Mumena Missions

Discovery Bible Study - Foundations of Faith

2014-02-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Below is the Bible study we have been using in Mumena. Most people in Zambia believe in God and Jesus and believe that the Bible is his word. This study assumes that foundation and helps each person read some of the basic teachings of God.

The Bible study is a discussion. The questions help each person hear, obey, and share God's word.

Discovery Bible Study - Foundations of Faith

Baptisms at Tundula

2014-02-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

Sunday we visited Tundula and met with the church there. During the Bible Study, a young man taught about the importance of following Jesus. Many of the youth said that they wanted to follow Jesus. We taught about baptism and explained how someone gives their lives to God and becomes a follower of Jesus.

Many of the youth responded that they were serious about their commitment and wanted to be baptized. There were 7 girls from about 12 to 16 years and 1 young man in his 20s.

There was no river nearby, so we decided to take the car down about 5 miles to the nearest river. It took two trips to get everybody there.

Once we were there, we read 1 Peter 3:21 and explained again that baptism was a serious commitment and that each person should be promising themselves to God.

Benny Kachimpu who is one of the leaders at Tundula did the baptisms. His daughter was one of the girls who responded.

Benny with some of the youth of the congregation.

A young man who was just baptized.

One of the girls being baptized.

Mumena 2013

2013-11-05T10:25:00.001-06:00

Mumena 2013, a set on Flickr.

Photos of our family and the people here at Mumena working together in God's kingdom.

Loves Return After Furlough

2013-01-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

We, the Loves, returned after our 2nd furlough last week on Jan 12. We have lived here for 4½ years and still have many years to go. While we were gone, the Rodriguezes were still here continuing the work.

We enjoyed seeing our friends and leaders of our sending church in Cedar Hill. We were also able to see much of our family and many of our friends from other places. We thank God for that time to spend with loved ones who are physically far away.

What's Next?

Another benefit of these breaks is that they give us a step back to evaluate ourselves and our work. By pausing from the weekly schedule, we can get a fresh perspective on the big picture:

What have we accomplished in the past few years?
Where are we heading?
Are we spending our time with the most important tasks?
Are we focusing on the long term objectives?

Really, those questions are too vague, so we have to think more specifically about what we are trying to accomplish: The goal of everything we are doing as missionaries and Christians is trying to build God's community. So we ask:

How much does the church resemble God's community?
How is the church acting and growing as a community?
Which tasks improve the community of the church?

These questions help us first determine what we should be doing. Then when we have a clear objective, we can decide how to work towards that goal.

Before we get busy, we want to spend a few weeks praying and deciding what we ought to be doing. Then our busy-ness will actually have value. We saw this example with Jesus as he began his ministry by spending time alone with God for 40 days.

I'm not sure Karen would be very happy if I, Rick, disappeared into the bush for 40 days. However, we can as a family and as a team take a pause to decide what the next step should be. Whatever tasks we end up doing, we hope they will build God's community.

Friends at Mumena

We look forward to seeing our friends in Mumena. It is amazing to see what changes in a person's life can happen in 2 months. We have heard of many new Christians that were baptized while we were gone, of babies being born, and of leaders who have matured much in a short time.

For the next few weeks, we are going to visit as many friends as possible while unpacking and getting settled at home.

It is an amazing opportunity to serve God as a missionary. The minor inconveniences of living away from our first culture are negligible compared to the friendships we enjoy. Even more, we know that these friendships are just beginning in God's everlasting family. It is truly a great honor that others have made such sacrifices to send us here.

2012 Annual Youth Conference Report

2012-09-03T10:01:00.000-05:00

This year we had our first provincial youth meeting. About 150 youth
came from four different areas of the North-Western province of
Zambia. The Mumena congregations hosted the event here. We met for
four days and had many activities. It went great and everyone was very
glad to meet other Christians.
As a note, youth here means "young person" and includes anyone under
35 years. With the "young people", about 20 "old people" came to help
supervise and cook.
We sang, had many Bible lessons, had a session on purity (separating
the men and women), and had simple group competitions. During "Bible
Search" a person from each team raced to see who could turn to a
specific verse and read it first. During "Bible Quiz" each team would
take turns answering random Bible questions. They also played sports
during free time.
The youth enjoyed spending time with each other. The lessons
encouraged them to stay faithful to God. The Bible competitions
challenged them to be more serious in Bible study. The singing and
other activities established some strong relationships in which they
will remember that they are not alone.
We look forward to other meetings in the future.

The Bible Search competition

Youth from four areas of North-Western Zambia

Resting after hauling water

Waiting for the baptisms

One of the four who were baptized

2012 Campaign

2012-08-14T10:02:00.000-05:00

We had a great campaign this year. We had 13 visitors from the US who stayed for about 10 days in June-July. We focused on three activities working side by side with the Zambian Christians: Evangelism, Village Education, and Medical.

Evangelism

We worked with two local congregations to visit their families and neighbors for three days each. In the morning, we trained in how to build relationships and teach someone about Christ. Then in the afternoon, we formed groups – the Zambian Christians paired up with their American brothers. The groups then went out visiting family and friends: introducing them to the basic message of Jesus and giving them a chance to ask questions about God. During the night, we set up a projector and watched the Jesus film in Kiikaonde outside the church building.
This effort went great and afterwards Shadrack, one of the church leaders, said that it was a great encouragement for him and wanted to thank everyone for their work.

Village Education

Six Campaigners came to work with home education in the villages. We trained five families in how they as parents can teach their children at home. In the mornings, we trained the parents with their children. Then, in the afternoons, those parents taught other parents in the community to do the same.

James teaching his daughter to trace her name

Phythias demonstrating how to teach the children how to write their names

We focused on three core subjects: Reading Comprehension using the Bible, Writing, and Arithmetic. For each subject, we taught many activities that progress in difficulty. For example, with writing, we showed them three activities that lead the child to write his own name:

First, the parent would write the name in the sand, and the child would trace over it.
Second, the parent would write the name, and the child would copy it below.
Third, the child would write his name without seeing it first.

All the activities used local resources from the village: charcoal, corn cobs, sticks, etc. This made it natural to spread the teaching to other villages.
For reading comprehension, we showed the parents a simple method for teaching Bible stories:

First, summarize the Bible story
Second, read it from the Bible
Third, help the children act it out as a skit
Fourth, ask comprehension questions

This turned out to be a great way to teach the Bible for both children and adults. Everyone saw how these activities could be used for evangelism while providing a great service to the community. They combine preschool, grade school, adult education, and Bible lessons into a fun hour or two. This is a great draw for both children and adults who want to improve their English or Math or want to help their own children.
We will continue to train other parents in all the congregations and follow up to train in additional activities. Also, we have begun to demonstrate how each congregation can do these activities for evangelism.

Medical

Two campaigners spent each day building relationships with the nurses at the local clinic. They learned how the nurses deal with the common ailments in this environment and also how to work in this culture. The nurses appreciated their new friends. The time together gave them a joyful memory to remember as they continue their daily work.
At the end of the week, everyone went to the clinic to help with the medical clinic day. We worked together with the clinic nurses and two local Dentists from Solwezi. We gave out reading glasses and directed the lines for the dentists and nurses. Again, the local church leaders were at the forefront of everything. The work was done in the name of Jesus and his church. In this way, the clinic day demonstrated to many that God does care for them and works through His family.
We four families greatly appreciate everyone who came to visit and work alongside us and the local Christians.
May God make you fruitful as you serve Him,
Rick & Karen Love
Along with the rest of the team:
Sam & Ellie Rodriguez
Jeremy & Whitney Davis
Jason & Erin Davis

Congregation Report - The Church at Kayonge

2012-08-13T08:34:00.001-05:00

This weekend, we started our new schedule. Karen & I will be shifting around all the church plants to focus on training. Sam & Ellie Rodriguez will focus on working with the church plants that require more attention.

The training we want to provide is actually for the entire body of Christians. It is a way to work outside of the traditional "church service" into a more family oriented meeting. The idea came from this year's campaign. We had an educational campaign where we trained five different families in home school activities. One of the activities was a Bible story time that included acting out the story as a skit.

The activities were so interesting to both children and parents that we immediately saw the value of using them with the regular church meetings. They are an effective evangelistic tool. They combine fun social games with important learning of life skills with the learning of God's word. Its a great example of our team strategy to wholly affect the spirit, mind, and body as God created man.

This weekend we started our first meeting where we are trying to show the church how to combine these into the traditional service. Saturday, we introduced some of the activities. Then Sunday, during Bible study we acted out the text using both children and adults. This was combined with summarizing the story, reading the scripture, and asking questions about it. After this, we had our main service. One difference that I noticed was that the children were still attentive during the main service. Normally, they leave during the Bible study and continue playing outside until service is over. However, since they were engaged during the Bible study, they continued to feel like a part during the rest of the service.

When our service was over, it was time to prepare for a fellowship meal. While waiting, we played many educational games with the children. Games designed to teach English, Writing, and Arithmetic. One of the favorite games is "Teacher Says." This is the same as "Simon Says." It is an excellent game for teaching many English words and both children and adults enjoy playing it.

Another important activity is writing. We don't use pencils and paper. Instead, we use sticks, charcoal, and dirt. For the young children, we teach them to trace their names. For the older children, we advise them on how to improve their penmanship. It is amazing to see how quickly a child can learn when given proper attention. I asked a seven year old girl named Anna to help demonstrate the name writing activity. She could already write her name, but it was in all uppercase and the size of the letters were inconsistent and not straight. I wrote her name properly and asked her to copy it on the line below. I pointed out the lowercase letters, how they were half as tall as the first letter, and how they were all straight and the same height with each other. She understood and copied her name fixing mistakes on her own as she went. Then, I made a new line in a different place and asked her to write her name again. This time, it looked great. In five minutes, she went from writing her name at a preschool level to a 2nd grade level.

All the adults were very excited to see the impact that they could have on their own children. They have always been told that education is for the schools. However, as the church brings education about spiritual truth, it also enables our earthly lives to be completely transformed. Children and other adults were coming to see what we were doing. These simple activities are a great way to show others that we care.

This training will help the church provide a great service in the community. This is a great example of how the family of Christ acts as the light on the hill. These good works will help many and give them a chance to hear the story of Jesus that will give them eternal life. May God bless the men and women as they serve the community around them.

- Rick Love

God’s Wonderful Ministry

2012-04-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

After working among the Mumena chieftaincy for four years, I have tried, failed, and succeeded in many different attempts of serving God here. However, that experience and time creates a wonderful view of what God is doing.

When I first arrived, I wanted to find all the problems in the community and solve them. However, it didn’t take long to realize I couldn’t do it. I could neither see what the problems really were nor do anything to change reality.

Now, as I have become a part of the community, I have a very different perspective. I can see the reality of life here. In some ways the people are very rich: Socially, both in their extended families and in their community they have very strong relationships. However, in some ways they have true poverty: single parenthood and divorce are rampant.

The only thing I have ever seen make any real difference is when a person allows God to transform his or her life:

I’ve seen drunks and abusive husbands stop drinking and lead their families to Jesus.
I’ve seen “the local bum” who was a joke in the community change to become the elected headman of the entire community.
I’ve seen cowards who were afraid of shadows stand up to evil happening in their villages.
I’ve seen a depressed angry old man become a joyful and respected elder in the village.
I’ve seen young afraid mothers decide to give their children a better life.

No amount of “aid” or development can make those changes in a person’s life. This is God’s ministry: “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” (Colossians 1:13 NIV).

What do I see God doing now?

Now, I have seen some great plans come together that will have a powerful effect on many people:

April Servanthood Seminar

We just finished the 1st week of the April Servanthood Seminar. Thirty-five men who are some of the active leaders and teachers of their congregations have come to continue their training. They each attend 4 classes during 4 weeks to help them become better servant-leaders and teachers of God’s word. This is not like a typical Bible school. Each man has paid his own way and the group can continue using this model to teach each other in the future, even if we outsiders are not involved. This is the fourth year for the seminar and the most impressive as we see the men take charge of all the small things that need to be done.

Audio Bibles

After many years of prayer for this need, God has made a way for it to happen. The Bible Society of Zambia has developed audio bibles for most of the major Zambian languages. They have a program that provides “Proclaimers” to groups who commit to using it seriously. A “Proclaimer” is basically a solar powered audio player with a big speaker.

We have met with the Bible Society and soon we will start training all of the Christians to use Audio Bibles. They will be forming groups of at least 20 people which will include Christians, their family, and their neighbors. They will commit to listen to the entire New Testament over the next year. We plan to begin with between 20-40 groups.

Because literacy is very low, 99% of people (including Christians) have not even read through a single Gospel about Jesus. However, now they will have a tool available to listen to the entire Bible.

I am very excited about this and see it as one of the most important accomplishments that we have helped bring here. This will allow thousands of people to hear God’s word clearly without literacy problems creating confusion.

Home Teaching

This year, we are going to start training Christian parents in how to help train and educate their children. We have always taught the parents that this is important, but they have come back saying, “We don’t know how.” Of course they teach their children how to farm and live in the village, but the relationship doesn’t often go beyond this.

The modern society has pushed most parents to believe that they are unable to teach their children. They are told that education must be done by the professional teachers at the public schools. The problem with this is that the public schools are not working. Failure rates reach 100% most of the time. It is a very difficult problem to overcome with 100 students per teacher.

We can’t do anything to solve the system. However, as a home-school parent I know the power of teaching at home. The Zambian farmers don’t have the time or resources to teach their children full time, but they can make a huge difference. The most successful students have parents who help them with their homework and practice basic skills at home. This is where we want to help the parents.

The parents have skills that they can give their children already. It all comes down to the fundamentals: reading, writing, and arithmetic. It’s interesting that these skills which are a foundation of education are often forgotten here. I have met many high school graduates who cannot add simple numbers.

However, we can help the parents make a difference. By teaching the parents to play simple math games, reading to their children, asking comprehension questions, and spending time showing their children that they love them, we can help transform their lives.

Church Report–Lunsala

2012-03-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

Lunsala is doing their best to be a faithful church in spite of loosing some members to denominationalism. Even though they are only a few, they continue to come to worship on Sundays and Bible study on Tuesdays.

They have finished all the brick work and the walls of their new building. They are now preparing to build the trusses for the roof. Once that is finished they plan to put on the iron sheets. Please pray for these people that they will not lose heart.

- Sam & Ellie

Congregation Report–Sandañombe Preaching Point

2012-03-15T08:30:00.000-05:00

Some who want to know the truth at Sandañombe

On Monday afternoon December 27, 2011, we were finishing a Bible study at Kanda-kanda when we were approached by a kind and friendly man named Lufwaiya. As we continued to talk, we invited him to the next week's Bible study but he replied that he was just passing by on his way home to Sandañombe. Then he pleaded with us to come to his village (10k farther) and do a Bible study there with his family and friends.

Since then we have been involved in this new preaching point on Thursdays and it is going very well. The number of people varies from ten to fifteen adults and many children.

During our visits with him and his wife, we have learned he is a group leader in his village and is well respected in the community. Please join us in prayer that this work will endure the many months of Bible study it takes to plant a New Testament church there.

- Sam & Ellie

Team Blog Summary–January 2012

2012-02-08T10:00:00.000-06:00

Below is a summary of our team’s blogs for January. Click on a title to go to the full article.

Team

Congregation Report - Mumbezhi Church of Christ
This year we have tried to stress the need for each congregation to grow via evangelism. In a land where truth is relative and ecumenicalism is embraced as “right”, evangelism pushes people out of their comfort zone. Thus accepting this great work of the church is a challenge for our young church plants. The Mumbezhi congregation is actually outside of the Mumena Chieftaincy and is pretty far out in the bush. The majority are from different tribes, Lunda and a few Congolese. Mumbezhi, however, has…

Brian & Sondra Davis

MISSIONARY JOURNEY: Erin Davis
“but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord .” Joshua 24:15 KJV In a land ruled by fear of the dead members of one’s own family, one of the first tasks of the missionary is to help establish Christian homes. Erin has a passion for helping families along the journey of becoming more Christ-like day by day. Conversion to the Lordship of Christ is just the first step. Letting Christ permeate our most private relationships and thoughts is a lifelong…

MISSIONARY JOURNEY: Apprenticeship Team Work
“… neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Leviticus 11:44 KJV Our apprenticeship team work skills were put to the test recently when Whitney came from our boys room and mentioned that she had just seen the largest wall spider in her life. As the old missionary, I condescendingly told her that “wall spiders are our friends”. That is missionary speak for “Whitney, get a grip.” However, when Noah & Bryson began “ooing…

Jeremy & Whitney Davis

Waiting
I've been reading Mike Cope's book, Megan's Secrets . Mike Cope was the preacher for my church growing up and his wife was a mentor of mine. The book is about the life and death of their mentally disabled daughter and what she taught Mike about life. I have enjoyed remembering Megan, who was just a couple years older than me. I remember one time when my mom wanted me, as a 7 year old at the time, to understand God better, so she took me to stop by and visit Megan. I didn't understand it at the…

Growing in the Bush
As I am feeling a bit sentimental about passing up our one year mark in Zambia, I thought today I would share a bit about our experience with the Mushingashi church. It's hard to believe we have already lived here throughout a full year. When we arrived in Zambia last January, our team divided out church plants that we would all work with. One of the churches Jeremy and I were assigned was Mushingashi. They were struggling and needed encouragement- strung out in the bush and isolated, poor…
Guest Post!
I haven't been the best blogger since the new year, but there are reasons for that. Jeremy and I were stuck in Lusaka, Zambia's capital city, last week with some truck problems with Toyota. So, I will be catching up this week. However, I wanted to share Brian Davis' post he wrote for our team blog last week. Brian is my husband's uncle and our mentor since we have arrived on the field. He has been a missionary in Africa for many, many years. This blog post is just too good not to share.…

Zambian New Years
New Years is the Kaonde tribe's most important holiday of the year. Jeremy and I spent New Years day celebrating with Konkwa church. We woke up early to begin our bicycle ride to Konkwa to join them in their worship service. The church service was encouraging for Jeremy and I. At the end of the four hour service, everyone was still very attentive. My favorite part, besides my sweet friend's baby that fell asleep in my arms for two hours and who's snore was the loudest part of the service, was…

Jason & Erin Davis

Sunday Encouragement and Monday Kiddos
Sunday Encouragment: Yesterday we witnessed a wonderful testimony by one of the church leaders from the Kampande church. Aaron was preaching about the blessings that come with being in the Light and focused on the blessing of not having to live in fear of witchcraft, as many here do. He told us that his wife was having health problems recently so his mother-in-law advised for their family to move because she believed there were too many witches in the area and that is why Aaron's wife was having health…

1st First Year Reflection
A year ago Jason, Jeremy, Whitney, Sam, Ellie, and I all stepped off a plane into a foreign country with a new culture and language much different than our own to begin our two year apprentiships with Jason's uncle Brian and his wife Sondra. Our first year as apprentices has given us the freedom to learn about the culture, build relationships, and explore how our gifts can best be used to serve the Lord through our work with the Kanode people. Although this year has been filled with new and at times…

Fun in Livingstone!
Jason and I have spent the last few days with my parents in Livingstone. It was such a great trip filled with lots of fun and good family time. We went on a day safari at Chobe Naitonal Park, visited Victoria Falls (always seems as amazing as the first time I saw it), and went rafting on the Zambezi River. Mom and Dad left this morning to head back to Texas and Jason and I will head back to Mumena tomorrow morning. What a blessing it was to see my parents for a couple weeks. They were such troopers, it was…

Love Family–Looking for Homeschool Teachers

2012-02-07T08:39:00.001-06:00

We are looking for potential home school teachers to come and help us teach our children. Please, spread the word and share this with anyone who might be interested in coming to Mumena and living here for a period (3 months – 9 months).

All the information and an interest form is at this page on our family blog: http://lovefamilymissions.blogspot.com/p/home-school-teacher-for-our-children.html

Congregation Report–The Church at Kankuwa

2012-02-01T17:30:00.000-06:00

The Christians at Kankuwa are excited about following Jesus and bringing others to Him.
For the past month, we have been practicing personal evangelism. During the weekly Bible study on Tuesday, each person takes a turn reading and leading a discussion as if he was teaching his family and friends in the village. They enjoy these practice sessions because it makes them see that each Christian has the ability to bring others to Christ. The men are learning how to teach other men and the women how to teach other women. Those who can read are willing to help those who can’t so they can both work together to reach others.
This is an exciting time to see how God is working through them. I have been working with Kankuwa for over three years. Through that time I have seen them grow from young Christians with much confusion, to soldiers of Christ who are willing to take a strong stand for Biblical truth.
For example, during the Bible study yesterday, I had little need to say much. As I was listening to them discuss the scriptures, I had a few different important thoughts to contribute. However, before I had a chance to say anything, one of them would make the same point.
I enjoy the encouragement and love that comes from brothers and sisters who are all trying to follow Christ together.
- Rick & Karen Love

Team Blog Summary – December 2011

2012-01-16T11:46:00.000-06:00

Here is a summary of our team’s blogs for December. Click on a title to go to the full article.

Brian & Sondra Davis

MISSIONARY JOURNEY: Jason Davis, apprentice
“and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.” Luke 21:38 NIV An apprentice has to choose a mentor. (I am always humbled when someone puts that level of trust in my hands.) Apprentices also get to choose when they will accept mentoring. Jason has a habit of showing up early in the morning. This impresses me to no end! Not only does he understand the finer points of coffee consumption, but frankly, my mind works better in…

MISSIONARY JOURNEY: Mentoring
“What you have heard me teach publicly you should teach to others. Share these teachings with people you can trust. Then they will be able to teach others these same things.” 2 Timothy 2:2 ERV One of the great joys of missionary life is when one gets the opportunity to mentor an apprentice over a 2 year period. I was fortunate to have this experience in my formation as a young missionary and have endeavored to return the favor. Prior to this year, I have…

MISSIONARY JOURNEY: Servant hood Leadership
“…and whosoever would be first among you, shall be servant of all.” Mark 10:44 ASV Every once in a while, a missionary gets to see the fruit. While at a women’s Bible school training seminar among the Congolese refugees, we witnessed Congolese church leaders cooking and preparing a meal for the ladies of the congregation. They had built their little grass kitchen, prepared a traditional meal, and even washed all of the dishes. After the seminar, I asked the…

Rick & Karen Love

Needed: Home School Teacher
We just put up some information about our need for a home school teacher for our children. You might be interested or know someone else who could do this. Please see the following page for more information: Home School Teacher for Our Children

Pigs, Prayer, Praise, and Power
Our growing family is healthy and growing well. Caleb now has two and a half teeth and I call him our little snagle tooth. Even with teeth coming in for the most part he's a very contented little boy. Emily is well also. She's our little pink, poofy dress, wedding veil (piece of old mosquito net), princess shoes, singing, little darling. She loves to put layer upon layer upon layer of skirts (in the middle of our hot season) to make her dresses as big as possible. But under all those layers of…

Jeremy & Whitney Davis

Christmas or “Kimishish” in KiKaonde
We are two weeks shy of having lived in Zambia for one year.That is so hard to believe. Part of me feels like we just got here and anotherpart of me feels like I can’t even remember what carpet looks like or what DietCoke tastes like. Anyways, this post is not about our one year mark, that willcome later. Jeremy and I have been married for three years now, and wehave only been home for one Christmas so far in our marriage. Our Jamaican honeymoonfell on Christmas and now our third Christmas together…

Three Years
Three years ago today, I became Mrs. Jeremy Davis! It has been an incredible three years. I am blessed and so thankful. How do you put in to words what your marriage means to you? I don't know, but these three years have been the years I've loved the most and grown the most. We are blessed.

Fields and Christmas
After the day I had yesterday I am so grateful for a God that is so much bigger than me. I am thankful for his hand which is stretched out over those I cannot reach and over things I simply do not and will not understand. I am thankful that he is with my 91 year old grandmother as she fights back pains in Rome, GA and is having to take an unexpected 30 day stint in a live-in rehab to heal. I miss her and wish I could sit with and listen to her stories to pass the time, but God is there. On the opposite end…

Sunday Blessings
Yesterday we had a full and rewarding day. Jason, Erin,Jeremy and I all set off for the refugee camp for church. We were going toworship at Rd. 68 church because one of Jeremy and Jason’s close friends hadjust lost his baby. Very tragic situation, but all too common in Zambia. The service was great as usual. Rd. 68 church of Christ isone of the oldest churches we have worked with, and they are all Congolese.They get VERY involved in worship: loud clapping like you’ve never heard beforeand singing…

Jason & Erin Davis

Mini Update
It has been quite a while since we have given an update. We have been very busy lately having fun with my visiting parents and holiday festivities. Here a few pictures from the past few weeks! We have been having some beautiful sunsets! Ellie hosted a missionary ladies tea time a few days before Christmas. She made each of us our own little gingerbread dolls that had different hair colors. We had to go around to each doll to find our where we were sitting based on the doll that looked like us! So…

Newsletter!!
After several days of technical difficulties we were finally able to send out a new newsletter! Here it is...click on an image of a page then right click and choose "view image." That will open the image to a widow where you will automatically have the magnifying glass as your cursor. Use the magnifying glass tool to zoom in and read the articles. I hope that isn't too confusing. If it is, comment on the bottom with your email address so we can add you to our email list! Happy Holidays from…

Congregation Report - Mumbezhi Church of Christ

2012-01-14T07:59:00.000-06:00

This year we have tried to stress the need for each congregation to grow via evangelism. In a land where truth is relative and ecumenicalism is embraced as “right”, evangelism pushes people out of their comfort zone. Thus accepting this great work of the church is a challenge for our young church plants.

The Mumbezhi congregation is actually outside of the Mumena Chieftaincy and is pretty far out in the bush. The majority are from different tribes, Lunda and a few Congolese. Mumbezhi, however, has been excited about evangelism. After teaching about the Gospel for several months, one Sunday when we arrived the congregation announced that 11 people wanted to put on Jesus in baptism. What a joy!

We pray that all of our young churches will grow in this value and skill.
- Brian & Sondra

Team Blog Summary–November 2011

2011-12-12T03:10:00.001-06:00

Here is a summary of our team’s blogs for November. Click on a title to go to the full article.

Team

Congregation Report - Kayonge Church of Christ

Congregation Report - Mushingashi Church of Christ

Congregation Report - Mutanda Church of Christ and Kanda-kanda Preaching Point

Rick & Karen Love

Love Family Blog

We decided to start our family blog back up and separate it from the team blog. This will give a space to put our family news up that may not be relevant to our work as missionaries.

Raining in Zambia

Greetings from a very wet Zambia. The rainy season is now in full force. Everything is starting to turn into a beautiful deep green and flowers are blooming every where. We're doing ok. The power has been out for some time though and I hope it comes on soon. Also, our back-up solar on our house has stopped working properly. The solar batteries have gotten too old. This having to use candle light at night isn't always the most ideal way of having fun. (Batteries for flash lights are very expensive…

Jeremy & Whitney Davis

Mumena in November

I am happy to inform you that we are back in Kaonde land, Mumena. We had a huge thunderstorm to welcome us back as we were going to sleep Wednesday night. Jeremy and I have a tin roof, so when the rain gets hard enough we literally have to yell at each other to communicate. It is pretty funny. I loved getting back and seeing the sweet faces that we have been working with. I have a friend, Mesa, who is 17 or 18 years old and has an 18 month old baby. She spends each day hauling water for her family since she…

New Season

The rains are definitely here. The past few days it has rained constantly, especially at night, which I love. It always makes me think of my momma and grandmother, hearing the rain hit so hard on our roof—they always enjoyed listening to rainstorms under a tin sheet porch. Who knew that one day that would be what my roof is made of. Here are some pictures showing some of the perks of the rainy season. Since the ground is still really tough, we will wait until the end of the month to plant and garden, so I…

Quick Update

Just wanted to show a few pictures today. I am so proud of my husband and how he handles his work and passion in Zambia. I am a blessed woman. Here he is teaching some Congolese "youth" about serving and teaching the church. There are seven men who came early this week from the Maheba Refugee Camp, just 45 minutes away from us. They have been working with Brian, Jason and Jeremy (the 3 Davis men) on preparing lessons and learning how to use their Bibles to teach. These men are still considered…

Rainy Season Adventures

Last week, we had a seminar for 6 young Congolese men training them how to be preachers. I won’t write much about that experience, but you can see Jason and Erin’s blog as they tell more. However, one thing that happened proved to be very memorable. The last day they were here, we took them out to a Bible study in Mushingashi that go to every week. They were going to get a chance to practice preaching for this small congregation. So we all loaded up in the truck and headed off for the 40minute…

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving in Mumena with our team and our special guest, Chief Mumena! All of the ladies had previously met to divide up who cooks what, and we ended up with a very, VERY good meal. I was feeling especially thankful that day for our Chief who is so supportive of our team. I was so glad he came to share in our tradition. I was also so thankful for our families many, many miles away and our amazing supporters back home. We are so blessed! We had the honor of being responsible for cooking…

Jason & Erin Davis

Shiny and Smooth Mud Floor

Yesterday morning I ventured off a few miles toward the roadside on my little blue bicycle to spend some time with the sweet ladies from the congregation Jason and I work the closest with, Kampande. The Kampande church is such a wonderful and faithful group of believers. They recently put a new roof on their church building with iron sheets. Their old one was made of grass which was not completely leak proof during the rainy season. They are so excited about their new roof and have much reason to be…

Give Thanks Unceasingly

"...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." -Philippians 4:11-13 Content, peaceful, thankful. These three words could be described as emotions, adjectives, and gifts. You can't have one without the other. Can you be…

The Heart of a Preacher, First Blooms, and Birthday Wishes!

It has been a great week so far. Sunday Jason and I visited the Rd. 68 congregation at the Maheba Refugee Settlement so we could transport a few young men back to Mumena for a preaching seminar Jason, Jeremy, and Brian have been teaching the past three days. I have sat in on a couple of Jason's classes and really enjoyed watching him strive to inspire these men while teaching about the "heart of a preacher." Jason has taught on the topics of love, humility, and lastly this morning, service. …

Insta-Mumena Part II

Although I have put intagramming on the back burner a bit the past couple of weeks I do have a couple of photos and one horrific story to tell: Welcome to our front yard: Lake front living; it's quite luxurious! Care packages: My sister and brother-in-law are some of the world's greatest care package givers. They always manage to fit more in one box than I thought possible and send wonderful goodies. Maeci does have an advantage above many when it comes to care packages because she sent them…

Thanksgiving in Mumena

We had a great first thanksgiving meal in Mumena yesterday. So much to be thankful for! Here are a few pictures! Turkeys at the grocery store here cost over $50 so we had home grown turkeys to eat! The turkey roasting team The Davis Families Chief Mumena stopped by to take part in the yummy food Lydia Love The Chief's yellow bug! Caleb and Emily Love. I think Caleb was wondering where all the turkey went. It was a new experience being away from family on Thanksgiving but…

Congregation Report - Mutanda Church of Christ and Kanda-kanda Preaching Point

2011-11-27T01:10:00.001-06:00

The Mutanda church is partnering with us at Kanda-kanda, our new preaching point. We have been having Bible studies there for over four months now.

About two months ago, a man named Aaron was dying from tuberculosis, so we had some personal Bible studies with him. He wanted to become a Christian so he was baptized becoming the first Christian there. Since then he has been recovering from the tuberculosis and always attends the group Bible study. Then, three weeks ago, we started studying about obeying the gospel in the group study. After Bible study there was one person who was baptized. We repeated the study the next week and two more were baptized: One, the head man of the village, Mr. Kanda-kanda Pupe.

Now we have started a study of the church from the book of Acts. They want to begin meeting on Sundays and we encouraged them to do so, all on their own. Please keep these new babes in Christ and the work at Kanda-kanda in your prayers.

The Mutanda church has nearly finished the remodeling of their building. They have worked very hard to finish before there is too much rain. Even though they are busy, they have been faithful to help with planting a new congregation at Kanda-kanda. Thank God for these faithful Christians.

- Sam & Ellie

Congregation Report - Mushingashi Church of Christ

2011-11-21T09:44:00.000-06:00

A church of about 15 adults mostly 50 year old and above, Mushingashi is a light in the middle of darkness. They have faithful members that day after day challenge the drunken atmosphere that surrounds them.

One of the recent highlights for them was the conversion of a Pentecostal leader who has a strong influence in this community. Lwendo came to worship one Sunday stating that, because of the longstanding relationship and Bible teaching he had encountered with these Christians, he was ready to join a family that was committed to following Christ and his word rather than the words of men at his previous church home.

Lwendo is a young and vibrant person with a heart to seek God’s kingdom. He is in a slave-like situation where he was convinced that if he worked, for free, for the “apostle” of the Pentecostal church that he was serving God. Consequently, this “apostle” doesn’t even allow Lwendo time to go to Bible study. He works him like a slave and is the richest person in the area. Lwendo has finally seen the lies through the persistence and outreach of the Christians in Mushingashi.

Pray for this church to continue to grow as it faces new persecutions as a local Pentecostal church has just lost their most vibrant leader.
- Jeremy & Whitney Davis

Congregation Report - Kayonge Church of Christ

2011-11-12T09:49:00.000-06:00

The Kayonge church suffered a terrible split a year ago. Two of their church leaders gave themselves over to sin and left and took others with them.
Now, there are three men leading a small group of women and children. The church has been working really hard to finish their building. For the past eight months they had been meeting in the local school, but now they meet in the church building with an almost finished roof.
The church of Kayonge is committed and willing to suffer persecution for Christ. The five faithful women that attend are learning to teach their children in Sunday Bible class. The men are learning how to be more involved leaders and are gifted in teaching. They are self-supporting and are learning more and more about what real evangelism means. Whenever a visitor shows up for Sunday worship, the church leaders follow up with them for a weekly Bible study.
Please pray for strength for this faithful congregation.
- Jeremy & Whitney Davis

Cultural Insights: Respect & Hospitality

2011-10-15T08:45:00.000-05:00

Last post, I explained a very evil tradition: The Flying Coffin. This time, I will explain a wonderful cultural value: Showing Respect and Hospitality.

Some traditions show the very image of God shining in a people group. The way the Kaonde people show respect and hospitality to each other is amazing.

Respect is key to all relationships among the Kaonde. They always greet others with a warm greeting. Even strangers great each other with a quick acknowledgement. Failing to acknowledge somebody immediately causes that person to ask, "Why is he mad at me? What have I done to offend him?"

We missionaries often fail to show proper respect. In our culture, it is not very important anymore. We are too busy to greet every person we encounter throughout the day, even if we do know them. Unless we have something to say, we often don't say anything at all. Instead we quickly go to our office, our car, our private place, to do our own thing.

Living among the Kaonde community, I have learned how to sincerely greet and acknowledge others. Also, I have learned what real hospitality is like. Here if a visitor comes to the house, the household stops what they are doing. They say welcome (and mean it) and quickly get a seat for the guest. After he or she is seated, they then give all attention and start a conversation. It is even slightly offensive to ask, "Can I help you?" or "Do you need anything?" because it seems like the guest is unwanted or being rushed. Getting straight to business is equivalent to saying, "You are not important to me, I just want to know what you can offer me."

Obviously, we have made many mistakes while we live here. I have rushed by people without noticing they are there. Later, they have said to me, "Why didn't you greet me?" I apologize and tell them I am still learning how to give respect since we foreigners are not very good at that. They are very gracious and do not take it personally. When that happens, it is a quick reminder that I am not focusing on what is important.

God has made us a family of his children. The relationships we have are far more important than any busy-ness. Obviously, there are times to rush (like in a medical emergency). However, every day life is not supposed to go by in such a rush that we don't have time to show that we actually care about others around us.

Next time you go to work, school, or even in a restaurant, take time to say hi to those you encounter. This is a great lesson we westerners can learn from the "3rd world" who put priority on personal relationships. We may have most of the money, technology, and food, but if we forget to develop relationships, we are very poor indeed. It won't take much time to greet others warmly, but it will make a huge impact on our life.

I am thankful to learn some good life lessons from the Kaonde even as I try to teach them God's word.
- Rick Love

Cultural Insights: The Flying Coffin

2011-10-13T08:17:00.000-05:00

Some traditions are just plain evil, like the Flying Coffin tradition of the Kaonde people.

Let me try to describe it from the traditional Kaonde point of view:
The flying coffin is a ceremony to destroy the evil witch who has caused the person (in the coffin) to die. This is done to bring peace back to the community before the witch can kill another person. The men who carry the coffin will take a herbal drug that will put them into a trance. This will allow the ancestral spirits to guide them to find the witch. During the funeral, they will start carrying the coffin. The spirits will guide the coffin and even make it hover over their arms to the witch's house. Then the witch will be accused and beaten to death, thus eliminating the threat to the peace of the community. Sometimes if this ceremony is not performed, the coffin will come back up out of the ground after it has been buried. Then it will fly to the witch and bring a curse to that witch or beat the witch to death itself.

Obviously, I have some problems with this perspective. Let me give my perspective:
Revenge belongs to God! He is the only one capable of judging and forgiving a person through Jesus Christ. The flying coffin is an attempt to seek revenge against an unknown enemy. However, it is based on the assumption that all physical consequences are a result of other humans bringing evil into the community. The ancestral spirits which the people trust to guide them to the "witch" are actually demonic spirits seeking to destroy an innocent person. The men carrying the coffin are acting as Satan's servants bringing murder to the community (thus they are the very witches they want to destroy). During the ceremony, I am sure Satan finds it quite humorous to see these men murder innocent people in the name of restoring peace. This is a demonic and abominable tradition which must be boldly spoken against by the Kaonde Christians.

The flying coffin is illegal and punishable as murder according to the Zambian law. However, the police cannot do much without the support of traditional leaders like the local chief. In some chieftancies, the chief has helped to punish the men who have done the flying coffin. In those places, the tradition is reduced and the men are most likely to allow the offending "witch" to pay a large fine instead of being beaten to death. However, in many places innocent people still die each month because of this evil tradition.

For example, about a month ago, a man was beaten to death in a nearby village. However, the family went to the police claiming their father was innocent (this is a good change, because in the past the family would ofter turn against their own family member and join in accusing him). The traditional leadership was very angry that this happened and the men were arrested. From what I understand, they are expected to be put in prison for 5 to 10 years.

Please pray that Christians will stand strongly against this practice and spread the message that God will judge according to his just ways. God has put governments into place to give criminals a fair trial where evidence is considered and the truth is attempted to be found. This is not perfect as human judges and criminal justice systems still make mistakes. However, it is far better than revenge killings. In revenge killings everything is led by pure anger and hatred and no sense of justice or truth is accomplished. God has taught clearly that revenge does not accomplish anything good - Romans 12:19

- Rick Love

Congregation Report - Road 68 Church of Christ

2011-10-11T07:09:00.000-05:00

One Sunday morning in the Congolese refugee congregation at Road 68, Brother Kazadi preached on how King Solomon determined who was the true loving parent of a certain child in question. Kazadi concluded his lesson with a passage from Romans 9:8…

“This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants.” RSV

Kazadi pointed out how our Heavenly King has determined our parentage even in a world of violence and brokenness. As a result, we have both safety and belonging regardless of what Satan has done to our families here on earth. Bro. Kazadi’s lesson was all the more poignant knowing that his wife had passed away only a couple of months earlier. Kazadi continues to care for his 9 children now as a single parent and has begun children’s Bible school classes for the elementary children at the Road 68 congregation.

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14 KJV

Rejoicing in belonging and safety,
Brian, Sondra, Noah, & Bryson

Congregation Report - Kyongozhi Church of Christ

2011-10-03T04:14:00.000-05:00

We have enjoyed visiting the Kyongozhi church of Christ over the past months. They are very small congregation but are working hard to push forward with making bricks for a more substantial structure to meet in. They are sending four women to the Ladies seminar this weekend which are very excited about. Visiting there with Brian and Sondra has been a great learning experience as we observe their interaction with a maturing church plant. Since we will not be able to visit them during the rainy season due to road conditions we hope to spend a few more Sunday's with them before November.

-Jason & Erin Davis

Christian Chronicle Article

2011-09-06T22:54:00.001-05:00

We were just told about an article in the Christian Chronicle about our work here.

Read it here:

Article in Christian Chronicle

- Rick & Karen Love

Restarting Blog

2011-09-01T09:17:00.001-05:00

Just a quick note for everyone: The Mumena Missions blog has been redesigned and we will be using it regularly again to send out news about the work here at Mumena.

God has blessed us to see Him working in many ways here.

Remember to visit our Facebook page for the latest activities:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mumena-Missions/289990056262