February Visit to Salamanu

It was a whirlwind of a trip during this month of February, 2011. Like the Catechism Team back in August, this was another children's teaching team, not a building team. Our friend Melissa arrived a few days earlier than Cheryl and her grandson Noah. The four days we spent out in the village were action packed! They were eager to do some children's ministry and we knew just the village for some children's catechism lessons - Salamanu.

Shannon and Enoch had gone to visit Salamanu village just the week before. This village is an hour's walk south of us, and we visited it a few times eighteen months ago with Dominic. After a few visits we stopped going temporarily because the people kept asking for "stuff" and didn't seem interested in bible teaching and the gospel. We had to cancel our last visit because most of the village was drunk. We had decided to wait a while before going back. Then we got busy with building the bush camp and teaching in the villages closer to camp. Thankfully, despite our long absence, Shannon and Enoch were warmly received. The people quickly gathered and stayed to listen to the gospel even when it started raining (they produced an umbrella for Shannon and Enoch). Shannon strongly emphasized that we were not coming to bring them "stuff" like shoes and cement, but that we came first and foremost to give them the gospel. The village took the rebuke well and begged the guys to come back.








































We spent three - and - a - half days doing a short, intense version of the catechism teaching from back in August. There were morning and afternoon sessions each day. By the third day, we counted almost 70 children and perhaps 20 men and women attending. Of course the children loved it, and the village could not get enough of Enoch's original Lozi songs. But what surprised us most were the men. Although it was a program primarily for children, and often taught by women, the men in Salamanu defied their cultural norms and came to every session. They even brought notebooks and pens and took notes! One young man brought out a stereo, powered by solar panel and battery, and recorded Enoch's songs and some of the lessons!

After one session, while we were still working with the kids, the men of the village called Enoch and Vincent over. They said to Enoch, "Please, you must try to start a church in our village. Don't worry that you must go back to Livingstone and cannot always be here. If you will teach us, we will continue meeting." Remember that promise from God - "I will teach you in the way you should go"?

We could not help contrasting Salamanu with Ilwendo. During the catechism lessons in Ilwendo in August, almost none of the men came (except our workers). Some in Ilwendo have asked us when we will build a church building, but none have asked us to come teach them (except Vincent and Robert). There is an interest, almost a pleading, in Salamanu that we have never seen in Ilwendo.







After eighteen months of struggle and very little progress (even God resisting our building efforts) and, more specifically, eight months of discouragement and uncertainty, (questioning if God even wanted us here), it is such a joy to actually see fruit. In fact, there is enough happening right now that, in some ways, I regret leaving the work here in order to visit the states. Wow. I marvel at the grace of God.

Ben and Chuck Come to Visit

Sometimes it's the little things as well as the big things that make such a difference in the field. Not only did Chuck and Ben lay new cement floors and tile counter tops in the kitchen at the camp, but they helped me figure out how to keep the canvas closed on the back of my truck! (The zippers failed long ago).

Amidst all of the building the Lord enabled Chuck to teach in the village as well. We spent time in prayer together at the camp, and had a visit and time of encouragement with our good friends, the Johnson's and at Mutemwa Lodge. Chuck was able to stay in one of the tent sites with Enoch getting to know him. And Ben really enjoyed playing guitar with Enoch. It's hard to explain how much cement floors meant to our wives at the camp. The nuisance of constant dust, dirt, and mud in the kitchen was suddenly gone. Praise the Lord!

Using a grommet kit and new bungee cords for the canvas cover over the bed of Shannon's truck.






















The finished product.









Sifting gravel to put in the concrete mix.









The cement floor for our dining room.... one our biggest accomplishments yet!









And more cement for our kitchens!!









A little go-cart type thing that Chuck helped our girls build (Morgan, Emily and the Johnson girls, Shan and Cayla).

Marc and Matt Come to Visit

In mid-September of this last year, Marc and Matt, our friends / brothers from HeartCry came to visit (Yes, they are twins but I won't tell you who's older). They were able to share in our fun, joys and hardships firsthand. And we were genuinely strengthened in the Lord as a result of their encouragement. Praise the Lord for the gift of family and friends who hold the rope and intercede for us on the other side of the globe.

A broken tie-rod on Shannon's truck. We wired it together til we could get back to Livingstone a few days later.

















And the other one is stuck.

















Almost out!








Marc having fun with our drum.








The guys at the Falls.









Moving the pump in the Zambezi again!!








Playing cards by headlamp light.

There is a True and Living God

Last August Bette Jean and Shaye came to work with the children in the surrounding villages and introduced a whole new facet of ministry for us. Praise God for New Covenant Christian Fellowship in Greenville, South Carolina! They took it upon themselves to write and produce, and (with Enoch's help) translate into Lozi, a twenty-nine page soft-cover book for children, complete with beautiful, full-color hand-painted illustrations. The title is, "There is a True and Living God" and it covers twelve foundational questions and answers about the reality of God from scripture. It's really a catechism. Catechism is an old-fashioned word used to refer to a teaching tool (usually a booklet) for children that helps in memorizing biblical truths by putting the information in a Q&A format. Catechisms were widely used in evangelical churches even up until the early 1900s.

Twice a day for a week the girls, Enoch, and alternating members of our families went to the small villages around our camp. Enoch wrote a Lozi song for each of the twelve truths which he introduced each day. Shaye and Bette Jean alternated with teaching the lessons. When each lesson was over we played a game with the kids. At the end of the week each child received a coloring book copy of the catechism and a small pack of crayons and we gave each family an actual book. Mildred, Joseph's wife, commented to me, "Now we have another book to put beside our bible in our home." She was genuinely happy and proud to have it. We are grateful to NCCF and Enoch for their generosity and hard work in producing the book. We are still reaping the benefits of it even six months later. Children are still coming to our camp site to greet us instead of us always going to them and we even hear them occasionally in the distance singing the theme song Enoch taught them. This may be the beginning of a long-lasting relationship. Visit this website to see the catechism! http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/there-is-a-true-and-living-god/11904312?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/1

Bette Jean showing the kids
some of the pictures.

Christmas Greetings

We're in Livingstone this Christmas and it's a balmy, breezy, sunny, 90 degree F. day outside. Though it was extremely hot yesterday, I still think everyone is enjoying being in the apartments this year as opposed to camping out in the bush.

We still have a lot of news from the past couple of months to deliver to you. In fact, three teams have come and gone since our last update. We will post those pics and tell you about those trips. But for now, it seems right to put all other things aside and just talk about Jesus.

We've been reading some excerpts from "God's Gift of Christmas," a little book written by MacArthur, with the kids over the last few weeks. One of the excerpts was on Luke 2:11 which reads - "For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." In the Greek the title Christos means "the anointed one." That title signified that an ultimate authority was anointing someone and placing him in a very high office. In Jesus' case, the ultimate authority who anointed Him was none other than His own Father, the Sovereign of the universe. God Himself declared Jesus to be The King of kings and The Lord of lords.

In light of what is happening in the Western Province these days this truth is very reassuring. The Lozi royal establishment and the senior chief continue to drag their feet. It has been confirmed from a few sources that our speculation appears to be correct - the Kuta is stalling on purpose to see if we will resort to bribery. In their minds we will be willing to pay "under the table" in order to move the process along. So we are still in a bit of a standoff. We also read recently that the president for the Barotse Patriotic Front, Mutangelwa Imasiku, confirmed in an interview that a group of people from Western Province would soon announce the Limulunga Declaration which states that the Lozi people of Western Province want to declare Barotseland its own country and separate from the rest of Zambia. In response the government warned those trying to cause anarchy in the country that they would not be tolerated.

Interesting, isn't it? So as we sit in our home in Livingstone with all of these little "kings" and "lords" shaking their fists, insisting that they be recognized, Jesus Christ the Lord, "the anointed one," sits on his throne in Heaven and laughs (Psalm 1:4).

May Christ be praised and may all of you enjoy a very, merry Christmas in the Annointed One.

Terry, Cindy, and Sam Visit in July

In July our good friends Terry and Cindy Hammock, and Sam Bonney came to see us and help us out with lots of odds and ends projects. They were a real blessing from the Lord to us. It was Sam's first trip outside the U.S. and he really enjoyed it (at least that's what he said!). Besides all the work projects, both Terry and Sam shared their testimonies of God's grace in their salvation with our Lozi workers. Terry also taught in one of the nearby villages on the historic Five Solas:

1. Scripture alone
2. (By) Grace alone
3. (Through) Faith alone
4. (In) Christ alone
5. (To) The glory of God alone

Terry used this history lesson to survey and explain these five distinctive, foundational doctrines (or teachings) that have been passed down to us from guys like Martin Luther and others from the Protestant Reformation. These doctrines are not taught in the churches in the area and we felt it was important for the Lozi people to see the difference from Scripture. He reviewed these lessons again with our workers during our noon devotion time.

Here are some pics of what we all worked on:



Packing the trucks and getting ready to go.



Nathan building a bench for the shower. Alicia helping. Finished bench looks great!

Cindy, Steph, and Joyce dug trenches and planted trees between fixing meals.










Sam and the crew building and installing a solar hot water heater. There's roughly 150 meters of black 20mm pipe in a coil. For about four hours a day the water is scalding hot.












Mounting the solar water heater.









Working on a compost bin.















Building an adobe oven.


















Preparing square foot garden beds.










Laying in gray water lines that drain from sinks and showers into mulch beds around trees and shrubs.

How True!

"If you think you have come to the mission field because you are a little better than others, or as the cream of your church, or because of your medical degree, or for the service you can render the African church, or even for the souls you may see saved, you will fail. Remember, the Lord has only one purpose ultimately for each one of us, to make us more like Jesus. He is interested in your relationship with Himself. Let Him take you and mould you as He will; all the rest will take its rightful place."

--told to Helen Roseveare, at the start of her missionary days in the Congo