Back for 3 weeks!

We have been back here in Zambia for three weeks today! It is great to be back, but it has taken some time to get back into the swing of things. Our bodies have adjusted back to the time zone but are still getting used to the different food and water!!! The weather has been beautiful and sunny and we are enjoying the 80 degrees winter weather!!

We are in the process of moving into a new home and we are excited to be finally done with packing and unpacking that we have done since December! We are only moving across town about 15min but we will be closer to teammates and have more room for our family.

We have been so blessed to see our Zambian friends here and get reconnected with them. We attended Great Commission Baptist Church this past Sunday for their 2 year celebration service. This is the church that we have worked with very closely over the last year and a half or so. We loved seeing all the familiar faces and were so encouraged.

Not only has the church grown but there are now two discipleship groups that are up and going since we left in December. They have also started an AWANA children's program! This is an answer to prayer to see this small congregation understanding what it is to further God's kingdom and equipping the new and growing believers there. Praise God. Luke and teammate Brent Roberts will continue to encourage the leaders and train them further over the next couple of years. Kerri (Brent's wife)and I had the opportunity to sing with our 5 kids on Sunday morning. It was so fun to share in the thanksgiving service and we are so thankful for all that God has done and will continue to do these next couple of years. We look forward to partnering with other churches and seeing what God has in store!

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and encouragement. Being back in Zambia really feels great and we really feel we belong here. Of course there are more rats, bugs, and daily challenges, but we are so grateful to be back!

Back In Zambia!

Dear Friends and Family

Wanted to touch base and give you a brief look at how our first week back in Zambia has been. We have felt so blessed to have such a wonderful team and many Zambian friends who have made our adjustment a bit more endurable. Life here in Lusaka has been just as we left it some months ago and we have already had many laughs and some tears during this past week.

Let start with the trying aspects of our return (not complaining just sharing):

--Getting over the loss of our laptop and all our files (we think it was stolen from the plane in London)
--Found out that the repairs to our vehicle were not completed per our agreement with the local garage (surprise, surprise)
--Found that we have inherited a family of rats and also some cockroaches who have made our vehicle their home during our absence
--Had to deal without hot water for some time as our water heater broke shortly after our arrival

Now let me share the blessings:

--Seeing all the bright smiles of those Zambians who have missed us dearly during our furlough
--The kids being re-united with their dog spud
--Receiving a roster as a welcoming present from our dear friend Pastor Chipaya
--The wonderful smell of diesel everywhere you go
--Getting back into ministry little by little

The bottom line is that while our return may have not been picture perfect or full of convenience it has been a vehicle to remind us where our peace and comfort truly come from.

Sorry this is so short (this is Luke writing) but I promise to get Elise to the Internet cafe in the near future so you can have a much more detail report. We love each of you dearly and so appreciate the sacrifice you make to partner with in prayer and support. You are such as blessing and an essential part of what we do every day for the Kingdom of God here in Zambia.

God bless and PRESS ON & INTO HIM

His Servants

The Whitfields <><

May Update

Hello Friends,

What a whirlwind these months have been!! We praise God for a great time back in the states. As we count down to our departure (May 16th) we are so grateful for all the relationships that we have and for all the love we have felt during our visit home. Thanks for all your encouragement and support for us. We feel reconnected and refreshed and ready to take on another two years in Zambia!

We have been able to share with so many families, churches, schools, children's classes and Bible studies and have been so blessed and stretched in each situation. Our media presentation had it's fair share of difficulties and the kids were quite a challenge at times, the traveling was not always ideal and we have gained some weight due to all the fast food.......but what an amazing time to share pictures, stories, and songs and share about what God is doing in Zambia.

We have made wonderful memories with our families in Sycamore and Dallas these past months and will hold onto them and all our pictures over our next two year term. We hope these good memories will outweigh all the health issues we have had since our return!! We started in February with having to kill a family parasite that had infested each one of us during a swim in Lake Malawi six months previously. The medicine was effective, thank goodness and killed the increasing hatching eggs in our systems. Also in April, Luke spent 5 days in the hospital with a bad case of strep throat and pnemonia. Strep being very contagious, made its way through our whole household including Luke's parents and brother. You can imagine all the medicine we had to keep track of!!! A family member jokingly said, " I think your angels are on vacation now that you are back from Zambia!!!" We are doing well now and just enjoying these last couple weeks together! We would appreciate all your continued prayers for great health, especially for Luke!

The kids have enjoyed their time in America and now are looking forward to getting back to their other home! It's been so neat to watch them and see how brave they have been in new/different situations. They have gotten their fair share of McDonalds and most of all loved being with family and friends. They also love seeing their cat Gus and being able to pick up the duties of taking care of him. They are very excited to see our dog Spud in Zambia and catch up with their friends.

The Zambians have touched our hearts and lives forever. We hope through our contact with each of you, that their faces and needs touch your heart too. May you remember all the faces of the starving street kids and say a prayer for them around your dinner table. As you tuck your kids in bed please think of all the little orphans that don't have a parent to kiss their cheeks. May you look for the opportunities to welcome people in your home and remember our dear friend Joyce who did't have a roof to cover her six children. We in America are so blessed so please use these blessings to love on your neighbor, whatever that may look like!

Thank you all for partnering with us for another two year term in Zambia. We are looking forward to returning to our teammates, friends, our home and of course to our dog Spud. We will continue to keep you updated and tell you all about our adventures good and bad!! Thank you for all your love and support. We are so blessed to have families like you behind us! Please stay in touch through e-mail or through our blog.
God bless,
Luke and Elise
Macie, Emma, Payton, and Tazi Whitfield

Whitfield Furlough Itinerary

Dear Friends

We write to you from frigid Chicago where we were greeted with snow as we arrive on November 30^th from Zambia. Everyone in the family traveled well, especially Tazi, who seemed even more like an angel compared to the baby sitting next to her who cried almost the entire way across the Atlantic (wow!). We have enjoyed these past two weeks as we have reconnected with family and friend we have not seen in such a long time.

We wanted to take a moment and remind all of you (before the Holidays consume you all) of our schedule while in the States. It is our intent and desire to meet and share with as many of you who might be interest in hearing about what God is doing through our partnership in Zambia. We have included our itinerary below:

· We currently are in the Chicagoland area until the 27^th of December when we will be flying down to spend time with Elise's family in Dallas.

· We will be in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area from the end of December 08 through the first week in February 09.

· We will be arriving in the Seattle area, for a week, on February 10^th and be returning to Chicago February 16^th

· We will remain in Chicago from February 16^th through April 10^th at which time we will be returning to Zambia, Lord willing, for another two year term

So there you have it, we have plenty of slots available and hope that many of you will take us up on our desire to meet with you. There is much to share and we can hardly wait to hear what God has been doing in your lives as well. If you are interested in getting a hold of either Elise or Luke while they are back you can reach them on their cell phone at: 815.901.3284 or simply shoot them an email at either: whitfieldelise@hotmail.com or whitfield.luke@gmail.com. Remember to also visit our blogspot at: www.whitfieldwateringhole.blogspot.com or www.actionzambia.org for pics and updates.

We will keep you informed of any changes to our itinerary and we thank you in advance for your continued prayers and support. God is good always and we look forward to what He has purpose for us in the future. God bless and keep you this holiday season and remember He is the reason for the season! PRESS ON & INTO HIM and know you are loved!!!

October Update

Dear Friends

Just a quick update on what has been going on in the life of the Whitfield family. The rains have finally come (first rains in about 5 months) and the temperature seems to be subsiding just a bit. With the rains comes the return of the beautiful green blanket that covers this semi-tropical area. We have also begun to finalize all the details surrounding our departure to the States and find ourselves very busy in the process. Elise and the kids continue their schooling and despite days of no motivation, they have continued to learn together quite well. Tazi is just about crawling now and really surprised us the other day when she pulled herself up on her walker (here we go).

Recently, Action Zambia held some meetings as a team to discuss the future vision for our ministry. As some of you may know already, we said goodbye to the Ripley family in October, who felt God calling them home after six years of ministry here in Zambia. They were the original pioneer family in Zambia and their contribution and cultural knowledge will be a huge loss as an asset to this team. With the Ripley’s departure the team felt is it was necessary to regroup and talk about what God may have for Action Zambia with the individuals He has assembled here in Zambia. As a team we continue to hold fast to our main purpose here in Zambia which is the strengthening and building up of the local church through: Theological training for pastors, cell groups, mentoring, evangelism, community schools, HIV/AIDS awareness programs, mercy ministries, and many other activities. We want to do all these things in a manner that does not create a dependency on financial donations with the churches we are working with. Above all we want to continue to proclaim the name of Jesus to the lost here in Zambia. During our furlough we look forward to sharing with you all the many opportunities God has placed before Action Zambia for the next few years.

Work continues with Great Commission Baptist Church in the area of evangelism and discipleship. Our hospital visitation ministry is always a time of great fellowship together and we always leave feeling refreshed but drained (if that is possible). At times visiting with patients is difficult due to the nature of their illness or injury and a sometimes not so accommodating medical staff (they are underpaid). It has been especially heart breaking to work in the Pediatric Malnourishment Ward. As a father, I could not imagine losing my child to starvation or simply because they had a bad case of diarrhea, but many parents here lose children to these types of illnesses everyday. Most times, when visiting the hospital wards, we are the ones offering hope and motivation, but on our latest trip we were inspired by the example of a young man named Samuel. Samuel, was on his way to South Africa when the bus he was travelling in (similar to a Grey Hound bus) was involved in an accident killing almost all the 60 people on board. Samuel, whose left arm was amputated because of the injuries suffered in the accident, told us that He was praising the Lord that he was alive and knew God spared his life for a reason. What an example of …….rejoicing in the Lord always. We prayed with James and encouraged Him to stand on the promises of God and share the hope he has in Christ, despite his injuries, with those he encounters. I wish I could have shared a picture of the smile on this young man’s face, but taking pictures in the hospital is kind of touchy. So many of the patients are just pleased to have someone, they don’t know, take the time to care about their pain and share the hope that exist in Christ despite their circumstance. I have included pictures of some of the Hospital Visitation participants from Great Commission Baptist Church. Included are pictures of Alex (an elder at Great Commission Baptist Church) and Rachel (a good friend of the family who is involved in the praise and worship at Great Commission) also one of Alex and myself in front of UTH hospital.

Again we just wanted to share with you the blessings God is using your partnership to achieve in the lives of those we serve here in Zambia. Remember we are going to be back in the States beginning Dec 08 until April 09. We still have not filled our speaking calendar and would love to share with each of you personally, in a small group, Sunday school, or even a church service on what God is doing in the hearts of the Zambian peoples. Get in touch with us by calling the numbers listed below for our stays in Chicago and Dallas. We are so grateful for you continued support and prayers. Remember we could do none of this without your help. God bless and keep you until we meet again.

His Servants

Luke (for the Whitfield fam)

Chicago: < Dec 5^th- 20^th / Feb 15^th – April 5^th >

Dallas: < December 28^th – February 10^th >

Zambia Update

Just a quick update to keep you all current with what is going on over here in Lusaka with the Whitfield family. Things are going well and we continue to see God opening doors for new opportunities in ministry. Luke continues to go and do hospital visitations with members from local churches here. A couple of weeks ago he had the privilege of serving a young boy name Enzo and his family. Enzo’s family are Tonga people and come from an extremely remote and rural area in Southeastern Zambia. Enzo, who is five years old, has a very noticeable heart murmur (you can hear it when you are standing close to him) and has not received any medical treatment for his condition until recently. He was seen by a cardiologist but unfortunately there was no diagnosis or prescription given for his treatment (medical care here can be such a joke). Because of this large hole in his heart, Enzo is mostly lethargic and does not exhibit the normal energy level of a five year old. We prayed with Enzo and his uncle for the complete healing of his heart condition and were amazed when we came back the next day to find him running around the ward. He still has the murmur, but we continue to believe that God will, bit by bit, heal this little boy’s condition so that he may sing of the goodness of our God forever. Would you join us in asking the Lord for Enzo’s complete healing!

Luke will also be going, tomorrow, to visit with the head chaplain of prisons here in Zambia. This could be a huge opportunity and we would ask that you would continue to pray that God would give AZ favor with this gentleman tomorrow. Luke also had the opportunity this past week to preach at the church of our good friend Rev. Colins Chipaya (this is the third week in a row that Luke has preached and he stated that he has a new found respect for all you pastors who do this full-time!!).

On a completely separate note we find the seasons changing and the heat beginning to rise. With the increase in temperature comes the increase of bugs (mostly cockroaches). We have included some pics, for your viewing pleasure, which were taken outside in our septic tank. The sighting of these fine specimens means that inevitably we will be seeing these beauties in our house real soon!

Finally, for those of you keeping up on the development of Tazi she has finally reached the point where the supplementation of food is require for here appeasement. We have started to test out different variety of foods, as she seems to be our most picky eater to date (pray for us, hah!). She also cut here first tooth so Elise is really looking forward to nursing now!

Thanks again for all your continued support and prayers. Don't forget to visit our blog: www.whitfieldwateringhole.blogspot.com wher you can find more pictures and all of our updates. We would not be able to accomplish what God has called us to do without your partnership. May God bless each one of you and remember to PRESS ON & INTO HIM!!!

His Servants

The Whitfields <><

New Opportunitis for Ministry

Dear Friends

Greetings from increasingly hot Lusaka, Zambia. I (Luke) wanted to write a quick note and let you know the latest on new ministry opportunities and development with us. As Elise has mentioned in a previous update we have been investigating ways to “mobilize” the churches we are working with. We have realized, during our two years here, that there is much knowledge transfer going on in churches but very little mobilization of the congregation. While knowledge and study of God’s Word is essential, if that knowledge cannot be transferred into practical actions are we really helping the Zambian we came to serve? It to this end that we have been intent on developing outlet ministries that allow different congregation to see the power that exists when we take the knowledge of the Word of God to the streets. This has mainly been in the areas of door to door and open air evangelism, as well as hospital visitation.

The past two weeks I have gone over to the main hospital here in Lusaka, UTH, and spent time visiting with various patients. I always take a member from a local church with me because of the language barrier and most importantly because we are hoping they will catch the vision for themselves. Yesterday, 25/08, we went to the pediatrics ward and all I can say is that I left broken hearted. So many little ones with tubes stuck all over their bodies and anxious mother with looks of desperation covering their faces. We went to visit a little 8 year old boy named Enzo. This little guy has a significant hole in his heart which means you can literally hear his heart murmur without a stethoscope. With or without treatment the diagnosis is that Enzo will probably die in the next year but the hope is that treatment might prolong the inevitable. We went to love on little Enzo and pray a pray for healing in faith, what a privilege to serve this little one in this manner. While there we also meet a little girl name Musonda who, just like Enzo, also had a heart condition as well as problems with her lungs. As we prayed for her she labored heavily to take each new breath in, but when we finished she rewarded us with a big smile. Her mother, a Jehovah’s witness, was reluctant at first to let us pray for her but finally agreed. After we had finished we noticed that all the other patients in the ward has gotten up and left the room we were in. We took this a clear rejection of our prayers and proceed to leave the ward. As we enter the hall, Musonda’s mother came running after us and frantically explained that she was concerned that we had only prayed for her daughter, what? As I asked the Zambians who had come with me to explain what she was so concerned about, they told me that there is still much superstition towards whites (we are sometimes thought to be Satanists) and she believed bad things would happen to her daughter if we only prayed for her. We assured her that we had just prayed for a little boy in the next ward named Enzo but she would not be satisfied until she asked him for herself. These are the little ways satan has bound these people in fear and keeps them from receiving the healing message of Jesus Christ. Continue to pray that the name of Jesus would break down these spiritual barriers and that He would continue to equip us to do battle for His name sake.

We are also still organizing a meeting with the head of all prisons here in Zambian with the hope that we will be granted permission to begin work in the prison system here in the country (amazing opportunities for ministry). I continue to help lead, with my good friend Brent Roberts, a small group ministry with Great Commission Baptist Church. We are excited as we have identified two future leaders in the group and are hoping they will partner together to start a new small group within the church. This is such an answer to prayer as our mission, from the beginning of our small group ministry, has been to see replication happen (praise God). We also began work a couple of weeks ago on creating a curriculum for evangelism that will be piloted at Evangel Baptist Church, which is the church we are currently attending. I have begun a five week program on evangelism with the men’s group each Saturday morning a 7:30 and I am excited at the evident eagerness to see a heart for evangelism fostered at this church. Please pray as the long term vision for this program will be to implement it into all levels of the church—leadership, men’s/women’s ministry, youth programs, AWANA, small group, etc. Elise and I feel that this type of training and educating is why God has called us to Zambia. Also, as you continue to pray for us you might be interested to know that last Tuesday 08/19 the president of Zambia passed away in Paris, France. This has been such an interesting time as the government has decreed that there will be 21 days of national mourning which will end with his burial on my birthday September 3^rd. Things remain very stable here but the implementation of the new government would prove to be troublesome. I am sure that violence will be avoided at all costs but as we have seen in other instances bathing these types of situations in prayer is essential. Pray that Zambia would continue to remain a beacon of stability in a somewhat unstable region and that the Christian heritage they claim would continue to be the cornerstone on which this great country rests. FYI—please check out our blog at: www.whitfieldwateringhole.blogspot.com as we have added some new feature that will allow you to give online and also sign up for email updates ever time a new entry is posted. Thanks again for your continued support and prayers. We are so appreciative of your partnership.

His Servant

Luke <><