October 28

I did not realize that it has been a while since I posted. I will try to be more regular as things settle down into some sort of routine. This has still not really happened as yet.

It has been really hot here lately which, I am told, is usual. This weekend a group came in from several congregations in Lusaka to help with outreach. It is the Prison Ministry group. They wanted to come and visit around and encourage members who have not been faithful. They would also talk with others as they had opportunity.

Saturday here was Independence Day and a holiday with a number of celebrations around the country. Siavonga has been preparing for most of the week. On the football (soccer) field they had set up tents. There would be a parade and games and speeches. This is the 51st anniversary of independence. I know from reading history that in the early years of America the 4th of July was a big celebration all around the country very different from the way it is today with is mostly a day off of work and cookouts etc. with little real thought of what it is about.

Saturday they formed 5 groups with some members from here and spent a long morning in their respective areas. In the late afternoon they went out around the church building.

The result of their work was that we had 7 baptisms on Saturday. It was a good effort.

On Tuesday we returned to the village area near Bbendele to do a follow up on our visit a week ago on Sunday. We had originally agreed to return on Saturday but Independence Day made that impossible.

There were 13 present when we gathered yesterday to talk more about Christianity and the church. I talked about the church that Jesus built and the idea of returning to the church as established by the apostles. At that point we went through Peter’s presentation in Acts 2.

While we were doing this there was a man a short distance away who began to loudly proclaim that those who worship on Sunday are sinning and that all churches with whites were Satanists. He was a seventh day. Several went over to quiet him but he did not pose any other problem.

After the teaching there were several questions and Charles talked for a bit in response. When it was done there were 5 men who wanted to be baptized. So we returned to Siavonga to use the baptistery in the church building. Aside from the lake there is no other water for baptisms at this time of the year. Fortunately Bbendele is not real far from Siavonga. They returned by transport and I had to supple the funds for that.

All together we have now baptized 6 from this area. It is about 6 to 7 kilometers from Bbendele. We are encouraging them to attend there for now. If a new congregation is to be opened here we need a plot on which to meet and need some better organization. In addition we will need to arrange for someone to come each Sunday for 4 to 6 weeks after beginning to encourage and teach them about services.

Since Saturday we have had 11 baptisms. A pretty good week as far as that goes but we need to work on making them stable.

It looks now like we are going to be holding 2 seminars on drip irrigation with the help and support of Healing Hands International. One will be held here in the Siavonga area and the other in the area of Kabwe. Both are in the vicinity of locations of new wells. We are putting plans together now so not much else in known just yet.

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