Lessons from Life in Zambia

Lessons from Life in Zambia

Please visit these other links concerning our time in Zambia

Zambia Missions Proposal

Zambia Mission Review Report

Zambia Mission Values Statement

Lessons from Life in Zambia

Christian Enterprise Trust of Zambia

Or visit Mike's Web site at

www.mike.mcloughlin.com

(A Summary of a talk given by Mike McLoughlin on Monday, July 25th, 1994 to the students and staff of Kaniki Bible College in Ndola, Zambia, Africa . Mr. McLoughlin is a Businessman and Missionary from Canada..)

I was attending a class on the parables recently. The speaker was sharing an experience that he had while visiting some missionaries in the eastern province of Zambia. He asked the missionaries how they had benefited from living in Zambia. Now most missionaries will tell you how much the people have benefited from the missionaries, but it is sometimes difficult for them to tell you how they have benefited from their experience here in Zambia. So it was a hard question for them to answer because materially and even spiritually things back home seem to be better than on the mission field.

I have been in Zambia for six months. I plan to be here until the end of 1995. I can tell you what benefits people are receiving such as the encouragement and training they have received in their Christian faith and business activity. However, the question I want to answer for you tonight is: "How have I benefited from being here in Zambia?"

LESSON I -- GREETINGS!

In answer I see that so far I have benefited because I am learning lessons that I would never have learned living in Canada. The first lesson I have learned since being in Zambia is the importance of properly greeting people when you meet them. In Canada, when we meet somebody for the first time we will try and get to know them a little before we discuss our business -- the reason we are getting together. But after that when we see them or talk to them again, we will begin to discuss our business right away and not talk about ourselves beyond the perfunctory: "Hello, how are you?" "I am fine, how are you?" "Fine..." It is different in Zambia. Whether or not I have met the person before I will not only be asked how am I, but how is my wife, how are my children, how are my parents, how is the work going, how is it with God, how is it with the car, how is it... and so on. The greeting can last up to four or five minutes.

To the impatient North American business man or busy Pastor, talking too much before discussing the reason you are contacting them is a waste of time. They will try to move to the subject at hand as quickly as possible. This is especially so when you are on the phone. It frequently occurs that they do not even bother to say "Hello" or "how are you?" They immediately launch into the reason they are calling you. This is the way business is transacted in North America. It is rather like two fax machines contacting each other. When the first fax machine rings the second machine it will begin transmitting as soon as it hears the fax tone, whether or not the second machine is ready to receive it (i.e. has paper, is set properly or whatever.) If the second machine is not ready it will rebuff the transmission and disconnect the call.

Greetings in Zambia serve the purpose of readying or connecting before any messages are transmitted. I have experienced on several occasions the silent offense of Zambian people who I have not greeted properly. After I am several minutes into my transmission, I am rebuffed with the words: "But you have not greeted me properly..." My first reaction is to be impatient and inwardly tap my fingers as I go through the laborious Zambian greeting. Now I know how important it is to greet someone. A Zambian friend of mine recently lost his elder brother suddenly. He was in my home for one hour before I discovered from him the loss that he had suffered. I was very embarrassed and sorry that I had been treating him so lightly and that I had not greeted him properly. Oh, I had asked him how he was, but I had not inquired how his family was. He had said he was fine, but then he had not mentioned the tragedy because I had not greeted him properly. You can be sure that he was not ready to receive much from me during that one hour.

Life in Canada is also full of ups and downs for people. I have learned the importance of "connecting" with people before I transact business. When I go home I will greet people as Zambians greet people. I repent of my superficial way of saying hello. I want to know how people are, how they REALLY are, before I begin discussing business. People are very important to God, their life, their struggle and their tragedies are very important to God. The business I am doing with them is often not as important to God as the person themselves. I will recognize the importance of the person and my relationship with them by greeting them properly before I begin to discuss my business with them. That is one very good lesson that I will take home with me from Zambia.

LESSON II -- S.I.F.T.E.D.

Another lesson that I will take home with me from Zambia is a lesson as to how to cope with an unexpected difficulty. As a missionary in Zambia I have experienced a lot of unexpected difficulties over the past six months: the breakdown of our bus in route to Livingstone delaying our arrival by six hours and causing us to endure dangerous and difficult circumstances; the frequent breakdown of the used car that we recently purchased causing us hardship and frustration; and the theft of my briefcase from my vehicle with important personal papers in it causing me anxiety and frustration. The list goes on.

My typical reaction to an unexpected difficulty is to "curse my bad luck". From that I move into emotional turmoil and anger. Then I blame other people and God for my circumstances and spend a lot of my emotional energy wringing my hands in frustration. My true self is exposed during my weakest moments. This "self" has been conditioned by the instant gratification of need that occurs in North America. In Canada, if my vehicle breaks down I call BCAA (British Columbia Automobile Association) and they will have it fixed, towed or delivered within several hours. Not so in Zambia. It is not infrequent that one will loose an entire day dealing with an unexpected breakdown. When it is repaired, the repair lasts only a week before one experiences another breakdown. This is unacceptable to my North American need for instant gratification. It offends my sense of the proper use of time. It grates against my expectation that when we are in "the will of God" as missionaries everything should go smoothly as it would at home!

How naive I am! Ninety five percent of the world's population experiences the day to day frustration of living without enough food, clothing and shelter.(e.g. Rwanda) Here I am in Zambia, cursing my bad luck and everything else because my vehicle breaks down. "Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?" -- Job 38:1-2 I have regularly "darkened" God's counsel with "words without knowledge!"

So I have repented "in dust and ashes". I have sought God on my weak condition and it has been revealed to me that I am being "sifted". Peter's faith was "sifted" by Satan and Jesus prayed for him that it would not fail him. Luke 22:31-32. God has showed me what I am to do when I face an unexpected difficulty. I am to practice being S.I.F.T.E.D.

When a problem happens the first thing I must do is to SUBMIT. I need to submit to God and to accept it. "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away may the name of the LORD be praised." -- Job 1:21.

Upon the occurrence of the unexpected I will pray: "Lord, I humble myself before you and I accept from your hand whatever you would give me: good or trouble. Lord, your will be done."

Secondly, I need to recognize what is really IMPORTANT: "Though you slay me, yet will I trust in you." --Job 13:15. "Lord, I recognize that what's important is my relationship with you and with others because it is relationship that is eternal. All my problems are only temporal and they will soon pass away."

Thirdly, I must FORGIVE: "Father , forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." -- Luke 23:34 "Lord, I forgive and extend grace to those people or situations that have caused me trouble. I loosen the rope and give them all the slack that is necessary to maintain our relationship and the tranquillity of the situation."

Fourth, I will TAKE CAPTIVE my bitter thoughts & curses: "we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. -- 2 Corinthians 10:5 "Lord, I resist the evil one and I take captive every thought that sets itself up against the knowledge of God in this situation."

Fifth, I EXPECT GOD to do something about it: "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. -- Psalms 42:11. "Lord, I exercise my faith and I expect you to do something for I am helpless."

Finally, I will DELIGHT myself in the Lord for He is good: "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." -- Psalms 37:4 "Lord, I delight myself in you and I say that I am grateful for your unfailing love despite my circumstances. Thank you that you are faithful and that you will give me the desires of my heart because you will make them to be the desires of your heart."

Most Zambian Christians naturally practice being S.I.F.T.E.D. when they encounter difficulties. They always keep their cool, do what they can and trust God to undertake for them. I have never heard a Zambian "curse their bad luck." When I go back to North America I will have learned to practice being S.I.F.T.E.D. and I will not "curse my bad luck" when I encounter unexpected difficulties.

These two lessons in life are the first fruits of my experience of living in Zambia. I pray that God will allow me the privilege of learning many more lessons that will shape in me a "life worthy of Him, pleasing Him in every way." That is my prayer for you as well as for me as you receive these thoughts.

The current version of the Scruples Web site is at www.scruples.net.