To All of our Family and Friends,
I wish I could personally talk with each and every one of you, but this letter will have to suffice. So, make yourself a cup of coffee or get a cup of tea, and imagine I’m sitting across from you visiting.
I guess I should start at the beginning…..Almost eight years ago in August of 1997, Sal and I went on a mission trip to Zambia, Africa with a work team from our church. Our Pastor had started a foreign ministry called “Sons of Thunder.” Back then it was a 10,000 acre farm with a main house and some outbuildings on it. God told the Pastor and another man from the church to “FEED AFRICA.” That other man, Mike Jones and his wife Linda moved their family to Zambia as full time missionaries and began to fulfill the vision. A farming program was developed where Zambian nationals from different villages were admitted into the program, given 25 acres of land and were taught how to raise a variety of crops instead of just maize. The gardens they planted were used to feed their families and the surplus was sold for profit to give them some income. They were discipled in the Christian faith and given strong Christian values and life principles. They attended weekly worship services and Bible studies. There is room on the farm for 300 families. At the end of the training program, they are given a pair of oxen and resources necessary to go back to their villages and teach the newly learned farming principles. This is a much more permanent solution to prevent famine then putting a bandaid over the problem by just supplying food on occasion. The thought is to equip the Zambians to be independent with some control over their natural environment. Other concerns arose as families were living on the farm….like school for their children. So a primary school was started with one grade added every year. There are now seven grades in operation with a total of more than 300 students. Each grade has a national Christian teacher selected by the missionaries. A need was also recognized for an orphanage since the life expectancy in Zambia is only 34, and the country has a very large AIDS population. So in answer to the need, an orphanage was built. There are now 31 babies in the orphanage some who were found abandoned in the fields and left to die. A couple out of North Carolina, Terry and Joanne Byrum rose up to take the positions of Orphanage Directors there. The need is so great that a second orphanage is being built as I write this to house 60 more orphans. A larger church is being built on the farm and a Pastor’s school is already in place.
Back to Sal and I in 1997…. God told Sal and I to go and start a medical clinic on the farm. The nearest hospital is a three day walk away…Zambians don’t have cars and a lot of them walk barefoot. Some, if fortunate, may have a bicycle. So Sal and I went 7 years ago, bags in hand to start a medical clinic on the farm. Well, on a three week work trip with no building available and no resources for medicines or medical supplies, we returned home after having our eyes opened and our hearts forever changed. Despite the futility of our physical efforts during our trip, a medical clinic was indeed established in the following years and was operational with an occasional visit by a doctor or an infrequent visit by a government health technician. Sal and I upon our return never felt quite through with that call to Zambia.
During the past seven years, we have seen miraculous blessings in our family. All of us have come to know the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior. I can honestly say that 40 years as a practicing Catholic, I really never knew Jesus. I knew about him, but I never
had a real relationship with Him. Prior to my salvation, if you would have told me that God told you something….well I would have been skeptical to say the least. But God really does speak to his people through all sorts of ways once you belong to Him. It says in His Word that “My sheep know my voice.” We have witnessed God’s miraculous hand in our lives with our children, our finances, our physical health and our spiritual growth. God said, “If you love Me, you will obey my commands”…..so that is what Sal and I have chosen to do. Over the last seven years we have obeyed whatever we heard God speak….quit your job and start a business, quit your job and homeschool your son, tithe, give a car, give whatever to whomever, etc. In August of 2003, after our two older sons were married to Christian girls and their families started and after our youngest son graduated from high school and after the death of my mother, God told Sal and I “the time is now” to go back to Zambia.
Saying yes to that call, Sal and I just went to Africa for the month of August to get a fresh perspective on the Sons of Thunder farm and its growth, as well as to get further direction as to our specific purpose. During that trip, God did indeed confirm our call to be there. He did not change his mind! While we were there, a missionary who was only 55 years old died of a heart attack because of lack of both diagnostic equipment as well as treatment methods. His wife was driving him in a car 5 hours away to the capital city where they were going to take him to the teaching hospital….but he died in the car on the way. I tell you this story because upon my return, I heard about former President Clinton who recently had bypass surgery after having chest pain. You don’t have to be a former president to survive a heart attack here in America because we have the technology necessary. We are a blessed country. Zambians don’t live long enough to have heart disease. Their diet is fat free, they are not overweight by any means and they walk everywhere. But they are dying at a very young age with AIDS, TB, Malaria, Leprosy and a host of other tropical illnesses. A lot of those deaths could be averted if the medical care was in place.
To the extent that we have been directed, here is what we think we know:
We will be leaving August 22, 2005.
Our primary purpose is to increase the level of medical care in Zambia
1. First, we will get the medical clinic on the farm up and running. (Phase I)
2. Then we will take medical care to the villages in the “bush” miles off the paved road and hours from the rural health clinic. This will also include a transport system to the two local hospitals (Livingstone Hospital and Zimba Mission Hospital). We’re thinking that most of our work will be done in the “bush” simply because of the greatest need.
3. Ongoing community health education and wellness programs
4. A full service medical facility on the farm. (Phase II)
5. Training and education for the Zambian nationals.
6. Always showing the love of Jesus through compassion and prayer for healing.
This vision is going to require construction of buildings; first for the medical clinic and then the full service medical facility, emergency transport vehicles, medical equipment and supplies, and medications in large quantities. This vision is going to require volunteers willing to give of themselves and their time to help in the delivery of medical care and training programs. It will eventually require training programs for the Zambian nationals to assist them to be productive and independent. We ask you to keep us in prayer as we answer God’s call.
If you are interested in further information, you can go to the website at www.sons-of-thunder.org or feel free to e-mail us at srm6476@aol.com. If God places us or this ministry on your heart and you would like to partner with us, you can give either a one-time donation or support on a monthly basis. All contributions are to be mailed to:
Sons of Thunder
P.O. Box 7
Damascus, MD 20872
Please don’t forget to put “Medical Ministries” in the MEMO section of your check, so your contribution will be directed to the building and support of the medical facility and transport system. Either way, please pray for us and if you get a chance, drop us an e-mail. We will be establishing an e-mail over in Zambia and anyone who would like to keep in touch please send me your e-mail so I can start an address book now. If anyone would like to be on the mailing list to receive the Sons of Thunder monthly newsletters, (which will include a monthly update from Sal and I) please e-mail me your address so I can place you on the mailing list. Don't forget to look for updates on this blog site.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this. At least now you won’t think we just disappeared.
May God bless you all.
With Love,
Sal and Renee
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