Angels unaware

I was just getting ready to update the blog and saw that I never published this post. I really hope it blesses you all. Have a great day!!

It is week three of what we hope to make a new Carr Family tradition.  It is a very simple thing, we go a specific house each week and bring pizza and hang out.  Sometimes we play games, last week, we taught the children "the cup game". The one you sing, "Jesus loves me" and drum to. It was super fun!

This week was a bit different, since  every house is different our visits always change.  So, we went to Chelstone and met the children there. They were all sweet but the one who caught our attention was, Lydia.  She is five and was malnourished for most of her life until a few months ago when she came to Tree of Life.  She is so very sweet. 

 

Lydia came to us during CAMPLIFE this past summer, our doctor on duty was in one of the communities and when a mother came with a sick boy. Unfortunately, nothing could be done with the boy and he died, but he saw Lydia on her mother's back looking spaced and very thin. He immediately said he needed to see her. After speaking with the mom and taking her to the clinic she was weighed at about 17 pounds and four years old. She was severely malnourished and was not making eye contact with anyone.  Our doctor friend, Brad Guffey, said she was a few days away from dying.

She was taken to UTH hospital and after obtaining medical consent from the mother she was admitted in the malnourished ward. The doctors there made every effort to bring her back to health and gave her fortified milk, she would only be released when she gained over 10 pounds. 

To make the long story short, God did a miraculous thing for Lydia, she was only released another gaining four pounds because the hospital needed the bed. Well, she was then taken to our transitional home but only after getting full custody from the family, not a small task.

She was given the fortified milk plus a peanut butter mix she was to eat and drink all day.  After many tests, it was found out she is HIV positive, has both tuberculosis and epilepsy. The tuberculosis was thought to have gone to her brain resulting in her inactivity to relate to others and many other symptoms.  

Her story sounds dim and hopeless but we serve a mighty God who loves to defy science and man.  When we saw her in December, she looked chubby and had the sweetest disposition.  Last week, she was taken to the clinic and weighed at 42 pounds!! 

She took her first steps with our friend Ashleigh and even learned to smile, a simple gesture not even her muscles were used to.

She is a totally different child, all thanks to God!

On our way home, I was talking to the children and Simeon said, "Mom, is meeting Lydia like talking with an angel?"

I said, "yes my boy, she is our little angel!"

Made Me Glad...

I am not sure where to begin. 

I am tired.

Car died twice today.  We were on our way to swim practice, it died.  On our way back, it died again.

Lord, please help.

The song that keeps playing in my mind over and over again is 

"You have made me glad, 

And I'll say of The Lord

You are my shield, my strength

My portion, Deliverer

My fortress, strong tower

My very present help in time of need"

I am not glad,or at least I do not show this outward happy, go lucky kind of glad.

But I guess inside I am resolved. That He truly is my shield, my fortress, my strength and Deliverer.

God you truly are the only one I can run to in my time of frustration and need.

Prayers are truly appreciated.

Sunrise

I got up early one morning to watch the sunrise. It was super early so I went online to check the time the sun rises here in Lusaka. Having plenty of time, I sat and started my devotions. As I was reading and watching, I saw a pink speck of light! I got excited and got my pillow and blanket and went outside on the veranda. The sky got brighter and brighter but there was still no sun.  A few minutes went by and it was evident that morning had come and the sun was not there.  It was a cloudy morning so I figured the sun came up behind the clouds. As you can see this is my first attempt and being from a city I obviously have no idea how this works. So, I thought, "oh well, better luck next time."

I put my head down and resumed my Bible reading.  After finishing my daily selection, I raise my head up and behold, the sun!  It was JUST beginning to come up.  But how does this work, wasn't it already light outside?  Then, God spoke to me...

Lately, I have been wanting more of Him, to see Him more evident and clearly in my life.  I've been looking and although I see evidence that He is there (the bright morning sky) I still don't see Him or so I think.   He said that He is so big, so powerful, so bright, darkness is no where near Him when He appears.  His light shines so bright that even though He may seem a ways off, you can see evidence He is already there.  There is plenty of evidence that shows He has already come.  The Bible promises He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Although I didn't have a watch on to see the time was still early and sunrise was still some minutes away, the light that was there was evidence the sun was coming up.  Sometimes all we have to do to truly see Him, is get our faces into His Book.  We have to want Him, to seek Him.  The Bible says that we will find Him when we have searched for Him with our whole heart. The light is evidence the sun is coming.

Would you help keep us in Zambia?

                                                      Warren and Mary

It has been a while since I posted anything. I apologize about that, I admit I'm not such a great blogger. We get busy with ministry and life and forget to update you all.  Of all the things Warren does, father, administrator, teacher, preacher, boss, he loves being there for the children most. It is amazing to watch as the children run to the car as we drive in or are about to leave the TOL children's village. They come, some with questions, others with complaints, but some just come because they like to be near him.   There is this little girl, her name is Mapalo, and her goal in life is to come and get as many hugs from "Uncle Warren" as possible.  This means the world to us all. We recently moved to be nearer  to the ministry and in the short week we've been here, we've been able to walk down to the village and play tag and soccer with the children, play at the playground, or just sit, talk and visit with them.  On our way home, the children always say what an awesome time they had.

Some of you would like it if we said our work here is done and we get to go back to the States, but the truth is that our work here feels like it is just begun. The ratio of children to working adults here in Zambia is 13:1. That means there are 13 children to every working adult. A lot of these children are single or double orphans or are in extreme vulnerable situations at home. We know that we are only scratching the surface of the need in Zambia. We do not look forward to being great, we do not even want our names mentioned, all we want to do is help. Would you come and help? That is the question God asked of us when we first considered missions. We said yes, and will continue to say yes and obey as He leads us.  

It has been thru God's provision and your prayers and generous giving that we've been able to stay. Would you consider continuing your prayer and financial support? We need your prayers to lift up our hands as we face our day to day battles, prayers for protection and wisdom. We also need your continued financial support. If you would like to know more as to how to give, please message us at wavi_carr@yahoo.com. We also need to stay connected with you, please email us and give us your prayer request and family updates, we would love to keep in touch with you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and may our God supply all you need through Christ Jesus.

Much love!

The Carr Family

Help Send Us to School

 

Amber, Samatha and Salome had the opportunity to have these beautiful girls in their group two weeks ago during camp.  Their story is like many in the compounds of Lusaka, they eat little food about once a day.  Their caretakers are not able to buy clothes or the basic things that we find necessary to live with the little money they earn from selling at the local markets.  They go day by day trying to survive on the small amount of money earn which cannot pay for more than one meal let alone school fees. 

 

Would you please help us send them to school?  Such an opportunity will allow them to learn English and get a better job than their parents.  It would allow them to break the mold of poverty in their lives.  It would allow them to become the next 50 years of Zambia. 

 

This is Esther, please pray that her family gets enough money for food.  Would you consider sponsoring her to go to school?

 

This is Christine.  Please consider sponsoring her to go to school.

 

This is Natasha. Please pray she gets enough clothes to wear.  Would you help us send her to school?

 

 

Sponsorship for any of these girls is only $44 a month.  If you are interested in sending any of them to school, please contact us directly via facebook message or email.  Please continue to pray for Zambia, the median age is about 16 years of age.  Without an education many of these children will face the same future their parents did.  One that brought poverty, sickness and eventually death.  Would you prayerfully consider joining us as we help build the next fifty years of Zambia, one child at a time.



Amber, Salome, and Samantha at the Photo Station.

CAMPLIFE 2014

The experience we had this past week was incredible.  The theme for this year is “Faith that can move mountains.”  It takes nothing but faith to wake up every morning and face the day.  It takes nothing but faith to look into the faces of the children that come to camp and believe that every situation they face will somehow, someway, someday turn out for their good.  It takes nothing but faith to listen to their stories and be still until God Himself moves their mountains.  Faith kept us from doing things in our own recharged us to believe that the crazy cycle of poverty and no education will someday end and we will see a better Zambia.  Faith makes us believe that the children we saw this week and will see in the next six weeks will be the future Zambia. Not a future like their parents faced where they could not get a good job because they never went to school.  They cannot go to school because they do not have the money for the school fees.  This cycle of “no money-no school-no school-no job- no job- no money... and on and on it goes.  But with faith we can believe that it will end in Jesus’ name.

 

 

 

Simeon and  I had the privilege of working with a group of sponsored children.  It was great to hear them speak proper English and know that God is their provider and that He is their father.  Genesis and Amber each had group of girls that were not all sponsored for school.  They shared their groups with friends and they all had a wonderful week.  They came back excited once again for the work we are involved in.  They also are praying and believing God for the little girls they met at camp.  They played with them, talked with them.  They brought their hoola hoop and nail polish and allowed them to experience something different than they are used to.  They had fun!

Resurrection Day!

An amazing day to remember that our Jesus died, but most importantly, He rose! 

Jesus said, "I am the Resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:26,26 NIV

We went to Tree of Life(TOL) church as it was Warren's turn to preach. As we stood there and sang and worshipped it was amazing to see the freedom the children had as the worshipped and danced. Easter took on a new meaning to me. You see, as the verse above states whoever believes in Him, even though he dies, he will live. There were about three hundred children plus Moms who had seen death and are now alive. They have known death in their families, as they had bury a mother, father, grandmother, or other close relative. The have experienced death in their childhood when they were abused, physically, emotionally or mentally. The have experienced death to any dream about their future because education had been denied. Death was indeed all around but God showed up and they believed and because it was His plan from the beginning of time that whoever died will live, they are now alive. 

Jesus came and spoke life into their brokenness and pain and they now rejoice. They led in worship and sang songs of heaven and going to a home where there will be no pain or dying. It was an amazing day to celebrate Jesus' resurrection because we see it now it in so many lives. 

What a mighty God we serve! I can't wait for CampLife to see even more freedom and resurrection! 

Low tide, high tide

We arrive in Zanzibar and the beach is beautiful. The children are having a great time swimming and playing and searching for sea treasures. We notice that as the morning progresses, the water is getting lower and the sand is becoming more visible. Before we know it, the water is literally about two miles out into the sea. Low Tide. This will last for about four hours and the the tide will come back in. High tide.

As I was meditating on the scriptures, God spoke to me and said that our lives are like that. There are seasons were troubles and circumstances overwhelm us and there is a dryness all around. Although it seems impossible to fathom that there was once water, which in this case signifies abundance or peace around us, we have to remember that there is a time and season for everything under heaven. The dryness, problems, trials or situations that are around us at times will not be there forever. The tide does comes in again, abundance, peace and joy do come in again. God is faithful and just and He will see us thru the good days as well as the bad days. This amazing trip is showing me that as I remember days not long ago that trials wanted to overwhelm my thoughts, God in His mercy and goodness was and remains faithful.

The Word of God is Alive and Active

"For the Word of  God is alive and powerful. It is sharpest than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermonst thoughts and desires." Hebrews 4:12 NLT

I have read over and over again but I was challenged to study it this week and God brought something to my attention, an observation. The verse says that the Word of God is alive and active. Good, but how. As I thought of it another verse came to mind, John 1:1

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

There it is, "the Word was God," the Word is God who made everything in the beginning and is alive today piercing thru every thought of evil and fleshly motive I have. Jesus, is the Word, He is is alive and active. He conquered the grave and is piercing through the darkness I face everyday.

Another thought, came to me as I was meditating in this passage. You know how, every time we are low, at least for me, I usually go to the Word. I either read a passage in Psalms or Isaiah, without fail, my countenance changes. Why? Because the Word is alive and active! 

Anytime, my children need discipline, I have a Wise Words for Moms booklet and app that helps me bring them back on track. All it is is scripture that helps them see God as the boss and not me. It always helps, why? Because the Word is alive, Jesus is alive and active. He cuts through the sin that besets us.

Every time I pick up my Bible, I am in essence "picking up" Jesus. Now, that is something! It brings my Bible reading to a whole new level! I will no longer be reading to fulfill some Bible reading plan. I will now be reading because it is my devotion to my God. I will be embracing Jesus, beholding Jesus. What an amazing thought! What a wonderful Savior! He really thought of everything! I am so challenged and provoked.  I pray you are too.

So much to say, so little time!

So much has happened since we joined Family Legacy this past August. I will do my best to catch you guys up. It will take a few posts so keep checking the blog.  

Family Legacy is a ministry that reaches to the vulnerable and orphaned children in Lusaka. There are many facets to the ministry such as CAMP life, Father's Heart which includes the Lifeway Christian Academies and Father's Family. Warren is the Father's Family program manager,  which is the residential program, Tree of Life Children's Village is the biggest of these facility. There are over 400 children in this program. We are so excited and humbled that God would see fit to have us serve His dearly beloved children. One of the things the Family Legacy team does for these children is run a week long camp called DREAM Camp. During this time, the children at Tree of Life are able to identify their non-conventional skills.  Since August, we've been able to see the faces of so many of these children dream of what they will become because of the opportunity that God has granted them in taking them out of their vulnerable places.

 My mom and sister were visiting this past December and were able to enjoy the children as we visited them during DREAM Camp.

Here is my sister with her new friend, George. He is one of the many that God has redeemed and is changing his future. 

Talking about a new future, one of the aspects of the ministry is that people get together and raise funds to build these little ones a new home. There are 35 homes each housing 12 boys or girls at the village right now. So many are able to put together their few loaves and fish and watch as God multiplies it. It just takes an obedient heart and an able Father in heaven.

Here is the President of Family Legacy, Greer Kendall praying over the new girls who were joining the village at the opening of "Rapha House". I love the names picked for these homes, names such as Hallelujah House and Freedom House and Glory House. Names that speak of a new beginning. Names that never speak of the past and the failures.  A new home signifying a new beginning is built where these beautiful children can DREAM...

MORE TO COME...