Ministering in the Market

Site of the Kavanga Bible study.  Chair for the teacher!

God sent a kitten to greet me at Kavanga!!

The Kavanga Bible study went well according to Hilda and Abbey.  Patrick was in the field dealing with other animals grazing on his property.  Charles, the man you have been praying for salvation was also not there.  They had a new kitten in the village who took a liking to my beard.  We made fast friends.  Kavanga, the old man of the village is 93 years-old.  He was very amused when we talked about God promising Abram and Sarai a child heir.

Wes is going to Namwala tomorrow. One of the missionaries they know is in the states with cancer and Wes is going up to secure some of their belongings to prevent pilfering.  Tomorrow is Friday.  Rosemont team leaves Saturday.  Abbey prayed for you guys last night at praise and worship.  It would have brought tears to your eyes to hear her intercede in prayer for you. 

I helped Christen give reading assessments today.  We are using the A to Z books for fluency and reading comprehension.  She has developed comprehension questions and a fluency scale for each book.  I assessed Mishek today.  He sat on the bench next to me and snuggled up as close as he could get to read the book to me.  I am hoping to do some math assessments with the children before I leave.

Tomorrow is Science lab day.  I do that every Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. with the children.  I have a class of two and then a class of 10.  Tomorrow we are going to launch 2-liter bottle rockets.  I brought my launcher from school in my suitcase.  I have already conducted a test to make sure it still works.  Usually 20 pumps is  enough pressure with a bicycle pump.  I used a basketball pump for the test launch.  Forty pumps later my arms were sore, but we had an effective launch.

This is Lynne, I helped Noah cleaned out the chicken coops today. We took all the litter (including the maize bran used to absorb moisture on the floor) to the garden and mixed it with soil and compost to make a raised garden.  Tomorrow we plant cabbage.  The rape is just beginning to sprout.  Noah says we are going to have enough rape for all of Mapanza.  We shall see. Larry and I are adjusting pretty well to life here.  It is interesting doing without the modern conveniences but so far it isn’t uncomfortable, just takes more time to do everything.  The good thing is, no one is in a hurry so it doesn’t matter that it takes more time. Christen said today that I am getting darker as I work in the African sun.  I laughed and patted Kulanga’s arm and said, “I will be as dark as Kulanga before I leave here.” He laughed and said, “Praise God and thank Jesus!”  We all got a good laugh from that one! These are beautiful loving people. Purity sat on my lap last night and we just hugged and rocked and loved each other.  It was sweet.  I haven’t had a child to sit in my lap and love me for several years.  I enjoyed it.

There is been a running debate among the children concerning my beard.  Some of them want me to stay till December and be Santa Claus.  Others are curious as to how I look without a beard.  Max and Nala (our cats) love to rub their head and face on it.  The Kavanga kitten today rubbed her face all over my beard.  I am thinking that with the heat and humidity in Georgia during the summer, I will shave it off when I get home (if not at Heathrow in London on the way home).

You might be wondering what goes on here after dark.  Well, there are no television or radio stations.  Lynne and I read a lot.  Also, Deb was nice enough to leave her NCIS Season 8 DVDs for us to watch.  Although, the 6^th DVD is not in the case, so we will soon have to resort to talking to each other or watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  Wednesday night we have Praise & Prayer, and Sunday night is the American Fellowship at Blu and Darbi’s home.  It should be obvious I spend quite a bit of time typing blogs, editing photos to post, preparing for morning devotions, and other “various and sundry things.”  I have always wanted to use “various and sundry things” in a sentence.  Check!!!

I hope you haven’t found the blog posts boring.  Much of what I have written since being here has been to inform the Rosemont team coming over here.  I have tried to give you a picture of our life here!  It is not glitzy or glamorous, but God has given us many opportunities to share his love in small ways with the children and people of Mapanza.

On June 11 when I took the first sunset pictures from the top of the new water tower, I had an epiphany.  I retired from the Navy after 20 years because I was at the high year tenure for my rank.  Although I my record says it was a voluntary retirement, there really was no choice on my part.  The promotion board had passed me over six times.  I expressed no chagrin about the fact I was passed over, because I knew I had been doing what God wanted me to do.  One of my commanding officers once told me, “One day you are going to have to choose between the Navy and your family.”  During my department head tour in Spain, I faced that decision.  I chose my family with no regrets.  So, as I stood watching the beautiful sunset from the top of the water tower, God spoke to me.  In a still quiet voice He told me, “If your Navy career had gone the way you wanted it to go, you would not be standing here at this moment.  Aren’t you glad I took control?”  My response was yes.  I could fill this page with the things I would have missed out on had I been promoted and stayed in the Navy.  Promotion would not have been worth it.   

One of my top five favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 84:10, “A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else!  I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.”    The next verse that comes to mind when I think of that time on the tower is Ecclesiastes 6:9 “Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have.  Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless-like chasing the wind.”    After that conversation with God on the tower, I can put the skeleton of not being promoted behind.  In the eyes of the Navy, I failed.  In the eyes of God I am exactly where He wants me to be . . . in Mapanza, Zambia, teaching computer classes, leading devotions, and launching 2-liter bottle rockets.  As my friend Dennis Ellison told me a long time ago, “bloom where God plants you.”  Dennis didn’t include God in his quote, but I am sure he meant to include Him.