When we
arrived in Lusaka from Livingstone, we were greeted by an entourage. Among them were our contacts, Bishop John
Mambo and Reverend Michael Siwale. We
were taken to Mambo’s farm just outside of Lusaka. It was arranged for us to stay at Mambo’s
farm for a few days before we head to Nyamphande, Mambo’s orphanage and
community school. The next day we were
invited to Mambo’s office for a meeting.
We were very surprised to find the press there. It was very strange…especially for me. Apparently leadership is held to a much
higher esteem in their culture. They
would not allow the team to eat if I wasn’t there and for a long time Mambo
wouldn’t talk business with anyone from the team…only me. Anyway, because of this the press would only
talk to me and ask me questions. After the
newspaper left things got better until the news crew arrived! I never thought the World Race would get me
on TV! But anyway I was interviewed on
Zambian news for what we were doing here and how we got here.
The
next day we all loaded into a truck and began the journey into rural
Zambia. We arrived at Nyamphande
orphanage and community school about 2 hours later. They allowed us to stay in a new house they
built for the teaching staff. They left
us there to determine for ourselves what we want to do. The only instructions they gave us was to
help the choir prepare a program for a Church of God conference on the 22nd
in Lusaka. We had lots of plans to do
bible studies and games with the kids, until we learned that all the kids were
leaving on vacation in a few days. As it
turns out though, we ended up having enough on our plates between choir
practice, evangelism and hospitality ministry.
Since
all the kids were gone and we had our own house, we used this as an opportunity
to build relationships with some of the teachers and church members. It was great to meet with them and have tea
and build friendships with them. Several
of us would also go out evangelizing several times a week. We would go to houses of people in nearby
villages, and most of them were Christians.
I really enjoyed going around to all the homes and talking to people and
God really came through to give me a message for everyone we came to. Sometimes it was a message of
encouragement. Other times it was a
message of rebuke or instruction.
Regardless, it was a great opportunity to teach and I love teaching. Choir practice was fun because not only did
we teach them a few English songs but they taught us some songs in their
language, nyange, and how to dance to them.
The
most difficult aspect of this ministry was not anything physical, it was much
more spiritual. It began with a lot of
us not being able to sleep at night, and others of us began getting sick. Eventually I had a dream one night that I
woke up and was surrounded by demons by all sides. The next day we prayed over the house and
realized there was a lot there but whatever it was wasn’t leaving. The next day I spoke to the head master of
the school who is also the pastor of the church. As it turns out witchcraft is very prominent
in that area. So as we figured out about
voodoo in Haiti…witchcraft is very real.
Granted it’s all demonic, but real enough. He came down to our house and prayed with us
and that helped but it was a constant battle.
Undoubtedly there were people we would evangelize to who practices
witchcraft and even people in the church and since we’re white missionaries, we
became prime targets. But God sustained
us in amazing ways and answered our prayers.
And in the process grew our faith in Him.
So now
we are back at Bishop Mambo’s farm recovering.
After 2 straight months of ministry together with no squad de-brief we
are ready to get back to the family.
We’re flying back to South Africa on Wednesday and starting de-brief on
Thursday. Then we fly out to Romania on
September 3rd. So please pray
that we would be poured back into.
Please pray for rejuvenation and restoration for Team Manna. And also please pray for our ministry next
month in Romania. Grace and Peace!
