“What a happy loving couple!” I hear you say about the picture (above) of Lucas and Liz Messick, and you’d be right! This young duo from Pennsylvania, USA appeared on the latest edition of our Sunday night radio show – The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. The show airs every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s firmly established local radio station and streams live on the internet too! Lucas and Liz were hoping their families back in the States would be tuned in! “How long have you been married?” Milli Jam wanted to know at the top of the show, “just eight months” they replied. “Awwwww”! We said!

Lucas and Liz told listeners that they’d been in Zambia for the past five weeks volunteering at Macha Mission Hospital – Macha Mission is a mission station in the Choma District of the Southern Province of Zambia. The hospital has 200 beds and is a vital service in this rural area. Liz is training to be a physician’s assistant and is doing a two year Masters course at Lock Haven University for her qualification – this stint at Macha formed part of her course. Lucas is an accountant in the family business back home, the family has five stores selling ‘farming implements’ – he admitted that Bruce Springsteen, who has a ranch in Pennsylvania, buys tractors from his company – farming implements indeed! Nothing like hoes and rakes! Whilst in Macha Lucas had been helping with the books at the Mission.

The music on the show was the usual great mix. Tracks from The Wanted and Amelia Lily started us off, then George played Ozzy’s ‘You’re The Reason’  and Ty2’s ‘Spotlight’ as his local Zambian choices. The latter was the oldie of the week, and the prize we give each week to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our oldie, was quickly snapped up! Great! Milli Jam dropped Chris Brown’s smash ‘Don’t Wake Me Up’ and we followed with latest tracks from Carly Rae Jepsen as well as Psy’s Gangnam Style – over 200 million hits on YouTube for Korean Psy!

Liz and Lucas told listeners they’d loved their trip to Chobe in Botswana that day and had been lucky to see lions, as well as hundreds and hundreds of elephant. They had enjoyed Victoria Falls and had been to see them from the Zimbabwe side as well. Liz was rather disappointed that there was not more water going over, due to it being the dry season, but thought it a good reason to come back to Zambia again after the rainy season. She had learned some Tonga while in Zambia and she and Milli Jam started chatting away in his language. He loved it!

Lucas expressed a great love of TV show Top Gear and sport – especially American Football – he had even been following a game between Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens that day on the internet at Chanters! He also revealed that he plays the french horn in an orchestra back in America and is into classical music. Liz is more into Christian music and was happy when I told her that Lecrae’s new album ‘Gravity’ was high in the US album charts as we went on air. We give listeners chart and social media news every week on our show.

Saying that they were flying back to America the following day, and asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, they said they hoped to have two children, to be following the Lord and to have great jobs! We wished them well.