Dear Friends
It’s that time again, time to get you all up to speed on what has been going in our lives over the past few weeks. As we write this correspondence the rains have slowed a bit which is blessing to the many Zambians who have to endure the spread of diseases like Cholera when the rains are heavy.
As far as ministry goes we recently received permission from the Lusaka Health Board to continue conducting clinic visits for 2011. Last week we started back with our regular visits to four Lusaka area clinics. Despite a couple months absence from the clinics we were welcomed back by the doctors and nurses of these clinics who questioned where we had been. It was such a blessing to watch God show up and to witness His power transform the physical and spiritual conditions of the patients we prayed for. One such patient was a lady whose family described to us that because of her sickness she had not spoken in a few weeks. The group gathered around her and offered a simple prayer of faith for her healing. Immediately after we all said “amen”, the women opened her eyes and began to speak much to the amazement of her family. What a testimony it was to them of God’s love and compassion for the suffering they were enduring. We are expectant that many more testimonies like this will be shared as we spend time ministering over the coming months to the many afflicted souls here in Lusaka.
Family ministry continues in the form of home schooling. As we stated before Luke has taken on the responsibility of teaching math to Macie, Emma and Payton. This is definitely a humbling experience for him and tests the limits of his patience. The kids continue to amaze us with their ability to grasp and retain all that we throw at them.
This past month also saw another answer to prayer as we were granted a non-immigrant visa for Chichi to travel home with us in July. This might not seem that significant, but after hearing countless stories from other families in similar situations tell us how they had been rejected, our receiving not just a single entry visa but a four year multiple entry visa confirmed to us the favor of God upon our situation.
As we close we wanted to share with you some recent developments concerning a new direction we feel the Lord calling us towards as we continue to serve here in Zambia. Many of you will recognize the name Chikankata. This is the area in the Southern Province of Zambia where we have worked over the past few years with the local chief in showing the Jesus Film to many of the peoples of her chiefdom. We have watched in amazement as each trip has produce testimony after testimony of how God is breaking the spiritual bondage of witchcraft in the lives of the Tonga people we have ministered to. Over the past two years we have wrestled with the idea of what it might look like for us to move down to this area and have a more permanent presence in Chikankata. Well, this past November God began to intensify that tug upon our hearts to where we currently have decided that upon our return to Zambia in January 2012 we will move our family to this remote area to begin ministering full-time to the peoples of Chikankata. There are many more details to share with you concerning this new direction and we are hoping to get a chance to do so over the next few months. We are also hoping to be afforded the opportunity to meet with each of you personally to discuss these changes while we are back in the States on furlough from July 2011 – January 2012. For those of you that would like a visual refresher of Chikankata and our previous work there you can do so by visiting our blogspot: www.whitfieldwateringhole.blogspot.com .
We will have more information about when and where we will be during our furlough, so stay tuned. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to ask you to pray with us as we continue to seek God’s call upon our ministry here in Zambia. Your partnership is crucial to the lives that have and are being touched by our presence in here in Africa. We could not do it without you. Until next time stay blessed and know we love you all dearly.
Blessings
Luke and Elise Whitfield and Family <><
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