Alexander Chris Donna 1988 Zambia

8
Zambia Christian Mission Chris .ahd DosyA Alex-ahder APRIL 1988 Ctear Christian Friends, Greetings once again from Zambia! LEADERSHIP SEMINARS - In December of 1987 my co-worker, John Douglas, and I met for several days to discuss our joint plans and goals for 1988. One of our stated goals resulting from those meetings was to plan and implement a series of 8 Leadership Training Seminars. Seven of these two day- seminars were to be held in two different rural areas. These areas were chosen because they were centrally located, allowing for a majority of village church leaders to attend and receive valuable instructions on a variety of topics. The 8th meeting, a 5 day seminar, has also been planned but will be held here in Chipata. On February 15-17 we held the first of these seven two-day seminars. The topic vhich we chose dealt with a serious problem facing oui" church leaders and that is the prchlem of the belief and practice of witchcraft in the village. Regardless of your belief or disbelief in witchcraft from an American point of view, the belief and practice of witchcraft is a problem here in Zambia. Traditionally witches and wi.tchcraft can be the cause of crop failure, many illnesses, and death. People fear witchcraft of others and in an attempt to protect themselves and their families they practice witchcraft and thus perpetuate the cycle. We have seen the effects of witchcraft displayed vividly in our churches and in the lives of many Christians. Jealousy, fighting, bitterness, and hatred all results of their fear. Because of this we felt that it was imperative for us to speak out against the prc*)lem. CXir first seminar was to help our leaders and the Christians in their churches to gain victory over the power of Satan and the fear of witchcraft. I would like to say that v/e v«re completely successful but traditions die hard and it will take time. We do feel, however, that some progress was nude and we expect to see the fruit of that labor in the future. Of the 87 current church leaders with vhom we are presently working 56 were able to attend the first two meetings. This is underscored by the fact that we are presently in the heaviest part of the rains and on the mornings proceeding both meetings we experienced some of the heaviest rain I have ever seen. Yet these men still were willing to walk or bicycle - in some cases 20 miles - to attend. John and I are very encouraged by the attendance.

Transcript of Alexander Chris Donna 1988 Zambia

Page 1: Alexander Chris Donna 1988 Zambia

Zambia Christian MissionChris .ahd DosyA Alex-ahder

APRIL 1988

Ctear Christian Friends,

Greetings once again from Zambia!

LEADERSHIP SEMINARS - In December of 1987 my co-worker, JohnDouglas, and I met for several days to discuss our joint plans andgoals for 1988. One of our stated goals resulting from thosemeetings was to plan and implement a series of 8 LeadershipTraining Seminars. Seven of these two day- seminars were to beheld in two different rural areas. These areas were chosenbecause they were centrally located, allowing for a majority ofvillage church leaders to attend and receive valuable instructionson a variety of topics. The 8th meeting, a 5 day seminar, hasalso been planned but will be held here in Chipata.

On February 15-17 we held the first of these seven two-dayseminars. The topic vhich we chose dealt with a serious problemfacing oui" church leaders and that is the prchlem of the beliefand practice of witchcraft in the village. Regardless of yourbelief or disbelief in witchcraft from an American point of view,the belief and practice of witchcraft is a problem here in Zambia.Traditionally witches and wi.tchcraft can be the cause of cropfailure, many illnesses, and death. People fear witchcraft ofothers and in an attempt to protect themselves and their familiesthey practice witchcraft and thus perpetuate the cycle.

We have seen the effects of witchcraft displayed vividly in ourchurches and in the lives of many Christians. Jealousy, fighting,bitterness, and hatred all results of their fear. Because of thiswe felt that it was imperative for us to speak out against theprc*)lem. CXir first seminar was to help our leaders and theChristians in their churches to gain victory over the power ofSatan and the fear of witchcraft. I would like to say that v/ev«re completely successful but traditions die hard and it willtake time. We do feel, however, that some progress was nude andwe expect to see the fruit of that labor in the future. Of the 87current church leaders with vhom we are presently working 56 wereable to attend the first two meetings. This is underscored by thefact that we are presently in the heaviest part of the rains andon the mornings proceeding both meetings we experienced some ofthe heaviest rain I have ever seen. Yet these men still werewilling to walk or bicycle - in some cases 20 miles - to attend.John and I are very encouraged by the attendance.

Page 2: Alexander Chris Donna 1988 Zambia

At the second seminar we began the first part of a three-partseries on how to be^in new churches. In one of the two main areasof rr^ work there are presently 7 active churches of Christ. These7 congregations have received invitations to star-t new churches in6 more villages already this year. If they have to come to useach time they receive an invitation in order for a new church tobegin it will be a long time before these new churches get off theground. In order to meet the den\and";we have developed a procedurefor starting new churches \-^ich is complete enough to allow a teamof church leaders from one or more churches to properly begin andestablish a new church. My work for the next six months will beto work v/ith three of these teams for two months each, walkingUu'ough this procedure in actually starting three new churches.Then following the two month working tutorials they should be ableto carry on themselves.

TRIP TO MONGU - At the December Tri-annual meeting of ZambiaChristian Mission it was mentioned that the Christians in theWestern Province were requesting some encouragement and teaching.Having been to Mongu on several other occasions and knowing themen and the area well I volunteered to accompany anothermissionary, Dean Davis, to go and to hold a 4 day seminar. Wescheduled the seminar during the first week of February,

It is a long way from Chipata to Mongu and although Zambia is nota large country it still took a total of 14 hours driving beforewe reached the Iiiwiko Church. But once we arrived and were restedfrom the journey we had a great time. We were able to meet withthe elders and deacons on three separate occasions for teachingand a time of discussion. We were also able to hold two mid-weekevening meetings with the entire church. It was good to go and wediscovered n^y things which may help us to be more helpful tothem in the future.

I guess the reason that I am bringing this up at this time (otherthan by way of informing you of my activities) is to presentbefore anyone who might read this newsletter a real cind pressingmission need. We need men and women v^o are willing to be used ofGod to work as missionai'ies here in Zambia. And need two

families vho would be willing to accept the challenge to assistthe Irawiko church and to open up a virtually unreached area toChrist. I am praying for you, if God has called you to this task,that you might open up your heart and heed His call. Think aboutit seriously.

MCHINI WALL - I intended to mention in my last newsletter (but ranout of space) that I was starting another building project. Thistime it is here in Chipata at the town church. When the plot wasallocated for the Mchini church a substantial piece of propertywas given. So much in fact that at the time it was financiallyprdiibitive to build a wall around the property. Instead a

Page 3: Alexander Chris Donna 1988 Zambia

chain-link fence v/as erected. Over the past few years about athird of the fence has been stolen. Wire is hard to come by,expensive, and can be used in a variety of ways thus making anyfence a prime target for thieves. Anyv;ay, we made the decision tobuild a concrete block wall. During the months of January andFebruary men have been working here at our house to make 10,000 6inch blocks. Now that the block making is complete they are newbusy taking down what is left of the fence and digging thefoundation. In April a builder is coming"'from Lusaka to assist mein the job. Hopefully everything will be completed before the endof April. Once the wall is built we have some interesting plansfor the property but I will save that for the next newsletter.

UPDATE ON KABVUWA- In November I told you about the b^inning ofthe Kabvu-va Church and the construction of their building. Well Ihave good news and bad news. The good news is that the Kabvuwachurch is still growing by leaps and bounds. In fact they areeven preparing to start a nev; church in another village about 6miles away. The bad news is that the building has now become toosmall. I have not been there to visit for several months (mainlybecause of the rain) but I am told that they are packing out thebuilding every Sunday. I am going to take a chance this v;eekendand try to reach their village to do some teaching and also toworship with them on Sunday. So then I will see with rry own eyesif it is true.

One other thing about Kabvuwa and the Christians who are livingthere, as I suspected quite some time ago Kabvuwa has become arather sensitive area because of their proximity to Mozambique.Please keep them in your prayers and the problem of facing thecountry of Mozambique. We have heaid terrible stories concerningthe war and the famine and we often see refugees from Mozanhiquehere in Zambia. Also please pray that God will allow the door toretmin open so that I can travel fVeely in the area and to thework which He has called me to and which you have sent me to do.

JUST SOME PERSONAL NOTES- Some people have been asking about ourfurlough plans. Believe it or not we are nearly two thirdsthrough our three year term and Donna is already making plans tohit K-Mart and the Indianapolis Malls. She will be a basket casebefore we get home. We are planning our furlough to begin in Juneof 1989 and will be making Florence, Kentucky our home base forthat year.

Healthwise we are just fine. Ryan has an extra front tooth butother than that he is just great and gi^owing up faster than eitherof us can believe.

We are having major prchlems with our water here in Chipata.Every few days I have to go to the Chipata Muslim Mosque to fillup two 60 liter drums for drinking water. It is rather strange

Page 4: Alexander Chris Donna 1988 Zambia

that during the heaviest rains we don't have any water and vAien wedo have water - it looks liJ^e mud and you can't drink it.

It looks like Itonna's sister, Suzy Gay Bough, will be coming tohelp us for 8 or 9 weeks starting in June and we are lookingforward to her coming.

- I

I'te also want to acknowledge and encourage the 7 young people fromour home congregation. First Christian Church of Odon, who will betraveling to Barbados this summer to help build a church building.It is really encouraging for us to see these young people whom wehave known for many years willing to be involved in the Lord'swork in this way (kind of makes me feel old) • Incidently rrysister is one of the ones who is going - she makes her brotherproud.

Also we have received word that Tom and Sharon Haney fron theIndian Creek Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana will bemoving to another pastorate. Tom and Sharon, thanks for your helpand encouragement both to us personally and to our ministry. Wewon't see you as often and we will miss you but God bless you inyour new work.

And to Greg and Tricia Bondurant, vdio are leaving the FirstChristian Church of Odon, Indiana, we also want to give you ourthanks for your work and for your friendship. God bless you inyour new ministry.

Well sorry to be so windy - but I had a lot to say. (3od Bless YouAll. Thanks again for your prayers and continued financialsupport. We could not be here if it were not for you.

In Christian Service

Chris Alexander

F/ce^d AddA.i^4 FoAi>Jcuiding Agznti sP.O. Box 510399 Richard and Alma Hoel

Chipata, Zambia 504 S. Spring Sc.Africa Odon, Indiana 47562

1-812-636-4902

"SEARCHING FOR WISE MEN!" HatlhzM 1:24

Page 5: Alexander Chris Donna 1988 Zambia

Zambia Christian MissionChris and Donna Alexander

SEPTEMBER 1988

Greetings once again from Zambia1

— - - Ijust wanted to say a special "THANKS" to our friends and family atthe Fiist Chi'istian Church at: Odon^ Indiana for their Sundaymorning service telephone call on July 17t:h. It really made ourday - well in fact it made the ^ole end of July seem muchbetter...Thanks again. Also a special thanks goes out to theChildren's Church at the First Church of Christ in Florence,Kentucky. They sent us a huge envelope full of hand drawn cardsand letters. It was great fun reading their questions andcomment.s about our work here in Africa - and the one picture ofthe skinny guy (me) riding the elephant was great. Thanks Al,Tracy and everyone else who had a part in it.

WORK, WORK, WORK. .On August 1 we began a 5 day leadershiptraining seminar here in Chipata for all of the churchleaders who we are presently working with in the EasternProvince. Because of problems with turansportation noteveryone could attend but we were pleased to have 80 menrepresenting more than 20 churches. In addition to the goodattendance by our men we were also privileged to have twomissionary families from Malawi, Bill and Jackie Brant andGordon and Estelle Nelson, a third family from the States,Don and Linda Mechem, and Mr. Ronald Zimba, a Zanbian churchleader from Lusaka to be a part of the teaching team. Withtheir help and the willingness of the men to learn andparticipate in the meeting we feel that it was a greatsuccess.

RUN, RUN, RUN Almost immediately fol lowing the 5 dayChipata seminar Donna, Ryan, and I packed our things and leftfor Harare, Zintoabwe for the August mission meeting of ZCMand the annual Resthaven retreat. This meeting is heldjointly with the Central African Mission of Zimbabwe ando^er southern Africa Church of Christ/(3iristian Churchmissions vhich are able to attend. Last year, at theResthaven meeting, I was asked to serve as program chairmanfor ^is year's meeting, so as you can imagine \ie wereparticularly anxious to arrive and get things underv/ay.Following last year's meeting I was informed that the"Declaration" from Johnson Bible College had been invited totour Poland and Zambia and that their visit would coincidewith our August meeting. So after some correspondence andschedule rearranging, Wilbur Reid, who is Public Relations

Page 6: Alexander Chris Donna 1988 Zambia

agreed to be our featured speaker and theD^laration" agreed to help out with the special music.

Well to make a long story short, Wilbur Reid did a tremendous30b with the preaching and the "Declaration"^ led by Dr. JillAllen, could not have possibly been any better. It was atremendous meeting and my heart-felt thanks goes out to JBCand those who helped to make it so. But I have to say thatthis program chairman stuff is for the birds - makes me toonervous.

PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS. .We arrived home on the 15thato then on the 21st we were on the run again - only thistime by plane to the Republic of South Africa to collect anew pick-up truck. We felt that it was necessary to buyanotoer vehicle in order to complete some of the buildingprojects planned for the rest of our term. Vfe arrived ingood order ato were met at the airport by our friends. Deanand Judy Davis - ZCM missionaries working in Lusaka. Vtespent a couple of days getting supplies organized and then Itravelled the additional 120 miles or so to collect ourtouck. Ifell so far this has been kind of boring but hold onit gets better...I collected the truck and everything seemedto be fine but I decided that it might be a good idea to havean alarm installed. This took about 3 hours and I was on myway. Then the beginning of disaster...about 10 miles downthe road the vehicle backfired, the alarm went off andeverything died. I got out and inspected under the hood butcould not find the problem. I got back in and restarted theengine but could not keep it running. Finally I limped backto the alarm installation place and they chased down theproblem and after another 2 hours I was on the road again.End of round 1. -

Round 2. About 40 miles from the hotel and in the middle ofnowhere I had a flat tire. NOw you realize of course thatthis vehicle has less than 100 miles on it. Vtell - noproblem right? Wrong - because the spare tire was flat too.I locked up everything and began walking with the spare inhand. Pretty soon someone stopped, offered me a lift andthen waited until the tire was fitted with a new tube androadworthy again. He then took me back to the truck and wenton his way. I changed the tire and was on the road again.Another 2 hour delay. End of round 2.

Things went well for the next 2 days. We finished ourshopping, loaded the vehicle, got up early and were on ourway back to Zambia. Now for round 3. We had gone about 200miles down the road, travelling at about 65 miles an hour

Page 7: Alexander Chris Donna 1988 Zambia

when I noticed ny left rear tire racing in front of thetruck. The next thing that I felt and heard was the trucksliding in the tar and veering off onto the shoulder. Due tothe nature of the prdalem we lost all breaks, including thehandbreak. We slid sane 450 feet before coming to a completehalt in a rather desolate place. When I got out of the truckto sun^ey the damage, I saw that the back axle was on fire sothe first order of business was to put the fire out, Hhatwas easily done but the story goes on. In all of theconfusion I lost track of the tire. It had gone in front ofthe truck, crossed the road and was lying some distance awayin a field of dry grass. It was while looking for the tirethat I noticed the smoke and the flames. Once the tire hadsettled in the grass it was still so hot that it started abrush fire. I knew that this was bad because I need the tireand rim in order to fix the truck so I went out to get it.Vhen I finally got through the fire and to the tire I realizethat I had another problem. Everything v/as so hot that Icould not hold on to it for more than a few seconds at a timeand so all the way back to the truck everytime the tire hitthe ground it began to start another fire. Now if thissounds funny now believe me it didn't at the time. I finallycooled the rim off with orange juice from Ryan's bottle andgot over the fence and back to the truck.

Well so much for the excitement. The only explanation that Ihave been given as to why we had the problem in the firstplace is that it was a manufacturing error. A bearing wasnot pack^ properly with grease and sealed inside thedifferential. To shorten the rest of the story, let me justsay that the dealer and manufacturer stood good for all costsar^ repays. Utiey had the vehicle fitted with a newdifferential within 12 hours and we were actually onlydelayed one full day. Since then we haven't had any prcblems- End of round 3.

As I look back on the events of that day and realizeeverything that could have happened I can't help but thankthe lord for watching over us and realize that our safety -no matter where we are is really in His hands. Thanks againfor all of your prayers.

JUST A NOTE ABOUT OUR INTERN - On June 24th We welcomed ourfirst summer intern. Miss Suzy Gay Bough. Suzy is specialnot only because she was the first - but also because she isDonna's only sister. Suzy works as a 4th grade schoolteacher with Eastside Christian School in Fullerton,California and came to work with us primarily through an

Page 8: Alexander Chris Donna 1988 Zambia

internship program sponsored by the Eastside church. Suzydid a great job vAiile she was here helping to organize andcomplete some of the less glamorous tasks of mission service/but vias also involved in teaching. We appreciated herspirit, her willingness to work, to try new things, toovercome fears, and her eagerness to learn. Donna and I, andRhino are glad that she was a part of our summer.

COMING ATTRACTIONS -Please be in prayer for the fol lowing• • • •

1. John Douglas and I will be doing a final LeadershipSeminar for this year in October. It will be a marriage andfamily seminar and we are asking that the wives attend. Thisis very unusual in the Zambian culture and its success maydepend on your prayers.

2. Donna has been involved over the past several monthsin Literacy Training Seminars. She and Gail Douglas haveworked together to train about 50 women to be literacyteachers in our churches. This has really been anencov^agement to all of our Christians. She will becontinuing over the next couple of months to follow up theprogress of the new teachers and to train others.

3. The Douglases begin their furlough on October 18.

CLOSING REMARKS- Just a few. In case you haven't heard fromny mother <x mother-in-law, we are expecting a new Alexanderin the family sometime before the end of April. Everyonehere calls Ryan by his nickname Rhino - so are looking fornames that go well with Hippo, any suggestions?

God Bless you all! Thank you again for your support bothfinancially and in prayer. We are already getting excitedabout coming home next June. Lord willing we will see youthen.

In Christian Love and Service,

Chris, Donna, I^an, and ? Alexander

FieJtd AddAe^^: FoAM/OAjOUng AgeitCa:P.O. Box 510399 Richard and Alma HeelChipata. Zambia 304 S. Spring Sc.Africa Odon, Indiana 47362

1-812-636-4902

"SEARCHING FOR UlSE MEN!" Matthuii 7:24