Into the Bush…

The past few days have been a bit of an eye opener for me.  We trekked out into the bush for a 3 day camping adventure to do evangelism and survey needs of a remote village.  What we found was a village with a huge amount of needs, both physical and spiritual.  We drove east about 100 miles, close to the Mozambique border, then turned south off the main road into Lower Zambezi National Park.  After the 10 mile long off-road driving adventure that would have been challenging even on an ATV, we arrived at the village soccer field, which made for a rather unassuming entrance to the town.  The town had a “main drag” complete with about a half dozen tiny mud huts used for selling cheap food items and booze.  We drove past it to the school, which was comprised of 2 open air huts with benches and an outhouse, to the church where we set up camp.  I’m told that children walk anywhere from 5 to 12 miles each way to get to this community school.  

 Water and food- It was about 105 degrees when we arrived at the village, which lies in a valley below 1000-foot mountains.  Our group of 12, mixed company between Zambians and Americans, went through water pretty fast.  We were informed by our local contact that we would have access to water for bathing and cooking, however when we were brought our first jug we realized that this not the case.  They gave us a jug of the dirtiest water, leaves and all, and a chlorine tablet to sterilize it.  The man who brought it was trying to be hospitable when he generously dumped the tablet into the water.  I couldn’t believe anyone could even drink the water.  It was inconceivable to even use it to bath.  I fortunately brought a small water purifier, which we quickly put into overdrive.  It took forever just to pump the water because the ceramic filter would get plugged every couple of minutes. 

We brought most of our food and all the cooking utensils, but the highlight of our culinary experience was getting a fresh kill of impala.  Locals had gone out and poached an impala (don’t tell the Zambian DNR) and offered to sell it to us.  I negotiated half of the impala for about $16.  I cut the legs up with a knife on the back of a tailgate and we made steaks and later impala chili with it.  Once you put out of your mind how long the meat had been out in the heat and how many flies had been on it before it was cooked, it was surprisingly tasty.  

The local watering hole

Fresh kill of the day

Thank you MSR for filtering the water and saving our trip!

The outreach: We focused our time on door to door evangelism during the days, did a sports outreach with a soccer game (I suck at soccer by the way), put on the Jesus film at night with a message, as well as built some bridges with local community leaders.

Giving the team a pep talk for a sport I know nothing about

The village school

The situation:  The village is facing some serious issues.  At first glance you see the obvious; extreme poverty, lack of clean drinking water, no health care, poor school system etc.  But there was much more.  The ladies who did a school outreach noticed even preschoolers singing inappropriate songs about sex (with the encouragement of the older male teacher), the men we visited with were hopeless and unmotivated, food sources are limited and poorly managed, alcoholism ran rampant, HIV was prevalent (along with dysentery thanks to the water), there was a possible situation with child prostitution, the local church was struggling, among other things.  In short, the trip for evangelism has opened up a whole mess of things that require investment from the church.  And here is the other thing: literally nobody is working there.  This area is out of the jurisdiction of literally every organization, both government and Christian. 

Kids excited to see the Muzungas (white people)

So…what is the response?  I could write for hours on what should or could be done, but I want to take time and listen to what God wants.  I feel a sense of urgency because people are literally dying out there.  For example, our contact’s wife (9 months pregnant) walked a difficult 6 miles over mountains to reach the nearest hospital so she could deliver their child.  I can tell you the walk was no joke and somebody at full term has no business walking that far over that kind of terrain.  With that in mind, I am committed to praying over this situation about how I can be useful in the future.  My Zambian friends were equally as disturbed by the situation out there and are also committed to a long-term solution.  

I know this much.  God’s plan for salvation and redemption involved sending His son to live and dwell amongst the people He was trying to reach.  It takes involvement, relationships and time in order to radically transform people.  Just because these people live in a harsh and remote place doesn’t exclude them from the Gospel or from an opportunity to an abundant life.  As Christians sometimes we must face critical choices.  Who is willing to go live amongst such a people in such a place?  Who is willing to sacrifice resources and time to reach a forgotten people?  If the Church isn’t willing to get down and meet people where they are, what is the Church here for? 

Limping home... its raining on our dirt road, my turbo is out, we are low on fuel and overloaded with passengers

It was difficult to reach this place this week.  It took time, resources (I blew a turbo and Stephen a fuel pump on this drive) and a sacrifice of comfort to make change in people’s lives.  We all have people placed in front of us that can benefit from our involvement.  The extent in which we as Christians are willing to get uncomfortable is directly related to the depth of our reach as a church.   This is where God took me this week, and it was uncomfortable.  Where does God want you to go that might be uncomfortable for you?  God doesn't promise a comfortable life, but a full and abundant life if we walk with Him.