It is another wonderful morning in Zambia. We’ve slept well, I’m having my Starbucks Via instant coffee and instant Quaker Oatmeal, and then we are off for our last day of training in Lusaka, Zambia before moving to Ndola.
Our time here in Lusaka – in George Township – has been wonderful and sad. The pastors and leaders love to learn and are eager to lead their little churches in a manner that brings the eternal hope of Jesus to their poor communities. They are increasingly active in “fixing what is broken” so that the effects of malnutrition, disease, pollution, and joblessness can be alleviated if even a little bit. These men and women are my heroes.
Yesterday we visited a site where a local church repaired a drainage ditch and a bridge. Before they used hand tools and their bare hands to dig, clean up refuse, make cement blocks, lay footings, and create a wall so the rainy season storms would not flood homes and isolate people – the water would pool up and the absence of a bridge closed the only road to thousands of homes. Pastor Tembo and his church “pestered” the City officials until they were given a small amount of money for cement and they went to work. After two weeks of work, the bridge was complete, the ditch was cleaned out, the water flowed freely, the water pools where mosquitoes breed (malaria borne by the bugs kills more people than HIV/AIDS in Zambia) dried up. This church did exactly what Jesus did - they saw an injustice and fixed it.
This is only one of many stories of how these local churches are being vibrant and vital agents of change and hope. Thanks for all you do to empower, serve, and encourage them. Because of your faithfulness through Ridge Point we are part of the solution for the poorest of the poor here in Zambia.
Love you all!
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