What I Will Be Doing in Zambia

                 For years, the Wallace Presbyterian Church supported Lardner and Mollie Moore in their work at the Yodogawa Christian Hospital in Osaka, Japan.  When the Moores retired, we decided to look for some more missionaries to support.  At a covered dish mission dinner, I asked members of the congregation to fill out a simple survey that asked two questions:  Where in the world do you want to support a mission worker?  and What kind of mission work do you want to support?  The results were crystal clear:  educational mission work in Africa.  Using that information, I researched newly appointed Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) missionaries and found a couple involved in educational mission in southern Africa.  An added bonus was they have ties to North Carolina, which made it possible for them to visit us in Wallace when they are back in the States.  Exactly two years ago today, on Tuesday, April 19, 2011, the session unanimously approved a recommendation from the Outreach Committee that our congregation help support Rev. Dustin and Sherri Ellington in their work in Lusaka, Zambia.  Dustin serves on the faculty of Justo Mwale Theological University College and teaches New Testament studies.

          The Ellingtons paid us a visit that summer and we were impressed and thankful for the work they are doing in Lusaka.  Since our relationship has begun, our congregation has provided money to purchase bicycles for their graduates to use in their new ministries.  Church members have read and edited senior theses for graduating students.  Curt and Regina Simpson have developed an online relationship with a student named Zacchaeus Chilembo.  Our congregation supports the Ellingtons financially, along with other Presbyterian congregations in southeastern North Carolina and in other places.

 

          Last fall, Dustin e-mailed me and extended an invitation to teach at the university college in June.  Some of the faculty will be on sabbatical and he needs help covering all of the courses that need to be taught.  Dr. Marty Soards, Professor of New Testament Studies at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, will be also be visiting and teaching in Lusaka.  Our session gave me the green-light to pursue this opportunity.  I am most grateful for this chance to visit the Ellingtons on site in Zambia, to represent our congregation, and to help prepare preachers for their ministry in Zambia.

                The other day Nancy asked me what I had been working on.  “I was reviewing periphrastic participles and articular infinitives,” I said.  “Oh boy,” was her reply!  I can’t help it if studying Greek is fun for me!!  Dustin asked me to teach the third section of a three part course, Introduction to New Testament Greek.  I’ll be teaching in the classroom for thirty hours during the weeks of June 10, June 17, and June 24.  I get to teach the final chapters of the Greek grammar textbook, which are usually the hardest lessons for students to learn!  Oh boy! Dustin has also asked me to preach in the university chapel.

 

 

            Here are some pictures of the students who will be in my class: