The pictures in the next many blog entries are from Mark's recent trip to Shangombo. He and Given traveled together on July 5th, meeting up with teammate Jeff Lowe and his Lozi friend Venice in the far western district of Shangombo, which is adjacent to Angola. They camped out for three days there, visiting four churches in the area and teaching local church leaders in the afternoons. It was COLD, most especially at night! But Mark says it was wonderful. There used to be 20 churches out there in the villages not so long ago...but the number has dwindled to 10 now. These bodies of Christ just need encouragement and to know they are connected to a larger body of believers. Even though there is a Baptist fellowship that gathers annually and these churches are invited to attend these meetings in Lusaka, the cost of transportation makes this too expensive for these church leaders to be able to participate. Please join us in prayer for these churches, that God will encourage their leaders and church members and continue to grow His body. Please also pray that a partnership can begin between these churches and other Baptist churches that are a little closer so that they can be mutually encouraged!!
Given was so blessed to be able to attend. He learned a lot from the Shangombo pastors and church leaders, and was even able to preach some! Now he sees the urgency of planting churches in and around Sesheke. Please pray for him as he is in the 11th grade of high school and still has one more year to go before graduation- pray he will finish well and continue to follow the call of God on his life, which he fully believes is pastoring a church.
Enjoy the pictures! We sure thank God the internet is fast enough to post them right now! And also thank you to all of you who prayed for Mark and all the guys as they traveled and taught, and for Madylanne, Matthew and I as we were at home for the first time without Mark for four days. God is faithful and our trust in Him grew as we knew we had to depend on him completely. Thank you for lifting us all up!
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