WATER

As many of you know, we have been having serious issues with water supply this past week. We were told it was a city problem. Here in Livingstone that means it may or may not ever be fixed!! But we have been praying, along with may of you, that God would provide.

Shannon went to the water company again yesterday. There were two Zambians in the "customer service" line who live in our area who had not had water in months! We were thankful that it had not been months for us. Shannon was told that a water truck would come to our neighborhood "soon" to fill our tank. But things are never as easy as they sound!! The"catch" was that we must have our own ladder, pump and hose to get the water from their tank to our tank! They did call to get directions to our house but we never did see the truck. We realized how completely we are dependent upon the Lord and HIM ALONE.

Thank you to all of you who prayed with us and for us ~ asking the Lord to provide water and more importantly ~ the grace to handle having NO water. Yesterday afternoon we realized we were completely out of water. There had been not one drop of city water for almost two days. All our buckets, trash cans, tubs were empty with no way to refill them. Shannon looked at me and said, "I think we need to pray ~ right now." So, in our living room, we got on our knees before the Lord and asked Him to do what only He could do. We asked for water or for wisdom to know where to go get water, trusting Him to provide either way. As we stood up Shannon said, "Well, a lady from church said we could always get water from them, so maybe I'll just go there."

But then we heard an amazing sound! Water was pouring from the outside water tap!!!! It was even running with enough pressure that the tank started to fill!!! For about an hour or so it was a flurry of activity! We praised the Lord while filling every bucket, tub & trash can available!!! We even got baths before bed!!! Below are some pictures of that hour. And no, I did not just stand around taking pictures! I actually got to wash all the dishes and mop all the floors! It gets pretty muddy carrying water through the whole house.

We are praising the Lord for His faithfulness to provide what we need. We have been learning to praise Him for His goodness and faithfulness ~ even with no water. Shannon reminded us of a Piper quote this week that we have been realizing in a deeper way than ever before, it goes something like, "what demonstrates true love for Christ is not gratitude for His gifts, but a glad-hearted zeal to leave all of His good gifts behind just to have Him." Water is certainly a gift from the Lord! I just don't think we realized that until now!

We have also been reminded that as we are dealing with having no physical water, the Lozi are living life with out THE LIVING WATER. How much more are they in need than we are? So we press on to know Him more and share Him with those here in Zambia. The guys left today, with three men from our church here, to teach in the village. Please keep them in your prayers. Hope you enjoy these pictures. Thanks again for praying and for being such an integral part of reaching the Lozi with the precious gospel of Christ!


Morgan had the job of washing out the tubs and getting them ready for baths!






This container is full of water drawn from a boar hole here in town. When we have this water it is Nathan's job to keep all of the drinking water containers in the house filled!







Shannon filing buckets at the outside spicket.






Filling buckets to carry into the house. Shannon wanted to make sure I got a picture of the water tank in the background. We could actually hear it filling!!! Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow ~ especially water this day!!!














This is a quote sent to us for our encouragement from a dear friend at home. It really meant a lot to us this week.

As long as we live, new trials will be needful. It is not that the Lord delights in grieving us and putting us to pain; on the contrary, He rejoices in the prosperity of His servants. No, it is not for His pleasure, but for our profit, that we may be made partakers of His holiness!

Perhaps you may have observed a bird, in a hedge, or upon the boughs of a tree; if you disturb it, it will move a little higher and thus you may make it change its place three or four times. But if it finds, after a few trials, that you continue to follow it, it takes wing at last and flies away!

Thus it is with us! When the Lord drives us from one creature-rest, we immediately perch upon another! But He will not allow us to stay long upon any. At length, like the bird, we are sensible that we can have no safety or stable peace below! Then our hearts take flight and soar heavenwards, and we are taught by His grace to place our treasure and affections out of the reach of earthly vanities. So far as this end is accomplished, we have reason to be thankful and say, happy rod--that brought me nearer to my God!

-- John Newton

Zambia Reformed Conference, Lusaka

We were so grateful for the opportunity to go to the Zambia Reformed Conference this year in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. This marked the 20th year for this conference. We really enjoyed being able to meet quite a few HeartCry missionaries. Here are just a few pictures.


Sam and Melly, missionaries to Kenya





Percy and Betty, missionaries in Malawi.




Meeting with the HeartCry Missionaries attending the conference. This was good time of fellowship and prayer. We have been praying for these brothers and sisters and it was such a blessing to finally meet them in person. We hope to have more time together with them in the days and years ahead.

Morgan's 10th Birthday!

We celebrated Morgan's tenth birthday in Lusaka. Before leaving we made a chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting and chocolate chips! Chocolate chips from HOME! Very YUMMY!





The Lord really blessed us with staying at a lodge that had not one, but TWO swimming pools! Morgan had a great time swimming on her birthday! What a treat from the Lord!






Morgan requested we eat lunch at Debonaire's Pizza. She and Emily shared a cheesy "pepperoni" pizza. She calls it pepperoni but it is really salami!





Morgan really wanted to visit a pet store. But since we didn't know of any we went to a veternarian's place. Dr. Liza was recommended to us by some fellow missionaries here. She let us walk around and look at all the dogs waiting for homes. Morgan is hoping to get a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy very soon. Dr. Liza says this is the best dog to have in the bush! We'll see!





Thanks to all of you who sent gifts/cards/emails. Morgan had a great day!
Happy Birthday Morgan!

Loading Thatch

Dave and Jessica Bonvillian came to spend some time with us this last week. It was a blessing to see them. We were only able to get in one teaching session in Vincent's village because, as you can see by the pictures, we were interrupted by other plans (this is the way things go here in Zambia!).

After we arrived at our campsite, our friend Dominic informed us that the people from the village across the river were delivering the grass bundles in their mukolos (canoes) to the village of Mutanda on our side and that we needed to go and fetch them quickly because they were waiting. Oh dear.

So we dropped everything, sent a hasty text message to our friend Gavin Johnson and asked him if we could borrow a trailer. He was very gracious in lending us a spare boat trailer which we rigged (and I do mean "rigged"!) to carry three loads of 4-inch-thick, long grass bundles (600 bundles total). It was pretty funny because the trailer was designed for boats, not bundles of grass. It reminded me of some kind of team building exercise - a design your own hauling trailer competition! We changed our design three times and the by the very end of the second day, we got it right!

So what's up with all the grass you may ask? Well, this is what we will use to build the thatch roof on our base camp pavilion. A camp pavilion is a shelter (like the kind you see at state park campgrounds), that will house a kitchen, bathroom, and storage for each of the two
families. We will use this pavilion the whole time we are building our permanent homes. Then it will be for guests and teams to use when they come to visit.

We submitted to the Lord's change of plans over the next two days and it felt good to take the first real step to getting established out in the bush. We are hoping to have the pavilion finished before the rains begin at the end of October. Then we can stay for longer periods of time and really devote our time and energy to learning Lozi!

Trip to Sioma, Zambia

This past week we spent in the home of IMB missionaries, Daniel
and Sky Scott. We had an amazing week! What a blessing from theLord! We worked on learning some Lozi using a method called PILAT. Aunt Sky gave Morgan some piano lessons! We took several boat rides, swam in the Lumbe River, took the boat up river to see Ngonye Falls, sat on the deck overlooking the Zambezi and enjoyed sweet fellowship with a brother and sister in the Lord! Here are a few pictures.

Nathan and Shannon at Ngonye Falls. These falls are horseshoe shaped and are very beautiful. The river actually flows under the rock on on either side of the falls.






Nathan and Shannon climbing down the rocks to get closer to the Falls!!! They had a blast!!






The walk from where we parked the boat to the Falls took us about half an hour. Some of the way was very rocky. Quite an adventure for a 9 year old!!









Both Reece families at the Falls.





Piano lessons with Aunt Sky. Morgan was SO excited! It really gave her a boost to get back into practicing each day. Sky has a degree in piano! What an unexpected blessing from the Lord!






Dinner at Mutewma Lodge with the Johnson Family. Shan is a year older than Morgan and Kayla is a year younger. They also have a daughter, Tammy, who is four. They served us dinner around the campfire. Each table had its own tablecloth, candle and place setting. It was such a fun atmosphere and the fellowship so sweet! You can see more pictures of the lodge at their website

http://www.mutemwa.com/

How To Be The Means Of Grace To Others

James 2:15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to him, "Go in peace, be warmed and well-fed," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by works, is dead.

We decided early on that we would be as transparent as possible in the hopes that others might benefit in some small way by our various dilemmas and experiences. This latest decision has to do with hiring workers. If you have been exposed to mission life much at all then you know that this is a debatable issue. Many will accuse missionaries who hire housekeepers, or gardeners, or security guards of living in excessive, wasteful luxury. I've heard that it's true (though I've never seen it) that there are some missionaries who drive around in Mercedes, living the 'high life' in large compounds with full staffs of workers while native Christian neighbors living in the area shake their heads in shame for the excessive lifestyle of the Western missionary. I hope that this is the exception; not the rule.

Anyway, there was a day when I looked down my super-spiritual nose at missionaries who lived with any helpers at all as living in wasteful extravagance. I found it appalling! That was until I became a full-time missionary myself and was suddenly forced to deal with these issues personally. And then I realized, this issue is not so cut and dried. I've been humbled.

So we will share with you how the Lord is leading us. This is not a justification of what we have decided to; but simply an explanation. Here are three major arguments for why we will, by the grace of God, be hiring workers:

1. It is common among the Zambians themselves to have a housekeeper and a gardener / guard. Almost all of the families at Trinity Baptist Church employ people like this. These are not 'health and wealth' charismatics either. These are extremely reserved and cautious reformed baptists who hold to the Five Solas and the 1689 London Baptist Confession. And they are common folk earning average incomes.

2. It is a cultural expectation. The "rich" help the poor by providing jobs. As Westerners, we are perceived as definitely having the means to help. If we don't, we communicate to those around us that we are uncaring and unmerciful, which dishonors the name of Jesus. While we are not slaves to cultural expectations, we are slaves to the righteousness of Christ and we must, as the Holy Spirit leads us, put into practice James 2:15 and prove that our faith is accompanied by legitimate works of mercy to the poor and needy that can really benefit them long term.

3. It is a legitimate need. Our wives will tell you that they had no idea how much work it would take just to live here! Steph looked at me just yesterday and said, "Whew! It's a lot of work just living through the day!" I have watched her and helped her. It's an all-day job just to prepare three meals, let alone shop for groceries (not at Wal-Mart, but at about six different shops and markets in order to get the best prices), wash the laundry, hang the laundry on the line to dry, iron all the laundry (in order to kill any mango fly eggs that may have been laid on the laundry while it was hanging outside - these eggs hatch and the larvae burrow into your skin), sweep and mop the floors, clean the bathrooms, and, on top of all that, try to homeschool the kids! There is a legitimate need for some housekeeping help.

So, we are in a position to help two families by providing two jobs. One is a housekeeping job for a lady named Carol. She is Lozi and she's a single mom with two kids. She has three glowing references and seems very professional and trustworthy. The other is a gardener / security job for a man named Millson. He is Tonga and we think he is a true Believer. His life lately has been absolutely tragic. His sister died last year. His father died just two months ago. His only child was killed by a drunk driver last month. The security company, Buffalo Eyes, who employs him pays K190,000 per month which is $38 U.S.. After he pays for rent (K 75,000) and water (K 25,000) and buys maize meal (K50,000) he only has K 40,000 left over to buy other necessities. So that's $8 U.S. to try to buy other groceries or clothes for his sister's two children that are living with him now or anything else they might need. Can you imagine?

When his child died he had no money to pay for a coffin. He had to buy the cheapest wooden box he could find, dig the child's grave and bury him all on his own. No one came to the funeral from his charismatic church except the pastor. Finally, on top of all that, his mother recently had a stroke. When he told me these things I was absolutely humbled. WE HAVE NO PROBLEMS. So we have decided to hire Millson as our gardener / security guard so that he can quit his job with Buffalo Eyes. He's a good, honest, hard-worker who appears to genuinely love the Lord. Our pastor, Michael Bwembya agrees. We will start him at almost double what he makes now (a fair wage) and will take some of the pressure off him and his family. This is just one way in which we feel that we can live out James 2:15 to prove that our faith is genuine by being a practical means of grace to those in need.

We are your servants for Christ's sake

I have never seen the depth of my own selfishness like I have in the last four days of working with the Lozi people. A brother brought to my attention the first four chapters of 2 Corinthians and this new reading has been like sun beams cutting through morning fog. I'll admit, it hasn't been an easy discovery.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:5, "For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants (slaves) for Jesus' sake."

I'll describe the process of visiting the Kuta, which is the Lozi "royal establishment" in Mwandi, an hour's drive east of Sesheke. This is the place where a group of higher chiefs make judgements on tribal matters in their area.

After changing a tire and eating a quick breakfast, we left our campsite at sunrise on the first day and began the long drive down the west side of the river, over the bridge and up the east side to pick up Chief Imbwae in his second village (where his favorite wife lives). After we went through all the formalities of greeting, discussion, and the presentation of our customary gifts to him (a bale of sugar, a bale of salt, bottles of cooking oil, and two bags of maize meal), we drove all the way back to the main village (about five hours total of driving on very rough roads) to meet with the entire village of Ilwendo to get their official "approval" before going to meet with the Kuta the next day. We arrived back at our campsite after dark.

The next day we got up before dawn, ate breakfast, picked up Nduna Ilwendo, the vice Nduna, the secretary, the counselor, Chief Imbwae (the regional chief who we brought over to the west side the day before), and our friend, Dominic, and traveled to Mwandi (about a three hour drive) and arrived at about 10 am. Along the way, we were responsible for feeding all of these men both days of traveling. So imagine us stopping along the road to serve breakfast and lunch. After arriving at the "royal establishment", we sat for two hours waiting for an audience with the Kuta (counsel of chiefs). Just after we ran to pick up some fish (complete with eyeballs and scales!) at the local market for the men to eat for lunch, the Kuta called us in. We went through all the formalities only for them to tell us that we would have to come back and see the Senior Chief (or lesser king depending on the context) for him to meet with us, question us, and give his final approval. So nothing final was accomplished that day.

With heavy hearts we drove back through Mwandi and stopped for the men to buy more fish. We drove on with the truck reeking of fish. The men wanted to do some shopping in Sesheke while we took Chief Imbwae back to his village on the east side of the Zambezi. This whole section took about two hours (we stopped several times to pick up people who were traveling with heavy loads along the side of the road - some men had been walking for three days to get to Sesheke) and so we arrived back in Sesheke at 7:30 pm, picked up the men we had left for shopping in the market (one of them had purchased a mattress that we loaded on the top of the truck) and we made the journey back to the village to drop them all off at their homes. We delivered Nduna Ilwendo (and the customary gifts that we brought for him) and made it back to the campsite at 10:00 pm; a sixteen-hour day. It's difficult to describe the range of emotions we felt that day. I was absolutely exhausted. I felt completely used up and sucked dry. I battled bitterness, self-pity, and discouragement. I didn't eat any supper that night. I just went to bed and poured out my heart to Jesus.

The next morning I was deeply humbled by the reminder of what Jesus endured all the time during his days of ministry. What I had endured the two previous days was NOTHING in comparison. I had endured so much less - and had endured it miserably! I was reminded from the writer of Hebrews that Jesus was tempted in every way like we are and yet He endured it without sinning even once!

Mark 1:32-35
That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons... and rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Jesus knew what it was like to be absolutely spent at the end of the day. What desperation must He have felt for time alone with His Father in order to be strengthened and rejuvenated? The realization finally hit home - Jesus understands me and knows my weaknesses. And so I sat in the early morning sun feeling loved by my Lord; repenting of my own self-centeredness; admiring the magnificent God-Man, the merciful Servant of all, who was used up and poured out every single day on an ungrateful and undeserving world; and asking for more grace to be like Him.