Nsanja Village

Perserverance is the word that comes to mind whenever I think about the church in Nsanja village. Sunday we worshipped with the believers there. This was one of the first places that Josh began teaching when we moved to Luwingu in 2003. It is a miracle that the group formed into a church. I know every place is a miracle but there were many obstacles and problems and it seemed the attacks were relentless upon the lives of those who had chosen to follow Christ.

This persistent group of believers met for church in a school room until last year when they were finally given a plot of land on which they could build a building. When the brick laying began so did the rains and a wall fell down! You would think they would give up... think again! They rebuilt and we sat in their new church building for the first time!

They still need to add more grass to the roof so everyone sits on the right side in case it starts to rain during the service!

Abby usually spots babies and begins making friends with the hope that they will let her hold them! This little guy did but got fussy for his sister just before I took the picture. Luke usually finds a friend pretty quickly too! Until the end of church when he is wiped out...

After Josh preached, one young man indicated that he wanted to trust Christ as his Savior so he came forward and Lazarus one of the leaders shared the plan of salvation with him!

What a great Sunday!

Bugged Out!

Thankfully the rains have come!! The temperature has dropped and the skies grow overcast just about every afternoon before it pours. We are loving it... well almost. When it doesn't rain for months, for some reason when it does start to rain the first few times it stirs up nature and BUGS ARE EVERYWHERE!! Especially when the power goes off for a few hours a night and our battery powered lights come on...those critters find a way through our screens! So I usually sit with the fly swatter while Josh reads our Bible story to the kids before we tuck them in at night. Needless to say I am bugged out!! So you can imagine when I looked last weekend at our lesson plans for this week and practically laughed out loud when I saw we were studying INSECTS and SPIDERS for Science!! AGGHH! BUT we made the best of it and I actually enjoyed all our fun projects this week...ok for most of the time since they were fake :)

So here is Anna with some pencil toppers from our fun discovery kit with all kinds of fake bugs in it...


We read books on bugs (is this too cheesy?!)...

We made some fun craft projects while learning about insects. Caleb made an insect model showing the 3 parts of an insect(head,abdomen,& thorax), the wings, and antennae. He made a flying ant!

Abby made a complete metamorphosis mobile showing eggs, larvae, pupa, and adult stages...

Anna painted a butterfly in her own style :)


Yes, I have actors! The kit came with these huge inflatable bugs, so the kids thought it would be fun to put them up in our school room...


Caleb and Luke enjoyed these huge plastic insects!!

We had a great time but I am still bugged out about all the REAL bugs!

Random pics

I have 2 cute pics I have to post...
Abby and her friend, Lavender, at church last Sunday!

We ate a national meal for lunch last week and Luke loves Zambian greens and nshima!! Yet, he doesn't want to eat carrots or green bean?!?

Worship with the Boma

On Sunday, we worshipped with the church here in the boma(main part of town.) We have been alternating Sundays with the 2 new villages that have just begun meeting together to help them learn how to have church. It was nice to be able to be with the believers close to home and see how the Lord has grown them from just a few that met in a school room to a group of mature believers.
Here are my kids walking to church... like they own the road :) This is the main road through our town.

Despite my efforts for Luke to walk like the rest of them, he still prefers to be right here--tied to my back Bemba style!

My social butterflies!


This is their temporary structure while they are working on their actual church building.

Please continue to pray for the church here in the boma as they lead out among the other churches in the district. Pray for Pastor Gondwe as he shepherds this flock to care for the members but also to reach out to the lost. Pray for the evangelism teams that they have organized on their own that go out into the community each Saturday. Praise and thank the Lord for all He continues to do in this place!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Luke!

Our little man turned 2 on Monday and we had a great time celebrating him.


A big thanks to our moms and sisters who sent Luke a birthday box! He had so much fun opening his gifts! He loves books, balls, and anything with wheels!


One of his favorite ways to play with his trucks and cars is to drive them along the edge of the couch...

Luke loves chocolate chip cookies so I made him a cookie cake with a pile of chocolate chips on top. He wanted to eat them instead of the cookie!

The kids have been teaching Luke how to blow so he would be ready for this event!

In the afternoon we let Luke do one of his most favorite thing... play in the water! You can see who has the hose!!

We had a great day celebrating the blessings God has given us in Luke. He is such a joy and is at a fun stage in his life. Happy birthday, our sweet Luke!

Trip to Kaputa

On Saturday morning our family loaded up and headed to Kaputa, to visit our friends and team members the Adairs!! We made great timing and the cut through road was being worked on so it made the trip a little less bumpy...ok I am trying to be positive :)
Sunday morning we were able to go to church in the boma of Kaputa! They have a plot and have put up a temporary structure until they are able to start building...

Here is the men's side of church

And the women's

The children of course were mesmerized by the 6 musungu children at church that day! Of course they are used to Hutch 2yrs and Lulie 7 months. Isn't this the sweetest picture of these girls and Lulie! I wish you could see her sweet smile under the citenge.

After church and lunch the men and Caleb packed up some tents and headed to the game management area to try and hunt for a buffalo. James had gotten a tag for it last month but it was one of the animals he didn't get. So they were trying again and it was a dream come true for an 8 year old! They saw puku...

Monkeys...

and buffalo tracks that were old. They had obviously moved to another area since the 2 water holes in this part were dried up. Even still, they had a great time doing a manly thing! And cool Uncle James gave Caleb some gun safety education and let him shoot his shot gun! As Caleb would tell you, he felt the full kick of the gun one time after practicing with Daddy.


Mary Margaret and I along with our younger brood enjoyed the comforts of home. One of these was letting the kids play in water with the hose on a hot afternoon. The men showed up just in time for Caleb to join them in the water!

Aren't these boys too cute!!

We had a great time meeting the believers in Kaputa and hearing all about what God is doing among the Taabwa people. Of course we enjoyed the fellowship most of all! Pray for the Adairs as they minister in a far away place. Pray for the believers to stand strong in their new found faith as the Adairs go on their stateside time.

The Sovereignty of God

As we look over the course of our lives, both before marriage and since,we never cease to be amazed at the Sovereignty of our mighty God. His ways are unfathomable and at times are difficult for words to describe. I am writing this after an intense week of craziness that I won't even attempt to describe! Yet, in the midst of the craziness or spiritual warfare, we can see and testify to the faithfulness of our Savior and are amazed at His great work.
Josh amazingly made it to Sande village on Tuesday morning and was able to meet with 8 adults and pray with 2 to receive Christ! Thank you for praying for this village specifically!
Then he went on to Musungu village to meet with this new church. And guess who showed up for Bible study? Two men who are school teachers who have just been transferred to this village and are teaching at the school where we meet. They are from the Eastern province of Zambia and this is the AMAZING part... they have grown up BAPTIST in a Baptist Fellowship church. What an AWESOME God we serve. His timing is impeccable... at the right time he brought these men to this village in the middle of the northern province where we could use the help of training new believers!! "Amazed" just doesn't seem adequate. Will you praise HIM with us??

My Jr. Entrepeneur

Caleb has decided to start his own egg business here in Luwingu. He saved up his allowance for some time so that he could purchase 10 laying hens in Lusaka when we bought ours. The ones we have now are a year old and will stop laying soon. We are learning a lot about farm animals and we cannot mix different batches of chickens, hence the term "pecking order." So it was time for us to buy more layers and Caleb was ready to start his business. He has learned what capital means and how to figure in the total cost of the project and his return. It will also help build confidence in communicating with other adults as he goes to shops (with Dad of course) to sell his eggs. This is his first tray, which is 30 eggs. As you can see below the difference in our younger chickens' eggs and the older ones...

What happened to the older ones... well 2 of our workers and friends are enjoying them for the rest of their laying span and their children are loving fresh eggs every day!

Prayer Partner Update

Here is our prayer partner update from last week...

He came to our house to buy yet another Bible. We usually don't inquire as to why someone wants a Bible, it is pretty obvious. However, this was Ba Gondwe our friend and pastor of the church here in the Boma. So Josh asked and the answer was simple, "Someone else needed it so I gave them mine." Now, just to help your perspective... Bibles are not easy to come by here in Luwingu. That is just how he is--giving. Most Zambians are the most generous people despite what they possess there is always some to share. Pray for Ba Gondwe as he continues to "give" the Word to those around him. Pray for the church in the boma to continue in evangelism as they seek to share the Gospel in the town part of Luwingu. They are also working very hard at finishing their physical building.



"Hallelujah!" was what he shouted as he came out of the water from being baptized. This elderly man has been so faithful in the village of Musungu ever since Josh began evangelistic Bible studies. He always meets Josh and tells him where he has been in the village that morning and who all he has invited to join them to study God's Word. Pray for the village of Musungu to grow strong in their faith and as a new church. You can look at pictures on our blog of the baptism service 2 Sundays ago.



We are thanking the Lord for healing Josh and for providing a quick way for him to see a doctor. Last Sunday our family flew to the capital on the Flying Mission's tiny airplane that landed on our dirt airstrip here in Luwingu. We literally walked to the airstrip from our house. You can read the full story on our blog but we are now all back home and Josh is finishing his antibiotics. We never cease to be amazed at Jehovah Rapha's tender care for our family.



Pray for us as we travel to visit Kaputa (borders the Congo) to see our team members, the Adairs. It is about an 8 hour drive north from our home. Continue to pray for Josh as he continues to teach a Bible School class on Sunday afternoons and meets with other denominations' pastors on Tuesday nights.



Sande (Sun-day) village has been struggling to have a core group of believers for awhile now. However, Josh stopped by to encourage the one faithful couple and offered to help him gather some for Bible study once again. He meets with 5-7 on Tuesday mornings now and 2 weeks ago 5 prayed to receive Christ! Pray that the Holy Spirit would draw men and women to Himself in the village of Sande. Pray that a strong church would result that would stand despite the opposition from the evil one that would seek to destroy our efforts.



As always, we would LOVE to hear from you! It is so encouraging to know that you are praying for our family and the Bemba people. Please note our NEW email address: joshandamybowman@gmail.com

Citoshi Baptism

Today we went to the village of Citoshi for worship and to celebrate baptism with these new believers. We took with us Pastor Gondwe from the church here in the boma. Josh reviewed baptism and they shared their salvation testimonies during Sunday School. Pastor Gondwe preached during the main service. The river was a little farther away so we all loaded up and Josh made two trips so everyone could be a part of baptism.
Here are some pictures singing at the river...


Pastor Gondwe preaching at the river

These are the three who were baptized...



Please continue to pray for this new church, led by Mr Chewe a teacher at the school there. We are so thankful for his faithful leadership. Josh meets with them every Thursday for basic discipleship and studying the book of Acts and how a church functions.