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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