Wow, month 4 has come to a close! I cannot believe that we are here!!! 4 months into the World Race. 2 Continents down! It is unreal to have be part of this wild adventure. I am beyond thankful and blessed that my support system has gotten me here with the grace of God!
Many of you may not know but this month was rough when it came to wifi. There was virtually no way for me to blog. So without further mention, let me recap my month here in Zambia.
It was a decent morning in Lilongwe, Malawi the day we were to leave for Zambia. We were told by logistics that we were going to be leaving at 5:30 am and to be ready even earlier for our departure. In what has become somewhat normal here in Africa, our bus was late. And when I mean late, it was fairly late. Like I said, we were supposed to leave before sunrise, and how would you know it, we left near 10:00. The bus company kept saying, “The driver just woke up,” “the driver needs to eat,” “we still need to wake the driver up…..again,” and “that he was getting dressed.” It was a long drawn out wait, but to my happy surprise, it allowed time for me to be able to Skype/message my sister, girlfriend and family during my sister’s birth of her first child, Olivia! It was such a happy moment for me.
Side note: While on the race, I have missed both my sisters births and other events….those get really tough to miss.
Anyways, so we proceeded to load on the bus and the drive was fairly smooth until we got to the Malawi-Zambia border. Let me just say that the wait there was unbelievable. We literally waited for 4-5 hours for our passports to be stamped. So needless to say, I took a little nap in the middle of nowhere at the border. Was it comfortable… absolutely not, but it was my situation so I just dealt with it. When we were finally prepared to officially cross the border, our bus driver comes up and tells our logistics leaders that all 55 of us need to switch buses. With complaint, we surely were forced too. And after a 14 or so trip to Lusaka, we finally got to our hostel.
While the fun seemed to be still lingering, it was quickly taken away when we realized that the next day we would have a minimum 12 hour bus ride to our location in the Northern Providence, Kasama. And just as they stated, it was more than 12 hours. And as we finally rolled into Kasama the next day at 2:30 am, we proceeded to load into a taxi. And guess what…..it broke down. So we called for another taxi and finally made our way to our host’s home for much needed rest. But let’s not stop there. When we got his house at 3:00 am, he says “Morning devotional at 7 am…see you then.” NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But as all World Racers must embrace, we woke up bewildered but ready for the morning devotional that had to happen at such an early time haha.
So this month, we have been working with our amazing host, Lawrence and his family. Lawrence is the headmaster…aka Principal, of African Vision of Hope’s school in Kasama, as well as, the pastor of Kasama Central Baptist Church. Therefore, this month our ministry consisted of both. From Tuesday to Thursday, we worked with African Vision of Hope, helping teach the class with some of the nicest people in the world. Let me tell you something…this organization is a blessing. Here in Kasama, AVOH educates underprivileged children in Musanga (literally translated “Ghetto”), and provides a meal for the children in the name of Jesus….all through sponsorship from donors around the world. Eventually, the goal in Kasama is to provide education beyond primary school for these kids. It is still tough! Many parents have to pick and choose which child they can send to school and which ones they can’t. There just isn’t enough room….every class has almost 70 kids per 1 teacher. It is a sad reality, but is still a major blessing. So we got to teach the kiddos, play games, dance and sing with this vibrant bunch of kids!
When we were not in school during the week, we were usually doing outreaches in remote villages or busy marketplaces in or around Kasama sharing the love to Jesus. As it sounds busy…it was. Days typically were 10+ hours of ministry. Super long and draining, but very blessed and fruitful. This evangelism stuff I found is something I am good at. I loved each evangelism day. I got to preach in busy marketplaces with hundreds around….it was reminiscent of something Paul or Jesus would have done. Crazy to think, we as Christians are called to the same. Through all the outreaches, I would estimate that over a hundred people gave their life to Jesus for the first time and more recommitted their life to Christ. In the remote villages, we would just play music and walk around the village and dozens of children and people would follow the “white people” around to hear what we had to say. Again, the Lord was so present and an estimate of about a hundred came to Christ through those outreaches as well. Once we got done preaching in both marketplaces and remote villages we would pray over people for healing and whatever else they asked for. And to a huge suprise to me (I am a doubting Thomas on healings and giftings), people were instantly healed by the power of Jesus (I am now a huge believer in healing). I just want to briefly share two stories.
To turn to topic just a touch, once exciting thing happened while I was here in Kasama. Pastor Lawrence assigned me as the pastor while I have been living here. Therefore, I have preached every week and I feel the vast presence of the Lord guiding me and leading me in the sermons. I have matured and grown more comfortable sharing to an adult congregation. Wonderful stuff.
To sum up Zambia, I would have to say it has been the most growing month for me spiritually in my entire life. God has been so good and so evident. Love it! The country is beautiful, the waterfalls are unreal, and the people are super kind! Thank you Zambia!
