A long time coming…

It was truly amazing to visit the Ndondi High School in Moyo today! I’ve had the privilege to visit the site for a fourth time now.  What’s so amazing is not only all the new structures that have been built since my last visit in 2013.  It’s seeing all the progress in contrast with the mere dream it once was as we stood on one layer of cinder blocks (an outline of the stalled project) back in 2010.

For the first time, we saw students working in the science lab that CPC funded.  

More importantly, these students will be among the first class to ever sit for the official, education board-approved exams in Moyo.  Amen!

This is a really big deal for this community’s development and their future!  And without a proper science lab, approval would not have been possible.  Seeing it in use just made the realization of the progress so much more real for me.  Even though the setting itself often strikes me as truly surreal.

And that was just the icing on the cake of a really uplifting day as a whole!  God is good!

Peace & blessings,

Eli 

Embraced by the Holy Spirit

 

It’s Sunday and we were back in George with our new friends visiting two new churches today.  We say “church” but don’t think of something that looks like CPC! Think more about something that looks like a garage – except with the most tremendous quadrophonic sound imaginable and fully livened by the Holy Spirit...

We were in service with the Spirit surrounding us and before we knew it, 2.5 hours passed by as if it was no time at all.  After worship we had lunch at a local Zambian restaurant.  Delicious food! Our travel partner, Bart, had three plates of food in front of him and still couldn’t seem to get enough.  The rest of us were awash in calories a bit sooner. 

From lunch we went to the market where local artisans displayed their crafts and I felt blessed to be in the presence of three women that knew how to say “no thank you” better than I did.  They also led me to some fantastic missional products I was overjoyed to find.  We even found Spirit-inspired ice cream.  Best I ever had!

I am very much looking forward to getting back together with the pastors tomorrow to continue our discussion on what we all learned at the Global Leadership Summit and how Asset Based Community Development can be implemented within George. 

Peace be with you,

Chaplain General, Bob Lundberg

PS:  We experienced our first Zambian mosquito bites tonight as well.  Itchy!

Leadership learning in Zambia

It’s the end of day 3 in Lusaka and after a few days of catch-up sleep, our bodies are finally beginning to adjust.  The team has met many of the wonderful pastors of George as well as others who’ve devoted their lives to serving people within the community including those living with HIV/AIDs. 

Rhonda Marchuk helping with orphan feeding program

We’re also wrapping up 2 days at the Global Leadership Summit and it has been quite an experience to be a participant/observer alongside our friends in Zambia.  It is so refreshing to witness how the challenges of leadership resonate universally.

As a return traveler, it’s such a blessing to see familiar faces again and feel like a friend to this community.  But I must say I am most pleased by our travel team’s dynamic.  We are a curious, compassionate, respectful and engaged bunch of fast friends and for that I am so grateful.  God is good!

Blessings,

Eli

And We're Off...

Dear friends and family,
Seven of us, all members of Christ Presbyterian Church, are at the Minneapolis Airport, preparing to embark on a journey of reconnections, with two beloved communities we've been connected to in Zambia. Our journey will take us from MSP to Washington, DC, to Johannesburg, South Africa, and finally to Lusaka. We'll spend the first part of our trip with friends that are part of a network of 26 Zambian churches, the Jubilee Centre network. These churches are working together to be agents of hope and transformation in their immediate community and beyond.
next, we'll head 5 hours south, to the rural community of Moyo, where we'll visit a community working in partnership worth World Vision to alleviate conditions of extreme poverty through community development efforts.
Please pray with and for us, that we would be open to what God is teaching us about humility and opportunity, in both of these communities.
The team includes:
Rhonda Marchuk, Bart Kosen, Mark Bressler, Karen Baumberger, Bob Lundberg, Eli Mansfield

, and Paul Tshihamba