Since 2016 when we moved into our Chipepo home, banana trees have adorned the back two corners of our porch that overlooks the inlet. In the warm climate, bananas should have been growing prolifically. Much to Jesse’s dismay, a bunch of bananas only appeared maybe once a year if we were lucky. Jesse always hoped for fruitful banana trees and my desire was always to have beautiful, pink bougainvillea-lined archways leading to my house. Over and over the bougainvillea cuttings would die and the gardener would plant new ones and try again (bless his heart!).
But in the last couple months as we were packing up to leave, we noticed something peculiar. Although we had not done anything new to these plants (and let’s be honest, we wouldn’t have known what to do differently anyway) they started to…blossom. These same plants that had gone through every season year after year and had sat in the same pitiful soil suddenly started coming to life. By the time we left, one banana tree had produced over 100 bananas and my bougainvillea shoots had begun climbing up trees, covering them with pink blossoms. What this spoke to my heart was a promise that the work that we planted in toil and harsh conditions in Chipepo will begin to flourish so much more in our absence! What a beautiful reassurance from our Father that He will finish the work that He started!
We did not leave Zambia without an epic farewell celebration put on by the local leadership of the chiefdom! They had custom outfits made for the whole family, including a matching shirt for Chief Chipepo who referred to himself as “our son” and joined our family picture.
Many of the chiefdom leaders spoke at the ceremony including Chief Chipepo. Jesse, Shane, and I also gave an encouragement. It was beautiful hearing the chaplain recount all of our accomplishments and what we had done for their people. Organizing food distribution during times of famine probably had the most impact on them and we thank God that He used that situation to open hearts to hear the gospel from Overland missionaries.
Enoch and Judith were very sad to see us go, especially since we left them once already when we moved on from Sekute to Chipepo! But at the same time they were thrilled to move into their brand new house that we finished for them right before we left. They will be overseeing the mission base until the rest of the team returns early next year.
Jesse’s mother, Lisa, was a big help with the kids as we packed all our belongings into 16 pieces of luggage and cleaned the house for future tenants. I’m happy that we were able to bring back pretty much everything that was valuable or sentimental to us. Of course we needed a big grand finale to all our overseas travel, right? The trip home was our longest time in transit – at least 40 hours – with no overnight stay. We even had to stay 2 nights in Lusaka prior to flying out in order to get our COVID tests done. We had no stroller because we knew we would be too pressed for time to go and collect it from a far, dark corner of the airport each time we changed flights! As usual, it was extremely challenging but we thank God that we made it will all our luggage and no issues.
In the past when we have come back Stateside for our furloughs the culture shock was real! All of the busyness and choices at the grocery store (and even sometimes trying to remember American words for things) are usually overwhelming. But this time we’ve settled in quickly with great peace and confidence in knowing this is where we belong…for now!
I know the question remains, what will we do now that we are back? Our basic life situations are taken care of but we don’t know exactly what future ministry will look like for our family. We can see signs that God is moving and stirring things even in our own hometown and we are excited and expectant to be a part of all He has in mind! By faith I say that I will be filling these pages once again with testimonies of God’s greatness and glory!
I could never thank everyone enough for your support and prayers on this journey with our family! What a wild and exciting adventure it has been. We never did this because we were fearless (there were scary moments for sure). We never did this because it seemed logical (I’m sure some people thought we were crazy!). We never did this because we thought it would be easy (every day in Africa was a challenge!). We said yes because Jesus is worthy of all that we can possibly give Him. He held nothing back from humanity but willingly offered His own flesh as a sacrifice for us. How can we not give ourselves freely and entirely to His service? I pray that today you will take the first step toward whatever wild journey the Lord wants to take you on in Him! If you hear Jesus calling you, when you step out of the boat of normal life as you know it, you will do amazing things for God!
Krenz Family Updates 