November 26

Sunday we went to meet with the church in the village of Nabbanda. It is one of the oldest congregations in the District. When I first came in 1999 it was Siavonga, Chirundu, Mangaba and Nabbanda. The congregation has gone through a number of changes in the years that have passed. This includes moving the building a number of times for different reasons. There has also been a major change in the leadership in the congregation in the last couple of years.

The church building is typical village. The roof is supported by poles put in the ground. The “rafters” are poles tied with either wire or bark strips. The roof is made of grass. The bricks around the walls are mud bricks. Since they are not “burned” they will melt when they get wet.

I brought four men with me. One is the leader of the church in Lumbembe and the other is the leader of the church at Masaga. The others are from Siavonga.

Malumisa, the church leader from Masaga, led the singing and Hamfuti, the church leader from Lumbembe, presided over the Lord’s Supper.

I taught two lessons. One on the church and the other on walking in the light.

During the preaching we began to hear rumbling. There were thunder storms in the area and it did begin to rain but not much more than a shower.

At the end I was given the gift of a goat by the women of the congregation. A welcome to Zambia gift. There was a ceremonial “handing over of the reins” involved as I received it and offered thanks to them.

By the time services were over there were 48 present. 28 of them were children.

As we pulled onto the road the sprinkling was a bit heavier. By the time we reached the main road it was more rain and it rained all the way back to Siavonga. In Siavonga it was more sprinkling than anything but still there was water coming from the sky though not what is needed. Pray for rain for us here in Zambia. The rains out west have been poor and the lake is really low. It needs to come back up otherwise it affects the ability to generate electricity.

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