Tuesday and Wednesday we drove to villages that were further out from where we were staying. We encouraged believers and led those who were not saved to the Lord. Most if, not all the people in this area have gardens. When we went to their huts to minister to them, a lot of times they were out watering their gardens. So before or after we sat down and talked with them, we helped them water their garden. They water their gardens every two days. The main crop that they plant is rape. (The only thing I can really compare it to is collard greens.) It is a staple in their diet. They eat it as a “relish” with nshima. They also grow cabbage and onions. They use buckets to water their gardens. It is HARD work. They said it would usually take about 12-13 hours to do this. It is the women who primarily water the gardens. Our team was able to water a garden in about one hour. This was a huge blessing to them. We loved being able to help.
The first person that my group talked to was a woman in her 50’s. We first helped her water her garden for about an hour. Then we took a break and sat down under a straw shelter and began talking with her. We asked her if she knew about Jesus. She said yes that she had been to church when she was a young girl. She said she hadn’t been going to church lately though. We have found that most of the people here do know about Jesus but many of them don’t know what it means to be saved or how to be saved. As we were talking with her, her niece and brother came by and sat down and listened also. The woman told us that she had a hard life and many times she wondered what her purpose was and thought “why don’t I just die.” We shared with her how God had created mankind to love us and to have relationship with us. I told her that God had not forgotten about her and I told her the scripture “Precious are the thoughts that He thinks towards us.” We encouraged her and told her that God had a purpose and a plan for her life. We led both of the women to pray for salvation. It was awesome! They seemed very encouraged and glad that we had stopped by.
Our next stop was with a young family. There were 5 children. Another couple and their kids came over when they saw us. They were already believers. We told them we had come to encourage them in their faith and share the Word of God with them. They told one of their children to go get their Bible. We shared with them for an hour or two. Before we left, we asked if there was anything we could pray with them about. One of the men said he had a headache. His wife asked us to prayer for her about temptation. I walked over to her so that I could really talk to her and I began to encourage her that God would give her the strength to resist temptation. I told her that God loved her and he was going to help her overcome this. It was so precious that she opened up to us like that. It was obvious that she really wanted to do the right thing and please the Lord. We prayed for her and afterwards she thanked us and was smiling. It was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She was so grateful that we had taken the time to talk and pray with her. It’s so awesome that God sent us to there to minister to them.
Our last day of ministry we had a “conference” at our campsite. It started at 10:30a.m. and lasted until about 5:00p.m. Each person on our team had the opportunity to speak. The focus was discipleship. The topics ranged from raising your children to love the Lord to being a light to unbelievers to living a godly life. Between the speakers we would sing songs. Around 1:30 we took a break for lunch and shared a meal with them. They were responsible for bringing relish (which is rape and cabbage) and we provided the nshima. The men and women do not sit together so we split up into groups of 5. Each group had a bowl of nshima and relish. There were no plates or silverware. In the Zambian culture the women sit on the ground and the men sit in chairs. It was a very interesting experience. Once the conference was over we packed up and headed back to the base.
Zambia has a rainy season and a dry season. We have been in the dry season. Towards the end of the dry season it gets really hot. Most of the missionaries here go back home to the U.S. during the rainy season because it makes the roads impassable, which makes ministry impossible. The whole time we have been here it has not rained, until last week. Gradually the winds have been picking up especially at night. Sometimes the winds get so strong at night, I feel like our tent is literally going to blow away. The rainy season normally does not start until the end of October, however it is starting early this year. While we were in the bush it rained once. I was relieved to find out the tents we use in the bush keep the rain out. We were told that it stormed pretty badly at the base while we were gone and there was hail the size of golf balls. When we first arrived we never saw clouds, but now clouds are becoming more common. It has been extremely hot the last few days. We were spoiled the last couple of weeks with unusually cool weather for this time of year.
Hillsong South Africa worship tour came to Livingstone. Overland Missions was one of the main contacts and sponsors so we got to help with the event. The concert was great. The Zambians loved it! A lot of people came and there were several salvations.
This week we have been in more training. In the morning we are doing workshop. Workshop is anything from welding to woodworking. Our project for this week has been building a water tower for a well here at the base. It has been a lot of fun. In the afternoon we have Preaching 101. Thank you all for praying for us. We can feel your prayers. When things are challenging we draw strength in knowing so many people are praying for us.
I listened to this Jesus Culture song on our ipod this morning, “My strength in life is I am Yours. My soul delights because I am Yours. Your will on earth, is all I’m living for! Jesus, I glorify. Jesus, my love is yours! You are my heart’s desire. I live to know you more!” How true is that? Our strength comes from knowing we are His! He is for us! He is with us! He loves us! He wants what is best for us! We can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens us! There is nothing like knowing Him, loving Him, and serving Him!
No comments:
Post a Comment