Sharing The Gospel With Zambia's Chiefs

                                                       Many Tears, Few Words
When we are working on public relations materials together for our family business, my son David often says to me, "Mom - too many words."  Today, I am at a loss for words- something profound has happened. I can only give you a timeline and weep, as I have for the past 7 hours.

11:00 am- Chief Chipepo from Siavonga arrives for a meeting that he initiated with me and my friend Dorothy Phiri, who arranged for our visit to his chiefdom to give out glasses. He thanks us for the wonderful service to his people.
11:30 He says "At 16 hours I invite you, Tanya, to come to our Chief's conference at Mulungushi Conference Center to give whatever word the Lord gives you to give to the Chiefs.
11:45 He leaves. I begin weeping. Stunned. Humbled. No words can capture…
12:30 I arrive at Heroes Farm and put my towel on the wood floor of my bedroom. I lie prostrate on it, weeping. Unable to comprehend what God is doing. As I weep, God speaks.  Bit by bit what his message is to the chiefs enters my mind.
3:00 I leave Heroes Farm with a message in my heart and spirit, driving to Mulungushi Center
3:40 I drive in the gates - Impala are roaming on the grass across the street from the mall where I always go to the internet cafe. A fountain shoots water under lines of palm trees and manicured lawns. A huge metal sculpture stands at the entrance of the Conference Center.  I park my old Pajero in the lot, and feeling somewhat conspicuous as the only white person on the premises with men in suits and women dressed in formal African attire, I walk into the beautiful building.
3:45 Dorothy Phiri arrives to accompany me. She phones the chief and asks which building we should be in. We walk to the right building.
4:00 Chief Chipepo greets us warmly and invites us into the VIP lounge. He pulls a small table in front of our chairs in order to serve us. He instructs the wait staff to bring us tea and a plate of finger food.
4:05 We hear the National Constitutional Committee voting on the new constitution being put into place. Inside the doors next to us are the parliament and the chiefs who are writing the new constitution.
4:10 The Chiefs are on break, and start arriving in our room - each one greets us personally with a handshake. We get on our knees for each one and shake their hands and greet them as "Your Royal Highness". They are warm and welcoming. They get snacks and tea and are seated in the large black leather chairs that are positioned in a U shape in the room. Chief Chipepo opens the meeting by saying that Tanya has brought a medical team to check eyes and give out eyeglasses to his chiefdom, and that she is willing to do that for any other chief who is needing that service. (I am surprised to hear that I am - I am just listening to God's plans unfold in the moment)
4:15 The Chairperson opens the meeting and introduces me.
4:16 I kneel before them on both knees and address them "Your Royal Highnesses, I am a simple woman. I am of no importance. I am humbled and honored to be in the presence of great men and women here.” I proceed to explain that I believe that God has shown me that they are great in the physical realm because they have royal blood flowing in their veins and royal cells that make up their bodies. But even better than that, that God has called them to be great in the spiritual realm as well. There is a holy purpose for their lives.  I told the story of Moses, whom God called to set people free from physical slavery. I said that God is calling them to set people free from spiritual slavery. Moses had no weapons, but God accomplished what he did through Moses. He is calling them to be Moses to their people by taking a stand before the evil spirit saying "Let my people go". They also have no weapons, but Jesus said that He was anointed to set the captives free. If you do not know how to access his spirit, he tells us in 2 Chronicles that if we humble ourselves before him, seek him, and give up our wicked ways, he will answer us from heaven and heal our land.  I said that if they do not know how to seek the spirit of Jesus, it is by being still, and inviting him to be their Lord, their ruler. Just as they are rulers of their people, and their people carry their chief's name on their identity cards, Jesus wants us to carry his name, and to submit to him as ruler.  If we follow his instructions, he will come and set the people free from slavery - slavery to greed, to lust, to the love of money, to anger, etc.  I ended by asking them - are you willing to accept God's invitation to be Moses to your people? To see Jesus set them free from spiritual slavery?
4:25 Chief Chipepo invited them to share their contact information with me if they were interested in medical/eye teams coming to serve their people.
4:30 The Chiefteness seated next to me spoke up "I am so encouraged and lifted up by the message we have heard today. Yesterday - in those chambers - we were called savages who ruled over savages. Today, we have heard that we are a chosen people to lead our people to holiness. I am so thankful, so touched, so uplifted by this message. I want to thank our visitor for speaking God's words to us”.
4:35 Chiefs went back to the Constitutional session with members of parliament. My Zambian friend, Dorothy Phiri whispers to me - you don't even know how extremely difficult it is to see these chiefs. It is so unbelievably rare to get an audience with just one of them.
4:40 I drove across the street to the internet cafe, weeping once again to tell you this tale. 

I think I did have some words - is that ok this time David?

Tanya