Wilcox Christmas Newsletter

The Christmas Newsletter of Wes & Laurie Wilcox December 2011
A New Day With the Wilcoxes
Zambia, Africa

Our First New Day Christmas

This year we will be celebrating our first “New Day” Christmas her in Zambia. Although we have celebrated Christmas in Zambia many times throughout the years, we have never had the privilege of celebrating it with our New Day family. We started our celebrations with an early Christmas party, as several of our staff members are taking holiday leave for much of this month.

The staff enjoyed a white elephant gift game where they each had the opportunity to choose a wrapped gift or steal an already opened gift from another staff member. We told them it was the only time they were allowed to steal. There were lots of laughs and a few that were brave enough to steal from others.

We played a game with the children similar to musical chairs, where each child received a goody bag when they landed on the number that was called. Little Axer, our three-year old, is showing signs of leadership. We just have to find a way to teach her that a good leader does not push people but just encourages them to move.

The party also included a story about Christmas, decorating the tree, and of course eating Christmas cake, popcorn and candy (or sweeties as they are called here).
It was a good day, but just the beginning of Christmas celebrations to come. We will have our own Christmas with the orphans on Christmas Eve, and then go to Mapanza Baptist Church on Christmas Day for a more Zambian style Christmas.

Margaret is our house mother for our first group of orphans. She is in her 60’s and the children call her “Banene” or “Grandmother.”
We first met Margaret about ten years ago when we were church planting for the Baptist Mission of Zambia. A team from America was helping us in survey work, and evangelism in a new area where we hoped to plant a church. The target for the new church was Mapanza, a place totally unfamiliar to us all at that time.
The team just “happened” to be a church that the Tidwells had invited, and so Blu and Wes were together when they met Margaret. They had gone to the home of a young man named Maxwell (now the leader of the Mapanza Baptist Church) to witness to his wife. Margaret “just happened” to be at Maxwell’s village that day, and after hearing the good news, she along with Priscilla, both made a decision to follow Christ.
Maxwell, his wife Priscilla, Margaret, and another young man named Maskell, were the first four members of the new Mapanza Baptist Church. It wasn’t until a few years ago that we learned that the people in the community started spreading rumors that we were Satanists and that these four were helping Wes to drink the blood of children. Each of the four members of the new church had a job to do in helping Wes find the children so that he could drink their blood. The people believed the rumor saying that this was the reason Wes was so big, and that the trailer he often came with is where he stored the blood.
In spite of these rumors, a new church was planted and today is one of our strongest rural Baptist churches in southern Zambia. As we watched Margaret grow in her commitment to the Lord, we knew that she was to be our first mother.
Because of her age, Margaret struggles sometimes to move around as quickly as the children, so her niece Michelle is her helper, and a woman from a village nearby, helps her wash clothes and clean house. In spite of her limitations, she loves the children and they love her.

Prayer Requests:
Here are several prayer requests that you can lift up to the Father on our behalf.

Please pray for Margaret as she cares for the eight children of the Luyando House (the House of Love). Just before coming to us, she injured a knee and it is giving her lots of pain. Pray for complete healing so she can give her best to the children. Pray for wisdom and strength, as she has a huge responsibility to bring up these children in God’s way.

Each day we have many decisions to make for the staff, children, building, and concerning community relationships. Pray that we will seek God’s heart and not try to do this ministry in our own strength and wisdom.

Working with children and being in contact with lots of people can bring many sicknesses. Recently Laurie had ringworm, the first in all her years in Zambia, and the Morans have had malaria several times. Pray that God will keep all of us healthy here at New Day.

Mavuto came from a far village asking for help in going to school. Because he speaks good English, we gave him some work to translate. In the process of translating the book, he realized he had never accepted Christ and was depending on his good works for salvation. Mavuto accepted Christ in his home. We will be going to his village soon to meet his mother. We are looking at possibly planting a church in his village. Pray that God will give us wisdom to see if this is the place for us to begin a new work.

Each day Wes goes down to the shelter to do Bible study with the community workers who have come looking for jobs. He says that they are really starting to open up and ask questions. Pray for these workers to understand and accept the truth about the good news of Jesus.

We are waiting patiently (perhaps some days not so patiently) for electricity. Recently they came out and did some work, and now they are saying we have to replace ten poles before that are being eaten by termites. Please pray that God will provide the funds to replace the poles and that the electric company will not delay in doing the work. And, pray that we will be patient as we wait.

Thank you for your prayers and Merry Christmas
Wes and Laurie Wilcox
Wilcox@zamnet.zm
www.wilcoxzambia.blogspot.com