29 April
Today is the first day of teaching in Zambezi. The church here numbers around 40. We will be studying the book of Galatians for the next several days. Sunday morning we will have church services with the congregation and in the afternoon another class period. On Monday we will begin the return to Kabwe/Lusaka when we travel to Kabompo.
We are never sure how many will attend any of our sessions. But since part of our effort is to the mature with the purpose of strengthening the local congregation the numbers are not necessarily important as long as we accomplish what we desire and the congregation benefits.
The church has set up a tent/canopy outside for our sessions. It is cool in the morning and at night but during the day is gets warm. Outside gives more air circulation.
There is one thing I notice about the churches here that is identical with most in the States; No one wants to/will sit in the seats up front. Everyone sits toward the back and the front seats will be filled if there are no seats available in the rear.
The evening is the time for the Gospel Chariot to set up and do their program. They need darkness to show their film on the life of Jesus. Sometime between 4 and 5 they start using their 2 big speakers to broadcast music and invitation for people to attend. Charles says they can be heard a kilometer or more away. All I know is when they start anyone in the vicinity cannot have a conversation due to the loud volume of sound.
It is difficult to get pictures of the chariot in action because it is dark. When they have their lights on for some speaking they are so bright it is still difficult to get photos. We will try for a good one or two.
30 April
Today is the second day of our study of Galatians. As with all things African any fixed schedule goes right out the window. We were supposed to start the first session at 10am. Instead it started at 11. We were to break for lunch from 12 to 2. We finished at 1 and started our afternoon session at about 3. Oh well….
One thing we did today involved the Gospel Chariot. They took it to a village about 7km from Zambezi and handed out a good deal of printed material. Then they returned to town and went to the market and did the same thing there. An interesting thing in Zambia is that if people learn that you are giving out material they will flock to get it.
We were able to distribute a great deal of material in town and in the village.
Later after our afternoon session a young lady came and asked to be baptized. She attends the congregation in town but had never been immersed. Her name is Betty.
It is a good thing that we have the chariot with us since it provides us with a built in baptistry.
With Betty’s baptism we have now seen 37 souls immersed into God’s kingdom.
Tomorrow is 1 May. We will have services in the morning and then our last session(s) in the afternoon.
Charles