Greetings from Luanshya!
We were very pleasantly surprised yesterday when a truck pulled up at the house with several boxes of books and "goodies" from Northern Ireland and Canada. There are hundreds of books for our Christian Resource Centre library including Bible studies, biographies, devotionals and a set of World Book Encyclopaedia. Some of these books will be put into small libraries for young preachers who live and minister in rural areas while many of them will be put to immediate use in the library. It was a very exciting day!
In addition to the books were the other items of interest. Knitted sweaters and jumpers for babies and girls were also included as well as baby "sleeping bags" and blanket & towel sets for new mothers. We will distribute many of these over the next few weeks in the Lighthouse Children's Home and churches where we minister. The baby sleeping bags will of special interest since nobody here has ever seen them (including us). For several years we have presented gifts to new mothers in the hospital at Christmas. There were also many, many baseball caps included in the packages. While 99% of the Zambian boys have never seen a baseball, they ALL love to wear ball caps. Sherry is planning to distribute these to the young people at her Youth Meeting on Friday. This will add to the excitement.
"Election Fever" is alive and well! Not only are the Americans up to their neck in political advertising and news, but the Zambian special election for President is hot and heavy… and only hours away. The polls here open at 6 am on Thursday 30th October and all four candidates (and their supporters) are working country-wide to garner support of the electorate. There is hardly a vertical space in our town without a poster proclaiming that a particular candidate is "the right man for the job." This is truly democracy in action. Enthusiasm is exciting and contagious. We see this as campaigners wave signs, make distinctive hand gestures (each party has their own unique hand gesture) and shout out the name of their candidate of choice. Wouldn’t it be interesting if Christians were as excited about their Lord and King, Jesus Christ?
Funny you should mention that! Last Friday was Zambia's Independence Day so Sherry assumed that her youth meeting would be cancelled. She asked the young people what they wanted and they unanimously "voted" to have class… on a HOLIDAY! She said not only were her "regulars" there, but they brought visitors. As we mentioned earlier, the election is tomorrow and it has been declared a national holiday. Often the Friday after a Thursday holiday is also considered a de facto holiday, but Sherry assumed nothing and again asked her class what they wanted. She was not surprised this time when they again unanimously "voted" to have class. The young people are enthusiastic about their Bible study and excited enough to bring visitors even on holidays. We are thrilled with their enthusiasm and excitement. Please pray for them as they study "How to Survive the School Jungle" this Friday.
I have been told by more than a few people on my FACEBOOK page that they are praying for us. It is always good news to know that we are being remembered to the Throne of Grace. Our work is shared by all who support us in both prayer and contributions We appreciate your partnership in this ministry.
Together in His Service,
Patrick & Sherry
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This is a regular (almost) update of the multi-faceted ministry of Patrick and Sherry Coleman who serve the Lord in Zambia, Africa.
About Us
Patrick was born and raised in the Los Angeles area of California. He moved to Lubumbashi, Zaire, (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1985. In 1991 he was evacuated from Lubumbashi because of civil unrest. Patrick based his family in Luanshya, Zambia.
Sherry was born and raised in a Jewish home in New Jersey. She came to know the Lord as her Messiah and personal Saviour when she was 17. She came to Zambia in 1990 to administrate a correspondence Bible school. She also taught in area schools and in churches.
They met and were married on August 1, 1997.
Today both Patrick and Sherry Coleman serve the Lord together in Zambia. Their ministry responsibilities have grown. They own and operate the Lighthouse Children's Home with six AIDS orphans, they have opened their personal library to the public in Luanshya through the Christian Resource Centre, Sherry still has a correspondence Bible school and Patrick still works with local church leaders as well as serving in leadership at Fellowship Chapel in Luanshya.
Note from the Web Guy
Greetings from the Web presence of the Coleman Ministry. Please check the archives for any posts you may have missed.
This is the Colemans' oldest son, who is responsible for this website. My father refers to himself as "Technologically Reclined". Despite my best efforts to make posting to this site as easy and quick as possible, he insists on using the worst method available and occasionally forgetting to notify me for more than a year.As a result, sometimes posts get added in the background. They do not hit the front page, which only shows the latest update I have received, reformatted, and republished. As of this writing, I have a dozen posts to put up and back-date, and more coming in. I estimate that I will finish this effort by late July. Maybe not this year, but it will be a July.
So please, peruse the archives.