Siachatema Outreach

Jessi and I just returned this past weekend from our first overnight outreach in Siachetema. Siachatema is located two and a half hours from our farm and it is a very strategic point for us because it has deep foundations in Christianity. In the early 1900’s, a young woman named Ms. Peyton, packed up her belongings in the States and made way for Africa to be a witness for Jesus Christ. She planted herself in the Siachetema community and immediately began taking care of orphans and raising them up in the Lord. Many of you have heard of Reverend Mwikissa, the 87 year old evangelist who taught at our Bible school. He was one of Ms. Peyton’s orphans. She seemed to leave quite a mark on this community, which has put out many strong leaders and gifted men and women. Our reason for making Siachetema our first area of focus is because we believe God has anointed leaders there who will be catalysts for revival in Zambia.
Our two days were well spent as we met with some key leaders (District Superintendents of churches, clinic officers, pastors, etc.) We brought two wonderful Zambians with us on the journey who will continue to accompany us on these trips. Lena is a widow that lives on our farm with 2 children and she has a big heart for discipling children and women. She was one of our discipleship students last year and will be acting as a teacher and translator on our outreaches. Tom is a 21 year old young man with a big heart for evangelism. He has been traveling on his own throughout Zambia after graduating from grade 12 and preaching the gospel wherever he can. He has a huge passion for seeing youth stand strong in the Lord and he believes very strongly in the vision to establish leaders in the rural areas.
Jessi and Lena stayed in an extra room in Rev. Mwikissa’s home and Tom and I tried out a new 2-man canvas tent I purchased . It is much smaller than the one we are bringing in from South Africa, but it was perfect for a two-day trip. We enjoyed some good traditional food and were even invited to attend a traditional wedding involving some friends we know. One interesting part of the wedding was when it came time to present the gifts. Instead of having a table everyone set them on they set a table up in the middle of all the attendees and asked each person to individually come up and present their gift. If it was 4,000 kwacha (one dollar) then they announced, “4,000 kwacha has been given by…” or if it was three new pots then they announced “three new pots have been given by…!” I could just imagine us doing something like that for a wedding at home…yea right!
Sunday morning I preached on God’s plan for building leaders in Siachatema using scriptures in Isaiah 37:30-32 and John 12:23-28. We spoke of how God desires to raise up men with “deep roots and good fruits” and that the way to becoming a leader is by dying to self and coming alive to the heart of God. Several men and women stayed after the service to share how they were impacted by the message and they felt they were called to be leaders in this thing. That was a huge blessing and confirmation. I also got to visit with a lady who I had prayed for about 10 months ago. She was the one who was not able to walk and after prayer she was totally healed and joined the dance team. She told me that from that day she has walked with no problem and no pain! Hallelujah, we serve a miracle working God!
By the end of it Jessi and I felt like we could have stayed forever (with the exception of missing Mukansunda like crazy) which brings us to our next topic! As most of you know God has led us to adopt a beautiful 20 month old Zambian orphan named Sunda. We are waiting for the final paper to arrive from our home study the States and then we will be going ahead full force with the adoption in Zambia. For all of you who have been asking about our little girl, she is doing very well. She is a non-stop talker who seems to pick up new words every minute (she has now mastered water, mama, daddy, kitty, cheetah, bee, bird, mmmm, yummy, and many others). She loves to dance and sing especially with songs in tonga (the language here in this area of Zambia) although her favorite song is the hamster song on a musical card my parents sent. The first hundred times she listened and danced to it was cute, but Jessi and I are now praying that she figures out a way to break the thing!
We just want to let you all know that we appreciate the prayers and love you send us through e-mail, letters and finances! God is doing awesome things in this place and we love having you all as a team to correspond with and co-labor with in God’s kingdom.

Our prayer is that God would give you all a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ!
Peace and Love,
Jacob and Jessi