An Amazing Story of Salvation
Pictured are Mr. and Mrs. Joe Mwale. How our church came in contact with them is an interesting story of God’s providence.
The Mwales live in Lusaka, Zambia. Joe is 76 years old (which is quite old for a Zambian). They came to the States to visit some of their children who live in the Chicagoland area. Their daughter helped them get an apartment in Valparaiso, Indiana for their stay. Marvin Miller and his wife were out canvassing this summer. As Marvin tells it, they both were pretty discouraged and were about ready to stop for the evening. They decided to knock on a few more doors. They knocked on the apartment that the Mwales had rented. The Mwales niece said she would be interested in coming to church. She did for the next two weeks. Then through visiting, Mr. and Mrs. Mwale found out about church, and they started attending in early August.
They attended for a number of weeks, and then we had our Teen Friend Day. On that day, Pastor Parrish preached on the love of God and how the love of God changes people. Mr. Mwale was brought to tears by the end of the service. Dave Olson talked with him afterwards, and they went to lunch and talked about the gospel for over three hours. Dave left him with a tract and asked him to read it, and they lined up a follow-up for during the week. Mr. and Mrs. Mwale came to the Olsons house for dinner on Tuesday night. They discussed the gospel again at length, and Mr. Mwale trusted Christ as his Savior.
So, what makes this even more amazing? Dave and this man had lived in Africa together for the whole time that the Olsons were missionaries there. However, Mr. Mwale lived in Lusaka and was very involved in politics. He has been an ambassador to Russia, Japan, and Sweden and was an advisor to one of the presidential candidates. Dave Olson would have never been able to meet this man or have an audience with him. However, since Dave had been over there for so many years, there was a kinship being here in the States together. God is amazing in His providence. Pray for both Mr. & Mrs. Mwale. Mrs. Mwale has a clear testimony of being saved three years ago. They are both planning to get baptized this Sunday night, and they head back to Zambia this next week. Pray that they will grow in the Lord.