At the end of 2009 we embarked on a campaign to bring electricity to the Village. The lack of electricity had stalled our ability to build more homes and was definitely getting in the way of the longer term plans for the Village. In 60 days, God provided through our generous donors the $380,000 needed to bring power to the Village.

A house at the Tree of Life with the lights on!

Last Saturday, we turned the power on at the Village! That night to celebrate we took all of the Ambassadors who came for Week 0 and baked brownies with all the kids who live at the Tree of Life. This was the first time they were able to use the stoves in their houses, because the solar panels were not powerful enough to use them. This was also the first time that many of the kids had even heard of brownies. They really loved mixing them, eating them and especially licking the bowl clean.

Licking the bowl clean was the highlight of the evening for the kids!

This really is a great accomplishment because it removes one of the final roadblocks before we can have Camp LIFE at the Summit. It allows us to open three more houses this year to another 40 orphans and the first phase of our school to all of the children at the Tree of Life. Thanks to all of you who donated and prayed that power would come to the Tree of Life. Although you can already see the benefits of the power in the milk mustaches on the kids, the tens of thousands of children who will attend Camp LIFE at the Summit is the ultimate goal!

This post was written by Mindy Rives, my wife.

When she got off of the bus on Tuesday morning at Camp LIFE, we knew we had to get her to the clinic quickly. Her mom and 14 month old baby brother were on the bus as well (it is not normal for parents and young siblings to come to camp, but now I know that God was at work here). I, along with 2 other Zambian Family Legacy employees, took Gertrude, her 24 year old mom, Dina, and her baby brother, Peter, to a partner of Family Legacy’s called Tiny Tim and Friends. They run a clinic that treats women and children free of charge.

If you have a spare moment today, please pray for the following…

1) That Gertrude would come to know the Lord this week at camp. This is her first time to come to Camp LIFE, so it will probably be her first time to hear the gospel.

2) That the JOY of the LORD will be her STRENGTH! Joy just happens to be the theme for camp this year. Pray that joy will consume her and bring her great hope.

3) That she, along with the rest of her family, will get to start ARV’s very soon. ARV is a treatment for HIV.

4) That Gertrude’s father’s heart would be softened by the spirit. Her father is in denial about their health….we found out that Dina was on ARV’s before, but he made her stop them because he didn’t want to deal with stigma that comes with AIDS. A couple of FLMI Zambian staff members visited the father last night and he agreed to get tested along with their middle child, which is a huge praise! Pray that he will follow through with his word and agree for his family to take the ARV’s.

Gertrude and I did some coloring while we were waiting at the clinic….she LOVED coloring!

A new friend we made while waiting. Grace loved coloring too!

Thanks for reading this lengthy post and for your prayers!

The weather here in Zambia has been so nice that the kids at the Tree of Life decided to move their desks outside and have class out there.