End

We finished our pastor teaching on Thursday. Of course, I felt the need to give a short quiz to reinforce the teaching and challenge the men. After a short review, I feel they did mostly well! The men want me to come back and really seem hungry to learn more of God's word!!

Pastor teaching

This week I am teaching 14 pastors from around Chipata on the subject of personal spiritual development. We have spent much time discussing the role of the Scriptures and now have begun discussing the role of prayer in the life of the believer. Each morning I am teaching these men for 2 hours! I am so thankful for the time as we open God's word and discuss relevant issues.

He is Risen

Resurrection Sunday found the Pestke house with the flu bug making its way around. Thankfully it does not seem to be a bad case but it did mean I was going solo to church Sunday morning.

After not getting much sleep the night before, I didnt feel all to adequate when it came time to preach. Of course, the Lord reminded me that the preaching of His Word is not a work of man but a work of God. It was apparent the Spirit was moving in all the hearts of the people in attendance. After the service, people were still a buzz about the message.

I did something different this year - I went through each of the gospels and gave a brief synopsis of the resurrection story and told the major emphasis to each account. By the time we finished with John, we all were over powered by the realization that the resurrection of Christ is not just a doctrine to understand, but a message that transforms us and that should propel us to action. Praise the LORD!

language

As many of you know, we are studying the tribal Bantu language called ChiChewa. We are only a couple months into our study. We are amazed at how much of the culture we are learning just through studying the language. In some areas of the language there are abstract thoughts instead of distinct details but in other areas it almost appears to be a redundant amount of detail to emphasize the point. Very interesting.

Our tongue has been twisted many times as some words are actually full English sentences. A recent word measured a full 18 letters....ugh! This is becoming a real challenge.

At the end of each lesson, there is a Chewa Proverb. This proverb also give great insight into the thinking of the Chewa mind... As an example:
Mau a akuli akoma akagonera (Elder's words become useful after you have slept on them)
Msonkha-msonkha unang'amba thumba (collecting too many things will tear the pocket)

PRAY for US!!

house church

Today we had church at a small house church that recently has started up. Although there were not many in attendance, God's word was faithfully declared and I believe all that heard were encouraged and challenged! We continue to look to our Great God to move in the hearts of people as more and more of these works are started throughout the region.!

really?

Recently had a conversation with an older man here in Chipata. He confessed to be a Roman Catholic and from all accounts seems to have his head on straight. He then went on to tell me "traditional" stories of people with the legs of men and the body of a crocodile or even a lion (literally).

We went on to talk about my wife and daughter being back in the States and how long the trip from Zambia to the State is. He then informed me of how he has heard of some Zambians that are able to transport from Zambia to South Africa in just a few moments.

This is common for many Zambians. A belief in Christian principles and a belief in Zambian tradition is often mixed together.

got milk?

This Sunday I preached at a small Baptist Church on the subject of Christian maturity. I used the text from 1 Corinthians 3 in which Paul desicribes those that are immature as drinking milk and those that are mature as eating meat. Having a little baby in the house really helps make this illustration work out in my own mind. Babies will only drink milk and have to be weaned off the milk in order to mature and grow up normally. Even in the church, members must be weaned off the spiritual milk and learn to truly walk by faith pleasing the Lord. We dont expect a little baby to be a baby all of its life and nor should expect a Christian to behave like a child forever.