Last Great Day

Lusaka, Zambia

Today is the Last Day of the Fall Festivals. I speak three times with two sermons and a blessing of the children sermonette. Evertything that is said is translated consecutively and it is a challenge to keep the tempo going. I find that short quick sentences are best keep the sermon moving along better. Early in the morning I heard a beautiful harmony from a group of young singers about 100 feet from where we stayed. It was the youth choir practicing for their special music in the morning. The harmony and rhythm were perfect. At 9:30 am we had two baptisms. One was Emily who is the mother of three children in the Church. The daughters are Often and Nice. The son’s name is Mostly. We had arranged with the owner of the game park to use the pool for baptism. He was OK with that. But, when all of us got to the pool for the baptism the caretaker and lady manager put up a fuss and told us all to go to the lake some distance away. About 30-40 members showed up for the baptism and it was so demeaning. Kambani Banda was visibly upset and so was I. So many things are so hard to arrange and I felt that these people simply detested our people. I walked over to older lady and simply told her that we were going to go ahead with the baptism in the pool as we were given permission and asked her to respect what we were doing. Just then the owner came along and all was OK; the lady just glared at me. Kambani Banda was too upset to give the opening prayer, so I did. The baptism went beautifully. Kambani Banda had fallen the day before in Family Day races and skinned and bruised himself and could not enter to pool so I did the baptisms which we both concluded with the laying on of hands. Off to services a few hundred meters away. I gave a sermon about the White Throne Judgment as part of the Day of The Lord and put together the chronology of prophetic events shadowed by the Fall Holy Days. Apren Moomba translated. After services a group of us would sit in a circle and have lunch. We found this a very enjoyable experience as it became relaxing with good conversation. Bev and I are about the only ones who eat with utensils, everyone eats with their hands. A bowl with water for washing hands comes around before and after the meal. The afternoon services was clouded by sadness that our visit in Africa was coming to a conclusion. We really love these people. In some ways we feel so far away and in other ways it’s like being with very close friends and family who share the same human experience, but under different circumstances with different means. I am struck by how little they have and how much they enjoy the Feast experience. Our daily attendance is a strong 160 with almost every chair filled in the meeting shelter. In the afternoon the adult choir sang. All the singing has been without accompaniment. After services Mr. and Mrs. Mfulla invited the people who were most responsible for setting up the Feast site for drinks and socializing. We gathered by Kambani Banda’s tent in a big circle with about 20 people and reminisced the Feast. There were many questions about the Church and what is happening at the Home Office and future plans. The last activity was the “DANCE” in the meeting hall. That was fun. Bev and I were asked to come out and dance sort of a line dance–the people loved it. Everyday has been an absolute adventure here in Zambia. Tomorrow is the day we need to load 130 people up in two loads on the LifeNets truck and take them back 100 miles to the west.