September has been a month of highs and lows. During the first week we lost a good friend after a ten month battle with cancer. Eve and Dick Jarvis came to Zambia after retirement and have been working among the deaf. Eve felt that “something” was wrong and travelled with Sherry to South Africa last November. She was diagnosed with stage four-cancer. Sherry was with Eve throughout her treatment from diagnosis to her last breath on 3 September. Please pray for Dick Jarvis as he deals with his loss. He and Eve would have celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary in November.
This month we also started classes at the Bible school. This is always a high point of our ministry. The classes include the Life of Christ, A Walk Through the Bible, Basic Christian Living and Biblical Stewardship.
One of our early wards came to visit recently. Augustine Kaoma was abandoned by his family as a child. Though he was not officially under our supervision, we began caring for him while he was going to school. He ultimately finished night school while helping Sherry in the Christian Resource Centre. He left us in order to pursue a business opportunity and today he has his own transport company. He married a young widow and adopted her daughter as his own. He told us that he learned how to love and share because of what he experienced under our care. Today he and his wife have four children and he kept telling the children, “remember, this is grandma and when you grow up and visit Luanshya, you need to make sure you visit grandma and grandpa. They are important people.”
Sherry’s Thursday afternoon women’s class is going strong. This quarter they are learning not to just be “under the Word” but to be “in the Word” for themselves. One of our goals is to equip the saints and how better to do this than to actually teach them how to study the Word of God. Sherry’s methodology is similar to that of what she learned under Dr. David Reid…Historical background, doctrinal teaching, personal application.
Kaponda Mulapwa is an evangelist in the rural areas of the province. He supports himself fishing along the river where he lives. Fishing season is closed at the moment so he has come seeking to take discipleship lessons with me. We are enjoying the bible study and I am learning much from this seasoned Bible student. I was told that we learn all our lives. When we stop learning, we start to die. My few hours with Mr. Mulapwa every Monday is a great way to start my week.
In the difficult times and the joyous times we rejoice in the fact that God is blessing as we are seeing victories from the distant past as well as recent time. Tour faithful prayers and support makes it all happen!
