Heya,
As you already know, we're in the International Operations Department here with Overland. Although our focus is recon work into new areas and nations, we also still do ministry here in Zambia, where we live when we're not on the road or in the air. There is a region in the northern part of the Southern Province called Itezhi Tezhi. This is where we get the opportunity to sow into some of the villages there and disciple our ministry partners. We call this area our Sector.
This past year, Zambia has been in a massive drought as it didn't rain as much as was needed this past Rainy Season (Wintertime in the US). Zambia resources it's electrical power from water, so in areas where the rivers have dried up, the electricity is nonexistent sometimes. Livingstone is currently in a time of load-shedding where we only get power about 6 hours of the day. In some areas in Zambia, it's even worse or they don't get power at all. Thankfully our base is fully operational as we run a monster of a generator when we don't have electricity supplied by Zesco, the power company here. (Shout out to our awesome teammates Joe, Pete, Mitch, and others who run to turn the generator on every time the power shuts off!) The load-shedding only becomes more strict as time passes because we haven't even fully entered our Hot Season here yet when it will be even dryer. We're all out here praying that the rains come in full force this Rainy Season, so you can be praying in agreement with us in that. We know the Lord is going to show off and we're so stoked to see it.
On Wednesday, August 14th, we set out on a seven-hour drive from Livingstone to Itezhi Tezhi. About an hour and a half of that drive is on a pretty nice tar road, but the rest of the drive is on rough stone and dirt roads. This drive in particular really showed us the durability of our vehicle. The region of Itezhi Tezhi is located on a very large lake. The lake has dried up so much so that the shoreline has receded and there are fields and fields of open land. Many of the roads in the villages that we use are dried-up river beds which supply us with nice driving challenges that require a lot of attention. The openness of the dried lake bed makes for a beautiful environment and stunning sunrises and sunsets as well as new roads that we get to make ourselves which assist in the navigation to avoid harder roads. Beauty in the midst of a drought. Feels like the Lord's beautiful reminder that He will take care of His people.
A couple of our teammates, Joanh and Ian, have been doing work in Itezhi Tezhi for the past year and a half, and because they're going back to the States for the Winter this year, we are picking up the responsibility of regularly going out there to continue the ministry. It was important that during our time there, we were able to meet with Chief Kaigu, who is the leader of the villages in the area. He is a lovely, elderly man who loves the Lord so intently. While we were there, he shared his testimony with us about how he became a Christian long before he was a chief. His uncle was the chief before him and when he passed away, the position was passed to Chief Kaigu. During the process of becoming a chief, there are traditions that involve idol worship and sometimes other spiritually dark practices when being initiated. When he was faced with those traditions, he told them that he couldn't participate because he was a Christian, and surprisingly, they accepted him as their chief still. He then became a Christian chief and Pastor of the church. This is actually very unheard of here. I can't begin to express just how blessed I was to hear him speak about his life and testimony. Joy and smiles and laughter were the only things that emanated from the Lapa, at his palace, we sat under as we heard him speak and got to know him.
Other than meeting with the Chief, we also met with some of the Headmen in the surrounding villages to talk through the logistics of doing ministry there. The logistics of this involve finding a good campsite, a nearby borehole and it being within good walking distance to people's houses as well as understanding the spiritual climate and needs. In addition to Jonah and Ian, we also have two disciples who went with us as ministry partners and their names are Chris and Brighton. They are both from Livingstone, so they ride with us out there. They both love Itezhi Texhi and are on fire for the Lord. While hunting for camp locations that the Headmen directed us to, we drove through borderline undrivable paths on the hunt. I have a path recorded on Pocket Earth that is marked with the color red labeled "DO NOT DRIVE THIS PATH WITH VEHICLE" haha. Any Road, Any Load, Any Time, Overland's catchphrase, really showed itself to be true on this trip. During our two days there, we also hosted a kids ministry afternoon, a few soccer games, and a night meeting where we were able to worship the Lord with people in the village and introduce ourselves and Ian was able to share about the power of the Gospel ended the night with prayer. I was able to pray for a woman who has bad pain in all of her joints. She believes the Lord is healing her, so I can't wait to hear her testimony when I visit her again.
Jonah had a great idea to take this team photo on our way out of Itezhi Tezhi. We balanced my phone by leaning it on a water bottle placed on the roof of a vehicle. Gave it a vintage flair. Haha.
Thank you so much to everyone who partners with us and who sowed into our vehicle. Without our Fortuner, we wouldn't have been able to be so mobile and make the drive out here. I bet you didn't realize that you'd be sowing into the people of Itezhi Tezhi when you trusted the Lord with your finances in this way. I hope this encourages you and shows you just how big of an impact you are making in the Kingdom by partnering with us and the Lord in this magnificent journey that he has us on together. We pray that your obedience and trust in Jesus is blessed tenfold and we thank the Lord that your cup overflows.
We love you!
Victoria
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