7 May
Today we begin our three-day teaching. As before, Galatians will be the study topic. We will also interject some studies on the church and leadership before our time here is finished.
This is a large “ant” mound. They are all over this area. I believe what the Zambians call ants are, in fact, termites. This one is 12+ feet tall and is in front of the church building.
We arrived at the building to find almost no one present. It seems the government has a program where they give out funds to those in need who are registered. So, several members were at that and not at the building. After consulting with the church leaders, it was decided to delay the start to give people time to arrive. However, it was lunchtime, and we were still waiting. We decided to have lunch and then begin with the group we had.
Since our group is not large and the windows in the building are partly bricked up, I suggest we meet in the shade outside. This meets with everyone’s approval, and we move outside under the trees.
With the delay I will need to shorten the study. Tomorrow morning, we will be having church services and not the study. That will continue in the afternoon. At the end we have 3 who respond and ask for prayer.
While I would have liked to have seen more people it was a good session. In my discussion with the church leader, I learned that their church attendance was in the low 30’s. It seems that COVID has had a negative impact on the church in Zambia as well as the US.
At the evening session with the chariot there are 200+ in attendance for the movie about the life of Jesus. Charles asks me to deliver the message during the break. I speak using Romans 6.
During the response time there are not responses so the movie is resumed. However, a man approaches Charles as we are preparing to leave and says that he wants to be baptized.
After talking with him the movie is paused and he is baptized.
When the baptism is finished the session for the evening is dismissed. I did not realize but the Chariot has some rules about being out late and driving at night. The program is to end by 9 each evening. The movie will be finished tomorrow evening.
Tomorrow will be Sunday services. I will be preaching the sermon. We will resume our program in the afternoon.
To date: 47 baptisms – 17 restorations.
God bless,
Charles
Probably no driving at night due to safer issues… still enjoy these updates, amazed at the travel you are covering…. kind of like a gospel meeting over several weeks !