A Surprise at Chilenje

A letter from Nancy Collins serving as Regional Liaison for East Central Africa, based in Zambia

August 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

How many of you would leave your family, friends, home, activities and routine to live for a year with an unknown African family in circumstances very different from those to which you are accustomed? How many of you would opt for difficult sanitary facilities, strange food, living up close and personal in an unknown culture? How many of you would risk working for a year in a job where the ground rules, expectations and situation pose major challenges?

Four “young adult volunteers” (YAVs) have embraced all these challenges—seeing them as opportunities that will open their eyes and their hearts to new ways of seeing Jesus Christ in their neighbors. These four young adults will arrive in Lusaka, Zambia, by the end of August to participate in PC(USA)’s Young Adult Volunteer program—hosted by the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian Synod of Zambia (CCAP Zambia) and facilitated and mentored by PC(USA) mission co-worker Sherri Ellington.

Sherri with CCAP Zambia leaders selected CCAP Chilenje congregation as a home and work site for one of the YAVs. CCAP Chilenje congregation is where I worship when I am not traveling out of Lusaka. It is a smallish congregation of three “prayer houses”; the Synod assigned a full-time pastor to the congregation in December 2015.

[Not a valid template]I was a little alarmed to learn that the session of CCAP Chilenje decided the YAV should live in the church compound with the pastor and his family. They are a wonderful family, with four young children. I am sure they will be a blessing to the YAV. However, their manse (pronounced man-sy—rhymes with Nancy) consists of five small room—sitting room, dining room (used to accommodate guests on mattresses on the floor), parents’ bedroom, children’s bedroom, and kitchen. PC(USA) YAV program guidelines specify that the YAV should be given a room to him/herself. Did that mean s/he would get the children’s bedroom, and the children would all sleep for a year on the dining room floor? Oh dear. That did not seem like a good idea. There was some talk in the congregation of putting a two-room addition on to the small manse, but I was very doubtful about the capacity of the congregation to make that happen between May, when they learned they would be honored by hosting a YAV, and the end of August, when the YAV would arrive.

Imagine my surprise when I returned from a three-week visit to the U.S.A. to find a two-room addition to the manse walled and roofed. The plan is that the existing kitchen—a room without any counters, cabinets or running water—will become the YAV’s bedroom and the kitchen will be relocated to the new addition, where it is likely the floor will continue for some time to be dirt.

The congregation is waiting with both anticipation and trepidation to meet this YAV addition to their congregation. During the worship service on August 21 I thanked the congregation for their generosity and enthusiasm toward the YAV. I explained that in this PC(USA) program they (the international partner) are the giver, that the YAV is coming with empty pockets and open hands to receive the hospitality, joy and spiritual riches CCAP has to share, that the YAV is seeking to understand God in a new way and to understand God’s plan for his/her future. I explained that they as CCAP Chilenje congregation members will be God’s instruments in that process.

I pray God will bless with a myriad of fruits and spiritual gifts the open hearts on both sides of the “partnership” between the YAV and CCAP Chilenje congregation. Please join me in praying for the four YAVs who will come to Zambia and for those YAVs who are going to other national and international placement locations. Please pray for the program, the host families, the supervisors of the work placement sites, and all those who will touch and in some way be touched by the YAVs.

On another topic: Interpretation Assignment. I will be back in the U.S.A. and available for speaking in your congregation from November 2016 through January 2017 and then again May through September 2017. I am eager to preach, share a minute for mission, speak at a potluck dinner, give a Sunday School presentation for any age, participate in Vacation Bible School—there are many ways I can share the wonders of what God is doing in East Central Africa and in my life. Please email me at nancy.collins@pcusa.org for additional information or to send me an invitation and indicate how you would like me to participate.

Go to https://www.presbyterianmission.org/wp-content/uploads/we-can-help-faqs.pdf for information about hosting a mission co-worker.

Thank you for this opportunity to serve God in this place at this time. If you have not already made a commitment to this work, please prayerfully consider joining with me and our international partners in ministry in being a part of what our Lord is doing in East Central Africa! I need your prayers and your financial support.

In Christ,

Nancy