We're Going to Zambia!!

Hello, everyone!! We never thought we'd actually be posting blogs together (actually, I'm guessing it's me, Andrea, that will be doing most of the blogging), but here we are!

As many of you already know, we are going to be heading off to Zambia for about 6 weeks this summer. We're going with a group of interns through an organization called Every Orphan's Hope. EOH is an organization that is dedicated to sharing the love of Jesus to orphaned children in Africa (http://www.everyorphan.org/).

About 6 years ago, while Brian was in graduate school, the Lord laid it upon his heart to go on a missions trip to minister to the poor. He was excited to go somewhere, but didn't really have a focus of who, when or where. When we started dating, he told me about his desire to serve as a missionary. I thought it was a wonderful thing, and thought maybe it would be MORE wonderful if I could go with him. After much discussion, prayer, and advice from our pastor, it was decided that we would go after we got married.

Because I am a teacher and Brian has a sabbatical, it turns out that summer time would be the perfect time to go on a missions trip. So now we had a "when" all ready to go. We were still lacking the "who" and "where".

A few years ago, at our church's missions conference, a video was shown about orphans in Russia. This video brought tears to my eyes and an ache in my heart for those precious children. Brian and I talked about it and realized that God was showing us who our focus should be - orphans.

We began looking at Russia as our "where". It turns out that God closed that door, so we were back to square one in terms of finding a place.

Late last year, our friend, Justin Louie, told us he was going to Urbana for the huge missions conference. He offered to pick up some catalogs for us so we could get more information. After he returned, we (mostly Brian) began researching different organizations. After many dead-ends, we found Every Orphan's Hope.

We absolutely loved everything about EOH - their ministry, their focus on orphans and widows, their time-frame for us as interns, the fact that the people in Zambia speak English, and the love they have for Jesus Christ.

Our goal in using this blog, is that we will be able to share our experiences and enlighten you all about the plight of the orphans in Zambia - many of them are orphans because of HIV/AIDS. These kids have next to nothing. We are praying to be used by God to help bring the love of Jesus to them and to give them hope.

Please partner with us in prayer and keep reading our blog!

Thanks for reading.

In Jesus' Love,
Brian and Andrea Tsang (aka Briandrea)