River Side Farms

Our adventure started with a seemingly endless flight that took us from DFW to Dullas (Washington DC) to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and then finally to Lusaka, Zambia.

Just as we were about to land in Ethiopia, Taylor had a reaction to the anti-malaria pills, and started heaving. We were afraid that he would get quarantined in Ethiopia, and our trip would be delayed, but an anti-nausea pill seemed to do the trick and by the time we landed in Lusaka, he was feeling better, though completely wiped out.

We arrived in Zambia the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 22. This was the day that the winner of Zambian's presidential elections was to be announced. The US Dept. of Transportation had issued Travel Alerts warning of potential riots and violence when the voting results were announced. What great fortune to be landing in Zambia on the afternoon of the potential mayhem! Thankfully, the results were receive  for the most part peaceably, and there only a few isolated incidents that we were far removed from.

There were twelve of us traveling in our group, and with the extra carryon bags loaded with projectors and computers for the ShareHim meetings, we had more than 20 bags between us. Thankfully, there were two Land Rovers, one of which had a cart attached to the back and a roof rack. We completely filled the little trailer cart and the roof as well with all our baggage.

We started to take in our first sights, sounds and smells of Africa as we made the 70 kilometer drive from Lusaka to Riverside Farms, on the bank of the Kafue river. Riverside is a supporting institution for the Adventist Church. It's mission is to train Bible and health workers for sharing God's love to the people of Zambia. They have a wellness center, a health clinic, and classes for everything from sewing to carpentry to gardening to health outreach.

Riverside is supported largely by the staple crop that is grown on their property—bananas. Their banana plantation stretches over more than 50 acres, and produces thousands of pounds of bananas for sale to local markets. They also produce wheat, and corn as well.

But it's not the bananas that make Riverside a memorable place to visit, although they were the best bananas we've ever eaten. It's the people that make it a very hard place to leave. We were very warmly welcomed at Riverside, and made so many wonderful friends there.

During their worship services in the small Adventist church on their campus, we were blessed to hear rich, African harmonies from robust voices. You've never lived until you've listened to a cappella music streaming from the sanctuary of an African church.

I was invited to preach the sermon on Sabbath, and I enjoyed sharing a message about unity in the body of Christ.

One new discovery we made was the joy of a new food. "Shima" is a corn meal staple that they serve with most meals. It's kind a cross between grits and polenta. It's a think, white corn meal that you roll into a small ball in the palm of your hand. Then you eat it with your hands. It is generally eaten with the vegetables or other ingredients on your plate. We all fell in love with shima, in spite of sticky fingers.

Today, we sadly said goodbye to our Riverside friends, and boarded a coach for a six-hour bus trip from Lusaka to Livingston. We arrived in Livingston just in time to head to the Zambezi River for a sunset cruise on the African Queen. We saw hippos, a couple of giraffes and tons of birds. The cruise was a great adventure, and really made us feel like we were really in Africa.

Tomorrow, we will go on our first photo safari at the Chobe Game Preserve across the boarder in Botswana. We will also get our first glimpse of Victoria Falls.

Our evangelistic meetings will begin in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on Friday evening. We meet up with the rest of our group on Tuesday, and will over together on Wednesday.

Please continue to pray for us as we travel and prepare for our meetings.

God bless,

Mark