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.