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Recent Posts from the Mumena Team

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

2012 Campaign

We had a great campaign this year. We had 13 visitors from the US who stayed for about 10 days in June-July. We focused on three activities working side by side with the Zambian Christians: Evangelism, Village Education, and Medical.
 

Evangelism

We worked with two local congregations to visit their families and neighbors for three days each. In the morning, we trained in how to build relationships and teach someone about Christ. Then in the afternoon, we formed groups – the Zambian Christians paired up with their American brothers. The groups then went out visiting family and friends: introducing them to the basic message of Jesus and giving them a chance to ask questions about God. During the night, we set up a projector and watched the Jesus film in Kiikaonde outside the church building.
This effort went great and afterwards Shadrack, one of the church leaders, said that it was a great encouragement for him and wanted to thank everyone for their work.
 

Village Education

Six Campaigners came to work with home education in the villages. We trained five families in how they as parents can teach their children at home. In the mornings, we trained the parents with their children. Then, in the afternoons, those parents taught other parents in the community to do the same.
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James teaching his daughter to trace her name
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Phythias demonstrating how to teach the children how to write their names

We focused on three core subjects: Reading Comprehension using the Bible, Writing, and Arithmetic. For each subject, we taught many activities that progress in difficulty. For example, with writing, we showed them three activities that lead the child to write his own name:
  • First, the parent would write the name in the sand, and the child would trace over it.
  • Second, the parent would write the name, and the child would copy it below.
  • Third, the child would write his name without seeing it first.
All the activities used local resources from the village: charcoal, corn cobs, sticks, etc. This made it natural to spread the teaching to other villages.
For reading comprehension, we showed the parents a simple method for teaching Bible stories:
  • First, summarize the Bible story
  • Second, read it from the Bible
  • Third, help the children act it out as a skit
  • Fourth, ask comprehension questions
This turned out to be a great way to teach the Bible for both children and adults. Everyone saw how these activities could be used for evangelism while providing a great service to the community. They combine preschool, grade school, adult education, and Bible lessons into a fun hour or two. This is a great draw for both children and adults who want to improve their English or Math or want to help their own children.
We will continue to train other parents in all the congregations and follow up to train in additional activities. Also, we have begun to demonstrate how each congregation can do these activities for evangelism.
 

Medical

Two campaigners spent each day building relationships with the nurses at the local clinic. They learned how the nurses deal with the common ailments in this environment and also how to work in this culture. The nurses appreciated their new friends. The time together gave them a joyful memory to remember as they continue their daily work.
At the end of the week, everyone went to the clinic to help with the medical clinic day. We worked together with the clinic nurses and two local Dentists from Solwezi. We gave out reading glasses and directed the lines for the dentists and nurses. Again, the local church leaders were at the forefront of everything. The work was done in the name of Jesus and his church. In this way, the clinic day demonstrated to many that God does care for them and works through His family.
We four families greatly appreciate everyone who came to visit and work alongside us and the local Christians.
May God make you fruitful as you serve Him,
Rick & Karen Love
Along with the rest of the team:
Sam & Ellie Rodriguez
Jeremy & Whitney Davis
Jason & Erin Davis

Monday, August 13, 2012

Congregation Report - The Church at Kayonge

This weekend, we started our new schedule. Karen & I will be shifting around all the church plants to focus on training. Sam & Ellie Rodriguez will focus on working with the church plants that require more attention.

The training we want to provide is actually for the entire body of Christians. It is a way to work outside of the traditional "church service" into a more family oriented meeting. The idea came from this year's campaign. We had an educational campaign where we trained five different families in home school activities. One of the activities was a Bible story time that included acting out the story as a skit.

The activities were so interesting to both children and parents that we immediately saw the value of using them with the regular church meetings. They are an effective evangelistic tool. They combine fun social games with important learning of life skills with the learning of God's word. Its a great example of our team strategy to wholly affect the spirit, mind, and body as God created man.

This weekend we started our first meeting where we are trying to show the church how to combine these into the traditional service. Saturday, we introduced some of the activities. Then Sunday, during Bible study we acted out the text using both children and adults. This was combined with summarizing the story, reading the scripture, and asking questions about it. After this, we had our main service. One difference that I noticed was that the children were still attentive during the main service. Normally, they leave during the Bible study and continue playing outside until service is over. However, since they were engaged during the Bible study, they continued to feel like a part during the rest of the service.

When our service was over, it was time to prepare for a fellowship meal. While waiting, we played many educational games with the children. Games designed to teach English, Writing, and Arithmetic. One of the favorite games is "Teacher Says." This is the same as "Simon Says." It is an excellent game for teaching many English words and both children and adults enjoy playing it.

Another important activity is writing. We don't use pencils and paper. Instead, we use sticks, charcoal, and dirt. For the young children, we teach them to trace their names. For the older children, we advise them on how to improve their penmanship. It is amazing to see how quickly a child can learn when given proper attention. I asked a seven year old girl named Anna to help demonstrate the name writing activity. She could already write her name, but it was in all uppercase and the size of the letters were inconsistent and not straight. I wrote her name properly and asked her to copy it on the line below. I pointed out the lowercase letters, how they were half as tall as the first letter, and how they were all straight and the same height with each other. She understood and copied her name fixing mistakes on her own as she went. Then, I made a new line in a different place and asked her to write her name again. This time, it looked great. In five minutes, she went from writing her name at a preschool level to a 2nd grade level.

All the adults were very excited to see the impact that they could have on their own children. They have always been told that education is for the schools. However, as the church brings education about spiritual truth, it also enables our earthly lives to be completely transformed. Children and other adults were coming to see what we were doing. These simple activities are a great way to show others that we care.

This training will help the church provide a great service in the community. This is a great example of how the family of Christ acts as the light on the hill. These good works will help many and give them a chance to hear the story of Jesus that will give them eternal life. May God bless the men and women as they serve the community around them.

- Rick Love