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Come
and meet Daniel and Sky Scott. They are career missionaries in their first
term, living among the Lozi people in Zambia. They are busy building
relationships as they build their house in the western part of
Zambia.
At the right you see the house under construction. It is located on the shore of the Zambezi river. But the construction of the house is just part of the story. As work on the house is commencing so is the dispensing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The men who are working with Daniel on the house are the Scott's neighbors; so as opportunity would have it, Daniel is able to share the gospel with them. At the same time Daniel and Sky are continuing to learn the language and culture of the Lozi whom they will live among.
They moved out to the location in August and began work in
October in the hot and dry season when the Zambezi was low. The Scotts set
up camp, their house would be tents until the time that construction is completed.
Here is a picture of the kitchen. Okay ladies, how many of us would like to cook in this setting for the next six to nine months! The following is Sky's recent comment to me a year after attending the 40 day new missionary orientation, "Yes, we are living in a tent right now…and if someone had told me a year ago when we were at 40/40 that I would live in a tent for 6 months while we build our house, I’d have told them to go jump in a lake. But truly – God’s grace is more than sufficient and we are not just surviving we are thriving! "
God is truly sufficient for any situation that He asks his children to encounter.
The
living situation has gotten gradually better as improvements are made.
"From August until November we survived with a long-drop toilet and a
water hose. Now we have a hot running shower, a bathroom sink, a flushing
toilet, and double wide kitchen sink. Water is a priority! Our
bathroom is a nice thatched open aired 'room' with a view of the Zambezi. We
have our sleeping tent and then a nice screened gazebo thing that serves as a
kitchen tent. I cook over a two burner gas stove and I’ve learned –
slowly 
but surely how to bake things in my Dutch Oven over the fire."
There have been some disappointments along the way, one of the Scott's dogs was killed and eaten by a crocodile. They've had a herd of elephants crash through their fence in the middle of the night and march across the back of the property behind their tent. But even these incidents will not deter Daniel and Sky from being where they feel God wants them.
Sky writes:
"At the beginning we hired 5 men from the surrounding area to build a fence around our land. The fence is not yet finished and we’ve hired 3 more men to help with all the labor involved in building. As we’ve grown to know these men, we can’t help but hoping that perhaps they will be the first fruits of our ministry here. The first night we camped on this land, we met a man named Allan. Come to find out, Allan is our neighbor – living just 1 mile up river from us. He is respected in the community and a servant of servants. He is never too tired to do one more thing we ask and he is completely selfless…asking nothing from us. He is truly our man of peace. And perhaps our Simon Peter. If he truly comes to know the Lord, all the surrounding people will listen to his testimony.
When we first arrived here, my time was occupied with learning to live in a way so different from the way I’ve always lived. I tried to study Silozi, but my study consisted of reading children’s books and pouring over the dictionary. I made a point to visit Allan’s wife in the village up river from us and to make a visit to the village just down river of us where Dr. Green lives. Dr. Green defines himself as a traditional doctor and when Daniel asked him about who comes to see him, Dr. Green replied… “If someone witches you, you come to see me.” And there you have it. Dr. Green has four wives and some 22 children…although we’ve heard that there have been 5 wives and several children that have mysteriously died before now. I believe with all my heart that we are here – because Dr. Green is here…and God desires him to change sides."
Truly God has a mission and a plan for Daniel and Sky. Sky has sensed a need to be even more immersed in the Lozi language. She now spends her days with the women in the surrounding villages; the wives of some of the workers and others. She joins in; hoeing and weeding the fields, pounding and sifting maize, whatever it is that the women are doing that day. She listens and watches, she asks questions and is in a continual learning mode trying to learn and understand their culture and language with the village as her classroom. She writes,
"My language has improved, my understanding of culture has grown and my prayer life for these people has changed drastically. Gone are the prayers of “Help the Lozi, Lord.” Now, I’m praying with urgency and specific names – that the Lord will preserve them, keep them safe until they can hear and understand in their language. I’m praying that their hearts will not be like the people’s in Isaiah’s time (Isaiah 6), but their eyes will see and perceive…their ears will hear and understand and they will turn their hearts and come and be healed. "
Will you commit to pray for Daniel and Sky Scott as they share the love of Christ and build relationships, as they continue learning a culture and language so foreign from their own; as they plant their lives and make this, a remote corner of Africa, home?