Neil in Zambia - March 2010

I had the joy of at last visiting Zambia from 16th to the 22nd March and sharing some valuable time mainly with Joseph and Lillian Mwila in Kabwe, and Alex and Gertrude Kambiambia in Kabwe, 4 hours and 2 hours drive from Lusaka. What follows are some highlights of the trip but please feel free to contact me directly (neil@rabey.gg) if you would like to know greater detail.

Some of you will remember reading an article I wrote last year entitled Ambitious in God in which I shared about the faith challenge Joseph was facing in terms of constructing his new church building (I remember Eric Gaudion commenting about it on the website at the time, thanks Eric!). Well, the great news is that the building now looks like this

I love the name they have given it - Divine Favour - and although there are still a few more improvements planned around the building to improve access, provide an area where people can sit and chat in the shade, and a parking area, it is essentially complete and being used regularly.

Recent news from Joseph's church in Kitwe is the arrival of a bus, largely provided by the Newfrontiers' church in Bolton, England, the bus is intended to be used as a taxi service around Kitwe rather than for church needs. Hopefully the money generated can then be ploughed back into various ministries within the church whilst also paying back some of the funds lent by the church in Bolton to make the purchase.

With every advance in the Kingdom of God comes more challenges, so whilst there have been progress in some areas, there have been problems elsewhere. This year the rent on Joseph and Liliian's house went up by 50%! And the house Joseph is trying to build in order to save on the rental costs has reached a standstill, as you can see below. All available cash going instead onto the repayment of a car loan he has had to take out to keep him mobile and able to respond to the increasing demands of reaching out to other churches.

Hopefully £5,000 will complete it apart from the roof and another £5,000 will finish off the whole house.

On to Kabwe to stay with Alex and Gertrude, to find out how they are getting on and to see his fields which will hopefully pay for a new car this year. He may be a little short by his estimations but longs to be able to achieve this so that he may demonstrate to his church how farming God's way actually does achieve much more than conventional farming. Sadly, on the way to the fields we encountered a problem........

....excess water! Zambia is currently going through the rainy season (I saw more rain and clouds in a week in Zambia than the whole 2 1/2 months I've been  in Cape Town). Exercising discretion rather than valour we decided to turn back, not so for this more adventurous Zambian who made it across albeit not entirely by his own steam!

Overall, the trip was a great success, there are a number of churches gathering around Joseph in Kitwe. Alex down in Kabwe is developing relationship's with another church run by Casey Kolaso whose church I visited on the Sunday before I returned. Maybe soon we will be able to start some Prayer & Fasting meetings just as Terry did in the early days of Newfrontiers in the UK.

One other interesting point, at Casey's church during the notices they announced the monthly all night church prayer meeting which was promptly applauded and cheered! I've never heard the announcement of a church prayer meeting being cheered, but this one was and what is more, the attendance is so great that people have to bring their own chairs or cushions for the floor in case you can't find room on the chairs already provided at the church building - what a provocation to our comfortable western mindset - eh?