Our Plan vs. God's Plan

Today (Wednesday) we did our last outreach with Pastor Best. We traveled to a village called Skiunzwe outside of Livingstone. Pastor Best has partnered with Pastor Kalaluka who is the Vineyard pastor in the village. It’s so encouraging to observe churches helping churches, and the church being the church by helping the people in the village. It was really neat to hear the history of his church. He began meeting under a tree by the main road, and only a few people would meet with him. He then began to build a church building himself using mud, tree branches, and elephant grass. He then said that the church grew, and he now has about 140 people meeting in a small building. The pews in the church are just merely branches off of trees, and there are so many people in the church, there are not enough branches for the people to sit on. He is planning on building a bigger building to accommodate the growth. Pastor Kalaluka had also shared with us that he currently has Malaria. As a team we were able to pray for healing for the pastor, for the village, and for the church. Please lift them up in prayer, as they have gone through many difficult times from floods, poor harvest, and sickness.

We brought the village mealie-meal, sugar, salt, and cooking oil. Pastor Kalaluka had shared with us that the people did not have a good maze season, and there was only a 2 month supply of food left. How awesome that God was able to provide for them and extend their food supply longer.

We were supposed to have a teaching and ministry at the church, but we were told that a young man in the village had passed away early in the morning. Pastor Kalaluka brought us to the village, and we could feel the sorrow the village was experiencing. We were able to pray for the father and father in law, and Molly was able to share an encouraging word, as she could relate with the fathers. Jon also led us in a song to give some comfort to the fathers. We prayed for the village and the fathers for their loss and also gave food and funds to help with funeral costs. We had come with plans, but God had greater plans to meet the needs of the village. Amen!
We then spent the afternoon at Victoria Falls. How incredible the falls are! How beautiful, strong, and majestic God’s creation is! It was a fun, relaxing time to reflect on all the wonderful things God has done and is doing in Zambia as we observed His creation.

We ended our evening by accepting an invitation for dinner at Pastor Best’s home. His wife, Agatha, cooked a delicious meal of chicken, sauce, beans, rice, nshimi, sweet potatoes, and greens. Restaurants are nice, but there is just something about the comfort of home cooking! As our team sat with Pastor Best’s family in their living room, we fellowshipped and shared with one another. Pastor Best shared with us, that our visit was a great honor to the village and that many people will possibly come to church. The villagers will talk about the white men singing and visiting for months. What an incredible divine appointment that our team was able to experience today. We then ended the night with prayer. What a blessing!

Please lift our team up in prayer, as we are quickly approaching the end of our trip, and we begin the transition from Zambia to America.

p.s. I’ll trade you a pair of socks and a pen for a hippo!

p.s.s It’s raining, it’s pouring, Papa Rich is snoring.