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God is Amazing!!!!

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From: Aarek Farmer
Subject: God is Amazing!!!!
Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 08:59:22 -0700 (PDT)

So we had one baptism last week.

We went to Mukuni VIllage the last few days and had a gospel meeting and we baptized 4 there after we drove for ever to find enough water to do it.  Then our prayers were answered today for a young man, Bennett from the Market that we have been studying with since we have been here was baptized only minutes ago.  Today has been a great day.  We are all wore out…but it was great to hear that Kevin made it back so thank you for your prayers  We have two more full days here.  We will leave for the airport on Monday and be back on Tuesday.  Kevin had delays coming back or hopefully we wont’ have that problem.

Each night we have had reflection devotionals and we have all learned so much on this trip. Be proud of the friends and family that you know on this trip.  They have truely been a pleasure to work with.  Thank you for what you have done to help them along the way up to this point.  We came here expecting to encourage and we have baptized 6 already and the trip is not over.

Kevin we love you and miss you.  Thank you for all you did while you were here.  This computer is terrible sorry for the errors and the errors in all my eamils time is money on this thing, hope you understand.  Today was the first day that I believe that everyone is truely looking forward to coming back to the states so that we can make changes in our own lives when it comes to talking to those that we love that have not been baptized.

We love you.  Well see you on Tuesday or soon after.
in Him,
Aarek

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4 days left….

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From: Aarek Farmer
Subject: 4 days left….
Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 05:16:55 -0700 (PDT)

Things are going well here as usual.  Kevin left today.  He went to the airport packed and ready yesterday and then we realized he was a day early.  He should be in the air on his way to Johanesburg as I write.  We finished up the VBS today at Sunset Academy School. We had two days of it during the morning.  (Just Heard Jud and LeAnn have a new Baby….congrats.)  Tomorrow we have a Gospel Meeting at Mukuni Village.  It will last through Friday.  We have been doorknocking today again.  We split up into groups.  You should be proud of the people you know on this trip.  Whenever we have free time they want to door knock.  Today Jess and I had a Bible study with a lady from the gas station.  People are so willing here.  I know I have stated that before but it is true.

We have alot to be thankful for….as we have mentioned before the purpose of this trip will not be measured in baptisms but all of the seeds that we God has allowed us to plant.  Hopefully when we leave the Christians here will be able to take over.  We have been told many times how encouraged the churches are here and that is a big relief.

Continue to pray for us, pray for Kevin as he flies home and pray for the souls that we come in contact with here.  We love you all.

Things are going well.

In Him,
Aarek

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one week to go….

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From: Aarek Farmer
Subject: one week to go….
Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 06:12:56 -0700 (PDT)

The gospel meeting is over…..today we were going to go to the village to do another gospel meeting but there was a funeral in the village so we had to postpone.  Everyday we have doorknocked and had personal bible studies. It has been amazing.  Yesterday we went on a safari in the afternoon. We saw elephants, zebras, giraffs, warthogs, but no rhinos.  The sunset was amazing. I bet our team has about 3 million pictures total.  Kevin leaves tomorrow for home to attend his sisters wedding, be sure to pray for him as he leaves.  He leaves Tuesday at 1:00 ish.  Thank you so much for your prayers, the rest of the week we will be invovled in more doorknockng, a vbs, and a gospel meeting hopefully.  On Sunday all of us guys will go to a different congregation to preach.  We are all looking forward to that.  Things are still good…no one is sick and all is well. We will see you in a week. 

In Him,
Aarek

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Zambia–Saturday evening

We’re here and everything is going great. This was my first chance to make it to an internet cafe. My team spent 6 hours in Bible studies yesterday before the 3 hour gospel meeting! Things are going great. Everyone here has been amazing, and we have all learned a lot. Zambian food…not bad! I don’t anticipate starving to death! :-)

Preaching with an interpreter was a great new experience. Way too much time to think though–that always causes problems. The gospel meeting has been getting larger every night. This morning, the men all went to a village (that I cannot spell) and worked for a few hours. Every single person except for one older man was very interested. We’ll see how it turns out–if they show tomorrow, which is anyone’s guess…but it was very rewarding to see how excited they were to hear simple Bible stories we all take for granted.

 Yesterday, we were workign with a group of people and they wanted to hear the story of Noah and have us teach them from it. We looked at it and then 1 Peter 3 and 2 Peter 3 and we all learned a lot.

The singing down here is incredible. There’s no way to describe African singing but amazing.  Everything really has been amazing.

It’s about 80 degrees during the day here with a cool breeze. Stars down here are beautiful, as there is not as much light pollution. The mosquitos probably require certification from the airports, they are so large…but they seem to be afraid of DEET, so that’s good. No one has gotten sick or injured, so we’ve all been really blessed.

 Tomorrow, we are going to worship with the Riverside church of Christ–but each day, we keep losing different men from our group. I’ll be heading to a village to preach where we hope to have a baptism or two from today’s studies.

The language barrier has been really interesting. Almost every person in the church here can speak multiple languages. Tonga is the most common african language here, but others speak beemba (sp?) and loze (??) and a few others, with many speaking some english and other languages. Every time we look at Acts 2, we keep thinking about how handy that whole speaking in one language and everyone udnerstanding would be.

In our Gospel meeting and preaching, we’ve been working through the parables of Jesus. It has been really neat to see how many people knowthem and want to hear them. When we’ve been meeting people at their homes, they often ask us to “Share the Bible” with them. I try to ask what they want us to read (since many of them don’t have Bibles in their language) and time after time they have asked for different parables.

The country is beautiful. It looks sort of like Kansas–pretty flat. One girl in our group (sigh) asked, “Was the Lion King filmed here?” The people are poor, but it is an interesting mix of contrasts. Outside of a single room house will be a satellite dish sometimes. Some families that are wearing all of their clothes simultaneously have cell phones. This isn’t true for everyone…most of them aren’t quite that way, but it is still very interesting.

In a lot of ways, it is like camp. Very open, very outdoors, very dusty. There are many people who are very sick. Even the animals often times look skinny. (Many families have dogs.) It took some getting used to at first that they closed the gate to our hotel at night (The Southern Comfort, ironically) and the walls are high. We have a guard who patrols all night. Many of the neighboring compounds have barbed wire, electric fence, iron poles, or even broken bottles embedded in the top of the walls much like the Berlin Wall. We have not seen a hint of crime while we’ve been here, though. Lots of begging, and many people in the market have tried to cheat us, but nobody has felt threatened or unsafe.

The economy is weak, but it has improved since the last time Freed sent a group. $1 USD buys about 3000 kwachas. To put that in perspective, I’m paying 150 kwachas per minute for internet.

We’ve all gotten pretty much over jet lag, and are starting to get used to how things work here. Our gospel meeting tonight starts at 1500, so we have to leave soon. Know that we’re all thinking about you and thanking you for your prayer and concern. Will email as soon as we get a chance! Everything has been wonderful–thank you for your prayers and support. Leslie and I will see you on June 9!

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Hello from Zambia!!

From: “Leslie Tiensvold”
Subject: Hello from Zambia!!
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 09:10:48 -0500

     Hello!! I wanted to let you all know we safely arrived in Zambia Monday morning. It has been an incredible experience so far. They are so much more receptive than in New Zealand or in the states. I think I have only been turned away from three or four homes. Every door we go to, they run and get benches or random objects for us to sit down. Then they simply say tell me why you are here and about the word. Some have no knowledge of Christ or how to get to heaven. It feels incredible to talk and teach about the salvation that we truly are blessed with. One woman was baptized yesterday before the Gospel meeting. Matthew’s group is working with a woman who is as the refer to her, “good soil with miracle grow mixed in!”.
     It is incredible and God has blessed our work so far. I am really learning every day.
     We saw Victoria falls the first day we were here. Loved it! Think Niagra times 5 or 10! Beautiful. If ever a way to begin a campiagn… with such wonders of His creation. Mom- you would love bartering!! You get to talk them down on their prices! It is fun!!! Overwhelming at times because they all take you and lead you to their stuff, working against each other for our time and money. But still fun!
     We have a ladies day tomorrow and the last day of the Gospel meeting as well. VBS is next week.
     Well, I wanted to say hello! I am at an internet cafe and I don’t know when the next time I may get the chance to come again. Matthew says hello and is at a Bible study right now so he could not say so himself, but rather sends a cheerful hello. His group is coming to the gospel meeting a little later.
     Well, I hope all is going well in the states!
I love you all!!
Leslie

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Friday in Africa…..

From: Aarek Farmer
Subject: Friday in Africa…..
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 06:35:39 -0700 (PDT)

Sorry I was unable to write to you yesterday.  It was a crazy day but it was amazing.  We started the Gospel meeting yesterday because they had double booked us for the town hall we were meeting in so yesterday was the first day for it.  We had tons of people there.  Gavin and Happy spoke after a Zambian Preacher…but before that was even more amazing.  The door knocking and bible studies here have been out of this world. People here are thirsting for the Word so much.  They invite you in and study for 30 minutes to an hour reguardless of the denomination they are from.  They are so open and receptive.  Boo, Tarah, and I studyied with a lady yesterday and she was baptized yesterday afternoon.  Many more are on the verge of Baptism.  We haven’t scheduled this many studies but our group just wants to keep on doing them.  There is a group out now studying this afternoon and another will take place tonight.  It is amazing.  Tomorrow the girls are going to an all womens retreat and I believe Leslie and Amanda will be speaking.  The guys will be door knocking again.  Tonight, Brazier and Boo are speaking.  Tomorrow Kevin and Tristan.  Sunday I will preach at Riverside and then we will see what God has in store for us next week.  Things are going amazing here.  The churches are united.  They work togethere.  There is no contention.  Can you imagine a place were every church works together without the petty disputes that we have in America?  Don’t get me wrong, America is amazing, but we have alot to learn from these people.  Today I studied with a ladiy with AIDS who thought she was being punished from God.  The study was great.  She had never even heard of Jesus or Baptism until today and she said she was pentacostal.  These people don’t have Bibles so that is very discouraging.  Continue to pray for us.

   For you parents, you will be happy to know that everyone is alive.  Kevin, Gavin, Braizer, Jessica and myself bungi jumped off the 2nd highest bungi in the world on the bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia.  It was about 11 stories tall. Words dont’ describe it but we got it all on video.  That should be the last crazy thing we do while we are here unless we happen to come across elephant rides in the Zambezi.  Thank you for all your support.  We love you very much and will see you soon.

   In Him,
   Aarek

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2nd day…..

From: Aarek Farmer
Subject: 2nd day…..
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 06:17:08 -0700 (PDT)

Yesterday we spend the day at Vicotoria falls, getting use to the culture, and experiencing our first vehicle breakdown.  It went great though.  Our team is so flexible that it seemed like no big deal.  We just ate lunch early.  This morning and afternoon we spend the day door knocking in the area behind where we are staying.  We had some great Bible studies and we look for a large crowd tonight at the first night of our Gospel meeting.  It starts in a couple of hours and goes for 3 nights.  Two of us are speaking each night along with another Local person preaching.  Tomor we will coninute door knocking in another area of town.  We weren’t going to go out again and door knock this afternoon but our group wanted to which really impressed the people here that we have a team that is so willing to work.  The food is great…at least I think so…others might say otherwise.  No one has malria or any other kind of stomach or bowel problems yet, which is awesome.  Kevin and I came into town today to exchange a little more money…that side of things is going well.  We have nothing to complain about only thanksgivng for allowing us to come.  This trip has been amazing.  The people here are so encouraged by our coming.  The churches are really uniting here and we hope to have a large Crowd….everyone says high, and Mrs. Faires…Julie wants you to look at the itinerary again to know for sure when we will be back.  It is the 30th I believe I can’t remember.  Thank you all for your prayers and support.  We love you.
In Him,
Aarek

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We made it…….to Africa that is.

From: Aarek Farmer
Subject: We made it…….to Africa that is.
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 07:48:12 -0700 (PDT)

This is going to be the most amazing trip ever.  There were no problems at all getting here.  The travel arrangements this time round were amazing…no long waits in airports, no long drives, it was awesome.  We arrived at 2:00pm and the family welcomed us at the airport.  We got through customs, got our bags, (only one didn’t show up—it was a backpack with socks and underwear—so no problems there.  Many of the church ladies welcomed us as we arrived to the lodge and sang for us for about 30 mintues.  There were already tears in peoples eyes.  Tomor we are going to learn about the customs and our schedule for the week.  They seemed very prepared for our arrival which was a big relief.   They are getting food in town now to cook for us.  We will start the Gospel Meeting on Wed.  Thank you so much for your prayers.  We will do our best to keep in touch.  Spread the word that we made it here safely with no problems, we have beds, food, a tub and awesome host family that will take good care of us.  Keep us in your prayers, and definately pray for those people that we come in contact with here.
   We love you all.

   In Him,
   Aarek

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Zambia: Airport in 2 Hours!

We’re ready to go! But I have to go finish packing…

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Zambia: Airport in 2 Hours!

We’re ready to go! But I have to go finish packing…