Friday, June 25, 2010

The plane left Rome, Italy after an hour and we ate, talked, read, and slept again on the flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The plane landed late and we rushed through the airport to catch our connecting flight to Zambia by way of Harare, Zimbabwe. It was about 4:00pm local time when we finally landed in Lusaka, Zambia.

Erin, Lilly, Daniel, and I went through customs and met several members of IMPACT. IMPACT is an acronym: Inspired Missionaries Proclaiming the Advent of Christ Today. It is an energetic group of Seventh-day Adventist students and young professionals with passion for souls and a vision to spread the gospel to the world. Michael Likuluta, the president of IMPACT, met us at the airport with Jones Simamba, and Dr. Tim Riesenberger (who had arrived from the USA a few hours before). We climbed into a van and drove through the city of Lusaka. One of the things I had to adjust to was driving on the left side of the street, it was surprisingly disorienting for the first few minutes. We stopped at a grocery store to buy some bottled water and I had to smile at how similar everything was to the USA.

We made our way to the Muungo home and opened the Sabbath together as the sun set on Friday night. Chimuka and Lungwani Muungo graciously housed Erin, Lilly, and I for the weekend. As I stretched my jet-lagged body on a bed for the first time since Thursday morning I was reminded of Christ’s words that the Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27) and I was overwhelmed with thankfulness to God for the Sabbath and rest.