June 2010
Dear Praying Friends,
A big “THANKS” to all who prayed for our Second Anniversary on June 6, 2010! To say it was successful would be an understatement. As many of you who received our e-mail prayer request (or saw it on our website) know, our prayerful goal for the day was to have 300 people in attendance that day. We have been consistently having between 150 and 170 people attend services every Sunday for most of 2010. Also, if our goal was reached, Fallsview Bible Baptist Church would have set a new attendance record. As we prayed, planned, and organized, the believers worked hard at inviting visitors for the Big Day. As we prayed for 300 in attendance, we planned to be able to accommodate and feed as many as 400 people. Perhaps our faith was too small, or maybe the LORD just decided to go above all we could ask or imagine; but whatever the case, the LORD saw fit to send 630 people on that day, including 170 adult visitors! We had 49 people trust Christ as their Saviour during the service, and we have already begun following up on the other visitors and presenting Christ to them in their homes. We anticipate being able to win many to Christ in this manner. Please keep this endeavor in your prayers.
One of the tools that helped to bring so many to church on our anniversary was our new large truck. It made a couple of trips to some of the more distant areas of Livingstone and was able to carry more than 200 to the services. My wife and I and the people of the Fallsview Bible Baptist Church are greatly indebted and appreciative to those whom the LORD used to answer our prayers for this vehicle for use in our ministry. Many of you, our praying friends, also remembered us faithfully in your prayers in this matter. The vehicle literally came just in time! We finished all the paperwork for the purchase and had the vehicle road ready on the Friday afternoon before our anniversary. On Saturday another driver from our church and I acquainted ourselves with driving it during visitation and the preparations for the next day. Then on Sunday the vehicle performed admirably – even being used in an unforeseen way! Our ladies served the meal from the truck’s open bed. The height gave the servers a much needed buffer zone between themselves and the hungry masses.
I have been racking my brain for how to accurately describe this scene, but it is so unlike anything I have ever seen in the United States that I simply cannot find the words. Suffice it to say that it is closer akin to the feeding of desperate people in a third-world country after a war or natural disaster than to the orderly lines of a potluck meal after church in America. I am just pleased to have survived it without any major injuries . . . I write this only semi-jokingly. One might wonder what it takes to feed over 600 Africans. Our menu might give you some idea. We cooked nearly 30 gallons of stew, consisting of 40 pounds of ground beef, 25 pounds of potatoes, and over 40 pounds of other vegetables, all served with the Zambian staple of nshima made from 250 pounds of cornmeal!
Though incredibly grateful to have seen God’s hand at work that day, I am relieved that our anniversary comes around only once a year! To see some pictures of our Second Anniversary, please visit our website at http://www.warnersinzambia.blogspot.com/ or find us on Facebook at my wife’s page.
In His service,
Justin & Preetika Warner
Dear Praying Friends,
A big “THANKS” to all who prayed for our Second Anniversary on June 6, 2010! To say it was successful would be an understatement. As many of you who received our e-mail prayer request (or saw it on our website) know, our prayerful goal for the day was to have 300 people in attendance that day. We have been consistently having between 150 and 170 people attend services every Sunday for most of 2010. Also, if our goal was reached, Fallsview Bible Baptist Church would have set a new attendance record. As we prayed, planned, and organized, the believers worked hard at inviting visitors for the Big Day. As we prayed for 300 in attendance, we planned to be able to accommodate and feed as many as 400 people. Perhaps our faith was too small, or maybe the LORD just decided to go above all we could ask or imagine; but whatever the case, the LORD saw fit to send 630 people on that day, including 170 adult visitors! We had 49 people trust Christ as their Saviour during the service, and we have already begun following up on the other visitors and presenting Christ to them in their homes. We anticipate being able to win many to Christ in this manner. Please keep this endeavor in your prayers.
One of the tools that helped to bring so many to church on our anniversary was our new large truck. It made a couple of trips to some of the more distant areas of Livingstone and was able to carry more than 200 to the services. My wife and I and the people of the Fallsview Bible Baptist Church are greatly indebted and appreciative to those whom the LORD used to answer our prayers for this vehicle for use in our ministry. Many of you, our praying friends, also remembered us faithfully in your prayers in this matter. The vehicle literally came just in time! We finished all the paperwork for the purchase and had the vehicle road ready on the Friday afternoon before our anniversary. On Saturday another driver from our church and I acquainted ourselves with driving it during visitation and the preparations for the next day. Then on Sunday the vehicle performed admirably – even being used in an unforeseen way! Our ladies served the meal from the truck’s open bed. The height gave the servers a much needed buffer zone between themselves and the hungry masses.
I have been racking my brain for how to accurately describe this scene, but it is so unlike anything I have ever seen in the United States that I simply cannot find the words. Suffice it to say that it is closer akin to the feeding of desperate people in a third-world country after a war or natural disaster than to the orderly lines of a potluck meal after church in America. I am just pleased to have survived it without any major injuries . . . I write this only semi-jokingly. One might wonder what it takes to feed over 600 Africans. Our menu might give you some idea. We cooked nearly 30 gallons of stew, consisting of 40 pounds of ground beef, 25 pounds of potatoes, and over 40 pounds of other vegetables, all served with the Zambian staple of nshima made from 250 pounds of cornmeal!
Though incredibly grateful to have seen God’s hand at work that day, I am relieved that our anniversary comes around only once a year! To see some pictures of our Second Anniversary, please visit our website at http://www.warnersinzambia.blogspot.com/ or find us on Facebook at my wife’s page.
In His service,
Justin & Preetika Warner
