This month, we’ve partnered with Sanderson & Lweendo Sanji to serve the community in Livingstone. We’ve learned bits and pieces of approximately 4 languages. We’ve worked with approximately 7 different organizations and churches. As our month winds down, I’m sitting in awe of the wonderful opportunities that we’ve had.
Our first day of street evangelism comes to mind. My team huddled together in Pastor Teddy’s house in Libuyu Village with our Zambian brothers and sisters and lifted up our ministry in prayer. As we left the house to walk through the village, my nerves were high. I have very little experience with street evangelism and the experience that I have had has been riddled with anxiety and not well-received. African children seemed to flood the streets shouting “Mzungu! How are you?” in the sweetest of accents and my worry began to fade. Micah and I traveled with Pastor George to house after house and each person seemed more hospitable than the last. We were offered seats in the shade and listening ears and invited to share the word of God. My anxiety was a distant memory.
I remember our first day at the SOS orphanage, surrounded by children staring at us inquisitively. As we played games and sang songs and learned their hand games, friendship was built. I’ll always think of the time spent with their caregivers a few days later and my precious friend Ruth.
I’ll never forget Pastor Lawrence, a ten year old boy living deep in the village of Marumba who leads a church of approximately 75 children every Saturday. I’ll remember his kind eyes and his desire for the members of his church to have transportation to be a part of the local church.
I’ll remember the message that Chris shared on the Woman at the Well and the way the Holy Spirit revealed new truth in a story I’ve heard a hundred times. I’ll remember worshiping together at Pastor Teddy’s church, packed tightly in a small classroom. Freedom and joy and hospitality are the words coloring my experience of worship in Zambia. I’ll remember the pastors here: Teddy and Joseph and George and Oscar and their desire to welcome us and hear about our lives. I’ll remember their burden for their local church and their hearts for the global kingdom of God.
I’ll forever cherish the two days we spent evangelizing in the marketplace and the humbling feeling of being called across the market to sit with people and share life. I’ll remember sitting under the big shade tree on a wobbly stool sharing about the hope of Christ surrounded by Zambian sisters. I’ll remember the smell of hundreds of fish and the feeling of at least that many flies swarming around me as I sat on a bag of beans sharing with 10 women the story of Lazarus. I’ll remember the certainty of closing my mouth and knowing that the words flowing from my mouth had not been my own but gifts from God.
The freedom of sharing my testimony with my team and being covered in prayer as tears streamed down my face has been solidified as one of my favorite personal moments in Zambia. The power of Victoria Falls and the joy of dancing on the bridge covered in water with my team is tied only with the night in the village sitting under the world’s most perfect sunset that was then replaced by a million twinkling stars. I’m so grateful for the chance to sit with a woman on her mat plucking okra for her family’s dinner. I’m thrilled by the sightings of wildlife and the chance to cook French toast for my team.
This is only month 1 but it’s been full. It’s been hot and sweaty and unplanned and confusing but more than that, it’s been right. It’s been wonderful to get to know the people I’m serving with this year and see how God is moving in Livingstone, Zambia.
Over and over I have to remember that God is in the big and the small. All of these opportunities and experiences have been amazing but I’m still just me. Being at home and living my “normal” life would have produced different experiences in detail but could have revealed similarities based on my approach. Don’t get me wrong, the World Race is amazing and unique and incredible. But, I don’t want to glamorize it too much. God is moving in Livingstone, Zambia and Safety Harbor, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia and Phoenix, Arizona. There are beautiful things and wonderful people and unique opportunities in each of those places (and every place on Earth, really!). You are in the place that you are for a reason and a purpose. Find the gift in today.
