Geographically, Zambia is about the size of Texas and located in South Central Africa. According to the United Nations, it is the fourth poorest country in the world. We are happy to say that we now have more than 400 people meeting in nine congregations throughout the country.

Wilson Nkhoma just visited the previously neglected northeast provinces about 600 miles northeast of where he lives and baptized 15 people. For several years people from these areas just met on their own under the name United Church of God. They built their own church building. From the United States we have just helped provide benches with backs for them. Now they are joined back with us. Aaron Dean and Larry Darden will be visiting speakers at the Feast of Tabernacles there this coming year.

Out west from the capital city, Lusaka, we were able to finally sink a much needed borehole, which is now on the property of one of our deacons, Maxwell and his wife Joyce Kasakabantu. They live in an area where it was hard to find water. The water table is low and the ground hard and it is very difficult to get drilling machinery into that part of Zambia’s interior. Previous attempts have been unsuccessful. While we wanted to attempt to drill a borehole, the cost was high and results uncertain. Our women spent considerable hours each day carrying five gallon buckets of water on their heads for their families.

But success came Sunday evening, July 22. Wilson wrote that the drilling rig arrived in Nalubanda North, where Maxwell lives. Maxwell was lying sick with malaria, but recovered because of the excitement when the community came to watch the drilling on Sunday afternoon. They watched a drilling miracle unfold before their very eyes. A crowd of about 100 people came to witness what they had ridiculed before. They now witnessed what had been promised in April 2012 taking place. Maxwell and Joyce were all smiles and the whole community rejoiced with them, as it was a miracle for all of them to benefit from.

It took the drilling firm two hours to strike water, install the casings and the hand pump. They were done by 6:00 p.m., including the concreting. Everything took about five days to do. We avoided the Sabbath in between. Wilson said that this was “evangelism in action!”

The financing for this project was done through LifeNets, which received a grant from a previously unknown Sabbath-keeping church in the state of Washington. They sent $7,000 to express appreciation for the work LifeNets has done in Ukraine and to request that a borehole be sunk in Africa. They also asked for a sign to be on the well with scriptural references to water and its spiritual implications from Isaiah 55:1 and John 4:13-14.

Wilson’s e-mail included many other encouraging details, including baptisms and other good news.