We had the chance to go and do ATL for a week here in Lusaka, Zambia. Something that Gap Year squads don’t usually do. ATL stands for ask the lord. That’s the just of this whole thing. For a week, this is what we did. We asked God what our ministry was going to be, and we went and we did.
Day 1: The team and I went to the mall. We split in two groups, and went to find the lost people. We met so many people. Got to know who they were, about there families and prayed for them. We made friends at one store, who ended up being our besties for the rest of the week.
Day 2: We rested. Due to sudden changes, sicklings, and much needed rest in the Lord. We did. That’s the luxury of ATL. You rest when he tells you to.
Day 3: Our friend that we met at that one store came and met us at a coffee shop… On her day off. We got to know her more. We dug into her story and let her in on how much the Lord loves her, and how she viewed God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We also made a new friend that weighted on us. His name was Lovemore… what a great name. We enjoyed the day spent with new friends.
Day 4: The treasure hunt. Aka, my favorite day… aka the busiest day… aka today…
This morning we woke up, had breakfast, and then we had a meeting on going on a treasure hunt for Jesus lost gems. We prayed and got different things that God wanted us to look for. And we started our search.
We met a man, Paul. The banana man, selling bananas on the side of the road (Yellow was one of the colors that Alyssa got from God). He told us about his family and how he believed in Jesus because he saw him heal his dad.
Then we met Ernest. A man seeking for a job to provide for his wife and 3 kids. We prayed, for his number, and searched for this aspiring chef to find a job. Later, a coffee shop we really like told us they would give him a call when they had an opening.
Then we met the man in the yellow sweater. Sorry guys, African names are hard. He was also looking for a job. We didn’t find him one, but later in the day we ran into him again! It’s always good to make new friends.
Then we met Ester (1) and Evelyn. 2 women sweeping on the road for a living. We shared with them Jesus, and we prayed for them. Later, as we headed back to the hostel, we saw them and they asked us to pray again. It’s so cool to see Jesus spark something in people’s hearts.
Then we went to a mosque. Yeah, I wasn’t too sure about it at first. I didn’t want these people to think that we were coming to convert everyone there, but we walked towards it with genuine curiosity. To learn and understand more about the Muslim faith. That’s where we met our new friend, Muhammad. He was the security guard. His left eye was sunken into his face, and his right hand and some serious scaring, his index finger was cut short and he had some arthritis. I thought that the Lord wanted to heal him. We asked him if he’d always been Muslim. He told us he was raised Christian but couldn’t work at the mosque unless he was Muslim, so he converted. We could tell that he was uncomfortable at first when we asked him to pray. But once all the chair people left, he was all for it. He wasn’t healed. But that’s okay, because he told us that he felt comfort in his heart.
While Alyssa and I were talking with Muhammad, Chloe and Eryn were taking to his sister, Ester. She had a chair fall on her foot 5 years ago, and couldn’t afford proper treatment to heal the broken foot. They prayed and SHE WAS HEALED! She ditched the cane that she was holding and walked pain free for the first time. The cool thing about these guys, was that before we left, I saw a man in front of a white brick wall. Muhammad was sitting in front of the white brick wall of the mosque when we approached. Chloe saw a woman with a jean satchel. While taking a picture, she took off her wrapping and underneath lied a jean satchel. Eryn saw a cane. Alyssa was the one with the original curiosity in the mosque. All of these things the Lord gave us to point us to his lost people. His gems that just needed a little pick me up. When we were leaving, we turned back to see Ester showing off to her brother with such joy across her entire face. What a great reward for being available to the work that Jesus is doing.
After them, we walked to a group of construction workers who were on break that we just got to hang out with and pray for.
Later in the day, as we were going to do team things, we came across Elizabeth. A homeless 20 year old with a 2 year old child. All she said to me was “I am hungry.” Alyssa and I went to the grocery store, picked up some food and took it back. Alyssa mentioned to me something about yellow sweater guy translating as we were walking back to her, because that was when we ran into him. Elizabeth didn’t speak good English. Before we even got to her, yellow sweater turned the other way. We delivered the food. As we were trying to talk to her, a man and his wife came and said “Can I translate for you.” God just puts the right people in the right place at the right time… crazy. Today was an amazing day.
This week has been such a breath of fresh air for me. Allowing God to pick our ministry has been cool and has motivated our team to do similar things when we get home. God has so many lost and broken people in this world. We are just a “Hi, how are you?” away from creating huge advances in the Kingdom of God.
Tomorrow, my team and I will be heading 8 hours to Livingstone. Friday, I get to see my dad. I am beyond excited! Not only to be in his presence, but to also grow with him in the things that God has planned for both of us. It’s going to be one awesome week.
Please keep all of the people mentioned above in your prayers. That the seeds planted, the hearts sparking and the curious minds would continue to grow and that God would bring radical changes to all of their lives. Thank you so so much friends!
