Christmas News Letter from Lake Tanganyika

Merry Christmas and Blessings for the new year

Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." 

Greetings this Christmas, I don't know about you but I am very excited about Christmas this year.

I was visiting my Gran and Grandpa Ross this weekend, and found an old sermon in my Grandpas Bible. It contained a simple but relevant message about why we give gifts.

He quoted the verse John 3v16, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God gave us the greatest gift ever offered to humanity.

There are 3 reasons behind this:-

1 Because of the giver, God, the Almighty, the Eternal, the Creator.

2 His motive :- Love for God so loved the world

3 The Cost :- to the Father and the cost to his Son.

Our response should be to receive this the greatest gift ever offered and to say thank you to God for it. 

On news of Zambia please pray for my work permit and final preparations at I head off to the OM GO Conference on the 13th of January. Please also pray for the other new members joining Lake Tanganyika this January.

Blessings to you all this Joyful season. 

David Ross

light the lake

LIGHT_THE_LAKE_SHORT video link please watch....

ProChristo (now OM) video

The job description.

Missionary Nurse (preferably Male) - Lake Tanganyika: Zambia Tropical Diseases, Malnutrition, Malaria, HIV/AIDS, fishing-related injuries. We have it all!!! If you are interested in blessings the people of Lake Tanganyika with your skills, here is an opportunity for you. Come and serve as a nurse on the Clinic boat, visiting patients in villages along the shores of Lake Tanganyika. You will need to work hand in hand with the governmental medical department and clinical officers. You will also be involved in ministry work amongst the local clinic staff. Start Date: As soon as possible Commitment Length: 2 years (full time) Person must: be able to communicate in English register with the Zambian Nursing Council be willing to be traveling on the lake for two weeks at a time before leaving, train a replacement nurse and work alongside him/her for some time, until the he/she is comfortable with the work in each village Please note: all jobs/opportunities on this site are unsalaried. Most people joining OM have to raise financial support to cover their living expenses, usually through gifts from home churches and other supporters.

A gift for Gift

In 2008 Gail Ferber (USA) received a message from the Lord. The pastor of her home church in Las Vegas, Nevada, said to her: “You are so gifted in sewing. You have to share it with other people around the world.” Soon after, Gail met Coen Scholtz, the associate director of OM Africa. He also encouraged her to share her skills and abilities with those in Africa. In 2009, Gail had planned to visit the country, but was unable to make the trip; instead, she donated sewing machines to OM’s ladies’ skills ministry. This year, Gail was finally able to go to Zambia and attended OM Africa’s Love Africa Conference in Kabwe. Before she went, she felt strongly that she needed to bring a wheelchair with her. Little did she know that three months earlier, Zambian missionary Gift Malambo had been severely injured in an accident that had left him paralysed. He was in the process of recovery, but the doctors would not let him leave the hospital to attend the OM conference without a wheelchair. But they couldn’t find a wheelchair. Gift thought he would have to spend the weekend in the hospital and miss worshipping with the other 600 believers at the conference. Gail’s arrival with the wheelchair was an answer to Gift’s prayer. He could leave the hospital and was able to attend the Love Africa Conference. With tears in her eyes, Gail said, “I´m so touched that the Lord used me as an answer to prayer! I don´t deserve it, but He still chose to use me and what He gave me as a gift, for Gift.” Credit: Carlos Andrez Montanes © 2011 OM International

Love Africa: slavery, sacrifice and a Source of new oil

OM International What happens when six hundred believers from different spheres of life, different generations and corners of the world gather together with one goal—to worship God? Well, exactly that: God receives the worship. From the 5-8 of August, OM Africa’s annual Love Africa Conference in Kabwe, Zambia, brought together ordinary and extraordinary people from all walks of life. Their backgrounds differed: one American man had developed wheel chair tennis as a sport; another was a headman from a remote village in Zambia. Others were wheelchair bound or hearing impaired, while still others had followed Christ to remote villages in Tanzania, Ghana and Malawi to share Christ with their Muslim brothers, who then also attended the conference. The conference was a time of fellowship, diversity, unity, power and mobilisation. Workers gave testimony of how God has transformed their communities through passionate followers of Christ. “It is an exciting time to be part of what God is doing in Africa,” said OM’er Heather Laba, who is originally from the U.S. but is working in South Africa with her husband. “I can’t imagine being anywhere else right now.” One participant, Laban, a teacher from OM Lake Tanganyika, said, “You know, I want to become president. I want to become a Christian doctor. I want to become a nurse. I can’t be all those things. But being a teacher, I can. For maybe, one day, one of my students will become president, and so I become president. So, I want to be the best teacher I can.” And from the testimony of one of his 10-year-old students it was clear that he was, indeed, making a lasting impact. “I see my teachers as my parents,” she said. “Thank you, teacher.” For many, these few days brought their focus back to issues of slavery around the world, to a renewed commitment to lives of sacrifice, and to meeting with the God of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath—the One whose oil never runs dry. Six hundred people realised their insignificance, yet opened their hands for God to fill. Six hundred have gone back to their communities to become world changers. Credit: OM International

prayer card

Here is my prayer card, please download it print it off and stick it up on your fridge, bedside, desk or bathroom.