This is the time of year when many of us are packing (and repacking) our bags, planning our trip, and tending to a thousand other details as we prepare for our precious time in Zambia.  As the time draws near for us to depart, the excitement builds in anticipation of being at camp and spending time with the children.  But as excited as we are about going to Camp LIFE, we also love to see the excitement catch on with those individuals who are not even GOING on the trip and have not even HEARD of our work in Zambia.

A few weeks ago Holly and I had the opportunity to speak about sharing Jesus’ love for ALL the children of the world at the chapel service at Poetry Community Christian School (PCCS) in Poetry, Texas.  After the presentation, the students and teachers asked if THEY could do something to be a part of this mission.  Something tangible, something fun, something like . . . SOCKS!

The Knight Family and trashbags full of SOCKS!

New socks are a big need for our ministry this year as we plan to distribute tens of thousands of new shoes to orphans and vulnerable children both at our camp in Lusaka and throughout the rest of Zambia through our remote camps.  In order to give each child a new pair of socks along with their shoes, we are asking all of our 2009 Camp LIFE Ambassadors to bring at least one dozen pair of socks with them to camp.  Upon hearing about this project, the students at PCCS decided they would help too!

The school challenged the students to see how many pair they could collect.  The students had all week to bring them to school and at the end of the week, the socks were tallied and the students were able to SOCK IT to the principal.  Mrs. Anne J. Horan, Administrator, was a good sport while the students pummeled her with 979 pairs of socks.  It did not take long for her to be completely buried under the pile of donated items.  The students participating in the sock drive earned the privilege of wearing crazy socks in honor of the lives that will be touched this summer thanks to donations made by even the smallest of folks.  Through their efforts nearly 1000 orphans will receive a new pair of socks this year.  Way to go students!   Thank you for your contributions and support!

Recently we blogged about Samantha Morrow, the UTA women’s basketball coach who went Barefoot for a Cause to collect new shoes and raise awareness for Zambian orphans.  The Barefoot for a Cause campaign was developed by Samaritan’s Feet, an organization whose mission is to share the gospel and distribute new athletic shoes to children in need around the world.  Samaritan’s Feet has been prayerfully seeking like-minded partners to help get the shoes to the children who need them.  By “chance”, we were recently connected with this organization and began talking with them about sending shoes to Zambia.  By God’s grace and the generosity of this organization, we are slated to receive 50,000 pair of shoes from Samaritan’s Feet in 2009!  We have already received nearly half  of these shoes (to go on the feet of our Camp LIFE children this summer) and will receive the other half later in the year.

At Camp LIFE 2008, the theme for the week was “The Lord is My Shepherd”.  In the 23rd Psalm, David praises the Lord for being his Shepherd and exclaims that his “cup overflows” because of the Lord’s goodness in his life.  At Family Legacy Missions we are consistently amazed at how God works above and beyond our expectations to provide for the needs of His children.  We are in awe of what a great and mighty God we serve . . .  and our cup overflows!

Three 40-foot ocean containers are loaded with supplies for Camp LIFE, the Tree of Life Children’s Village, and the Father’s Heart program and are headed to Zambia!  The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of planning, purchasing, packing, and PRAYING!  T-shirts, backpacks, Bibles, chairs, and peanut butter (and lots and lots of shoes!) are just a sampling of the items that will arrive in Lusaka in several weeks.  These items will gear us up for camp, outfit the homes at the Children’s Village, provide necessary resources for our Community Resource Centers, and equip our Zambian staff to expand their on-the-ground ministry in the coming months.

One huge blessing this year is that we are now able to provide shoes to all the children in our remote camps – children who have never before received a new pair of shoes at Camp LIFE. Paul Mulenga, our Remote Expansion Ministry Department Coordinator, has prayed for and sought this opportunity for years.  Thanks to a generous donation from one of our long-time partners, this prayer has been answered.  This milestone was made possible by a gift of approximately 10,000 pair of shoes through Buckner International’s Shoes for Orphan Souls program.  In addition to the shoes, Buckner also provided space at their Center for Humanitarian Aid to prepare and store our items for shipping.  Furthermore, they offered the assistance of their staff and volunteers to help process and pack the items so that they could be shipped in a timely manner.  We are grateful to Buckner both for the shoes and for the services they have provided in making these container shipments possible.

We are planning to load a fourth container in the next several days which should be our final container for this round.  Please pray that these containers make it smoothly (and quickly!) over land and sea to their destination so that the contents can be put to good use - serving the orphans of Zambia with tangible, meaningful expressions of Christ’s love.