Shalom and Greetings From Zambia.
Alex in front of the Islamic university
When word began arriving to us in Lusaka from Chipata, a small town in eastern Zambia about 570 kilometers away, we got on our knees and began praying. The news was not good. Some of our former Muslim brothers were going back to Islam due to attacks on mainly four different fronts. Muslims wished to punish them for having left Islam and they were being singled out and excluded from receiving any form of aid that was being given to others.
We strongly felt the Lord telling us to go and encourage this young group that had sacrificed so much and were paying such a high price due to their faith in Yeshua (Jesus). My old 1993 Nissan was having problems with the turbo charger, the cylinder head and water pump. So digging deeply into our pockets, we left on the bus for Chipata.
As we rode along, it became apparent that the drought was more severe than we had thought, as we saw total crop failure along the highway. About 75 percent of Zambians are subsistence farmers. As I read the newspaper, I learned that crop production is expected to fall by as much as 65 percent and that the government has banned all exports of corn, the staple food.
Zambia has a population of about 11 million people and a workforce of about 400,000 people. The government has announced that although Zambia's annual corn consumption is about 1.2 million metric tons, there were only 111,000 metric tons of corn, about a tenth of the country's annual consumption available in reserve.
At length, we arrived at Chipata, a center of Islam in Zambia. It has several mosques and boasts of an Islamic university. Most of the surrounding villages have their mosques, as well. Young men have been selected from various villages and sent to Iran and Pakistan for additional Islamic studies.
Chipata is full of mosques
Our hope was to spend three days with Lawrence, a leader in a neighboring village, to teach and encourage the new Believers there, to pray and answer questions, and to meet the youth, the children, the women and the couples, perhaps even to talk with some of those who had returned to Islam.
The village where Lawrence lives is not serviced by any form of public transportation. It is about 30 kilometers from Chipata and the cab drivers in Chipata were asking for $100 a day due to the extremely bad road leading to the village. We did not have that kind of money, but the Lord lead us straight to the owner of a garage who was very touched, and offered us the use of his old van for free. Praise God!!!
Lawrence, a former Islamic Imam, has become a believer in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), changing his name from the former Islamic Yakobu, and now he suffers much persecution and rejection. Some Christians in the area whose main interest is in their denomination, rather than the name of the Lord, want nothing to do with Lawrence, and have been branding him a Satanist because he does not belong to their denomination.
Among the rest of the people many still worship African ancestral spirits and are involved in witchcraft and incest, and are against the new teachings being taught from the Bible by this new congregation led by Lawrence. Those people have been in the forefront of the attempt to convince the two tribal leaders in the area to ban this young congregation because it teaches against many tribal customs which unfortunately are not biblical. However, the two tribal leaders, one even a Believer, have instead been secretly encouraging this young congregation.
Lawrence gave his life to the Lord
and now leads the congregation
I asked to meet Zulu, one of the leaders who had returned to Islam. He was polite enough to come and his story was heart breaking. I asked him why he had decided to stop believing in Yeshua (Jesus). He said that he had not. I asked him how he could be both a believer in Yeshua and a Muslim. He explained that after he gave his life to the Lord he had so much peace and joy within, but without, his entire world collapsed. He was called a satanist by professing Christians and called a demon by the villagers still practicing ancestral worship. He was denied any form of help. Although he was ill, no one stepped forward to buy him medicine. Although he was the village blacksmith, no one would any longer buy his services. But the Muslims were ready to help, so he decided to return to Islam.
I encouraged him to learn to trust God as He was the owner and provider of all. The God we serve is real and knows
each one of us by name and knows all our needs. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and not one of them shall fall to the ground without your Father's knowledge. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows". Matt 10:29-31
After we shared from the word, Zulu broke down and confessed that he wanted to come back to the Lord. He was only a few days away from entering the Islamic university for debriefing or whatever it is called. Pray for this man whom the Lord has won back, that he will remain true to his calling.
Raffi was a woman practicing witchcraft, who accepted the Lord on the same day as Zulu. After receiving the Lord she was shunned by her people and deserted by her husband. She no longer had an income, since it had come through witchcraft; she fell ill and went to meet Yeshua.
Before leaving Lawrence and his village, we again shared the Word of God. The tiny village house was packed and it was very encouraging to see that most are still ready to suffer for Ha Shem (His Name.)
We thank and bless you who stand with us in prayer and support our ministry with your resources. Current needs are for Bibles, food for our 22 orphans, and a bike for transportation for our leaders. There are also occupational needs: a sewing machine for the female orphans, tools for bricklaying, and blacksmith tools that will allow for the training of more blacksmiths.
Again, thank you for praying for us.
In Yeshua,
Alex Yalenga Yalenga