14 April
Well, it’s begun. I arrived in Dubai about 7:30pm and walked, it seemed, a couple of miles to get to the hotel.
I used to enjoy flying but these long flights are challenging. My flight from Houston to Dubai was about 15 hours. Fortunately, no one was seated in the middle seat so there was room to move about a bit.
The only word I can use to describe the airport at Dubai is IMMENSE. It is huge. I am guessing that the distance from the gate I came into and the hotel in terminal B was 2 km at least.
I leave tomorrow morning about 9:30 and will arrive in Lusaka at about 2:30pm. We will then drive to Siavonga and begin our program on Saturday.
For now, I am hoping to get some sleep.
15 April
Well, I did manage to get respectable sleep and woke (finally) at just after 5am. I will be checking out shortly and then heading for the gate to await my flight. My next addition to this will be in Zambia…
The flight from Dubai to Lusaka was completely full so I was sandwiched into my seat with two other men. So, the flight was not real comfortable. I do not think that Africans check baggage because almost everyone I saw had a lot of carry on. The flight from Dubai to Lusaka was 6 ½ hours. On top of the 14 ½ plus my total travel time was just over 21 hours on planes.
Something I did not think about is that this weekend is a holiday in Zambia (Easter). We needed to pick up a couple of things as we headed to Siavonga, but most stores were closed. One thing that I discovered when I arrived is that the SIM card in my phone is apparently no longer valid, so I have no way to contact anyone. Since the shops were closed, I was unable to activate my phone. In addition. I use a small modem to connect my computer to internet. Its SIM is apparently also outdated so no internet either. Oh well…welcome to Africa. We arrived in Siavonga around 9:30 pm and went to Eagles Rest where I eventually got into my room and settled down for the night.
16 April
Up very early and starting to get ready for the day. For the next several days there will be a lectureship held in the village of Nabbanda. In addition, the Gospel Chariot will arrive today. Charles and I have not been able to talk about how we will coordinate the two together. Since the Gospel Chariots approach centers around the showing of a file of the life of Jesus, that part will not occur until after dark. In addition to teaching during the day I usually teach between the two sections of the film. At least that is how it has been done in the past.
I was up early and took this picture of dawn just beginning over Lake Kariba out the front door of my lodging.
Pretty impressive huh? In the distance you can see Zimbabwe on the other side of the lake.
We traveled to Nabbanda for the lectureship. They had begun last evening with some singing and teaching by some of the local brothers. We arrived a bit late, I am not sure why, and things began.
I have chosen as a general topic the book of Galatians. I introduced the book and began with the general purpose for the church in 1:6-9. I realized that with the loss of a day of travel I needed to have a day to just relax. Since that did not happen, I found myself extremely tired. I ended up doing a good bit of the teaching while sitting down.
The attendance for this lectureship is not a good as in the past. That is likely due to it being Easter weekend. However, it is a good group and it went well. As things are happening in the meeting the ladies are busy preparing the meal (and chatting of course).
After the lesson and as we were preparing for the meal the Gospel Chariot arrived. They will be working in the villages for the next few days. It was good to see the two brothers who operate the chariot again.
I was not able to do a second lesson due to fatigue. Charles did a lesson and we left to return to town. The Chariot will do their first presentation this evening.
Charles and I were able to talk for awhile about our plans for the work in Zambia and we called it a night. I turned about the light about 8:30 pm.
17 April
Today is the final day of the lectureship. The activities will last for the day. I had forgotten how warm it can be in the Siavonga District even though it is getting into the fall it is still quite warm. However, it cools down at night. During the summer the temperature here can get above 115 degrees. It is not that warm but it is warm.
The final count for today was about 302. It is never a sure number because there are so many who are moving about and doing things relative to keeping the activities going.
We continue with our study in Galatians. I teach for just over an hour. When I complete my teaching I always let Charles wrap things up and make an invitation. Three respond; two asking for prayer and one to be baptized. Since the Gospel Chariot is here, we will use their baptismal instead of driving to the river.
After final exhortations and greetings we head back to Siavonga. Charles has decided that we will do the school starting on Tuesday and tomorrow will be a day to rest and take care of some business that I have to do here in Siavonga. We will be leaving on Friday to head to Kabwe and then to the Northwest.
All in all, a good beginning.