Mr. and Mrs. Joe Mwale

An Amazing Story of Salvation!

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, workers on our Valparaiso bus route, were out canvassing many times this summer without seeing any physical results.  Mainly people told them they were not interested while a few said maybe.  As Marvin says, they both were pretty discouraged about knocking on doors.  One Saturday Marvin and Jonathan, another bus worker, were out knocking on doors and a lady’s dog escaped out of the door.  The lady was in a wheelchair and Marvin and Jonathan did their best to get the dog to come back but eventually just left because the dog would not come to them. They continued to knock on doors on the other side of the street and one man told them to bug off and leave him alone.  That weekend the church received a  phone call from the apartment complex manager saying that we should stay out of there.  At this point Marvin decided to put off canvassing there for a few weeks.    Then Marvin and his wife went back and prayed, as they usually did, before they went out to knock on doors.  The two of them laughed a little bit together because Marvin prayed something to the effect of, “This seems to be a useless endeavor.”  Not long after knocking on doors that day they began to see that this was one of the best days they had had canvassing.  They knocked on more than one door where people were nice to them and even met a young man who was seeking assurance of salvation. They were able to pray with him at his door and help him have confidence in the Bible.  A few doors later they knocked on the apartment that the Mwales had rented.  They met Mr.  Mwale’s niece, and she said she would be interested in coming to church.  She did for the next two weeks.  Then through further visiting Mr. and Mrs. Joe Mwale found out about our church services, and they started attending in early August.

They attended for several weeks. Then when we had our Teen Friend Day,  Pastor Parrish preached on the love of God and how 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 talking about the gospel for over three hours.  Dave left him with a tract and asked him to read it. They lined up a follow-up time 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. While talking with Dave Olson, Joe recounted a story of several weeks earlier.  Joe told the story of having an accident and having to be air lifted to Indianapolis, Indiana.  He was told that he didn’t have a pulse for part of that trip to the hospital and that he had come very close to death.   God had spared his life and prepared his heart to receive the Gospel.

So, what makes this even more amazing?  Dave and this man had both lived in Africa 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.  While talking with Mrs. Mwale she gave a clear testimony of being saved three years ago.  They were both baptized this Sunday night. As they head back to Zambia this next week, pray that they will grow in the Lord.