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I wrote before and asked you to pray for me as I am learning to drive to our schools in the compounds of the city. On Friday I made it to 8 of our schools that are each located in a different compound of Lusaka!!! My friend (who moved here the same day I did) and I only got lost going to a couple of them where we ended up driving back and forth through some markets that were not where we were supposed to be. I'm pretty proud of us though for finding all the schools . . . and thankful for your prayers for guidance and protection! There's no way to truly show or explain what it's like to drive here, but I'll give you a glimpse of how we get to work some days. Lusaka is about 140 square miles. Sometimes I work in the Family Legacy office located on one of the main roads and sometimes I go to one or more of the 16 schools scattered throughout the compounds of the city. In the heart of the city there are major roads connected by roundabouts, but to get to most of our schools the roads are unmarked and there are a variety of turns that you just have to know by landmarks. The unmarked roads remind me of when I was learning to drive in Japan except not all the roads are paved and the drivers here are a bit more aggressive. We drive on the left side of the street here which for those who don't know means you also drive on the other side of the car and your turn signal/windshield wipers are on the opposite sides of the steering wheel. Here are a couple pictures from the drive to one of our schools. It was a rainy day on Friday which makes driving in the compounds a little trickier because of slick muddy roads and standing water. These pictures don't do justice to the true conditions of the muddy road we take to this particular school. There are many potholes and ruts to navigate around and drive across. Then we might have to drive through something like this. How do you know where to drive to get across all the standing water? You can wait for another car to pass through . . . if they make it, then drive where they did. If there aren't any other cars around look for tire tracks and go that way. That worked for us this time. We made it to the other side without getting stuck. Yea! After a few more sharp turns around buildings and cinder block walls, we made it to this LCA. Ready for more adventures in Zambia and lots of good things to come! How You Can Help
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“Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible.” -Corrie ten Boom My first morning in Zambia I woke up incredibly early. I opened my Bible and began reading the story of Esther. In chapter 2 it says "Mordecai had reared his cousin Hadassah, otherwise known as Esther, since she had no father or mother." Esther was blessed with a cousin who cared for her. Eventually Esther was among the young women who was chosen by the king to come to the palace, and through Mordecai's guidance and encouragement Esther not only became queen but pursued the opportunity to be used by God to save her people. Every time I enter one of our schools and greet a class or observe a lesson I wonder, "How many Esthers are sitting in this room?" The students at the Lifeway Christian Academies are orphaned and vulnerable children living in the compounds of Lusaka. Although they do not have ideal home situations, these kids have sponsors and loving teachers who care for and nurture them. Last week I observed a grade 3 class, and the teacher was handing out stickers to students as they participated in class. She handed one of the girls a butterfly sticker and said, "Here is a butterfly sticker. Today you are spreading your wings and soon you will fly. One day you may be a teacher or a doctor or the president!" Then the teacher had the class give the girl a clap for the wonderful things she could become. The girl's smile lit up the room. I'm so thankful to work with teachers like this one who believe in our students. I love knowing the possibilities God has for these children are not limited by how their lives began, just like He had an unbelievable plan for Esther. Please pray for our students as they walk through the gates of our schools every day-- that they will learn and be nurtured and be prepared for the future their Heavenly Father has put in front of them. When the next school year begins in January we will have an additional 3000 students attending our schools. I am so excited we'll be able to serve even more children. Please pray for the Family Legacy education office as we seek to hire enough qualified, loving teachers to fill all the open positions this creates. "Make us worthy, Lord,
to serve You and all the world's people who live and die in loneliness, hunger, poverty, and sickness. Give them through our hands this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give them peace and joy. Amen." -Norman Shawchuck and Reuben P. Job, "A Guide to Prayer for All God's People" Time to catch up! So much has happened in such a short amount of time! After travelling for nearly 2 days and spending a couple hours waiting at immigration in the Lusaka airport I started my new life in Zambia. Can't believe it's been over a week and a half already. I've been busy settling in, meeting new people, visiting schools, learning the Zambian way of driving, trying to figure out what street goes where, and just being amazed that I get to do this! Here are some highlights of my experiences so far. Fun Day Friday in the COntainers I spent my first Friday morning here working in the containers. The Lifeway Christian Academies have been blessed with textbook donations from people and organizations in the States. They arrive on shipping containers then have to be sorted and organized for distribution to each of our 17 schools. It is a huge task! It is a hot task! It is a dirty task! . . . but there is something I love about the containers. This week was not my first time doing container work in Zambia. Last summer I spent a couple of my days here doing the same thing, and afterward I was working at one of the schools the day the truck pulled in with the textbooks we had organized. It brought me so much joy to see how excited the kids were! (check out the video) When I walked outside the school, bunches of the students had already run to the truck when it stopped and just began grabbing boxes to carry inside. It was really fun to watch them. When was the last time I handed out textbooks and my students were THAT excited about it??? Maybe never. As I've visited the schools this week it makes me so happy to see the books in the students' hands as they learn to read. We are striving to provide our teachers and students with the resources and training they need to have the quality education they deserve. Container Video from Alicia on Vimeo. School Visits This week I've been able to visit several of the LCAs, meet the teachers, and observe lessons. The schools are located in compounds throughout Lusaka. The city is not built on a grid, and I feel completely lost 98% of the time as we drive from school to school!! Soon I will be driving on my own and let me tell you that I am envisioning myself in the near future sitting in my car in the middle of some compound at a complete loss as to which direction to drive (and there will likely be tears)! You all need to pray for me and my directionally challenged brain!!! As I traveled this week with Audrey, one of Family Legacy's Deputy Superintendents of Schools, I have loved observing the great things teachers and students are doing and getting a better understanding of the challenges they face. Please remember to pray for our teachers and students as they finish out this school year in the next few weeks. Also pray for us in the education office as we make preparations for the new school year that begins in January. LCA Student Highlights This week I had the opportunity to sit down with one of our head teachers and a few of our students in his school to talk about their experiences in our Lifeway Christian Academy there. The kids were so cute and this is what a few of them had to say: Grade 1 student He said math is his favorite subject where he learns "1,2,3,4,5,6." He said that his teacher explains things well and he can understand her. He told us that his mother has gone to heaven and his father died so he lives with his grandparents and many relatives. Before he was sponsored and started school he would spend his days just playing. He said he likes to come to school at the LCA because when he grows up he wants to have a business. He wants to build blocks because he thinks that will be a good construction business. He also explained that if he comes to school he can learn to count money. :) Grade 2 student She said she started school in the village but moved here. Now she is able to attend school. Her favorite part of school is learning about loving others. When asked about how her life has changed since coming to the LCA she said at home she would just go around and around but now she comes to school and concentrates. Grade 5 student When we went to one of the schools this story and thank you to Family Legacy written by one of the students was on display in the foyer. So that you know, K20,000 is about $4. There are 3 terms of school each year. I love being part of an organization and ministry that touches the lives of children like these! It doesn't feel like work; it's just loving people! Did you miss my October Newsletter? Find out what led me to move to Zambia and how you can participate in this ministry by clicking on the image below. Please send me a message if you would like to have your address added to my mailing list to have future newsletters mailed to you.
The biggest hugs you've ever felt. Eyes glimmering with hope. You can't help but smile when they smile, and anyone who walks through the gates to a Lifeway Christian Academy in Zambia will never quite be the same when they leave. They are places where lives are transformed. For 2 weeks I worked at the school, surrounded by a "wall fence." Outside the wall-- poverty, neglect, despair, hunger, disease, fear of the future. But inside those walls a whole different story develops. It's a story of redemption and hope. There's safety within those walls. Basic human needs are met there. Learning and opportunity are provided. It's a place where big dreams can begin to form. It's a place where love is the theme of the story and it is going to make all the difference for the children who are blessed to enter through the gate. Within the walls of this school a miracle is happening-- hope and faith are meeting action and service. As a result the people outside the walls of this school are going to see a community and nation transformed! I'm so thankful I got to participate in what happens inside that gate! "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 In just a few short months I'll be packing my bags and getting ready to board a plane to Zambia. I can't wait! I'm looking forward to visiting the school I worked at last year and working with a new teacher and class this summer. Please pray for me as I continue to prepare for this ministry, raise funds for the trip, and gather supplies. Please also pray for the other volunteer teachers, the Zambian teachers, and the students whose lives are touched and changed for the better every day by Family Legacy and the LCA schools. Want to see what this trip is about? Check out the video below. They shot part of this video last summer while I was there so I'm in it a couple times :) Willing to help financially support my Teach ONE trip? My trip has to be completely paid for by the beginning of April. I would appreciate your financial support. You can make a tax deductible donation at http://donate.familylegacy.com/aliciahilton or send a check to Family Legacy Missions International, 5005 W. Royal Lane Suite 252, Irving, TX 75063 and include "Alicia" and "Teach ONE Trip 2013" on the memo. Zambia Teach ONE 2012 from Alicia Hilton on Vimeo. Interested in getting involved? Find out more about Family Legacy child sponsorship through Father's Heart or the Teach ONE summer trips by clicking on the links. There are also summer camp opportunities. I would love to take all my friends with me! There's something everyone can do!
I was asked to present at the PDK luncheon in Tokyo this weekend. I wish I could have gone there to eat at my favorite restaurants, to catch up with friends who live there, but mostly to share with this professional education organization my love for the sweet Zambian children and amazing teachers I worked with last summer in Lusaka. Even though I couldn't be there in person I'm so thankful the PDK board worked with me to find different ways to present my story during their luncheon. I love teachers and their compassionate hearts. I am grateful for the opportunity to invite others to come along on this journey to places where suffering is acute and to support the hope that every child everywhere will be given the chance to receive a quality education and experience the love of Christ.
It's been a year since a tragedy changed the life of someone I don't know. A year since God used it to wake me up from a spiritual slumber. It's been a year that has moved me. It has renewed my faith. It has reminded me of what is most important. I am thankful for this past year. God used Nicolle, someone I have never met and has no idea the impact her story had on me, to capture my attention and remind me that there's a bigger life to live. Her story is moving. It's emotional. It's powerful-- the kind of power that comes when people commit to doing "anything" for God and to loving His people no matter the circumstances. (You can read her story here in The Columbus Dispatch.) A year ago, like most days, I was browsing status updates on Facebook when I read something and stopped scrolling down the screen. I was reading an urgent message about Nicolle's husband Dave in their sister-in-law's newsfeed. For some reason I couldn't just glance over it or ignore the words I read. It had been a long time-- I don't know how long but definitely too long-- since I had fervently and persistently prayed for anything that wasn't at least a little self-involved. I had become spiritually numb to the world and people around me, but the day I read that post I was compelled to pray-- not a quick prayer before moving on to the next thought or next event of the day-- I was held to my knees in prayer about this status update and the ones to follow, and each of them was more heart-wrenching than the last. As the story unfolded for me one Facebook post at a time, I prayed and believed and praised for people who would give their all, their anythings-- perhaps even their lives, to love and care for people who were in need. I poured out my heart for them, and God did something unexpected-- He moved in me. One day I walked up the stairs in my house praying for Nicolle and Dave when I felt God impressing on me that it was time for me to go. That was it. Seemingly out of context. No clarity on what it meant. Just a feeling that I had been idle too long and had somewhere I needed to go. I had no idea where I would be going, but I was aware for the first time in a long time that I was being called to do something. A few weeks later my sister, who didn't know anything about what I had experienced, sent me a message that Family Legacy was looking for teachers to go to Lusaka, Zambia. Before I knew it I was signing up to be a summer teacher mentor for schools where orphaned and vulnerable children in Zambia are given an education and hope. I would have never thought that my prayers for Nicolle and her family would be used by God to revive me and lead me to a classroom 10,000 miles away. Those weeks in Zambia last summer were a blessing beyond measure, and I can't wait to go back! When I started praying that day a year ago I had no idea what God was about to do. For a long time I had been asleep spiritually, and it felt like such a large chasm had developed between God and me. I needed a way to connect again that felt real. I'm so thankful God uses people to display His love for us. God connected me to Nicolle's story and used it to turn my focus back onto a Savior who takes our "anythings" and turns them into something for His glory, into something to get excited about. Nicolle co-founded a ministry for orphans and widows in Haiti. To read more about the work that is happening there or to make a donation to the organization click on this link to Eyes Wide Open Int'l.
Imagine the most lovable, adorable kids you know. Now imagine that they don't have enough food to eat, maybe they haven't bathed and don't have even one decent pair of shoes to wear. Imagine that they don't have a bed to sleep on tonight or any night. Imagine that they can't go to school. They're 8, 12, or 17 years old and still haven't learned to read. Imagine that they become orphaned, and the children must live with relatives, neighbors, or anyone else who will take them in. What kind of life would those lovable, adorable kids have now? Can you even imagine it? I don't have to imagine it. I've seen children with stories like these with my own eyes. I've been to their neighborhoods. I've spent time with them. I've talked with these amazing kids, laughed with them, cried with them, and prayed with them. I love them. I would do anything for them. It's so easy though to get distracted, and it's hard to remember on a day-to-day basis that children on the other side of the world suffer as I go about living my busy but very comfortable life. I never want to forget it is our responsibility to take up the cause of the hurting, the orphaned , the forgotten, the vulnerable people of the world. They are sons & daughters, brothers & sisters, moms & dads, friends & neighbors, and lovable & adorable children who need compassion and love in the midst of the most dire circumstances-- circumstances that most of us can't even imagine.
"And He says to ordinary people like me and you that instead of closing our eyes and bowing our heads, sometimes God wants us to keep our eyes open for people in need, do something about it, and bow our whole lives to Him instead." ~Bob Goff, Love Does Kabanana LCA 7th Grade, July 2012 We are called to pray, to give, and to go. In July I will be returning to Lusaka, Zambia as a teacher mentor at a Family Legacy Lifeway Christian Academy (LCA) where children who live in the slum compounds are given hope and an education. I can't wait to spend two weeks with a class and teacher there this summer. It is amazing the transformation that can be made even in such a short amount of time at a school where teachers and students want more than anything to learn and grow. I'm counting down the days because I believe God is going to do amazing things in the country of Zambia through these teachers and students! I would love your support and involvement for Teach ONE 2013! Your prayers for me, the other teacher volunteers, the Zambian teachers, and especially the children who will be impacted through this teacher mentor program will be eternally appreciated. If you would like to help financially support my mission trip, you can make a tax deductible donation by clicking on the link or typing http://donate.familylegacy.com/aliciahilton in your web browser (type my name in the comments box) or you can send a check with TeachONE/Alicia Hilton on the memo line to Family Legacy Missions International, 5005 West Royal Lane, Suite 252, Irving, TX 75063. If you're a teacher who would be interested in participating in Teach ONE find out more by clicking on the link. I have a shelf in one of my closets filled with books that I've bought but haven't gotten around to reading yet. I love to wander the aisles of a bookstore just picking up books to see what they're about, and before I know it I'm buying one. I love to read! Books can entertain you, can teach you, can inspire and move you. Books are powerful. Even my middle school students like to sit and listen to me read them a novel or a picture book-- everyone loves a good story.
The books are about God's love and acceptance of us just the way we are and would start something like this, "Once upon a time in a village much like this one . . . " and I would start tearing up just about then and had to fight back my emotions all the way to the end of the book. I hoped with every word that the students would get the message-- that they would know how much God loves them. In one of the books, Best of All, the main character is questioning why he is made from a willow tree and others are made from different types of woods. He goes to the Carpenter who tells the boy that he doesn't make mistakes and he loves each of his creations just the way he made them. After finishing the story I asked the class what the story means. The older boys in the class were quick to answer, "God loves us," and "God makes each one of us special." Then one of the younger boys raised his hand and said, "Alicia, it means that even though I am black and you are white God loves me just as much as He loves you." His response cut through my heart. The weight of his realization felt heavy. "Yes, Samson, God loves all of us just the same." Books are powerful. In America books are available. We go to book stores and fill our shelves. We download them into electronic devices. We go to libraries in our towns and schools to borrow them. We share them with friends and even buy version of them for babies who can't even read yet. We are surrounded by books! Books are such an important part of learning. Most of the children I worked with this summer in Zambia had never even held a book until getting sponsored to attend a Lifeway Christian Academy school. It's hard to imagine not growing up with books all around. Every child should have books. Family Legacy is trying to raise $10,000 to provide bookshelves and sets of books for the 17 Lifeway Christian Academy schools located in the poorest areas of Lusaka, Zambia. Donations are tax deductible and building up these school libraries will make a huge impact on the education and lives of these students! Books are powerful! While I was in Zambia this summer we would spend our lunchtime chatting with the Zambian teachers we were mentoring. Every day we would bring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to share with the teachers while we got to know each other better. The teachers would tell us about their lives and share the stories of the lives of the students in their school. It was a special time. I enjoy eating PB&J and loved those lunchtimes chats, but let me tell you that by the second week I wasn't even finishing my sandwiches because I didn't want them anymore. I was sick of eating peanut butter and jelly! One day as we shared our sandwiches the head teacher asked us, "Have you ever had to do without?" The questions silenced us. It brought tears to our eyes and was humbling. There's not even one time in my life I've had to truly do without. I've always had a home and known where my next meal was coming from, but the kids who live in the slum compounds, like the one we were working in, do without every day-- many of them without parents, without an education, without a bed, without daily meals. It's months later I'm still thinking about how I didn't want the food in my hands when the community around me was filled with children and adults who might not even have anything to eat that evening. That's reality. That hurts when I think about all I have and take for granted. That makes me stop and think. What do I have to offer? What am I willing to do about it? Am I really willing to do "anything" to help those who are hurting around me? "When your excess is poured out over the hurting, those in need of God, of healing, of food or water, all of a sudden what you thought mattered doesn't matter anymore . . . I have hands, feet, the Internet, plane tickets, resources, the Gospel, and money so that God can use me to recklessly save, recklessly heal, recklessly love." ~ Jennie Allen, Anything
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Why Anything?"Anything is a prayer of surrender that will spark something. A prayer that will move us to stop chasing things that just make us feel happy and start living a life that matters. A life that is surrendered, reckless, and courageous." ~Jennie Allen, Anything. In November of 2013 I moved to Zambia as a full-time missionary with Family Legacy Missions International. Everyone within the organization raises their own support to keep overhead costs at a minimum so donations to the ministry can go directly to the needs and programs for the orphans and vulnerable children we serve. I trust in God's faithfulness to provide monthly and one-time financial supporters for the work I do here for the education of thousands of children from the slum compounds of Lusaka. If you would like to support me, donations are tax deductible and can be made at www.familylegacy.com/alicia
"God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before Him. When I cleaned up my act, He gave me a fresh start. Indeed, I've kept alert to God's ways; I haven't taken God for granted. Every day I review the way He works, I try not to miss a trick. I feel put back together, and I'm watching my step. God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes." 2 Samuel 22:25
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