He answered prayers

The first few days in Livingstone were challenging as we felt lost, not knowing anything about life in Zambia. The only person we knew was the manager of the Guest House in which we were staying, but she was busy and unable to show us around for several days.  We had taken a walk into the town center the day after we had arrived and had found a grocery store, but we felt like we were lost - which I guess we were :)

We also felt trapped, as we had no vehicle, but even if we had one I don't know how much difference it would have made because we still didn't know where to go.

So on the first Tuesday morning we sat down as a family and prayed.  We asked the Lord to provide us with someone who could show us around, show us where to buy food and large quantities of drinking water. 

After praying I decided to try and fix our problems myself.  On a previous walk we had found a Catholic Church, so I took the girls and headed over there, looking for someone who would be willing to take us under their wing and help us out a little.  I found no one at the church, but spotted a local clinic which was run by British and Zambians.   I did ask someone if they could help me and she informed me of where I could buy our drinking water, but that's all she could help me with.

I went back to the guest house a little discouraged.  But I should have never have doubted the Lord, I should have just waited patiently on Him because just 2 days later He began to answer our prayers.

On the Thursday our host had some time in her schedule and took us to a local children's village.  We spent some time with the Director asking questions about how we need to go about setting up our orphan work etc.  During the conversation he made a comment about how they received some equipment for their school and I responded with "The Lord always provides".  At this, his face lit up and he asked if we were Christians.  We told him we were, and he continued to ask where we went to church.  We hadn't found one yet, so he recommended his church.  He told us it was a reformed baptist church (which was the same type of church we had been attending).  We enquired as to the name of the Pastor.  When he told us, we were amazed.  You see, before we left England we asked someone in the church in Leeds if they knew of any reformed baptist churches in Livingstone, they did a little homework and came back with the name of one  - the only one in Livingstone - the one who the director had just mentioned.   What was even more amazing is that as we attended this Baptist Church we found it was only a 10 minute walk from the guest house.

We really were beginning to feel the Lord was directing our steps so we continued to pray that he would find us someone to help us with the culture etc.  We specifically asked if He would bring us westerners to help us find our way around, someone who knew what the culture was like where we came from and help us translate what we found in Zambia.  He answered our prayers that Sunday.

We attended Trinity Baptist Church and thoroughly enjoyed the teaching and people there.  We were the only white faces in the congregation, until about 15 minutes into the service, when some other people walked in.  We were curious as to who they might be but didn't think too much of it at the time.  After the service they approached us and we discovered they were two brothers and their families.  Not only were they Americans, but they grew up in the same area as Gary!!  They had lived in Zambia for a year and were working to reach the Lozi people in the Western province. (You can read about their work here)

We spoke with them for a few minutes, then they offered us a ride home - all 17 of us piled into the truck!!! 

Later that week they took me shopping, helped explain the culture to us and lent us books that the children could read.  They were such a blessing and encouragement to us. We are grateful that the Lord brought them our way.