Harvest Blog

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

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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 there 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. 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

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Greetings to all our families:

We had blessings in the services last Sunday.  In the Evening Service, we anointed David Head with oil and prayed for him according to James 5:114-16.  He had surgery on Tuesday and the doctor has felt that everything went fine with that surgery on his knee.  He has been greatly improved, able to move about with only one crutch, and feeling much less pain.  However only last night his feet began to be discolored—so seriously that they are going to see the doctor this morning.  This is an entirely different issue from that which involved the surgery this week.  It is that he does not have feeling from the mid-calf to the bottom of the feet in both legs.  So David continues to need our prayers.  You can send David a card at 5153 E. Essex Ave., Castle Rock, CO  80104.

Viola Wall has returned from Sky Ridge Hospital to the Brookside Inn Nursing Home in Castle rock.  She has shown definite improvement.  You can send Viola a card by addressing it to Brookside Inn, 1297 S. Perry, Castle rock, CO   80104

Today I have another prayer request for a big physical need.  It involves Pastor Ross Davis, Littleton Baptist Church, Littleton, CO.  He had a serious fall in his home two weeks ago.  I do not know why, but I had not heard about this until two days ago.  He was in the bathroom during the night and fell hitting his head very hard against the sink.  In the fall his foot got caught under the vanity and so his body was twisted.  As I understand, that caused his ankle to be broken and also caused a serious disk problem in his back.  The blow on the head was so hard that it tore the ligaments in his neck.  When the three firemen were getting him  prepared for the trip to the hospital, they realized that the situation in his neck was so serious that a mistake could have caused him total paralysis .  He has undergone surgery, and now there are internal complications following the surgery.  He is very week and has been transferred from Littleton Hospital to St. Joseph’s Hospital where he is Intensive Care.  I am told that he feels as though his whole body is numb.  I am asking all our people to pray for this dear brother.  He has been wonderfully used in our area to see Littleton Baptist Church continue to be a wonderful testimony for the Lord.  Brother Dave Deets whom we have known here as a Missionary to Italy, is the Assistant Pastor of Littleton Baptist Church. Because of serious illness with their son, the Deets had to resign their appointment to Italy, and he was called by Littleton Baptist Church as Assistant. He is now carrying the load of the church.  It looks as though Pastor Davis is  gong to have a long recovery process ahead. You can send Pastor Davis a card by addressing it to Littleton Baptist Church, 1400 W. Caley Ave., Littleton, CO  80120

Pray for Pastor Josh.  He leaves today to go to minister God’s Word in Zambia, Africa.  He will be returning in two week.s  Pray for safety in travel and power in his ministry.

Next Sunday morning, we have an excellent preacher speaking in the Morning Service, Dr. David Canedy, Deputation Secretary of Baptist World Mission.  You will be blessed by this man’s ministry of the Word of God.

In the Sunday Evening Service I will continue the series of Messages on Revelation.  We will be  looking at Ninth chapter of Revelation this week.

Keep looking up.  We will look to see you at the services on Sunday.

Yours and His,

Ed Nelson, Pastor

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