A Year Ago Today

A year ago today I boarded a plane to take me to South Africa and then the next day headed to Zambia! It's really hard to believe it's been a year! I've been wanting to write a final blog post about my time in Zambia and just haven't had a chance with the holidays and engagement! So here goes!

The last week of school was hectic with the last quizzes and tests being given and graded and then end of year grades being entered and writing names on certificates! We had a ton of fun in our classroom with educational games and art projects and we even had a representative from Answers in Genesis come and speak about dinosaurs! I was able to put together little End of Year/Christmas bags for my students and pass those out and then came closing day!

The kids sang, did a reading of the Christmas story, were recognized for their achievements, given Coke floats (a first for them), and many pictures were taken!

God is good!

I know I mentioned prayer requests often in these updates and I just want to take a minute and praise God for the answers to prayer He granted!

First is travel... I didn't clock my miles this year... but there were a lot of them, intercontinental, intercountry (if that's a word), and interstate. Praising Him for safety in travel!

Second, I mentioned a girl often who really struggled with obeying, lying, rebellion, etc often and I praise Him for working in her heart! There is still much growing and changing to take place, but i was encouraged by this. Her sponsor from the States was visiting CABC the last week of school and came out to visit FCV and took some time to chat and show pictures to this girl, her twin, and another child she sponsored at the orphanage. At the end of that time she asked the girls what she could pray for them for and this girl responded with "pray that I would obey and honor the people here at FCV. I know I don't often act the way I should." This doesn't seem like much, but hearing that from the sponsor made my year! God is at work in this little 10-year-old heart!

Third, NO MALARIA!! I think that explains itself :D

Fourth, I was able to share my testimony with the kids. Because they get so many mission teams through, I was unsure at how well they would respond to me saying that this was my testimony and so I just simply told them my story, without my name. I told them of the power of God. How He had saved me, a girl who struggled with her inner thoughts of anger, rebellion, and unkindness and how after she trusted Christ, the same power that raised Jesus and gave her new life, was the same power that could give her victory over sins! At the end when I told them I was that person, they had questions! It was so cool to have the opportunity to talk to them about the power of God and so after that we learned the song Behold Our God! Sometimes it's hard to tell what's going on in their little minds and one of my little guys who often seemed to be a million words away, later wrote in a note, "thank you for talking to us about the power of God! I will never forget that!" Amen! He might forget me, that teacher who only came for a year, but hopefully he will never forget the power of God!

There were so many little blessings like this! In our world of microwaves and 2-day Amazon Prime shipping sometimes we forget that God works in people over time! Drawing them closer and closer to Himself, in His timing. It may not be in 5 minutes or in 2 days, but He is at work... "from each tribe and tongue and nation, He is leading sinners home!"

Now I'm back to serving Him in the U.S. Yes, it's different here, but really it's still as simple as my favorite missionary quote by David Hosaflook. "Pray. Meet people. Tell them about Jesus."

Quick Prayer Requests

Just a quick update!! Thank you all so much for your prayers! School has started back up, and we are in the home stretch now! Which leads to some prayer requests!
1. Please pray for students and teachers to finish strong!
2. Please pray for the grade 7 students as they are taking their examinations to move on in school starting on Monday.
3. Please pray for Tonga, FCV's only grade 12 student this year, as she is in the middle of her grade 12 exams. Where she can go to university and what she can study are based off of these grades. Not sure that it gets any more high-stakes testing than this!
4. Please continue to pray for our new little addition to the FCV family, Benard, that he would continue to adjust well to a new place.
5. Please pray for our students who still do not know the Lord as their personal Savior, to recognize their need and call out to Him in faith!

Thank you all again!
In Christ,
Abbie

English, English, everywhere :D

In the past Terms of school I've had a little bit broader subject range with Geography and Science associated with the ocean, but this term my focus has been English and a lot of it!

I get to teach a small English group 3-4 days a week, work on vocabulary and reading comprehension with the whole 4-6 grade class almost daily, and then English for the grade 7 class 3 days a week with one day having an extra half hour.

I absolutely love it! I'm able to be much more intentional with the time that we do have to really focus on the basis of  English! Sometimes it's daunting being in front of seventh graders when I could stand up and teach on just about anything English and it would be a lesson that was much needed, but by taking small "bites" at a time with lots of review we're seeing progress!! Please pray for the students to be diligent in their studies... it's Term 3 and many of them are starting to check out mentally.

Another prayer would be for energy. You might be saying that I'm too young to be asking prayer for this :D yeah, you're probably right! But the hot season is called hot season for a reason, and it doesn't seem like you can keep enough water in you to stay hydrated. I'm thankful we are in a place where we don't worry about not having enough water. God is good!

Tomorrow is National Teacher's Day so we don't have classes. I'm hoping to get the art projects for Friday ready to go and just get some cleaning done in my "office" commonly known as the spare bed in my room :D

Many times I share prayer requests, but I wanted to share some blessings in this post!

#1 - The blessing of a church family here! Term one was very difficult dealing with culture shock and a consistent exposure to a language you can't understand, but since coming back in June God has granted a peace and has provided such dear friendships with the young adult group at church. Some of them are older FCV kids living in the FCV dorms and some of them live in the village, but they have welcomed me into their lives and I thank God for their friendships! Our time together on Saturday evenings at our young adult Bible study and on Sunday mornings during Sunday School are times that I will cherish forever!

#2 - Health! God has been gracious in keeping me healthy throughout the time I've been here!

#3 - I'm hit everyday with the reality of the blessing of growing up where I did. I'm not sure why I've been given so many opportunities other than that God has a plan to use them for His glory! I praise Him for all He has given and all He has done for me.

#4 - That God doesn't ever "give up" on us! Even though I sin daily, His forgiveness is ready and His desire is a renewed relationship with Him! I'm amazed!! I recently downloaded the new Coffey Team cd. One of my favorite songs on there is He Will Hold Me Fast. Here are the lyrics:

"When I fear my faith will fail

Christ will hold me fast

When the tempter would prevail

He will hold me fast

I could never keep my hold

Through life's fearful path

For my love is often cold

He must hold me fast

He will hold me fast

He will hold me fast

For my Savior loves me so

He will hold me fast

Those He saves are His delight

Christ will hold me fast

Precious in His holy sight

He will hold me fast

He'll not let my soul be lost

His promises shall last

Bought by Him at such a cost

He will hold me fast.

For my life He bled and died

Christ will hold me fast

Justice has been satisfied

He will hold me fast

Raised with Him to endless life

He will hold me fast

Till our faith is turned to sight

When he comes at last."

Thank you all for your continued prayers!!

Beginning of Term 3

Hello all and thank you for your prayers as Amano Academy begins Term 3 of our school year. It has been exciting to see improvement in our students throughout the year!

We've gotten into a schedule and I've been able to get a little more organized with a big picture English plan for my classes! I've been given full responsibility of the Grade 7 English class and am also teaching a small group of the 4-6 graders who are advancing quickly!! I'm so enjoying my time with both of these groups, and I am already encouraged by their growth after just 2 weeks!!

I'm also getting to help with reading, geography, and art. Many of you had asked me if we were going to have a theme like we had with the ocean for Term 1. The answer to that is sort of. Our unofficial theme is outer space but it's not as in depth (pun intended) as the ocean theme was. We'll incorporate some art into this theme, and we have a stack of books all about stars, planets, black holes, rockets, and more for the kids to read. Our focus has shifted a bit to reading classics and then pulling activities from them.

When I was back in the States for a week I was able to go to a Book Festival in Greenville, SC and pick up quite a few of the old Chick-fil-A happy meal classic books for our class to go through! We're currently reading Swiss Family Robinson, and the kids love it!!

It's been a blessing to get back into the routine of life at FCV as well! This past weekend we celebrated FCV's 13th year of being an orphanage as well as the kids with August birthdays. We heard a challenge from Mr. C, played some hilarious games as the different houses were split up into teams for 3-legged races and a football (soccer) penalty kick-off, and of course cake and biscuits (cookies)! It was a full and fun day for everyone!

Thank you for your prayers!! Please pray for continued good health and strength! It's becoming easier and easier to get dehydrated with summer quickly approaching. The morning cool gives way to the afternoon heat more quickly each day! Please pray for our students! Many of whom need God's Spirit to draw them to Himself, to show them their inability to save themselves!

Thank you for partnering with us both financially and prayerfully!! If you'd like to see more posts of the kids at FCV just follow our facebook page at Faith Children's Village with a nsaka (shelter) and a yellow background as the profile picture!!

In Christ,
Abbie Rysta

Holiday Month... Still Crazy Busy

Hello all!!

This post begins with a huge answer to prayer!! As many of you know, right before leaving Zambia for the school holiday my VISA was actually handed to me. To be honest I had kind of given up hope that I would actually ever receive it in paper and would have to continue making monthly treks to the immigration office for a new stamp (my passport is filling up quickly lol); but God had other plans!! On my way to the airport to leave the country Helen and I stopped by the immigration office in Ndola (same city as the airport and about an hour and a half drive from Kakolo) to see if we could pick up the visa. When we got there we had to look through a huge binder of names and visa applications looking for my name to prove that mine had been approved. After finding it we showed the lady at the entrance to the tiny room that housed three desks for three workers. One of the gentleme inside said, "Ah, why do you come so late? You must come back tomorrow. We have already knocked off. (clocked out)." He quickly pointed to a sign on the door stating the times of operation for picking up visas. Helen began to tell him that we came from a long distance and because of our jobs we couldn't get there any sooner. Again he said that he couldn't issue it to us. As kind of a last ditch effort I said that I was leaving for school holiday as soon a second we left the office and wouldn't be able to come back for awhile. That's when God did a work. He looked at me for a second and then hurried me through then paperwork and I left with my visa in hand. It may not seem like much if you've never negotiated in a third world county before, but there was no reason why he had to give me that visa except that God changed his mind! God is good!

Off I was to South Africa to spend some time with my aunt and uncle!! It's been great so far and I have one more week with them before heading back on the 2nd of September. 

Andrew was hoping to come for a visit during this break, but work responsibilities have grown with his brothers business growing quite a bit in the last two months. Since he couldn't come he bought a round trip ticket for me to fly back to the U. S. for a couple of days! It was a fun mini vacation to see him and my family and to get some much needed school supplies!

I've been back in South for about a week now and am having such fun with my family here! Cousins are fun when you're little, but I think they're more fun when you're older! We're having a blast!

Thank you for your prayers!

*if there are any typos I blame autocorrect on my iPad 😉

A Day in the Life

It’s been a little while since I’ve been able to post so I figured why not give a walk through of a day here so you can kinda get a glimpse of what it’s like! :)

My day usually starts around 5 am and I have a couple of minutes to chat with Andrew before he goes to bed the day before! (6 hr. time difference) I’ve been reading through, studying the book of Romans with Rand Hummel’s book Gratefully Yours and have been much encouraged! Then I usually twist up my mosquito net over my bed, get ready for school, eat breakfast (usually a fried egg or granola and yogurt). Helen has a gas stove and refrigerator which makes all this possible! I fill up a mug with coffee on my way out the door (either percolated coffee that Helen makes or I have a little single serve French press). One of the teachers at school called my hot mug a brazier in my hands which is very accurate during this cold season! I try to pull it off the burner last thing so it stays hot longer! The mornings are quite cold right now during cold season, but as the day progresses the sun does it’s job of warming up the world! I leave for school and walk from the back of Faith Children’s Village up to the front gate where the school is located,, greeting students and teachers and workers along the way!

School starts at 7! (Chapel on Mondays, parade on Fridays). Parade means the students stand in the school yard and sing before lining up in a queue to greet all the teachers. Tuesday through Wednesday begin with singing in the classroom and then Bible class. We have 1^st break from 9:15-9:30 which is announced by one of the students using a metal baton to strike the metal beams outside that hold up the veranda roof. The kids use break to eat a snack or play in the school yard or during cold season, stand along the chain link fence where trees don’t block the sun’s rays. We begin again at 9:30 until 11:30. Lunch break is from 11:30 to 12:00 and we provide some food for the students coming in from outside FCV but the kids here usually just play in the school yard and wait to eat lunch at 1:00 when we knock off or finish for the day. I teach English, Geography, Reading, Vocabulary, and Art as well as assisting with Math and Bible. Each subject isn’t taught every day with preference being given to the more important subjects. The students also study Bemba, RE (religious education), CTS (creative and technology studies), Science, and SDS (social and development studies). From the 11-12 hour, I get to teach English to the grade 7 students!

After school, I head back to Helen’s and try to do some sort of exercising before eating a small lunch and resting for about an hour. The afternoons are a tossup, sometimes laundry needs to be done or my room needs some sweeping or there’s dishes to do! Sometimes they’re quieter and I get a little bit of a chance to read! I’m currently reading The Next Story by Tim Challies! I highly recommend it so far! It was a graduating college gift from the church I attended during college and it discusses what it’s like to be a discerning Christian in a very digitalized world. Kiddos usually come over in the afternoons and read or work on their math facts or spellings for their quizzes on Fridays. Sometimes I walk up to the nsaka or cement floors that’s open aired with a grass roof and play with the littler kiddos playing hide and seek or singing silly songs.

Around 5ish I try to get the next day’s lessons prepped with whatever I need. Whether that’s gathering art supplies, making art examples, screenshotting pictures from google images to explain a vocab word, writing quizzes to be copied in the morning, or pulling books that will line up with the lesson of the day. Around this time the fire needs to be checked to make sure its still going. We use a showmaker (probably not spelling this right, but it’s what I hear when it’s talked about :D ) which is a big black kettle of sorts that is raised by three stacks of 2 bricks that are arranged in a sort of tripod. The pot is put on the bricks and the fire is started in the middle of the tripod of bricks. Long thicker branches stick out of each opening between bricks and after the fire has been initially started, you can easily stoke it but pushing the wood that has burned down in farther to the center and fanning the flame with the lid of the pot. We use this heated water for dishes and bathing in the evenings!

Dinner is usually more American but usually once a week Helen will fix a typical Zambian fare of nshima (think a sticky more solid than grits corn meal) and beans. After dinner we’ll wash the dishes, wash up ourselves, and then play a game (Helen and I both are suckers for word games whether it’s Scrabble, Boggle or Upwords :D ) and a time of prayer and devotions before bed. Usually bed time is around 8:30 – 9:00 pm which makes it easier to get up at 5! :)

Thank you all for your prayers! I hope this helped you get a little picture of how a “normal” day goes!

Term 2 is almost finished and I will be heading to South Africa next Thursday to spend the school holiday with my Aunt and Uncle there in Joburg!

Thanks again for your prayers!!

Better late than never... right!?

So sorry for the delays in posting! I’d like to blame it on spotty internet connections or lack of time but reality is procrastination is following me… even after college! Yikes! The short story is life here is busy, hectic, and always changing! 😊 kind of like life wherever you are! Life happens, and one of the things God has been teaching me is that there is so much to be gained by being present where you are. I think it was Jim Elliot who said wherever you are be all there, I could be quoting the wrong person. While there is no Bible verse I can think of that says this exact thing, but I find that if my mind and thoughts are constantly on the next thing I miss so many opportunities to serve or minister or I just miss the people around me and miss opportunities for building relationships.

I am so thankful for the ministry I get to be a small part of and the blessings that come from it! After flying to Zambia, I spent a couple of days in town getting phone and finances sorted before heading out to FCV. After getting there I was able to help out for a Friday before the weekend and then a full week the next week. We then had our midterm break so I really have had it easy coming back and having lots of time to transition!

We’ve also had a steady stream of visitors which keeps us on our toes and is a big encouragement! When I got here, Haley was here. She’s from NC and we soon found that we had a ton of mutual friends. It was a blessing to have her even though our time only overlapped for about a week! Right now, there are several visitors both to FCV and CABC since the college is just finishing up their July block class and guest speakers and other visitors from the States have come. Next week, Mr. C’s sister and a friend are coming and by then we’ll be to the end of Term 2. It’s been an exciting couple of weeks and I’m sure the next several won’t disappoint.

We’ve had several snake spottings, including Helen’s septic tank. Thankfully our gardener saw it and killed it. They think it was a cobra because of the extra folds of skin around its face. I had a little baby snake in my room which Helen graciously saved me from! I knew something was weird when the baseboard of my dresser was for some reason warped in a wavy fashion… lol There was also a big puff adder over by the kid’s playground. Like I said, always some excitement!

Thank you for those who have been praying for our teacher! This week has been her first week back! We are grateful and thankful to God for answering our prayers and that she has returned. I am back to helping the grade 4-6 class again! They’ve been working hard and I’ve enjoyed spending more time with them! Stay tuned on Facebook for more picture updates of our art project this Friday! We will be attempting to make baobab trees!!

Thank you for your prayers, please pray for Mr. C! Yesterday, a pot of boiling beans was spilled on his feet and he was burned. The nurse and doctor were on site and he’s been given meds to help, but prayers would be much appreciated! 

In Christ,

Abbie Rysta