Greetings from Zambia! We have had a busy and exciting month. We praise God for His grace as He lead's us into new ministries and expands the ministries which are already established.
LIBERTY BAPTIST PRESCHOOL
We have had an exciting month in preschool. We have 3 new students by the names of Mapalo Silungwe, Natasha Phiri, and Sijabulisiwe Musukwa (yes, that is a mouthful). I have people asking me almost daily if they can start bringing their children to the school. It is hard to turn them down, but there just isn't enough room for them all.
Zambian schools have a break during the month of August so the preschool also gets a break. I decided to take the children for ice cream on the last day before the break. Many of the children had only heard of ice cream. Clara, the lady who stays with me, and I marched with the kids down the block to a shop that serves soft ice cream. The children all sat around the tables with great anticipation. They started cheering as I brought out ice cream for each of them. They quickly figured out that they all loved ice cream. I think most of them went home wearing some of the ice cream. It was a memorable day for them all to get such a treat and share that memory with their friends.
Proudly displaying Ice Cream!
Daniel Kane showing how it's done.
Liberty Baptist Church
Things are going quite well with the church. People continue to give money towards building the church building. An architect has been hired to draw up the plans so that work can begin as soon as possible. Everyone is very excited as the plans continue to move forward with the building. As the houses start to go up in this new section of Kalulushi, we will be one of the first churches there for them to look towards.
The women of the church wanted to show their appreciation towards Pastor Frazer for all his hard work over the years. They decided that they would all bring gifts on the 8th of July. Soon, the whole church was involved. After the service was over, everyone went to get their gifts which were hidden in another room. Pastor Frazer and his wife, Gaudencia, sat in the front as people formed lines to bring their gifts. There were tears in Gaudencia's eyes as people streamed forward with their show of appreciation. People were also given an opportunity to say a word to the pastor. I had already made a plan with the Sunday School children. I went forward as the representative of the Sunday School. On my cue, all the children cried out, "Thank you, Pastor." Everyone was so surprised because they never expected the children to do that. It made the children happy too because they didn't have gifts to give, but this was their gift.
Teaching Liberty Ladies
Pastor Frazer has a great burden for the people that they should learn the Word of God. Zambians generally love to sing about God, attend church, and call themselves Christians. But most of them have very little understanding beyond that. A lot of the times they don't understand what they are even singing about. One of the favorite songs says, "Babylon, I want to go there." Once I realized what was being said, I had to question why they were singing such a song. Well, they heard another choir sing it and it had a nice tune. This is just one example of why Pastor Frazer is so intent on teaching the people more about God's Word.
Pastor Frazer asked me to turn the Ladies normal meeting into a class for the women. For the last month, I have been preparing lessons for the women. The lessons are printed out so that the women can then refer back to the lessons as time passes. It also gives them a good opportunity to show their husbands as most of their husbands do not attend church. Preparing the lessons has become quite a process. I write out the lesson in English. Then Clara interprets it all into Bemba. All the lessons have English and Bemba side by side. When I teach the lesson, Gaudencia, does the interpretation for me. So far, the lessons have been a huge success. The women are learning and the are eager to learn. If their are extra lessons, they always want to take them to their friends. I seek God's wisdom in all so that I can teach these women as God would wish. Pray for me as I continue these classes.
God has certainly been blessing me this month. I cannot even begin to mention all the blessings. 17 great blessings brought a blessing all the way from California. Clara and I were surprised to find a group of teens from California drop in for a visit. We had a wonderful chat about the ministry here. Before they left, they were so wonderful to leave a financial gift. To God be the glory.
Praise be to God,
Jennifer Townsend