Divinely Delayed?

Hello friends!
I am writing you from Johannesburg – which is a surprise to us!  When we drove down on August 3rd, we honestly thought that we'd be here for two weeks, then head back up north again to start building our home in Zambia.  Now that we've been here a month, the question we hear most often is "when are you heading back?" and we can honestly say – we don't know.

We are incredibly sad that our next group of Advanced Missions Training Students have now not only arrived in Zambia, but are now on their first mission trip into the bush and we are not with them.   We are covering them in prayer long distance and look forward to meeting them, but it is clear that at least for this short while, we'll remain down here.

We have been delayed, but we definitely have not been bored or without things to do!  If we have to be "stuck" anywhere in the world, at least we are having fun with friends, supporters and former teammates, we know our way around the city and we have made tons of headway with all the official details of our move to Zambia.  To be honest, we have one vehicle, so our time here has been primarily Dan running around all of creation researching and purchasing things for our home or the Zambian base and Janell and the kids are staying in the apartments at the church all day, then we see friends in the evenings.

There is also an element of Divine Delay in this process.  Our friend Laura (Overland Missionary) got news that her Dad had been killed in a tragic auto accident and I was able to spend a couple hours at the Johannesburg airport processing with her on her layover back to the states.  She told me like 10x, "thank you so much for coming" and how she really needed a friend right then.  It was good to be here at just the right time.  Also, my closest friend from our OC team, Heather, just got news that she has cancer.  Getting to hug her in person has been incredibly special and we hope to continue to be able to support their family in the upcoming days.

Moving from one country in Africa to another isn't for the faint of heart.  We have hit opposition and challenges at multiple turns, but we trust in God's timing and although sometimes we have bouts of frustration, for the most part we are resting in peace.  We are currently waiting for Dan's official paperwork to be returned from Customs allowing us to export our household goods from SA to Zambia.  We just received delivery #3 of building supplies that we ordered 3+ weeks ago, but it now looks like there will be at least one more!  Our guess is that we'll be here another 5-7 days…but the best answer is we'll stay until everything for our move is ready. 

Some of you may be thinking "I thought you already moved to Zambia, you've been there over a year" but the reality is we were on a temporary visa while we went through training for three months, then we were in the states for 4 months, and upon returning to Zambia in May we applied for a 2 year visa which would allow us to bring our container with our household goods over the border.  We've now received that 2 year visa and have until Dec 6th to import our things into Zambia.  Since we had extra space in our container, we have been purchasing things like windows, sinks, toilets, shower, exterior paint, and more because the quality is better in South Africa and about 1/3 the cost as in Zambia.  Once the paperwork here is  finally sorted, everything we own should follow us over the border on a big truck within a few weeks and we can finally begin building.

Happy 3rd Birthday Titus!

We had a fun birthday party for Titus yesterday and had a fun group of people to celebrate his life with us. 

Also, the month of August was very exciting for Overland Missions.  There were short term teams to Argentina and Angola – both with amazing reports of God's goodness and with many people responding to the gospel.

Macubi Tribe Research   click here to read a blog about Angola!

This is what the team leader said about Argentina - "WOW! Crazy week or so. Have preached 13 times in 11 days! Trekked through the Andes Mountains from 6000 to 12000ft in elevation, about 35 miles in a week straight up and down hill! The presence of God moved and hundreds of people were saved, healed and set free! Thanks for the prayers!"

A team is in the Democratic Republic of Congo and will be there for 2 weeks and another team is on their way to Cambodia right now.  Exciting times!

Please pray with us for
- patience and peace as we wait to head up to Zambia
- the AMT students as they minister in the bush for ministry this week and the teams to DRC and  Cambodia to be a blessing and encouragement to the people they meet and that many will respond to the Gospel message.
- timely delivery of the paperwork and supplies we are waiting here for and for the remaining details of our move to come together easily.

Thank you for your love and prayers for our family!
Janell for us 4

Two steps forward, one step back...

We have been back in South Africa for two weeks time now and we are essentially living the phrase “Two steps forward, one step back.”

Our mission during this two week period was to accomplish some pretty major things:
1. Go to a few hardware stores and order a lot of supplies for building our house
2. Once these supplies have been delivered, we need to repack our containers.
3. We need to finalize the trucking company who will import our goods to Zambia.
4. We need to finalize the paperwork to export our vehicle from SA to Zambia.
5. A few errands for ourselves, a few errands for the base.
6. We need to serve papers listing a Final Demand to the two companies who still have not delivered the containers we ordered last year. This requires a lawyer and police assistance.
7. We wanted to spend some quality time with friends here and enjoy worshipping at our former church.

Now that I look at this list, it seems pretty presumptuous that we could accomplish all these things in two weeks time, even if everything had gone according to plan…and things haven’t.

We’ve had significant struggles with using the company credit card, the quotes we received had to be redone, salesmen promised to send information and return calls and didn’t, we drove to pick up supplies only to find they stocked it but for 5x the price we expected to pay, Dan got stuck in traffic for 3 hours, Janell caught a teller mistake as she was going to charge us R10,000 instead of R1,000 and then the hassle of getting that returned to our card, our insurance got dropped because that essential letter got sent to our old office instead of the new, this morning we found we got sent to Collections for not paying a TV tax (we don’t live in SA anymore so the tax won’t apply and they lost our paperwork saying we moved…), did I mention that Titus now is throwing up?! These have been the “steps back”.

We definitely have accomplished a lot, but there is much to be done still. Will you please say a prayer for our family? Our stress level is pretty high. We’d really love to get these challenging things behind us so that we can be free to return to ministry in Zambia. Our next class begins the end of August and we want to be there when they arrive. Please pray for details to fall into place quickly with all the above issues and for peace!!

We have loved catching up with friends here!  This has definitely been the best part - so good for our hearts!!

Another Nyawa testimony

Our third expedition, in an area in the Nyawa Chiefdom next to the former Game Management Area, was incredible. We ministered to hundreds, had many salvations, and a few demonic deliverances. Nearly everyone we laid hands on was healed instantly. Here are a few of the most memorable moments of the expedition. The first evening we were there, the village headman came to our camp and invited us to a ceremony that night for a woman who had been oppressed by demons that made her ill for quite some time. They were to play drums, dance, and sing chants to appease the spirits that oppressed her in hopes that she would get well. We politely declined and decided to go and minister to her under more convenient circumstances. We could hear the drums and music clearly from our camp. The next morning, we met the oppressed lady at the headman’s house. She had pain in her teeth, legs, and other areas. We laid hands on the areas that were hurting, and the pain moved to new parts of the body. We then commanded it to leave entirely, and she was completely healed. After leading her to Christ, we shared the truth about witch doctors and demonic forces with her and the headman, answering all their questions. A few days later, a few of us went into the GMA in search of people to minister to. We came upon one group of huts with only 5 young boys present. I would say most of them were ages 10-13. We asked them if they knew Jesus, and they replied that they did not. We shared the Gospel to them and led them to the Lord. On the last day of ministry, a few of us came upon another small group of huts. The man of the household gave us a warm greeting, as did the many women and children of his family. When we asked him how long he had known the Lord, he said that he had tried to serve God but had gone astray. He was having a hard time finding the motivation. We then presented the Gospel to him (which he had never truly heard, and he accepted Christ. We sat and talked with them for a couple hours about freedom in Christ versus the intense, works-based legalism that was prevalent in the area. By the end, they seemed to have a thorough understanding of it and were very relieved and full of peace. Ten of them asked for prayer for physical ailments. We laid hands on them and commanded the sicknesses and pains to leave in the authority of Jesus. They were all completely healed.

These are only a few of many miracles that occurred on the expedition. The people were incredibly generous, as well as ready to receive the Lord’s blessings. We all learned a great deal from the amazing experiences and our faith increased. - Stetson, AMT student

Ministering in Nyawa Chiefdom

As I sit here on base camp, on the day that our AMT class graduates, I can't help but think about all the awesome and crazy experiences that I've had over the past three months. Both in day to day life, and ministry. Our last expedition found our group living in the Nyawa chiefdom, camped on the edge of a dried up river. On our side of the river sat villages and people that had been there for years, but on the other side of the river sat the former GMA (game management reserve), which people had only lived in for around two months. The story behind that is years ago the government decided that the animals in the area needed to be protected, and they forced all the villagers in the area out. Not only did they force them out, but they burned down their homes as well, to discourage any of them from trying to stay. These people had been, for a lack of better terms, without a homeland for years, and just two months prior had been allowed back into their land (and only because the new president decided that they could). They were given tents, and were as we traveled throughout, in the process of rebuilding homes and rebuilding a life. This made for interesting encounters, and sometimes, no encounters at all. On the last day, myself and a few others hiked into the GMA for the second time that week, and proceeded to walk the entire day. From around 9:30 in the morning, till after 4 in the afternoon, we walked, almost non-stop. At times we didn't even have a path, and had to hike through thick wilderness. How many people did we find that day you might ask, as we trekked through the African bush? The answer might seem to some to be disappointing. We found two people, a man and women, relatives, sitting by a few huts in the middle of no were. Along with them were two children, who were playing a ways off on a log. We sat down, discussed the word, and ministered life to these two individuals. They were already saved, but we got to learn their story, and encourage them in the Lord. The man was just weeks away from getting married to a childhood friend, and we got to pray for him as well.

Now you might think that it was pointless to walk all that way, all day, to minister to two individuals. And many times that week we did have the huge meetings, with the showing of the Jesus film, praying for the sick, and salvations. However that day the plan God had for us was to just walk, for hours on end, to find two people who hadn't come to our meeting. Two people that lived so far away that they would never find themselves at our meeting area, but that God still cared for and still wanted to minister life to. And that's the point behind OM and behind the work that we are doing, and continue to do. To go as far as we can, to areas were no one has gone, to minister to someone that might need salvation, or healing, or just an encouraging word. We go to people that will, in all reality, probably not get reached unless someone treks out to them. Here in Africa NGO's are a dime a dozen, but so few are willing to go that extra distance, and to find and reach the people that are almost unreachable. As we left that afternoon, I was somehow completely satisfied with the day, and even though we had only found those two people, I knew that we had instilled life and encouragement into them, and that it was worth every step that I had taken that day. - Jonathan, AMT student

Reflections on Siamunali

The second AMT expedition was very different from the first, but it was equally amazing. We went to the villages of Siamunali and Jafta in the Mukuni Chiefdom. It took a couple of hours to get there, but it was only about 20km from the base by the way the crow flies. The terrain of area was somewhat wooded flat to rolling hills. We were greeted by several eager and friendly faces as we arrived and set up camp in the afternoon. That night we had a meeting next to the small schoolhouse near camp. We gathered around a fire and Wilson gave a message of encouragement and explained what we would be doing in the area. We then broke into lively worship and chitenge dancing by the light of the fire. The next morning we broke up into groups and went to various churches in the area. My group went to the church of Christ. We met at a little outdoor cluster of benches. Jack gave a great message about his prison ministries and spoke into the lives of some young men. There was an old woman there who apparently did not know her age. When we asked her she jokingly said 100, and everyone laughed. After the service, she told us she could not see well and had pain in her legs and joints that made it difficult to walk. We prayed over her and I could feel the spirit moving. She began to sway and stumbled into the translator as he caught her. Then she looked down and started moving her feet and her face lit up! She started dancing and singing. As we were leaving, she called out something like, “Have as safe journey! I’m healed!” The night meetings were very fruitful as well, with salvations, worship, encouragement, fellowship, prophecies, and healings. There was a very personal feel about the meetings. The next day my group found some people tending to their gardens and helped them in their labor. After some hand motions and brief instructions, we broke some new ground dug small rows of holes for planting with water drainages between. After the work was done, we gave a message, prayed with some people, and played with the children. The remainder of that day and the next followed the same pattern. It was very interesting and rewarding to experience a more relationship based style of ministry. We took part in the basic aspects of their everyday lives and spoke to them as one friend speaks to another. Through these conversations, we learned a great deal about the people we were with and their amazing stories. One man had been attacked by a large crocodile and had the scars to prove it. His garden was near a small, secluded river and they said that there was a huge croc living nearby that had recently given birth. As we approached the river to dip water out for the garden, we heard some loud splashes. They had also recently caught a 7 meter python in the next village over. The man who had been attacked told us of another interesting story, but this one had a more tragic ending. He was fishing in the Zambezi when some of the displaced Zim rebel thieves from the mountains in Simwatachela came and forced him and his friend to help them. The men would often cross over into Zimbabwe to steal various things and bring them back to Zambia. They were on such a run when they came across the fishermen and recruited them into the effort at gunpoint. They had only a makeshift boat to cross the river, basically a few boards. The “boat” turned over while they were swimming across. The man telling the story made it to shore and could do nothing as his friend drowned in the rapids. The mother of the one who was killed was there as well; we helped tend to her garden and the girls prayed over her. We helped another woman whose daughter had been badly burned a few years before. Bev had tended to the child while she recovered. The woman named her Beverly, in honor of Bev’s act of kindness. On the last day of ministry, my group went to the home of a sweet old lady who had given us kind greetings each day. Her name was Mary and she had been healed of a tooth ache when we had prayed over her earlier. She said that she considered all the young people in the village her grandchildren. student

She and two young women showed us how to remove the shell from mungongo nuts. The presence of the Lord was heavy there as we each took turns speaking what was laid on our hearts. The messages were in no way generic, but rather directly speaking into the lives of each of them with encouragement and empowerment. We prophesied a powerful future in the Lord’s work over one of the younger women and I know that she was deeply affected. I was also deeply moved by the whole experience. That evening we had a community meal, learning cooking techniques from the local women and playing with the children for hours. When night came we showed a film on the projector and had a meeting. Wezi, Elise, and Jonathan gave salvation and encouragement messages and I challenged them to spread the Good News to everyone they could. We then had another productive call for prayer. The next morning, dozens of people came to wish us goodbye with huge smiles. I have seen expeditions with larger numbers ministered to and more impressive statistics, but the relationships formed and the lives touched cannot be described in numbers. It was a great experience that I will not soon forget. - Stetson, AMT

Pictures of our recent ministry with Advanced Missions Training students

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When God is slow to heal...

We have numbers and recordings that we are required to submit to headquarters for every ministry trip that happens with Overland Missions.  I am not a huge fan of declaring to the world how many people received salvation, or received healing from the Lord simply because if we made that same massive effort and only one person was saved or healed, I still think it would be worth it.

However, we receive some grant money from some different ministries who do require numbers...so we count.  Dan was grumbling to the Lord about this the other day and the Lord reminded him that there are lots of numbers in the Bible (like a whole book named Numbers!), the feeding of the 5000, the exact number of people in Jacob's family who traveled to Egypt, etc and that there is value in remembering.  So my perspective on this is changing.

When we were in Mukuni, we had 4 days of ministry and we saw 22 people receive salvation for the first time and the Lord healed 62 people as we prayed over them.  Another ministry team was out in the bush for 8 days and saw 331 salvations and over 100 healings.  Numbers like these make me want to cry because I am so excited for how God is moving in these areas and for all the wonderful changes this will bring to the villages as they share the love of Jesus with their friends as well.  WAHOO!

The next testimony I am going to share is from one of our guys in Advanced Missions Training as he wrestles with the miracles and healing he is seeing:

"During the expedition, our first night meeting brought to us an old man with a massive, grape fruit sized tumor on this lower back near his right kidney. Each progressive night he returned, always asking for more prayer. On the second night he grabbed me and a few others, throwing us into a big group hug shouting “Amen!” What faith he has! 

During our last expedition I found myself extremely discouraged for a time when a young paralyzed girl remained immobile after hours of prayer. Thankfully she did eventually find relief and stood for the first time in two years, and I was able to throw myself into the arms of God and praise Him for His grace. 

As soon as I saw this man return, affliction intact, I told myself that I would not allow my faith to waver because of a lack of immediate, miraculous healing. I will not make that mistake again. It is not by my clock that the Lord works, if it were He would hardly be God. We did not witness the disappearance of the man’s tumor but rather the growth of the man’s faith and spiritual countenance. There is no doubt in my mind that he will find the healing he so fervently desires. It is with extreme gratitude that I thank God for His broad shoulders that carry the weight of all healing and forgiveness. It is not my place to worry or concern myself with what has already been done. Praise God."   - Bryan

This is Bryan as he overlooks the Zambezi River below our base.

I appreciate his honesty - don't you?!  Have you ever seen God work in a certain way with someone else and wonder why He didn't answer in a similar way in your life?  There is great mystery with healing, but what I have learned is that it isn't up to me to pray a "correct" way or to have faith big enough to have God show up and do something amazing, it is all about Him.  We pray in faith believing God wants to heal and He often does.  Sometimes he doesn't, but He is sovereign and holy and we trust in His perfect timing in these things.

Showing Jesus's love through serving in Mukuni

Here is a wonderful testimony from one of the gals in our Advanced Missions Training classes:

"On our second expedition to the Mukuni Chiefdom one of the many experiences I was pleased to be apart of and so blessed to be used by the Lord was with a young mother named Gertrude a single mother 18 years old with an 8-month old baby girl. The first day I met her was in her mother’s garden. She was very reluctant to talk to me. She would not make eye contact and just was not interested in talking or engaging with myself or the other missionaries. I felt in my spirit she was struggling with shame and guilt. I invited her to our night meeting where I hoped she would go to hear the word and be part of worship.

The group I was with was able to serve Gertrude and her family in their garden tilling the ground and pulling weeds, preparing the ground for planting a garden. After being able to bless them in a physical way the message was given on the parable of the good soil and bad soil (Mark 4). This family heard the word and was grateful for it. Leaving that place I just knew the seed fell on good soil.

 

The next day while ministering at an influential elderly woman of the villages hut, I saw Gertrude walking past the hut about 3 times. I got up knowing she came to speak with us, I asked her to come in so we could talk. I was able to encourage her and tell her how much Jesus loved her, and how special she is in the Lords eyes. Her eyes brightened up, and her down cast head was lifted; she was seeking after more of the Lord. She was seeking His forgiveness and approval and He gave me those words to speak over her. The importance of her role in the village and in the Kingdom of God was spoken over her that day. I also had the privilege to pray for her and her baby that His provision and protection would be upon them. I prayed that this women would see herself as the beauty that God see her as, so that she my step into the abundant life He has for her, and not settling or turning back in the opposite direction. That day she followed us to other huts and listened to us minister. Each place we went I was walking hand in hand with her. What a beautiful thing in my life to walk with a young Zambian woman down a dirt road taking the message of life, hope and redemption to all Gods people. I am learning Gods love is shown and shines through words, deeds, smiles, hugs, laughter and relationship.

 

I was able to say by to this young woman before leaving; in her I saw a new spirit one of strength, hope and joy. She was renewed in receiving his goodness, and I am confident that she will walk in His righteousness. She will be a great mother and will impact many lives in her village around her.

He bore our sin and shame. He took it upon himself and we receive his full forgiveness and approval when we accept and understand that his blood has covered us once and for all. There is nothing in our lives we have done that we cannot receive forgiveness for. There is no sin that is to great for our great God."

It is such a great delight to see God at work here!  As you can see, sometimes it is more powerful to spend time doing daily life with the villagers then just preaching to them at meetings.  Spending quality time serving them communicates great value to the people we meet and softens their hearts to hear about Jesus.  Trust, the daily life of African villagers is CHALLENGING.  They carry heavy water containers (usually on their heads, with a baby strapped to their backs!), they cook over an open fire, they hand wash laundry, they water huge gardens a bucket at a time, and care for livestock.  Having a Westerner "get dirty" helping them is a massive blessing and they will never forget it because it communicates great care and love for them.

We asked the students to carry water one evening to experience how challenging getting water is.

Spending time in the bush has challenges, but it is a far greater reward to be a part of what God is doing here, seeing how He is moving,  how many people receive salvation, and are set free from things that burden and bind them.
Glory to God!

Beauty's Story

I am still processing some of what God did during our few days of ministry a little over a week ago in the Simwatachela chiefdom.

I am going to do my best to tell you what I know about the life story of a little girl named Beauty.  What God did for her imprinted her on my heart, and for the rest of my life, I will never forget her.

We were in the area for 5.5 days and I believe on our second day, a mother approached Overland staff and students and asked them to pray over her 10 year old daughter, named Beauty.  Apparently, a few years ago, Beauty had been very sick and her parents had taken her to the witch doctor for a remedy.  Her health had improved for a few months, but then after that she became gravely ill and had been fully paralyzed for around 2 years.  Members of our group prayed over Beauty several different times over the next few days and didn’t see any change in her situation.

Our group a few hours before praying over Beauty.

On Thursday, I was hiking with a few students and we had been meeting person after person who requested that we pray over them – a few for salvation and many for healing.  We finally got our lunch break around 3pm at the truck, and then headed back to where we had left off.  As we walked, I prayed that God would direct our steps to those He wanted us to touch for Him that afternoon.

Quite literally, a few steps later, a lady had asked our translator Lucy to stop and have us pray for her daughter.  We agreed to do so and then as we followed her to the mat made up of cornmeal bags sewn together, my heart sunk a little.  There in a pool of urine lay the little paralyzed girl.  I honestly didn’t expect much from the Lord as we were now the third team of Overlanders to pray over her, but we knelt down next to her and prayed simple prayers asking the Lord to heal her and restore health to her body.  Then, I asked Lucy to tell Beauty to squeeze my hand.  About 30 seconds later I felt a small twitch.  Wondering if it was involuntary, I asked her to do it again.  She did!  Words fail to describe fully how incredible that little tickle felt on my hand!

Of course, I was a sobbing mess as we continued to pray over her and the Lord slowly increased the strength in her hands, arms, feet and neck over the next 20 minutes.  She was squeezing our hands, lifting her arms, moving her head from side to side and was pushing with her toes – absolutely incredible!

Then all of a sudden, her eyes got huge and her body began to convulse.  After about a minute, a demon came out of her.  I don’t have any special training or experience in things like this, but we just continued to pray over her, speak Scripture over her, and declared the authority of Christ over all powers on earth.  There was no fear at all in the situation, and at the end, when it had left, Beauty’s dazzling smile was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. 

We continued to pray over her and for the next hour we saw great progress as her back grew strong enough for her to sit up and she even took a few steps with gals holding on under her arms to support her.  With their hands under her arms, her shirt came up a little bit and we could see that her back had been scarred by a witchdoctor’s knife – there were cuts and marks all over.

God was doing amazing things and we were so excited!  However, Beauty seemed to get tired and was crying a little bit.  As we set her down to rest, she leaned back into one of the Overland gal’s lap and curled back into a fetal position with her hands and arms curling back in.  It looked like she was regressing back into the paralysis position we had initially found her in.

I prayed, asking God to show us what to do from here, and I felt an impression in my spirit to pray over her mind.   So, we did.  We also had a suspicion that perhaps there were more demons and sure enough, after about 15 minutes, a second demon manifested, and then quickly left.  After that demon was gone, Beauty was exhausted and just wanted to curl up in her mother’s lap.

We talked with her parents about trusting in Jesus alone for Beauty’s healing and how they must not take her to the witch doctor any more.  They agreed and we prayed with them for a little while too.

We asked them to bring Beauty the next day and we would continue to pray over her, but the parents said that they stay very far from where we were and that they needed to go home.  Apparently they had been sleeping near our campground for several nights already and the nights were really cold.  We commended them for their faith and perseverance and asked them to try to send word to the June team Overland is sending into the same area regarding how Beauty was doing.  At that time, we had a sense of peace over our group knowing that we had done what God wanted us to do that day and we felt like it was okay to go.

Honestly, I don’t know the end of her story.  I don’t know if Beauty is fully healed and running around again or if she is still struggling.  I continue to pray for her and ask God to continue the healing that had begun in her body.  Will you join me in the tension of the unknown ending to Beauty’s story?  Will take a few minutes right now to ask God to touch her body with His healing power and that the seed of faith that is planted in her parent’s hearts will grow to maturity and that they will continue to trust in God alone?

As you give to us and pray for us as we go, you truly are partnering with us, so you can join in the celebration of what God is doing in Beauty’s life with us.  We are so grateful.

Ministry in Mapatizya

Thank you so much for all of your prayers as our family joined the Advanced Missions Training students heading into the bush last week.  We were gone 5.5 days and traveled 12 hours round trip on some bumpy roads as we went to find people to share Christ's love with.  We ended up in the community of Mapatizya in the Simwatachela chiefdom.  As I mentioned before, the hills in this area contain a massive amethyst supply and the majority of the people we ministered to were miners or had a business somehow connected to "the stones".  We literally picked up beautiful purple rocks all around the soccer field that became our campground and the roads were sparkling with amethyst and quartz rocks.  It was a beautiful area and very green in comparison to the dry, dusty area near our base.

Dan and I served the team in various ways – I oversaw meal preparations and Dan did all the technological set up to show the Jesus Film two of the nights we were there.  We also took turns alternating who stayed in camp with the kids and who went hiking to do hut to hut evangelism/ministry with the students that day.  Miesha  and Titus did great and really seemed to have fun although there were some challenges as we had an audience of between 20-75 kids most of the day who just wanted to hang out and watch us!  (have you ever washed your hair using cups of water and a bucket while 75 people stare and giggle at you?!)

It was an amazing experience.  The headman of the area came the final night we were there and told us that people were coming to him all week sharing of the truth they heard from us, their new life in Christ, their freedom from demonic spirits, and of the healing they received as our teams prayed for them.  He gave us an invitation to come back any time to minister – we truly had great favor in the area.  Hundreds of children gave their lives to Christ after a school program, hundreds of people came forward to receive salvation after we showed the Jesus Film, and many of the huts we hiked to had people with hearts that were prepared in advance to hear the gospel and respond to the news of their Savior's great love.

We marked locations on our GPS as we hiked and made relational connections with leaders in the area as Overland intends to begin doing formal ministry here within the next year.

There are SO MANY stories, but I'll share just a few highlights this time so that this can get out to you.  I promise to share more stories soon here on this blog.

One afternoon, we were hiking and came to a hut where an older lady, her adult son, and several young ladies were.  They invited us to share with them and we sat down in the dust in the shade of their big tree and talked for about an hour.  The Advanced Mission Training students took turns sharing about creation, fall, our great need for a Savior and what Christ accomplished on the cross to restore us back to God.   Their hearts were already softened and they joyfully accepted Jesus as their Savior.  We asked if we could pray with them for anything, and the older lady asked for prayer for pain in her body.  As we prayed over her, her joints moved and popped.  When we were finished, she stood up and danced as she was completely pain free! She is with us in the above picture.

This next testimony was written by one of our students:
"My favorite story from this time of ministry is the story of Chris ‘Cucumber’, his last name was a Tonga name which meant cucumber but I have no hope of actually spelling the Tonga name. Chris was a witch-doctor, who began his career 16 years ago because of a dream he had in which a spirit came to him and told him to gather some materials and make charms and use them to heal people. In this dream he was also told that one day some people would come to him and tell him about God and spirits, when we came he said we were those people. We first met Chris on Tuesday as we traveled through the village in a team of five. We talked with him for a time and learned about his past and what he did, we shared what we believe about Jesus. On Wednesday we went back to Chris’ house and brought along Pastor Jake to aid in our conversation. He explained the difference between good and evil spirits and articulated the power of Jesus and the need to follow Jesus and Jesus alone. By the end of the conversation we had not appeared to make very much progress but we had spoken truth and done what we could to plant the seed.

Saturday morning as we were packing the truck to head out, Chris came up and asked to speak with a couple of us from the team that had visited his hut. We asked him what he wanted and he told us he wished to accept Jesus as his Lord and to follow Jesus and Jesus alone. With the assistance of Pastor Dragon, a local Tonga pastor who partners with Overland, we made sure he understood the decision he was making and he was sincere in his desire. Then we helped him to pray to accept Jesus and we encouraged him. I am so thankful for this opportunity and for the chance to have partaken in the salvation of Chris 'Cucumber'." - Jonathan

It is such a privilege to serve in Africa and a delight to meet so many people who are ready to respond to the gospel.  Honestly, we just show up, share God's love and many respond.  When we pray for healing, God often answers and I continue to be in awe. 

We are excited to continue investing our lives into these students and seeing all God has for them in the next 10 weeks! 

On another fun note, we were surprised by a large donation towards our house project last week and we are now at 92%of the finances we need to build our home in Zambia.  I am SO SO SO excited!!!!  Thank you to all of you who have given towards our building fund.  We talked through house plan details with the president and he and Dan are taking a walk today to finalize the site where we hope to build.  Dan has been doing a lot of work to make our tent more livable in the season we still have left until the house is ready and now we are excited to officially start to build our house project SOON.

If you'd like to contribute towards the house fund, go to www.overlandmissions.com/donate  and put "Hartley house fund" in the MEMO line.

Thank you for your love and prayers for us and your generosity to us - we couldn't do any of this without you!

Settling back into life in Zambia

It has been almost two months since my last blog update and boy, has a lot happened!  It has been quite the emotional roller coaster.  I got this quote in an email earlier this week and it seems to nicely sum up what I have been processing:  "God is still on the throne. He’s controlling the mix of joy to sorrow, peace to conflict, loss to gain, want to satisfaction, tragedy to triumph, with your best interests always foremost in His mind." - Pastor Emeka Mbelu


We transitioned from the States back to Africa in early April.  We had an easy international flight with the kids and were able to spend time with supporters in Germany for 48 hours on a long layover, which was really fun!  Dan also passed a kidney stone while we were there = OUCH!


We spent almost three weeks in South Africa and enjoyed connecting with friends  and taking a family vacation during that time.  We were blessed with an offering for our house project from a church where Dan preached and then that money was stolen when someone busted our truck window and rummaged around inside while we were playing on the beach. 


Seeing the ups and downs?!


We feel like we have been blessed beyond measure with 72% of what we need to build our house already in our account.  Thank you to all our friends and family who have given to us!  We are settling back into life and ministry in one of the most beautiful places on earth.  God is moving in the ministries all around us and we are thrilled to be here.


On the other hand, jumping back into the rugged life here is a process for me.  I gave myself a couple days of grace as this city girl shrieked and jumped at spiders (I killed 20 big ones in one day, Miesha killed 1!!), and now I am slightly more at peace about the remaining ones living in my space since they do eat mosquitoes.  There have also been more snakes than usual around.  Dan, the mighty hunter, has “relocated” a torantilla/baboon spider to a place further from our tent, he killed a scorpion, and two spitting cobras in the last week and a few other guys have killed several snakes also.  (Dan skinned the 4ft cobra and the skin is now in our freezer till he figures out something cool to make with it!)  


This one is the gold medal winner: this python was killed in Sukuke by these Zambians last Wednesday not far from where our friends are ministering and building a home.  (No, we weren’t there!!)




We are blessed to be able to house sit for two weeks while we get our tent sorted out and ready to move back into.  As you can imagine, in dusty Zambia, a tent left standing for 5 months needs a little scrubbing before it is inhabitable again.  Also, while we were gone - our tent was burgled.  They used a knife to slit a gash in the side and took about $1500 worth of things.  This was not the best way to be welcomed back to the base, but I have almost finished washing all the muddy footprints off of our bed and linens and even as I write, Dan is at the police station because they believe they have identified the thief.  There is a chance a few of our things may be able to be recovered.


We were also intensely blessed to have visitors from the states already!  Tom and Bonnie Kopp  with their pastors from Radiant Church John and Pam Vredevelt came to spend a long weekend with us.   Tom and Bonnie introduced Dan into missions and Zambia in 1994 on a mission trip they led and it was amazing to have them visit us as our lives have come full circle to living and ministering in Zambia ourselves.  Bonnie and Pam asked great questions and helped me process some of the recent challenges which was such a wonderful gift.  We went to the Victoria Falls with them and the Musi oa Tunya Game Reserve and saw some amazing wildlife.  Dan and John went into Sukute on Saturday and did some hut to hut evangelism and we also went to a women’s meeting on Sunday evening which was really fun.   We have been talking about Zambia for months with you all in the states, and it is just wonderful to be back and be here to minister.

We are currently in a preparation mode as our first class with 14 Advanced Missions Training students arrive on May 9^th.  We are also trying to figure out some house details – we’d love to begin building soon!

Will you please keep us in prayer?

-       for peace and joy in the final transition into the tent

-       for our 14 AMT students

-       for wisdom and insight as we teach and coach them

-       for our visas– our request for our two year business visa is currently under review.  We would love to have a hassle-free and quick approval!

-       We hold our belongings loosely, but it would be really nice to have back what was stolen from our tent.

We are still needing about $200/mo in monthly support.  If you’d like to contribute towards a part of this or give a one time gift for our house building fund, please email me at Janell@overlandmissions.com for details.

 

Thank you for your love and prayers for our family!

Love,

Janell   

The biggest fight in my marriage was over...

...tent camping.

Our first year of marriage, for our summer vacation, we went tent camping and water skiing at Lake Shasta in northern California for a week.  It was a hot one (over 100F the whole time) and Dan and I had loaned our nice big tent to a pregnant friend and ended up sharing a one-man tent.  It was pretty miserable, all cramped and sweaty in that small space.  I told Dan on our 16 hour drive back home that I would rather rent a cabin or do a different sort of a vacation (like a cruise!) next time.  As my husband thrives on roughing it and had invested tons of money into super nice camping equipment, he didn't like that at all.  We had a huge fight and then it was a very long, quiet, tension-filled 16 hour ride back.  

Don't you just love the delicious irony?!  For those of you who have been following our family’s transition journey the last year, you are probably chuckling with us.  Dan loves to say, “I have seen the Lord do incredibly miraculous things while doing ministry in Africa, but the biggest miracle of all is that my wife chose to live in a tent in Zambia!”

Our family of four lived in a 10' by 15' safari tent for 3 months just outside of Livingstone, Zambia while we went through Advanced Missions Training with Overland Missions.  It was the hottest season in Zambia in 12 years and was in the 120s for almost a month.  Our hottest day was 131F and when it cooled off to 80F after a storm, many of us put on jeans and jackets because we were freezing.  I know you are all laughing, but seriously, that was a 50 degree swing in temperature.  If your weather went from 90F down to 50F in 24 hours, you’d notice it too!  

We are in the states until the end of March, in South Africa for three weeks, and then plan to head on back to our tent in Zambia in late April.  While living in a tent is definitely still not my favorite thing, I am excited to get back to Africa and be a part of what God is doing there.  The tent will continue to be our home until we are able to build a house on base.   

We hope we will be able to complete a house by the end of 2012.

This is one of the homes on base and we hope to build one very similar to this by the end of 2012.

We’d love to invite you to be a part of building our home with us!  Here are some details for contributing to our house project fund:

We will need approximately $53,000 for this project.

 We recognize this is a large sum of money, but we are confident that Zambia is where God wants us to serve and live.  For those of you would like a cost breakdown, contact us - we are happy to share those figures with you.

We have already been blessed by the generosity of many of you.  Even before we have officially asked, we have already been given 15% of what we need.  God is so good to us!

Will you please consider donating towards our house fund?  Any amount would be a blessing.

You can donate online here www.overlandmissions.com/donate

please type “Hartley House” in the memo line to indicate it is for our project account. 

________________________________

By check - please write “3074 House Acct” on the memo line and mail to

Overland Missions

P.O. Box 566 

Cape Canaveral, FL 32920

_______________________________

 

South Africans – our acct details are:

Daniel Hartley. 
FNB - Cresta/254905  
 

Acct: 62099953393

______________________________

About 2 years ago someone shared with us that they believe the Lord wanted us to know that moving forward, our ministry was going to be funded by new sources and that places we’d expect funding from would change.  Boy, has this been proven to be true!  Already we are being surprised at almost every turn with who God is bringing forward to partner with us.  We look forward to sharing more stories of God’s faithfulness to us in this process.

Also, we need a few more monthly partners to join us to reach 100% fully funded status.  If you are interested in joining our monthly support team, you can go to www.overlandmissions.com/donate to set up a reoccurring payment with your card, of you can send checks to the address above and indicate on the memo line it is for “3074 monthly support”.  

Thank you for your prayers for us and for your partnership!  God bless you.

Janell

Furlough...Home Assignment...Missionary Vacation??

Dan and I are career missionaries.  This means that missions is our job and we have chosen to invest our lives in this kind of work.  It isn't a very "normal" job and we don't work an 8 hour day, 5 days a week.  It is challenging to describe a "normal work day".  It is more of a all consuming lifestyle that you have to create careful boundaries for protecting family time and rest otherwise you burn out because of the great needs we see around us all the time.  We end up transitioning from "event to event" rather than having a predictable life.

Now that we are back in the states for a few months for furlough, we deliberately carved out some time with our immediate family and for rest as we had just concluded a pretty challenging season of training as a family.  December was our "down time" month.  We borrowed winter clothes, then went to see the Zoo Lights (amazing!), we went to the aquarium, we played with cousins, Dan went to I-Fly (a skydiving simulator) with his Dad and brothers, Janell went out with her sisters, and we made some fun memories with family over the Christmas holidays.

Now, since January, we have been moving at a pretty fast clip.  We've met with a bunch of life groups, we were in FL for 10 days of missions conference and staff retreat with Overland Missions,  we have done meals with approximately 35 families, and shared with 3 different churches.  It has been a delight and the conversations have been full of meaningful connections, but I have to admit, some of it is becoming a bit of a blur too!  It is truly a miracle that we have done decent at recalling the names of our supporters and friends.  Ha ha!!  (you have to decide if we are truly on "vacation")

All the transitions are sometimes challenging, but I think there is a GRACE from God that covers that too and we also have had pockets of rest along the way.  Our kids have done super great with all the time driving in the car with us and with meeting with a million new friends.  We are so thankful for them. 

What I have learned along the way...
America is still "home" and is my "home culture" but I like the many ways that God has taken us down a slightly different path during our time living in Africa.  There is much about my thinking now that is "African" just below the surface.  I have to THINK all the time...as I am driving, I have to think carefully about which side of the road to pull into (we drive on the opposite side in Africa) and I often turn on the windshield/windscreen wipers since the blinker/indicator on our truck/bakkie in Africa is on the opposite side of the steering wheel.  As you can see from the last sentence, in Africa, we say things slightly differently too and especially when we first got back to the states, I'd have to process which way to say what I was thinking.

We have different priorities now and see life through a different set of experiences after living in Africa.  One simple one - we were expecting to see American families struggling more with the downturn in the economy, but honestly when we compare American families who are struggling to African families who are struggling...well, "struggling" has a vastly different definition to us now.  "Comfort" has a new definition, "Holy Spirit" has a new definition after seeing God move in new and different ways than we had grown up understanding, "Thunderstorm" means something different to us after living in Johannesburg, "Hot" has a new definition after living in a tent in Zambia during a heat wave that had us between 100F-131F for most of the month...you get the idea.

This isn't a criticism, more of an observation about how my own ways of seeing the world have changed.  Americans are still the most generous people on the planet and we are so grateful to so many of you for giving so faithfully to make sure that we can continue to live and work in Africa. 


Our family is exceedingly blessed to be surrounded by such a generous group of friends, both in the states and in Africa.  We've been blessed with clothes, with financial gifts, with an awesome truck/bakkie to borrow the whole time we are home, with meals, with encouragement and counsel from mentors, and Dan even won a season pass for snowboarding to Soldier Mt.  (Too bad we are only in Idaho for 10 days!)  We are so grateful for you all!


We are in the states through the last week of March and look forward to connecting with many more of you along the way. 

We are sharing at Fairfield Community Church (Idaho) this Sunday the 12th, and at Summit View Church's Felida Campus (Vancouver, WA) on the 19th.  Please contact us if you are interested in details for the times/locations.  We'd love to see you!