Living In Lusaka

Hey Everybody,

We're here in our 2nd full day back in Lusaka, staying at the home of the Wests. They have a spare laptop, and some wireless internet, so here I am!

For a much more complete and detailed account of our time here in Zambia, check out our team blog that Mallory is updating with regularity.

We've been doing youth conferences for the last two days here (tuesday & wednesday) with youth from zones 1 & 2, out of the 3 church zones that are in Lusaka. As a team, we offer 5 different seminars: Youth Ministry, Dating & Relationships, Marriage Workshops, Reach 4 Life, and Spiritual & Physical Health. Mallory (our fearless team leader) and I, have been tag-teaming the Dating & Relationships seminar, and enjoying all the challenging questions we're asked! Our seminar examines some of the qualities that make for a God-honoring husband & wife (eph. 5:22-33), and practical ways to put these relationships (1 tim. 5:1-2) into practice. We've gotten the expected & not-so-expected questions from "Is it OK to have sex before marriage?" and "Is kissing, OK?" to "Is it ok for me to date a girl if I don't have a job?" God has blessed us with dating experience, reminding us of His Word, and GREAT TRANSLATORS who are familiar with the cultural context in which questions are asked. We'll be doing one more set of seminars on friday (Zone 3) and then a collective youth conference (Zones 1-3) on Saturday. Very much looking forward to it!

Prayer Needs:
*That many youth would come to the Conference on Saturday
*Wisdom - during our Q & A (i.e., to represent God's Word accurately)
*That many youth would decide to honor God with their Sexual Purity in their Dating relationships.

Well, gotta go. Laptop time comes to a close :)
Thank you for your prayers,
Much love & God bless,

Paul (or as I've been named, "Mapalo", which means "Blessing" in Bemba)