During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Dennis and LeeAnn Luker and Victor and Beverly Kubik visited United Church of God brethren in South Africa, Malawi and Zambia. While far away from us, congregations in these countries are robust and growing. In January of 2011, the entire ministry in these countries resigned and left the brethren to wonder and pray about how they would be pastored. God has mercifully answered these prayers by reorganizing the leadership, awakening and strengthening the people. I put together a video, which tells much of the story. Visit http://tinyurl.com/ucg-braai

The trip was ambitious in that we made nine stops in 18 days. Because of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, there were extra days to congregate with the brethren. Also, we took time to visit brethren in their homes as well as see some of the outreach work that the church and LifeNets have been doing in these countries.

After arriving in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Lukers continued to East London and my wife Bev and I to Durban for the Sabbath of March 31. There was no UCG East London until after the Feast of Tabernacles last year. Much of the church realized that the claims made against the United Church of God were false and came back.

On Sunday, April 1, a braai (essentially a picnic) was held for the Johannesburg brethren at the home of Jason and Monique Webster. While in Joburg, the Lukers saw the newly organized national office from which literature and correspondence is sent. Richard and Emma Kennebeck were in South Africa at the same time to help Isella Wallis, the office manager, with database matters.

On April 2, we joined again with the Lukers and continued to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. We visited with a number of brethren, including Lester Njewa, whose husband died the previous Thursday. We made a stop and baptized two people at ABC (African Bible College). The Julius Kachali family came 250 miles by bus from Mzuzu in the north and we enjoyed a dinner with them that evening, along with the deacon Haiton Thungula and Wordsworth Rashid. There are no elders currently in Malawi, where there are 150 people in attendance.

On Wednesday, we held an afternoon Bible study with the Lilongwe brethren, and then on Thursday night kept the Passover with them.

The next morning the travelers flew to Blantyre in the south of Malawi and kept a very wonderful Night to Be Much Observed hosted by deacon Gracious Mpilangwe and his wife Loney. Several families were invited for a delicious dinner and evening of fellowship.

On the First Day of Unleavened Bread, an energetic welcome was given the Lukers. The night before, the unpopular president of Malawi, Bing Mutharika, died of a heart attack. The country has been in economic chaos with rising prices, a thriving black market and long, long lines for fuel. Two of our members work in the media, Timothy Kamilaya for the national The Nation newspaper and Osborn Liyawo for Malawi Broadcasting. After services, he received an e-mail confirming the death of the president and the installation of the vice-president, now the second female leader of an African nation. That evening, one of our friends, the leader of the People’s Progressive Movement party, stopped by to visit at a guest house. He had been the leader of the opposition coalition in Malawi. They have been helpful to us over the years in Malawi with their church and humanitarian work.

On Sunday, April 8, LeeAnn Luker hosted a women’s seminar at the conference room of the guest house. Fourteen ladies attended as various questions and topics were discussed. One lady traveled nine hours by bus to come. The ladies really enjoyed this event!

From Blantyre, we all went back to Lilongwe, as that was the only city from which we could proceed to the next country, Zambia.

On the day we were to fly to Zambia, we discovered that the flight was cancelled. Fortunately, this once a week flight was rescheduled for the next day. Kenya Airways put us up at the best hotel in Lilongwe, where we had to wait 24 hours.

We arrived in Zambia on Thursday, April 12. Pastor Wilson Nkoma and wife Dorothy along with 32 members of the Lusaka congregation very warmly greeted us at the airport. From the airport in Lusaka, we had to wait about four hours for our flight up north to Ndola, where we would stay with Derrick and Cherry Pringle and visit the Mufulira church.

The stay at the Pringles’ estate was delightful. On the Holy Day, April 13, Derrick drove UCG’s church bus, collecting brethren along the way to Mufulira services. The bus capacity is 28, but we filled it up with 42 that we dropped off at the church location. Then we continued on in a different direction, collecting more than 20 others and bringing them back for services. After services, Mr. Luker met with the men and spoke about Christ-like service, and Mrs. Luker met with the ladies.

Then we reversed the process, taking the brethren back to where they picked them up—a two-hour process.

The next day, we flew back to Lusaka and services with the congregation there. A highlight was the ordination of five deacons.

We have about 400 in attendance in Zambia, a country about the size of Texas. The deacons ordained were already leaders of groups of people throughout the country. Those ordained were Armstrong Maninga in Kasumpa, Maxwell Kasakabantu in Nalubanda North, Jonathan Katapya in Mapoko, Luke Banda in Lusaka and Alfred Siame in Isoka, located 600 miles northeast. This congregation of about 80 was cut off by the previous pastor, and we were happy to bring them back.

On Sunday, there were greatly appreciated meetings with the Lukers. A women’s seminar was held, followed by a spokesman’s club, which both men and women attended.

Monday, April 16, was our last day in Africa as we flew from Lusaka back to Johannesburg and then all the way back to the United States.

We were thrilled to be with so many of our brethren. We encouraged one another. Our brethren in these countries have a lengthy history with the Church, and many go back to days when the churches were administered from the United Kingdom. We had a rich common history.

This was a special journey that will be remembered forever.