Finding Purpose II

Greetings from Livingstone, Zambia! We’ve been taking some time the last few days to process our experience so far. Things are, to put it mildly, tough here. Not for us. It’s been fabulous working with Percy again, we’ve renewed old and dear friendships, our students have been great, and our accommodations adequate to lovely.

Zambians have it very tough, though. The Kwacha is trading at 21.3 to the dollar these days (it was 13.5 in 2019) which means prices on food and other necessities have risen and continue to rise, and the Covid Restrictions are killing small businesses. The tourist industry has been decimated. The streets of Livingstone, home of Victoria Falls and gateway to Botswana's fantastic Chobe National Park, are basically devoid of foreign visitors. It’s eerie. One blessing… The rains came in November for the first time in several years and maize is growing beautifully in Western Province, so that will help for sure. Still…

Someone commented to me before we left the States: “Lockdowns are for the wealthy.” Well, if that’s true in the States, just imagine what that means for the average Zambian? The W.H.O. is estimating an additional 150 million starvation deaths in the Developing World due to the effects of all these lock down policies and travel restrictions. That’s multiple times more than the expected Covid deaths. Troubling, to say the least, especially when you talk to old friends here who have lost or are about to lose their businesses or jobs. Well, I’ll stop now, but you get the picture.

Now, to our students and the training…Our experience in Mongu with the young (20’s-30’s) New Vine Ministries leaders was outstanding. As is always the case here, they were hungry to learn, open, teachable, and enthusiastic. We spent a week teaching “Discovering My Life Purpose” and it was exciting to see our students catch a glimpse of how and why the Lord uniquely created and marvelously redeemed them. The training culminated with each of our students writing out his or her life purpose statement using a formal template we gave them to encourage them to be focused and brief. We then coached them as each shared his or her purpose statement with the group. It went really well!

We were amazed by what they wrote, each statement unique and, in several cases, delightfully surprising. For example, one young man - I’ll call him Ernest - wrote this: “My life purpose is to plant, grow, and cultivate fruits and vegetables to feed my family, the elderly, and double orphans.” We then pushed him to go a bit farther because he had not told us in his statement why he wanted to do this. We asked him, “So that?” He paused for a few moments and said tenderly, “So that they know they are beloved.”

“So that they know they are beloved.” Indeed.

After we left Mongu, we stopped in Senanga for a couple of days and spent some wonderful time with Pastor Titus, his wife, Kahilu, and their son, Dougie, who is my namesake. We renewed our friendship, planned future training for leaders in a new community for us, Shangombo, and enjoyed several meals together. It was refreshing!

Yesterday, we began two classes in Livingstone, Phase 1 (“Understanding the Bible” and “Family Systems”) with some young evangelists and “Discovering My Life Purpose” with some local business/church leaders who worship at our friend and former student, Pastor John Zulu's, church. We’re limited to two hour meetings because of Covid restrictions, but it’s a start, and yesterday went extremely well.

Please pray for Percy who is dealing with some important extended family matters and for us, that our training be infused with the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, and that we remain healthy as we enter our final days here before flying home on February 10-11.

And, remember, where we go, you go! Love to all of you!

Our Mongu class was Awesome!

You gotta admit…Little Dougie is a good looking boy!

It was wonderful to see rising waters and Green again in Western Province!