Do you know Him?

I spoke to a drunk man yesterday as I was leaving a Bible study in Mushingashi. He, of course, approached me blubbering many things. I asked him to come to the Bible study next week and he said he needs to as he is a "backslider". Then I asked him if he knew Jesus. He responded, "Yes, he is my redeemer". I responded if you really knew Jesus you wouldn't be drunk like this and "backslidding". After I said that I continued home on my hour bike ride through the bush. As I was riding, I could not help but reflect on my statement to him regarding my own life. I spend many hours studying the Bible and learning about Jesus, but do I really know him? You could ask me almost anything about who Jesus is and I can tell you. However, in that same day I could criticize someone, or speak harshly to my wife, or neglect to show love to someone in a conversation. If I really know Jesus, how could I still be battling sin? How could I have a selfish bone in my body? It was easy for me to see that drunk man and many others here in Zambia who know stuff about Jesus, but recognize that they don’t really know him. However, do I really know him or do I just know about him? Jesus says, “if you love me, you’ll keep my commandments.” What are those commandments? Where is the law written down so we can follow them(a common question among the Kaonde people)? How can I know and come to love Jesus and how will that be shown through my life?
Whitney and I are beginning a study through the Beattitudes and would encourage anyone who would like to study that along with us to do so. I believe there are some key principles that will help me actually know Jesus and not just know about him in these teachings. Hopefully, our journey through getting to know Jesus through the Beattitudes will encourage you as well. -Jeremy

Mumena's Family Seminar

This past weekend was the first family seminar for the Mumena area churches of Christ. The best part of the family seminar was it was planned and decided on by the church leaders. They are beginning to see the value and importance of guiding your family in the ways of the Lord.
We had been planning this seminar for a couple of months now. The church leaders and missionaries felt it was important for every family to pay for the portion of their food they would eat during the weekend, so that this could be a sustainable, annual seminar if they preferred it. Also, the missionaries did not provide transport to get to the seminar, so we were pretty nervous about how everything would play out and if anyone would even show up! It was a leap of faith on our part and theirs.
We ended up having around 140 people come, made up of husbands, wives, grandparents, youth and children. It was very humbling as we witnessed groups of families walk here and pay for their own food. It helps, bit by bit, to overcome the mental poverty that is so prevalent here. Some churches are located within just a 20-30 minute walk of our area, while others are a 6-8 hour walk. A few families and church members left their villages at 6 am just to be here! Quite humbling. They have my upmost respect.
The seminar kicked off Friday night with a meal and devotional thought by Jeremy. It was so nice sitting around the fire that evening with 140 of our brothers and sisters in Christ. I shared a seat with my good friend, Josephine, and held her baby in my arms. I felt the unification that comes with living in Christ, and blessed to be in the presence of people who sacrificed a lot to come to the seminar. What a blessing to be in the family of God!
Saturday we had split classes for children, youth, married couples and single mothers. It was a great day of classes—both Zambians and Americans taught. The first session I helped Ellie Rodriguez (one of the missionaries here from TX) with the childrens class. Ellie is a grandmother who loves children, so I benefited as much as the children did just watching her interact with them and teach. The kids were so cute and excited to be doing something so new. All of the families who attended were either sleeping in the dorms or in the school building. Both lodging options have electricity, so the kids had a lot to be excited about with that!
The second session I spent with the youth. The youth sessions were amazing. During the first session, Erin, Jason and Jeremy taught on what it means to be a son or a daughter of God. Then, during the second session Erin and I worked with the girls. We then had them use their creativity to create something for God-either a song or a skit. We split them in to three groups—two groups came up with skits, and the other group a song. They did such an amazing job. We were completely blown away when they performed for the whole group around the campfire that night.
Overall, the seminar went really well. I hope the church leaders are inspired to do this again next year and many more years to come.

Seminar Preview

The Family Seminar was great! Something totally new and different here for the churches in Mumena. I will write all about it this week. For now, here are a couple of pictures from the children's class. These kids are working on drawing their hands after teacher Ellie's lesson.

This and That

This is just an update to let you know we are still here! We are past the middle mark of the dry season, and it is starting to get hotter. But we are pressing forward and getting ready for the family seminar this weekend! We are really excited about this because the church leaders came up with the idea of a family seminar all on their own. They met with us months ago about the possibility, set the food prices and here we are just a few days away from Mumena's first family seminar. We are expecting about 100 people to show up. We are hoping for this weekend to give a specific Godly direction to a father/husband, a mother/wife, a single mother doing it all on her own, and the children and youth of the family. We are hopeful for a new direction within the Kaonde minds of what a family can be and what it means to God. Please be in prayer for this weekend, as it is a first, and things will be interesting. We are thankful for the church leaders diligence in wanting to learn more and spread the work of the Kingdom.
I will leave you with a couple of pictures. This one is of Jeremy at the Congolese youth rally. It went very well, and Jeremy got to connect back with refugees he had worked with 5 years ago.

This next picture is of sweet cousin time! Noah and Bryson usually try to go to church with us about once a month. Usually they stay over at our house for lunch and until their parents come back home from their church. On this day, we had a game afternoon. Bryson was not feeling the game so much but was still sweet enough to give me a wave. Noah and Jeremy are too distracted by the strategy of the game.

Chief's ceremony pictures

Here are the pictures from the Chief's Lubinda Ceremony that is described in the previous blog post. Enjoy!

I found my friends! Josephine and Linyondi.

The Chief and Mrs. Chief watching the presentations from their throne.

Mushingashi Church and Lubenda Ceremony

Jeremy and I have a weekly Bible study out at Mushingashi church. It is about a 35 minute drive from our village, and an hour bike ride. Jeremy occasionally will ride his bike out there, but for church or Bible study we usually drive. I have heard A LOT about the "bike trail" to Mushingashi. It is straight through the heart of the bush, on a tiny little, rigorous trail. I finally decided it was time for me to be the wife I've always wanted to be and take on this trail by bike with my husband. He was impressed and excited that I was going. I was pretty nervous, but actually ended up enjoying it so much. It was tough--really tough in some places. It is a really rough trail with lots of pot holes and brush. It was an amazing bushy sight. We crossed over a little stream that dips down in between two hills. There were a couple of women at the stream doing their laundry, and they greeted us, as their naked babies waved to us on the side of the trail, waiting for their clothes to be finished. We were in the middle of the forest the whole time, and I loved that. It was a successful ride, and we made it in an hour to Mushingashi. We were then greeted by our sweet, old friend, Ezron, one of the oldest church leaders. I have not met many that could hold more faith than he does. It was a great day!
On Monday, Jeremy and I will be going in to town to grocery shop and run our errands. We will post pictures then of our experience at the Lubenda Ceremony this past week. The Lubenda Ceremony is an annual celebration of the Chief, also a time where the Kaonde pay their taxes. Chief Mumena and his wife sit up on an elevated throne, and the villagers come forward with gifts and dancing to present to him. Most ceremonies in Zambia can get out of control quickly. There is usually a lot of drunkenness and inappropriate behavior. However, Cheif Mumena is a Christian and is trying to change all of that to good things with keeping up tradition. It was a strange experience. It wasn't bad, just different. It reminded me of a county fair, but African style. People were selling food and crafts. Most of the people were huddled around watching those who were celebrating Chief Mumena through dance, speeches or a stunt where a man climbed up two tall trees. That is hard to describe, but we will show pictures on Monday! Needless to say, it was another avenue to get to know this culture better and to support our Chief.

August!

It’s hard to believe it is August 1, 2011 today. We left home in early January, and we are now two weeks away from having lived here for 7 months. It is strange to think that it is summertime, almost fall in the U.S. I feel like it should still be January and winter-just as we left it.
August in Zambia will bring warmer weather. It has been winter here for the past 2 ½ months, but here in about two weeks things will be warming up. Then September and October, the hottest months of the year will be here, and then the rainy season comes with November! I am counting down the days-only three months until rainy season, and I can’t wait. Everything will be so green and tropical, no more dust and of course it will rain almost everyday for five months straight! So there’s the weather update.
Jeremy and I are doing well. Jeremy did about half of his lesson at church in kikaonde yesterday, and I was so proud. He also made bread pudding last night that was to die for! So proud! We are still working on language. I am working on past and future tense in kikaonde lang., and I will begin working with one of the teachers at school. I am excited about a new relationship with her as we work on language together.
The churches here are working through some tough things, but as they do it they are growing. We have a family seminar for all of the churches at the end of August that we are really excited about. They are hosting it themselves by providing the food for their family, and we are providing the program. It is exciting that they are taking ownership and willing to contribute for it.
I am so thankful for all of the support we have back home. I appreciate all of the comments and emails from sweet friends and church family. We are approaching what we have heard to be the “culture shock stint” of our time here. It usually hits hardest between 8 months to 1 year. So today, I am just thankful for all of the people who pray for us.
Happy August, Whitney