July 15- Thoughts After Return

It’s now been over a week since we left Zambia. For those who have gotten a chance to sit down with me, you know that I haven’t been able to stop talking about what God did over there. Among the topics that often comes up is whether or not I should return, as that was what I felt led to when I started exploring the idea of going this summer last December that the Lord would guide this into a two year project.

In order to truly answer this question, which I still haven’t yet, I guess is to look at how God has guided me thus far.

The Lord truly took my passions for Non-governmental agency work used it but then from there added on the opportunity to minister to Zambians outside of merely living/leading by example.

If you told me two years ago when I considered going to Zambia, or heck when I was boarding the plane to go to Lusaka this past April that I would have a pastor like role, giving 4 to 5 sermons a week, and making 10 to 15 house visits throughout my time in Zambia this summer, not only would I have thought you were crazy, but I probably would not have gone. Out of sheer cowardness, but because I would and still feel unprepared.  I think that’s the greatest part.  I have no theological training, have no religion or philosophy studies, but am in fact a Spanish Major!

But that’s how God works sometimes, and I would like to suggest from this trip, is the fact that its because of these points that have not lead to me to necessarily have a huge fire to return to Zambia next year or commit to anything for that matter without a full calling from the Lord to do so

As I work in the synthetic organic lab here at Hope, and fall into a complete different pace,

Just as I would be mobbed by those 100 Zambians again just to be given the opportunity to plant seeds in their lives, I would do anything for people like Eneless and Isaac.

In my notebooks from this summer lie these names and signatures. These names represent the individuals that the Lord had me visit and pray for. These were brothers and sisters, some that the Lord had me bring to him and others wise and strong Christians

That was the flock that the lord had me witness to. Don’t get me wrong I am by no means a pastor, I have no theological training, however these people asked me   Plain and simple, the widows and orphans, the elderly, the sick, the poor, these were not only individuals that the Lord brought into my life, they became my brothers and sisters in Christ as we fellowshipped, ate together, and worked together for the same kingdom, the same body, and the same family.

People say that your life changes when you go to Africa. Some people say it’s what you see, it’s what you hear. I would like to suggest to take this idea one step further and state that it’s the stories of my new brothers and sisters that catch on fire.

The stories of Eneless the 70 year old lady battling memory, hungry, the corrupt education system and trying to care for her daughter who has a benign tumor growing on her face. Or maybe its Changala the 28 year old double orphan paying the way for his 3 sibling through school and even college and taking care of his bed ridden sick mother for the last 5 years of her life. These stories are what truly open my eyes to a different kind of Africa. Not of lions and tigers, or elephants, and not identifying these as poor and starving little children stricken with diseases that we should donate money too. These are all ideas that are sound, and most even true. However I would like to suggest, that the best way to view Africa is that these are people, individuals made in the image of God, many of which are part of our Body of Christ (1^st Corinthians 14) and exemplifying the lifestyle of Luke 12.

In short, they are brothers and sisters in Christ who are on fire and won’t quit for God. We can draw success of this trip by numbers non-profit or spiritual wise(over 1500 pieces clothing donated to the poor by next year, the starving children fed, over 50 children for free VCT testing, 60 accepting Christ as their savior, Hundreds who heard the gospel preached ), we can go by the hundreds of stories that were too long for me to fit into this journal, we can tell of the miraculous healings, or spiritual battles. But at the end of the day, what’s most important is that the will of the Lord was done, and that in itself was sufficient.

I close with two thoughts, and since I really have Two years ago I asked God for some sort sign or direction to lead me towards what path he wanted me to take. At the time I believed that the trip to Zambia was some sort of message for me to go into Medicine. When the planning for this trip fell into full swing this past January, I believed it was public health. As my plane landed in JFK last week I realized that these paths or methods aren’t truly trying to make sense of all this mumbo jumbo. The path the lord wants me to take is for his kingdom--- for the work for the cross is sufficient.

This thought directly ties into the poem I would like to share that is poem that found at the back of Derrick Bingham’s book Encouragemen Oxygen for the Soul.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 If my goal this summer was to become a doctor I would have stayed at Hope researching and volunteering at the hospital. If my goal was public health I would have applied for a CDC Internship. If my goal was to help people I would have continued to invest in another ministry God has blessed me with Exodus an at-risk outreach  ministry in Holland. If my goal was to become a missionary, I would have gone to South America or Asia where I am actually fluent in those languages. But yet it was the Lord’s love that brought me to Zambia. It’s the same love that he used to give his life for you and me, the Zambians and everyone around the world. I would like to suggest that at the point that he’s given his life for you, me and everyone else, it’s our job to give our lives to him.

Where will his love lead you today?

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July 5 -- Arrival back to the US

Before I post these last two posts from my journal I would just like to thank Megan Timmer for a wonderful job of keeping my blog nice and tidy the last two weeks. She was truly dedicated and helped me with so many logistical issues as I had too slow of internet to post the blogs myself but only to e-mail to her.

Also a special thanks to Bianca Yuh for being just plain amazing. Your dedication this summer has been incredible, and willingness to follow God's call was something that I can't mention enough as an inspiration to me.. I regret not having the time to give you a few more shout outs on this blog along this trip, for without your careful listening and passion, this trip would not have been possible. 

It’s been over a week since returning from Zambia. As I describe how the last two incredible days went, I would also like to note how incredible our Lord God in Heaven truly is. Even as we left Zambia those last few days the Lord was watching over me. I woke up on the third with an incredible headache which worsened as the day went on. By this time Bianca and I had moved all of our luggage from Linda to the hostel here in Lusaka. Joseph Shawa and Nicholas came to visit us that afternoon to spend the night. In many ways it was mine and Bianca’s little way of showing our appreciation to all the hard work that they have shown to us including being our translators for sermons, surveys, and simply living lives where they lead by example. We treated ourselves to delights that we hadn’t had in many months that night, by having burgers at a fast food restaurant ( Steers, it’s a big deal), and even went to watch a movie in a theatre (prices here seem like a ¼ of what they are in the States, remember in 5th grade when tickets were like 5 bucks a piece?) 

Unfortunately I felt horribly sick after what was one of the strangest movies ( Green Lantern). We returned to Linda on Sunday Morning the 3^rd to complete some unfinished business. We ran into Regina, Bianca and Tiffany’s host from last year who had cooked us a delicious meal on Thursday. We also got to see the football team in action one last time.  For the first time that we had been  at LOH, the Football team  lost that afternoon. It was kind of a sour note to walk out on. But nonetheless  as Bianca and I hugged the players goodbye. Warren walked away clutching my letter in hand, ( he claimed he cried for a day last time I left). Francis hugged me and whispered in my ear how much he was going to miss us.  Amon (Also known as yellow because his skin is lighter) didn’t even realize I was leaving until we walked away from the field. 

We walked away in the same manner as we arrived eight weeks ago, with kids screaming “Eway Muzungu”(Which means, hey you white man!) all the way to even the bus stop. We were “welcomed “ by some drunk people on the bus on the ride home. It’s the little things that you remember

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Leaders at Baptist Bible Society of Zambia (Rev. David Berean and Rev. Luke Buleya)

The next morning sick I struggled to get up. Food just wasn’t going down.  In most situations I would have just stayed lying down on the bed before we left for the airport that morning, but there was one last thing that we had to do. I thought I had misplaced some of my receipts for the Baptist Bible Society bibles that I had purchased last week. When I arrived however at 9:00 there was nobody present at the society. I found my receipt around this point and was about to leave when the director of the society showed up. The director promptly felt lead by the spirit to donate 15 more bibles to the bible library of Light of Hope. It was not only a surprise, but a huge blessing from the Lord. Based off of our calculations, the number of bibles had stood at about 35, with little room to grow, these 15 more raise the # near to the number of individuals that had accepted Christ as their Savior. What a wonderful God we serve! 

We paid for a small mini-bus of people to escort Bianca and myself as well as Nick, Maines and Poso to the airport. (Nick Mainess and Poso as mentioned in a previous post are going to Ghana in a fully paid sponsored trip by MIT to the country of Ghana to learn about NGO work abroad. It’s their first time on an airplane and for many their first trip out of Zambia. How exciting! 

As we parted ways in the airport, I hugged Joseph on last time, come to think of it and as strange as it was, it was probably the first time that we had ever exchanged a hug. It’s a culturally thing I suppose, but I made sure I let him know how much I did value our friendship. Together we had conquered basketball matches together, prayed for the sick together, and he along with Robert Shawa translated countless messages for me before hundreds. I don’t think I’ll truly be able to describe how much his story has inspired me. 

My total transit from Lusaka Zambia back to Midland Michigan totaled 40 hours. Including over 20 hours of plane rides. By the grace of God my sickness had minimal impact on me and was able to return home to the open arms of my immediate family. As my plane lands here in Detroit and I finish these thoughts in my journal, I left one family to see a community. And returned with much lighter suitcases, many bug bites, a horrid neck tan. I also relived my soccer days there, learned to build the biosands filter, but most of all met and found more brothers and sisters in Christ than I could count. And that in itself makes it all worth it. 

The next few days I will write several more reflective entries and journals. Thank you for your loving prayers and willingness to accompany Bianca and I on this eight week trek in Zambia. Go in God’s wonderful blessing.

July 2

The last 3 days have been incredible. Bianca and I have been rotating our time between Linda and town as we purchase the final bibles for the Linda Compound Library. Some dearly loving families back home at Calvary Baptist Church have lovingly offered to sponsor some vernacular bibles to purchase  After working with the Baptist Society of Zambia as well as the Bible Society of Zambia we have officialy over 35 bibles for the bibles. 15 of which will be given to those who recently accepted Christ while the rest will stay in light of Hope for individuals to come in and read.

On Friday we also had an incredible outreach opportunity. Through Grass Roots Soccer as well as Tiny and Tim Friends collboration with LOH, we had the first VCT in Linda compound official outreach in over 3 years. Over 50 children got tested and many adults got tested as well. In order to attract the community we held two large soccer tournaments to bring in the youth and much of the community to come watch. IT was most impressive to see the tents, and hundreds of adults being educated on what VCT and HIV prevention. It's a disease that has ravaged this compound, as hundreds of lives were reached today through testing, education, as well as through outreaches, and sensitization.

This morning, Bianca and I visited the well known Kabwata village in Lusaka which sells lots of African carvings and trinkets. Through the bargaining, I was able to walk out with probably $500 worth of stuff for abaout $20 after giving away  a few shirts a lot of hand sanitizer and trading away a lot of packets of gum.

In other news I also got to meet my favorite friend Jeremiah from two years ago, a young man who is on fire for god. I met him two years ago, he is a professional cricket player in Zambia who is also a police officer and yet the lord has blessed hiim with an incredible zeal for Christ which was a huge part of the reason I returned back to Zambia. With more time
I will write more about him in the near future.

June 29

I returned early this morning with Livingstone, let me just recount what happened the last two days as I visited Livingstone. Robert Shawa runs an orphanage in Livingstone, it's called Hopefiled Ministries. Since the year 2002, Mr. Shawa has adopted roughly 15 orphans/street children. These children will come to his home each Saturday for a meal as well as for bible studies and various activities. Since 2002, this ministry has served over 90 orphans, sending about 5 of them through college.

With little to no funding, Mr. Shawa uses his personal meager construction funds to provide these children with food 3 out of the 7 days of the week, and schooling when possible. The best part of his ministry however is the fact that he spends time making sure that these children will learn to read the bible and accept Jesus Christ at a young age. Much of our day was spending with Robert Shawa exploring different fundraising options for this organization. One of the main methods that we have disocvered is through the salahula clothing that we bought, we have projected that the clothing can raise a projected enough money that will be used towards purchasing a chicken farm. This chicken farm will then be used to pay for the children's schooling. Please pray that the Lord continues to guide Mr. Shawa and his ministry through this process. I also got the opportunity to give a short message to these oprhans as I shook hands and gave candy to them. They all seemed even more attentive and well behaved than the crazy children that will scream names at Bianca and I in Linda. They were so attentive and so willing to learn more.

I left Livingstone on a night bus at 10:00 pm and arrived in Lusaka this morning at around 4:00 am. With little time to rest Bianca and I set out a few hours later to get my yellow fever shot ( South Africa recently made a law that all individuals passing through the country must get a yellow fever vaccination traveling from Zambia). Afterwards we traveled back to Linda again to finish building the AQ water filters.

That evening we had 2 good bye parties. The first was at Regina's house, who was the host for Bianca and her sister Tiffany a year ago. She cooked a delicious meal. Regina's family will also be taking one of our AQ water filters this year for monitoring. They were most excited at the opportunity to have clean water. Lord willing through their diligence we will be able to truly see if this filter is able to be used. Also through other studies we found today that the water enterprise water ( the main source of tap water that about 30% of families have) is contaminated with coli fecal matter.

That night at the LOH good-bye party, for us as well as Mr. John Shawa ( who will be leaving for Ghana for a conference all sponosred for by MIT ), I was asked to give one last Sermon. As I got up I wanted to make something very clear, that this good-bye was a mere see you later. This see you later while wasn't a guarantee that we would return, it was a see you later, in the sense that I was hoping to see those who hadn't yet accepted Christ as their savior in Heaven. The youth that stood before me in my true opinion were the future of this compound and the ones that were truly going to make an impact in that compound, and not myself or Bianca or anybody. It was going to be through their diligence of staying with these sustainable programs through the grace of God. As  I lay my head down, I feel like I haven't slept in 30 hours, please pray for our health and protection.

June 27

We started the day at 6:00 AM with the interns at God's House Ministries with devotions and sharing testimonies and what God has been doing in Kalomo. I also got to share a little of what God has done through Bianca and myself in Linda the last two months.. I also got to meet the Brown family who are considering joining the African Child ministries in Kalomo.

This morning we went to a compound in the area to play with Children. It was a most interesting expereicne as we visited with the area chiljdren and simply just played with them and prayed for them. The favorite game that some of the children liked was running laps around the compound, chasing after the tennis ball in my hand that Rob and I threw back and forth. The compounds were very similar to Linda Compound in the sense that they were very compact however were a little less densely populated. To my surprise while Kalomo is a Tonga speaking area, the vernacular Nyanja I spoke, many children understood as well.

In the afternoon we visited an orphanage kept by Church of Christ. While the interns spent time with the children, Rob and I got to pray for each other, and relay what God's been doing in each ministry. He was such an encouragement to me these last two months as he was the first man to call us to welcome us back to Zambia.

I spent the day in Kalomo, before taking a night bus and arrived in Livingstone to visit Robert Shawa( my translator in Linda).

June 26

After what was one of my longest days of my life, we spent last night at Light of Hope. We got the neat opportunity to visit God's House Ministries which is down the road. I belive I mentioned earlier in My blog running into Pastor Ryan McCarty and his daughter walking through Linda. While Pastor McCarty had left Zambia by this time, Bianca and I thought it would be good to go visit his church that he has planted and make future connections. The big yellow striped tent was full of people as we walked in and we were most astonished at the great preaching which was about how Christ is our interceder. This sermon was an inspiration for myself as we walked back to LOH, and I decided to incorporate it into my message to give to the Light of Hope Gospel Church that morning.

 The sermon was on the Love of Jesus Christ, a topic that the Lord has revealed too many revelations about for me to count this summer. Rehighlighting the power that His Love has in keeping the Body of Christ together, the Lord also had me speak on a topic that I've had such a hard time thinking on. Luke 12 marks very clearly on how we has humans cannot add an hour to our lives and should therefore never worry about tomorrow as the Lord will provide for us. This concept for me has been incredibly difficult, especially to say to Zambians. How can I as an American give this sort of message to Zambians? I've emptied all of my suitcases since coming here ( I might get charged at the airport for having too light of a suitcase), but even then I am in no case to say that do not worry about what you will wear. While I may get the opportunity to have the life of no electricity and no water for 2 months, when I back in July, I get my family and my comfortable life back, CAN I REALLY SAY don't worry about what you will wear or what you will eat tomorrow?? And as I struggled with this, the spirit really pushed it through in my heart. Christ Came down to earth and lived for over 30 years before starting in his ministry? Why? Because he wanted to live just like humans, being born in the low of lows in a manger. He gave up everything, and while I as an american spanish student have no idea what exactly these individuals are going through, their father in heaven, has every idea. And that is sufficient.  Bianca and I also got the opportunity to announce the exciting news that we will be starting a Bible library at Linda through Light of Hope. As the service ended at around 12:30, my eyes were twitching, when I shook Victoria's ( Pastor Phiri's  5 year old daughter) hand after the service, the smile on her face almost made me just lose it and let all the tears flow. Here was a girl who was born with some birth complications who lives with true joy. While still at the age 5 she can barely walk, and can barely talk, she had true joy. This was my sister that I was leaving, and while I had lived nearly just at her level for two months, it didn't seem fair that I could walk out, until you take the perspective of faith into true perspective. Bianca and I left Linda soon after the service, and a tearful goodbye to our last church service.

This evening I took a bus from Lusaka to Kalomo to visit African Child Ministries led by Rob and Christa Murphy. Bianca will stay in Lusaka for these two days as I visit the two ministries in Kalomo in Livingstone The bus ride was from 19:00, and I arrived in Kalomo at around 1:00 a.m Unfortunately the bus driver had forgotten that I was to get off at Kalomo ( final destination is Livingstone). And so I got dropped off about a mile away from the bus station. After calling Rob he was able to find me.

Saturday June 25

I'm writing this after what was one of the craziest days in my life.
In many ways it probably was one of the most busiest days in Linda
Compound. Light of Hope held its first ever open house. While I'm sure
God used this day for immense amount of ways (more about that later)
it was probably one of the greatest logistical nightmares of all time.
The open house consisted of an intense popcorn eating contest, a
dancing competition, quiz competitions, as well as nutrition and
health demonstrations.

We started off from town at around 8:00 so we could get to Linda by
9:30 to help facilitate the open house. What we found was over 200 to
300 people gathered around LOH prepared for the open house. Outside
Modreta and Warren, two of the soccer players traded off on the mega
phone pumping up the crowd. It was unreal. In our time at Linda, aside
from maybe the growth monitoring during child health week, there was
never anything like it.

The first 100 individuals were promised an undisclosed prize. We
decided that this prize would be either a bible for 5 to 6 months
rental from the LOH bible library that Lord willing we will be
starting this week, or one free article of clothing.

After a brief demonstration on the morning a leaf (a special leaf that
is known to cure over 100 diseases in the continents of Africa, Asia
and South America combined), the Aqua Clara Water Filter and the ISSB,
we proceeded to the local community schools for the clothing sales as
well as other programs. The prize winners soon became restless
however, which led to some mass confusion. I found myself the one who
was supposed to collect the slips and mark down what each individual
desired. The single filed line turned into a mob of people all
shouting and shoving to get to me in the center so I could write their
# down. I suppose when something is free, people will do anything to
get at it.

Clothing from the sales also went missing, as some caregivers who were
selling became incredibly overhwhelemd with too many customers. Bianca
and I did our best to work with the staff to calm the crowds down, but
to very little avail.

By around 13:00, the lord gave me the opportunity to preach to a crowd
of about 70 to 80 individuals. With much of the crowd being of the
younger age. I gave a very short message, the Lord however pried at me
share the message of salvation. While nearly 90% of the crowd raised
their hand stating they had accepted Christ, I wasn't so sure how
genuine it was as many children simply were looking around to see who
else would raise their hands.

However it was happened next that blew me a way. After the prayer, a 6
year old girl came up to me asking me to pray for her headache. After
I prayed for her she became lively again, seeing this happen, many of
the children rushed over asking to be prayed for. Soon, children
weren't just asking to be healed for their sicknesses, adults and
children alike asked for things in their lives, sins that they
struggled with, evil desires. Many of them understood their struggle
with sin.

This conversation with the young boys was truly incredible. Many of them truly understood they were sinners, but many of them also understood that it was only by the grace of God that they could stop sinning and spend eternity with them. While the days events were tough to say the least, those 15 minutes in that quiet classroom as the dancing competition went on outside made it all worth it. I'm willing to get mobbed by another 300 Zambians in the hot sun just to lead one more of those genuine young children to Christ. Their true humbleness really put Matthew 18:4 in a whole new light.