Zambezi River Victoria Falls • Zambia, Africa

Looking into going to Zambia later this year.  I have been going through the old photographs from when I was a mission kid growing up there.  Here is one of Victoria Falls.

Mosi-oa-Tunya • The smoke that thunders

One place everyone should get a chance to see and experience the mist that drenches you.

Pray for Zambia and that the Lord will bring about great renewal.

Zambia 2013 Outreach • Mission Trip

Please pray as I pray about returning to Zambia after 28 years. I will be traveling with Dr. Joan Hust or as I call her: Mom.

Many changes of course have taken place in the short time we have been away. We would like to minister to all we come into contact with especially the leadership of the Church’s and ministries that were in Joan's ministry, from Club House, Bible College, radio to the ministry trips she planned and used as tools to minister to many people during her time there.

Zambia, like all of that part of the world is extremely beautiful, and has many people with a heart for God serving HIM. Being able to come and show that there are those around the world who care and encouraging them can be a great blessing for not only them but yourself as well. Their way of life and their testimony can change your heart and your testimony can help them.

Zambia is predominantly Christian that includes the Seventh-day Adventist, The Church of Latter-day Saints and Jehovah's Witness. Pray that God's Word can touch every heart and that all may see Him in the light and strive to serve Him in everything. Pray that the walls that separate them from Jesus will be broken down and that His love will flow like the oceans across the land. Pray that those who have given their life to Jesus will be strengthened to overcome all the hardships and temptations that come their way. Pray that God will bless Zambia and its people.

Please pray for the support I need to make this trip.

I plan to do video work so everyone can hear what is going on in Zambia and that the testimony of those living and working in Zambia can touch those around the world with God's love.

If you think ministering to those outside of your city and country is not right then you are not called overseas but to minister to those next door and around your town. So get out there and show God's love no matter where you are. Let people around you see God's love at work in your life and don't forget to invite your neighbors over for dinner every few months so that they can see HIM in you.

If you don't think you are called to minister to your neighbor then I am sorry to say you must be rejecting His call to go. Don't let fear stop you from greeting someone or stop you from showing God's love.

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Mark 16:15-18

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

If you have a heart from God to minister to those in Zambia and would like to be a part of this outreach please contact Jacob for further information.
Phone 208•277•8584 
e-mail Jacob@ministrynews.org 
  

A book by me • Road to Heaven

I wrote Road to Heaven during one of the roughest times in my life in an attempt to see if I was wrong about what I consider basic Christian principles.

I find that Christians seem to pick and choose what we call basics of our Christian life. We forget that we are to follow all the ways God has given us. God gave us HIS Son Jesus who should be our example on how we live and act. So in a small attempt to cover the overall basics of what I feel a Christian should be trying to live like I came up with the principles that the Bible has given us in this book.

It is far from a complete guide. This is more of a pointer to get everyone reading scripture and doing what we are taught by God.

My prayer is that after reading this book your heart will have a new desire to serve God and live in every way we are given to live by our Lord and Savior
.

All profit from this book goes to support MinistryNews.org.

My first hunting trip in Africa

This is me some time ago

One of the great trips I was able to go on in Zambia as a kid was a hunting trip with my friend Neal Greyling and his dad.

We started out early in the morning and drove most of the day. First we were on paved roads then dirt roads, and finally two tracks. We finally arrived at a village where Neal's dad spent two hours bargaining with the chief over the hunting rights, what he would get when we returned and some camp help and a tracker.

Then we drove on into the bush. No roads. After a few hours of this driving we arrived at our camp. Not that it was set up or anything.  It became our camp after a bit of work setting up tents and other luxuries you don't find in the middle of the bush  including a wooden box with a hole cut into it with a toilet seat mounted on top. The African bush is very beautiful despite the many dangers. No words can describe it. You really have to take a trip out there and feel, hear and see it all. Sunsets and sunrises can be extremely colorful, from purple to oranges and reds mixing together to form such art you would think you are in some luxury paradise. Boy, was I spoiled as a kid to be able to grow up in such a great place.

Animals were scarce and it took some effort before we found some wildlife.  Neal's dad managed to shoot one. The order of the hunt was tracker until we visually saw the animals then Neal's dad took the lead followed by Neal since he had hunted before, (it was my first trip), then myself backed up by the tracker who I think was actually behind me to make sure I didn't mess up. When Neal's dad took a step we all stepped at the same time to try and keep the sound to a minimum. We walked like this for quite a ways since we first had to put a huge ant hill between us and the animals. We wound up going up the ant hill and Neal's dad had a kill-shot in one round. There was no good way for Neal or myself to get a bead on any others without spooking them so we wound up not even trying for more as they were gone in seconds.

We then left the tracker with the animal to fend off any lions or scavengers and went and drove the truck out to get the animal back to camp where the help butchered it. Everything is used except for what was inside the intestines.  We made a lot of biltong which is delicious.  It is like making beef jerky in America.

We spent a few days and found nothing else moving anywhere, not even lions or hyenas. Neal practiced driving his dad’s truck and backed into a tree and dented a custom made thick steel bumper. His dad was not happy; Neal and I spent the rest of the day further from camp as not to have to deal with it. We also spent hours at camp just target practicing for our last day there shooting trees.

Neal's dad said we had been there for a week. In fact we hadn't however none of us wore a watch and he was the boss so we packed up for the trip home. It was on the way back we found a warthog and again Neal's dad shot him.

Neal and I were hoping we would roll the truck so we would be stuck in the bush. Shortly after we get back home we knew we had to head off to boarding school and figured being stuck in the bush we could miss a few days of school. This never happened.

So after returning the helpers to their village we drove home.  Our parents showed Neal's dad the newspaper for that day. He thought everyone was playing a joke on him since we had come back two days early.

I heard Neal’s dad talking to my parents saying that Neal and I never had a drop of water on our skin during the whole trip.  I still can’t figure out what he was talking about as I drank lots of water during the hunting trip.

Honda 50 • Zambia adventures • growing up

When I was five years old I wound up having major surgery on my leg. When I left the hospital my mom had a Honda 50, the one with the folding handlebars, waiting for me. At that point in my life I did not know how to ride a bicycle.

Shortly after this my parents moved to Africa where they brought the Honda 50 with them in their suitcase.

It wasn't until I was six or seven years old that my brother showed me how to ride the motorbike. What fun that was to be able to ride through the bush going places that as a kid you would have never gone by yourself.

I wound up driving through a rebel army camp and back. I think my parents had a heart attack or two.

The Lord sure protected me as a kid.

A few years later I was going to a place called Jack's Rock where boulders the size of a block of houses formed caves and crevasses. My friends, Zambians and Neal Greyling use  to run around playing  despite a cave that was there being housed by a bunch of bandits who use to invite us in to eat and laugh at our stories.


So thank God for His ever watchful eye on us as we go about our lives. HE is faithful.