"In you, O Lord, do I take refuse; let me
never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! For you are my
rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me."
- Psalm 33:1, 3
Missionary life in Zambia has been the adventure we
had always hoped it would be. In a world where few things seem to live up
to your expectations, you can always rest assured that serving the Lord will
always surpass them. How great is our God!
Since our last major prayer letter entitled,
"Showers of Blessings...Storms of Destruction" God has again taken us
on an amazing journey of faith that keeps our eyes on Him as the great guide.
Here is a run-down of all that has transpired since then.
Four days after our return to Choma we had a much-anticipated
visit from Phil Hunt, our field director with IBM Global who lives in Kitwe,
Zambia which is an approximate eleven hour drive north of us. During his
visit we were able to share with him all the things that we have been
experiencing in ministry in Choma and Nambaaza and seek his advice regarding
the strategic changes we have been praying about and of which we have asked for
your prayers as well for the last few months. What a blessing it was to
get a fresh, outside perspective from someone whom God has used to establish
the kind of ministry that we desire for him to use us to establish as well.
Hopefully in the next few months we will have more certainty about the
direction we believe God is leading us in and can share those details with you
at that time. Until then, please keep praying for wisdom and guidance.
One of the joys of Phil's trip was to take him on a
tour of Choma which is absolutely booming with growth. There are
buildings going up everywhere, but only four churches faithfully preaching the
truth of the Bible. What a task they have before them of reaching this
city that is now Zambia's Southern provincial capitol. Jamie has had the
privilege of developing close friendships with each of these pastors so he and
Phil went out to visit each of them at their churches. Each pastor has
attended the Leadership Conference at Central Africa Baptist College in Kitwe
(Phil is the President of the school) and so they also have a relationship with
Phil. It was so fun and insightful to see Phil interacting with each of these
men in an encouraging way that comes with two decades of pouring your life into
others.
After two brief, but action packed days Phil was
back on the road to Kitwe and we were back to the rigors of ministry.
Mandy and the kids had a lot to catch up on with homeschooling after all
our adventures while Jamie had meeting after meeting.
· We hosted
a Pastor's Fellowship meeting at our house on Monday, November 11.
· Jamie met
with Temah who at our last report had wandered from the Lord, but who seems to
be repenting and attempting to make things right.
· Jamie
also met with two potential Zambian ministry partners for Choma and Nambaaza
· Jamie met
with a man named Collins Kapata who is passionate about starting a completely
Zambian led and funded camp ministry about 45 minutes outside of Choma.
He is asking Jamie to help think through the organizational aspects of
such a meeting. They are now meeting once a week to work through these
ideas. Please pray for Collins as he has much to do and in these early
stages it does not take much to derail some wonderful ministry aspirations.
While all of these things were happening, we were
also preparing for our final trip to Nambaaza for this year. As you have
heard before, the rains have come earlier this year and the roads are getting
quite bad already. So, we were buying up all the supplies needed to put
the roof structure in place on the boma in Nambaaza so we have a more permanent
place to stay when we are out there next year. Everyday we were up at 5am
and staying up until around midnight trying to squeeze everything in.
Then, on Thursday, November 14, we had a Zambian experience that put
everything on hold.
While working on things in the house that morning
Jamie heard the dogs getting worked up, but didn't know why and didn't go to
investigate. A couple hours later our worker, Chester, came to the door
saying that we needed to see the good thing that the dogs had done. Just
3 feet from the door to our back porch was a spitting cobra that the dogs had
recently killed. It was 46" long. Our dogs are amazing!
None of them got bit, but two of them did get spit in the eye. We
got some eye treatment from the vet and they were as good as new. For
Jamie, who has wanted a good snakeskin, this was a welcome interruption to the
plans for the day. The kids got to have a special science class for
homeschooling that day. You guessed it...we dissected and skinned a
spitting cobra! How's that for education. Now we have a great
centerpiece for our display table on furlough.
With this adventure behind us, we were back to our breakneck speed in order to get ready for our trip to
Nambaaza.
This trip was an adventure! Our family of
five arrived on Saturday, November 16, and set up camp. We enjoyed a
quiet night in the bush by ourselves, but in the morning we jumped right into
ministry. Jamie combined two lessons into one for the New Believer's
class. We spoke about all the new things that a believer has in Christ
and how the old things have passed away and all things have become new (2
Corinthians 5:17) and then spoke about the new confidence that a believer has
from John 10:27-30 because so many of them had the wrong impression that a
person could lose their salvation if they committed a big sin after being
saved. This lesson was very lively and eye opening. The entire trip
would have been worth it if this were the only thing accomplished.
On Monday, November 25, the rest of our work crew arrived by 10:30am.
Pastor Arthur brought five men from Choma to help put the gum poles in
place for the roof of our boma. His wife, Beatrice, came to help Mandy
with cooking. Jim Chambers came to install all the plumbing from the well
to the water tower and then from the water tower to the two buildings.
Rachel and Teresa came to work with people in the schools and follow-up
on the literacy training that Joseph Mwambazi has been leading. So, our
quite camp turned into a bustling workstation rather quickly.
When they arrived, they were surprised to find Jamie and a crew of four
from Nambaaza already working on the boma. Jamie's crew installed the
heavy horizontal beams on the posts while Pastor Arthur's team started building
trusses. Well, God provided three days of absolutely perfect weather for
building. By Wednesday at 3pm the structure was complete, the plumbing
was done, and Rachel had been able to finish her teaching at the school.
That meant that the Choma crew was heading home. However, as they
loaded the cars the weather changed and they found themselves driving into a
severe storm.
Within 20 minutes they found themselves blocked by downed trees.
Neither vehicle was pulling a trailer so they decided to drive around the
trees. Well, our second Land Rover, driven by Pastor Arthur, did great at
trudging through the thick black cotton soil that usually swallows vehicles
that attempt to cross it. The Chambers found themselves in a different
situation. Their 4-wheel drive would not engage and they sank deep.
Thankfully, Pastor Arthur was able to use the winch of the Land Rover to
pull them out. Yet, even that was not so simple. The road had
become a river and at first the winch pulled the Land Rover to the stuck Land
Cruiser. So, Pastor Arthur put it into reverse and sent mud flying as the
Land Rover zigzagged across the muck. Now, they thought they were free to
continue. However, that was just the beginning. In total they
encountered four downed trees and lots of deep mud. Pastor Arthur got to
use the winch a second time to free the Chambers. It was quite the
adventure, but they made it home to Choma by 8:30 that night.
Meanwhile, back in Nambaaza we got about one more
hour’s work done before the storm swallowed us. We huddled in the tent
the rest of the night attempting, but failing to stay dry. Everything
from clothes to mattresses to Jamie's papers and guns got wet. It gave us
a great opportunity to test out the new waterproof Bible that was sent to us by
friends at Bethel Baptist Church in Parkersburg. It passed the test!!!
On Thursday, while Jamie was doing more work on the
boma he got a text message from Jim and Arthur telling of the horrible road
conditions. They suggested that we attempt to return to Choma early.
We had hoped to stay out until after church on Sunday so Jamie could
teach one more lesson of the New Believer's material, but we knew that the
rains were coming everyday now and were quite severe. So, Jamie decided
to go check out the roads and remove the trees with the help of Mr. Kabanda's
son Chemunya. It took three hours to remove all the trees. When the
last tree was removed rain descended yet again. In just minutes, the road
vanished and was replaced by a river about 8 inches deep. When he reached
the camp an unwelcome sight greeted him. Not only was there plenty of
standing water, but the two E-Z up tents used for the cooking area had been
destroyed. While Jamie was away, the most severe storm so far hit the
camp in Nambaaza. Mandy and the kids were safe inside the tent, which
amazingly had weathered the storm. At that point we knew we better head
back to Choma the next day.
Friday morning was a flurry of activity. We
were packing up soaking wet supplies, saying five-month good-byes to close
friends and the village headman. Jamie taught the next lesson of the New
Believers' class to Mr. Kabanda so he could teach in Jamie's place on Sunday
which is something Jamie had wanted to do all along, but the people in the
church insisted that Jamie teach this series so Mr. Kabanda deferred and asked
Jamie to teach. However, it seems that God providentially sent these
storms to remove us from the scene so that the people could not become overly
dependent on missionary influence. We hope they recognize that God is
raising up men from among their midst who can teach them well.
So, with Mr. Kabanda's training complete we packed
up the trailer and finished tying the tarps just as yet another storm was
moving in to Nambaaza. God kept us ahead of the storm for three hours
until we got to a gravel road where mud would not be a problem. To get there
though, we had driven through deep mud puddles including three sections that
were worse than any mud bog at a county fair. Each of them was 200 yards
in length with thick, deep mud. We were pulling a heavy trailer, which
doesn't help much, but God brought us through without being stuck even once.
After each muddy adventure the kids would laugh and shout, "We love
this car!" It was a fun adventurous day.
So, now we find ourselves at home in Choma
thoroughly exhausted, but thankful to be dry. The words of Psalm 33:1,3
have certainly been true for us these last three weeks. God has been our
rock, our fortress, and our guide through some tricky journeys and dangerous
adventures. What a joy it is to have Jesus for a guide!
We have one more big trip before we can get some
much needed down time. Next Sunday we take several leaders from Nambaaza
and Choma all the way up to Kitwe for the Leadership Conference at Central
Africa Baptist College. Please be praying for our safety, energy, and vehicles
as we make this trip.
