A Look Ahead - Changes

If you read my last post, you’ll see that my time in Ethiopia was amazing and it gave us a lot to think and pray about now that I’m back.  Many of you have been asking what all this means for us and our ministry here in Zambia.  And what’s this talk about going to Thailand?  Well, keep reading…

First of all, as of right now we are NOT MOVING.  I wanted to say that up front because, well, you will probably see news about me (Luke) doing a lot of traveling in the months to come.  So don’t freak.  We’re not leaving.

That said, the months ahead are going to involve a great deal of changes as we look at incorporating Sports Friends into the ministry efforts of SIM Zambia.  I will be more or less coordinating all this on the Zambia side, working closely with the international trainers and developers as we start to share the vision with Zambian church leaders.  These initial stages involve Skype conference calls (woohoo for technology!), some travel within Zambia to meet with SIM Zambia leadership, and even a few more international trips, including one to Thailand in January.

 

What about Tiffany?  And what about Lusa?  While these new responsibilities will keep me quite busy and away from Lusa, I am still available to them as needed.  Tiffany, however, will continue working there, building relationships with the handful of volunteers, working directly with Regina (the Lusa administrator), and teaching budgeting and nutrition lessons.  Through time her role there may diminish, but not yet.

Hopefully this answered some of your questions.

So, how can you help out?  I’m glad you asked!

•  Please be praying for us during the days ahead, as I have a great deal of preliminary work to get done.  Pray for stamina and focus.
• Please pray for our upcoming trip to Thailand, that we may get to and from safely and that our time there may be fruitful and enlightening
• Please pray for the people of Zambia, that their hearts might be open and receptive to the Gospel
• Please pray that the funds come into our ministry account to cover the costs of the trip to Thailand and another potential training trip to Ethiopia in April (more on that one later)

 Thank you all!  You are more of a blessing to us than you will ever know!

A Look Back - Ethiopia

Many of you have been asking about my recent trip to Ethiopia.  How was my trip?  What did I learn?  What does this mean for our future ministry?  How was the food?

I just want to say that, no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to fully explain or describe how much I learned during and grew from this trip.  Words just won’t do it justice.  But, I guess I’ll try.

For those who don’t know, I went to Ethiopia from 30^th November to 10^th December of this year to visit Sports Friends, a sports-based ministry of SIM.  The program was started in Ethiopia ten years ago and has since spread to Kenya, Thailand, and Nigeria, and now they are looking to expand further into Malawi, Peru, and Zambia.  And that’s where I come in.

Many of you have kept up with my frustrations since arriving in Zambia a year ago.  After beginning our ministry at Lusa in May, we have found less and less for me to do there.  Almost all of the limited number of community volunteers are female, so Tiffany has been able to build some strong relationships while I just sit on the sidelines.  We’ve seen the feeding program for the children improve to provide weekly meals, but usually the food is cooked by the women while the kids are in class, and so again I just sit around.  I tried to start a Bible curriculum for the school, but the teachers would only occasionally teach it. 

During all this, I would continue to play with the idea of starting a sports ministry here in Solwezi.  Regularly I would brainstorm with Tiffany ideas on what a sports ministry would look like here.  How often would we meet?  For how long?  Would we incorporate a Bible study?  Before we play?  After we play?  How many leaders would I need?  Our list of questions grew and grew, and we prayed and prayed.

Then, one day, seemingly out of the blue, all those prayers seemed to be answered.  I received an email from the SIM Zambia director asking if I was interested in traveling to Ethiopia to learn more about Sports Friends.  My gut response was to jump on board right away, but I told him that Tiffany and I would pray about it before I gave him an answer.  So we did.  And I went.

And I am so glad I did.

While in Ethiopia, I had a chance to meet with a handful of the almost 150 SIM missionaries serving in that country.  I learned about their organizational structure, their philosophy of ministry, and what God is doing through them among the people of Ethiopia.

I had a chance to meet with several leaders from Ethiopia Kale Heywet Church, the largest evangelical denomination in Ethiopia, boasting around 8 million members.  I learned that a fully self-governed, self-supported, and self-propagating church in Africa is more than just a dream – it’s a reality.  I learned how this church was actively sending missionaries to other parts of the world, including areas where Western missionaries are not allowed entry.

And I had the chance to visit with Sports Friends Ethiopia leaders and learn from them.  I learned that Sports Friends is more than “just” a sports ministry.  It’s more than playing games so that young people come to church.  It’s more than establishing a fun environment where people feel safe and can have fun.  It’s so much more than all that.

Sports Friends is changing lives.

We visited a church that started when a 12 year old Muslim boy came to Christ through Sports Friends.  This boy’s life changed, and soon his family began asking questions before ultimately placing their faith in Christ as well.  This church now has close to 80 members, provides 2 Sports Friends teams, and is planting churches in the Muslim community around it.

We met a young man who went through the program and is now the only believer in his family of 50.  Ostracized by his parents, this man is now a church leader in a local “mother church” that is actively planting churches in the community, including the one mentioned above.

We met another young man who was addicted to drugs and alcohol until he came to Christ through Sports Friends.  He is now an active participant in the ministry, coaching a team and praying that he can impact more youth for Christ.

I could go on and on.

But what makes this program so different from other sports ministries?  Not being the foremost expert in this area, I would attribute it to the emphasis on character building and leadership development.  Sports is the vehicle by which contact is made and relationships are built, but it is by no means the focus of the ministry.  Changed lives through the power of the Gospel is key.  Church leaders are trained as coaches, the youth are invested in, future leaders are developed, and growth is undeniably seen.

Empowering leaders.  Strengthening churches.  Changing lives.

Sports Friends in a nutshell (though this by no means does it justice).  My next post, whenever I get to it, is going to look at what all this means for our ministry here in Zambia.

On African Soil

The title of this blog is deceiving. There really isn’t a whole lot of soil here… it’s more a red, sandy clay that when dry creates a slightly abrasive surface on all floors (think: sandpaper) and when wet, a thick red clay, similar to the kind you would use to create pottery by hand. Basically, though, it’s everywhere.

Anyhoo, enough about the soil, although you’d be interested in all the things climbing and crawling along in it, like giant centipedes and snails and cute little lizards… And then there’s the things growing out of the ground, like the mango trees, which aren’t quite ready for eating raw, but when cooked take on a flavor and consistency similar to cooked apples. There are absolutely amazing flowers as well – some lilies and other familiar ones, and some that look like they belong in the rainforest.

Speaking of rain, we’ve had some rain basically every day. The power has stayed on since we’ve arrived, though our water was off when we first got here. Today was actually sunny most of the day and Luke and I went out on a walk and visited a nearby market. We had gone to a grocery store when we first arrived to get milk and cereal and fruit and meat and such to last a few days (to my Dallas friends, it reminded me of Fiesta), but the market is completely different… especially considering the route we took had us basically going through the town dump, jumping over ditches where sewage mixed with rainwater ran alongside the alley way. I realize as I write this that a few of you are probably freaking out a bit about the “conditions” in which we are living – don’t worry – it’s not like that everywhere; even so, we constantly praise God for His provision in our lives, and for allowing us the opportunity to see what blessed lives we have lived.

So at the market, you can buy clothing – likely imported, used clothing, stacked in piles and definitely not very clean. You can also buy fresh fruits and vegetables. Planning to make spaghetti tonight, we bought a few tomatoes and a green pepper for about 500 kwacha each. That’s roughly a dime in US dollars. We also bought a large eggplant for 3,000 kwacha, about 60 cents (and we hear we paid the “white man’s price” – significantly inflated from what the local Zambians would pay). Also along the market path were butchers, barbers, and other tradesmen of sorts. We found a route back to the compound that involved trudging through much less waste and sewage – directly to the door of our compound.

We are currently staying at the Evangelical Church of Zambia compound outside Lusaka, Zambia. We have a quaint little guest house here until we move to Solwezi in early January. It is interesting living out of suitcases and crates, and one box that we had to open and now think we will have to replace before moving north. The first two nights we had dinner with other missionaries, but cooked our first real meal here tonight, making spaghetti with makeshift pots and pans and serving utensils. We look forward to settling into our own kitchen and buying spices and such and having a refrigerator bigger than a small dorm fridge. We also look forward to digging into “daily life.” Daily life right now basically consists of sleeping, cooking, eating and conversations here and there with the few missionaries here about what we can expect (or basically, not to have expectations). We’re learning early lessons in slowing down and taking life as it comes. We will be getting our car tomorrow night, and then may venture out a bit and explore as time allows.

We will fly to Solwezi Monday-Thursday for some time with the Bruce family before they head back to New Zealand. We will then spend Christmas and New Year’s here before moving to Solwezi. We hear that we will be attending a presentation of “Messiah” next Friday and have a big barbecue, or “Brie” for Christmas. We will try to update as we get settled in, but definitely appreciate your prayers as our entire lives and all that we know and are accustomed to are changed and turned upside down.

Thank you for your prayers, your encouragement and your support!

Note: I was not able to post this last night while it was still true. Shortly after going to bed, it stormed, and then the power went out until sometime mid-day today.

Back to Dallas... for a weekend

There are till more entries to come in the "Series of Goodbyes" series, but those will have to wait.  Tiffany and I will be traveling to Dallas from Thursday, February 25 through Tuesday, March 2.  Please pray for us during this time, as we will be meeting with a number of individuals and groups, catching up on life, sharing our ministry, and inviting people to join our team.

And we are super excited to see all of our friends down there, too.

Pray With Us

Okay, time to freak out. In less than 40 hours, our flight will depart from DFW (on to D.C. to Johannesburg to Lusaka, arriving in Lusaka at 9 p.m. their time Saturday night - 1 p.m. Central time). I'm going to Africa! and soon! It's happening!! EEEEK!

Breathing... breathing...

and in the meantime, I need to get some sleep and relax a bit, but thought I'd share a few prayer requests as we prepare for the journey:

• Travel: Luke hates to fly, and anyone who knows me knows I can't sit still for long, much less a 15-plus hour flight... Additionally, in country we will be taking an 8-hour bus ride one day and several flights on small planes. Please pray for safety and sanity through it all.
• Packing: We're transporting a lot of gifts for missionaries, orphans and nationals - please pray that it all fits and that we stay within all weight and size requirements. One pound overweight could cost another $250!
• Customs: Apparently they're really cracking down over there - even Benadryl could get confiscated - it's considered a narcotic. Please pray that we all get through, with all our stuff, without any problems.
• Health: Pray that the anti-malarial meds do their job and no other issues arise.
• Relationships: Please pray that our team of eight will form and maintain strong relationships and will be able to be honest with each other and lift each other up. Especially for Luke and I - this is the most consecutive time we will have been able to spend together since we got married! Also, pray that we may be a blessing to those whom we serve and those with whom we will serve. The missionaries in Zambia have done a lot of work preparing for our visit, and we definitely want them to feel as though it was all worth it!
• General Direction and Grace: Please pray that the Lord will be glorified by this trip, that He will work both in and through us, and that He will open our eyes to where and how He would potentially have us serve long-term in Zambia (or if He has other plans altogether). Please pray that our focus will be first and foremost on the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and that we will be "blessed to be a blessing."

We won't likely be able to communicate again until we return - so have a great few weeks and be looking forward to great stories, beautiful pictures (we end the trip at Victoria Falls), and testimonies of the Lord's goodness.

May He keep you and Bless You.

Goin' to a Wedding

I'm getting a sister. I am the last of "the Wessler boys" to get a sister, as I was the first one married. But now, I get a sister. And Tiffany gets a sister. And that sister's name is Heidi....though I've never seen her in pig tails.

Not that a single person reading this blog (of the four of you I know who have read it) cares that I'm getting a sister, this is a big deal in my life. At my wedding, all of my brothers (except Zach...he doesn't say much) commented on how great it was to get a sister, and how happy they were that it is Tiffany. Growing up, we were five brothers without any sisters, and everybody knew it. When Zach was born, people would say that we made a basketball team. We actually did make a basketball team one summer for the Gus Macker 3-on-3 tournament in Peoria, which was really interesting because it was the 3 oldest boys plus Dad, making us play against all these old people when I was in Jr. High. And if you've ever seen me play basketball, you can only guess how intimidating that was for me. All that to say we've always looked forward to getting a sister. So, at my wedding, my brothers were all excited because they finally got a sister.

And I got a wife. :)

But, I still don't have a sister. But all that's going to change. We are packed and ready to fly up to St. Louis, then drive to Peoria because Nate is getting married tomorrow. Granted, they should have gotten married before I did, but they took their time. And we can't change the past. So now they're getting married. And we're excited.

I'm finally getting sister.