Better Late Than Never!
/Seven years ago, we planned to go to Italy to celebrate our fortieth anniversary. Five surgeries and the COVID lockdown later, we are finally going to Italy to celebrate our forty-seventh anniversary! We’ll be staying in a lovely home about 45 minutes southeast of Florence and fully intend to hit the museums (tickets already bought), drive the countryside, and enjoy the incredible Tuscan food.
We travel with the full blessing of Abby’s surgeons and internist who have been delighted with her healing. Abby’s back and knee are both doing great and she grows stronger every day. Doug’s back is doing well after an effective epidural and his cataract surgery has been a huge success. Tuscany should be a wonderful place to finish our recuperation!
Turns out that Italy is in the same time zone as Zambia, so after our Italy foray, we’ll fly south to Zambia where Percy Muleba has set up several exciting training opportunities for us where we’ll teach phases two, three and four to our awesome students. We’ll also be meeting with the new leadership of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) and, as always, renew friendships with many. We’ll be in Livingstone, Lusaka and Mumbwa, Zambia, and in Katima Mulilo, Namibia. After a difficult last ten months, we feel deeply privileged to have these opportunities!
As we travel this year, we are rejoicing at the way the Lord has multiplied our ministry over the years. In 2008 we met Percy Muleba, and in 2010 we began training together. Our classroom? A white board hung by brown twine from a tree. Today, Biblical Worship Training Center (BWTC), Percy Muleba’s NGO, is now connected to seventeen and about to be eighteen countries. Our African Director, Dan Mayeya, just returned from a strategic retreat in Tanzania which has now opened the door to East Africa. Our online training is going great guns and our Biblical Entrepreneurship Academy recently graduated over one hundred twenty single mother marketplace vendors with a new vision for business as mission.
Just before Percy flew home to Zambia, BWTC USA held a dinner to cast the 2030 vision for BWTC USA! From the beginning, it has been our dream to bring Zambian mission leaders here to train and encourage us in mission. As Percy says, Zambia is no longer a mission field, but rather it is a mission force! The dinner was emceed by our dear friend and colleague, Andy Muhich, who is the Chairman of BWTC USA. Sixty folks attended the dinner and it was a wonderful success. We stand amazed at what the Lord is doing.
So, please pray for us as we go. Please pray that our time in Tuscany will be renewing, healing and restful. And please pray that our trainings and meetings will be filled with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, and that we remain healthy. And, of course, please pray that our planes, trains and automobile travel be safe and, frankly, uneventful.
Just so you can follow along with us, our current schedule is below. And always remember, where we go you go!
April 9-30: Tuscany
May 1-3: Fly to Livingstone via Zurich and Johannesburg
May 4-6: Meetings with CCAP in Lusaka, Zambia
May 7-18: Phase 4 training in Mumbwa, Zambia
May 19-24: Phase 3 training in Livingstone
May 25-June 1: Phase 2 training in Katima Mulilo, Namibia
June 2-4: Strategic planning in Livingstone, Zambia
June 5-6: Fly home via Johannesburg and Newark