Just 28 days until we’re on the ground in Zambia (27 until we fly).
The anxiety is really starting….good anxiety…excitement…disbelief. This trip seems like forever in the making (6 months in reality), in that time, facing the threat of it being cancelled and the threat of the money not coming in and now it’s actually about to happen.
I’ve never been outside of the eastern half of the US, and now I’m flying 6 time zones ahead to southeast Africa. I’ve never shared the Gospel with anyone (shy of Christian posts on social media), and now that’s about to change in a major way. I’ve never been camping, and now I’m about to spend 9 nights in a tent in the bush.
There isn’t a single thing about this trip that isn’t totally new to me and doesn’t sound completely crazy, but yet I feel like I was made for this. I’ve learned to love situations where I can’t rely on my experience or knowledge or abilities or natural tendencies and am completely forced to a-million-percent rely on God. As challenging as this experience will be, I just know I’m going to become totally addicted to missions.
Here’s what I know about the trip thus far:
We fly out at 6:30 am ET on October 1st and land in Zambia at 6:30 am ET (12:30 pm local time) on the 2nd. That’s 24 hours of total travel time, including flights and layovers. Overland will pick us up from the Livingstone airport and take us to their base, which is planted along the Zambezi River, not too far from Victoria Falls.
Snippets taken from this video
That is where we’ll spend approximately the first two days, getting adjusted to the time change and prepped on the culture and how to best work with the translators. After that, we’ll pack up onto a military-style truck, where we’ll travel an unknown amount of distance and time into the bush and set up camp.
From there, we’ll be spending the next week walking into nearby villages, talking with the people, and sharing our faith. It is going to be the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced, thus far, no question. At least some of these people have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. In some ways, it will be like stepping back in time to the days of the book of Acts, experiencing healing and casting out demons and baptizing the new believers. Witch doctors are also very common there, and many people believe that if they fashion bracelets and necklaces out of strings, that those strings protect them from spirits. We have the blessing of going and teaching them that the only true healing and protection is through Christ.
At some point during our time in the bush, we’ll also host a large gathering where we’ll offer a free meal, play soccer with the locals (and get totally creamed) and get to share the Gospel with hundreds of people at a time.
I’ve found and watched at least half a dozen videos put together by teams that went to Zambia with Overland. The scene in the above picture (as well as the shot of our transportation) is from the first video I watched and that moment that the locals began raising their hands to accept Jesus made me bawl and shake with emotion. Words cannot express what God has done in me, how He has just completely set my heart ablaze with an unquenchable fire, an unquenchable hunger and thirst for this, to reach the lost, to take care of His sheep, and to encourage and implore other disciples to do the same.
This isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me.
This is JUST the beginning.
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