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Guest Blogger: Mason Beebe     Age: 15      105 days and counting. We have just passed the one hundred day mark and it already feels like we have been here for a very long time. We are on a wonderful adventure.          As you probably have heard Franklin and I recently spent about a week at one of the orphanages here, called Nyame Dua (Nah-may Dwa). If you prayed for us while we were there, we both greatly appreciate your willingness to do that. The trip actually went smoother than I expected. We painted three verses at various places around the home, simply proclaiming that the Lord has dominion over the people there, and no physical or spiritual being can do anything about this fact. I could feel the spiritual attacks during our stay. The home is right next to a Muslim home that plays an extremely loud prayer call every night and every morning. The prayer call is so evil sounding that Franklin and I called it the ‘hell song.’ It woke ...

The boys have started school, and they are facing new challenges daily.  One of the new classes for Mason this year is a Literature class taught by FTO volunteer, Katie Batchelor.  She is leading the 10th graders through Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan and the 7th and 8th graders are working through Robinson Crusoe .  Miss Batchelor doesn't leave time for dilly-dallying so Mason will complete the original version of Pilgrim's Progress within three weeks!  (What high school requires such rigorous reading of their students?  Miss Batchelor cracks the whip - Whoowee!  For anyone who has not attempted reading it in the Old English, it is not an easy read!  Miss Batchelor expects a lot of her students.  Oh my goodness!) One of Miss Batchelor's assignments for the students was for them to write a letter to one of the characters presenting the Gospel message to them.  The letter needed to address the weaknesses of the character on his/her journe...

2 Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith and not by sight..." It's one of my favorite verses of scripture.  Nine little words that carry great challenge. This verse hangs in the center of our Wall of Friends in our home.  We have a wall full of photos of friends and family sprinkled with scriptural truths.  These nine little words are the center focal point. "For we walk by faith and not by sight..." Our family is still trying to figure out how to do this.  It's not considered "normal."  It's contrary to "rational human thinking."  After all, where is the planning when you walk by faith? Recently, our family led the second Shining Stars day at a local orphanage.   Guess what our lesson was?   Yes, you guessed it. 2 Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith and not by sight..." Mason led us in some worship songs, then Reid taught the lesson. So that all the children would understand the verse, we blindfolded all of them and asked ...

My friend Mitzi serves in Zambia running a school for Lifesong.  Mitzi was an avid blogger before she and her family moved onto the mission field.  After arriving, her posts became less frequent but I stalked her blog continually hoping for a new post about life in Zambia.  Living in the States, I couldn't understand why she couldn't find time to write as often as before. But now, I'm beginning to understand. Finding time to write is an enormous factor here.  There are many reasons. We are on the "go" most of the time.  Additionally, our home is without power often causing a new challenge.  Our Internet credit rapidly decreases as we upload photos, and sometimes our server is down.  There always seems to be hurdles to jump in order to post something on our blog.  I am also realizing that honestly, sometimes it takes me several days (or weeks) to process into words what I am experiencing.  I think our entire family feels that way. This past ...

We are hoping to post soon, but until then you might enjoy reading about some of our adventures from the new FTO volunteers who arrived in country two weeks ago... http://www.jesusonofgod.blogspot.com/ Amanda, Diane, and Katie will be posting about their ministry as they are able!!

This past Sunday was not a typical Sunday for our family - not that there is a “typical” Sunday, but the idea that there might eventually be such a thing as a “typical” Sunday is a hopeful thought. I’m rambling already – not a good way to start this post. So we, with the O’Leary family, set out to visit an orphanage that had come to the attention of Feeding The Orphans . They had been told that this home is in desperate need of help and could we please check it out. It was an adventure from the moment we set out. We were told that the home is in Dodowa – a town neither our family nor the O’Leary’s had been to. We were told the name of the home and of the lady who runs it but we didn’t have a phone number or any description of where in the town the home is located. When we arrived in Dodowa we prayed for guidance and began to ask people on the street if they new of this particular home or any orphanage in the town. We were met with puzzled faces and told we needed to look in the next to...