21 January 2015

News from Zambia - 21 January 2015


21 January 2015

Greetings from Luanshya!

ZAMBIA VOTES! Yesterday the voters of Zambia went to the polls to elect their 6th president. Fifty-one of the polling stations in six districts are voting today because the rains kept election officials from getting ballots and poll workers to remote posts. According to the Electoral Commission of Zambia voter turnout has been appalling. Only 33.8% of registered voters actually cast their vote for the highest office in the land.

As sad as that statistic is, there is another statistic that is even sadder. According to the web site bible.org only five per cent of believers have ever led another person to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some time ago we conducted an evangelism seminar for church leaders in Luanshya. As a part of the seminar we made visits to people to share the Good News of the Lord. One of our teams came back and reported that they had led a person to Christ. One of the participants – a deacon in a local church – exclaimed, "That was exciting! I have never done that before!" I was surprised…

This past week John Bwalya was pleased to lead a young man to the Lord. He has been coming to church for several weeks and has listened to the Gospel presentation. John took him through God's simple plan of salvation and the young man repented of his sins and asked the Lord to save him.

We see these stories all the time; it never gets old and is always exciting! This past week a young woman came into the Resource Centre and told Sherry that she was a student of hers from nearly a decade ago. She has now relocated to Lusaka, but wanted to let Sherry know that her influence had encouraged her as a girl. She is now teaching Sunday school in her church sharing that same Good News to her youngsters as she teaches them.

One of our PRIMARY GOALS in Zambia is not only to share the Gospel, but also to teach others to "go and do likewise." Seeing it happen is thrilling. Because you have been faithful in your prayers and support we are able to share these stories with you!

Thank you for making this possible!

In His Service,
P & S

17 January 2015

News from Zambia - 8 January 2015

 

8 January 2015

 

Greetings from Luanshya!

 

It hardly seems possible that we have finished the year. Over the course of 2014 we have seen a new congregation of believers started, baptised over 100 new believers and trained several church leaders to baptise still more, have seen two buildings completed for two more congregations and have started teaching at another location in an area designated for disabled residents.

 

In addition, two of our Lighthouse Children's Home wards (Dickson Siwale and Shadreck Mbayole) have completed their courses at Mobile Mission Maintenance Vocational Training Centre. Another ward, Nancy Chanda, has successfully completed her first year in secondary teachers' training at Mufulira Teachers' College and Andrew Silungwe (our youngest ward) has completed his first year (of two) of training as an electrical engineer at Luanshya Technical Business College. This has been a challenging – yet rewarding – investment into the lives of these young people.

 

Another exciting aspect of this past year has been the opportunity to assist and encourage other missionaries in their areas of focus. Some people think that "missions" is a romantic vocation filled with victories and excitement. That is not the case and many missionaries "burn out" because they are expected to produce regardless of their field of service. Without going into detail, we have been able to encourage several ministries this year with simple acts of kindness and the occasional moral boost. Because of this we have seen God work in miraculous ways.

 

This coming year holds many new and exciting opportunities. Sherry will join me in teaching at Mobile Mission Maintenance Vocational Training Centre. Her first course is "Overlooked Live of Significance – Seldom-Studied Bible Characters." I will start the year by teaching my Discipleship series. We are looking forward to working with these young people. The refocusing of MMM VTC this past year has been a success with the new director working to return the school to it's original focus of Bible study and vocational training.

 

As we look back over last year with all of the challenges and victories we thank the Lord constantly for His blessing and provision. We also thank you for YOUR faithful prayers and support as we continue…

 

In His Service,

Patrick & Sherry

 

08 January 2015

News from Zambia - 8 January 2015

Hey!

Here is our first update of 2015.

Happy New Year!

P & S