Baptisms in the Mighty Zambezi!

Last Friday was an amazing day. At 6:30 am the AMT students, Dan, and I found ourselves climbing down the Batoka Gorge. This is not a climb I normally enjoy. It's steep, rocky, and hard. Your legs feel like jello by the time you reach the bottom and you still have to climb back up! However, my motivation wasn't for the exercise but for the fact that Dan and I were going to baptize two of the AMT students in the Zambezi. This was my first time doing baptisms and I felt very honored and blessed that Wezi and Liz wanted Dan and I to do it. Here are some of the photos of the event:

Here is Wezi being baptized. He is a local Zambian who was given a scholarship for the AMT course.







This is Liz. She is 23 years old, from Texas. Not only was it the day she got baptized, but it was also her birthday! I found the biggest challenges was trying to stay on the rocks as you submerged them. You can see me falling off the rock in this shot.



We laid hands on Liz to be filled with the Holy Spirit, as per her request. What an awesome step of faith!








The morning was finished with communion and then some praise and worship. It's amazing to hear the worship echo throughout the gorge.

Elections for all!

Elections seem to be consuming my life lately. Zambia just had their presidential elections after the death of their president, Levy Mwanawasa. Things went relatively smoothly, with only one riot in Livingstone. The results were announced yesterday with Rupiah Banda, the vice-president, elected as the new president. Today everyone's attention seems focused on america, even zambians are interested to see the results of the election. Most of them are in favor of Obama but just based on his race. I can only imagine what america must be like at the moment but from the look of everyone's facebook status' many are voting. All I can say is that the Lord is in control and whatever happens, happens. We will deal with what comes and need to continue in prayer for the leaders of every country. God bless the world!

Hello, Cobra!

Well I know it's been awhile. Yes, I am alive! Many things have been happening of which I will recap in various blogs throughout the week. However, today's blog is more of a message.


So yesterday we returned from 5 days in the bush doing ministry. Being overly exhausted, I settled in my tent to watch Matrix 3. As the hours passed, my weary body could not fall asleep. Deciding to take a midnight shower, I walked to our bathroom block (without my glasses on or contacts in) and found myself in the presence of a Mozambique Spiting Cobra. However, I didn't know until it was too late. No worries, he only decided to spit on my arm and then I ran away before anything else could happen. I woke up one of the guys and we searched but to no avail. The bugger is still lurking in the bush.

I lay in bed, wide awake and began thinking about this snake. The first question that came to mind was "why me?" I hate snakes. Not so much the snake but the snake bite. Didn't think about snake bites much until I was trained in medical courses... thank you, education! However I began to think, in my overtired state, about how this experience relates to life in general. Let's take a look.

How many times do we find ourselves walking along in life, thinking everything is going great when a snake suddenly rears it's ugly head? If you're not careful, you can be completely caught off guard. If you're not prepared, you won't even see the snake before it's too late. This "snake" can come in many forms in our lives, and like all snakes, it will try to through us off our paths. We need to be conscious of the snakes in our lives and come in authority over them. How? By meditating and focusing on the Word of God. The light of the Lord reveals all snakes in our lives and once they are revealed, they can be eliminated. What snakes are in your life? It's time to take authority over them and slice off their head with a machete.... well, that's how we do it in Africa! :)

(Note: The photo of the cobra is not the one that spit on me)

New Photos Posted!

I've just posted new photos from the last month or so. You can find them in the media section of my website. Enjoy! :)

Lions, Cheetahs, and Crocs... Oh My!

Over the weekend, Dan (my co-leader) and I took the AMT students on a field trip for the day. Africa definitely has some cool ideas for field trips. We wanted the students to understand more about the wildlife and safety measures to look out for here in the bush. The way to accomplish this... throw them into the lions den. Well in this case, Cheetah and Croc den. However, we did see lions, which was amazing.

Our first stop of the Lion park in Mukuni that has just opened. Our guide took us to the lions, where we got a close up view, but seperated by a chain link fence. We also got to view their newest additions to the park, the Caracal cats. The coolest part was when the team was allowed into the Cheetah cage. There's something intimidating when you step into the home of a potientally vicious animal. However, when they start lick you and purring, it's amazing that they are justa large cat... only with paws, nails, and teeth that can tear you to shreds! Cool and scary at the same time.

We traveled from the lion park and entered the world of crocodiles. We were able to see a feeding, as well as learn about how crocs attack, warning signs, etc. The croc farm also has a cool indigenous snake exhibit where we were able to view many snakes (mostly venomous) that are from the area. Many we have living on our base, some I've even had close encounters with.


It was a great day and the students were able to put their knowledge to use that evening with an encounter with a spitting cobra found outside of our toliets here in the base. Gotta love Africa!

Swimming on the Edge

I have these reality check moments where I have to remind myself that "Yes, you live in africa. Yes, you do ministry in rural villages. Yes, you are literally swimming on the edge of the 7th natural wonder of the world." You read this right, friends. Last week Dan (director of AMT) and I took our new amt students to the Victoria Falls. I go almost every month so it's lost some of it's excitement (but not beauty). However, this time of year it the coolest time to go because you can literally walk across the top of the falls. The water drops so low that there are just trickles going over the edge of the gorge. The coolest part is that you can find these pools with waterfalls, which are directly on the edge of the gorge. They make some of the best swimming pools in the world! Here are some photos of our adventure. If you don't know what AMT is, please feel free to read about it here: http://www.overlandmissions.com/AMT/.

Sitting on the edge of the falls

Our team on the edge of the falls












Looking down from the top of the falls.











Swimming at the top of the falls, right on the edge.

AMT has begun!

The students have arrived and orientation is underway. It's always awesome when new people arrive on the base. You can see the potential in them because of their hearts. There's the usual insecurity and nervousness about being so far from home, but you know that as soon as they get past it they will leave here a completely different person. I love seeing the change in people from when they first arrive to when they leave. Not only seeing the change, but being a part of them. My prayer for these next 3 months is that the Lord will impart to me His words and knowledge that I may share them with these young people who are stepping out in faith to serve God. Please pray for these students and I will continue to update you all.

Note: AMT is our Advanced Missions Training course held for 3 months here on the base in Zambia. I will be one of the instructors for this course in September until the end of November.