Merry Christmas from Our Family to Yours,
While many are dreaming of a white Christmas we will be either having a wet or a warm one, hopefully the latter. As we begin Zambia’s rainy season, we have had another full month in the production of Grace. Hebrews 4:3 comes to mind when we think of the rest that remains for the people of God. The rest is an inward one that actually gives us strength to be productive (1Cor 15:10). We have had a few major events happen.
Arrivals. The first one being the welcoming of new team members: Jediah, Sarah, and their daughter Kezia Tanguay. It seems that Zambia is becoming the hub of missionaries with young families. Since we first came to Zambia the team here has doubled with young team members under the age of 5. Another exciting arrival is Julie’s Mother, Sylvie from Southern France. Sylvie will be with us for close to a month. So we have a full house for Christmas, its great.
University Outreach. Its been about two months now that we have been doing an outreach to the countries biggest University which is about 10 minutes from our house. Every Thursday a team of us go out to do evangelism with the hope that we can eventually get a room to have a service through the students. Although the past month has been a break month there are students that do intensified classes from all different parts of the country. It has been an ordained time from God to reach individuals who we would not normally have a chance to give the Gospel. We are praying also to have concerts and open air meetings to draw students to the Lord.
Grace Defense. Over the course of the past months we have seen a trend of petty theft against some of our church members and Bible college students on their way home. We decided to be proactive and offer self-defense training in the church. It hilarious to see church members faces when we first announced that we would teach Jui Jitsu after church for the two months that Bible college was on break. There was surprise but also gratitude and great interest as our first class had 8 students with more to come. We claimed Ps 18:34 as our capstone verse. We figured if David said that God teaches his hands to war than He can teach ours to defend ourselves.
Grace Defense Class
Malawi Trip
Malawi Christmas. Probably one of the most exciting events of the year was our recent missions trip to Malawi which happened a few days ago. Julie and I took a whirlwind 4 day trip to the nearby capital Lilongwe. Lilongwe is a 12 hour bus trip from Lusaka which makes it the closest Capital city to us here in Zambia. Only a few decades ago Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi were all one country, so many Zambians have relatives in Malawi. There are many similarities. We were so encouraged as Julie got to see Malawi and we also were able to reconnect with some of our contacts that we made 8 months ago. One memorable meeting was with two men, Clifford and Teso, who came to our meeting on the last trip and met with us as we talked about future plans for a church in Malawi. The four of us sat in a small café drinking Cokes and talking about the Grace message and importance of Christ’s Finished Work on the cross. Please pray with us as we make plans to make another visit again in early April.
Lilongwe, Capital of malawi
Pr Chris and julie reconnecting with contacts we met about 8 months ago in Lilongwe, Malawi, Clifford and Teso. Great time of Fellowship.
Fun time at the house with the little ones
Christmas Lights
Julie's mom with the girls.
Cute little Bumi Ntalalsha, born this past Tuesday the 21st of Dec! Congratulations Ntalasha Family!
We are so thankful for all the prayers and help that we receive as we walk in God’s calling. We see the hand of God provide as He motivates His family for every joint to supply. This Christmas we are continually motivated that our God came not to be ministered to but to minister (Matt 20:28, Mark 10:45); not to condemn or destroy but to save (Lu 9:56, John 3:17).
MERRY CHRISTMAS