International travel is hard right now. COVID has made it much more challenging and mission organizations have seen a dramatic decline in teams visiting the mission field right now. We just had a team that braved the challenges of this crazy time and came to visit us anyway. It’s the first team we’ve had since 2019. It was also a special team in that it consisted of five family members to one of the missionaries, Emily.

This team dealt with disrupted fundraisers, last-minute passports, positive COVID tests, two team members having to turn back before arriving, lost luggage, flight changes, and government restrictions changing what they could do. In other words, it was an experience filled with opportunities to let things go and learn to trust God more. Like the old adage, “We make plans, and God laughs.” Our plans were constantly being disrupted and yet God knew it all before we did and it was a part of what He had for them and us.

The team was able to play with kids, put together some PETs, sand and varnish church benches, attend a PET distribution, clean and repaint the NLC kitchen, attend a church service where the church benches were being used, experience Chisokone market at its busiest, and get to know the NLC staff.

Teams are important to ministries. They get to see the work first-hand. The pictures and stories become flesh and blood. It’s no longer a vague or far-away thing that they hear about once in awhile from a newsletter, or a blog, or a social media post, or from hearing a missionary speak. They get to really experience a small taste of the reality that the ministry is seeking to serve real people with real needs. Team members become ambassadors for the ministry – helping spread the word and need to others, keeping us in prayer and on people’s minds. It’s one way of moving from a supporter to a partner. Supporters are great and needed! Partners are even better.

Possibilities Preschool was built with the support of Possibilities Abound, Inc in Kawama next to Grace UMC a few years ago. We at New Life Center entered this partnership with Possibilties Abound with the idea that a preschool could be a way to help the community and one of our sister churches.

There has always been a need for more quality preschools that give a solid start to a child’s education. Churches often struggle with their finances and in ways to help serve the communities in a practical way. We saw a long time ago that maybe we could do something to help meet both these needs – partner a preschool with a church. The church provides the location; the preschool helps the community and brings in some church income by “renting” the location with a small percentage of their income.

It has been a bumpy road as we have navigated this venture with that wonderful but sometimes elusive goal of self-sustainability before us. Providing quality education at a reasonable price that allows the school to be maintained properly and the teachers to be paid a reasonable wage. Every year we have made changes to help us on this road to get closer to the goal.

COVID has made things extra challenging with the government closing schools down at different points last year and this year but we are still hopeful as we have seen some promising changes this year – an increase in the quality of education and the number of paying students which increases the overall income, getting us closer to seeing the preschool become self-sustaining. We aren’t there yet but we are getting closer!

Thank you to the preschool staff – Teachers Rose, Jane, and Elizabeth – for all their hard work in caring for these kids and helping them with a solid educational foundation.

COVID may be slowing down our ministries and what we can do, but God is still working! Limiting the number of attendees to follow health restrictions, New Life Center hosted the UMC youth leadership training this year. It’s said a lot – the youth are the future of the church.  We say it a lot because it is true. Investing in the youth means investing in the future. We want the church to be filled with leaders who are servant-minded, grounded in the Word, honest, discerning, and most of all truly love the Lord. This doesn’t happen overnight. It takes intentionality, time, work, love, mentorship, encouragement, challenging them, patience, wisdom, and truth. Seeds have to be planted and watered, and given time to grow.

This training taught on everything from servant leadership to financial integrity. Our prayer is for strong future leadership in the body of Christ.

Each week we are still working with feeding malnourished, under 5 year old children in Zambia Compound 3 times per week. The program has changed a bit due to COVID-19. We no longer meet once a week with the children to serve them hot porridge. Now we are only able to provide them with a dry High Energy Protein Supplement (HEPS) 3 times a week. We make it here at NLC each week and deliver it to one of our Community Health Educators (CHEs) who live in Zambia Compound. The family of the children in the program then come and collect it from the CHEs. It is still helping children stay nourished and healthy. Thank you to all who make this feeding program a success!