Truth is who You are: June 2010

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Africa vs. U.S.

So this post will not be about the fact that the entire continent of Africa was rooting against the U.S. as the last remaining African team in the World Cup, Ghana, defeated the U.S. last night 2-1. It will mainly be about all the differences I have noticed in my first two weeks in Zambia. So let's get started:

1. They drive on the left side of the road, and the driver's seat is on the right side of the car. I think I said this before, but it's the first difference I noticed.

2. The idea of waiting in a line or queue does not exist in Zambia. My first experience with this was when we were stopping to get lunch on our way to CBU. All the Americans were waiting in a line leading to the counter to order food, and all of the Zambians kept going straight to the front and ordering ahead of us. Didn't take us long to figure out how to take advantage of this system.

3. Football (soccer) is by far the favorite sport. I do not think I have seen any Zambians playing anything except football. This does not seem to favor us this week as we have a USA vs. Zambia football outreach.

4. Time in Zambia is on the 24 hour system. So right now it is 15:27...not 3:27 pm. It actually makes a lot more sense to me to do it this way, I might permanently make the switch.

5. With just about every meal you are sure to have a side of nshima (pronounced sheema). It is basically corn meal mixed with water and looks a lot like a clump of mashed potatoes. It's kind of bland but I enjoy eating it, it's pretty filling.

6. The culture is extremely friendly and hospitable. At the university we could knock on a door and instantly be invited in to sit on their beds and talk. We were even offered some nshima if they were cooking some. They also were very willing to talk about whatever we wanted to talk about. In the states the opposite always seems to be true. People are often "busy" and typically not interested in what you have to say if they don't know you.

7. People believe in God and are seeking the truth about him. This is really really encouraging with our ministry, but sometimes it can be very saddening when someone's pursuit of God has led them to believe false teachings. However there is definitely no apathy about God and Jesus, which I often find with people in the states.

8. Time is not nearly as valued in Zambia as it is in the states. If someone says they'll meet you somewhere at 11 a.m., you might not see them until noon, and that's not rude or strange. It has taken some getting used to because I hate being late, but I think I have adjusted and gotten used to "Zambia Time."

9. The currency in Zambia is called Kwacha, and as far as I can tell, it is only paper currency; there are no coins. Also, about 5,000 Kwacha is equal to $1. It feels really weird withdrawing 200,000 Kwacha from an ATM ($40).

That is about all I can think of for now, and I am paying for the internet again so I will wrap this up with what we've done since returning to Lusaka.

We got a few days of rest after a grueling 5 days at Copperbelt University. It was much needed and definitely taken advantage of. On Friday afternoon we went back to the orphanage again to visit and play with the kids. Half of us took the older kids out for ice cream to get to know them better. The rest of us stayed at the orphanage and played games/read stories/put on bible story plays for them. I stayed at the orphanage for the games. It was a sweet and the kids were so grateful for our attention. It is sort of hard to take it all in and realize that they are so starved for attention and love from someone older that they just grab our hands and hug us as much as they can. The afternoon was extremely fun but really exhausting, especially after a few rounds of "catch the white guy." In case you can't figure it out one of us would just run around and were chased by 40+ kids who eventually caught us and brought us to a halt, until we pointed to their new target. It was a blast! Once again they made it very difficult to leave with so many hugs.

We also got shown how to get around the city if we need to. The main modes of transportation are mini-busses, taxis, or good old fashioned walking. Mini-busses usually cost about 3,000 Kwacha and can hold about 16 people. It doesn't look like it can hold that much on the outside, but that's how many people get crammed inside. There are bus stops all over which you can wait at and then when a bus comes, a guy will do his best to fill the bus to capacity. Taxis are a little different, and the line between hitch-hiking and flagging down a taxi is extremely blurry. I have taken two taxi rides so far, one picked us up right at the front of our guest house as we held our thumbs out. It drove us to a restaurant to watch the soccer game last night for 30,000 Kwacha (split 4 or more ways). I am pretty sure this was just some guy looking for extra cash (don't freak out mom, I wasn't kidnapped). We got a ride back from with a taxi as well, and I think this was more legit because the guy was outside asking if people needed a taxi.

Today we are at a market, where people are selling all sorts of African things like purses, wood carvings, stone carvings, table cloths, etc. It's been fun but kind of tiring bartering prices. Hopefully I don't get ripped off! I probably won't be on for another week so Happy 51st Birthday Dad!!! (June 30th).

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Copperbelt University

Hello again!

I just spent the past 5 days in Kitwe, Zambia at Copperbelt University. We went to campus every day and got to share the Gospel, the spirit filled life, and just get to know some of the Zambian students. I have come away with many new facebook friends and e-mail addresses of students who want to keep in touch.

The very first day we got to campus I was blown away by how open the Zambian students were to talking about faith. In the U.S. I frequently come across the attitude that what you believe is for you and what I believe is for me and we shouldn't talk about it. In Zambia the students are the exact opposite. They are very eager to hear about what we believe. We would go through the dorms and knock and doors and without fail every one would open their door and instantly invite us to sit in their room. I had so many wonderful conversations this way. (Side Note: At the university the students live 4 to a room, with two twin beds...so two per twin bed. That really put into perspective the complaining we do in the states about having to share our rooms)

We met students who were not sure about their salvation or about the Christian life, so on a few occasions I was very fortunate to be a part of sharing the Gospel with them, and I even got to see two people dedicate their lives to Christ and accept him as their Savior! As of Sunday we had seen 10 people come to Christ, and I know more have done so in the past 2 days. It has been unreal and my passion for sharing the Gospel has exploded in the past few days.

We also met some students who were "born-again" Christians, but had been experiencing "backsliding" in their faiths. This provided an opportunity to share our own experiences of not walking consistently in our faiths and how to remedy that. It often meant sharing that there was no sin that God could not forgive and that if we bring our sins to him he is faithful and just to forgive us. We also would share how they could be empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue walking daily and not only turning from our sin, but also letting our life demonstrate the fruits of the spirit. Several of the students seemed to really need to hear what we said and were very glad we met with them.

Over the 5 days I have met some amazing Zambians who already have wonderful walks with Christ. One in particular is Eddy. We met him on our first day when we were sharing our faiths with some of his friends. He walked into the room in the middle of the conversation, but soon chimed in with perfect answers that the other students had asked. We ended up staying in that room for about 2.5 hours and really got to share what the bible says about things like homosexuality, politics, and changing the world. The next day we met up with Eddy again, and he took us to a room next-door of 3 of his friends who all bought into and preached the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel very very similar to the true gospel, except they tend to believe that if you have enough faith you will be blessed with things such as material possessions or health. We talked with them for a good 3 hours going back and forth with different scriptures and eventually ended with the conclusion that we understood each view point, but disagreed on the interpretation of scripture. It was at times very frustrating to know the truth and not have someone agree with you about it, but at the end of the conversation we were able to agree that we all had Jesus Christ's death on the cross as the payment for our sins, and we all were pursuing knowing God the best we could, with what he would reveal to us. We all prayed for wisdom in reading the word and for guidance with the rest of our trip. So what had been a very frustrating conversation ended on a pretty positive note (not to the extent we had hoped, but positive nonetheless).

Today was our last day on campus, and we went to meet up with a guy we met on our first day named Tom, who had told us that he was not sure why God would or should let him into heaven. We shared the gospel with him the first day, and he said that he had already accepted Christ, but lacked assurance. So we planned on following up with him today and going through some scripture to assure him that he could not lose his salvation if he truly had asked Christ to be his savior. We got to the room and the plans changed, one of his roomates, Criford (spelling?), and he was a believer who was very solid in his faith and knowledge of the word. He told us all about a mission trip he was going on to Malawi. He also praised the work we were doing in Zambia and got so excited to hear about all the wonderful things God had been doing through us. He was extremely encouraging to us and I think it was clear that God intended to use that time to rejuvenate our spirits. We have been spending 7-8 hours on campus each day (except Sunday, because Church goes from 10:30am to 1:00pm) and it has been exhausting and at times very discouraging. The discouragement mainly came from meeting people who were misled in their beliefs, and our efforts were with out results. In Zambia there are a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses who have sort of similar beliefs to Christianity except for heaven and hell, that Jesus is God and they also have their own translation to the bible. I never had a positive conversation with a Jehovah's Witness on campus. So basically Criford's encouragement was more needed than I realized.

One of these days I am going to post about all the differences between Zambia and America, because there are many, but I am about out of time on the internet so I will just post what God has been doing at CBU. Thanks for reading and please continue to pray for the new brothers and sisters in Christ and that their walks would grow with the fellowship of other believers on campus.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Welcome to Zambia!

So I finally have had access to internet today at Copperbelt University, so I will try my best to update you with all of the amazing things that have been going on since my Summer Project started (I have about 24 minutes left before the time I paid for expires).

I met the entire Zambia team Sunday afternoon after two short flights from Canton/Akron to Chicago. I was first greeted by our amazing and hilarious project director, Larry Conover. He then guided me to a shuttle which took me back to the hotel we would be briefing at for the next two days. When I walked into the hotel I was greeted by my very good friend (some might say best) Jesse Mentz who goes to USC, who proceeded to hug/tackle me, since we haven't seen each other in about 6 months. I then met the other men on the project, and they were all awesome, I am so blessed to have gotten to know them very quickly. I then quickly met and got to know the rest of the women and staff.

Briefing was a lot of fun and really helpful in understanding what project would look like. I found out about the different ways we would be doing God's work, which included going to some universities and spending a lot of time at an orphanage (see post below). We also played get-to-know-you bingo to help everyone learn names and get a feel for each person's personality. Basically my team is filled with 27 wonderful people who love Jesus and are committed to following him!

Monday evening the crazy trip to Zambia began, and it started with us finding out that 8 of the people on the team had their reservations on the flights lost (including the project director and his family). From this experience we got to practice what Larry had told us is the most important rule: "Expectations are your enemy, and flexibility is your friend." So 19 of us continued on without them under the fearless leadership of the rest of the staff (don't worry, they made it a day after us). Even though we spent roughly the next 36 hours either on a plane, or in an airport, I actually had a lot of fun just talking and getting to know my team better; Although I probably only slept about 6 hours of those 36.

We finally landed in Zambia around noon (6 am in the states) on Wednesday and made it through customs quite quickly and thankfully all of our luggage arrived too. We were also greeted by the Zambian staff, which was quite a relief since we had no cell phones, or idea what to do when we got to the airport. They helped us gather our things and drove us to the guest house we would be spending our time at while in Lusaka. The house is quite big, it sleeps all 27 of us pretty comfortably. I share a room with two other guys, Jesse and one of my new good friends Brendan who goes to Northwestern.

I got to see Lusaka on the first day with another student, Jason and Jonathan when we went to go buy water, toilet paper, and mattresses. It was really cool to see a completely different city. It was extremely busy, with people driving and walking everywhere. Also cars drive on the left side of the road (so they drive from the right side of the car...so I keep freaking out when I see a moving car with what appears to be no driver). The first two days were basically a time to rest from our travels, keep getting to know each other, and enjoy some euchre or watch the world cup together.

On Thursday the rest of the team arrived at the house, and we got to finally go to the orphanage we had been hearing so much about. As our bus arrived in the neighborhood tons of kids started pointing and yelling and running after us! It was incredible to see how excited we made them, and we hadn't even met them yet. We all got off the bus and were greeted by children and adults from every direction. The orphanage then put on a little singing performance which was seriously the most precious thing I have ever seen. Soon after that we started playing with the kids (from the orphanage and a lot more from the neighborhood who heard the commotion). "Playing" included taking pictures with our cameras and showing them, which they found absolutely hilarious. I also let some of the kids take pictures with it, so i have roughly 100 pictures of everything from other kids, my ear, the sky, and someone's finger nail polish! They loved it and I loved seeing how excited it made them. Others on the team also had balloons which they would fill up with air and then let go so they would rocket around the area, which would quickly be followed by a stampede of children trying to catch it. We also got a chance to kick a "football" around with some of them, which was fun for me since it's my favorite sport but also amazing to see how good they were for their age, and how willing they were to share with each other. I was very sad when the night was over and I had to leave, especially when all of the kids were grabbing/hugging/and everything they could to stop us. I can't wait to go back!

I'm almost out of time so I will update you on our Copperbelt stay next time! Keep praying for us and know that God is moving!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Zambia HOPE

While my team is in Zambia we will be spending a good amount of time at the Deborah Christian Mission Orphanage and School. Please visit the web site and watch the video below to get an idea about what Zambia HOPE is all about.

Truth is who You are