From the email archives
July newsletter 2014
Co-workers in Christ
Crusades/Revivals
We had two Revivals from 17-24 July at Mbelele and Lubu. Our first Revival was at Mbelele. The place was very cold than we imagined. We all slept on the open air since there was no Church building. In the morning all our blankets were wet with dew. During our worship services we sat on long logs for several hours. Those from Hwange were uncomfortable to sleep on the bare ground and to sit on logs. I thought it was a hard lesson for them to understand the Apostle Paul’s teaching that we need to be content in all situations. Besides cold weather, we had inspiring lessons on “warning again false prophets”. After the lessons the whole congregation and its entire leadership confessed that they were involved in consulting false prophets for healing and problem-solving. False prophets charge cows, goats or money equivalent to the value of a cow. The poor women who are unable to pay cows are abused in the forest. Marriages are destroyed as a result. My wife, Ellinah had counseling session with Mrs Mudenda. In her first marriage, Mrs Mudenda consulted false prophets because she did not feel like loved by her husband, so she needed help on how she would have intimate love relationship with her husband. She was given charm and was promised to have the strongest love ever experienced before. Unfortunately, the opposite came true. That same day she was divorced. In her second marriage she repeated the same mistake by accepting the “so-called anointing water” from another group of prophets. Her marriage is now worse than before. I hope the Biblical counseling she received will bring new experience in her marriage as she learned to surrender all her problems to Christ. At this Revival, we had many people re-dedicating their lives to Christ and a few demons were cast out in Jesus’ mighty name.
On the twentieth of July we moved to Lubu area where we have a Church led by dedicated women of God. The young pastor in this Church left to South Africa in search of employment. We did door to door evangelism. Witnessing Christ was hard in homes where we did not find the father (owner of the home) to grant permission to preach the gospel. In this area we discovered that people still value beer and ancestral spirits. One lady saw one of our evangelism teams and called them to her home thinking they were the Save the Children officers registering people for food. Our team told her that they were offering spiritual food to the hungry souls. She refused to listen to the gospel as she was hurrying to the nearby home where there was beer offered to the ancestral spirits. We harvested very little in this area. I asked brother John one of our gifted evangelists what we needed to do next time. He said, “We need to fast and show Jesus Film.”
It was sad for me to know that Lubu Church had only one worn out Tonga Bible. They have hard time reading or studying the Bible. I gave them my only Tonga Bible. It was difficult in the past few years to find Tonga Bibles because the Satanists ordered and burned many tons of Tonga Bibles. They are now available in Lusuka, Zambia.
After Revivals, I and John proceeded to Dongamuse Church where we were scheduled to teach on Church Leadership. The Church had recently appointed new leadership mainly Elders and Deacons. I taught on qualifications, responsibilities and roles of elders and deacons. John taught on Stewardship. We had other elders, deacons and their wives coming from Nsenga and Sianyanga. On Sunday 27, they had love offering for me. They gave me many gifts which I really appreciated.
Water Project
We resumed our Bio-sand water filtration project on the 8th of July. I and some of project members made a follow-up of filters in different homes. We found out that most filters were doing well and family members are enjoying drinking clean safe water. We asked how they used their filtered water. They said, “We use this water mainly for drinking and cooking.” We further asked them why they didn’t use it for washing clothes. One lady said, “This water is too precious. It shouldn’t be wasted.” We encouraged them to use it for all domestic purposes including washing clothes. Also we found out that 3 filters at the Clinic, primary school and at pre-school were blocked. We fixed them all. Women on maternity at the clinic were so excited to drink clean sparkling water. We sold 20 filters at $20 each which gave us $400.
Expenditure:
10 bags of cement @ $14 each = $140.00
20m hosepipe = $104.00
20 Diffuser plates @ $2.00 each = $40.00
Lubrication oil = $4.00
$112 shared among 28 project members ($4 each).
Balance = $00.00
3 members resigned because the profit was too little. Our project is still financially young to cater for all expenses. There is still a need for more funding to meet the demands of the projects: more materials, work suits for each member, soap etc. Some members mix concrete barefooted which is risky, of course! Our goal this season is to make 60-100 filters. Therefore, we are asking for a donation of $900.00 only to meet our goal.
Food Project.
We had fairly good rainfall in most parts of the Binga area. In some areas, there was very little rainfall. In these areas little has been harvested. In some places like Saba zone, crops have been destroyed by locusts. Locusts are difficult to get rid of them from the fields because they cannot be scared like birds. Also they eat crops day and night. I heard of some families who have absolutely harvested nothing and are already struggling to get food. I want to thank the IDES and Tonga Ministries for their continued monthly support of food aid. We pray that God will continue to bless their families and organizations as they search to serve Him day and night. We will be delivering mealie-meal (corn meal) this week to some of our Churches in Binga.
Family
The Lord is always good to me and the family. God has blessed me and Ellinah with 3 cute kids. Timothy who is aged 17 is doing his secondary education at Manjolo High School. He likes playing football (soccer). When He was in the States he played soccer under David Like’s coaching. David taught him good soccer skills which he still uses them here in Zimbabwe. Soccer was my favorite sport at school too. I was a super goalkeeper. No wonder why Timothy likes soccer. Also he likes fishing. Jim Fitch and Thomas Rayman taught him how to fish. During the weekends, he goes for fishing with his friends. The ponds do not only have fish but crocodiles too. Timothy is very sociable. It’s very easy for him to make friends. He brings his friends to Church. Timothy is well known for dancing in the Church. Currently, he is not staying with us. We miss him a lot. He will be with us this week as he takes school break.
Chilengwa (13) is my only daughter. She is doing grade 7 at Thomas Coulter School. She loves school and often busy with her assignments. She is doing very well at school. She likes singing for her Lord in the Church. She mostly sings English songs which she learned at VBS and Christian camps in the States. She is actively involved in Sunday school activities. Every evening she reads her Bible and prays before she goes to bed. One day she came to me early in the morning and said, “Dad, I want to pray and fast for my cousin.” Her cousin had just married second wife and that very week he divorced his second wife. Chilengwa was happy that God answered her prayer.
Chiyanza is my last boy aged 8. His nickname is Obey. He is doing grade 3 at the same school with his sister. He loves school. His best friend is Lubright (my brother’s son). They call each other twins. They enjoy rolling tires during weekends. People call them truck drivers. Obey is actively involved in Sunday school activities. On one of the Sundays Obey did not do his memory verse. After Sunday Service the pastor asked him why he did not recite the memory verse. He said, “It is not always easy to say a memory verse in front of the congregation.” The pastor smiled and began to tell him his first experience to preach in the Church.
Thank you for your continued support. Donations and checks can be sent to:
Charles Kamilos
3109 Homewood Court
Newberg OR 97132-9171
USA
Email: ckamilos@gmail.com
Your Co-worker in Christ
Alec.
