Since arriving in Zambia I have been plagued with car trouble. The Land Rover has been out of commission since February with no end in sight. In the mean time I have been borrowing a truck and because the owner had to brag to me that “he has never been let down by Big Green” I was given the kiss of death! I have of course been let down by Big Green on more occasions then I would like to talk about. Not his fault, but I have to get my jabs in when I can. Well, on Friday I got Big Green up and running. On Monday I was busy with the first day of classes for the semester and so today Kathy and I went on a shopping trip. Usually there are not Police stops in town, but today there was. They checked my stickers and sure enough my Road Fitness expired on Friday! This is about a 40 dollar fine. Arghhh! I tried to talk my way out of it with the police officer to no avail. Usually they take you to the police station, but since I am a Pastor he trusted me to go by and pay. I went to Road traffic instead and got the road fitness sticker. This entails standing in the wrong line and then finding the right one and then having someone come out and tell me that my car is ok to drive on the roads. I get a tremendous amount of delight out of this when I see Trucks on the road that look like they are going to fall into a thousand pieces and they drive right through a police check with no problems. After I was done with this wonderful experience I headed to the police station. I told them my problem and showed them the expired sticker and then the new one I had just purchased. After a quick call to the officer that stopped me he said I would have to pay the fine. This I was willing to do because I did break the law, but I did not have to be happy inside about it. I asked one last time for forgiveness and he talked it over with one of the other officers and they said, “You are forgiven”. Wow, was I happy. I told him I had come to Zambia to tell people about forgiveness and now I had been forgiven. This really made them laugh. Now I have to be on my best behavior.
Today three of the men that are attending our Bible Study and my two oldest boys hit the streets in the neighborhood of the school we meet in. This is a little more daunting of a task because we were going Gate to Gate. In Zambia much of the housing is surrounded by a wall and you have to enter the property by a gate. As we walked the streets we had to walk up and knock on the gate. The Zambian’s usually use some sort of rock or a key to tap, tap, tap on the metal gate. Andrew and Isaac of course had to find a knocking rock. I think this is an annoying habit as it chips the paint off of the gate and it makes it rust in those spots. Nonetheless the boys did the knocking. We were able to make around 75-100 contacts. Each person was handed a tract, a Bible study for new believers and an invitation. I have received two phone calls from people saying they will come. Pray that we can continue to see new people come out. We have had 6 different adults come so far and we are praying that we can get a core group of ten faithful people. Ten people have a great nucleus of family and friends and we could ultimately double and triple our numbers with people that all know one another. This would be a great blessing.
Last night we headed off to the Bible Study in Ndola with Dr. Hankins. Whenever you have a special guest you want everything to go well. I have learned over the years that this usually does not happen. John drove us there and on our way out we needed to fill the tank. Of course we went to 4 or 5 different Gas Stations and no one had diesel. Finally we found some. Half way there I realized I had forgotten the key to the building. We got to town early enough for the guys to go and get a key from the grounds keeper. On the way to do this the hot water for tea and coffee spilled out of the Decanter. One of the college guys commented that the night was not going so well for us. I agreed. Even with all of these events the Lord was very good to us and Dr. Hankins shared a very challenging message. We had one new visitor and we really were blessed. We continue to press on and are looking forward to hitting the streets on Saturday.
Today we were swapping funny stories between the missionaries and realized I had never posted anything about my “funny” story. Several months ago I went to get tested for Malaria. In a pinch the fastest place to go is a Chinese doctor just down from the Hafler’s home. I went in and sat down at the table to get my finger pricked and wait for the result. After the lady pricked my finger (all the way to the bone I might add) she left the room to check the slide. She was really agitated in the other room and I wondered what was up. She entered and stated in very broken English. “You are positive”. So, I repeated her and said, “I am positive”. She got very somber. I said, ” I am positive for Malaria”? She said no. Then she said”You positive for HIV”? “I accidently stab myself with your needle”. I assurred her that I did not have HIV. She was so relieved. While she was hoping I was not positive for HIV, I was hoping I was not positive for Malaria and neither one of us could understand the other that well. We both could understand the humor of it and had a good laugh. She always brightens up when I come into the office and smiles over our little ordeal.
Yesterday we had the opportunity of being in Ndola for their annual trade fair. The Smith’s gave all of us a ride and we enjoyed our time together. This fair is not at all that much different than what you might find in the States. I have been to the Farm Progress show in the states and the regular 4H fair and this was very similar. They didn’t have many farm animals, but they did have a Crocodile show! We printed up some invitations to our Bible Study and I loaded up on Gospel tracts for this occasion. The kids were all armed with literature and as we passed through the fair we also passed out the tracts. Many of the people were not from Ndola so I only passed out about ten invitations to our Bible Study. With the kids help we passed out about five hundred tracts. The kids were fun to watch as they walked up to people and asked them to take and read the tracts. After several hours we were all worn out! Here are some pictures of our day. The one where I am putting the tract in a man’s pocket is because his hands were full. Paul seemed to get the best photo ops as people really don’t want their picture taken so Kathy had to be discreet. This is why some of the pictures are chopped.
Over a week ago the truck I am borrowing failed to start on a Sunday morning. I tried jumping it and nothing. I took the starter out and brought it to a place that rebuilds them. They had it back to me in a couple of days and I put it in and still the truck would not start. The battery started smoking and acid spilling out and that is when I decided to take the battery back to the place it was purchased. Sure enough the battery was faulty. I had picked it up only three weeks before and it was already no good. (They buy them in Zimbabwe and said the quality control is no good.) Of course they did not have any in stock. Can you imagine the largest battery dealer in a city of 800,000 with no batteries? A week later and they finally got one in stock. I put it in and the truck started. I checked on the alternator and it is bad as well. That only took about ten minutes to take out and I brought it to a place that rebuilds them. Hopefully this gets me up and running again! I never thought I would be a mechanic in Zambia, but when my truck has been down since February I figured it was worth a shot to fix this one myself. These are not difficult things to work on and I have done it all before. Not my forte to say the least, but I have the tools. The last alternator I replaced was in my Cavalier Wagon. When I got done I had a bolt left over. For the life of me I could not find where it went. So like all good closet mechanics I put it in my tool box. A few months later a guy was working on my car and noticed that a bolt was missing from my Alternator. I quickly handed him the one from my tool box and he was amazed that it was a perfect fit! If anyone knows a good mechanic who also is called to the missionfield….
Last night was our first Bible Study in Ndola. There were nine of us total. We had 3 CABC students, John Smith, and two men and two women from Ndola. No one was related so we are hopeful that their families would desire to be a part of the study as time goes on. We started at 5:45 and by 6:00 it was pitch black. There was no electricity so I had to teach in the dark and they had to listen in the dark. I think it still went rather well. You have to have a first night at some point and this was better than what I expected. Next week I will bring my two Coleman lanterns and some flashlights. I appreciate all of you who prayed for this to happen. I know I have been “threatening” I would start a Bible study, but there was always a snag to hold us up. Pray I can make it to Ndola in the next week to invite more people to come out. We are making up flyers to pass out in the community.
On Monday we took the opportunity to get away for a couple of days. Our schedule keeps us pretty close to home and the children really needed a break. There are no places just to go and have some fun. No Bowling, Putt-Putt, etc… You can’t just go down to the river and enjoy the view because of Crocodiles and Hippos either. The place we stayed had Safari Tents with their own bathrooms and a beautiful lake that is Croc free. They do have 7 foot long Monitor Lizards though! I was able to catch my first African Fish! That was cool. Andrew and Isaac caught some fish as well. On Monday night the place we were staying in was overrun with Safari Ants. Our little dog, Lady, was attacked by them and we had to remove over 20 of them with needle nose plyers! Needless to say we moved to a different location and in the morning some Monkeys came to wake us up. We had a nice time as a family and came back refreshed.
We were heading down the road going about 60 MPH when we came upon this truck. How would you like to be sitting on the edge like these guys are and going over 50 MPH on African roads? Maybe this is why most people choose to walk! I really was worried that one might fall out and I would run over him. They did not seem the least bit afraid, but were enjoying their ride.
Today a couple of my students and I located and secured a building to use for our Bible Study. The one we were interested in just did not feel right. We went down the road into a residential area and found another School. The headmaster was more than willing to allow us to use one of their rooms. We can have it anytime after 4:15pm and all day on Sunday. The room will probably seat 40-50 people and only costs 40 dollars a month. Hopefully, we can get started in the next week or so.
