Harvest Blog

Hello Church Family,

I made it safely to Zambia. The flights went well and we were able to get all of the materials here safely. We brought 8 boxes with us along with our luggage. The boxes had materials for teaching the college students and some gifts for the missionaries. All of them made it here safely with no damage to the contents. We had the customs in Johannesburg keep the boxes for us overnight so we did not have to travel across the city with all of them in a taxi.

I arrived in Zambia yesterday and was already able to witness to 2 men from Finland. They were on the plane with us from Johannesburg. One of the men was having issues with the customs officers while the other man was out in the parking lot looking for a taxi. Steve Hafler was able to help both of the men and we ended up giving them a ride to a sober taxi driver. For the 45 min drive I was able to turn around and witness to the men. Pray that the Lord works in their hearts and that they accept him as their Savior.

This morning I preached to a small church in Wusakili through and interrupter (interpreter). It went very well I preached a simple gospel message. This church meets is a schoolroom and there are many other churches that meet in other rooms in the school. One of these Churches was a charismatic church and they started speaking in tongues right as I started preaching. The church paid attention very well considering all of the distractions.

This afternoon I preached for the youth service in Wusakili. I preached with an interpreter to the children and then we played games. About 75 children attended the youth meeting and 3 children accepted Christ after the message.

I am staying at the Hunts house here in Zambia. It is very nice and I will be able to send out consistent updates on my trip from here. I will try to get some pictures put in for the next update but as of right now I have not taken any pictures. Thank you for your prayers.

Pastor Josh

Dear Church Family,

Today we started teaching in the college. It is incredible to meet these pastors and future pastors and hear their stories. I think one piece of this trip will be indelibly impressed upon my mind, the singing. There is such joy in it and praise offered to God. The Zambian hymns are so neat to hear but they sing traditional hymns with the same joy and worship. You can watch as they sing the true appreciation of the words. I need to make sure that my singing is filled with that joy and excitement.

Dad (Pastor Jeff Musgrave) started the day by showing the pastors how all of the pieces of the exchange fit together. A person gets saved through Inquires Bible Study. Then they grow through Learning to Live with God. And then they are taught to serve through Come and See Soul. Where they are trained to repeat the process over and over again. I was struck again by the magnitude of the impact of this approach to Soul Winning and Discipleship. We are multiplying our efforts instead of simple addition.

I got to be Dad’s guinea pig for the soul winning presentation. Dad led me through as if I was a lost man and I got saved so that the pastors could see how the presentation works. It was fun to work with my Dad doing this and also watch the lights come on in some of the pastor’s heads as they saw the simplicity of the gospel message.

Lunch today was incredible. It was my first insight to a real African meal. We had a sausage with a cabbage salad and some very good sauce drizzled over everything. The sausage had a very brothy taste with a hint of curry and a few other spices that I couldn’t identify. On the side they had a rice like substance. I’m sorry I can’t remember the name of it. Imagine a grits like texture but more like sticky rice consistency. This served as the vehicle for all of the other food. The best part of the whole meal was that I got to eat it with my hands. No silverware was tarnished in the process (Don’t tell my Karis, or Tali this we are working very hard to get them to eat with silverware, but it was fun to regress to my childlike eating).

We ended the teaching day by going through the first lesson of Learning to Live with God (The study that the Homebuilders class is going through right now). Again I was impressed with the importance of teaching new believers the importance of service to God in their newfound relationship. If the Christian life is going to work the way God wants it to we must be serving.

In just a few minutes I will be heading out to dinner at one of the missionaries houses. After that I am going to get together with all the missionary men and watch the Saints beat the Colts in the Superbowl. Then sometime I hope that I will find my way back to my bed. The jet lag has been horrible for me this time. I have been waking up at 3 every morning with the awful feeling that I slept through my alarm. After that I really can’t fall asleep again but I dutifully lay in my bed until it’s time to wake up. I figure that horizontal is better for my rest than vertical. I think it might just be the fact that I am getting older and my body doesn’t handle these changes as well as it used to.

Pastor Josh

Church Family,

Today we looked at the fragrance of Christ. I have heard Dad preach this message many times but today it really struck me. I can exude the fragrance of Christ by living in dependence on Christ. My life can show Christ to others but I need to stay close to Christ so that others will see him in me.

I got to demonstrate the Gospel Presentation today. It was neat to watch the pastors begin to see the value of the presentation. They finally got to practice the presentation with each other. It was fun to watch and listen to them explain the presentation.

Dad shared a lot of stories today about his soul winning experiences. I was so encouraged to see what God had done through his life and challenged to see God work those things through my life. I was also struck with the thoroughness and effectiveness of the Inquires Bible Study. We as a church need to start using this study to see our friends and family saved. It will grow our Church.

After our day of class we went over to the Haflers house. I got a chance to play with their boys. We swam, jumped on the trampoline, and played board games. It was great to be able to encourage their children. I have found that the missionary Children here are just longing for attention and love. I think they tend to get isolated because of language and cultural barriers. It was fun to poor love into them. The power went out tonight so we did everything in the dark. It was a ton of fun.

Pray for us tomorrow as we do our outreach in the town. I am praying that we see some people saved.

Pastor Josh

Dear Church Family,

Today we finished the Come and See Gospel Presentation so the men were able to go out and “practice” witness to people in the city. It was cool to see their excitement about going out and being a witness. My group went to Wusakili, a small run down miner’s village that was built in the 60’s. We were there when my translator from Sunday, Sandy, shared Come and See with a group of 6 adults and a few children. It was great to see him catch on to the presentation and witness. We could tell where Sandy was in the presentation even though it was in a different language (I apologize for the picture that I took. It was in the middle of the Bible study and I didn’t want to distract. Sandy’s face is covered by the arm of the chair.)

Please pray for brother Mutale (not our missionary). He has an infection in his hands that has caused extreme pain and and swelling. He is also getting awful headaches. We laid hands on him and prayed for God’s healing. Pray that he is healed. He has been getting injections for them but they have not been working. This would be a huge step for the church in Wusakili. People in the village are watching and I believe waiting to see what God will do.

I have been coupled with Kennedy a young man who works with the Wusakili Church. He is so excited about the gospel presentation. While we were out he was catching men on the street and witnessing to them. What an encouragement. That is the attitude that we need to have. “Whenever I am in such intimacy with a soul as to choose my topic of conversation I must turn my conversation to the theme of themes.”

We went to the Haflers for dinner again tonight. It was a great time. Their Children have fallen in love with me. They drew me pictures and now they call me Uncle Josh. It has been fun to spend time with them.

Pastor Josh

Church Family,

Thursday was the last day of the class. I preached a message in the morning for the Pastors and students from 1 John 1:1-4. I told them how they are complete in Christ and need to be witnessing just as John did from his completed position. The Lord worked in their hearts and I believe they were impacted to live lives that declare the life of Christ and their relationship with Him.

After the class time we went out to “practice” the Come and See. I was pared up to help a local Pastor in his community. Kennedy and I were partners and he got to share the gospel with 5 teenage boys. It was fun to watch even though I understood very little that he said due to the fact that he was speaking to them in the local language. 3 of those boys made professions of faith and 2 of them said that they would like to learn more through the Inquires Bible Study. The best part of the whole experience was to watch Kennedy as he talked about how thrilling the experience of clearly sharing the gospel was and how excited he was about the prospective Bible Studies.

That evening we had the opportunity to go to Tory Barets house for dinner. The power went out but we had a great time of fellowships. We roasted marshmallows over the candles at the end of the meal.

Friday we went on game drive at the local game park with Phil Hunt and Steve Hafler. We were hoping to see Zebra’s and Giraffes but all we saw was a bunch of different kinds of antelope. It was neat to see the African animals. I got to hold a 3 month old mongoose which was a neat experience. I was amazed at how God perfectly designed each of these animals for their surroundings.

Friday evening I spent family night with the Hunts. We played games and had pizza. It was a great time with the family. I was excited to meet each of these children. They are true Zambians. America to them is a neat trip but this is their home. My heart was convicted with the fact that I must involve my children in my ministry. They must see that I am real and that they are an integral part of what I do.

Saturday morning we drove up to Chingola to meet George Mutale. We found him in true Zambian style. We drove to the post office in Chingola and they told us where his compound (village) was located. We drove to the compound and asked a man where the address was. He lead us to the next turn and there we found a church with a sign that read Baptist Church. On the way we asked a boy on the road and he told us to go to the mountain (hill). We asked 2 men who the Pastor was and they did not know but sent us up the road to Brother Mutale’s address. We continued on until we saw another church that read Grace Baptist Church. I saw a man with his head out the window and we asked him who the pastor was. He told us George Mutale. He got in our van and gave us directions to Pastor Mutale’s house. This entire process took about 30min. Praise the Lord for Pastor Hunt who was there to guide me.

We had a wonderful time of fellowship with George Mutale in his home. His great concern is to see the lost evangelized and grow His church. His wife Tendai is a precious lady and his two children Destiny and Jane are so cute. His wife is a teacher (our support helped to pay for this) and they have started a Pre School at the Church on the grounds. They have about 40 children that attend. It is a great opportunity for Brother Mutale to meet unsaved families and see them added to the Church. The Lord has given me clear leading in how to proceed in helping our Brother. I will give you a thorough report on this time with him when I get home. Tomorrow morning I will speak in his Church. Pray that the Lord leads in my decision about what to preach tomorrow.

This evening we went to a Valentines Party for the Missionary Children. It was fun to see them play and have a good time together. We’ll the dinner bell is ringing at the Hunts house so I’d better head out. I’m sorry it has been so long between reports it got a bit busy.

Pastor Josh

Dear Church Family,

Today Pastor Hunt and I attended Church at Grace Baptist of Lulamba. It was great to see his church and fellowship with him. Pastor Hunt preached on the importance of Soul winning and Discipleship in the Sunday School hour. He stressed Discipleship. We are not just trying to win lots of souls but to see them become faithful in their Christian lives.

I preached on Malachi 3:10. I emphasized the importance of Serving God from the heart. 3 people were baptized at the end of the service. I can’t wait to get home and share my burden for Pastor Mutale’s Church. He and I had a great time to speak and get to know each other. I took lots of pictures but am struggling to get them on my computer so I will show them to you when I get home.

This evening I was able to attend Faith Baptist Church in Kitwe. They appointed 2 new deacons tonight. It was exciting to see this church really moving forward for God. Pray as I begin traveling home tomorrow. I go to Johannesburg then Frankfurt then home. We have a 5 hour layover and an 7 hour layover.

I am very excited to come home and see all of you.

Pastor Josh

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