Author: welsfriendsofafrica.com

Seven years ago a fire was kindled. Today it burns strong and bright.

Aflame are the hearts of nine men who have been studying for the full time ministry since 2011. It was then that they first entered the Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, Malawi.  It was last year that they all finished the Seminary in Lusaka, Zambia. Continue reading “Hearts Aflame”

On September 24, 1977, my wife Beth and I, married only two months, stepped off a plane in Lusaka, Zambia for the first time. I was four months out of the seminary and was about to begin my ministry by serving as a missionary with the Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA). It was a difficult time for the 13-year-old country. Store shelves were all but empty as the import routes were cut off by the violent war of independence taking place on our south in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). But the welcome of the mission staff and especially the warm and cheerful Christians of Zambia helped us quickly make Zambia our first home. Continue reading “African Homecoming”

I felt it but I didn’t see it.

I was settling into my tent for the night.  Fumbling around with my backpack and belongings, something poked me in the finger. But what?  I didn’t know. An acacia thorn?  A bare wire?  A stray needle?

I was tired and ready for sleep but the thought of not knowing what had impaled my skin was bugging me. I turned on my solar light and I scoured the tent but found nothing that could have been the culprit.  So I got thinking…what if it was something else?  Something alive and hiding?  Something like…

A scorpion? Continue reading “Easter Reflection: “Where, Oh death, is your sting?””