Africa 2013 Days Four and Five

Africa 2013 Days Four and Five We hit the road at 6:00a.m. this morning and drove 3 1/2 hours from Lusaka up to Siabonga to visit James and Marcia and their three awesome kids who are career missionaries with the International Mission Board. They live on the edge of Lake Kariba, the largest man made lake in Africa. They are surrounded by extremely poor villages that survive off what they can grow on their small patches of land and what they can catch in the lake. This is the second phase of our trip which is quite different. As a trustee of the International Mission Board, Nathan has been asked to meet with and encourage our missionaries in this region of Africa. I have to say that my heart has been moved after seeing a missionary family up close and personal. This family is one of the most joyful Christian families with which I have ever spent time. (and they have three truly awesome kids!) It is clear that they have been called by God to be in this remote place and they feel so blessed to live here. In fact, although it can be a difficult place to live at times, they don't seem to notice. Here are some facts about living in this area: Marcia has to drive 3 1/2 hours to do most of her grocery shopping because safe meat and certain staples are not available in Siabonga (meaning that she has to plan meals at least a month in advance) Gasoline is extremely expensive (approximately $6.00 a gallon) In addition to the demands of ministry, all three of Jeff and Marcia's children must be homeschooled because the schools here are substandard. In the Siabonga summer (October and November) the temperature here reaches 127 degrees fahrenheit. Only the main roads are paved and the unpaved roads are filled with trenches and ruts that require a four wheel drive vehicle. In the rainy season many roads are impassible. Reaching the Tonga people (an unreached people group of over 1 million) often requires James to launch his boat and drive up the lake for 2 hours because there are no roads leading to some of the more remote people. It is so fascinating to hear Jeff talk about his work. He drives to remote villages on a weekly basis that have never heard the gospel and leads people to Christ hut to hut. He then disciples them and they walk even deeper into the bush to lead others to Christ. We traveled with him to one of the extremely small villages and met a girl who looked to be about 16 or 17 years of age carrying her infant son on her back. She was so excited to meet other followers of Jesus. We had lunch on top of one of the mountains overlooking the lake. A friend of Jeff's owns the place and like so many places in the world- the contrast was so stark between this resort area and those who are starving within a stone's throw.

On the way back to the missionary house James decided to take us to meet a white South African man who had moved to Siabonga to open a Crocodile farm. The man welcomed us warmly to his place and gave us free roam. Please pray for this man and his wife who are very friendly to James and Marcia but truly needs to give his heart to The Lord. The crocs were amazing with the longest one we saw being almost 20 feet long! We ended our time together with an awesome time of Praise and Worship with the guitar sitting around their living room with each of their kids taking turns playing a special drum. Then before leaving we had a special prayer time for the Tonga people and for their ministry to be safe and blessed. Please, please allow me to close this blog by asking you to stop!...that's right stop! right now and just take a minute to pray for this amazing missionary family. Here are some prayer requests you can take to The Lord on their behalf. Pray that the over 1 million Tonga people will feel the wind of the Holy Spirit blowing over them as the gospel is released in waves by the M's and the national believers. Pray for the Missionary Kids (MK's) Micah, Emily and Taylor that they would exceed in their homeschool studies and become bold witnesses for The Lord. Pray for their electricity to stay on and their internet to work. Pray for a new ministry door that has opened where James and Marcia have been given permission to teach bible in every high school in Siabonga. We made the dangerous drive home safely today and came home to an amazing meal with another missionary family, Jeff and Robin and their amazing kids Hadassah, Levi and Zoe. We had sweeeet Texas tea, homemade rolls, bar b que meatballs, and green bean bacon wraps...thank you Lord for a home cooked American meal. Tomorrow morning at 6:50 a.m. we leave to fly 3 hours north into the mountains (on a small single engine plane.) This should be another wonderful adventure with Jesus. Just pray that I can keep my breakfast down!)