This month was my first experience in Africa and I could not have been more BLOWN AWAY! By the people, by the hospitality, by the worship, by the culture, by the ripe harvest, by the ways God SHOWED UP. I could go on and on about everything that happened and every way the Lord moved, but I will try to just touch on the big things.
This month I was in Lusaka, Zambia. This is the capital of Zambia, but it was so different from any city I had been in yet this year. It didn’t take long at all to go from the “city” to the bush. The roads were basically all dirt and the market was always bustling.
Our hosts were Bishop Obby, Pastor Karen, and their amazing children (Mwewa-8, Shekina-10, Evance-15, Clement-19, and Mwango-24). I now call them my Zambian family because of how close we grew over the month. They opened their home to us at no cost and welcomed us with the warmest hearts. Seriously, their hospitality was astounding to me. Every night we sat in the living room and prayed and worshiped together, a time I grew to cherish and always looked forward to. We spent everyday with them, and it was some of the hardest goodbyes I have had to say this year.
I touched on our ministry in my last blog, but it was basically a lot of straight up sharing the gospel with people. The harvest was so so ripe in Zambia, and we got to see so much fruit. As we would go around the community, people would call us over constantly (Muzungu! Muzungu!). Before we could even make it over to them they would be pulling out stools for us to sit on. They would ask us questions, ask for prayer, and even tell us their stories. We were able to encourage believers and lead people to a relationship with Christ! One day we were just standing in the middle of a street and people just kept coming to us. The Lord was literally bringing His children straight to us to hear His word and accept Him!
You know the Holy Spirit is moving when you get goosebumps in the middle of the day in Africa.
We would drive through these communities and people everywhere would turn and just light up and smile and wave. It was like the presence of the Lord that we were carrying was making these people’s days. Maybe it was just because of the color of our skin that these people were drawn to us, but if it results in them hearing about Jesus then I’ll take it!
On Sundays we would preach at the churches in various communities. This was something new for me, but I enjoyed the challenge of stepping in to something uncomfortable. And honestly, the church services that we experienced were some of my favorite parts of this month!! The worship here is INCREDIBLE!! It seems like basically everyone is super talented and can sing and dance, and I was just mesmerized at their passion for praising the Lord!
Fun story: One time they called each tribe to come up to the stage and dance for the Lord, and of course they called us up there, too. So my friend Maggie and I showed off our best white-girl moves that we could! It was comical, I’m sure, but man was it fun!
I also posted a blog this month asking for donations for various needs that we wanted to meet for our hosts. I am so happy to announce that we raised over $3,000!! Thank you so so much to everyone that donated! With that money, we were able to:
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Send the two youngest daughters to school and fund them for a year.
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Buy 200 Bibles for the churches and believers there (practically nobody had the Word of God).
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Help fund college for the two oldest children.
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Donate towards the building fund for two of the church buildings (the roof has holes and it is nearly rainy season).
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Buy their son a new keyboard. (He has a speech impairment and playing is what brought him out of his shell. He is incredible and this is his form of worship, but his old keyboard was half broken. This surprise was my personal favorite! And the first thing that they did when he played it for the first time was worship, so that was pretty amazing.)
This month I also faced a lot of difficulties and had to seek the Lord a lot in them. The culture is so different from ours, and that took a lot of adjustment. Sometimes encounters with some people would be really rough. The transportation to and from ministry sometimes consisted of sitting squished in the back of a van driving on bumpy roads for 2 hours. Also there were spiders (and if you know me, you know how that goes down…). Because of these things, there was a lot of intentional joy-seeking that occurred this month. And the Lord was SO FAITHFUL in this!!! In some moments I would feel myself getting frustrated or impatient, and I would physically feel Him calm me down and shift my mindset off of myself and onto Him. He brought so much peace in uncomfortable, undesirable situations.
While this month came with its challenges and was one of the most stretching by far, I cherish it so much. It has made me so expectant for what the Lord has in store for our last two months here in Africa.
Other firsts from this month include:
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Going through a safari in a cage with no bars
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Snuggling with a cheetah
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Holding a chicken
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Eating monkey…
We took a bus through Zimbabwe to Pretoria, South Africa to spend a few days pouring in to one another as a squad and resting. Tomorrow we head to Lesotho for Month 10! I will be in a rural village in the mountains of Lesotho, so who knows what connection will be like, but I will post updates as I am able to!
Thank you for your continued support and prayers!
