Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Sometimes you just have to laugh...

I need to give everyone a little history on our neighbor, Mr. Mwahili, who owns a farm with hundreds of cattle. For the past ten years the former management of Sons of Thunder fought and argued with this man because his cattle would storm onto our farm (getting through an open gate that connects our farms) and eat a lot of the maize that is growing in our residents fields. Now this is no small problem. This maize is each families source of food for the entire year so they bank on this with their lives. Now when the previous management tried to deal with this and talk to Mwahila it always turned out very bad. Mwahila would storm off into town and bring back police officers who would threaten to fine Sons of Thunder for "lying and making trouble." (This is just a peek into the governmental corruption of Africa).
All of the Zambians on our farm have lived in fear of this guy for years because he pays of the police officers so that he can get away with whatever he wants. Well in the past few weeks his cattle have done a significant amount of damage and I decided that enough is enough. By the grace of God, I have made friends with one of the highest ranking police officials in this area. Her daughter is one of the patients at our clinice and her boy is my "right and man" for ministry. I gave her a call explaining the entire situation and she assured me it would be taken care of. Next i sat down our head men (7 men who represent the seven villages on our farm) and spoke to them about the power of God and how He brings justice to his children. They feared Mwahila because he has also hired witch doctors to put curses on people and I told them the gospel was clear that there is no higher power than Jesus Christ. We went through scripture and after all was said and done it seemed the head men were ready to act. Abson, one of our supervisors, decided to take initiative and approach Mwahila's supervisor about the issues and needing to be payed back for the damage done. To his amazement, the man was completely apologetic and agreed with all of the terms. Soon after we found that Mwahila was paying several workers to put up a very nice cattle pen to hold his animals at night - God came through - or so i thought it was one of those definite "God moments." It wasn't until this morning that i found the truth of the matter. Our driver, Christopher (one of the victims on the farm), happened to run into Mwahila a few days ago and upon seeing him he yelled out, "Mwahila, if we see one more of your cattle come onto our property, we're going to call your cattle herders to come and get them and when they cross onto our farm we will beat them until they quit working for you..." Mwahila instantly apologized for all past occurences and vowed that it wouldn't happen again.
Now I haven't seen Christopher yet today and at this point I'm not sure whether or not to rebuke him or congratulate him because this is the first time in 10 years that this serious problem has been dealt with. It gave me a good laugh this morning and I figured it would give you a good chuckle as well. Continue praying that God brings justice to all of the corruption happening in Africa and pray that our farm in Zambia is continually protected by our Great and Glorious King, Jesus Christ!

Here is a good scripture to leave you all with: "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid. For the Lord your God has gone ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you." Deut. 31:6

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is hysterical guys...Gof works inmysterious ways, eh?
Love, Dad

Anonymous said...

woops..not good typing in the dark...GOD works in mysterious ways!!! guess your not the only one to give us a good laugh!
Dad again

Anonymous said...

GREAT STORY--as usual!! I have been praying that there will be protection over the crops--I know God hears and answers our prayers, sometimes in ways we can't even imagine!! Love you and praying for you always,
Mom

Anonymous said...

HEY JESS!! You are so articulate when you write. What a nice blog for the brother's birthdays!! Can't wait to call Zack and tell him to check your blogsite. We love to read your stories and check the site every day!!! Hope you have a good week.
Love you
Mom and Dad

Anonymous said...

Jessi!!!!! I have to tell you some amazing news!!!!!!!!!!!!

JOANIE BRITTINGHAM IS GOING ON A MISSION TRIP TO AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got so excited that I had to find your blog, so that I could tell you as soon as possible!!!!!

Besides that...how are you? I miss you and have been praying for you and Jacob both! I love reading your blog! God is really working in my life right now and I love it! I have a huge heart for Women's ministry! God is working in so many ways here! I recently started sponsering a child through compassion international! I also had a random thought of doing missionary work and teaching music in schools in India after I graduate?!? I really can't wait to see what God does with that!

Jessi, you have influenced my life so much! I love you and miss you lots!

With Love In Christ,
Danielle Riggins

Anonymous said...

MISSING YOUR BLOGS TERRIBLY!! We check your site every day--We know you are extremely busy, just temember us "americans" back here in the states who are yearning for African news!!!
We love you so much
Mom and Dad

Anonymous said...

Boy did that one hit home for me!! It is so easy to forget that we have victory when we are in the middle of very stressful situations! That is the time we need to draw near to God and know that the battle belongs to Him. Thank you for another awesome blog that touched my heart.
I love you
Mom