Preparing

For a couple years now, the Zambia GoTeams have been using the "Round Trip" curriculum to help prepare for their trips to Africa.

It shares a case study of two large churches, one American and one African, swapping GoTeams. Although this model is different than ours, the study explores many of the same dynamics we experience.

Here is a link to a 3-minute video segment from the curriculum. It will help you understand where our team members are in their preparation process. If you are supporting the effort in prayer, it will also give you ideas for your prayer on our behalf. Here's the link:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=byL94ATozik

Thanks for you interest and your prayers!

Getting Acquainted, Getting Ready

During its first prep meeting, the GoTeam spent a fair amount of time getting to know one another, sharing the basics about themselves, their families, and their sense of why God has put them on this team.

Pastor Graig shared a PowerPoint slide show that showed images of the kinds of things the group will see together. It ended with a series of shots of previous GoTeams, helping this team see itself as part of a larger family of Zambia travelers living out the church's longterm relational commitment to the work in Sinazongwe. This is part of the reason even first-time travelers will be treated like old friends or even family, among our Zambian brothers and sisters in Christ. This year's team stands on the shoulders of teams from previous years.
Using a curriculum called "Round Trip", published by Christianity Today, the team began to anticipate some of the dynamics they may experience as they get ready for the trip and when they finally arrive in Africa. Assignments were handed out to be completed by the next meeting: an autobiographical sketch for our partners, health forms, readings, watching a documentary on AIDS.

The next meeting will occur on the heels of the 4th annual Walk4Water in downtown Lake Oswego, an event organized by WaterAfrica, which is a local non-profit that grew out of the Zambia Partnership. Focus of the meeting will be World Vision and cross-cultural training, as we will have Zambian Bwalya Melu with us, a staff member from World Vision US, in Federal Way.

Team of Ten Tapped

This year's GoTeam for Zambia has been selected and has already begun preparing for the July visit to the southern Africa nation. Left to right above you can see: Dick Rapp, Alan Shiffer (of World Vision), Katie Chandler, R.B. Brandvold, Cathy Rote, Christopher Sheffield, Pam Fogg, Pastor Graig Flach, Youth Director Kathleen Fast and Mark Scarlett. The team has an even mix of 5 first-time Zambia travelers and 5 returnees.

The Zambia Partnership came into being in 2003, as Lake Grove answered the call to respond to the AIDS pandemic with the love of Christ. Working under the umbrella of World Vision with its expertise in transformational development, Lake Grove has partnered with villages and the local World Vision staff in a remote region called Sinazongwe, located in the Southern Province of Zambia, on Lake Kariba. The people group there is known as the "Valley Tonga".

Tasks for this year's team will include marking the end of our most recent community partnership, the Siabbeula Food Security Project, visiting 2 schools with which Lake Grove has had significant contact, and also visiting a number of sponsored children. In addition, discussions will take place about the remaining time of our commitment in Sinazongwe - the program is currently scheduled to end in 2015. Join us in prayer as we seek a plan for being good partners in these last 4 years, rounding of the development in a way that ensures sustainability and glorifies God.

Next, the team begins its regimen of monthly preparation meetings, preparing them to hit the ground running by informing them about Zambia, AIDS, World Vision, and cross cultural issues.

The team is undergirded in prayer. There is a "SendTeam" of 10 prayer warriors, one assigned for each of the GoTeam members. In addition, the team members pray for another team member each week, rotating to another team member week-to-week. Finally, each team member has friends and family supporting them in prayer. You, too, can be an extended member of this team by offering your own prayers on their behalf. Thank you and - God bless you (Lesa akuleleke, in Tonga)!