October 20

Things around here are still in flux a bit. The house is getting nearly done on the outside but I have still not moved out of my room much as yet since builders are still in the house each day.

The weather has become really hot which is normal for this time of the year. I understand that October and November are the really hot months. Once the rains start it is still quite warm but they tend to cool things some. I do not know this for sure since I have only heard it.

Several weeks back we visited the congregation at Bbendele. As a result three people baptized. A fourth wanted to be baptized but was unable due to a broken collar bone. One of those baptized was a young man. It appears that the next week or so he went to a borehole and “preached” about the NT church. As a result the leaders of Bbendele contacted us to come and talk about visiting that site on Sunday. They asked that we come the next day (Sunday the 18th). It seems that the head man gave us a shelter to meet in and encouraged the visit. So we decided to go. But it would be me and a couple of others. Charles would remain in Siavonga.

The reason Charles remained was that Sunday was a day that he wanted to address the subject of prayer and fasting. The reason for this was that the president of Zambia had declared Sunday October 18 as a day of prayer and fasting for the nation. Gatherings were planned for all over the nation.

Everyone at Bbendele came to the new location. There is no name for the site. It is located on a farm and a village seems to be forming but as yet there is no designation other than Mabumpu. This for the bumps in the road that the site in located along.

We arrived to find that the shelter was old and some of the poles/sticks were blackened by a brush fire sometime in the past. It was also so small that the only place to stand was in the very center and even then it was short. So people sat under a tree with an essence of shade to listen to what was going on. Since the church came it was a worship service with one lesson being presented.

Being in the sun was a bit of a challenge. There was a bit of shade but not much as you can see and that changed as the sun got higher. But everyone remained. There were 9 present from the locals. I spoke on how do we know what God wants of man.

You can see a portion of the small shelter in the background. There were a few bundles of grass on the sun side but beyond that nothing else.

When the lesson was finished there were 8 responses. 4 requested prayer. 1 of those was a church member who had not been attending anywhere. 4 requested to be baptized. 1 was the young man with the injured collarbone and the other was the wife of the young man who was baptized the last time we were in the area. The other two were from the local area. In the end when the one lady went to her house to get something for the baptism her husband told her no she could not go so there were only 3. The one girl who was baptized was the daughter of the head man so that it positive for the future. We will need to follow up with the one woman and find out why the husband refused her to go.

We will revisit the area in the near future. I will write more later but I want to get this posted.

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