Visit Every City

August 18th, 2023

Spike decided to join me on my usual seat for a cup of coffee. The problem is, he doesn’t want to sit and drink the coffee with me. He would much rather jump on top of me, try and bite my fingers, and stick his nose in my coffee cup. I tried getting him to fetch a stick but that wasn’t of much interest to him either. He did run around the yard a few times before trying to get me to play with him some more.

Today was a busy day in so many ways. Cephas was in the clinic most of the day, along with his daughter Dalles. Everyone else was busy preparing for the Sabbath in various ways. I wrote and studied, finishing two blog posts and reviewing my notes for the afternoon Bible study with the Nkhwazi congregation. Nick did much the same, as well as wash his clothes.

We arrived to the church property with half an hour to spare meaning we had a chance to visit with those who had come early for the study. I’m still getting to know many of the people from this congregation since I’ve only spent time with them on the rare occasion that I visit. Most of the brethren don’t speak very much English. Most are farmers just trying to feed their families. Most never learned how to read, although I suspect a few more can than I know of. Many have heard God’s word read aloud to them, trusting the people who taught them the truth. One man in particular, who has shown himself to be a very committed individual, learned from his wife who is a teacher. I suspect the two of them may become powerful leaders and servants in their congregation.

The Bible study focused on important aspects of being disciples of Jesus Christ. Our actions and our words must match up with what we believe, and not just while we are congregated together with brethren but all of the time. It can be easy to hide what we believe and practice from those who we think won’t understand or will give us a hard time about it. People should see our good conduct — which includes how we treat others and how we speak — and be able to see that we are different somehow. The hope is that they will get to know us and seek to understand why we do what we do. Our lives are automatically better for knowing the truth of God and it is a wonderful pleasure to be able to share our hope with others who have no such hope.

After the study, with Cephas again translating, we opened the floor for questions or comments. Nick had a few additions to share, as well as some insight into some of the struggles the brethren in Nkhwazi might go through in their spiritual lives. We did receive a few questions regarding the truth about hellfire, the timeline of the return of Jesus Christ, and also some curiosity as to if we could help the congregation complete their church hall.

The hall began as a very simple structure that served its purpose to provide a covered area for a youth camp a few years ago, for the Feast of Tabernacles, and the weekly Sabbath. Since then brethren, through the Good Works program, have funded improvements to the structure. The hall now has walls, a concrete floor, and space for windows and doors. There are no doors or windows though. The brethren think it would be nice to be able to leave their own chairs and tables set up inside their own hall at the end of the Sabbath each week. For some reason I didn’t take any pictures before or after the study. We had a good turnout including men, women, and children of various ages. Afterwards we talked a while with some of the people, answering a few other questions and learning more about their lives. It’s nice to see how well they care for the property, planting trees, cleaning the hall, cutting the grass.

In the evening, after the sun had set, Nick and the Chapamba’s sang hymns in Chichewa. I joined in after documenting their efforts. A few more hymns have been translated since 2017, but most of the hymns are still sung in English even by those who don’t understand the words. George skipped the hymn sing but joined us for dinner. We tried not to keep ourselves up too late since we have a full day starting early in the morning.

– Lewis VanAusdle