Merry Chrismas from The Warners and Fallsview Bible Baptist Chuch
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
December 2009 Prayer Letter
December 2009
Dear Praying Friends,
Merry Christmas from Africa! The Christmas season in this part of the world is quite different from what we are accustomed to in America. For starters, the weather is decidedly “un-Christmaslike.” While we have absolutely no chance for a “white Christmas” (though you will still hear the beloved Christmas carol echoing through our home), we are all but assured a “wet Christmas.” December is when our rainy season just begins to pick up steam, both literally and figuratively. The days are incredibly hot and humid with relief coming only with the heavy downpours every other day or so. Not all the differences of the season are as unwelcome. For example, because of the stark lack of possessions of the average Zambian, there is also a noticeable lack of materialism. The highlight of the Christmas season for most is spending time with family and friends and perhaps a special meal. We as a church hope to incorporate both as we plan a Christmas Fellowship during the week before Christmas. People are extremely receptive to the spiritual significance and Biblical foundation for the holiday, as most Zambians have no expectation of receiving Christmas gifts. Please pray as we take the opportunity of this worldwide holiday to point people to Jesus—the ONLY reason for the season!
Even as the rains descend and the holidays approach, the day-to-day work of the ministry of Fallsview Bible Baptist Church continues. With the building program, teaching and preaching schedules, and soul-winning and visitation times, Preetika and I are keeping ourselves rather busy. We are nearing completion of the first building on our church property, a two-roomed storehouse that will hold our building materials and house a watchman during the next stages of building. For pictures and additional updates on our ministry here in Zambia, please keep up with us on our new website: www.warnersinzambia.blogspot.com.
In closing, I would like to request that you make a few items, which are described in further detail on our website, a matter of prayer. First, pray that the LORD would provide a larger vehicle for carrying people to church and building materials to the future home of our church. And, second, please pray for God’s provision as we undertake this building project.
Thank you sincerely for your thoughts, prayers, and sacrificial giving to support us in Zambia. May God richly bless you each with His peace and joy during this special time of the year.
In His service,
Justin & Preetika Warner
Dear Praying Friends,
Merry Christmas from Africa! The Christmas season in this part of the world is quite different from what we are accustomed to in America. For starters, the weather is decidedly “un-Christmaslike.” While we have absolutely no chance for a “white Christmas” (though you will still hear the beloved Christmas carol echoing through our home), we are all but assured a “wet Christmas.” December is when our rainy season just begins to pick up steam, both literally and figuratively. The days are incredibly hot and humid with relief coming only with the heavy downpours every other day or so. Not all the differences of the season are as unwelcome. For example, because of the stark lack of possessions of the average Zambian, there is also a noticeable lack of materialism. The highlight of the Christmas season for most is spending time with family and friends and perhaps a special meal. We as a church hope to incorporate both as we plan a Christmas Fellowship during the week before Christmas. People are extremely receptive to the spiritual significance and Biblical foundation for the holiday, as most Zambians have no expectation of receiving Christmas gifts. Please pray as we take the opportunity of this worldwide holiday to point people to Jesus—the ONLY reason for the season!
Even as the rains descend and the holidays approach, the day-to-day work of the ministry of Fallsview Bible Baptist Church continues. With the building program, teaching and preaching schedules, and soul-winning and visitation times, Preetika and I are keeping ourselves rather busy. We are nearing completion of the first building on our church property, a two-roomed storehouse that will hold our building materials and house a watchman during the next stages of building. For pictures and additional updates on our ministry here in Zambia, please keep up with us on our new website: www.warnersinzambia.blogspot.com.
In closing, I would like to request that you make a few items, which are described in further detail on our website, a matter of prayer. First, pray that the LORD would provide a larger vehicle for carrying people to church and building materials to the future home of our church. And, second, please pray for God’s provision as we undertake this building project.
Thank you sincerely for your thoughts, prayers, and sacrificial giving to support us in Zambia. May God richly bless you each with His peace and joy during this special time of the year.
In His service,
Justin & Preetika Warner
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Hard Way is the Only Way
Zambians often do things the “hard way” (in my American opinion). To them, it is the way they have always done it, and it is the only way that they know. For example, we recently had a 30 – 40 foot dead tree in our yard cut down. It was done with no safety lines or even a ladder! Oh yeah, and not with a chainsaw, but an ax. The man who did it has been in this line of work for 25 years and was able to do the entire job without hitting the phone or power lines which were precariously close. I personally had a hard time watching him swinging an ax while standing on dead limbs more than two stories high. Despite doing it the hard way, the end result was the same even if it did take a bit longer (3 days). Speaking of doing things the hard way, all of the wood from those trees will be used as firewood to cook “the hard way” during various church functions over the next couple years or so.
Nowhere is the hard way of doing things in Zambia more evident than during our church building process. Building here is hard on workers, vehicles, and patience. To watch many of our members working hand-in-hand with the builders on our church site is truly a sight to behold. We have mixed both cement and concrete by hand using shovels and molded blocks, which is truly back-breaking work. The concrete floor slab was poured using wheelbarrows pushed (and pulled with a rope) by two men. No cement trucks here! My vehicle also has been working hard during these building days. It has been used for carrying anything and everything from workers to cement blocks to building sand and gravel to lumber and tools. It was recently out-of-commission for a few days when it had a broken spring sustained while ferrying, among other things, a half-ton of cement to the site. Finally this building program is teaching us patience out of necessity. For example, we have had to pay about 3.5 Million Kwacha (about $750) to have city water connected to our property. After making the payment, we dug the trench and laid the pipe to our plot. We then waited (mostly patiently) for the city to turn the water on. As of this writing, it has been 3 weeks, and we are still buying water from one of our neighbors as the city has not yet connected us.
Nowhere is the hard way of doing things in Zambia more evident than during our church building process. Building here is hard on workers, vehicles, and patience. To watch many of our members working hand-in-hand with the builders on our church site is truly a sight to behold. We have mixed both cement and concrete by hand using shovels and molded blocks, which is truly back-breaking work. The concrete floor slab was poured using wheelbarrows pushed (and pulled with a rope) by two men. No cement trucks here! My vehicle also has been working hard during these building days. It has been used for carrying anything and everything from workers to cement blocks to building sand and gravel to lumber and tools. It was recently out-of-commission for a few days when it had a broken spring sustained while ferrying, among other things, a half-ton of cement to the site. Finally this building program is teaching us patience out of necessity. For example, we have had to pay about 3.5 Million Kwacha (about $750) to have city water connected to our property. After making the payment, we dug the trench and laid the pipe to our plot. We then waited (mostly patiently) for the city to turn the water on. As of this writing, it has been 3 weeks, and we are still buying water from one of our neighbors as the city has not yet connected us.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Around Livingstone
October is our hottest month of the year. Over 100 degrees everyday. Even with the intense heat and little rain, the flowers and trees are in full bloom.
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