False Alarm; We are still here

Greetings,

      Unfortunately I am not at home right now.  I am still in Zambia.  We missed our flight by ten minutes yesterday and we are currently trying to find other options.  When trying to book another flight through Emirates, there were no economy seats available for the next week and the cost to upgrade would be $3000 which none from our team has the cash for.  We understand that God is in control of the situation and we pray that he makes a way for us to get home.

       We were hoping to get to the airport early but our ride unfortunately got held up.  We got to the airport still almost fifty minutes before the flight yet the gate was closed and we were not allowed access.  We were slightly hostile and frustrated at this point and our attitude probably did not help things.  We got to the Emirates office this morning bright and early but we were unable to work things out there.  As of now there seems to be no way that we can get back in a timely and economic way.  Fortunately, we are able to spend some more time here with friends and God does not only work when we see a way.  He makes a way when there seems to be no way.  That is exactly what we are praying for right now and I ask that you all pray for us as well.

Philippians 4:6-7
        Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Hopefully we make it home soon,

Aaron

Final Address

Greetings,

            It is two days until I leave this country that I have come to know and love.  As I have said before, the lessons and friendships that I have here will not only change the way I look at people but the way that I live.  I am continually taught by the people here in ways that I would not necessarily have guessed or even sought out.  One lesson came from two of the only guys that are younger than me that I have met here in Lusaka.

            Moses and Cosmas (aka Origaba) are two players on the basketball team that are still in secondary school.  They are not the main players partly due to their young age.  Moses is eighteen and Origaba even lied to the coach by telling him that he is nineteen so he would accept him on the team.  He is only seventeen and he looks it.  When he stands next to me he is comes up short of my shoulder and he has to weigh around 100 lbs.  Nonetheless, both of these guys put in the work to make the team and work behind the scenes when needed by mopping the floor and getting maybe a little playing time when the team has a large lead.  This dedication to basketball carries over in their lives to other aspects in a way that I can learn from.  The first week for Bible study, the two of them ran to campus and again for the first forum (large group meeting) of the year.  I just learned yesterday how far they actually ran.  Driving, it would take around five minutes driving to get to campus and then another twenty minute walk to where we stay.  These guys ran around six miles to come to the study and then forum and they seem like they are even willing to in the future.  Would I be willing to run six miles to learn about the Word of God?  Tough stuff to chew on as Dan would say.

            Another guy that I have been learning from like crazy is Gershom.  He has been working here on GAP for the last six years and has served as the campus director for the last few.  In that time, God has shaped his life in a way that I hope he shapes mine.  He is a wealth of knowledge about life in general and I have had the privilege of having several hour to two hour long conversations with him.  He truly has a desire to learn about both God and what he can do for God.  One of the major topics recently is mentorship.  He looks at what he wants to learn more about or improve upon and then he considers the best way to gain that knowledge.  His method is mentorship.  He looks at servanthood and he sees that as an area of his life that he wants to improve.  Instead of reading about servanthood, he looks for someone in his life that lives in a way that displays servanthood.  For him, he found a professor that he had while still in school and now he meets with him on a weekly basis to learn from his example.  He also has sought out mentors in the fields of faith and business.  The approach is not one that is common but I feel like he knows what he is doing and one more point that he made really made sense and I feel like everyone could benefit from hearing it.  He said “Whatever we learn for ourselves is gone when we die.  What lives on is what we pass on to others.”  Sometimes I feel like our whole life up until we are almost to retirement is spent trying to learn from others and learn as much as possible.  That is great for sure but what truly matters over the generational view is how much we teach others.

            Jon and Bryce have made it all the way back from Kitwe and having them back has been a blessing.  Hearing their experiences and how God is working through them in the lives that they were able to speak into was eye-opening and again shows how small I see Him and how He works.  God is not merely at work shaping my life, not merely at work shaping Dan and Nathan, not merely in our entire time but in the lives of students here, in the hearts of everyone around the world.  His impact on a global scale is amazing and He deserves our praise for this.  In John 14:12 it says “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”  I had always viewed this as the many miracles that the disciples were able to do in the book of Acts.  Jesus was able to perform miracles that we have heard about such as feeding five thousand with a little bread and fish, turning water to wine, and even raising people from the dead.  So what could be considered “greater things than these?”  Looking at this and using a quote from a book that I really enjoyed called Blessed Child by Ted Dekker, I got a different thought.  It said something to the effect of “Who says a healed hand is more amazing than a healed heart?”  Looking at the impact that the “healed heart” has had on me and my life, I think that it is greater than even raising a dead person to life.  Something about giving life to the spirit of a person, to the soul of a person, is as powerful and amazing as it gets.  Christ died and through that, the gospel was able to be spread.  The message which was spread about by the disciples and is still spread today, changes the hearts of people and makes the unholy, holy; the unrighteous righteous; the imperfect perfect.  Seeing God doing this through the work of my comrades here has been beautiful.

            Dan has been here with me the whole time and seeing him and how he walks in his faith has been inspiring.  He truly is a servant of God who I learn from as well.  He has been very busy meeting with several guys from main campus that he was able to meet at the welcome party and their relationship is very encouraging.  These first year students are willing to spend their days with him and learn from him and they even came to visit us here at our place due to a power outage in their hostel.  Their servant-like nature came through when they even served us nshima and vegetables and Dan made the gravy.  The food here is something that will stick with me forever.

            Another aspect of my stay here that I have discussed some with Gershom and Dan is the way we have been integrated into the culture.  The way some other organizations such as Campus Crusade approach housing their short-term missionaries is they book a lodge and the only time that they spend with the people in the culture is when they go for ministry.  We have been lucky enough to live here with three guys and live in the culture.  We not only eat nshima and caterpillars, but we are learning how to make them.  We have used the bus system and even taking a taxi around town.  Living in the village we even shattered expectations by drinking the water straight from the well.  The people here have been so much more willing to open up when they hear that we are actually trying to enjoy the culture instead of bring our culture and live the same way as home.

            The bus system had a new twist yesterday for Dan and me.  We were on our way to the Ridgeway campus and in town when we found out the bus to the hospital that we take was no longer running.  We had to get there by bus so Dan talked to one of the guys at the station who told us to get on this new bus on a different route and then get off at the bus stop called SDA and it would be right next to the hospital.  The bus driver that we had taking us on this new route proved to be both impatient and very fond of shortcuts.  First, when faced with a long line of traffic ahead of us, he moved to the left shoulder (cars drive on the left here) and passed all the cars on the dirt shoulder.  Next he was driving on a side road and ramped the curb and drove across a large dirt section to a new road, ramped down the curb on the new road and took off.  This guy was doing things that I have always wanted to do in the US and it will take much self-control to restrain myself from using him and his driving as a model…  His next tactic was perhaps the most insane though.  Again with a long line of cars in front of us, he decided to use the right lane instead of the left.  He continued in the wrong lane for a good stretch until he had no choice but to move off to the right shoulder to avoid a headlong collision.  When the coast was clear again, he would go back into the right lane and do the same.  Risking our lives was worth it I guess for the fifty or so cars that he passed in the process.  When we finally got to our stop and to safety (or so we thought), we found ourselves in an area of town we had never seen.  We asked the bus driver where the hospital was and he pointed and told us to cross Bama road and it would be right there.  After five minutes of walking in the direction he pointed, we asked another person and they simply pointed in the same direction.  This happened two more times and took twenty to thirty minutes before we finally saw the sign for the Ridgeway campus.  Not what we had planned but it sure was exciting.

             Some odd jobs have kept Dan and I occupied here at the Nav office as well.  Last week, the two of us as well as Sam performed surgery on a couch that was "eating" things way too often.  One of the cushions would sink almost all the way to the floor when you sat in it and there was a gap in between it and the one next to it that important things would continue to get lost in (such as Bryce's phone and my ipod).  When we flipped the couch over, it showed what a real mess the whole thing was.  Of the four supports, three were completely disconnected, four springs had come loose, and stuffing was spread everywhere.  After a little hammering and attaching the springs, we flipped the couch over and it is good as new and has not consumed anything of late.  Dan and I also were given the task of re-tiling the bathroom by the office.  So far the demolition has been done and we await further guidance before we proceed.  It has been great to be able to give back here to the people that have given us a home and fed us.

             Tomorrow we have a briefing in the morning and then most likely a farewell party for the four of us that are still here.  We are not really privy to the details because they are trying to keep most of it a secret but we have some guesses.  The GAP staff here has been planning for the last couple weeks and at our apartment here we recently had half of a pig dropped off and stuffed in our freezer.  Who knows what that might be for???

            In three days I will be back in the US at the Chicago airport getting picked up by my family or some of my family I should say.  I am leaving some brothers and sisters behind here in Zambia.  That is what they are to me now and that is who they will be to me forever.  I do not see this as being the last time I will see them.  Who knows, I could even be rambling about Zambia again in a few years!

Farewell from Lusaka, Zambia,

Aaron

           

Rambling on

Greetings,

            As always, things are great in this fine country of Zambia.  More than six weeks have gone by since I set foot on African soil for the first time.  I am convinced now that this trip will not be my only time that I come to this amazing place.  It has surpassed all my expectations and even hopes and I owe thanks to God and to the people here for that.

            The people that I have met here are the type of people that I love being around.  Most days end up with me and the rest of the people here laughing until our stomachs hurt.  While I have mentioned some of them from time to time I have not really talked in depth about any of them.  The three guys that I live with are Abel, Gershom, and Sam (aka Mr. Black).  Abel and Gershom have been doing campus ministry for several years now and are both preparing to leave this place to go out into the workforce and hopefully become insiders for Christ in their fields.  Sam is in his first year on GAP which is a form of full time ministry for graduated students.  He will stay in this apartment and his job is to meet with students and have discussions about what the students are learning, struggling with, and looking forward to.  Ngambo is also doing GAP training and lives in another small home that is located on the same property.  Both are located right next the Nav office here.  The newest member of our team here cannot be left out either.  Paul the Levite was welcomed onto our property this last week and he is growing up every day.  (He is a puppy that was born at Nelson’s home and since they were moving out they needed to find another home for him and his two siblings.)

            Other members of the staff team here are Siku, Mutinta, and Nelson.  Nelson is the leader of the Navigators here and Zambia and he is the father of four young daughters.  Mutinta is the campus director at the medical campus over at Ridgeway and also the national prayer leader here.  Siku is another very involved staff member that spends a lot of time discipling girls from main campus and she also does much of the planning for the year.  She has two children as well, one of which is Mwape who is absolutely adorable.  She is a little older than two years old and is learning all kinds of words on a daily basis.  We have become good friends during the time that she stayed at the same apartment as Ngambo and she has been a ton of fun to have around. 

The basketball team has been great as well.  Several of the guys remind me of players from my own high school team in the way that they play.  There is Richard who is the leader of the team who plays point guard or shooting guard who with his speed and quickness rival Noah Allen.  Nelson is a sharpshooter that also can take the ball to the hole similar to Timmy Ruby.  Chudu is a young forward who is incredibly athletic and reminds me of Seth Johnson in the way he plays.  Finally there is Walter who plays in a similar way and with a similar body type to Matt Heber.  The parallels are quite hilarious for me as I continue to go through practice with them.  I know that many of you that will read this have no clue who anyone I just mentioned is so you can ignore the whole section if you want.

Some things about Zambia and particularly the section of Lusaka that we have been staying are worthy of mentioning as well.  Unlike in the US, where internet, texting, electricity, and everything are purchased so that you can use them as much as you want, those things here are bought in amounts and you run out after you use the amount you paid for.  The cell phones have been the most obvious of the differences as there are booths set up everywhere selling “talk-time”.  Each message that is sent and each minute of talking on the phone cost a certain amount of talk-time and when you spend the amount that you have paid for, you are out and unable to make calls or send texts until you go to the nearest booth and top-up.  Internet is another huge example as you do the same thing.  You pay for a certain number of Gigabytes and once you use up all of that, you cannot access the internet.  Electricity is still done the same way and several days we have “run out” of electricity until one of our hosts can go and buy more.

Water is not done in exactly the same way but we have had problems with it almost constantly.  For some reason, every night the water from the tap is shut off and we are unable to use it at all.  The issue has now invaded the daytime and we have not had any water in the house today.  Apparently the company is working on the whole system right now and they advise that when we do have water we store as much as we can.  The main issue with not having water has been all of our dishes from dinner cannot be washed until the next morning and now even longer.  Still we are able to manage by storing water in the hot water heater or geyser (pronounced geezer) and in old milk jugs and mazoe bottles.

Laundry here is also an adventure.  We do not have a washing machine here or a dryer (the sun and dry air work well with that) so all laundry is washed by hand.  The process involves allowing the clothes to soak for close to an hour in a tub of water and detergent before vigorously scrubbing the clothes against each other.  Once this is finally done, they are thrown into another tub of clean water for rinsing.  The whole process takes several hours and is much more physically demanding than simply throwing all of them into the washer.  I brought two weeks worth of clothes and so hopefully I have done my last load of laundry here and I can show up at home with a huge heap of dirty clothes to wash. 

Food has continued to be delicious as each guy that stays here has their own specialty that we do most every meal.  I have been doing the gravy, Dan and I have been trying to learn the nshima, Gershom does the vegetable, and Sam is the expert at the meat.  That includes all types of meat from goat ribs to chicken and even sausage.  Recently I had the “opportunity” to try a delicacy among the people in Zambia.  Caterpillars.  I was originally thinking that these would be this slimy and gooey food that was tough to swallow.  I was wrong for sure.  They also were much larger than I was anticipating but the thing that I noticed about them first was the smell.  They would be up there as one of the two worst smells I have encountered (right behind Kapenta).  Their stench permeates the entire house when they are being fried and it does not leave for some time.  Despite the awful odor, I was able to eat all of the caterpillars that I put on my plate by mixing them with the other foods on my plate to mask the taste.  The texture was actually very crunchy, especially for the small ones.  They certainly are not a food that I would like to eat on a daily basis but I am glad to say that I have tried them at least.

Our dear teammates Jon and Bryce will be joining us within the next week and I greatly look forward to their presence.  Their experience will be completely different from the one that we have had here in Lusaka and it will be great to hear how God was working at CBU in Kitwe.  Reading their blogs has been great but it does not tell everything that is going on any more than this one paints a full picture of what we have experienced.  If you are interested in reading their blogs, the links are located on the right hand side of the page.

This very well could be one of the last posts that I have on this blog during our time here in Zambia so I want to be sure to again thank my parents for allowing me to come all the way here.  I cannot imagine what they have been going through in the time that I have stayed here and even spent in the village.  That is not easy to do and I have only been able to Skype with them once which is unfortunate.  Mom and Dad this is specifically for you.  There are only eight days until I leave here and come home.  I know that may seem like a long time but with how fast the days go by here I feel like it will fly by.  To my brothers, it has been great to hear the things that you have been doing while I have been gone and even see the great job you did with the woodworking projects.  I look forward to seeing them in person and finding out where the sandpaper is hidden (inside joke for those who are confused).  Carson and Kaitlin I look forward to seeing the ring in person and being able to congratulate you.  One last special shout-out/apology goes to Kylie.  I am sorry that I was unable to bring you along with me and show you all of the animals.  I will try to make up for my grievous mistake.

Farewell my comrades,

Aaron Spesard

The Home Stretch

Greetings,

It is only eleven days until I make the long return journey home.  The previous six weeks have been a blessing from above and not just a life-changing or life-altering experience but a life-GIVING experience.  Experiencing a new culture has only been part of it.  Culture can only do so much.  It can only make so much of an impact.  People however can change everything.  Looking at the ways that they view life.  Their lens through which they look at the world.  My lens had been far to near-sighted and narrow.  Seeing the people here and the way they live has opened my eyes in a way that before I could not even understand let alone experience.  I expect nothing less from the rest of the time that I have here.

The welcome party that I mentioned in my last post was nothing like what I expected.  The number of people that we prepared for was around 100 and so we made almost that many bologna sandwiches, two huge buckets of popcorn,  bowls of groundnuts (peanuts) mixed with raisins, and even some of the real mazoe.  Based on the number that told us they would be going, this seemed like we might not even have enough to feed everyone.  In the end they were begging me to eat more sandwiches.  Only 30-40 students were there and many of them were either staff or returning members of the Navs.  I was originally disappointed in the lack of numbers but as the party went on my perspective changed.  The great thing about having not as many students (besides more food for me) was we were able to be very personal with the students that were able to attend.  If 100 had showed up there would have been people that would have been missed in the shuffle.  This way each returning student and staff member was able to spend the meal discussing things with one student.  The personal touch was a great addition to the atmosphere and the fellowship that we were able to attain.

Another highlight of the party was the gospel presentation by Dan.  The gospel is called the good news for a reason but sometimes the true depth of it is lost on me.  It is a personal and life-giving gift from God that we can never get enough of.  Grace and who it comes from is the reason that we are here and it is the reason that we have hope.  Dan was able to get that message across in the short span of ten minutes to these incoming students in a personal way that moved me and those around me.  Talking with a student afterwards, he told me that he had heard the same thing before, even some of the same passages but there was something about that message that left him asking questions about his own faith.  Whether or not he really understood the concept of grace.  When Dan shared, it was not him up preaching from the front.  He was not talking at people.  He spoke directly to the hearts of those in attendance from his heart.  Everyone has different talents but Dan has a great ability to share the gospel.


This last week, our team as well as Gershom, Ngambo, and Kayi went to go see the new Spiderman in theaters.  The area of town is literally known as Arcades and the theater was top notch.  The tickets were similar prices to the US but the popcorn was around three dollars for what would cost seven.  It was really an experience to go to a theater in Africa.  My preconceived notions about the whole of Africa were blown out of the water long ago on the trip but this sealed the deal.  In another area of town just a little farther away known as Manda Hill even has a 3D theater.  Never would have guessed that before I got here.

This Sunday was another great experience in Zambia.  Since Nathan was leaving us that night, we needed to spend the day going around and taking pictures of the different areas that we spent time.  Manda Hill was a major photo stop and then we headed over to Arcades for the Sunday market.  The crafts that are put on display every Sunday are really a testament to the people here.  Everything that you can imagine or desire that would remind you of your stay in Africa (besides an actual animal)  is available from not just one but multiple vendors.  Clothes, jewelry, paintings, and carvings line both sides of the street and the atmosphere is amazing.  Each and every vendor will participate in a bartering battle (pardon the alliteration) in which the price starts at a ridiculously high price and slowly can be worked down.  Some vendors are more honest than others but in general they all try to do anything they can to get the best sale they can.  I had a vendor tell me the price for an item was 450,000 kwacha or $90 and within thirty seconds it was down to 200,000.  I ended up getting that exact same item from another vendor for 100,000 ($20).  In the end I felt like I won but Nathan made a great point.  That item might have very well been worth 60,000 and we would have no idea.  I did love the whole experience and I was thrilled when Gershom said he heard two store owners say that I bartered like a true African.  At least I am African in one regard!

Our team here has been trying to learn how to cook the dishes here especially nshima.  That is definitely the most physically demanding food that I have ever made.  The stirring that is required leaves us holding our forearms afterwards and even then we have help from our housemates.  The mixture is so thick and trying to use a wooden spoon to stir it up is tough and even the motion takes a skill that I have no hopes of mastering.  Gershom says that he is only that good because he has been making it for close to fifteen years.  I unfortunately have only eleven more days.  The rest of the food is very simple to make and I have been making the gravy for every meal for some time.  I started making it with little to no idea what I was doing but now I understand the actual process and what to look for.  My last batch was good and I am even trying different things with it in order to find the kind that I like best.  To me, the gravy here is one food that I do not plan on giving up when I head back to the states.  It is even delicious when added onto spaghetti or other pasta or even rice.  In short, it makes everything else taste good.

I really look forward to the opportunity that I have to follow up with many of the students that I was able to meet through either the orientation or the welcome party.  Some guys from the basketball team have also showed an interest and already a base knowledge from which to build.  The prospect of Bryce and Jon coming back on the 23rd is great and having several days with them here before we leave will be the best possible way to end a great trip.

Keep us all in your prayers as we continue to follow up with students and travel.

Over and out,

Aaron

Getting Oriented to UNZA

Greetings,

            The snake started to constrict slightly around my neck as the cameras continued to take pictures.  We spent the day today planning and finally going to a reptile farm known as Kalimba farms.  They have reptiles from all over the nation of Zambia including snakes, crocodiles, and even some tortoises.  The first stop on our tour was at the snake section that contained black mambas (considered the most dangerous snake in the world), green mambas, puff adders and even some pythons.  The last of those was the one that I had the privilege (?) of holding across my shoulders.  The guide went down into a pit of 8 pythons and brought a ten foot one out by his bare hands.  He then held the head and allowed all of our team to hold the snake across their shoulders.  Some were slightly less comfortable with it (cough, cough, Abel, cough, Kayi).  It was great to have some more team time with the prospect of Nathan leaving this Sunday.

            This week has been one of the busiest of the whole trip.  Orientation on the UNZA campus began on Monday and took up all of our time from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. From start to finish we were meeting students at the booth that we had set up and going out and talking to others that were in various locations.  After three days we estimated that between the summer team, staff, and students we were able to talk to more than 300 students.  How big of an impact we were able to make is not known but at least we had some contact with them.  Some even just came for the biscuits and juice that we were serving but that is fine too.

            Starting out on the first day of orientation I was not very comfortable just going up to random people and talking to them.  I am a very talkative person and sometimes to a fault but when it involves someone that I do not know and do not have anything in common with then I am a very quiet individual.  I was even more nervous because approaching someone with the intention of finding out about the person’s spiritual background or even sharing the gospel is intimidating to say the least.  That being said, this is what I am here for.  Sure it is out of my comfort zone and it could fail miserably but I had to at least try.  By day three the conversations were actually casual and I feel that I was far more casual in my approach.  Instead of forcing things, sometimes the conversation can just flow.

            Talking with some of the students that I was privileged enough to meet during orientation is one of the highlights of the entire trip.  I was able to meet a variety of people from a variety of different backgrounds and see how each person viewed their current stance and how they viewed Christianity as a whole.  The students that I met with were all over the scale as some were nowhere near interested in what I was saying while others wanted to exchange contact information so that we could continue discussions on certain topics.  At first the negative results of people folding up the fliers that I was passing out or even dropping them right after I left was disheartening but the seed growing is not my responsibility.  I can plant the seed and even water it but the growth comes from God.  On the other side of that were the students that were genuinely interested in learning more; whether that be more about the gospel or learning how to disciple others. 

            This Saturday is the welcome party for first year students and even those that are already on campus.  We have been meeting to plan that and even lay out some objectives for the year with other members of staff.  The meetings are productive sometimes and other times they just end up with everyone too tired to continue after a long morning in the sun.  We are hoping that around 150 students will be able to make it out to the party and maybe even a little more.  We plan on having fun most of the time playing sports like football and even some board games.  Sandwiches are being made for each person and we will have juice and tea as well.  We are also going to be sharing a brief gospel message that will hopefully be long enough to not leave a ton out but short enough to not let people get too bored.  We want to have some outreach but we want this to be a fun event that welcomes people in a loving atmosphere.

            My knee has been slightly bothering me so I have missed the last several days in practice but I hope to be back tomorrow.  The study with the team dropped down to only two other players and me this week mainly because of the chaos on campus.  The conversation did not suffer though as again really deep topics such as Christ’s fulfillment of the Law came up.  I hope that next week we will be able to have a slightly bigger showing as far as numbers and the conversation remain open and interested.

             A huge deal for students here at UNZA is trying to find accommodation.  For some reason, the university does not have enough housing for even half of the students to live on campus.  Even more, unlike the US and universities like Purdue, there is not a lot of housing that is off-campus in the form of apartments.  The students arrive to orientation and do not know if they will even have a place to stay.  The situation is not easy for anyone and I pray that the university looks for more ways to accommodate these young students or at least lets them know in advance if they will have a room or even a bed to sleep on when they arrive.

            With only two weeks remaining, the focus will again shift from meeting new students to following up with the students that we met during orientation.  This is where the watering of the seeds comes into play.  A short conversation that can vary from five minutes to thirty minutes can only make so much of an impact.  Meeting with that person again and spending an hour or so over a meal can make that impact stick.  I want to be able to make an impact in the lives of these people that will stay with them through life in a way that I have been impacted.  Christ is teaching me so much about myself and himself that I just want to relay some of that to others.  As Nelson said today, if we are only able to impact one person of all of the 300 some that we talked to, everything will have been worth it. 

Until next time,

Aaron

National Conference... and maybe a little basketball

Greetings,

Things have definitely not slowed down at all.  I now see that they probably won't until I get on the plane and have 20 some hours to sit still.  The Zambia National Conference began on Saturday the 30th with a somewhat early morning again.  It was a decently long trip out of Lusaka into what seemed the middle of nowhere.  The road was rough for our bus on the way and the holes that were in the floor did not help at all with the ridiculous amount of dust that was filling our lungs.  When the bus finally pulled into the long driveway of Chresso University, I saw that the trip was worth it.  The campus was about as secluded as it gets but that made the setting that much better.  We were there as a group of Navigators and more importantly as a group of Christians there to learn more about our Lord and savior and we were not going anywhere.

The last two days before going to the conference were spent mainly preparing for it.  Every conference has a banner that is made specifically for it with the theme for the conference as well as other information such as the year or the speaker.  Somehow, the group of five guys that are staying here in the Nav office got the job of decorating and making the entire banner.  After purchasing the material for the banner, the quest for paint began.  Dan and Sam went to get some red, black, and orange paint to go along with the green background to match the colors of the Zambian flag.  Apparently paint is not overly easy to find in downtown Lusaka and they spent around 3 hours searching for paint that was not overly expensive.  They finally came back with some red and orange tint and black spray paint.  The tint did not work great and spraying the letters on the banner required putting masking tape around every letter individually which took upwards of an hour.  When the final work was completed, we were relieved and also proud of the work we had done.  The banner should be able to be reused for years to come.

The theme for this years conference was "Renewing Our Commitment to the Lordship of Christ and to Community."  After we finished registering and eating, we moved into the meat of the conference.  Nelson (leader of the Zambia Navs) opened with a message based on the theme verse that went along with the overall theme.  Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Looking at how these people lived their lives, we can learn how we are called to live.  They were devoted to prayer and the breaking of bread.  It does not say that they were devoted to having fun.  It does not say they were devoted to their job.  Their devotion was first to prayer and their relationship with Christ.  That is a convicting passage that should be read in its full context.

Eddie gave the second message about what the aspect of Lordship means and what it means that Jesus is Lord.  Looking through scriptures that reveal how exactly Christ is Lord over all and also in our lives such as 1 Timothy 6:15 and Ephesians 1:19-23.  I challenge you to read through these for yourself and contemplate on how exactly he is Lord over you.  When the Bible says love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, do we find ourselves doing that?  I know that personally I find it challenging to love the Lord with all my life (soul).  I find it difficult to love the Lord with all my thoughts (mind) yet that is what we are called to do.  I challenge you to look though your life and see it through the lens of the scriptures.

Continuing with the main theme, Eddie went on to talk about things such as renewing our commitment to the Lord and His Kingdom, for every king must have a kingdom.  The concept of a maturing Christian community was also discussed as we looked at three ways to determine if your community is growing.  A Christ community should be growing relationally, transformationaly, and missionally.  A major topic that came up during this talk was the idea of spiritual generations and it made me think about the amazing spiritual generations that have sprung out of the faith that my grandparents have.  Without their dedication to the Lord of Lords, I would most likely not be all the way over here in Zambia.

Besides the messages that were presented at the conference, there was a report on the progress of what has been come to be known as Navland.  A plot of land was bought by the Navigators here in Zambia that is just North of Lusaka.  The exact size of the land I do not know but it is quite sizable.  The idea for the land is that it could be a retreat facility that would be owned by the Navigators that would be self-sufficient by producing goods such as crops and animals to sell at local markets.  The land is currently undeveloped but the master plan was recently done by a team of engineers from EMI (engineering ministries international).  A facility with everything from dorms to a restaurant to a giant gathering building that will serve as a place for anything from weddings to spiritual retreats.  The goal right now is to get one of the dorms started by laying the foundation and getting some bathrooms with running water starting in October.  The place is sure to be an amazing facility that God will use for years to come.

We returned from the conference in the afternoon on Monday and our team of five that are still here was able to have conversations late into the night about what we learned and eventually some really hilarious jokes that are only funny when you are tired.  Tuesday brought even more excitement as I prepared for my first game here with the UNZA Pacers here.  I had only been to one official practice with the team and I was not sure what to expect at all.  When we got to the gym that we would be playing in, I was getting pretty nervous.  Warming up with the team was still pretty nerve-racking but fun at the same time.  Jogging and stretching while doing some chants in languages that I do not understand, I finally felt somewhat ready...until I set foot on the floor.  Not only was I the only Caucasian on the floor, I was one of the biggest guys out there.  Certainly not weight-wise but for sure in height.  My first layup during warmups was even a miss.

When the game finally started and I was able to sit and see kinda what was going on before going in.  I did not know how much I would play because I had only been to one practice and met the coach just briefly (he wasn't at practice) but our team only had three total forwards.  I was the first guy off the bench and was really confused by the offense because the coach explained it in either Nianja or Bimba (both are native languages I do not speak at all).  Nevertheless I was out there running around and trying to look like I knew what I was doing.  It was not long before I started getting worn out.  They play at a pace here that I am not physically prepared for after spending a year doing nothing but intramurals and some ultimate Frisbee from time to time.  During the first half, I got the ball and took a little runner in the lane which was more of me bumping into a guy and falling to the ground but somehow it went in.  The entire crowd went crazy.  It must have been fans from both teams that were shouting because it was really loud at that point.  That was my only shot of the game but I must admit that basket made the whole game worth it.  Just to hear the whole crowd go crazy was great and even some rebounds brought a big response.  I do not know how many games I will be able to play in but I look forward to every one of them.

While playing for the team is great, our purpose here is first and foremost to reach out to the students here in Zambia especially on the two campuses.  My place on the team is a way for me to get to know the players and spend some quality time interacting with them.  In that way I can try to help them become better basketball players but also earn their trust.  Through this and time that I have had just to talk with them and a ton of help from the leader of the team (Richard), I had plans to start a Bible study with any members of the team that were interested.  Jon Chen had done something similar last year and so I thought some of them might be interested again.  When I did not want to leave anyone out, Richard took charge and introduced me to the whole team and the girls team telling them who I was, what I am here for, and saying that I was thinking about having a Bible study.  Even then, I was unsure how many would show up and how interested those that did show up would be.

This Wednesday was the first study that we had and also the first study that I have ever led.  I would like to say that I knew what I was doing but that is not true at all.  With a couple hours of time to prep after getting our visas renewed (we were illegal here for a day), I was still not sure what was going to happen or how many people would show up.  All my expectations were shattered as 6 guys show up and several of them had Bibles of their own.  The discussion went well and the deep topics righteousness and holiness came up and were discussed.  It has been great to see their interest and I hope that will continue.

Last night for the 4th of July, our summer team got together and made an American meal for some of our friends here.  We made hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, lays chips, baked beans, and some homemade lemonade.  Things went well overall and it was pretty American for sure.  We were unable to have fireworks but we still got to celebrate in our own way.

Our next basketball game is on Sunday and I hope the result will be slightly better.  More good news came today about the opening of UNZAs campus.  It will open on Sunday and so we will be able to get involved with orientation.  That will be much easier to get to and will decrease travel times significantly.  Continue to keep us in your prayers that we might be able to be fruitful and make a difference.  God Bless.

Until next time,

Aaron