Pictures in the Dust
In September of 2005, a team of eight of us from the North West of England went on a short-term mission to minister to the Tonga people of Zambia. It was a teaching mission, supporting the work of the Engelbrechts out in the Gwembe valley next to Lake Kariba. Needless to say, many of the team members, myself included, had no prior mission or teaching experience, but we each felt drawn by the Lord to go.
With the trip now behind us, we each give a different reason for why were so glad we went. For some, it was stepping out and making an appeal to salvation in front of 500+ people. For others, perhaps the privilege of bringing healing to the sick through prayer, or maybe the joy of sharing in the beautiful, soulful sound of African worship and their enthusiastic reception of our own songs! One thing is for sure: the trip forever changed us all.
There are perhaps three memories from the trip, which stand out to me as illustrations of God's great hand upon the proceedings. One was the obedience of team member Bernard who found himself fulfilling a vision God had given to him a full 18 months ago. In the vision he saw himself teaching children by drawing pictures in the dust. The other was the courage of team member Suzanne seeing only one man out of hundreds respond to her impassioned alter call, and then seeing his hunger for Christ defy the crowd long enough for many others to come forward on account of his steadfast conviction. God bless that man! And lastly, there was the journey where a punctured tyre had half the team stranded in the middle of nowhere. While we waited, we were able to witness to the shop owner of an isolated roadside shop. That day he met the Lord for the first time. Everything becomes Plan A in God's hands!
Short term missions made one thing clear to me: the only ability God is interested in is our ability to trust Him. If we will entrust to Him what few loaves and fishes we have, it is amazing how many come to be fully fed!
Paul Parkhouse
Liverpool, Lancashire