International props to Boniface Kalobwe, Choshen Farm worker, for just going head to head with a giant King Cobra that’s been eating our eggs and terrorizing our chickens. The score has been settled: Boniface: 1, King Cobra: 0.

Exciting events on the farm often remind me that it’s time to write home and share some of these happenings. The biggest news in the area this month comes from Mansa, the local town 18 miles from us where we shop, bank, and bring people to the hospital.

“MOB FORMS, POLICE KILL TWO IN RIOTS IN MANSA” was the headline of the Zambian Post just a few days before Easter. The situation was this:

It came to light that several young children in Mansa had been abducted and murdered so that their hearts could be extracted and sold to witch doctors for use in potions and rituals. Bodies of children minus their hearts had been found in the bush, but the perpetrators were unknown for some time. However, the child abductors were finally found when a young boy’s screams were heard by the neighbors. His attackers were detained, questioned and promptly beaten unconscious, covered with trees, and set afire. With the smell of charred bodies saturating the air, a mob set in motion to discover who was buying these hearts.

Witch hunts tend to never be rational, and when the chance for looting is involved, “mobthink” is always destructive. The mob for the next several days smashed buildings, set cars on fire and threatened anyone they thought could be connected to the abductions, killings and human-heart-trafficking. The Zambian Army, Police and National Service descended on the small town of Mansa to restore order and ended up killing two people in the process. Eventually things calmed down, and life went back to “normal.”

Fimpulu was technically not touched by the events, though nobody traveled in or out of Mansa for about a week just to be safe. For Jeremy and Bethany, we’ve known that there is a market for human hearts and are not overly surprised that finally this information was coming out, but we are still saddened by the events.

At our church leaders meeting yesterday we continued our discussions on culture and the gospel. We talked about how traditional culture teaches people that rituals and sacrifices must be performed to appease the spirits – hence the demand for things like human hearts. There is a culture of needing to “work to keep the spirits happy.” This is where people find much security. With the right potion, ritual, custom or tradition, the ancestors will be pleased and things will go well. When this perspective carries over into Christianity however, many people treat God much the same way that they treat the spirits. They labor to keep God happy, just as they do the unpredictable ancestors.

We talked in our meeting about how the majority of people attend church, give money and are kind to their neighbors because they are trying to manipulate God into being good to them. Instead of recognizing that, in Jesus, we are free from striving to please God, many people still live in fear, believing that the God of Christianity is just as capricious as the ancestral spirits. We read passages together that explained grace and God’s free gift. It was great to watch pastors process the information and then verbalize the realization that by preaching a works-based religion, they were getting money from people and retaining volunteers, but reinforcing a culturally engrained idea that gods must be appeased.

Ideas went around the circle about how to create a new culture, a culture of grace, where human hearts and rituals are not needed to atone, but rather faith in Christ alone. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Jesus], and through him to reconcile all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20) People agreed that it will take a work of the Lord for hearts to change, but these leaders are committed to speaking truth in their congregations, and we’re so thankful.

As an update to the information we sent mid-month about child scholarships: Thank you to those of you who have responded with a willingness to support. Since sending that information two weeks ago, we received a deluge of students requesting assistance for school, the vast majority of which are single or double orphans and have no one to help them other than the folks at Choshen Farm. We’ve spent the last several days interviewing kids and trying to decide who we should say yes to and who we just can’t help. It’s a difficult task as we haven’t spoken to a single child who doesn’t deserve an education or who doesn’t have great potential. We’ve had to guess a bit and pray a lot about how many students we might reasonably be able to find sponsors for, and ultimately said yes to 25 kids. With sponsors lined up for only about 5 of those kids and school starting in one week, we are praying hard that the right people will step forward. We trust that God, as he knows the situation of each of these children even better than we do, will provide for all of their needs.

We’ve started taking the following verse very seriously:

“IF YOU SPEND YOURSELF ON BEHALF OF THE POOR, YOUR LIGHT WILL SHINE LIKE THE NOONDAY SUN.” (Isaiah 58:10)

In a place where ritual killings and AIDS and child orphans without hope are the norm – how could our calling be anything else BUT to spend ourselves on behalf of the poor and watch as that noonday sun shines forth, penetrating darkness and glorifying our Father in heaven?

We feel so privileged to labor in this place and are thankful for those of you who have joined us financially and in prayer.

With Love,

Jeremy and Bethany

Dear Friends,

We trust you are all doing well in your own corner of the world. March for us flew by and we’re glad to be able to share with you many of the events.

Whew. Here we go.

It feels a bit like we spent half of our month ferrying people back and forth to and from the hospital – in the middle of the night for a lot of them, no less. One day in particular sums it all up. It all started when we were called out of bed to go see a woman Linda. A young lady in her early twenties, already widowed, left with twin babies, and also in the advanced stages of AIDS – we got to her when she was already quite ill. Unfortunately, her family waited until she had been having diarrhea for three weeks straight before coming and asking for help. We found her on the floor of her hut, unable to even speak. Jeremy carried her to the Land Rover and sped to the hospital, again carrying her into the treatment room. (The Fimpulu clinical officer said that he wouldn’t do anything for her, blaming the family for not bringing her earlier and explaining that he didn’t want her death to be on his record.)

We drove to town the next day to check on Linda and found her relatives half way, walking in the direction of Fimpulu which indicated that Linda had passed away. As the people in the vehicle all started crying, I couldn’t help but think, “two more orphans in the world. The number keeps growing.”

We continued on to the hospital anyway, needing to pick up BaShi Chiti and his broken arm, which we were hoping had a cast on it (that broken arm incident was another late night hospital run a few days earlier – the clinic wouldn’t do anything for him either – not even a little tylenol for the pain…arg).

Just before reaching the hospital we met Bana Chapa (a good friend of ours) walking with her eldest daughter. They flagged us down and told us they needed a ride out to Fimpulu if we could take them. The Chapa’s grandson had died of malaria in the hospital the night before. We asked where the boy was and they motioned to Bana Chapa’s back. For every mother out there, I would just like you to stop and think for one minute what it would be like to watch your two year old son die from a treatable, preventable disease, and then wrap him up, strap him onto your back with a sheet and begin to trod 18 miles in 90 degree heat. That’s what Bana Chapa was doing.

This is real life to millions of people around the world. Incredible pain and no pain killer, Inadequate health facilities with no real personnel. AIDS that whittles away the body. Mosquitoes that are absolutely deadly. And dead babies strapped to your back. It’s depressing. WHERE IS THE HOPE??? It’s certainly not us. Jeremy and Bethany Colvin are not the hope of Fimpulu. We’ve lived there four years and still cry every time someone we tried to help dies anyway. WHERE IS THE HOPE???

Isaiah 25:7-9
On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.
In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

We have to read these words often to ourselves as a reminder. This is our hope. This is what we speak of. Each time we pray for people and tell them to take heart, we are longing for this truth come down: we trusted Him, and He saved us. We strive so hard to link health with gospel grace that people might see with their physical eyes removal of disgrace and join with us saying, THIS IS OUR GOD!

We shared with our Church leaders this month quite a lot about these things. We want people to find hope and comfort, and yet it tears us apart to see The Sovereign LORD, the Hope of Salvation dismissed and denied in favor of tradition, especially in situations of health and healing. We shared with the leaders some examples of traditional practices that honor the power of dead ancestors’ spirits instead of honoring the Lord.

Things like coffin chasings and healing beads and white powders and special chants and blessings – they all are used to do one of two things. They either pacify capricious spirits to prevent a negative condition from occurring, or they draw on the latent power of the spirits to reverse a negative condition. And yet, Isaiah 8:19 says, “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?”

At our last meeting we hung a tarp down the middle of the Learning Resource Center and sticky-tacked verses to both sides. On one side, the verses gave the charge to believers to fight well, to hold on, to persevere, to wage war, to stand against the enemy, to stay the course. On the other side were warnings against those who practice divination, consult mediums and engage spirits. After having studied 1 John for a few months, the group understood well the concept of walking in the light verses walking in the dark. The dividing wall created by the tarp provided a sharp visual to emphasize that a choice needed to be made. The line was drawn, not by Jeremy and Bethany, but by the Word itself. It was fascinating discussion as we listened to people share about members of their churches arranging coffin chasings and visiting mediums. The general consensus of the group was, “We call ourselves Christians, but we act like unbelievers. This needs to end.” The time of prayer and repentance that followed the discussion was powerful.

The leaders have requested that we meet with them twice a month from here on out, which is encouraging as it will give us twice the opportunity to facilitate healthy discussion and deep study of the Word with these village leaders. We understand that there are still barriers to be overcome. The church leaders want to see the village transformed, for true peace to reign. The process however is not totally clear. Tradition runs deep. And by deep I mean DEEEEEEEEP. But its something we have the pleasure to walk through together.

On a different but slightly related note, when we weren’t in and out of the hospital, we spent much of our time at the farm and working with parents of students many of whom are still looking for money to send their kids to school. Especially for the older kids who are needing substantial sums of money, Choshen Farm is seen, in many ways, as the only hope. We took on several more scholarship students than we had originally planned and set up programs for parents to come and work for the money while the kids went to school. We did everything we could but still found the need to be much greater than what we were able to provide. Eventually, we had to start saying no to people. Mothers were coming and begging for help, offering to do any job if only we might be able to loan them some cash to make education possible. Even for the most desperate we still had to apologize and still say no, explaining that there are no more jobs on the farm for anyone to work, and even if there were, we’ve literally handed out every last Kwacha in our pockets. It’s difficult because we realize what our answer of no means to that child and that family. I had a grandmother with sullen eyes sit across from me and ask the question, “What is my granddaughter going to do now?” The grandmother then answered her own question, telling me what I already knew. The grandmother told me in simple phrases that this young girl will, at age 15, get married, promptly start having kids and live in poverty for the rest of her life. What the grandmother didn’t say, but we know from statistics is that this girl, having ended school at this state of her life is more likely to… contract HIV or another fatal illness; have sub-par household sanitation; bear an unhealthy number of children; be illiterate and have illiterate children; and struggle to feed and educate her children. It sounds melodramatic to say that her life is over, but to a certain degree, it is, and the shaking of the grandmother’s head with her hands on her forehead showed that she too understood this harsh reality.

We’re working on putting together a scholarship student packet of sorts to help connect people with students so as to offset some of the financial burden from Choshen regarding all of these students. Be looking for that this next month.

Thank you for taking the time to read and share in the lives of those around us. We continue to covet your prayers and support.

In Christ,

Jeremy & Bethany

Dear Family and Friends,

Our return to Fimpulu has given 2011 a great start. Following the 12 hour trip up from Lusaka, we thankfully reached familiar territory once again. With each new greeting, we received enthusiastic handshakes and warm words of welcome. Back at the farm we found fields of cabbage, tomatoes, soy beans, groundnuts, and maize all growing beautifully.  The chickens are healthy and the fish are fat.  God has really blessed the land and the guys’ hard work in cultivating it.  We are so encouraged by the success of the local management and consider these last months a big step towards sustainable development.

First order of business upon arrival was organizing and meeting the needs of our sponsored school children.  School fees for thirteen secondary school boys gave us the chance to max out our ATM withdrawal limit for 4 days straight, after which we began to focus on the younger students with needs of their own. Shopping for new uniforms and getting necessary books, bags, soap, & shoe polish was once again an absolute joy as we continue to partake in these students’ lives. We were especially pleased to work with several young ladies who have taken charge of their education and are committed to success. All of these students work so hard in order to go places in life.  They are thankful for your support, as are we.

And of course as soon as we got back we had some serious catching up to do. If Fimpulu had its own newspaper, these would be some of the headlines:

Ax Murderer Runs Free. A young man in the village murdered his grandmother with an ax as an act of retribution, claiming that the grandmother had killed his brother through witchcraft.  Before ever committing the crime, the man announced to the community his intention to kill and, interestingly enough, received approval from many who agreed that the grandmother was indeed a witch. Post-murder, the man’s conscience disturbed him, prompting him to turn himself into the police. However, the village members refused to let him do so, wanting instead to protect him from certain punishment. The village also refused to let the Catholic Church (of which the grandmother was an active member) give the woman (“witch”) a Christian burial.  The church responded that, “Her status is between her and God,” and buried her properly.

Headman Denied A Divorce after Committing Adultery. Local Headman Chabwe asked a Mansa court for a divorce after being caught, by his wife, in bed with the Headwoman of the neighboring village. The court refused to grant a legal divorce stating that: “You are to be examples to your communities.  We cannot let you divorce and then tell other people how they ought to live.”  With two broken families and two very angry villages in the mix, the Chief has been asked to dismiss both parties from their post as Headpersons. Being the adjunct children of Chabwe and his wife, we are particularly saddened by this course of events.

Droughts Cause Worry over this Years Crops. Intermittent rains and long periods of dry weather have alarmed farmers in a place generally known for its abundant rainfall.  The lack of water, coupled with late planting due to government delays in paying for last year’s crops, has severely stunted much of the maize. Choshen Farm Maize is approximately 2-3 times taller than everyone else’s! – a huge PRAISE THE LORD for His leading us to plant early this year! The well at our house is also working overtime to supply drinking water to dozens of families as it is the only water source that never dried up during the rainy season.

Wow, what a place we live in. We count it such a privilege to serve here. After getting the kids off to their boarding schools and catching up on the goings on of the village, we hit the ground running and already have full calendars till kingdom come. The one hundred new laying hens residing at Choshen Farm are set up in their newly built house and are being equipped with water systems and feeders to boot. Kids who were refusing to go to preschool until their escort Bethany returned are now back in uniform and singing nicely. We are mourning the loss of 5 HBC clients in the past two months (‘tis the season, unfortunately) but are thankful for the new ones added and looking forward to another productive year of AIDS outreach in the community.

2011 promises to be an awesome year. We invite you to keep in touch with us better by checking out our updated website at www. Choshenfarm.org. Also, if you are on Facebook, “friend” us and read more details in your news feed.  If you haven’t seen the videos we have up on youtube, search for Choshen Farm and check out some of the features.

We are still about $1,500 in regular donor support away from meeting our monthly budget for this year and have already had some pretty hefty expenses due to vehicle repairs. (Exact words of the mechanic in Lusaka: “I can’t believe you guys made it the last 800 kilometers to get here”… yeah, well…) Our God is a God who provides. Amen? Thank you for being a part of this work and please do encourage those in your respective spheres to consider partnering with us as well.

Jeremy and Bethany Colvin
Choshen Farm Directors

Dear Family and Friends,

Our return to Fimpulu has given 2011 a great start. Following the 12 hour trip up from Lusaka, we thankfully reached familiar territory once again. With each new greeting, we received enthusiastic handshakes and warm words of welcome. Back at the farm we found fields of cabbage, tomatoes, soy beans, groundnuts, and maize all growing beautifully.  The chickens are healthy and the fish are fat.  God has really blessed the land and the guys’ hard work in cultivating it.  We are so encouraged by the success of the local management and consider these last months a big step towards sustainable development.

First order of business upon arrival was organizing and meeting the needs of our sponsored school children.  School fees for thirteen secondary school boys gave us the chance to max out our ATM withdrawal limit for 4 days straight, after which we began to focus on the younger students with needs of their own. Shopping for new uniforms and getting necessary books, bags, soap, & shoe polish was once again an absolute joy as we continue to partake in these students’ lives. We were especially pleased to work with several young ladies who have taken charge of their education and are committed to success. All of these students work so hard in order to go places in life.  They are thankful for your support, as are we.

And of course as soon as we got back we had some serious catching up to do. If Fimpulu had its own newspaper, these would be some of the headlines:

Ax Murderer Runs Free. A young man in the village murdered his grandmother with an ax as an act of retribution, claiming that the grandmother had killed his brother through witchcraft.  Before ever committing the crime, the man announced to the community his intention to kill and, interestingly enough, received approval from many who agreed that the grandmother was indeed a witch. Post-murder, the man’s conscience disturbed him, prompting him to turn himself into the police. However, the village members refused to let him do so, wanting instead to protect him from certain punishment. The village also refused to let the Catholic Church (of which the grandmother was an active member) give the woman (“witch”) a Christian burial.  The church responded that, “Her status is between her and God,” and buried her properly.

Headman Denied A Divorce after Committing Adultery. Local Headman Chabwe asked a Mansa court for a divorce after being caught, by his wife, in bed with the Headwoman of the neighboring village. The court refused to grant a legal divorce stating that: “You are to be examples to your communities.  We cannot let you divorce and then tell other people how they ought to live.” With two broken families and two very angry villages in the mix, the Chief has been asked to dismiss both parties from their post as Headpersons. Being the adjunct children of Chabwe and his wife, we are particularly saddened by this course of events.

Droughts Cause Worry over this Years Crops. Intermittent rains and long periods of dry weather have alarmed farmers in a place generally known for its abundant rainfall.  The lack of water, coupled with late planting due to government delays in paying for last year’s crops, has severely stunted much of the maize. Choshen Farm Maize is approximately 2-3 times taller than everyone else’s! – a huge PRAISE THE LORD for His leading us to plant early this year! The well at our house is also working overtime to supply drinking water to dozens of families as it is the only water source that never dried up during the rainy season.

Wow, what a place we live in. We count it such a privilege to serve here. After getting the kids off to their boarding schools and catching up on the goings on of the village, we hit the ground running and already have full calendars till kingdom come. The one hundred new laying hens residing at Choshen Farm are set up in their newly built house and are being equipped with water systems and feeders to boot. Kids who were refusing to go to preschool until their escort Bethany returned are now back in uniform and singing nicely. We are mourning the loss of 5 HBC clients in the past two months (‘tis the season, unfortunately) but are thankful for the new ones added and looking forward to another productive year of AIDS outreach in the community.

2011 promises to be an awesome year. We invite you to keep in touch with us better by checking out our updated website at www. Choshenfarm.org. Also, if you are on facebook, “friend” us and read more details in your news feed.  If you haven’t seen the videos we have up on youtube, search for Choshen Farm and check out some of the features.

We are still about $1,500 in regular donor support away from meeting our monthly budget for this year and have already had some pretty hefty expenses due to vehicle repairs. (Exact words of the mechanic in Lusaka: “I can’t believe you guys made it the last 800 kilometers to get here”… yeah, well…) Our God is a God who provides. Amen? Thank you for being a part of this work and please do encourage those in your respective spheres to consider partnering with us as well.

Jeremy and Bethany Colvin

Dear Friends and Family,

We are writing a bit early this month to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving and to let you know that we have safely arrived in America! Our last few weeks in Fimpulu before packing up and heading out for the holidays were hectic and wonderful. Bethany finished up her teaching and is anxious to see the results of the students exams this term. She also worked quite a lot with Home Based Care to make sure that things were in good standing order before sending the caregivers out to fly solo for a while. Jeremy has been working wonders on the farm to get all fields prepared and animals healthy in preparation for planting season. The guys who have stayed behind at the farm are anxious to do a good job this year and we’re sure they’ll make us proud.

Time will fly and we’ll be back in Fimpulu before we know it… which is actually one of the main reasons we wanted to touch base with you all now. We’d like to share our schedule with you for this home visit so that if anyone on the continental usa would like to talk with or see us while we are home, you can know our whereabouts and contact us. The schedule is as follows:

November 15 – 23: Ithaca, NY

November 24 – 27: Portland, OR

November 28 – December 7: Spokane, WA

December 8: Detroit, MI

December 9- January 6: Ithaca, NY

Please help us know when you’re free and when you’d like to get together by calling or e-mailing us. (phone our cell at: 607-342-7894). We’d love to meet up with any individuals, families, small groups or other combinations that would like to hear more about Zambia and give thanks together with us for what God has been doing in our midst!

Thank you for being faithful supporters. We hope to hear from many of you soon.

Love in Christ,

Jeremy and Bethany

Dear Family and Friends,

“There an never be development if people are not willing to make the hard decisions.” This quote is something that we have been sharing with our neighbors for a long time. In the last few weeks we have been discussing it more ourselves and repeating it again and again as our community faces more hard decisions.

We are still discussing “the goat issue” in the village. Village mandate is that people must tie their goats, which, admittedly is a hassle, which is why most people don’t bother to do it. The result is that its impossible to keep a garden nearby your home, there is poop EVERYWHERE, and these crazy creatures have a tendency to walk right into my house and start licking my dishes. (true story.) We’ve explained to people that the worst part of the scenario is actually not the rampant diarrhea or the loss of crops. The worst part is that the village has collectively decided on a rule (tie your goats) and literally no one feels the need to follow it. The attitude is very reminiscent of the time of the Judges when it says, “in those days, each man did has he saw fit.” Strangely enough, silly goats are the perfect opportunity to be a prophetic witness.

Another ever-present issue is that of the dog bites. I think we mentioned this before, but the next chapter in the saga is that Trouble, the dog at the clinic compound has bitten a fourth victim. Despite the command by the police, the vet, AND the local court judge to “just kill it,” Trouble continues to roam free and actually sleep in doorways at the clinic while we ferry people to the hospital to get rabies shots (which are only sometimes in stock). The American, “I’ll sue you if you so much as trample my pansies,” mindset makes this all seem ridiculous, and it is. The key factor however is the cultural understanding of conflict resolution which is imbued with hierarchy and respect. The owner of this dog is a government employee. His money alone puts him at the top of the ladder – irregardless of personal character. Because the average villager feels a self-inflicted sense of inferiority towards such people, no one will stand up and say, enough is enough. We studied Jesus’ attitude towards the poor and wealthy with our Church leaders on Saturday and discussed how Jesus is no respecter of money. Even with this knowledge of Christ’s defense of the poor and needy, the leaders still questioned whether they could ever stand up to the government tycoon. Again, silly dogs are the perfect opportunity to be a prophetic witness.

A third area of character testing has come in the form of receiving and courting visiting NGOs (non-profits like World Vision, Compassion, etc). After sitting in on several of these meetings where Americans and South Africans have made the journey to our little village to do a “needs assessment” we started to see trends in the kind of schpiel the village puts forth. The MO of the villagers in these sessions tends to be, “make ourselves looks as poor and pitiful as possible so that we get the maximum assistance.” Every question is responded to with “we don’t have.” We don’t have water. We don’t have bicycles. We don’t have umbrellas. There is a huge fear that if people are honest about their current situation, they’ll loose out. We spent a long time after one meeting discussing with one particular focus group about lying to get something. We reviewed for an hour the concept of gaining the whole world, but forfeiting your soul. We boiled it down to, “if you have to lie to get something, that something is not worth it.” We came back to the issue after HBC was visited by a big-wig from a major NGO in Lusaka who came to discuss the possibility of us submitting a fairly large grant. The representative of the NGO gave some pretty shady advice concerning the grant process, explaining to the HBC group that they were expected to list budget items that were either unnecessary or excessive and then spend less than the budget, pocketing the difference. “Write in that you’ll hire a bus for an outreach and then ride your bicycles, thus gaining money for future programs!” To the HBC group, this sounded like heaven come down. To us, this sounded like all kinds of unethical. After the grant-folk left, we talked to HBC, again, about lying to get something and how that is never worth it. Admittedly, the group was a bit conflicted since they had been given this advice directly from Lusaka. I mean, this man’s shirt was so crisp and his tie so shiny. How could he have been wrong? Because sin takes all forms, people. After a flurry of e-mails to and from our contacts at USAID, we finally got a call from the CEO of this particular NGO apologizing profusely for her staff member’s error and explaining that what we had heard truly was wrong. The HBC group is growing through this process as they come to internalize the truth of the Bible that God rewards the upright. Again, crazy NGO mishaps are the perfect opportunity for prophetic witness.

This week we will be diving into the nitty-gritty of life once again with the community. This time, the matter is quite serious and pressing for every member of the village. The problem is as such: Every year, people harvest and sell their maize to a government buyer, the Food Reserve Agency (FRA). People haul their maize out of the bush, cart it to a central depot and then wait for an unknown period of time for a check to be written in their name. This money is the capital for the next season of planting as people need it to buy seed and fertilizer. The buying of seed and fertilizer is also a government program as farmers in rural areas are subsidized. One must sign up for the program and pay his money at a specific time to receive the government benefit. So, here’s the problem. The FRA owes billions of kwacha to farmers around the country, which has made it impossible for people to make their payments to the government subsidized seed program. We have neighbors who are cycling the 25 kilometers to Mansa every day to check and see if their money is in, because they are frantically worrying that they won’t have a single penny with which to buy seed and fertilizer this year. Many people have come to us asking for loans to buy seed and even just feed their families. This FRA check, for many people is their ONE paycheck a year. By the time it is due to arrive, it is needed really, really badly by most people. We’ve turned down loan requests because we simply can’t put out $50-$100 bucks for upwards of 500 people who are all in the same boat. We do understand the pressure. Choshen Farm still needs to bring in $2,000 of its own before we can take off for America! So what does prophetic witness look like in this situation? Well, for starters, we are going to pray. We are sending out notes and village criers (think “Hear ye! Hear ye!” but less Shakespearean) to call people to a village wide prayer meeting on Wednesday night at 5 o’clock local time to ask God to meet the needs of the people. We invite you all to pray with us at that time that the hand of the Lord would move and people would be provided for. We are excited to see how the Lord will answer and how He will use this to return people’s hearts to Him.

Thank you so much for your continued partnership and support of Choshen Farm. We especially want to thank you for the extra financial gifts in the last month. Preparing for a trip home is particularly taxing on the budget as many needs must be provided for in advance, not to mention monumental costs of flying across an ocean. The Lord has been faithful, and has used many of you to make this possible! We remain with about $2,000 as our needed balance to take off from Lusaka on the 14th of November with peace of mind. We are confident that this need will land on the right people’s hearts to help us over the hump.

We’ll be in communication even after touching down in America-land. Our weekly “phone dates” with Jimmy, Boniface and others should help us know how life in Fimpulu is going, and we’ll gladly report that to you all as well. So until next time, God bless you all, and of course, Fimpulu is greeting you.

Jeremy and Bethany Colvin

Dear Friends and Family,

Depending on where you live, your leaves might be changing colors, the temperatures cooling down, or if you are in our hemisphere, things are getting hot, hot, hot!

We are glad to be sharing with you the events of this month, and prayer requests for the future. One of our biggest praise reports is that the Learning Resource Center is officially open! The community provided every last bundle of grass to finish the roof after which we hurriedly gave the walls another coat of paint, sanded down the benches and desks, put in cupboards in the office, hung bright posters and letters on the walls and finished the room off with welcoming curtains. The preschool class now meeting in the LRC has expanded to over 45 students, keeping the teachers busier than ever. The children are enjoying a new memory verse program this term, and are being well prepared for their entrance to first grade – without having to share building space with piles of dry maize and scurry little mice! The older students and adults are also flocking to the building in great numbers to use the books and hold study group meetings. Our monthly Fellowship of Church Leaders meeting this month was particularly fun as we explained concepts in conjunction with how to use the Bible dictionaries, concordances and commentaries. We have endeavored to use these resources to help us contrast “village culture” with “kingdom culture” on such issues as bride price, respect of elders and church unity, Great stuff! The building was “officially” opened as we held an engaging program for the community. With Fimpulu’s ten headmen and the area’s Chief in attendance, we watched skits performed by the drama group we formed back in 2008, distributed gifts to the leaders (The Story of John by Robert Mounce) and let the community brainstorm a list of essential trainings that they’d like to see happen as soon as possible. English instruction and household finance are at the top of the list, with church leaders and headmen both asking for continued, and even increased, investment. Much to be done!

We’ve been given much greater insight this past month on education in the village as Bethany has been added to the teaching staff for the third term at Fimpulu Basic School. She is teaching 8th and 9th grade English split into two classes, one for each grade, each with about 40-some students. The journey thus far has been… interesting. The students in each class range in age from 14 to 22 years old. There are too few desks, leaving the unlucky dozen or so to squat on the floor. The pass rate for girls and boys at the 7th grade exit exam is significantly different, causing a sharp contrast in the two genders and their ability to perform. The pedantic style of teaching across Zambia has churned out an army of compliant students whose learning style is limited to copying down what has been written on the blackboard. Speaking, listening, critical reading and creativity in general are foreign concepts. The teachers of other subjects are often absent for “personal reasons” or prioritize sweeping the grounds and hoeing the teachers’ gardens over classroom learning. The occasional chicken squawks under a child’s desk – as if we needed one more reminder that this classroom is not in suburbia. As I said… interesting.

As we near the end of the dry season, our neighbors are struggling to find food. The hand-watered gardens and advance planned maize and soya beans of Choshen Farm has meant steady food supply for the nearly 100 Home Based Care clients currently on register. This is the first dry season that we’ve given out food stuffs in this way and it is clearly helping. The demand for HEPS (High Energy Protein Solution) amongst clients has been extremely high, especially for those taking ARV medicines. We are also clearing more and more acres of bush to accommodate planting more maize this year to increase HEPS supply as soon as possible.

Goodness, so much to say and so little space!

At a recent meeting, we discussed a modified version of Jeremiah 29, saying “Seek the Peace of [Fimpulu] for if it prospers, you will prosper.” We explained the Biblical concept of Shalom as the total flourishing of society in every dimension and outlined our present activities in terms of that Shalom. We talked about the social, economic, environmental, relational, spiritual, educational, and physical shalom of the community. As people see these Bible principles at work – Christianity at work! – the life of a disciple becomes more real, more meaningful. We sense people are tracking with us as we receive text messages like a recent one that said, “Sorry to have missed the meeting as I was out, but bana mumba and I are seeking the shalom of Fimpulu!”

What a joy to be a part of this movement.

In Christ,

Jeremy and Bethany

PS. If you would like to contribute to this work, please visit our website or e-mail us for details. We are currently praying for about $5,000 to come in before November so that we can buy the necessary seed and fertilizer for planting before making a trip home. Pray that these needs would be provided for so that we can also take a few weeks of much needed rest in the states!

Dear Friends,

At the Urbana missions conference back in 2003, Urbana director and Intervarsity staff member John Tebbe, said that the three most necessary components of evangelism are 1) relationship, 2) relationship, and 3) relationship. As people attempting to impact rural Zambia for Christ, we are thankful for the bountiful relationships He has built here in this village, and for the opportunities for witness that those relationships have provided. As we are just coming off of our first wedding anniversary, celebrating our relationship as man and wife, we have been cataloguing more and more “relational testimonies” from the village. We’d like to share some of that with you.

Meet Sebastian – a Congolese born Bemba whose children are the same age we are, yet talks to us and works along side us as peers. Our most faithful Bible study attendee, Sebastian is constantly bringing to us words like “divination” to help him define or problems like disunity in the Church to confer on. He scheduled an appointment some time back to come and talk to us, opening his story with “Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy, I have so many problems…” Our partnership in the gospel was relayed into partnership in life as we helped him through family trauma of deaths of children and grandchildren, and imprisonment of a son. He grips our hands tightly when we pray and restores our hope in so many ways.

Meet Ronald – a 10th grade boy who represents a much larger group of kids who we are helping through school and discipling along the way. They learn from us English and Math, work ethic and purity. A bit to our surprise, they’d rather talk about purity than anything else. With girls beating down their doors (apparently) and the culture trying to persuade them to follow a certain path, there is no end of temptation and difficulty, yet they’ve heard enough out of us to know that perhaps there’s something more. At a recent sleepover where 14 guys crowded into the farm house to hang out for guy time, Ronald asked the question, “Mr. Jeremy, how do I follow your path?” With white board and markers and a mix of English and Bemba Bibles, the guys walked through the gospel of redemption together and made commitments to follow not Mr. Jeremy’s path, but Jesus’.

Meet Boniface – a former security guard and now farm worker whose friendship with us was established over “talking Bible” while on the job. This month we mostly carted him in and out of town trying to determine whether he has TB or not, which the doctors say he doesn’t. Our fondest memory of Boniface occurred some time back when Jeremy was praying with him and some of the other guys at the farm. He had shared with them the concern that if things continued to be rough (financially) we might need to go home and/or pray for God to send someone else. Through heavy sobs Boniface prayed, “I don’t want someone else because someone else doesn’t know me like you do.” Hearing someone implore that our friendship remain has helped us stick it out in the hardest of seasons.

Meet Mwape, Rosa, Monica, and Fabi – a group of girls who have latched themselves on to us in the last month and now invite themselves over regularly for dinner and discussion. Bethany talks to them mostly about their future, protecting themselves from the world’s dangers and trusting God for provision. They all cheered wildly the day Jeremy told them that if any boy ever hurt them, he’d hunt them down. We make sure these girls have their basic necessities and know that they can come to us with any problems. Two of them are orphans and the other two are facing extenuating circumstances, which puts them in an even more vulnerable position than the already vulnerable, young girl population of rural Zambia.

Meet Kombe, Popo, Muzo, KK and Chisanga – 8th and 9th grade boys who we’ve known long enough to see them sprout up and hear their voices change. They spend all their free time with us, which seems to be shaping something in their lives. As they come of age, we’ve noticed that these boys seem to be cut from a different cloth than their peers. Our interaction is intentional, but fluid, consisting of mostly side-by-side labor and conversation with the occasional deep discussion over some dilemma. They represent slow growing, but firmly rooted fruit.

There are more. Lots more in fact. There are individuals who are a part of HBC, like Jimmy, who are getting chubby from eating our eggs and are telling us that this is “pure grace.” There are Husbands like Ba Kazembe and Mr. Zacharia who have been hearing for the first time about principles of Godly finance and are seeing their children suffer less and thrive more. There are friends like Rhoda whose words of affirmation encourage us every time we hear, “You people, you really bless me.” There are ones like Bana Eliza who have children named after us and never hesitate to ask for help, like wanting us to talk to her husband when he’s drunk too much. There are women, too many, in fact, like bana Impundu, who are withering away because of disease to whom we take pancakes and prayers and hold their hands till they drift back to sleep. There are hospital staff who commend our efforts saying “its you who are helping us.” We sit on short stools with friends like Bana Miriam and wash the toothpaste out of her third degree burns, replacing it with Neosporin while she heaves in pain but says thank you all the same. There are friends like Ba Chipanta who come to tell us the good, the bad and the ugly, saying, “In fact I can’t hide anything from you.” There are massive NGOs in town who, despite the billions of dollars they have pouring in from overseas, can’t seem to connect with people at “Grassroots level” and remark to us, “you just don’t see programs like this at rural level.”
Its true, we are busy folks with an ever growing budget to keep us going: with a farm and tutoring programs and workshops and Bible studies and Home Based Care and building projects and networking and hospital runs and village committees and preschool and more. But the point is the people, and the individual relationships that stem from the busyness and the resulting display justice, mercy and faithful witness to Christ.

Thank you for being a part of this mission effort.

We will share more with you next month. But for now, we do want to announce and ask for prayer for our desire to come home this November/December. By that time it will have been a solid 18 months since we’ve seen you all and shared with you face to face. Trusting that we’ll actually make it home, for us, is a Gideon venture if there ever were one. We still need to send these kids to school, buy seed for planting, secure wages for the farm guys, set aside money for the preschool and keep HBC rolling BEFORE we can think about buying tickets. Not impossible, but definitely beyond our current means. Please do pray with us that all of these things will be provided for so that we can come share God’s goodness with you in person.

Until next time, grace and peace be with you,

Jeremy and Bethany

Greetings!

This month, we were graced with the presence of Bethany’s Aunt from South Carolina, Tricia DuBrule, who came for a two week visit. She was able to put her experience into words for us, which we gladly share with you now. Enjoy!

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I saw a billboard once that said,

You know that love thing? I meant it. – God.

It really struck me at the time for two reasons. One, it caused me to truly consider what that “love thing” is. And two, it reminded me that God means every bit of what we read in the Bible. Since that time, my husband, Pete, and I have been on a search for what it really means to be a Christian. Our quest has taken us down numerous paths and God has been faithful to show us what we need to know at each step.

While God has shown us much over the last couple of years, that “love thing” has bubbled to the top time and time again. Jesus said that the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love your neighbor as yourself. Love God. Love others.

After Jesus washed His disciples’ feet the night before He was crucified, He told them not to then do the same for Him, but to go and do the same for others. What a powerful message He was giving His followers. And us. We are to wash the dirty feet of others.

This is what Bethany and Jeremy do every day in Fimpulu. In Jeremy’s latest newsletter/blog, there is a list of the projects they are involved in, each one providing selfless support to their neighbors. I’d like to share some things about their ministry that I discovered during my recent visit.

1. Jeremy and Bethany grow several crops on their farm. One hundred percent (i.e., not 99%) of these crops go to their Home Based Care clients. These are neighbors who are HIV+, have TB, or have some other chronic illness. These clients are cared for by 16 caregivers, all of whom are volunteers (more footwashing). Every two weeks these clients receive 2 dozen eggs for added protein. And the fish that Jeremy is raising in his new ponds are just about big enough to be added to the menu.  The goal of providing this nutritious food is to keep the clients’ immune systems as strong as possible, and to prevent the need for HIV drug therapy. The only thing Bethany and Jeremy eat from the farm is eggs. The six or so fellows who work on the farm surely see this and marvel – feed others before you feed yourself? How does that work? Good nutrition, especially in the form of protein, is in short supply for the villagers. Nshima, made of cassava or maize, is the staple. For us westerners, it is a tasteless food. Served with a side dish of sauce, fish, or vegetable, it is made palatable. Imagine eating grits (for you southerners) or Cream of Wheat (for you northerners) every day, twice a day, for your entire life. Along come these two Americans who provide the sickest ones of the village with food they never thought they’d be able to obtain. Not the richest ones. Not the ones with the greatest status. The sickest ones.

2. While both of the preschool teachers do have a twelfth grade education, neither has been to teacher training school. Bethany has spent the last year working with these teachers, helping them organize their classroom and the curriculum to better suit the needs of the students. Bethany has no teacher training either, but as a teacher myself I can say that she has done a remarkable job putting her experience and common sense to work in order to produce positive results in the classroom. The teachers are so appreciative of Bethany’s help. Here in the states, if I want to get some ideas about classroom management, or if I need a new activity for teaching addition, or want to find a game for practicing vowel sounds, I get on my computer and Google it. Instant access to all kinds of ideas. Well, of course, the teachers don’t have this; and Bethany really doesn’t either because she’s charged by the minute to use the Internet and trust me when I say it’s slooooow. When Bethany was a senior in high school, out of about 400 students, she was voted “Most likely to change the world.” She majored in government at Cornell, figuring she would make those changes from the top down. Little did she know she would begin at the bottom. In preschool. Loving precious little children and their teachers enough to come alongside them to affect change in their little world.

3. While Bethany and Jeremy do not have to support orphaned students, they want to because there is no one else who will, and without support, what chance will those kids have? They want to better themselves and are willing to work hard in order to do it. On their school breaks, these kids work on the farm in return for the support, so they are not just getting a handout. They are learning an important lesson about helping those in need (sounds like a lesson from the book of James). It is an absolute shame that there are as many orphans as there are. But God knows each one and even told us, again via the book of James, that religion that is pure and faultless is found in looking after widows and orphans in their distress. There is no foster care system in Zambia. Orphans are taken in by family, but when there are already eight children in a family, adding another just adds to the financial burden. And while I can’t remember what the cost of a year of high school is, I guarantee we spend more money on lattes and Egg McMuffins in a year’s time. So Bethany and Jeremy play the part of foster parents, loving and encouraging these youth to go on and grow on in a world that has been unkind, with the hope that they will find a new life, giving praise and thanks to God for His everlasting mercies.

4. In addition to the farm, Bethany and Jeremy have a small hut situated in amongst the people of the village. It is their desire to live alongside their neighbors, not separate from them. By doing this, they are able to interact with them in their everyday environment. It gives them great opportunity to speak into people’s lives, with both words and actions. Christ’s words, Christ’s actions. Their true desire is to bring Christ to a lost world and a lost world to Christ. Saint Francis of Assisi is reputed to have once said “always give witness to the love of Christ, speak if you must”. To wash the feet of those who need it. One special way that Jeremy interacts with the kids is by playing with them. Actually, you’d think it was torture the way they scream. He chases them and when he catches one… up in the air, tickling, laughing… it’s a hoot! Not something I saw any dad do with his kids. It’s interesting to watch the smiling faces of the adults as they look on. Someday one of the dads will do the same with his own children. That will be special.

5. Bethany and I hosted a slumber party for 5 teenage girls. We shared scripture with them about how special they are to God (well, it was mostly Bethany since I don’t speak Bemba, but smiles and giggles don’t need to be translated). Bethany plans to do this again. The girls are so sweet. Please pray that they will come to know Jesus as Bethany does; to love and serve Him; to love and serve others, as Bethany models for them.

Bethany and Jeremy are two busy people, and I could go on and on about the foot washing they do every day in Fimpulu. And it’s all done in the context of a physically and emotionally challenging life. It’s winter there now, so it’s cold at night and quite warm during the day. There’s no central heating and air. No refrigerator. No stove or oven. Well, ok, a brazier that serves both purposes (actually, Bethany made me brownies for my birthday and they were yummy!) Snakes in the powder room (aka the outhouse); millions of mosquitoes and the resulting malaria during the rainy season; thick, deep mud that traps the wheels of the Land Rover and won‘t let go; wheels that fall off the Land Rover (yes, that actually happened and we give thanks and praise to God that no one was injured or killed). How about being one of only three Americans in the immediate area. Or being newly married with your mom 10,000 miles away.
Life is not easy. But one thing that is obvious is that Bethany and Jeremy love what they do. They love the God they serve. They love the Zambian people. They love each other. There is nowhere else they would rather be. And they will continue to meet whatever needs they can, stepping out in faith, knowing that God will use His people to provide what is lacking.

As I sit in the comfort of my air conditioned three-bedroom (read spacious) home, and think about what God has shown me, how He has changed me, I know that I want to support this extraordinary work of love. As Jeremy says, their ultimate goal is “to speak into people’s lives a truth which transforms from the inside out.” And I don’t think it’s just the Zambians whose lives will be transformed.

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Thanks Trish.

To all those tracking with us this month, we thank you for your support. We do want to let you know of a specific and immediate need, one that Tricia mentioned above which is sponsoring students to continue school. These students will come back in the next week and continue their work study program with us until the first week of September. We are praying to have full funding to get them all through the last term of this year. The need for each student is roughly $150 for the three month term which covers room, board, uniform, books, transportation and incidentals. If it’s on your heart to specifically sponsor one of these 12 students – please let us know.

Blessings to you all,

Jeremy and Bethany