Sorry I haven’t posted anything for a while! A lot has been
going on, and I have been processing. The past couple of days have been very
exciting days. On Thursday the campaigners arrived and so things have been a
little different with everyone here.
Here is a tiny bit of background about the campaigners. The
campaigners are members of a church in Abilene who come every summer to help to
encourage the mission work that is being done here in Mumena. The group this
year is consisted of six men. This summer they have been working a lot with the
school and encouraging the teachers and the parents.
Saturday we did a big health care outreach where we helped people
get eye glasses and provided dental care.
Sunday I was able to go with two of the people who are here
for the campaign to visit a nearby refugee camp. It was the same camp that I visited
the last time I was in Africa a year and a half ago. I was pleased to be able
to see some of the people whom I remembered from my last visit.
Monday, Karen Love was taking one of the workers to the
hospital because she had gotten a pretty deep abrasion on her leg sometime
during the weekend. On her way to the clinic, a man who lives in a nearby
village came running up to her car with his baby. He begged Karen to take him
to the clinic because his baby was very sick. She could tell the baby didn’t
look well because it was foaming at the mouth and was severely malnourished.
She drove them back to the house to get some food to take with them to the
clinic, and I was out in the yard teaching the two oldest of the Loves’ kids. When
I saw Karen’s face I knew something was wrong, and she explained the situation to
me. I ran out to see the baby before they left for the clinic, and I really
thought I saw the baby breathe its last breaths. I immediately started praying.
The baby looked to be about one or two, but I was astonished to learn later that
he was four years old. I was able to watch all the kids while Karen ran to the
clinic. We went to visit them that afternoon, and the baby was doing a lot
better. I found out that the family had already lost two or three children
because they weren’t feeding them properly, and they had been told by several
people that they needed to change, but they just wouldn’t listen. But praise God
for that child to be healed.
Tuesday I attended my first Zambian funeral. I had read lots
about them, but I had never been to one, and I was very curious. Yesterday
evening Rick Love got a call asking him if he would preach at a funeral. He
didn’t know any of the details except for what time it would be. We expected it
to be someone older, but when we arrived we found out that it was a child. When
we got to the village we could hear lots of wailing people in one of the homes,
and the wailing was continuous. After a little while they brought out the small
wooden casket from the home from which the wailing had been emanating and sat
it on a bench in front of everyone. All of the wailing women also came out of
the home. The people there had Kevin (one of the campaigners) say a prayer, and
then Rick spoke. They opened the casket up so that you could just see the top
part of the child. After Rick finished speaking, we all walked towards the
other side of the major road farther into the “bush.” When everyone arrived at
the burial site, they said a prayer and sang. Then they started to bury the casket,
and they collected all the “ties” and lay them down and put flowers on top.
Every day I am reminded more and more of how challenging the
missionary life really is, and how much it isn’t anything like the postcard
picture-perfect “missionary life.” The missionaries sacrifice a lot to live
abroad wherever it might be in the world. There is heartache, loss,
homesickness, sometimes little earthly comfort, sometimes danger, and sometimes
frustration between different cultures. But there is something so much more
valuable than any of these “sacrifices” that make everything so worthwhile. We
have the joy of seeing brothers and sisters all around the world be buried and
reborn again and having the eternal hope and joy of living with Our Lord and
Savior and taking as many people as we can with us. We get to be witnesses to
growing and maturing Christians and be encouraged by the mature brothers and
sisters in Christ from a different culture.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from this past week:
Emily and Lydia enjoying the hammock wearing their tutus.
Karen and Mwasa
Playing with the kids before the Healthcare outreach.
Things I would really appreciate your prayers for:
- - Praise for my health
- - The Love’s and the work that they are doing here
- - Missionaries around the world
- - The schools in Mumena
- - The campaigners to have a safe trip back
- - The people of Zambia
