Day 19 - Last Night In Kitwe

Well tonight is our last night in Kitwe. Today we went to the open air market where you find people buying and selling all kinds of things. The market consists of hundreds if not thousands of little shops made out of strips of wood or cardboard. Imagine a little shanty town that is solely for the purpose of buying and selling anything from clothing to pirated dvd's from China. Outside the market on the street are thousands of people that crowd the streets sitting on mats or blankets selling fruits, vegetables and all kinds of other things from watches to huge bags of coal for cooking. Tonight while we were in the market we experienced all kinds of things from Erin being proposed to, drunks wanting to lead the way for the white people, to pickpockets trying to steal cell phones from our front pockets. Being a Saturday night there were many that had already been drinking heavily and many that were smoking pot. After spending a little time in the market picking up trinkets we found a group of about 30+ street kids and spent some time talking with them. Using an interpreter I preached a mini-sermon to them about how Christ left his comfortable home in heaven and came to earth and live as a street boy as well. After all, Jesus did say that "foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of God has no place to lay his head..." You could see the light go on in some of their eyes as I told them Jesus became a street boy so they would know they could trust him to lead and guide them. I gave them an opportunity to pray to receive Christ and hope that some seeds were planted deep in their souls. Who knows, maybe a few of them will end up in heaven some day because of a short sermon about the street boy Jesus. There were a number of young street girls that were present also. We left them with a prayer of protection over them and headed home. While the street boys are very lost and living a life that is broken, there is such potential for God to do a work in them. They just need more people like Bob and Candace that are reaching out and giving them a second chance on life.

All in all it was an amazing time in Kitwe and I believe I have found a place where there is great potential of helping the national church here plant a new church and maybe even start an orphanage. I will be praying heavily about the future God has for Kitwe and Zambia and our involvement as a church. I will spend Monday and Tuesday with the National Superintendent discussing a possible partnership and future plans. Please keep that time in your prayers.

Tomorrow we head back to Lusaka where we will spend two days preparing for our departure home. Please pray that God opens the door for us to return without any delays or difficulties. Please pray for all to go well with getting our boarding passes and our navigating the departure from Africa and our safe arrival back into the USA. Thank you for lifting us up in your prayers.

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Love,

Pastor Wayne and Erin