Thinking out Loud: Monday, June 28, 2010

We got to Samfya at 2am and were met at the bus stop by a few drunk men. We waited an hour for someone to bring us to the lodge where we were staying. We prayed together as a group and immediately separated for what little sleep we could get before morning. Although Michelle, Lily, and I had to share a bed, we were happy to have a bed. We even had a mosquito net! We joked about the song “The little one said: Roll Over, Roll Over! And they all rolled over and one fell off,” and hoped none of us would roll too much.

Our charter bus at our destination at 2am

We slept till 6, took our baths, and got our stuff ready to wait at the dock. We were getting pretty good at taking sponge baths in boiled water! After devotions, we loaded the Post Boat and headed out to our islands. We dropped Nasi off to her group on Mbabala Island and Jones off with his on Chishi Island. Everyone else went going to Chilubi Island. Nasi repeated multiple times that this was going to be rough. “Common luxuries aren’t common here.” I was kind of nervous just because it was something new. But I was trying not to have expectations.

The Post Boat we took to our islands. The lake is Lake Bangweulu.

After landing on Chilubi Island, we were immediately surrounded by children at our pile of luggage. We walked to the church where we would be staying and met the rest of the missionary team that had arrived the week before. Chama made us some dinner: potatoes, onions, Imana, and tomato paste boiled and put over rice. It was good! Then we joined everyone at the crusade (evening Bible study lecture for the villagers). Michelle and I were asked to sit with the children to keep them quiet. I quickly made friends with a young girl named Christabel. She was pretty fluent in English. During song service, we used her Bemba hymnal to sing along. I knew the songs by the melody and I pronounced her words as best I could. At the end of the crusade, we prayed together as missionaries and went back to the church. We had a quick group reflection time then went to bed. This was Team Matthew in Muchinshi.