I’m going to be honest, this first month has been hard. Really hard. But like I have noticed in the past, whenever we experience difficult times, the Lord is subtly doing something beautiful right under our noses.
Africa. I still have to remind myself at times that I am actually here. Zambia is a beautiful place that I never really thought I would visit. Our ministry here is… challenging. It is always changing, but it is mostly some form of cold call street evangelism. This style of ministry is tough, but works REALLY well in Africa, where people are so open and polite. On top of the varying ministry types, we are rotating between 3 areas, once a week. That means moving, once a week, for three weeks straight, after 4 days of travel to GET here. When you mush all that up together into a nice little first month-new team-miss your family-really hot, World Race ball, it makes things tough and exhausting. But with the Lord, there is always a silver lining.
Our team has been feeling really discouraged and worn out lately. None of us are comfortable with street evangelism, and for everyone but me, it is brand stinking new. This morning my team mate Mandi called us all together and gave us a good kick in the rear. She reminded us that God has us here for a reason, and not to let our discomfort keep us from experiencing what God has for us here and now in Zambia. We are here for such a short time. Afterwards, we had such a sweet worship session, just the 7 of us, and the Holy Spirit came and encouraged all of us. It was truly beautiful. After all of this, our ministry for the day was excellent. We had several opportunities to pray healing over people and even led a little boy to the Lord!! We are quite a spectacle on the street, everyone is curious what we are doing. Several times while we were ministering or praying for people, I would look up and see a large crowd of locals standing around, watching and listening. I truly believe people were ministered to and encouraged by proxy.
Being away from home is so hard, for all of us. I miss the connections and relationships I have back home. We all do. But we have the opportunity to build new relationships with each other. Please keep my team in your prayers as we learn to trust each other and become a powerful little family. Also, I am sorry but the internet is s slow here it is hard to upload pictures. ( if any! )
Remember, God is working in every situation, be it good or bad. What is going on in your life that seems tiring and uncomfortable? Press into the Lord and let him fill you. Then as you walk faithfully, you might just look up and see a crowd of people watching you and following your example. I love you guys so much.
-Will
