I Believe in Prayer

A situation came up on Monday.

Jeff had left at 8am to head across the river to do leadership training at Mukuma Baptist Church. He took off with one sandwich, one cliff bar and two good size bottles of water. To get to Mukuma, he first had to board the pontoon to take him across the Zambezi River. After disembarking on the other side, it is still an hour and a half drive to the church. He had a great time of teaching there at the church. On his way back, the vehicle got stuck. Even though he was in 4 wheel drive low, he had to pass through the muddy area and climb a small incline to clear the area. He got through most of the muddy patch but got stuck on the way out up the incline. After about an hour of working to get unstuck, he calls me on the satellite phone to tell me that he was not going to make it home that night - that he was stuck and as of yet, was not able to get out. All in all, NOT a good situation at all.

Needless to say, I was very worried and concerned about the whole situation. He did not have enough food and water to last the day, no blankets (it's still cold here), no mosquito net and no tent. Plus, I had no way to lock our front gate as Jeff had the key...

Almost as soon as I got off the phone with Jeff, his parents called to tell me that Jeff had gotten in touch with them and would not be home tonight. Just because of the stress of the moment and the total unknown, I broke down crying on the phone. On the phone, Jeff's dad prayed with me and assured me that they would start their church's Prayer Chain to pray about this situation.

I had also texted our fellow team mates and they began to pray. One dear friend, called to pray with me on the phone.

After two and a half hours, Jeff was finally able to get unstuck and now it was a race against time to try to get to the river bank so the pontoon could take him across to our side of the river. He called the pontoon conductor and (for an extra price) the pontoon conductor came across the river to pick up Jeff after dark.

ALL this to say that I truly believe in prayer. The Lord is teaching me every day to trust him more and put everything in His hands. I believe it was only through the prayers of the faithful that Jeff got home on Monday night about 8:30pm. I pray that through our lives here in Lukulu that we are also teaching our children to completely TRUST in the Lord.