Of all times I have been to Rufunsa, in Chenda Village, where a new church began after a succesful crusade, last weekend was the most remarkable. For the past nine or ten months we have been visiting the village, the focus of teaching has been on basics of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands to receive divine healing (Heb.6:1-2). However, there is now need to establish the new believers in deeper truths.  To this end, last weekend (14th to 15th May) was dedicated to teaching on Church History. We looked at How the Church began and Fell from the Truth and how  God began to Restore it.

The day before we arrived, on Friday, one new believer had gone through different homes of believers asking them to join him in prayer and fasting in preparation for the weekend meetings. When we arrived on Saturday, at 3:30PM, for the first time we didnt find people waiting for us to start the service; we found people already in prayers. “Do you hear those voices praying and starting the service on their own, this is spirtual growth!” I told the brethren who accompanied me.

The yard of the church in Rufunsa has a beautiful environment of tall trees

We immediately entered the church building and joined the service. After a few songs, the preaching started. I ministered from 4:00PM to 7:00PM. Despite the lengthy time, it was a very attentive audience. Now, an interesting thing happened this night. During my preaching I reached a point when I said, “Let me tell you a little story. There were two men who climbed a hill. On top of the hill they found a shiny rock and they were excited to find gold. ‘We are rich!’ they exclaimed. But on going to an expert to examine it, upon seeing it, he told them, ‘Gentlemen, that’s not gold, its not any more worth than the dirt you picked it from“. Using this illustration I pointed out, “The true work or ministry of God does not shine with the glamour of worldly attraction or huge vain numbers of people; the true Gospel glows with the light of Truth”. As we moved on with the message we declared, “you can never join a true church of God, you have to be born in it. You can join religion but not the true church of God.God’s Spirit has to come into you and bring about the new birth and only then can you say you are in the truth”.

At 07:00 PM we went on break. We told all the families which had gathered that we would all eat together [ this is a very poor village and it hasn’t had good rains. Many people cannot afford fertiliser and so their crops fail. So, every time we visit this village we carry extra food to help those who are very destitute, especially old women. I have teamed up with four brothers in our Lusaka church to raise money for a borehole and water pump system which we can start using to grow vegetables and for livestock farming to help the families here]. It took some two hours to organise water, plates, and cooking the food. At around 09:30PM, as sisters cooked and brothers gathered themselves around the fire testifying about the goodness of God, I picked up my trumpet and began to play “Just as I am”. The soprano voices of sisters who were cooking blended with tenor and baritone voices of brothers. Then we sung, Trust and Obey, and later I took the Saxophone to play, Draw Me Close to You  and I give Praises to Your Name. 

Strangers Join the Meal

Just before food was served, about four strangers – unkempt and dirty – entered this church room were the cooking and singing was happening. There was one elderly man and two young men. One of the young men was a muslim. This was strange. It was too late at night to have visitors. They were drawn to come to come to the place by the sound of the trumpet they heard. We praised the Lord because all things work together for good.

Playing trumpet as we waited for the meal. Brothers and sisters joined in singing

“You are welcome!” I said to them. Brother Nzima immediately asked about the spiritual condition of the men, asking them who they are and if they believed in the Word. The young man began to explain something that made all the believers look at each other in awe: “I am from a hill where I found a shiny rock. It must be gold sir. Here are some pieces...” He took a paper from his pocket where he had wrapped them and showed us. “Please help me find someone to examine them and then we can talk business“. Sister Nzima was very surprised at what was happening. Together with an old sister, they expressed how God was confirming his Word. Ignoring what the young man was so desperately trying to explain to us, I asked him why he was a Muslim; what really convinced him about it. His answer: “I just joined Islam because that is what is near where I stay, where I can go for prayers”. Laughter, awe and praises to God continued. As food was getting served I told the men, “You are welcome here. We dont mind what you are and we would be happy if after eating you join us for the second part of our service“.

We ate our food and at the end when were about to go back in the building to continue the service the old man came to me, knelt down and looked into my eyes saying, “I need God to deliver me; evil spirits are disturbing me“.

At around 10:00 PM we went back in the church to continue the service. We had a wonderful time of prayer and ministration. The Word was taught until 01:00 AM. We drove one family to their home but the rest of the people decided to sleep in the church building (it was a very cold night!). At 06:00 AM people were already up and praying for different prayer requests.

Three Testimonies that remind us that Jesus is Still Calling Out

The Sunday Service started at 09:30 AM. During this service three believers gave testimonies. One sister broke down in crying as she expressed how thankful she was to God for bringing her to the Word. A brother, who first came to this place as a worker of the bricklayer who was constructing the church, testified how he came to the Word by listening to the preaching whilst he was doing bricklaying work. Several times he asked his boss to allow him to join the service when it was prayer time but he was denied the time and so he could only listen to the Word whilst working atop the walls of the church building when a service was in session. He narrated how one sermon pierced to his heart and he made a decision to accept the Word. Another brother testified how he one day came as a stranger, and that day he says, “The pastor kept talking about the vanity of playing cards and gambling. I wondered who told him about me because I was so obsessed of it and thats what everyone knew about me. After that preaching I stopped gambling and a lot has changed in my life!” I am still trying to remember which exact sermon I mentioned gambling in. But well, God had a message for the brother and he dropped something along the message that was specifically for him and he now is a believer and very useful person for the church there.

We are now looking forward to having another crusade in another chiefdom were over 24 villages are expected to attend. Remember us in prayer. Jesus still saves and heals. Amen.

We had wonderful services in Rufunsa. We can now fellowship under a roof, free from worries of disturbances of rain. The one thing I love about outreach in rural places is the people’s simplicity and respect towards the Word of God. During one service one man had a terrible unfinished hair cut and when one of the brothers asked about what happened to his head, he explained, “I was at the barbershop but I got late for church and so I stopped the barberman; I’ll go back to finish“. Well, in a city people spend so much time in front of a mirror even when they are already late for a prayer service. Like I have always said, when one is always late for church or when one rarely comes for fellowship it is not because they are busy but because it isnt their priority. Your priorities are shown not by what you promise to do but by what you actually do.

Church service in Rufunsa

At the end of our last service we were refreshed by a testimony from a woman who has been consistent in attending church from the time we had the crusade in Rufunsa. I always wondered at how she has been very committed at coming for church. She is a quiet person and this was the first time I saw her expressng her self. She stood up and said she wanted to testify what happened to her during the crusade. “I had been sick for a long time. I had numbness and always felt dizzy. When the preacher called for the sick to come forward, I was among the people who came to the front. After I was prayed for my sickness left me and to this day I am still well. I am now able to work in my field“. This woman is among the people who have been baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sharing testimony of how she got healed during Rufunsa crusade

God has touched her life and she has found a treasure in always being found in the fellowship of believers.

Last Saturday, 12th February 2022, after the church service Bro Nzima remained behind to have fellowship with believers on Sunday morning. This would be the first time they would meet on Sunday (all these days we’ve been meeting on Saturdays and we are hopping to officially open the building for Sunday services anytime this month of February). Here is a report Bro Jesse Nzima posted conerning the time he had there today:

Shalom saints we had a wonderful time of fellowship in Rufunsa. It was very refreshing. Unfortunately a good number of people had arrived late for church, around 10 AM when I was supposed to be starting off coming back to Lusaka. The people had invited others to come and attend the Sunday service. Indeed Sunday meetings are a matter of urgency.

I also had a wonderful time with Sister Phiri and her family (Sister Phiri is an old widow).

Bro. Jesse Nzima

There were wonderful testimonies of what God did in their lives. Yesterdays sharing by the pastor is in everyone’s mouth. People were so blessed and brother Steven said he wished he slept in church, it was so good for him.

Mr Musukuma gave me a lift on the bicycle.

I have just gotten on a bus. He said the word is shaping him and there is another person he wants us to visit to hear the word next week (he already had a talk with him).

If you are a believer reading this always remember that  as long as Jesus hasn’t come yet we still have a lot of work to take the Word to anyone who would listen.

The new fellowship in Rufunsa is taking shape. We had our first church meeting in the newly constructed prayer hall on 27th November, 2021. We had to raise the building quickly for the urgent need of shelter where meetings, prayers and lodgings can be taking place.

Bro Jesse Nzima with Bro Tenyson Chitoshi 

During the church service on   Saturday (27th Nov. 2021), as I was ministering, one man who was the last to be baptised during the October crusade was so excited with what he was hearing that he at one point clapped hard with his hands and he did that alone. I thought to myself, “I would have ignored that if he clapped along with the group but his attentive and joyous facial expression tells me something is happening in his heart”. After the preaching, two men who also got baptised during the October crusade reminded us of the request they made the last time we had visited: “We need Chewa Bibles!”. “You will have them next Saturday”, I assured them. As I was about to leave one young man approached me saying, “Pastor, may I see you for a moment”. “Sure”, I told him. “I need revelation, a good understanding of the Truth I believe. I have the urge in me to share to others, but each time I begin explaining the Word to someone I run out of words. At the Well there, a woman who came to draw water asked me about baptism but I could not explain it well”. I was thankful in my heart to hear such a concern. We have started working on tracts on various topics and they are written in a very simplified way.

Eating Masuku (wild loquat) fruits, they are so plenty in this village.

When the farming season is over we wish to invite the three men to stay with us in Lusaka and be engaged in prayer, fasting and deep study of the Word. What these young men need is the baptism of the Holy Spirit! That is my earnest prayer to God. We earnestly covet your prayers on this. If these three men catch the fire, they will be like the three hundred foxes that were tied and torched by Samson, and most certainy Rufunsa will be set on fire for God  – “And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives” (Judges 15:4-5).

Healing Testimony of Bro. Jesse Nzima during last Rufunsa Visit

During this last mission visit to Rufunsa Bro Nzima experienced a healing testimony (listen to audio record below):

The healing testimony of Bro Nzima is a reminder to all of us that when we make ourselves available for God’s work, He will take care of our needs.

Current needs of the Rufunsa Church

The mission work in Rufunsa has different needs  – water borehole, solar-electricity, roofing and floor works. However, we are responding to each need one at a time. Currently the most important need is roof and floor installations. Until those two things are done our missionaries do not have a place to stay when they visit the village.

Inspecting the wall structures with Bro Tenyson Chitoshi

May I once again thank all friends and ministry partners who were keen to see to it that the new church building is raised quickly. May the Lord bless and keep you.

Yours with Love and in the Field

Andrew C. Phiri

Our plans to hold a crusade in Chenda Village of Rufunsa District began after news of the people’s desire to hear more of God’s Word reached us. They wanted to “hear more” of the message that had been preached at a funeral service. It was perhaps the shortest sermon I ever preached, it was about 9 minutes short! It had to be that short because we travelled late to the village and only managed to arrive and start the burial service around 9:00 PM. Even so, the few words of the sermon triggered ripples of testimonies around the village that finally reached one believer who had gone to visit the village for her farming business.  This believer reported to us the good news of the people’s hunger for the Word and so we conferred not with the flesh to delay our response; we were determined to respond to the Macedonian Call with haste. We quickly constituted an Advance Party to visit and survey the village. About four committees were formed – one was in charge of prayer and fasting meetings, another was focussed on communication with relevant authorities, another managed logistics and power (electricity and fuel) requirements, and there was also a team dedicated to music and public address system preparations. My work was to coordinate the works of the charipersons of these different committees. Thankfully, God has blessed this little ministry with passionate, selfless and humble brothers and sisters.

Chenda Village and its main Challenges

This village has no nearby water bodies such as streams, rivers or lakes and so the region is very dry and dusty. This condition makes it difficult to rear animals. Even so, efforts have been made by the government to construct water boreholes across the village. Another troublesome challenge is the lack of electricity. At night it gets totally dark with no sight of electric or solar lighting anywhere. Conducting a crusade in this area would definately require hiring a genset and buying polymer drums for storing water.

Three weeks before the crusade the Advance Party began making frequent visits to the village to begin preparing the piece of land we were offered as a venue for the crusade. The venue was a bush and so we had to schedule a day to cut down trees and clear up the ground.

With Brothe Annel Silungwe, we were axing this huge tree into smaller pieces to make it easier to remove it from the site

Digging the baptism pool

I made new friends. Here Bro. Nzima captured one of my chats with one of the boys who was helping us with some minor tasks 

We also hired a bricklayer to assist with erecting a concrete stage and to also construct a baptism pool; we had the faith that some people would make the decision to get baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we were not sure of is how many people would respond to the call of Salvation – five, eight or ten?

Bro. Jesse Nzima playing with a dead squirrel, hunted down by a team of boys living in the village

Having a meal after the day’s tiring work

The village is sparsely populated. However, we aimed high and prepared for a crowd of 200 people. A team of brothers who had arrived first in the village (a day before the first crusade meeting) to begin preliminary evangelism works in preparation for the crusade, reported of having had a difficulty time of walking two-kilometre distances between houses. I had experienced this the first time I took two brothers with me to survey the area. My waist and leg-joints were in terrible pain after walking very long distances.

In the absense of easily accessible water for drinking such long walks can be so exhausting.

Brothers Robert Kashala and Annel Silungwe quenching their thirst

However, there was more happiness in doing the work because, through these visits, it became evident that many people were already aware of the crusade meetings and were eager to attend. On 15th October the tent, chairs and various other equipment had been transported to the crusade venue. A small team of brothers arrived early to start preparing the venue for the meetings.

Bro. Annel Silungwe, Chairperson of the ‘Venue, Music and Public Address System Committee’

Brothers worked very quickly to get the venue ready. However, we had experienced a problem. The person hired to bring the chairs and tent to the venue could not wait for the tent-setup process to complete; he drove away his canter immediately after offloading the chairs and the tent. This was a big problem because the place where we hired the tent had provided us four men to help with the tent installation and we were supposed to provide transport to and from the venue. After the canter left these men had no option but to stay with us for the whole period of the crusade! This was bad and they bittery complained. I understood their pain. They had not prepared for the unplanned stay, they didnt come with extra clothes, and what is more, their families did not plan or expect them to not return home. The men did not attend the first crusade meeting. They stayed away.

Crusade Meetings

16th  October was the first day of the crusade. The tent had been mounted and chairs neatly arranged. The printed programme document indicated 7:00 PM as the time to start the meeting and preaching was to begin by  6:00PM. This is the day we had been praying for and we were hopeful that we would see the people of the village keep their promise to show up for the meetings.

The stage was set. With a length of 8 metres and width of 4 metres it was able to accomodate seats of pastors on one end and instrument sets of a keyboard, drums, amlifier and a mixer on the other end. Our two sisters  – Norah and Mould – were ready to play their saxophones for the first time at a crusade.  Ushers were smartly dressed and positioned themselves on the various points exactly as had been instructed.

We were all in anticipation to see the people of the village come for the meetings.Thirty minutes into praying and singing we kept looking around in expectation of seeing chairs to begin filling up, but they were all still empty. After an hour of singing and praying the 200 empty hired chairs were still staring at us.

It was 6:00 PM and the Praise leader had to call me to the pulpit. He delayed by about thirty more minutes and was left with no option but to hand the service to me. By this time two pentecostal pastors had arrived and were sitting in chairs reserved for ministers.I walked to the pulpit, greeted the few people around and slowly began to read the scriptures. Ten minutes into preaching I noticed different individuals and family groupings began to slowly fill the chairs.

 

Chairs gradually started filling some thirty minutes after the start of the preaching

After about 30 minutes the chairs were filled and the audience was jubilant when responding to the ministration of the Word. After the preaching 9 people came forward to receive Jesus as their personal saviour and the group swelled further as we began to pray for healing on those who were sick. After this first service people dispersed in various groupings, testifying about the different ways God had blessed them. More importantly, believers had various experiences of a restoration of their spiritual lives. After this first service I had a bad migraine headache attack and so could not mingle with brothers. Later that evening (between 10:00  and midnight) believers gathered to have fellowship, prayers and testimonies.

Bro. Joshua Phiri (pianist) and Bro Jason Simukoko (drummer)

When I have a migraine attack its effects lasts for a week, but that night the Lord healed me. Early in the morning I did not feel any aftermath pain but was as strong as though nothing had happened. In the morning I kept hearing different testimonies of the presence of the Lord. Some believers had dreams, others visions and some experienced a spiritual awakening from backslidden conditions. Most importantly, there was one woman who followed us from Lusaka. She came to know about our ministry through the Reflections on Faith weekly radio broadcast. On this morning, after the first night of the crusade, she said she wanted to be baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I could not allow that because she was very sickly with various complications. She could hardly walk.  But she insisted. Next, we were all worried with the cold dirty water. Her situation was so delicate that she had never bathed cold water. I felt stressed about the predicament until I surrendered it to the Lord. “The Lord’s Will shall prevail” I thought to myself. Three people helped her into the pool and rising up out of the water she looked nervous. Strangely, after coming out of the water, she was stronger and was able to walk around on her own and for the first time she managed to bath herself, not using water pouring from a shower but from a bucket!

Sisters Mouldy Nzima (Left) and Norah Phiri (Right) with Sister Sakala (Middle) after her baptism in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ

[A day after the crusade I phoned the woman to check how she was and she sounded all strong and excited. “I keep getting better and stronger” she joyfully said. A week after the crusade she phoned me, “I keep getting better and stronger, its amazing!” I was happy to hear her joyous and no-longer frail voice! “I am happy I have been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; I had been baptised in the titles of Father, Son adn Holy Ghost but I am glad that I am now baptised correctly in the name of those titles which is the name of the Lord Jesus christ” she said].

The following day, after the first crusade meeting was a Sunday. We had prepared to have the crusade meeting later in the evening, but we had a surprise of all churches in the area suspending their services to come and attend our meetings in the morning. That morning chairs filled up and a number of people were standing.

Second crusade service, on Sunday morning on 17th October 2021

On Sunday the crowd kept swelling until we ran out of chairs 

At the end of the sermon many people gave their lives to God including one of the men who was part of the tent-installation team. He was among those who had complained the previous day about the unplanned stay for the crusade but in the process he heard the Word and it brought him down on his knees to surrender his life to God. After the first service seven people got baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Later that day, during the Sunday night service,one woman being prayed for manifested a demon. Sister Norah Phiri was one of the people attending to this case. Whilst the prayer team prayed for her, sister Norah experienced  a vision of the Lord Jesus nailed on the cross. After that night’s services one woman had a strange dream which revealed some details about this patient. It is our prayer that God may bless the mission work in this village, to let his light shine in the hearts of the people for their deliverence.

Bro. Thomas Khoza (Right), from Chipata Christian Tabernacle, a gallant evangelist whom we invited to be part of the evangelism efforts during the crusade

Bro. Daniel Zulu another passionate soul-winner and good interpreter from Chipata Christian Tabernacle. Together with Bro. Thomas Khoza he was invited to be the interpreter and supplement evangelism efforts for the Rufunsa Crusade. Their company was very valuable

Bro Mark Zimba with Joshua Phiri. Joshua made new friends and was reaching out to the young ones. 

L to R: Bro. Jesse Nzima, Sis. Moudy Nzima, Sis. Norah Phiri, Bro. John Mwansa, Sis Loveness Mwansa

Baptism Service & End of the Meetings

By Bro. Jesse M. Nzima

After the service eight (8) souls went in water. It was a wonderful time. Before they could be baptized we had to explain to them the reason why the ordinance was important . There was joy and expectation from the people who were to be baptized. We saw the hand of the Lord in it. Among them some had questions which we answered and surprisingly their counterparts further added and answered the questions based on the scripture on our behalf. I wondered to myself and said, “Lord are we baptizing new converts or we are baptising seasoned saints?”.  It was clear they understood the word so well that they were able to expound the scripture to their colleagues.

Brothers Khoza and Zulu from Chipata, with Bro Nzima, explaining batpism in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ to people who had come forward to give their lives to Christ during the service

Bro John Mwansa baptising the people in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ

The last day had no outreach meetings, we only came together to share experiences and brother Phiri gave the closing remarks and emphasizing on the need for continuity. We reminisced on how God started the work which had now become a reality. We also looked at the miraculous way the  Lord blessed the whole programme.

The last fish in the net

The tents were brought low the engines got ready to vibrate and sound before they could head back another 100km, and the bags came back to service to carry the cargo they had offloaded two days earlier ‘when we realized there was still a fish in the net’.

A very humble and quiet young man quietly came sat down. Since we had seen many faces we assumed he was one of the people who had attended the meetings and was here to say goodbye. Surprisingly he came for a totally different mission; he came to baptsised. We asked him if he had come earlier, he said he did not attend any meeting but his brother who did had expounded the word to him and the need to be baptized correctly. He did not hesitate and we had to take him to the water. We immediately abandoned all the other activities that we were doing and surrounded the small baptism pool we had constructed. We sang songs and the brother was baptized. We then travelled safely back to Lusaka.

Group Photo

L to R (standing row): Bro. Annel Silungwe, Bro Mark Zimba, Bro. Masuzyo Chavula, Bro. Thomas Khoza (from Chipata), Bro Jesse Nzima, Sis Moudy Nzima, Sis Norah Phiri, Bro Andrew Phiri, Bro John Mwansa, Sis Loveness Mwansa (Sitting row): Bro Robert Kashala, Bro. Charles Phiri (baptised during the meeting) Bro. Eliot Lungu, Bro. Daniel Zulu (from Chipata)

Addressing the Mission Team after end of crusade meetings

Difficulties of Missionary Work

May I take this opportunity to first heartily thank all friends who help with managing the difficulties of this little ministry. By making yourself available to financially support the ministry you have made our burden lighter. You may not be with us on ground to proclaim the Gospel but your support makes you part of what we do. It is my earnest prayer that the Lord may raise more people with a heart you have because the needs of the outreach ministry have grown exponentially. If the Lord tarries, the next two to three years of our outreach work will be focussed on establishing the new church in Rufunsa.  Urgently  needed for this project is (1) quickly setting up a simple church structure where people can start gathering; this is what people in the village are asking for now, (2) building a simple house where our missionaries can be keeping up during weekend evangelism activities, (3) drilling a borehole with solar pump to secure water supply for the mission centre, (4) setting up a solar-electric system, and (5) aquiring about three to five bicycles for our evangelists who visit far apart homes in this sparsely populated village. If you feel led to support this work in anyway you are free to do so. However, more importantly, we earnestly covet your prayers; pray that God’s light may shine in the dark places of this continent. Shalom.

Bro. Andrew C Phiri

Missionary & Pastor – Believers’ Assembly

(voiceoftheword@live.com)

In the past when we would visit rural places, we used to give out clothes  and money (mainly saved up from salaries) to poor people. With time we realised that this was not sustainable. I will never forget one time, in a village in Mozambique, when we visited a church whose pastor not only had no shoes but didn’t own a Bible! But even if he had one, we wondered, would he be able to read?

It was in Mnukwa village of Zambia’s Eastern Province when we decided that, alongside evangelism works we ought to establish  literacy and skills training programmes. The last time I visited this village we were encouraged by some testimonies of visions and dreams given by some believers.

Going back to Lusaka I drove for over 7 hours. This was so tiring especially after a stressful itinerary of preaching and praying for people and moving about to survey the land that our ministry had been offered by the Chief Council. We arrived late at night and only slept at 1 AM. At 6 AM I was already awake to report for work!

Upon arriving in the office I was feeling sick from the stress of the journey. I tried to work but failed. However, it wasn’t the physical stress alone that exhausted my mind. The various demands of the mission journey had wiped out my salary which had transacted to my account some two days earlier! [Mission work can be so demanding. It’s a sacrfice, but I am so deeply thankful to God for a team of brothers (and their spouses) who have been so passionate about God’s work. Most of these friends are old childhood friends who have been aquintances since High School and we have seen each other grow, start work, get married and raise families. Many times we have put monies together to help the needy in the fellowship, especially school going children who cannot afford tution fees and elderly folk who are too poor to sustain themselves. Looking at how God has always been faithful to meet our needs, we have learned to take steps of faith even in seemingly impossible situations. The results have been so rewarding that there is a perception that our local assembly is funded by Whites, as is common with many faith-based organisations and NGOs! Sadly, many Africans have yet to see what selfless committment to God’s work can do in their countries.Where there is a will to do what is right to the glory of God, I have seen the Lord always making a way. I have often thought about Dr David Livingstone; he left the comfort of  Scotland coming to an uncivilsied foreign land. We are determined to carry on where such gallant missionaries left off!).

“Dont worry…Something will happen very soon”

That day in the office, sitting before my computer , I could not concentrate on work. I thought about the school fees of my two sons and also the various other personal expenses. Wearily I bowed down my head and prayed, “Lord, you have always supplied my needs…right now I feel stressed and don’t know what to do…” In a moment, before I even finished praying, as cleary as a voice of a person speaking, deep within my heart came assuring words, “Dont worry…Something will happen very soon. ” It was  a strange experience which was followed by deep peace and rest in the heart. I could not explain the emotion. “This is unusal” I thought to myself. I looked at the time display on the computer screen and it was almost lunch time. I decided to go and sleep at home.

After two hours I received a text message. It was from Sister Bree in USA. I have known her to be spiritual and led of the Lord. Her text read, “The Lord has provided me a financial blessing“. She asked for bank details and stated : “The funds are not tithes…use them at your discretion for yourself and your wife…Wherever you have a need.” She went further to explain what had happend when she was at the Post Office: “here is the strange part: I was in line at the post office , and as I was waiting , I saw the glory of the Lord come down…I wondered about WHY that would happen in that place…” She transacted an amount that is three times my salary!

I read through the text and in tears I glorified God who supplies all our needs accoridng to His riches in glory (Phi.4:19). This experience reassured me that if God has called you to His work, He takes care of it!

“Now we can build!”

Days and weeks passed and one thought kept digging on my mind:  how would we build a church and a school? I didnt want to use the sub-standard materials and structures of village quality. I dont believe an area can be developed like that. However, God was about to do something again that would show us that He was in control.

On 11th June, brother Akpan Blessing Nice of Nigeria (a missionary associate), texted asking me to find time to phone him. I phoned immediately and he had important news for me. His explanation as I can recall went something like this: “Have you heard about an interlocking block machine that was invented in Kenya?… I bought one and its amazing! It uses ordinary soil and you only have to mix a little cement. It makes firm blocks through compression. The blocks are interlocking and so you dont need mortar to bind them when building. You will be able to build structures quickly…its already causing an atttaction here, people aregetting surprised at how we are able to complete structures in a matter of weeks! You must get the machine!…”

Brother Nice told me to search for “Makiga Engineering” on YouTube to see the kind of structures we could build with the blocks. I quickly did that and  there the videos came up! I asked myself, “Where was I not to know about this equipment!” It would cut our construction costs by as much as 60%!

I inquired on the price of the machine in Kenya and it was time for trouble again. My local assembly in Lusaka is still engaged with a  church-building project and I could not bring up a suggestion of another project. We needed about US$1000 to buy the machine and $600 for freight costs.  That would be too expensive for us. However, this time I did not give place to doubt. I knew that if it would please the Lord for us to have the machine, He would provide a way.

I prayed, “Lord, we need to build a church and a school in that village and this machine is one cost-effective solution that would enable us quickly raise strong and good structures. May it be one day that different believers from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and various places in my country will gather for meetings in that village…”

That day I spent time doing much research on the Internet about the technology. I decided to call a close friend who is into construction to find out if he knew about the machine and where I could get it from. “The Technology Develooment and Advisory Unit  of the University of Zambia sells those machines! The unit has sponsorship from ILO and we were trained in using the machines. Remember that beautiful model house I showed you at our work place?” he reminded me; “We constructed it using the same blocks.” Wow, that was too much for me to hear! “How much are they here in Zambia?” I quickly asked. He mentioned the same price I got from Kenya but with the advantage of no freight cost in Zambia!

That night I tossed and turned on my bed, failing to sleep as I kept thinking about the machine and how nice it would be to start the construction works on the mission field. The following day I could not contain the burden within myself. I decided to share the information with brother Richard Gan of Singapore. This was troubling as  I have once sat in a meeting in Singapore during which various helps to be sent to various places overseas were being discussed. Thoughts reeled through my mind thinking, “If he would be able to assist with 50% of the cost, then I can save for some two or three months from my salary or perhaps borrow money to meet the balance.” I thought about the testimony-money I had received from Sister Bree, and wished I had known about the machine then!

The more information I gathered about the interlocking-block making machine the bigger the burden grew in my heart. Well, I could no longer contain it. I went to my PC and began to type a mail to Brother Gan: “Sorry but I am here to cause you trouble…” I explained about the urgent  need of the machine for the mission work.

Within a minute brother Gan responded: “Alright. Will send the one thousand.” And that was it! He quickly transacted the money and sent the details. I could not hold the burst of joy, like a little boy I screamed as I jumped up in praising the Lord in the bedroom. I called out to Norah and we immediately had a noisy praise and worship time. I phoned my mission team telling them the great news and that we would now soon constuct the church and the school.

As at this moment the machine has been paid for and we are soon to collect it. Last month we were in fasting praying about our next mission itinerary in August. This time around we wont just minister but will start the construction works. TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!