The Lord willing we are scheduled to hold Gospel Campaign meetings in Rufunsa. This is something we are currently praying about and we have taken time to visit the village to gather information about its population and resources we would require to hold successful meetings.
Rufunsa is located in Chongwe District, about 100 kilometres North-East of Lusaka (Zambia’s capital). The main economic activity of people in this area is subsistence farming. The village has a very natural bushy environment. It is populated with Sugar Plum trees, locally known as Masuku. This tree produces very sweet fruits but not sweeter than the Fruit of the Tree of Life which we hope to bring to souls of all those who would accept it in this village.
We started off early on the 11th of September with brothers Andrew Phiri and Annel Silungwe and an elderly sister Faidess Banda.
The call
In July an elderly brother passed away in Rufunsa. It was on 4th July when we travelled there for the funeral and burial progrmme. It was a long rugged drive through the gravel and bumpy hilly road.
We arrived around 8 PM and the burial procession took place around 9PM. Brother Phiri preached for only nine (9) minutes. He read from Revelations 20:12 and admonished the mourners to remember that their lives are a book that one day will have to stand the judgement of God. About a month later on news reached us informing us that the people in the village desire to hear more of the Word they heard at the funeral. This message was brought to us by an elderly sister who had gone to check on her farming work. We were excited about the news and immediately began to pray for the Lord to make a way for us to go and have a Gospel campaign there. On 11th September we visited the place for a fact-finding exercise to gather more information about the area and estimate the cost of holding a crusade there. We reached the place after three hours of driving. We had missed a turn and had to drive an extra 72 kilometres which chewed into our time. Upon arrival we first visited the widow and thereafter started our fact-finding mission.
From there we went to visit the home of the headman. We did not find him and so carried on with other activities we had listed on our checklist (it is difficult to make appointments in these remote villages because of the lack of telecomunication signals for mobile phone communication). We walked long stretches of roads. It was a very tiring exercise.
While coming back from the headman’s compound, Bro Phiri was explaining to the widow about the value and treasure found in sharing the word when she interrupted him to share a beautiful dream she had sometime back concerning our visit to this place.
The dream
In the dream, she saw herself in a bush with her husband but they took two separate ways, the husband went to the left while she took the right. she then came across a stone. She then heard a sound of liquid bubbling. The sound was coming from the stone. She lifted the stone and noticed it was oil. She then told the husband about it. After that she saw herself out of the dream (although she was still in the dream) and came to see Brother Phiri to tell him about the dream and brother Phiri told her that what she saw was very precious and would make her wealthy. He then asked her to show him the place where she found the oil. In the dream she saw Bro Phiri together with Bro Silungwe and Nzima visiting this same village. We were happy to hear the dream and Brother Phiri explained to her about the riches of the Word of God. The Word and the Holy Ghost is our true wealth, and when people receive it, they will receive the blessings of the Lord.
We then decided to move around and visist a few households and we were encouraged to see the simplicity and welcoming attitude of the people.
The Lord willing, we hope to have the crusade in October. Mission works have many resource needs. If you wish to support this work in any way contact Bro. Phiri (Email: contact@andrewcphiri.com).
Report by
Jesse M. Nzima
May the Divine purpose of God be accomplished in Jesus Christ name. Amen. SHALOM brethren.