China Mission Trips • Joan Hust

I have been to China 3 times.  I really enjoy meeting the people, eating many different kinds of food, learning more about Bless China International, visiting the leprosy villages, speaking at a local secondary school, traveling with a local resident by bus seeing and meeting people in the Grand Canyon of China that was a friend of a family living in Coeur d’Alene where I live with my family, visiting an orphanage in Beijing where I now send boxes of children and adult books, visiting the hospitals in the country and in the cities, teaching English in a secondary school in Jing Hong, walking the streets in the city and country, staying in a local hotel in the city and also in the country, staying in places where there are no tourists, shopping and having a local tailor make me a dress and 3 piece suit, eating a variety of delicious food prepared by the local people in the country and cities,  and providing children care so teachers could attend educational and inspiring classes. I was fortunate to make many new friends that influenced my walk with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

Zambia • Joan Hust Missions

Find Chingola where I lived with my family for nine years and I’ll bring you back an ngwee.  It is a landlocked country in Southern Africa.

 I will fly to Lusaka, the capital city.  Dr. Kenneth Kaunda was the president when I was living there.  I have asked a friend of mine, Dr. Nevers Mumba, who was in my Sunday school class when he was ten yrs. old, and now is the multiparty Democracy president to arrange a meeting for me with Dr. Kaunda.

 The official language is English, but the local language is Nyanja and Bemba.

I taught at the Sacred Heart Convent School, Nchanga Trust School and TCCA, Theological College of Central Africa.  We would sing the national anthem, Stand and Sing of Zambia, Proud and Free, with great enthusiasm.  I especially loved the chorus that was sung after the third verse:

Praise be to God, Praise be, praise be, praise be,

Bless our great nation, Zambia, Zambia, Zambia

Free men we stand Under the flag of our land.

Zambia, praise to Thee!  All one, strong and free.

I was sitting at my desk at home when Zambia this year won the first Africa Cup of Nations title in soccer.  I wish I could have been there to celebrate with them.  I only lived with my family in Zambia nine years. It definitely changed my life.

I was very involved with the children of Zambia and the children of the expatriates mostly from Europe, Britain, Australia, Sweden, and India. We were there on a two year contract but it turned out that we stayed nine years.  It is difficult for the wives of the men as they go to work all day and the wives have nothing to do.  It takes time to get acquainted, but I was active in the local church teaching, working with the youth, leading safaris, director and producer of a weekly TV program and the list could go on and on.  I loved working with the local children, the children from the many countries, and they went on the safaris, were in the Sunday school and youth group at St. Mark’s, and joined me on the live weekly TV programs.

I have met several Zambians that are here going to college, and working in the local church.  What a blessing and fun to get together with them as we know the same folks back in Zambia.  It is a small world.  This year my son called me and asked me to come home right away.  I reminded him and he knew it that I was in a very important meeting, but he insisted I come home right away so I did.  Lo and behold a Zambian gentleman was sitting at my kitchen table with a smile from ear to ear, and it was Dr. Charles Musonda from Mufulira, Zambia that was in my youth group in Chingola.  He has opened a House of Prayer here in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. 

 

I cherish your prayers, and thank you for helping me to go on my next mission trip to Zambia this summer.  My desire is to make Him known to those who do not know Him, and to encourage the ones that know Him to be a blessing to everyone.

Make Me a Blessing    Ira B. Wilson    1924

Chorus: 

Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing-

Out of my life May Jesus shine;

Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray,

Make me a blessing to someone today.

Well's for Togo • 2009 Togo trip

2009 TRIP:

It was a very hard trip but I held up well.  I did not know the people that I stayed with, but they were Godly people.  When you walked in their home you felt His presence. Their names are Holali and Kossiwa Assignon.  His English was very limited.  She knew how to say my name.  He is the son of the pastor that I stayed with when I visited Togo in 2005.  He is a pastor. They are a terrific team, hard workers, evangelize, and reach many folks for the Lord.
They have three young men that I called Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in their home that help them.  One was a tailor, and he works in their garage. One has been accepted at the University, and the other is in secondary school.  It was a new experience for me to be the only white, travel alone, and no English speaking person to carry on a conversation with for 5 weeks.  I met two blind translators that helped me in all my speaking engagements.  I spoke several times a day, started a weekly radio program that they could continue after I left.  It was to my advantage that they accepted me with the Togolese people from the church, and being a producer of radio and TV programs in Zambia for nine years helped me help them. I taught vacation Bible schools in all the cities, taught Sunday school everywhere, spoke at all church services, three women’s conferences with hundreds of ladies, gave health lectures, and taught medlineplus.gov to nurses and physicians.  Every village we came across I spoke to the adults mostly from the gospel of John, taught and acted out Bible stories with the children, and then had them present it during the church services. 
It is unbelievable how He used me with the Holy Spirit flowing through me.  Many were touched and came forward to the invitation to accept Christ as their personal Savior.  There was a lot of walking and evangelization in the villages with tracts in French with many young people with me who knew the Lord and the three main languages that were French, the business language of the country, Ewe, and Kabiye. 
The flights were good once you were on the plane, but a real challenge to get get in and out of the airport in Accra, Ghana. It was recommended that I fly in and out of Accra instead of Lome, the capital of Togo.  What did I eat?  I chose to eat African food with the local people.  It worked out well.  I felt accepted everywhere I went, and they were so happy that I would sit down, and eat their food.  The average meal was rice or nshima (corn), tomato sauce that was rather hot with green leaves of some kind and sometimes a little piece of chicken or dried fish. Huge loaves of bread were sold on the streets every day. They would cut it vertical, and sometimes you could have avocado spread on it.  It was the end of the mango season, but the ones that I ate were scrumptious and the size of a small watermelon.  
 

Wells for Togo:

I worked with Pastor Paul and Appoline Assignon in the Kara Kozah area.  People on that area walk many miles for water.  One family who live 2 hours away  have a vehicle bring 12 jerry cans filled with water every Sunday when they come to church for the pastor and his family which is quite a blessing.   The hallway in the pastor’s house is where you see all shapes and sizes of containers filled with water to use.  I want to help this situation by building wells in the area by the profit I make from selling my book COAL MINER’S GRANDDAUGHTER CHILDHOOD MEMORIES. 

 

South Africa • Joan Hust

When I visited some schools this is the stanza that I remembered and I enjoyed it so much. 

National Anthem

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom
In South Africa our land.

I just really loved the people and places I visited in South Africa.  It is too big to visit everywhere, but I was able to go shopping in Johannesburg, Capetown and Durban. My son, Jacob, was a student at Treverton School in Mooi River.  It catered to boys and girls from all grades, and Post-Matric. It is an inter-denominational Christian school founded on a Baptist heritage. Jacob loved it and did very well. He looked very handsome in his blue blazer, white shirt and tie.  During his time there in sports he excelled in running.  He was the fastest runner during his time at the school.  Their mission was to provide a balanced all-round quality education based on a strong Christian foundation.  Between semesters we went to Cape Town. It is located on the shore of Table Bay. We stayed at a Christian hostel in Fish Hoek, and really enjoyed not only the area and shopping but the fellowship and testimonies from the local people at the African Reformed Dutch church.

Guatemala Missions Trip • Joan Hust

I went to Guatemala four times with the Guatemala Task Force team.  We went to many of the K’ekchi villages. The K’ekchi are Mayan Indians living in Central Guatemala in the lowlands and highlands.  They raise corn and beans.  It is their staple crop.  I went into their houses. They are built with thatch and poles, and do not have windows. They sleep in hammocks for their beds.  I would watch them weave and use the back strap loom. We sang, gave our testimonies, and explained The Evange Cube.  We were taken to the villages by truck but we did a lot of walking.

The K’ekchi is the second largest indigenous group in Guatemala.  There are over one million.  Most of them live around Petén.  They are a wonderful group of people to work with and are open to our visiting them.  They are most kind, and I really appreciate not only their kindness, but they are a lot of fun. They teased me a lot.  Their church services are alive and they really made me feel at home.

One time I was carried up the mountain by two barefoot K’ekchi men in a hammock made from a fishing net, and another time I was helped over a pile of rocks in the road that was wider than the road and three times as tall as me. It was a very hot humid, sticky day.  I felt clammy, and had drops of perspiration all over me but what bothered me the most was the perspiration on my nose as it kept building up liquid drops so to speak and made my nose run. When I finally made it to the top of the mountain and was helped out of the hammock everyone cheered.

After a nice lunch of fresh tortillas straight out of the mud oven with the K’ekchi ladies it was time to go down. I did not want to leave quite yet as they were still making tortillas, and they let me join them.  Oh, it was so much fun trying to make a tortilla. They make them by taking a ball of dough and slapping it from hand to hand to flatten it out.  I really tried to make a tortilla, but I did not do so well.  Everyone was laughing as I was trying my best to shape the tortilla so I could put it in the oven.

I was looking forward to walking back down the mountain carefully and taking my time, but the K’ekchi men were right there with the hammock waiting for me. I had no choice as they were so nice and a couple of them helped me to get in the hammock sideways. I straightened my plaid skirt made of K’ekchi fabric, and they lifted me up while they at the same time were adjusting the poles on their shoulders.  The path was very narrow, and steep.  It was scary to look over the edge. There was not even a foot of extra space. One of the medical doctors in our team assisted them, and would step in and give them a break. He helped adjust the poles on their shoulders from time to time.  He was very physically fit and strong, but I am sure he was relieved when someone would take his place when he had the poles on his shoulders.

There was a truck waiting for us and it was a relief to get in the truck.  We were maybe ten minutes down the road, and we were stuck in the mud.  Everyone got out except the driver and with huffing, puffing, pushing, and following the directions of one of the team we were back on solid ground and on our way.

It was a privilege and a blessing to work with the K’ekchi, our brothers and sisters in the Lord.