What Hemisphere?!

Living in Southern Africa means that we live in the Southern Hemisphere. But we call "Home", America which is in the Northern Hemisphere. Today in school, I began to really teach Lily about the seasons. And this brought about an interesting discussion between Kendall and me. The homeschool book said, "This text is written for the Northern Hemisphere. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, reverse the names to correctly describe the seasons correctly." I admit that I am not the brightest crayon in the box at times but this confused me. Was I supposed to teach Lily that December is Winter in America and Summer in Zambia?! Not to mention, that there really aren't seasons in Zambia. The seasons are: hot and dry, hot and wet, and cool and dry. After a brief discussion with Kendall we decided not to confuse her with the fact that she lived in a different hemisphere yet...maybe next week! Needless to say, we had a good time talking the months of the year, what season it was when it was each month, and the things that we look forward to about each season.  We made Fall and Spring trees. The trees were their hands!

Lily's favorite season is winter because of the snow and rain!

Easton's favorite season was, "snow and rain"...winter!

I am guessing those were their favorites because we see the sun everyday and we know hot weather all too well! YAY for FALL AND WINTER in America!!! WAHOO!!!

Yet Another Adventure With the Three Amigos

The dry season has arrived and with it comes a great amount of dirt and sweat which means dirty kids! I love it! The heat is so bad that the kids play outside early in the morning, come inside until about 4:30pm when it starts to cool off then the play picks up again. Today we had a fun time outside, the fun began when Lily found a baby lizard and Easton caught it! The pictures tell the story of our afternoon fun!

"Wook at the wizard, MAMA!!!"

 

"Mama, his tail bwoke off!"

Can you find the lizard on Lauren?! Gotta love the dirt on this little girl!

The trade-off from Lily to Easton. "No Tail" (the name he was given) was on the move!

"I taught a wizard!! Wizard!" I love this picture he is in his element...critter in hand and his doggy by his side!

No Tail made it from Easton's arm to his back and Easton had to call his big sister to help... "YILY...YILY he on my back!!! HELP!!!"

Lily to the rescue!

No Tail visited the trampoline after formal introductions!

He was then set free so that the serious jumping could begin!

Pure happiness...a little dirt, sweat, and jumpin'!

"SEESON!!" (and laughter was in abundance!)

The three amigos...or I would like to say "my precious jumping beans"!

Playtime was over and she was quite sad...malaria and mosquitos are not worth staying out later than dusk. 

Growing Paton'to Paton'to (little by little)

 God was so faithful to answer our prayers for the 2010 Annual General Meeting for the Nyimba Association. God truly used John McPherson, Yobe Mbewe, and Kendall in mighty ways as they taught God's Word and challenged the churches to grow in their love for the Lord and each other. Many people confessed sins in their lives and asked for prayer. And there was an amazing time of worship on Friday night. Praise the Lord for the 340 people that attended the meeting and the 30+ people that prayed to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior! 

"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." Ephesians 4:14-16

 Do you see the girl on the left side of the picture in the orange chitenge? That is Mercy! The night before this picture was taken someone broke into her house and stole all of her money that she has been working so hard for. But she still chose to praise the Lord the next morning! Continue to pray for Mercy and Princess. She is coming everyday for Bible Study and she is growing so much in Christ!

These are the feet of the youth girls that I sat with at church today. I love going to church and sitting barefooted! Their feet tell so much about their lives and how hard they work.

Mr. Mbewe introduced the Chairpeople for each committee in the association. There is a chairperson for Music, Youth, Men, Women. This is a new element to the association and we are praying that this strengthens those ministries and unifies the association more.

This Sunday was special because we got to sit as a family during church. I love all of the youth and children that surrounded us.

John encouraged the churches to work together and to be unified as we live for Christ.

This picture is a true illustration of forgiveness, reconciliation, and repentance. Several months ago, we shared the story of Mr. L the pastor that was practicing witchcraft and the court case that he brought against Mr. S. To the left is Mr. L and to the right is Mr. S, I loved seeing them converse with love and enjoy each other's company...that is TRULY nothing but the Lord! Mr. L really has come to Christ! Awesome.

Shekson Mwanza, pray for Shekson as he is the leader of the men's committee. Pray for him as he continues his studies in Bible School. Pray for him as he leads his family and pray for the salvation of his wife.

 Of the 340 people at the meeting, the majority were youth! The Lord truly laid it on our hearts this year to focus on the youth. The two teams that worked with us encouraged the youth and we were so excited at their enthusiasm and songs of praise at the meeting! God is so good!

A Second Generation Church is Born!

In June, Kendall challenged each of the zones in Nyimba to find a village that was without a church and begin to evangelize that area in order to see if they were desiring to have a church. Zone 2 decided to visit Mbuzi (goat) village. Several of the leaders began hut-to-hut evangelism soon after. In July, the team from Universal City Baptist Church in Texas went to Mbuzi and the villages surrounding it to share Christ and encourage them to attend Mbuzi Baptist. Today was the day that all of the churches from Zone 2 went to Mbuzi to celebrate the "opening" of the church. Praise the Lord for the leaders of Zone 2 who prayed for this village and worked together to plant this second generation church! It was a perfect day and the worship and fellowship was awesome! God was praised and now because of Mbuzi Baptist, more people may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ! Praise the Lord!!

The bicycles of the people that traveled many miles to celebrate this exciting day with the people of Mbuzi.

The best part of the day was when 30 people prayed to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior! Hallelujah!

Our children at church. We are teaching them about what goes on in each service and it is a great time for us to worship together as a family. Today it was really neat because each of them prayed for the people that prayed to receive Christ. Lily prayed that they would obey Jesus and live for Him. Easton prayed that they would love Jesus so that He would provide them food to eat. It was a sweet time for them to understand a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Don't worry, I didn't take this picture during the service! Victor was explaining to the congregation that I was going to take their picture so that our prayer partners in America could pray for them! 

There were 240 people at the church celebration! It was a great time of fellowship with each other.

Kendall with three awesome leaders in Zone 2. From left to right: Davidson, Isaac, Victor. Victor has left his church and is now the pastor of Mbuzi. He is an awesome man of God and Kendall was so happy that the Lord called him to Mbuzi! Davidson attends Bible School and is a dedicated learner and desires to serve the Lord by taking what he learns and apply it to his life and leadership. Isaac is a faithful man who leads Kaoko Baptist! Pray for these men that they would not be deterred from the work ahead of them. Pray that they would remain faithful and not be tempted to stray from the Lord. Pray that their congregations will follow them with willing and loving hearts. Our prayer for Mbuzi is "They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer." Acts 2:42

Hope for the Hopeless

There is a new church plant that we have in a village called Njalazi. This year I decided to go back and strengthen the church and help them grow in God's word. The second time I visited this church Mercy, who is 21 years old, and her daughter Princess came up to me after the meeting and Mercy was sobbing. This normally does not happen because Zambians usually don't show this kind of emotion in public other than funerals. The story she told me was that she used to live in the capital city, Lusaka with her uncle because her parents were dead. She then said that her uncle died and this left her there with her Aunt who is from a different family. Her Aunt then told her to move out. She was desperate and had no where to go and the only other family she had was a half brother and half sister one in Njalazi the other in another village in our area. So she decides to live with her sister who is a widow and technically from another family by Zambian standards because she is only her half sister. Mercy has been living in Njalazi for the last two months with her sister. The family she has been living with has been giving her only scraps to eat and really do not want another mouth to feed. So Paul Masiye and I search the story in the village to see if it was true, and every one agreed that it was. We told her that when we come back the next week to teach she could come to the Nyimba with us and we could find someone to teach her how to live on her own. Well... Zeria on the left in the picture below has taught her how to cook and sell fritters which should be sufficient income to live off of in Nyimba. Also today Joy shared Christ with her and Mercy prayed to receive Christ as her Lord and Savior. Now you can see she has hope and a smile instead of desperation and no where to go. God is good! "Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow." Isaiah 1:17

Putting Faces with Prayers

Recently, I posted about Nachimbwe and how God has opened the door for the Gospel there and how the hearts of the people there were more than ready to hear the Word! Awesome news again, this past Sunday the leader of the "church" was out of town, but they still gathered together to sing and read God's Word! This is a huge thing here in Africa, because many times the people depend so much upon one man that if he is absent they will not meet until he returns. We are just praising the Lord that they truly want to know more about Christ! Today, Kendall traveled to Nachimbwe again to teach. Here is a picture of the shelter that they are meeting at and some of the beautiful people there!

The Nyimba Central Youth Choir has been traveling with Kendall to Nachimbwe to lead the singing. It has been so great for them to come because they are really apart of God's work in Nachimbwe! They love going with Kendall and they are helping the people to learn songs to sing praises to the Lord!

Continue to lift Nachimbwe to the Lord. God is so good and we just pray that they can see how good He is in their daily lives! Pray for Leonard as he continues to lead the church and teach them God's Word.

Our Prayer for the Nsenga People

 In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul defends his apostleship. As I read this chapter several times, Kendall and I can completely relate to Paul's concern for the churches and his frustration with the way that Satan deceives. In verses 2-4 Paul writes," For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully."As Kendall teaches and trains leaders our hearts cry to the Lord is that the people of our churches would be so grounded in God's Word that they would not be deceived or led astray by deceptions that may be presented by other religions. Pray that the Nsenga People would hear God's Word and cling to His truth and that the leaders of our churches would teach them and guide them in a godly manner.
In verses 14-15, Paul writes, "No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds." This past Thursday we received disturbing news that a man who was chosen to lead one of the new churches in Mozambique is practicing witchcraft and was caught practicing a ritual. From the beginning, Kendall had an odd feeling about this man, now we see the truth. On Sunday, two leaders from Nyimba traveled to Meze to meet with the church members and to encourage them not to stop coming to church because of this man. Please pray that these ten people would continue to be faithful despite this hardship that has come their way. Pray for the man that will step up and be the leader of this church. This is a hard situation as a missionary. It can be very frustrating and heart breaking. Pray for Kendall as he seeks God's wisdom in teaching and training the leaders of Nyimba and Mozambique.

 Finally in verse 28 after Paul recounts all of his hardships he says this, "Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches." Until this time, Kendall and I really never could have understood what Paul meant by this verse. Now, we know. As we prepare to go Stateside, our hearts are heavy for the churches that we are leaving behind and praying that they remain strong in our time away. Our concern for these churches is deep and our love is even deeper. Pray for the 24 churches of Nyimba and the 14 churches in Mozambique as we go to the States for our Stateside Assignment. Pray that the leaders would be faithful and continue to lead and guide their flocks.

Njalazi Update

 A year ago, we were so blessed to meet Lemeck Tembo and find out that his village was in need of a church. Four weeks ago, Kendall began traveling there every Tuesday to teach the people there. It has been a great time of teaching and the people of Njalazi are finding out that the Baptists are not Satanists and are people that love God and desire to serve Him.

 Continue to pray for Lemeck Tembo (far left in picture) as he has been chosen as the pastor of Njalazi. Pray that the church would be strengthened and encouraged through the teaching times and that the new believers.God is working in Njalazi and His name is being proclaimed!