Wednesday in Kasempa

Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers! We are staying healthy and resting up for full days.

I’d like to pick up where we left off last time. Last night we spent some time in the Compassionate Vineyard church in Kasempa. As we pulled up in the bus, we were able to see candle light through the church’s doors – what a way to set the mood. We began our evening sharing a meal with the people in the church – chicken, beans, and nshima – delicious! The people sang a worship song to begin the evening: “God is good, and He is always with us.” Shawn then spoke a word of encouragement to all the leaders of nearby churches and prayed for them. Jon then led the team in worship, and it was a very powerful experience to worship the same God in English and their native tongue. Then the people prayed for us and blessed us through song. This blog does not give this experience justice. It was the most amazing beautiful loving sendoff I (Michelle) have ever experienced in my life. I’m sure the rest of the team would agree. They repeated their song 9 times, including each team member’s name. What a high to end Day 1 of ministry in Zambia!

This morning (Wednesday) traveled to the leper colony. When we arrived, it seemed like the whole village came out to see us. Jon led us in worship, and Rich spoke a loving word from James. The lepers then sang a song to us, led by Pastor John. (Pastor John makes monthly visits to the colony). Next, we spent some time laying hands on each person that had leprosy – which was really incredible since we had an interpreter so we could ask each person what they specifically needed prayer for. It was a very powerful time. We then presented each person with a bag of kapenta, oil, sugar, salt, and nshima.

Lastly, we left the village but were followed by bright smiles of children chasing our bus. We must remember to keep these people in our prayers. We took a tour of the community radio station of Kasempa. The station provides AIDS education, knowledge about the local government, and current issues. Pastor John does live on-air teachings through the station weekly. I thought it was really neat that the community had a radio station that not only played music, but was informing about current issues.

We then traveled the LONG bus ride back to Ndola. We will be spending the next few nights in Ndola at the Healing House.

Upcoming preview: Please keep us in our prayers as we work with the children and youth of Mapalo tomorrow.

p.s. Shawn is a njabuluba.