Team Zambia 2016 Day Two- Monday Update

SO WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?

Team Zambia’s mission consists of two main activities; hut to hut evangelism in the mornings and mission vacation bible school in the afternoons. Both of these activities are aimed at planting and supporting local churches. That is always the bottom line mission. 

If there’s one part of the trip that can make team members nervous- it’s probably hut-to-hut evangelism. We train extensively for this so that every team member is well prepared but nothing can totally remove the butterflies that still get in your stomach when you are about to walk up to a total stranger halfway around the world and tell them about Jesus. For this reason each team has not only an interpreter but a leader that models this before letting each team member share.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR NEWBIES!

After the first morning of sharing, here’s an impression of how it went for a couple of our first timers:

Emily McComack: 

At first I was very uncomfortable because I have never done this kind of thing. But, it really helped not to just be thrown to the wolves. We each got to share a small part in the beginning and tag teamed with our other team members to move through the gospel. When we went up to the first lady there seemed to be a cloud of confusion over her and so instead of the normal presentation, the team leader asked me to tell my story of my relationship with Christ. This turned out to be a great first step for me and after “breaking the sound barrier” I feel much more prepared to share in the coming days.

Maddie Thurmond: 

When I first heard we were going to to this, I thought: “no problem, I like talking to people- after all I worked retail for 5 years. However, the thing that made it hard was trying to choose my words carefully so as not to step over any cultural barriers that might offend them or leave them confused. I really wanted to use words that would be easy for them to understand and easy for the translator. Already I can see that God is giving the words. I can’t wait to share more tomorrow.  Actually- my favorite thing so far is that Hannah and I get swarmed by beautiful little kids every time we enter a compound. Mom- Dad- I might not want to come home!

SURPRISE!, SURPRISE!, SURPRISE!

Here’s another example of how things don’t always run perfectly smooth on a mission trip. We arrived at Kamrise School yesterday afternoon to begin our “Holiday Bible School” (African speak for VBS). We went in and met with the school officials to make formal introductions (which is very important in African culture.) They looked very confused and when we asked for the man with whom we had spoken a month earlier they just looked at each other and there was this long pause. As it turns out, this man had been fired recently and although he had mentioned a group coming, he had never mentioned a date. The teachers asked if they could convene a meeting of all teachers to come to a decision. They came back in a few minutes and said: “you are welcome to do your programme!” These were welcome words, especially since much of our 12 hours of training had centered around bible stories, crafts and games created for this particular group. The teachers immediately loved our team and were singing with us and even participating in the games with their students. God made a way where there seemed to be no way.

PLEASE PRAY

Prayer Request: Please continue to pray that each of our team would have a “holy boldness” as they walk down these dusty roads sharing Jesus.

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