This is our lovely Insaka where we meet on a Sunday afternoon – soon to change to Sunday morning from April 1
Sunday afternoon in the Insaka
Having fun with The Zambian Vocal Collection
Thoughts from a sleepless night….
2012
03.17
03.17
As I am writing this it is pouring with rain, a gloomy damp day, which reminds me somewhat of the UK! We had thunder and lightening storms all through the night which kept me awake….and set me thinking. I have now been living in Zambia for 19 months! When we first came, the church consisted of Tony and I and our son, and we ‘met’ in our living room. It was what you might call ‘low key’! Now, we are meeting in a lovely Insaka in the middle of Lusaka with about 20 -25 people, we have made friends, we have a core group of leaders, we have shared out responsibilities and, next month, we will be part of a number of churches welcoming Terry Virgo (the founder of New Frontiers) to a conference in Kabwe! As a friend of ours in the church said the other night ” it is time!”. There is a real sense that this church, albeit small, is ready and willing to share the amazingly good news of the gospel around this city, this country and beyond. (sorry if that sounds a bit like Buzz Lightyear!!)
On a personal level, I have reflecting how far I have come since I took a very, very, very deep breath and stepped onto the plane to Lusaka 19 months ago. I was scared, tearful, sad about what and who I had left behind, and yet sure that God would not let me down. Nineteen months on, I am beginning to dream about different adventures we may have in the future – I have passed the ‘getting through each day’ feeling, or ‘getting to the next trip back to the UK’ and now I am excited about possibilties here that I never ever thought would enter my small brain! God promised me when I was about to leave for Lusaka that he would light the path, when I needed to take the next step, and He is doing this. I would probably prefer to see the whole journey, if I am absolutely honest, but I think I can cope with just seeing the next step! So many things have happened, which many might consider to be ‘happy coincidences,’ but which encourage us that we are on the right track, that we are in the right place, and that our God has great plans for the future. Yay!
We had a fantastic party a few weeks ago to celebrate Tony’s 50th birthday. We had a braai in the garden and about 40 -50 of our friends came. Now, that in itself is so encouraging. We have 40 -50 friends here!!! What was even more exciting was that the friends came from all walks of life, from all economic backgrounds, from different cultures, races and spoke different languages. We laughed, talked, danced and sang (to the totally wonderful Zambian Vocal Collection – a group of Zambian men who sing the most amazing accapella versions of traditional and contemporary songs) and, of course, ate – lots! I stood back at one point, looked around me, and just felt so happy! If I had not stepped onto that plane 19 months ago – I would not have had the joy of being part of that party with all those new friends.
So, I guess what I am trying to say is…..if God is asking you to do something – particularly something which terrifies you, and seems to demand sacrifice in all directions – just trust Him. There will be sacrifice …but there will be huge gain too! He will not let you down.
By the way….it is still raining!
Good to be back
2012
01.22
01.22
We had a wonderful month in the UK over Christmas seeing friends and spending time with our family. It was a great rest and a lot of fun. However, we are now back here in Lusaka and I have to say it is great to be back. It was lovely to feel such a warm and genuine welcome from people in the church when we got back. We are looking forward to working with others to build the church here in Lusaka – there is lots to do but we are excited about the opportunities to build friendships, make new relationships and just live life here in this city.
The weather when we landed reminded us the UK – grey, wet and a even a little bit chilly on occasions! We had one day this week when it rained all day – until about 4pm when the sun came out and it felt more like Africa again. The rain does add to the excitement of driving here – having a 4×4 is very helfpul when you are driving through puddles right up to your middle – or when the ‘road’ seems more like a muddy field than a highway. However, whenever I am driving in my monster car, dry and snug, I am acutely aware of so many others who are stoically walking through the mud and rain, sometimes for miles and miles, as they have no other affordable alternative……Simple priveleges like being able to stay dry when it is raining – or not turning up at work soaked to the skin and splashed by mud – hit me between the eyes here on a daily basis. In the UK, I would not have given it a second thought…..
Right – off to eat another mango – certainly one of the main highlights of this time of year!
Christmas Fun and Games
2011
12.14
12.14
My last blog mentioned some discouragements. This one is all about encouragements!! Firstly, I alluded to a possible new venue in my last blog. Well, we met there on Sunday for the first time and it was great. It is an Insaka – a thatched room with a low wall around it – complete with chairs, tables and electricity! It has a lovely open feel, plenty of space and even has some garden area for children to play in. It is in an ideal spot too – near the centre of Lusaka, just behind one of the main shopping malls. Perfect! We feel very privileged to have been offered it – and it is a great answer to prayer!
We had the biggest number of people yet on Sunday – 29 in total. We had a great time, worshipping, listening to a great preach by Chris Wilkes on forgiveness, praying in small groups for the Madrid church plant and for some specific needs amongst us…..and then we had a Christmas party! It was fun, with some silly games which caused much hysterical laughter. When it comes to playing ridiculous games, it seems there is very little difference between the cultures! Seeing our friends doubled over with laughter, eager to join in, and just having such fun was really quite special.
It was a great way to end this year. We really are beginning to feel like a church – a group of people who share the same vision, who are beginning to care about each other, who pray for each other and offer support in practical ways – it is exciting to imagine what may develop in 2012!
As Tony and I return to the UK for Christmas with our family, we leave a wonderful group of people, who are going to continue to meet over the four weeks we are away. This is an encouragement in itself…..great stuff!
Encouragements and Disappointments
2011
12.03
12.03
Encouragements – yes, we have had quite a few. We are continuing to meet weekly on a Sunday afternoons and our friendships are developing. We are focussing on building relationships within the group – encouraging each other to text, phone or meet with each other during the week if possible. It may not be very scientific but there is a lovely ‘feel’ about our times together and I never fail to be encouraged when we meet. Fab! We were thinking that soon we would need to look for another venue to meet as Martin and Amanda’s flat was becoming a little snug for us all to meet comfortably. However, events over took us somewhat……which leads to the disappointment part of this post…..Martin and Amanda have had to leave Zambia suddenly due to a visa issue. They handled this very well…but obviously, this is not what we had hoped for! This has led us to look for a new venue rather sooner than we anticipated! Some very interesting possibilities have opened up just this week – we will wait and see what happens. I will keep you posted.
Chris and Elizabeth continue to be a great help to us and we are enjoying working with them very much. They have a great mix of gifts which seem to complement ours rather well! We are sure that we will remain great friends long after they have left Lusaka…..
As we approach Christmas and our return to the UK for a few weeks, I am thinking how differently I feel this year about our impending return to family and friends in the UK. Last year, I was counting the days until we came back …this year, I am really looking forward to coming back but also very aware of new friends that we are leaving behind here. I have come a long way! Mind you…..I am looking forward to some cold weather!!! It is so hot here…….See some of you soon!
Open Doors
2011
11.01
11.01
We had a great Sunday meeting the other week and had a significant ‘word’ from Andrew – a friend of Jeremy Gibson’s who was visiting Lusaka at the time. He talked about the similarities between the church in Philadelphia and the church plant in Lusaka. He read out the verses in Revelation 3:7-9:
” What He opens, no one can shut and what He shuts, no-one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no-one can shut.’
Andrew felt that this was a specific encouragement to us as a group. Since then, there have been many different confirmations of this word – from many different sources. It seems that wherever we are there is some mention to ‘open doors’. All very exciting.
We have just had Gary Welsh and two of his friends from South Africa visiting for the weekend. They encouraged us a a church to concentrate on developing good relationships between each other and with others as a foundation for everything else that we do. So….that is what we are going to focus on for the next season.
It is ridiculously hot here which can get quite draining. However, the rains are expected fairly soon which will be just lovely!!
Africa Time
2011
10.16
10.16
There’s an expression here – “ English people have watches, Africans have time.” This may be very true, but as an English couple, the practicalities of living in an ‘African’ way can be quite tricky! For example, we were invited to our first African wedding last weekend. We were really looking forward to it – particularly to see how different, or not, the wedding service was to the UK version. However, our invitation did not mention that the actual wedding service took place four hours before the time on the invitation, and at a different venue! So…..we missed the actual wedding! However, in true English style, we got to the wedding reception venue, pretty much on time. I have to say ‘pretty much’ as we gave a lift to some friends who were working on the ‘having time’ rather than ‘having watches’ system! I was, in fact, slightly anxious that we were almost half an hour late. I need not have worried…..the bridal party did not turn up until nearly 2 hours later! No one seemed at all concerned about this – everyone just sat and chatted and sat and chatted and then sat and chatted some more…….! Zambians have ‘waiting patiently’ down to a fine art – something I am still learning!!!!
However, the reception was great fun. I have to say that if you are ever asked to be a bridesmaid or groomsman at an African wedding – think very, very carefully before agreeing unless you are blessed with dance moves like Patrick Swayze or John Travolta! Being an attendant involved dancing down the ‘aisle’ while everyone watched, dancing up the ‘aisle’ to get the knife for the cake cutting, dancing back down the ‘aisle’ to bring the knife to the bride and groom, dancing while the bride and groom cut the cake, dancing to lead the bride and groom to their first dance and of course, dancing just for dancing sake! It was fabulous. To be fair, the bride and groom had a fair amount of floor time too – girls, you would have to choose your proposed hubbie carefully to avoid deep embarrassment on the dance floor!! Naturally, being African, all the dancing was just amazing and it was such a privilege to be able to watch and, even join in a bit at the end!
The church is now meeting every Sunday afternoon – at 3.30pm precisely!! We have met for two weeks like this and it has been so good to join with people of different ages, background, cultures and languages to worship and have fun together. It is exciting to see what God is doing. Yay!
P.S – Sorry for the long delay since my last blog……a better service will hopefully resume from now on! Watch this space…..
Weird and wonderful!
2011
07.08
07.08
Sometimes we do see some fairly weird and wonderful things here. I thought I would just give you a taste of life here with a few photos of some of the odd sights I have captured on camera in the last few months or so…..
Yes, this is just a very, very large chicken in the middle of a roundabout!
Read this one carefully!
This is the staple diet of most Zambians – nshima. I am going to be taught how to make it by some lovely ladies in the prayer group next week. Watch this space – they assure me it is easy! (by the way, we reckon it takes like wall paper paste!!)
This is a sign that Tony saw at a camp site he visited!
and this is one of the best things about living here – being waved at and smiled at by children everywhere! They are so friendly and happy to see you…..
Unfortunately, I do not have a photo but I saw a Zambian wheeling a large three seater settee on a wheelbarrow this morning – up a long steep hill. It looked like a struggle! I have also seen someone with a double bed frame on the back of his bike – which looked very, very precarious! We take our cars and easy transport systems so much for granted…….
Bye for now…..
Faith, Fun and Frustration
2011
06.10
06.10
Well, it has been rather a long time since I have written on the blog – we seem to be keeping very busy! The last few weeks have been quite a mixture. We have been very encouraged by the long awaited arrival of Martin and Amanda from the UK, but then rather frustrated by their pretty immediate departure to South Africa to await the issue of Martin’s work permit! The good news is that it sounds like it has been approved so we are very grateful for that…..we were just enjoying having them here, and particularly liking Amanda’s home baking!! We have also had a great time with Gary Welsh this week from South Africa – he came and stayed with us, met lots of our friends and contacts and encouraged us all at our weekly prayer meeting to desire the presence of God in all we do. He reminded us of how utterly wonderful God’s grace is towards us ….and how totally faithful God is. We have been frustrated by how long seemingly simple and straightforward administration takes here – we bought a car 7 weeks ago, and we still do not have the car registered, due to a missing document which is somewhere in Botswana! It looks like someone may have to drive to Botswana to collect it…..but will it be there we wonder?! All very tedious… My work is going well but I am so aware of what a big mountain we are climbing in trying to help change the approach to education here…..but, I had a particularly positive time with a local teacher I went to talk to – she had just taught 92 children aged 6-7 years, in a very basic classroom, with pretty much no resources, on her own….we talked at some length about the challenges she faces, and some personal stuff too, and we both came away smiling and encouraged. I felt quite touched that she talked to me so openly, and that I was in the position where she was welcoming my input…..I never thought I would be doing this sort of work this time last year! Amazing how God works it all out and how His plans really are so much more creative than our own! Just off now with some Zambian friends to look at a house that is for rent which might be suitable for Martin and Amanda…..will let you know how I get on!
Music to my ears!
2011
05.13
05.13
Just wanted to let you know that we already have a pretty fantastic worship team lined up for the new church plant! Abe just loves to play the guitar, Pembu is a fantastic and sensitive keyboard player, and both are gifted in worship leading too! The other night, they were both round at our house and Abe, Pembu and I had an impromptu time of playing and singing some familiar worship songs. I am looking forward to learning lots of local songs – none of which of course have any music, but apparantly are easy to pick up (?!!). Needless to say, the singing that goes on is amazing – loud, enthusiastic and with some incredible harmonies. Not English at all!! Our next challenge is to master the African style of dancing……watch this space!!!