Meeting us at the Lusaka airport was Kambani Banda, the pastor in Zambia. He and his wife, Shirley, would quickly become our Zambian parents.

We spent the Sabbath with the Lusaka congregation and many of our future students at the church property in Verino, Chongwe, which is just outside of Lusaka. Joining us for the week were Eliphazi Salawila and Gracious Milangwe, an elder and a deacon from Malawi, who traveled 12 hours to take the computer and leadership classes. Around 70 people, including the four of us Americans, camped at the property for the week.

From Power Button to PowerPoint

Squeezed inside a thatch-roofed hut, Suzanne taught computer basics to around 15 students of various ages and skill levels using 9 laptops donated by members in the United States. We were able to bring four additional laptops in our luggage to add to the ones donated last year. Negotiating the varying levels of computer skills, she taught some how to create PowerPoint presentations and others where to locate the power button. She focused mainly on teaching her students how to use Microsoft Word and Outlook, which they would be more likely to use in everyday life.

She was also able to load the PowerBible program onto all of the laptops so that brethren using the laptops would be able to access an easy-to-use Bible referencing program. The students were quite thrilled with the idea of using the computers to aid in their Bible study and, for some, their sermon or sermonette writing.

In the afternoon, Suzanne spent extra time with a group of students who had more advanced computer skills, teaching them how to use Excel and PowerPoint. At the same time, Mr. Horchak taught leadership classes to the elders, deacons and other Church leaders present at the camp.

Teaching English With Hymns

For last year's project, Kristine McNeely developed a lesson plan that taught various vocabulary words from six hymns. Since the brethren are familiar with the melodies and even the sound of the words—since they sing them in English—it was decided that helping them understand the meaning of the words they sang would be beneficial to them. Lena and I developed a similar lesson plan following the coursework that Kristine used, teaching new vocabulary from different hymns.

It became clear on day one that many of our 35 students were more advanced than others. Our students ranged in age from 17 to 63 years old, and most of them had previously learned some English while in school but had forgotten it over the years. They were eager to have the opportunity to recall what words they knew and to put them into practice during class.

We decided to split the class into two groups in the afternoon to give more challenging lessons to those with a better handle on the language and give focused attention to those who were learning the basics. Obviously, one week is not enough time to teach an entire language, but what we attempted to do was help them master a few useful concepts that they would use every day. The two classes included conversation practice, writing practice with vocabulary words learned in the morning, and reading practice with a number of books donated by several U.S. congregations.

The camp was definitely not all work; we also had a chance to connect with our brethren. In the evenings, we would gather in the main hall to watch various episodes from the BBC nature documentary series Life, eating popcorn made over a campfire. We would then sit around charcoal fires for hours of conversation or listen to various groups singing traditional songs in harmony. We marveled at the innumerable stars and the brilliant Milky Way in the clear sky above us.

One of the project goals for United Youth Corps is to understand the vision of and the need for the Kingdom of God. Spending time in Africa created a longing inside of us for the total overhaul of this world's system and a desperate desire to change the mismanagement of resources and the effects it has on humanity. What a difference it will make to live in a system that acknowledges that each and every human being is a potential member of God's spiritual family!

On the final day of camp, with tears streaming from our eyes, we said good-bye to our beloved brothers and sisters. Lena reflected, "How can people hate when it's so easy to love?"

Three Kilometers From the Congo

After the Youth Corps project ended, we loaded our bags in Mr. Banda's pickup truck and drove six hours north to Kitwe, which is in the Copperbelt region of Zambia. We spent the next four days enjoying the generous hospitality of Derrick and Cherry Pringle, who live on a homestead outside of the city. Their sons Mack and Rod and their families also live on the family property.

We spent the Sabbath with 49 brethren in the Kitwe congregation and later were able to spend Monday afternoon with most of them at the home of a member, Reuben Chansa, for a Bible study and potluck. Mufulira, where Mr. Chansa and his family live, is just 3 kilometers away from the border of the Congo. Somehow, we convinced Mr. Banda and Mrs. Pringle to drive us to the Zambia-Congo border for a little adventure. Much to our surprise, a jovial border crossing guard arranged for us to be escorted to within 10 feet of the Congo border and later agreed to take a photo with us.

While we were in the Copperbelt, Mr. Banda also took the liberty of driving another 2½ hours to the town of Soweze in order to visit with two of three prospective members there. For the past 13 years, these three men have been keeping the Sabbath and Holy Days, paying their tithes (yet not giving them to any organization) and studying their Bibles. They had been receiving UCG literature, but this visit was the first time a UCG minister was able to contact them. Remarkably, the meeting came about by a chance meeting at a bus stop with a member of the Kitwe congregation, who was able to connect them with Mr. Banda. The eight-hour visit was very encouraging, according to Mr. Banda.

After quickly shopping in the Kitwe markets, we piled back into the pickup and drove back to the Bandas' home in Lusaka for our final evening in Zambia, wishing our stay could last just a little longer.