Reflections on my Zambia Trip

 

              Psalm 2:8 – Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for your inheritance,
             And the ends of the earth for your possession.”

 

 

 
WOW! Amazing! Life-changing! God-Sized! These are only a few of the adjectives that I can use to describe the mission trip to Zambia. If you will allow me a little reading time, I would like to share with you some of my feelings and thoughts about how great our God is.

When Pastor Mike, from Deerfield Baptist, called me one January morning six months ago and asked if we could meet for lunch, I had no idea how that lunch would impact my life and the life of Westwood Baptist Church. As we talked and he shared the vision God had laid on his heart to reach the Nkoya people, I could sense God’s presence with us. Pastor Mike was so passionate about reaching these people that his enthusiasm was contagious. God had already been working in my heart about going on a mission trip. I had no idea it would be to Zambia, Africa! After all, I do not like to fly!

I shared my feelings with Pastor Mike and the “hurdles” that would have to be crossed in order for me to go. I told him: “If God is in this and wants this to happen, then it will.” He asked me to pray about this and let him know. I left that meeting with a growing excitement in my heart. I truly felt that God wanted me to go on this mission. I asked several men at the church to pray about this for me. I know they did and a week later I was sitting in our Deacon’s meeting explaining the trip.

I asked for their blessing to go. They were very excited about this opportunity; not only for their pastor but for the church to participate in missions. I shared with them the following “hurdles” that would have to be crossed: 1. the trip would cost approximately $2400. This included the airplane tickets and other expenses.2. I would have to get 10 days off from school during the school year. 3. I would need to miss three Sundays in a row from church. Our Deacon Chairman, David Gibson, was very excited about this opportunity and shared that he felt that “the church should support this effort in any way possible.” The deacons voted unanimously to allow me to go. I thank them for their support.

I met with Assistant Superintendent Vermell Grant about taking off from school. She was very excited about the opportunity and very supportive. She said there was only one problem: “You will have to take the ten days without pay.” I immediately said: “OK. God will take care of all the finances.” And from that time on, I laid everything at the feet of Jesus knowing my God is bigger than $5,000. Hurdle #1 cleared!

As the days quickly passed, God started manifesting Himself in major ways to me and Westwood Baptist Church. The support of my church at our business meeting was tremendous. It brought me to tears! Money started coming in from many different sources. Within several weeks there was more than enough money to pay for the trip. Hurdle #2 cleared. Praise God!

Hurdle #3 was cleared when the church voted to allow me to miss the three Sundays in a row. I would like to thank Tony Enmon, Jack Noble and Michael Hevener for so graciously filling our pulpit. God continued to move in and through Westwood Baptist Church even without the pastor being there. That is how a church is supposed to function.

Starting with the trip to Dulles Airport, God met us every step of the way. All of our luggage made it through weigh-ins and customs without a hitch. The plane ride was not one of my favorite parts of the trip but I was able to watch 6 movies from America to South Africa.

Upon arriving on African soil, God continued to meet our needs. We spent the night in Johannesburg, South Africa at our Baptist Mission complex. We were able to meet one of Pastor Mike’s best friends from seminary, Brother Dan. He is working with the Muslim population in South Africa. Thousands of Muslim Africans are converting to Christianity through the efforts of Dan and his team. Please pray for Dan and his continued health.

The next two days were spent in Livingstone, Zambia. We flew in over Victoria Falls. This was an amazing sight! We stayed at the Mirumba Inn and were treated to a hippopotamus eating in our front yard! Victoria Falls was a tremendous experience. After touring the falls, we were treated to “shopping” in the outdoor craft shops at the Falls. Shop owners were constantly “hawking” their items. Constantly there were 5-6 shop owners trying to get you to buy their crafts. It was an interesting experience “bartering” on prices. The next day we were starting on a Safari drive when we heard the news about VT. Needless to say we were devastated. We could not get very much information. My heart was heavy for our church. I had no way of contacting anyone to find out if we had members with family involved.

We left Livingstone the next day and traveled to Lusaka – the capital of Zambia. It was a mixture of new, modern buildings and tent cities with people living on the streets. We met Darren Davis, Pastor Mike’s friend who is with the International Mission Board (IMB) of the SBC. He lives in Kalabo, Zambia. He was there to meet us and take us to Kaoma. We spent the night at the Baptist Mission in Lusaka and left the next morning for Kaoma. It would be a 4 hour ride through the Kafuee National Park of Zambia. We saw many wild animals in the National Park including an elephant. We arrived in Kaoma early in the afternoon.

Kaoma was a small town with only one main street and numerous dirt “roads” throughout the town. The main road was lined with all types of stores and shops. You really could buy almost anything in Kaoma. We drove to our mission home and met the caretaker - Reuben and his wife Madeline. They had 5 children. Reuben is a godly man that I believe God will use a pastor one day. They do a tremendous job keeping the mission home up and running. Madeline cooked numerous meals for us while we were there.

Many events happened while in Kaoma. I will try to be short in the description. We had several goals for the trip:

Goal #1 - To rent a vehicle to travel in. God accomplished this through Mr. Masaeka; a business man in Kaoma that rented us his personal Isuzu Bighorn vehicle. We paid $1,500, 000 Quacha for the week. Just for your information $4,300 Quacha is equivalent to 1- American dollar. You will have to do the math. This was a wonderful vehicle and never let us down.

Goal #2 – To have two Christian translators that were Nkoya Men. God provided Pastor Mufia and Kashondola YNewveno. Both were Christian men and were wonderful translators. They became very special friends of ours throughout the trip. Kashondola was a member of the royal family of Mwene Mutondo.

Goal #3 – To have a man of prominence take us to Mwene Mutondo. God provided Mr. Lupoba and Mr. Shumeea. Both were godly men of prominence that the king trusted.

Goal #4 – To find a Man-of-Peace. This man needed to be a godly, Nkoya man that had very much influence with the Nkoya people. He also had to be “accessible” to us all of the time. Kashondola became our Man-of-Peace. He left his family on the Friday that we entered Kaoma and stayed with us until we left the next Friday. His family did not even know where he was the entire time. He kept telling us: “it is OK. They know I am out doing God’s work.” He lived 4 hours walk from Kaoma!

Goal #5 – To Meet with Mwene Mutondo. God met this goal in a special way. When we first went to meet the king, he spoke Nkoya through a translator but towards the end of our visit he was speaking to us in English. This was a sign that he had befriended us and trusted us. He asked Pastor Mike to pray at the end of the meeting. Mwene Mutondo was the first to get off his throne and kneel before the King of kings! What a moment that was! By the end of the prayer, every man in the room, including Mwene Mutondo was crying. God had met us in a mighty way. Mwene Mutondo told us that we could go to any village that we wanted. He also said: “God has answered our prayers.”

Goal #6 – To go to the village of the first Nkoya man Pastor Mike had ever met. His name was Jopha. We were able to spend three days and two nights in the village of Mwongaleasha. During this time, and on the long, long trip to the village, we were able to lead well over 100 Nkoya to Christ. AMEN!!!! As we left the village there was tears in our eyes for these people. They had been so gracious and open to us. They were hungry for the Word. Again, all we heard was “God, has answered our prayers.”

There are so many more stories to tell and feelings to share, but time and space do not allow it here. I want to thank my God for blessings me in such a special way. He took care of my health while in Africa (my knees never hurt) and he allowed me to lead many, many people to Christ.

Because of this trip, my life has been changed forever. I now have a better appreciation for the life of our missionaries and what they have to go through to share the Gospel message. Please pray for our missionaries and support them through your tithes.

As your pastor I feel that I can now lead Westwood in mission efforts as I have experienced missions first hand. I look forward to my next trip to Zambia in June of 2008 and I am praying that numerous members of Westwood will want to go along. Acts 1:8 – “You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Zambia).”

Isaiah 43:19 – “Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will make even a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.” We claimed this verse after our trip to Zambia. God has answered our prayers!

God Bless each one of you that supported this trip through prayers and finances. Without you being faithful and obedient to God’s Word and commands, thousands of Nkoya people would not be in heaven one day. I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I thank God each day for Him allowing me to be your pastor and friend. THANKS!

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