Once on ground with Overland Missions in Zambia, we prepped, looked-over and packed up our trucks, and we set off for western Zambia from Livingston.
Our Travel was long, hard, bumpy, mostly slow and just physically tasking, but ’twas the beginning of a GREAT adventure.
We got to cross over this shady steel bridge, with mostly just beams for a platform. In my quick “mechanical analysis” based on my vast experience in 3rd world bridge design, it was as good as they come 😉 We still however had everyone hop out the trucks…just in case 🙂
Even got to take the trucks across the Zambezi on a ferry. Pretty cool I think!
A good majority of our 2-day hike involved this type terrain. Sandy, dusty, often wet and lots of obstacles(trees and their branches) to clear and provide a clear enough path for the trucks.
Yes, a couple of us guys spent a good portion of the night running in front of the trucks, clearing brusch, chopping down trees and hacking branches to make a drivable path in the middle of NOWHERE…all this happening at about midnight or so. The machete came in real handy.
At one point, still about or past midnight we were lost out in the bush. So we formed 2 search parties armed with walkies and our machete’s of course…[for clearing brusch ;)] We hiked in different directions, trying to find a hut, or someone that can help guide us to the village we were heading to, called Luiwemba.
After about a half hour hike in the dark, with only the moonlight and our headlamps for light, we made contact, found some help and traced our steps back to the trucks. We even left marking on bushes to help serve as land marks. It worked pretty well.
Crazy night, but what an adventure. Loved it!!
These are the type adventures that give me a glimpse of what some of the early missionaries and people like David Livingstone had to take on for the Gospel to reach the ends of the earth.
With all the effort to reach the people, It begs the question…
Are THEY worth it??
YES!
What are some hardships we will have to take on in our own lives for the Gospel to reach the ends of our workplace, the ends of our neighborhoods, the ends of our cities…the ends of the earth?
And that’s just a portion of the Hardships we would have to go through to reach western Zambia…
We reached Luiwemba a little after 1am, began to setup camp and made dinner. In bed 2-3am. Woke up to a small welcome party of local kids (right side of pic) that heard the trucks driving through the night before. They sat and watched curiously, as we got our act together, made breakfast and worshiped by the fire.
Here, we spent our time fanning out in teams to nearby villages sharing the Gospel, healing and delivering the sick and oppressed. The old lady in middle picture was one of many. Restored sight and hearing and more of an ability to walk without support.
We invite everyone back for our night gatherings where we have lots of fun, dance parties, worship, teach and let God display His power. Michelle in middle excited after God heals a girl she just prayed for.
We are wearing jackets ’cause being winter in Zambia, it gets frigid cold at night. YES it gets cold in Africa too. 🙂
And sometimes we just sit and fellowship with the kids and villagers by the fire
, late into the night.
One of our leaders Miles, is an amazing teacher, and supposedly recognized as one of the best in San Diego. He got to creatively teach the local school some basic science principles through some really neat and fun challenges, like this one…
Balance 11 nails on one nail head anchored into a wood platform. *Hint* is the right side pic.
The I-PAD came in quite handy for ministry, we taught games and team building exercises. Played one of the toughest soccer games of my life – playing 90mins on BEACH SAND…on regulation size field. Talk about home court advantage. We put up a real good fight considering, but we lost.
We taught some new friends how to Limbo, we got VERY dirty and even took time to frolic and enjoy the vastness of space that is western Zambia as demonstrated by our 2 youngest members of the team. They did not just survive, they thrived!
So proud of them!
After our time in Luiwemba village, we got a chance to take an hr and half ride up the Zambezi river, crossing over to the flood plains to setup camp for a couple nights to reach out to the few villages not yet over-run by the rising water.
The Flood Plains is an interesting place that eats the cake for being remote. No roads, and on occasion, barely marked foot paths with pockets of swamp type bodies of water that supposedly are crocodile and possibly hippo infested, as the water flows in from the Zambezi. And there are Crocs and Hippos in the Zambezi.
Nonetheless, throughout out time there, we would have to walk across several of these swaps, sometimes waist deep. A bit more challenging when you also have luggage and equipment/tools to carry. This was another AMAZING adventure.
I do not have too many pics from our
time here in the flood plains, because…after I took that pic to the
right as we were about to cross that swamp you see there, it was beginning to get dark, and we were advised to use a small
canoe and not by foot for fear of crocodiles. To this end, while trying
to get across in this skinny little unstable canoe, my buddy and I
tipped over…camera, backpack, sleeping bag and everything else in tow.Yes, it was a cold rough night to say the least.
I call this an RCS (Really Cool Story)…I try to collect ’em.
Do U have any to share?
My camera was out of commission for a bit and still has a few problems, but it survived.
Thank God!
At the end of our short time in the Flood Plains, we got to experience Gods heart and His power in crazy ways, with new disciples to carry on the work that has begun. We baptized new disciples that were willing in water and in the Holy Spirit.
With an epic backdrop of clouds above the Zambezi river, with excitement and praise, one of my teammates led the way as 6 new disciples got water baptized in front of their families and village.
600 students hearing and receiving truth as we praise and worship God,
Quite a bit happened in western Zambia, but before we left, we got to spend some time with about 600 students from a boarding school in one of the smaller cities there.
And with one of the many other perks of traveling as a missionary, I got to do some other VERY cool stuff as well.
Like walking ON FOOT with wild Black Rihno’s (COOLEST THING EVER) we got within 30ft of these amazing beasts that can run up to 40mph. I don’t think we would have had much of a chance if a charge was in play, although security guide had a gun…not sure how much that would have helped, maybe just make it more angry :/
And finally, I got a chance to bungee jump and also swing across the gorge at Victoria falls. EPIC!!
The swing was def scarier…Loved every bit of both!
Thank You to all that supported me and help make this trip possible. There are so many more stories of God’s power (a BIG theme for our trip – to see more of God’s power displayed) and love revealed.
Thank You!
As always, be blessed and remember now is the time to live as a warrior.
