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