Author: Happy

Lots has happened since the last time we got to post. Some good news, some not.

First, the good news. Friday, we spent all day in the Market having studies. We had promised everyone all week long that we would come back and spend all day there. We studied for about two hours, working through different questions with people, and were about to leave for lunch when two more men came up to us to study (Lennox and Aaron). Lennox left, and Boyson joined us. We asked what they wanted to study. Aaron just told us that he wanted to know “What must i do to be saved?” He went on to tell us that he grew up in the Roman Catholic Church and had never taken baptism from them, because he realized that some things they did (like praying to Mary) just weren’t right. He didn’t want to go with a group like that, so he just quit attending worship anywhere. We studied for a while and looked at several different passages until he told us that he wanted to be baptized. We asked when…and he said “I am very ready!” We had studied how it is a burial in Romans 6, and Boyson chimed in afterwards to say that he wanted to be baptized as well. We took a taxi to the lodge, found clothes to change into, and hiked up to the Central Church of Christ. The baptistery was empty–so we got a good hour or so to study with them while it filled! Bennett (one who was baptized exactly a week prior) came with us, and had prayers with them too. It was a really wonderful day!

Today, Aaron and Bennett came to church with us (along with Victoria, Melody, Jennifer, and Charity and others). After church, Bennett was very excited about the possibility of preaching one day. He’s going to work on a lesson in the next day or two and deliver it in the marketplace on Tuesday.

Tuesday, we will get to study with the youth group. Sanderson asked us to spend a day with them to help them since they are the next generation of the church. We are going to work on studying teaching and some things like that, we think!

After the Market on Friday, Bennett brought us to his house. We walked about 20 minutes to Marumba to meet his mother, grandmother, and brother. It was wonderful to sit down and study with them and see their humble home. It makes you grateful to have electricity at night–more than just a candle lighting your entire home, but the view of the stars without light pollution made it all worthwhile! It was wonderful.

On a sad note, things have not gone so well with the family that was so sick. On Tuesday, the mother and one of the youngest went to the hospital. The child is doing some better, but the mother took a serious turn and passed away on Wednesday. The burial was on Saturday. The church was saddened, of course, but knows that doors were opened by their kindness. The family couldn’t even provide for a coffin, so the church helped out in many ways. Social workers have seen the children and are making plans so that they will be taken care of.

Our last few days look liike they will be good ones.  Tomorrow has Bible studies from about 9:30-18:30. Tuesday will be more follow ups, and a couple of hours with the youth.

We can’t wait for reliable water and bug free bedding. We miss the group here–and the church here REALLY misses the group. Sanderson read the Thank You card that the group left at service today and the congregation was appreciative.

See you Friday!

Matthew & Leslie

Hey! For everyone looking–there’s a photo gallery for the group and Zambia pictures here at http://gallery.happyhiatt.com

Thanks!

Matthew

Things are still going well. Yesterday, we had a good study with Bennett going through Ephesians 4 and then again in the armor of God. We studied with Ernset in the Market, too. He wasn’t as interested in studying, but we spent about 1.5 hours being frustrated. We looked for Lucumbe, but were not able to get in touch with her, and we hope to catch her today.

Victoria came by yesterday–but she missed us. Today we’ll be studying with her at 3. We came for a morning study with Christabell today, but she got called in for work. This afternoon we hope to meet Jennifer, Victoria, and Lucumbe. Everyone has been asking how the rest of the group is doing and if they’re back safely. We keep telling them that we assume that we would have heard if they weren’t! :-)

Well, all for now. Take care!

Matthew

The group at the Falls 

Hello from Zambia! It is Monday at 2:11 PM. We just got back from taking the group to the airport. No major security issues. Their flight leaves at 3:10–we’ll probably hear it. Livingstone International doesn’t get much jet traffic so it will be pretty obvoius. Leslie and I are excited about our last week and a half here. We have more  Bible studies and things to do than we know what to do with.

It was good to see the baptisms. Yesterday, I preached at Livingstone Central. They are all so eager to hear and so very encouraging. I met the director of an orphanage. Leslie and I are planning to go there this Wednesday and work with the kids for a little while.

So much has gone on since the last time I posted-I don’t even know where to begin. Many in our group have just gone to the markets in the afternoon and brought a Bible–and found that people flock to them for study. I think we’ve had two baptisms that way already. Leslie and I are planning to spend quite a bit of time there in follow up. It is frustrating to go tot he market. Many of the people are terribly poor–some are not. After we preached in Mukuni Village the other day, several responded and four or five were baptized. After the baptisms, we went to the market…and it seemed like everyone who responded said, “Come to my shop, I was the one who repented!” I bought from one guy that I had talked to for a couple of days, and I did not want to buy anything else. I had a t-shirt in my bag so I gave it to his friend that I had studied with as a gift. I told him that since I could not purchase from him, I wanted him to have something. He was very disappointed and said, “You have no kwachas for me too?”

Most of the people are really amazing, though. Almost the entire youth group from Riverside came to see our group off this morning. Two of the ladies that we have been studying with, Victoria and Petronella, walked to the lodge this morning just to see us off and sing with us before we left. They stayed with us about an hour. It is really exciting to get to continue to study with them.

Well, that should probably be it for now. We have study to do! Thanks, and keep praying for us and the church in Zambia!

God bless!
Matthew

We’re here and everything is going great. This was my first chance to make it to an internet cafe. My team spent 6 hours in Bible studies yesterday before the 3 hour gospel meeting! Things are going great. Everyone here has been amazing, and we have all learned a lot. Zambian food…not bad! I don’t anticipate starving to death! :-)

Preaching with an interpreter was a great new experience. Way too much time to think though–that always causes problems. The gospel meeting has been getting larger every night. This morning, the men all went to a village (that I cannot spell) and worked for a few hours. Every single person except for one older man was very interested. We’ll see how it turns out–if they show tomorrow, which is anyone’s guess…but it was very rewarding to see how excited they were to hear simple Bible stories we all take for granted.

 Yesterday, we were workign with a group of people and they wanted to hear the story of Noah and have us teach them from it. We looked at it and then 1 Peter 3 and 2 Peter 3 and we all learned a lot.

The singing down here is incredible. There’s no way to describe African singing but amazing.  Everything really has been amazing.

It’s about 80 degrees during the day here with a cool breeze. Stars down here are beautiful, as there is not as much light pollution. The mosquitos probably require certification from the airports, they are so large…but they seem to be afraid of DEET, so that’s good. No one has gotten sick or injured, so we’ve all been really blessed.

 Tomorrow, we are going to worship with the Riverside church of Christ–but each day, we keep losing different men from our group. I’ll be heading to a village to preach where we hope to have a baptism or two from today’s studies.

The language barrier has been really interesting. Almost every person in the church here can speak multiple languages. Tonga is the most common african language here, but others speak beemba (sp?) and loze (??) and a few others, with many speaking some english and other languages. Every time we look at Acts 2, we keep thinking about how handy that whole speaking in one language and everyone udnerstanding would be.

In our Gospel meeting and preaching, we’ve been working through the parables of Jesus. It has been really neat to see how many people knowthem and want to hear them. When we’ve been meeting people at their homes, they often ask us to “Share the Bible” with them. I try to ask what they want us to read (since many of them don’t have Bibles in their language) and time after time they have asked for different parables.

The country is beautiful. It looks sort of like Kansas–pretty flat. One girl in our group (sigh) asked, “Was the Lion King filmed here?” The people are poor, but it is an interesting mix of contrasts. Outside of a single room house will be a satellite dish sometimes. Some families that are wearing all of their clothes simultaneously have cell phones. This isn’t true for everyone…most of them aren’t quite that way, but it is still very interesting.

In a lot of ways, it is like camp. Very open, very outdoors, very dusty. There are many people who are very sick. Even the animals often times look skinny. (Many families have dogs.) It took some getting used to at first that they closed the gate to our hotel at night (The Southern Comfort, ironically) and the walls are high. We have a guard who patrols all night. Many of the neighboring compounds have barbed wire, electric fence, iron poles, or even broken bottles embedded in the top of the walls much like the Berlin Wall. We have not seen a hint of crime while we’ve been here, though. Lots of begging, and many people in the market have tried to cheat us, but nobody has felt threatened or unsafe.

The economy is weak, but it has improved since the last time Freed sent a group. $1 USD buys about 3000 kwachas. To put that in perspective, I’m paying 150 kwachas per minute for internet.

We’ve all gotten pretty much over jet lag, and are starting to get used to how things work here. Our gospel meeting tonight starts at 1500, so we have to leave soon. Know that we’re all thinking about you and thanking you for your prayer and concern. Will email as soon as we get a chance! Everything has been wonderful–thank you for your prayers and support. Leslie and I will see you on June 9!