Village Visits part 1

June 23-24.

Many parts of my Sundays resemble home very much so. Church. Lunch. Nap. Get a few things done. Church. Hangout. Bed. However, Zambian traditions still make these things different, as they should.

We went to church in Magrimon, a village that’s about 20 minutes away in a vehicle. One of the night guards, one of the aunties and another friend from Namwianga all worship there. In church the auditorium is split down the middle with men on one side and women on the other. At the end of service, the man making the announcements shared the attendance numbers in men and women. The numbers/data part of me enjoyed that fact. They also introduce every visitor by name- that includes all 8 of us and 33 college students from George Benson. When visitors come, the Zambians see it as they’ve come to share a message! So the men help participate in the worship service and the whole groups sings in front of the congregation. Well, we had two songs that we practiced on the way to church, but the college group was one of George Benson’s Choirs… Uh. Not fair. The church was sweet and clapped as we tried to sing in Tonga. When we sang in English though we almost fell apart from laughing at ourselves. It was just special and bad. Webster, the night guard and dear friend, made us lunch. It was a real treat. The rest of our Sunday was restful and wonderful. Mr. Merritt spoke at evening service about 1 Corinthians 12-14 and did a great job of speaking truth with love. He introduced his lesson by talking about chickens and hyenas! The point: don’t be a chicken and peck at God’s word, be a hyena and devour all of Scripture. Only in Africa.

On Monday, we road with Meagan and Conrad, a man who works around the Havens, to visit some of the children that have gone back home. The goal was 6 children, 5 different families. When you don’t have exact addresses and phones aren’t always reliable, finding 5 families spread out over a 200 km is a big task! Many praises because we were able to see all 6 children and their families. The day was filled with laughter and tears. Lots of tears of joy. Seeing these children thriving with their family, happy and loving life is such a blessing. Trying to talk to people we pass on the road to find the right family was hilarious! So many jokes that don’t make sense when you try and retell them. Other parts of the day were hard because we do not know what God knows. For this I am very thankful. However, it still means trusting Him and realizing I do not know what is best. Life is not fair or equal for all of us and there are no simple answers. So we trust our ever-faithful God.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and PEACE as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13