Well I made it back to Zambia. I had a nice Christmas in Lubumbashi. I met lots of other expatriates. Christmas eve we celebrated with South Koreans, Christmas day we celebrated the Sabbath in with some Jewish friends, and The day after spent time with Lebanese and Belgian friends. On Sunday I went to our church and despite the rain had a huge crowd and was able to preach. Monday I started off for Zambia. In Africa buses leave when they are full not at any specific time. I unfortunately had to wait a long time and didn’t arrive in Lusaka until after 11pm but was thankful to have made it at last. On Wednesday I headed south to Kalomo on another slow bus but made it by 9pm.
Thursday for New Year Eve I went to the all night prayer meeting at our church here. It was wonderful in everyway! At least 300 people showed up maybe 500. We decided to do a joint meeting and invited all the other local churches to come. We sang and danced, prayed, and heard the word of God. It was a powerful night with many people being touched by the power of God and making decisions to commit their lives fully to God’s work in 2010. I especially enjoyed having a service in English where I didn’t have to strain to get the jist of what was going on. It was so wonderful to see old friends again. I realized how bad my Tonga has become. As people asked me questions I had to answer them in English because the only words coming to mind were in Swahili. I understood them so I realized its all in my head I just have to bring it back to memory. At about 5:15 when the last person was preaching I looked out the window at a gorgeous sunrise and couldn’t help feeling excited about all that is in store for 2010. I am thankful I had the opportunity to celebrate New Years in the traditional Zambian way.
The day after I got back twins arrived with their uncle hoping to come to our orphanage. We took them out to the children’s home and it was wonderful to see all of the kids again. I am looking forward to working with them in their reading and math skills. The kids English isn’t that good so I really need to brush up on my Tonga.
It is so nice to be back home in Zambia. More so than enjoying all of the luxuries life in Zambia provides I’m excited about seeing friends and being able to minister to people with more freedom. I should be returning to Congo the end of January. No doubt I will make the most of my time here in Zambia. Thanks for praying for my travels as anything can go wrong on African bus trips I always give God the glory for a safe trip.
