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Jason
Visiting the Congo border market was mind blowing
On the border of Zambia, the dust was so bad, you couldn't hardly see the car in front of you. As we arrived...
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Our Story
Our History
Walale before the hope of the Gospel...
Aaron walking to Walale with nothing but the good news of Jesus.
Revival breaks out in Walale and people begin to accept Jesus and turn from their sinful lifestyle.
After the next 10 years, over 40 house churches were planted as Aaron and Charles focused their effort on discipling the teaching the Word of God to the people of Walale.
Hundreds of people from Walale received Christ and were baptized!
Revivle prayer service lasts all weekend long after showing the Jesus Film for the first time.
As word spread around the community, Walale started to be called "Twashuka", which means "The Lucky Place". In 2013, the government of Zambia officially changed to Twashuka.
Jason visits Twashuka for the first time in 2016 and commits to join Aaron and Charles with the work God has started.
Twashuka school receives new metal desks for class and a new fresh water well which enables us to provide food and drink during school and have water for a school garden.
Added two more classroom buildings for additional classes.
Today, Twashuka Village is a wonderful and peaceful place where children run and play freely, but it wasn't always this way... Before 2009, Twashuka was known as Walale, "the den of criminals". Read the miraculous story of how God changed an entire village through one man's obedience.
" Don't go there! You won't come back alive..."
That's what used to be said of Walale, a village in the heart of Zambia. It was known as the den of criminals, full of drunkards, prostitution, murderers, witchcraft and anything else bad you can imagine. Walale was the name of a senior witch who once lived in the area. The place was spiritually dark and the atmosphere was so thick with evil, you could feel it.
But God is in the business of changing darkness into light and this story is no exception.
In 2008 God gave Aaron Mulenga a dream of people crying "Help! We need help!" in Walale. Aaron had never heard of Walale, but he was obedient to God's voice and answered the call for help. He started his ministry just living among the people, spending time in the community, praying and serving anyone he could.
After some time, Aaron invited his friend Charles Mwila to join him for prayer. Aaron and Charles began holding a Bible study under an avocado tree in Walale. Many people in the village thought they were crazy. But they continued coming to the avocado tree twice a week and visited the villagers in their homes. After Bible study they would play with the children in the village and quickly learned how much they loved soccer.
Meet Agnes, the first new Believer...
Agnes was the first person to receive Christ as savior and God radically changed her life. Her love for God started a chain-reaction that lead to a revival in Walale!
“It was beautiful how the Lord opened doors for us to reach out to this community,” Aaron said. “We brought nothing. We just came with the Word of God, nothing else. No resources. It was just starting from scratch. We just obeyed God’s voice and God’s way to say ‘go.’ We said, “If we don’t go, then who can God send? God raised us to be the blessing to the people in this community. Not that we brought silver and gold. We brought nothing. Every long journey starts with one step.”
Agnes became like the woman at the well, sharing Jesus with everyone she knew and hosting Bible studies at her home. Soon there were over 40 home churches planted in Walale and just about the entire village came to Christ! Over 400 were baptized and people were experiencing peace for the first time.
This is where the work of discipleship began. For over 15 years Aaron and Charles have been ministering and discipling this village and this really gave birth to the second chapter in our story: the school.
"At first, we shared Bible stories with the children, but then we wanted to give them Bibles, but we realized they can't read!", said Aaron. This began the vision for a school. God was going to take the lowest place in Zambia and turn it around to be a place where leaders are raised. The men felt the Lord urging them to start a school for the children of Walale. They knew they didn’t have enough resources to start a school and keep it running, but they knew the Lord would provide. He did!
In 2012, some missionaries from South Africa visited and the Lord moved in one of them to build a school building. The children came flooding in to learn. For years, the children had to do their schoolwork on the floor and many of them had no food and were malnourished.
Chapter 2: The Twashuka School
In 2016, Jason Galicinski along with Anna and Micah, visited Walale for the first time and it was during this visit that God joined Jason and Aaron's hearts together with a unified vision. Jason, now the Executive Director of Reaching the Heart of Zambia, was praying and seeking a place to start a mission project in Africa and he was very impressed with what God was doing in Walale. During his first three week visit, Jason committed himself to becoming "a voice for those that have none" and Reaching the Heart of Zambia was born.
"Since our first visit to Zambia, the Lord as done even more than I ever thought was possible at the time." We've built 3 more additional buildings, dug a fresh water well, next to the school and hired teachers to teach daily at the school.", Jason said. "We've been noticed by local government officials to the point where one of them donated over 200 acres of land for growing food for the school."
Today, because of the sponsorship program and Life Partners that have joined in the work, over 250 children come free of charge to the school to learn reading and writing, math, science, agricultural skills and most importantly, they learn it all through a Christ-Centered Biblical Worldview.
Charles Mwila became the school principal. “Discipleship has been at the center of our school. We are very much interested in having their lives transformed,” he said.
" We are impacting lives spiritually so they will become ambassadors in this community to spread the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."
After the gospel truth began to spread in Walale, the village began to radically change. Many people stopped their addictions to alcohol or drugs and followed Christ. Bible studies and house churches sprung up in the community, with adults and children hungry to grow in their walks with Christ. They even decided to rename the village from Walale, the name of a local witch, to Twashuka, which means “the lucky place”. The community members wanted the village to be renamed “because of many things that the Lord has done,” Charles said. The village “has really seen serious transformation spiritually. People have really changed here. We have seen the faithfulness of the Lord.”
Twashuka has transformed into a community that prays, gathers for Bible Studies, and disciples children at the school and in these groups. They also worship as a church body at the school on Sundays. The village is not free of its struggles; poverty is a very difficult barrier many face daily. But they are meeting this challenge as Christ followers. Many have given their lives to Christ and been baptized.
Charles not only teaches children at the school; he also ministers to young men through the Soccer Ministry, which gives them exercise and purpose since they spend time in the Word and in prayer as well as compete at soccer. Florence, one of the main teachers, also leads the young women through Faith and Purity Bible Studies to support the young women as they mature to help them stand firm for Jesus. Twashuka has been so majorly transformed that believers from Twashuka even travel to nearby villages to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ!
It's not a perfect place, but it's a peaceful place, thanks to God's amazing work in the hearts of repentant and humble people.
If God can change the village of Walale, we now truly know that "Nothing is impossible with God."
So Many Children Like Swilangi Tembo Need Sponsorship
Some have been waiting for over 365 Days...
Swilangi, a sweet little ten-year-old girl who lives with a single mother. Since her father died a few years ago, her mother has supported her family by selling vegetables in the market. But it’s a very competitive job, making it difficult to earn enough money for food and education each day.
Children like Swilangi need your help!
Reaching the Heart of Zambia is blessed to have a great team in both Zambia and in the United States.
Want to get your hand dirty with us? You belong here!
Pray. Give. Partner. Visit.
Stories of Change
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