Remembering the happy memories of preaching about Heavenly Mother in South Africa through three times of short-term mission trips, this time I flew to Zambia located in the south central part of Africa.
I transferred three times and after a 24 hour-flight, I finally arrived at the airport in Lusaka, the capital city. It looked like a bus terminal in a small city of Korea. There was no airport security and the network service was poor. The street condition was even worse; as soon as I got out of the airport area, unpaved roads extended endlessly.
Going through a long dusty road, we arrived at the Lusaka House Church. Just like most of the houses in Zambia with vast land, the house church garden too had tropical fruit trees such as mango, lemon, and avocado. Seeing the appetizing fruits on each tree, we hoped to bear abundant spiritual fruits as well.
The population of Zambia is about 18 million, which is nearly one-third of the population of the Republic of Korea, but as the territory is three times bigger than Korea, it has low population density. We had to move fast to preach to even one more soul during the short mission trip. In the dry season, the sunlight was so strong that our hair burned and changed in color. Long-sleeved clothes and hats were must-haves. Due to many unpaved roads, legs and waists hurt after walking a distance. At night, we couldn’t sleep comfortably for many days, attacked by mosquitoes and harmful insects. However, what made it harder for us to bear up than the poor natural environment was the spiritually barren environment due to a famine of hearing the words of God.
About 97% of the people were Christians and they were proud of their faith, so many people wanted to argue rather than trying to learn the truth. Some of them agreed that their church was wrong, but said they couldn’t change the church because of the relationship with people there. We were sorry for that. We came to think that if we were not fully armed with God’s words, we would not be able to lead them to the truth. However tired we were at the end of the day, we opened the Bible. We were much reminded of Father’s worn-out Bible, permeated with skin oil and swollen. What surprised us was that African members’ Bibles looked just like Father’s.
While we were preaching with the local members against the heat, my Bible too got soaked with sweat and tanned by the sun; it began to resemble Father’s. As the Bible frayed, Heavenly Father’s love was engraved on our hearts day by day, and heavenly family members in Zambia looked as beautiful as the most precious jewels in the world. We remembered what Mother said before we left for Zambia.
“If I can meet the members there, I want to hold the hands of each and every one, and say, ‘Let’s go to heaven without fail.’ ”
We made a strong determination to deliver the earnest voice of Mother, who misses Her children living in a far country, to the people in Zambia. But it was even hard to meet a person. What I could do was only pray to God.
‘I don’t know who God’s children are and where they are. Please let them come to me first though I don’t recognize them.’
Soon after, surprisingly a middle-aged man came to us first and showed his interest in our preaching, saying, “What are you doing? Why don’t you tell me?” It was not a common case, so we just received his number and contacted him the next day. But he didn’t receive the call. I felt sad and decided not to contact him. But the number in my notebook met my eyes often that I called him again. He answered and came to Zion. Studying the Bible, he began to realize the will of God little by little. At first, he went to a Sunday service even after keeping the Sabbath, causing us a great anxiety. However, he could tell the truth from falsehood after studying the prophecies of the Bible and he was reborn as a child of God. He is Brother Chrissy. He took the lead in cleaning, driving, and anything that is needed in Zion, treating young adult members in his children’s age with respect and humility. This way, he set good examples for the members. After receiving the truth, he did his best for the gospel work by constantly preaching to his family and acquaintances. God sent this precious soul to me as an answer to my prayer. But if I had given up on this precious soul because I couldn’t contact him just once, what would have happened? At the mere thought of it, I still feel sorry to Heavenly Father and Mother.
Among the heavenly family members who were found during this short-term mission trip, there is Brother Chilukutu, a student of the University of Zambia. He is humble and gracious. He rejoiced over a small gift he received in Zion, saying that it was given by God. He participated in the early morning services during the feast when he was busy in school. Seeing the brother talking about how he preached to his roommate, I couldn’t believe that he had just started his life of faith. Thinking of how pleased Mother would be if She saw him brought a smile to my face.
Come to think of it, though I went to Zambia to deliver Heavenly Mother’s love, it was me who received love abundantly. The deaconess, the wife of the overseer, made Korean food with the ingredients that were difficult to get, and the members always said, “Thank you,” and obeyed Mother’s word with joy. Seeing them, I felt my spirit that had been stuck in a rut, forgetting how to give thanks and love, got renewed.
I preached the gospel only for two months in Zambia. But the members are still putting all their efforts into finding Mother’s precious jewels despite unfavorable environments.
Soon, Zambia will have a harsh summer. But they have no worries because Mother’s love is always with them. When the sunlight becomes stronger, the jewels that contain Mother’s love will shine more beautifully. How beautiful the souls, who will come back to Zion seeing the light, will be! Just thinking about it makes my heart beat.