Our Dream Home!

A Tale of Two Leaks!

As most of you know, Trinetta and I are building our dream home. It’s not a big fancy place. In fact, our dream has been to simplify. To build a smaller house that’s neat and clean and build a large garage with room to do car restoration and art. I must say that it has been a blessed experience. We are about 80% done now and although there have been a few things go wrong, all in all it’s really been fun. God has been there at every turn sending us the right people to not only be honest with us but take a personal interest in helping us do things right. That’s a far cry from the nightmare stories we’ve heard of subcontractors who take your money and run. I could fill a book with the little miracles along the way but I thought I would share a small part of the experience that truly illustrates the providential care of God.

After Jim Mathis had guided us through the major part of our project, we met one of the nicest men along this path- Doug, our plumber. Doug was one of the first to take a real interest in our project and has become a friend and guide. He advised us to install a pex system that uses a network of plastic hoses throughout the home for hot and cold water supply. The plumbing was installed and worked great.

At one point I thought we had finished the framing. (Actually, there were several points at which I thought we had finished the framing but Trinetta kept making improvements in the layout. Eventually the framer thought about just building with Velcro instead of nails.) Anyway, the last change was an area in the kitchen where the electrical and plumbing entered the house. When they pulled out a couple of the boards in this area suddenly water started spraying out everywhere. The carpenter had to turn off the water at the well and only then did he see that the framer had shot a nail through the plastic pex hose. Had Trinetta not wanted this change, we would have sheet rocked over this area and within 6 months we would have had a major water leak in the walls. Thank you Lord.

So that explains one leak. Here’s an even stranger one. As we have moved from house to house with HomeTenders of America, we have had to put a lot of our stuff in storage. One day Trinetta needed to pick up something so she went by the storage center and upon opening the door realized that our storage unit had sprung a leak. But, as only God could arrange things, the leak was directly over a large plastic storage bin that had a bucket in it. Every drop of water was confined to this one bucket! And the bin and bucket were sitting on top of some of our nicest furniture.

Two scriptures have been impressed on my heart this week that pertain to the providential care of God.

The first is one that my dad told me after the big solar eclipse this past Monday. I was talking to him and he said: “son, everywhere I look people are so amazed by this solar eclipse thing. But I am way more amazed at the fact that the bible says that God has counted the stars and given every one of them a name! Now that’s something to be amazed about.” (Psalm 147:4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.) This reminds me of the hugeness of God’s care over the universe.

The second scripture is Luke 12:6,7 “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. ⁷ Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” This reminds me that yes, he does care about our overstuffed chairs.

Birthday of a Church

A Great Day to Relax and Prepare-

I am so grateful to our Team for their tireless efforts in ministry this week. After working long days in a row it was good to have a day to relax and refocus for Sunday’s important activities. Saturday we were able to sleep a little later than normal and travel to the Lilayi Baby Elephant Orphanage run by Game Ranger’s International. These beautiful animals were rescued from the bush when their parents were killed by poachers.

BIRTHDAY OF THE CHURCH-

Sunday we saw the culmination of months of planning and days of witnessing in the compound. We got up early and headed to the site of the new church not knowing what to expect. It was so rewarding to see the people we led to Christ this week arriving at the first service of Faith Baptist Church. We had 40 adults and close to 100 children at the service today. Choirs from several neighboring churches came for the grand opening and I was honored to preach the first sermon. I have dreamed for many years about being part of a church planting movement and it is so gratifying to see what God has accomplished through a church with a vision for sharing the gospel to the ends of the earth. Faith Baptist of Lusaka is the fourth church that Castle Hills Church has planted through our alliance with the International Mission Board and Joyful Baptist Church.

Although you were not present, so many of you were an integral part of this mission through your faithful financial and prayer support. It has been said that for every missionary that goes over the edge, there must be 100 faithful to hold the ropes. We appreciate your willingness to send us and although we come home tired in body we are renewed in Spirit.

Faith Baptist Church at Green Villa School

Cute Babies!

Team Zambia @ IMB Guest House 

Zambia - Day Five

Last Full Day of Ministry is Complete

Although as a team we are exhausted, it is hard to believe our journey is coming to an end. Today we hit the dusty roads of Chazanga Compound to once again share Jesus with anyone and everyone who would listen.

When you hear the number of people who prayed to trust Jesus as Savior this week, it’s hard to fathom. The people of Zambia are so open to the gospel because they are keenly aware of their need. They live in a survival culture that is not concerned with purchasing the latest gadget from Amazon, but are working daily to be sure their family has food and shelter. Because of this, they readily receive the message that God loves them and wants to be with them now and forever.

This week, we were blessed to share the gospel with 274 people and saw 128 trust Jesus as Savior.

DEMONIC ACTIVITY IN ZAMBIA…( a word from Donnie)

Because of the risk of sensationalism, I have sometimes hesitated to share the darker side of missions knowing it could be misunderstood. However, I think this story bears repeating for the glory of God. We shared the gospel, at one point, with two young men who were eager to hear the truth. Both young men expressed they wanted to pray to trust Jesus with their lives when suddenly, a man who was obviously disturbed came running up and started saying that we were the enemy. He went on to say that because we were from America we were responsible for the disappearance of his family. He rambled on about this repeating himself and was getting louder and closer each time.  I was with Pastor Banda from Joyful Baptist Church at the time and each of us reached out and put a hand on each shoulder and began to pray. We prayed that this man would be delivered from the power of Satan through the blood of Jesus Christ. Immediately, this man who had been waving his hands around wildly, went silent and limp closing his eyes and dropping his arms to his side. From there, pastor Banda was able to lead him up the road so that I could lead these two young men in a prayer of saving faith. One interesting footnote to this story is that while in Africa, I have been going through the book of Matthew. This morning I got to chapter 8 and the story of Jesus casting demons out of the two possessed men. I am sure God used this to prepare my heart for the spiritual battle I would encounter.

Parent Day at VBS

Today was the final day of VBS at Green Villa School. We asked the children to invite their parents to attend with them today but had no idea how many might come since it meant leaving their chores and walking quite a distance. As it turned out, we had a great number of parents attend and they got to see their children joyfully singing the songs we taught them this week. At the conclusion, we did a one act play called The Two Kingdoms that depicted the very story we have been sharing this week. Afterward, ten young girls approached Jessica. She assumed they wanted a “snap” (photo) with her like many others had done.  She was shocked at their question when they asked: “can you tell us more about Jesus.” Later, we talked about what a rare occurrence this was and how much we wished people asked that daily.

 Zambians rarely see silver hair.

Grandpa Bill 

Bill Andrews, Greg Davis, Forrest Faircloth, Donnie Anthony, and our interpreter, Newton, doing the Two Kingdoms demonstration.

 Parents loved taking pictures with the "mzungu" (white people)