House, Blessing House, and Luke’s Light House all opened and 48 precious orphans moved into their new homes! I love house opening days because it’s such a happy time for so many people! The kids that are moving into the houses are overwhelmed with joy at their own bed, clothes, and toys; the Americans who worked on the houses are blessed by being able to provide a place for those kids to live a happy life and by seeing the fruit of all of their hard work! And all of the TOL kids who already lived there gain so many more brothers and sisters; they’re always so excited for the kids that are moving in because they were once in the exact same place. It’s a beautiful day of joy, tears, and blessings!
Yesterday, I woke up verrrrry early to pick up my parents and two younger sisters from the airport!! They finally are here with me in Zambia!! It’s my Dad’s fourth time (like me) and my mom and sisters’ first time! Can’t wait for them to get to experience camp and the people and the orphans that I love so so much! Keep them in your prayers as they are going through camp this week! They get their kids tomorrow, and I know that God will do great things IN them and THROUGH them!
And tomorrow we will start the first official day of Week 5! I can’t believe we’re already this far into the summer.. time is flying by so quickly it seems! The days seem to last forever, but the weeks are so fleeting! My prayer is that I would be able to make the most of my last month here and that I would hold nothing back. I want to serve these kids, the Americans and staff, and this country to the highest degree and I want to have nothing left to give by the time I step on that airplane in August. I’m praying for God’s strength, motivation, and heart to indwell in me so that I can do that! I anticipate with joy all of the wonderful things the Lord has planned for the next few weeks!
That's all for now! But here's (most of) the family on the hilltop after church on Sunday! I'm so so glad that they're finally here!!
Sunday, July 1, 2012
more snaps!
Adorable kid in one of the communities! Seriously, Zambian kids are so beautiful!
Three sisters in one of the communities! They are so sweet (although they don't look too into the idea of taking a snap with me here!)
Summer staff 1st half and our fearless leader, Susan! Love them and had a blast working with them over the past month! I miss the ones that have left to go home but was so blessed by them while they were here!
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