Many of you may know the famous Livingstone quote above (“Dr. Livingstone I presume?”) but I had no clue who Dr. David Livingstone was before this month….Fortunately, NOW I am aware of who he is and am making it my task to fill you in too!!
“If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.” David Livingstone
Dr. David Livingstone was born in 1813 in England. He set out in his schooling to become a missionary doctor. His desire and mission as a missionary doctor was to reach the new peoples of the interior of Africa with Christianity while also bringing awareness and action to the African slave trade.
“Cannot the love of Christ carry the missionary where the slave-trade carries the trader? I shall open up a path to the interior or perish” David Livingstone
His travels in Africa spanned 25 years in which he traversed 45,000km of uncharted African territory. He shared the good news with many tribes throughout the continent while also discovering new geographical locations. One such discovery I had the privilege of seeing first hand!!! More on that later….The last six years of his life, Livingstone lost himself in the heart of Africa having very little correspondence with the outside world. In 1871 a reporter from NYC came to find Livingstone and upon seeing a white male in a remote village is quoted asking him, “Dr. Livingstone I presume?”
As mentioned above, Livingstone in his travels (1852) came across the natural wonder of the world known to us as Victoria Falls. Having the local name “Mosi-oa-Tunya” meaning the smoke that thunders, Livingstone renamed it Victoria Falls in honor of Queen Victoria.
It was truly a spectacular sight to see and experience to enjoy. The mist coming up from the falls is so constant and heavy that we got totally drenched….it was as if I had taken a shower with my clothes on!
There are two sides of falls – Zimbabwe or Zambia. We went to the Zimbabwe side, which is the side I would recommend for all of you who are planning to see them some day.
While I am thankful for Dr. Livingstone’s discovery of the falls, I am even more thankful for his life of service to the Lord here in Africa where we are still seeing the fruit of his evangelism today!
Lauren
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2 Corinthians 5:15
