Equipping Those Who Stay

One of the difficult things about short-term missions is how temporary the impact can be. You go and pour into people, but here is no way of following up or discipling people further personally. The Lord put it on my heart this summer to really pour into our ministry partners and the people who were already born again believers for this very reason. While my teammates and I were in Zambia for a short time, the people we got the privilege of serving alongside live and work with people who need to hear the love of Jesus every day! It was such a blessing to see their heart for fellow Zambians, and joy for sharing the gospel!

My favorite testimony from this summer is about a man named Colin. While my team and I were staying in a village called Nyamphande, we went out one day to do evangelism in a nearby village. As we began walking I felt drawn to a specific house, but I wasn't 100% sure if that was from the Lord so I began to pray about it as we continued walking. As we talked to people and continued walking, the Lord confirmed that we were supposed to talk to the people at the house I had seen. I told my team, and we headed in that direction. As we walked up I saw there were more people than there had been before. We approached and after introducing ourselves learned that it was a group of men who were nursing students doing their clinicals at the clinic next door. We quickly jumped into a deep conversation about salvation, sin, guilt, and more. They were very open and the conversation went very well, and two men in particular, one of which was Colin, were very attentive, asked questions, and were willing to share their thoughts and hearts. Colin then shared that every topic we had brought up was something they had been debating as a group in the past few weeks, and we answered every single question with Biblical truth! Thank you Jesus for giving us the words to say!

We prayed for the men and left, and as we left we heard someone running after us. We turned around and saw Colin approaching, and he asked if we could talk for a moment. He shared that what we said, or rather what the Lord said through us, had greatly impacted him, and he was truly saved and gave his life fully to Him that day. Hallelujah! He then asked if there was any way he could join in the ministry we were doing. Our ministry partner got his phone number, and he not only joined us for ministry the next day but came back to where we are staying and fellowshipped, worshipped, and ate meals with us!

It is so easy in missions to get caught up in what we can do to serve the Lord, or share with more people. But God used this story, and countless others, to remind me that out of his love for the people of Zambia He has encountered people who are already there and equipped them to do His work, whether my team and I are there or not! It was so sweet to step back and watch them love their neighbors, families, and friends, and to just get to listen to and love them so they knew they have brothers and sisters in America cheering them on.