The entire time we have been living here I have been building relationships with the safari lodges, owners and employees. I always ask the employees where they go to church and if the attend regularly. Th answer has always been the same. Each person is affiliated with a certain church but none of them attend church anywhere. The first reason is that most of the safari areas are away from any local village. The main reason is the type of work in which they find employment. During the season, the clients are hunting and fishing all the time so time off is not something that is easily found. I have been racking my brain trying to come up with a solution to the problem and after several months of planning, last Sunday we saw the fruits of all that hard labor.
At 0800 I started off with 2 guys from church on our way down the river to Chawalo Safaris. After border checks and stamps in my passport we arrived just before 1000. The wind was terrible and the waves were rough. For anything else I might have turned around and decided to do it another day, but this was a long time coming and we were determined to let nothing stand in our way. We counted all the trials that day pure joy. We wer supposed to meet some of the leaders from Chankoma, but they did not make it, so at 1030 we began our Bible study with 12 workers. The manager and his wife and 2 children were in attendance as well. Since they are from South Africa and didn’t understand Nyanja we decided to divide and conquer.
I took my group to another location and for one hour we each held our bible study. We are leading them through a booklet called who is Jesus. It was so much fun to teach in English in an area where I don’t speak it. This family is very good to me and some of our friends out here. This makes our time together in the word that much more special. Typically, lodge owners aren’t so fond of God and the Bible, but the folks at Chawalo are very kind and open to the idea of a Bible study. I concluded my time as we looked at Jesus, the promised messiah as seen in the O.T. And made my way to the other group to find 29. There were 15 workers and 14 women and children.
To say that it was a big hit is an understatement. We had allowed an hour for study and they were begging for songs and longer worship. I saw a hunger that I have not seen in a long time from anyone. We have plans to move in that direction but for now we are still trying to figure out how to move forward. We are partnering with Chankoma baptist just down the river. The rains are coming and when they do I won’t be able to make it down the river for a few months and this is where the leadership from Chankoma will be able to fill in the gaps while we are kept away. So please pray firstly for the folks and workers at Chawalo that God will draw folks unto Himself. Secondly, pray for the leadership at Chankoma that they will follow through with our partnership so that this work will be sustained during the rainy season.
The Vines Family 