Testimony from Western Zambia

In June my co-leader, Patrick, and I took a team to the western province of Zambia. We had traveled to Kapau village, located inside the Sioma National Park. We had to take a park guard in with us because of the wild animals that lived around the village. This was proven to us as we saw the lion and leopard tracks on the road into the village. I had been in this village during my recon trip in the end of May and had asked for permission to bring the team to do ministry. It was already night when we finally arrived, and we were greeted by the headmaster and several of the villagers. We made camp, and the following morning gained permission from the headman of the village to have a soccer match and hold an evangelism meeting. The only requirements he gave us was that he did not want a church planted in the village and that we must meet with the leaders of the local church. The church that is in place there is a very legalistic religion and has unfortunately moved away from the Gospel message. They focus on a works based message. As Patrick and I sat in a classroom at the school, we found ourselves being grilled with question after question about what our intentions were in the villages, what the message is that we preached, and the most trivial questions one could imagine (i.e. what denomination does God belong to, what day should the sabbath be). After this Q&A, we held a soccer game against the young men of the village and held a crusade meeting afterwards. It was during this meeting that four young men gave their lives to Christ. One of the mothers started yelling that her son had just decided to serve Satan and that we were satanists. It turns out that after I had left during my recon trip, rumors had started about satanists in the area, which they associated with us. The people in Kapau village had never had missionaries visit before and were hesitant about our meeting. However, the joy in the young men's face as they were filled with the Spirit of God is worth a million times worse then any rumor started by the enemy. We left these men with Bibles and as much teaching material we had on us, with the hope that one of the local pastors in the area will continue follow up until we can return there to further share of the Message of Christ. Please pray for these men as they continue in their walk and may others come to know Christ through them.

Addition to yesterday...

I want to clarify something from yesterday's post. Do not think that we neglect the hunger, AIDs, abuse, etc problems in this world. What we need to do is first look at the people with the eyes of God, see them as the Lord sees them and not with a first world view. And then show compassion on those in need... not pity but compassion. If you are motivated by pity then you will not be effective for the Kingdom of God. You will burn out because in the flesh the problems seem too big. But it is when you gain God's perspective that you are motivated because your heart and His are one, and His desire for the nations to be reached becomes your driving force that can get you through any hard situation you may find yourself in! Praise God!
And to go off topic, last night I had my first snake experience for the year. It was at 10:30pm and I was walking to my tent when a cobra spat at me from a tree I was walking underneath. I didn't even know cobras climbed trees. I didn't see it cause off once I heard it rustling in the leaves. I did go back (stupidly) to see if it was still there but it must have slithered off. Looks like snake season has begun!

My request

This is my request for the world: see the nations with the eyes of God and not the eyes of the world! I cannot even count the times that people have come to me saying that "africa must be to sad, all that poverty and AIDs." Even people who have been here before can only see the mud huts and homes and towns that don't match up to the first world version of life. STOP! America is not the norm! I want you to see the world through God's eyes. That there is no lack in the lives of those who believe in Christ Jesus. In the senses, we see mud homes, lack of food, orphans and widows from AIDs.... but that is not what God sees. That is not His view of His children and neither should it be ours. When you look at these people, you can see Jesus shining back at you. It's such a beautiful sight that it brings tears to your eyes. Every individual life is worth so much to God- Jesus died for all of us, each individual person! Do not look at this nation, called Africa, with pity in your hearts. Do not look at this land and say "it's a shame it's so uncivilized." You are not seeing the heart of this continent... or of any third world land. The hope that covers this world is the blood of Jesus Christ! See the world through the eyes of Jesus Christ!!!

Where to start....

I cannot believe how fast this week has gone by. It's been a continual battle with the rice shipment, but we should hear by the end of the week if it's been approved. Please keep praying! I think the main thing I've been learning this week is where my confidence comes from (thanks Dave!). If you know me, then you know that I am my own worst critic. I have always been hard on myself, especially when it comes to not meeting my own standards. I've never really focused on what others think of me, but mainly on what I think of me. How confident I feel, and then at the slightest hint of doubt I get down on myself. It's usually not too bad but obviously something that needs to change. Maybe you find the same in yourself.
Our confidence does not come from how we feel about ourselves or the situation we're in. It does not come from how prepared we feel in a job, or if we feel we've been adequately trained. There's no way to train anyone for every situation you face in life. Think about marriage. There's no way you can ever be fully prepared to join your life with another- you have no clue exactly how your life will change or the situations you will find yourself in. Our confidence comes from the Lord. Paul writes to the Philippians about this. "[We] rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh..." We have no confidence in our flesh, in our earthly selves, in our senses and abilities. But it is in Christ that we place our confidence. We can then have confidence in ourselves when we realize that He resides within us, working through us. He can do anything and through Him we also can do anything. So if you find yourself doubting in your abilities, thinking you don't have what it takes, remember that the Son of God lives within you. In Him you can do all things. Jesus promised in John 14 that we will do greater things then He has done- the same Spirit that resides within Christ resides within us!!! Praise God that through having confidence in Him, we have confidence within ourselves. And that is a confidence that NO ONE can take away!!!!!

A Fight to the End!

So here is what's been the battles for this past week. Our toyota truck (AKA Sid the Sloth) has finally been fixed. There's been this rattling noise from the truck which finally got worse. We managed to fix that and put on new tires. I know it may not sound exciting but we were very excited!
Here's been the main battle: the rice shipment! Zambia doesn't want to approve the rice and investigations are being made from our side into the test results. Let's pray over this and believe God that His will is done!!
We now have 9 people on base. The Kus family has joined us for a month helping to serve and praying about moving here for around 3 years in the near future. It's always great to have new people around and I'm positive our time working together will be blessed!
As for next week... only God knows what adventures I'll have! :)