Praying and Giving

Prayers

The children here are very serious and conscientious with their
prayers. We have begun praying at times in a way that is done around
the world in various Christian churches. I first learned about it
from my son who traveled with YWAM. It is praying all together at the
same time, out loud. I watch the looks on their faces and the posture
that they have as they pray and it is inspiring.

Each day we pray for the teachers. Last week Teacher Malowa and his
fiancé were in a serious bus accident. They were riding in one of the
many minibuses that go up and down the great north road. They were
going to Kabwe to meet with a pastor. As the driver went to pass
several big trucks, he didn't realize that a smaller truck in the
front was turning right. (everything is opposite here when it comes to
driving). He tried to stop before he hit it but was unable, although
he did keep the bus from flipping over. The bus was destroyed. The
driver was pretty badly injured. (They took him to Liteta hospital.
It seems he may have had a couple of broken legs. They sent him to
Lusaka to the hospital and since there was no ambulance to take him,
he had to travel in another minibus!) But all the passengers in the
crashed minibus were ok with just some cuts and bumps and bruises. At
school we talked about how the prayers of the children had been
answered for their teacher. Teacher Malowa said he had thought about
how the children prayed for him every day and that he believed that
kept him from serious injury.

We are also now praying for the people of Japan. It is interesting
that last week we had a visit by a group from Japan that is doing
medical and other humanitarian work here in Zambia. A few of those
who came were returning to Japan and probably arrived the day of the
earthquake. They were lovely people and we hope they come and visit
again.

The children will remember about Japan and pray for them for a long
time. After praying for the people of Australia when the flooding was
taking place, they continued to ask me how things were in that
country. What an amazing way to learn earth science, geography, the
forces of nature, and current affairs as we pray for the world.

Giving

Here are some writings of the children as we learned about giving last week.

Group of Joshua, David, and Roman: "If you want to give we must give
love to our friend. If you steal you must take it back where you
found it. That means to give love to God. If Auntie tells you to
give your friend an apple, if you give him or her, you are giving love
to your friend and God."

Group of Prudence, Mary J, Idah: "When your friend provokes you, you
have to forgive him. If you forgive your friend, God will forgive you
too."

Group of Paul, Steven, Shaibu: "When your friend does something bad to
you, you must forgive him or her and give love to them and God will
help you."

Group of Nelson, Adam, Kahilu: "When you give more and God also will
give you more….I learned that we must give to receive. If I don't
given then I won't received….When someone hits you, and when he says
sorry, you must forgive him…If you don't forgive God also won't
forgive you because you haven't forgiven your friend….We must forgive
our friends with all of our heart, because God also forgives us."