Great Building progress

The Team at work in the Multi Purpose Hall

The new Staff house

The New classroom block (3 classes)

Chilubi Island Visit

Chilubi Island Visit This weekend the team has been on Chilubi Island a two hour boat ride from Samfya. We worked with Muchinshi Church, a small church in the main settlement on Chilubi – the population of the Island is 28,000! We had four leadership training sessions on Saturday and then preached the gospel on Saturday night, and enjoyed the Sunday service with fantastic choir singing. The trip out to Chilubi

This church does not have a graduate from Samfya working with it, however they are keen to see two students sent in 2013 and so we are arranging two boxes of Bibles that will be sold by the church to the Christian community and the funds will be used to sponsor these two for their studies. Thank you for your faithful giving to the needs for Bibles which then blesses other ministry like this!

In talking with the leaders they have many needs, Bibles being the major issue, but also hymn books, means of transport for evangelism teams (bicycles), orphans and widows, building issues... These needs are replicated all around this land – partners for such ministry are desperately needed. We have come away blessed by the love and generosity of our brothers and sisters at Chilubi.

The children were around us constantly loving the interaction and it was good to see the church ministering to them through Sunday School. The need for well trained leaders was evident in this church – please pray that those the elders wish to send will have a deep impact on the ministry of God’s Word throughout Chilubi Island!
Our camp site next to the church

Tomorrow the team begins work on the Multi-purpose Hall. There is much to do but the materials are all ready to go and there will be willing workers to assist in the task. Pray for safety in the work and also that as the heat of the day grows (it is cool at night and in the morning) that there will be strength to get a full day of work in.
Buying fish for dinner on our way home to Samfya

The Day of Contrast

The Day of Contrast Wednesday was spent getting items to repair a kitchen draw unit in the GLO guest house, and while in town we had Lunch at Steers – a fast food burger joint with fantastic sauces! Steers is in a new shopping centre and you could have thought you were in New Zealand except all the faces around us were different from home! But then,,, Then the afternoon came and a visit down the road to a township 5 minutes from GLO were 10,000 people live in abject poverty. This township is right on the boarder to the Democratic Republic of Congo and it began as a smugglers town where people existed to try and make fast money, and unfortunately its roots have continued into the new generation where there is no work ethic and the people want fast money and hand outs. The GLO team do ministry in this township and we walked through the dusty paths and the children flocked around. They wanted to hold our hands as we walked and we are told that so many of these kids have little positive adult interaction. The needs of the gospel in this place are huge and our teams hearts melted with this short interaction with these people. We were told that 75% of the population is under 15 years and life expectancy is 37 years old – pray for GLO as they minister the love of Christ t o this needy township. I thought that I would also give you a brief update of some of my conversation with Kelvin Ngandwe the Samfya Bible School Board Chairman. He asks for prayer for a number of areas. Firstly the missionary that has supervised the building programme has been required to retire by his missions agency so in August will be moving. There is a need to have someone fill these shoes – please pray for the right person to take on this role. Then there are the needs of the expansion of the Bible Programme with the adding of a second year of training. This brings the need for another teacher and obviously the support of him in His role. Levy mentioned this in his last newsletter and that support of around US$500 per month is necessary. Would you pray for this need and that the right person would be found. Kelvin also asked for prayer as the board seeks to see the student numbers increase next year. As I mentioned in my last post the board are working proactively to ensure that the new facilities are going to be well used as men and women are trained in the gospel. Please pray for us today as we drive to Samfya – it is a long road with plenty of challenges!! Thanks for your prayer and support.

Greetings from Ndola Zambia

Hi all, Just a quick update to say that the team has arrived safely in Ndola. We have had a good first night of sleep and will head off Thursday fro the long drive to Samfya. Enjoy the picture - you will see I was given flowers on arrival!! The men welcoming us are Kelvin & Covina, Samfya Bible School board members.