Nakonde

We are heading out this morning for a trip to Nakonde. Actually, we will be going to church this morning about an hour from here. After, we will travel another 6 1/2 hours to Mpika and spend the night there. Monday morning we will travel the additional 5 hours to Nakonde. A man from the States has come to help one of our Pastor's in the area with some educational material. We believe this is going to be a wonderful trip. We will be returning Saturday. Please pray for our time away.

Post Conference

As many of you know, we had our annual Bible conference at the mission two weeks ago. After the conference, we took our visitors to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls and gawk at God's amazing creation. It was a wonderful time!

The conference itself was amazing! The theme was from John 8:32, "the truth shall make you free". We had some 1,600 children in attendance and I believe the adults were around 3,000 making total attendance around 4,600! Amazing!! We had many get saved, many turn back to Christ, and many reconcile relationships among believers. The Lord truly did a great work. We thank the many of you that prayed, gave, fasted, and participated to make this conference a success!

We are now in the post-conference stage. This is the stage where everyone is exhausted, sick, and in hibernation mode. Because of the outside venue, the night time cold, dust, and smoke combine to help wear everyone down. We are all recovering but it is amazing how the mission station went from 4,600 people and the activity of a small town to 5 people and you can almost hear the ants marching!

VBS "bush" style

We have begun our 2009 Annual Conference. The first portion of the conference is dedicated to children. We have a team from the States that has come in to work with our Zambian Sunday school teachers and try to reach and build up these kids for Christ. Currently, we have around 1,600 children. It may be hard to imagine and I am sure these pictures dont give the full picture but these kids are staying outside under the stars, singing all night, and hearing from God's word!

Please be praying God would reach these children as they will be the future of Zambia and the future of Christianity!!

mifungu Bible Baptist

We went about 45 minutes down a pretty bumpy road to Mifungu Bible Baptist Church. We had a great service in which 4 people were saved and others were counseled to a greater walk of faith. The church is a traditional "bush" church with mud bricks and a grass roof. The problem they are currently having is termites - these little critters are eating the branches that hold up the roof. Please be praying for this church and the pastor --- it is a fairly young church and they want to do right but there are many challenges. As always I try to encourage the pastor and leadership to make every endeavor a walk of faith...

Savannah's Bible Group

This last Friday we had a "celebration" for Savannah's lady Bible study. Savannah spent 8 weeks teaching a group of ladies on a basic Christian principles. We had a nice celebration to the conclusion of her class in which we had some songs, heard some testimonies & devotions, along with the presentation of certificates to the ladies. Of course, all of this was followed up with a nice meal!!

Although some of these ladies were illiterate, Savannah was able to find creative ways to teach them and allow them to understand and comprehend God word! It was amazing to see the different in their lives after such a short period of time. God really did a great work!!

Telesha Ladies Group

A good friend of mine from the States has come a week early for our August Bible Conference. She wrote me asking if she could be teaching some ladies groups before the conference started. She was able to visit two different churches and teach a bunch of different ladies.

Our theme to the conference this year is "the truth shall make you free". Yesi, our lady Bible teacher, was telling me how her teachings have gone right along with that theme. It is always wonderful to see the Lord bring things together!

a late start

We were invited to preach at Chilimililo Bible Baptist Church today. I was told by the pastor the service should start around 10:30. Well... he was a bit off. Church started just at noon!! I must admit, I was not impressed.

After some singing, announcements, and the offering - I was given a chance to preach. Only about 36 people were in attendance for this small church. I preached from 1 Corinthian 10 warning the people of the dangers of allowing sin to stay.... don't be ignorant. We had a couple people respond. It is always good to see people hear, receive, and respond to God's word.

Although not many in attendance, it was a special Sunday for us as one very special person was there. This was the first Sunday my mother was here. It is wonderful to have her here!! She arrived safely although a bit tired on Friday afternoon. She was able to get some rest and is now jumping in and enjoying the ministry here at the mission! Savannah and I are very much looking forward to the next 6 weeks of having 'mom' with us!