New Days, New Home

Greetings to all our friends in America!

Our family has now been in Zambia for over four months! We wanted to send a family update, and then I'll follow it with a spiritual update in a separate post. A lot has happened over the past month!

We received our work permits! This process took a little over three months, but now Mallory and I are able to volunteer officially and travel around the country a bit more easily.

Many of you may know that Mallory has been leading a discipleship and formation class at the local Kafakumba Secondary School. Each lesson begins by lighting a candle and talking about the light and presence of God. She then walks each class through a passage of Scripture, teaches from it, and leads discussion questions to help the students reflect on what they've learned. Through these classes, she has been learning a great deal about the culture while also building relationships with students both at the school and in our local church.

She has also continued leading the children's ministry at our church, where 25–30 children attend regularly with the help of 4–5 volunteers each week. Recently, Mallory started a garden with one of our new Zambian friends, Deborah. Together they're learning to grow organically on the couple of acres we have available. While Deborah has plenty of gardening experience, growing without chemical fertilizers and pesticides is new for both of them. God has been teaching Mallory so much about food preservation (pickling, fermenting, salting, and canning) as well as food production (growing, grafting, and pruning). She is growing in so many ways, and I am incredibly proud of her.

I continue working with two groups of Kafakumba employees: the teaching staff at the school and the medical staff at the clinic. These weekly formation classes are designed to help ground the staff in godly living. While most people here identify as Christians, discipleship and spiritual formation seem to be among the greatest needs. Through these classes I'm getting to know many people and building meaningful relationships. I love the opportunity to make new friends.

I'm also teaching a development class for the 9th and 10th graders at the secondary school. We spend about an hour each week discussing the seven principles of the Kingdom: Community, Servanthood, Caring for the Least of These, Trusteeship, Nonviolence, Being Motivated by Love, and Unity. This class has been one of the highlights of my past six weeks. The students teach me so much about Zambia, and they continually help me grow as a teacher through the way they engage in class.

The choir continues to do well, too. We rehearse for a few hours each Saturday and then lead worship on Sunday mornings. I'll include a short recording of a new song I've been writing with the choir singing it. I truly enjoy my time with this group.

Please also pray for me as I begin teaching our local church's youth group this week. I'm also starting to meet with local pastors throughout Zambia, and I'm thankful for all of your prayers and support as these opportunities continue to grow.

Kid Update!

Roman has finished second grade and is excited to begin third grade. Math is still his self-proclaimed favorite subject, especially multiplication and division. What he doesn't quite realize is that his reading comprehension is exceptional for his age. He's reading well above grade level and listening to stories like Treasure Island, The Secret Garden, and Oliver Twist. He loves riding his bike while listening to audiobooks.

Olive has lost her first two teeth, and she's very proud of them! She has also started first grade, with a strong emphasis on art so far. She's drawing nearly every day. This past week she also learned to ride a bike without training wheels. I'll share a video of one of her first successful rides. Olive is both an explorer and a friend. She has connected with so many people since arriving here, and it's been a joy to watch.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c6940b_64c092a723614d36bb10996cace47361/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Charlie is thoroughly enjoying her pets. We have one dog that stays near our home most of the time and two others that stop by regularly, and Charlie couldn't be happier. The dirt roads around our house are probably her second favorite thing about Zambia. If Charlie is outside in the dirt with one of the dogs, she's perfectly content. She regularly takes Mallory or me on little exploration walks around our compound. According to Mallory, she's also consuming books and stories in enormous quantities.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c6940b_e643a3828e434ca9893c81346281cc03/720p/mp4/file.mp4

We were blessed to have my (Caleb's) parents stay with us for the past two weeks. It was wonderful to see them, and the kids absolutely loved spending time with Nani and Dawdaw (the names our children somehow decided to give my parents!). We spent much of their visit showing them where we live and work, how we shop for and prepare food, and introducing them to many of our new friends here in Zambia. We were so grateful they made the trip to visit us.

About a month before they arrived, I became very sick with malaria. I'll share more about that experience in my next post. I'm doing well now, but I'm deeply grateful for those of you who have been praying for our health. Some days it feels like we're living on those prayers alone, so please keep them coming.

I also want to thank everyone who supports us financially. Your generosity has made it possible for us to focus on the people God has called us to serve. Thank you for partnering with us in this work.

Please don't forget us. We think about our friends and family back home all the time. I know life is moving quickly there, but we still love you, miss you, and pray for you often. If you received a text from me with this update, you're on my regular prayer list.

One final prayer request: as I begin traveling more to meet with local pastors, we'd appreciate your prayers for safety in both travel and daily life.

We have settled into life here. Zambia is becoming home.

That may be hard for some of you to hear, but it's what we need. We need to put down roots and embrace this place as home for however long God has us here.

We live on a ten-acre compound with wooded game trails and three other rental homes. There are four to six Zambian workers here each day, and we're slowly getting to know them. Every day we thank God for bringing us here. Even on the difficult days, we go to bed confident that this is where He has called us, and that our calling right now is to make this place our home.

We don't know how long we'll be here, but God does, and He will make that clear in His time.

Thank you for every text, email, prayer, and gift. We are deeply grateful for each of you.

Blessings to you from Zambia,

The Austins

How to be Rich

If you want what you have, you are rich.

If you want what you lack, you are poor.

God is everywhere.

God has everything.

God loves all of creation.

God loves each person.

God is constantly giving, blessing and moving. We believe that God has all things. Everything exists in and through God. Then why do we not have what we are asking God for each time we ask? What is missing so that we can receive the blessings, the changes in circumstances, and the new life we desire?

I grew up with a worldview where wealth, possessions, and blessings were all synonymous with being rich. Those who had things, or money, were rich. In contrast, those who lacked possessions were poor. Life-circumstances dictated whether someone was rich or poor.

When traveling different places this worldview was challenged. As I met people who had very little, who were happy, this mindset was unable to remain. While traveling in India in 2023 I went to a village which was very remote. There on a small, broken, slim path of sun-baked bricks, which no car could traverse, was a woman. She was humming and singing. When I asked someone nearby what she sings, they said she sang to God. I watched as squatting, she pressed what looked like mud into the path with her bare hands. Upon deeper examination these were cow patties from her neighbor's farm nearby. She pressed them and they would bake in the sunshine to be sold as fertilizer. Without a husband and with no children supporting her, this was found to be a stable income to sustain her. As she went about her business, buying the manure, pressing it, and selling it as fertilizer, she sang with gratitude. Her face, although lined with years, shone with peace. This old mother's labor, contentment, and serenity tore apart my worldview on the path that day.

When you are open, everyone can be your teacher. The wise will show and tell you how to live and the foolish will show and tell you what to avoid. As I watched my new teacher live her normal day, I was changed. It was not just that her current circumstances challenged my worldview of happiness, contentment, and wealth; it was also that her future prospects were just as bleak. Yet the peace and joy which were evident in her countenance disturbed me. She was not working for anyone's attention, there was no one to see her labor of love, in this far away place. I knew I was going home to my job as a Walmart manager making more than this woman would see in her lifetime, but she became my teacher in contentment. My worldview would not fit in this new understanding and this part of my life had to be rebuilt. My new Indian mother taught me with her life and I am still living with the teaching today.

I shared this lesson with my fellow pastors in Africa as I attempted to bring this mother's teaching to pastors who have been taught they are poor when they do not have a proper home, when their church is not impressive and big, when their income does not live up to certain standards. We spent hours going over what I am writing now: true riches come from wanting what we already have. When we want what God has already given us, we will be rich. When we live rich, God gives us more. It is in valuing what God has already put in us that more is added.

Mark 4:25 says, "Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them."

Matthew 13:12 says, "Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them."

Luke 8:18 says, "Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them."

These verses have perplexed me from my youth. How can something be taken from someone who doesn't have? Why would God give to those who already have? Is this the benevolence we preach about? Is this the God we have known and the Jesus we have described? Yet He said it. Please. Those with ears to hear and a mind to understand, listen. Jesus says that if you value what you have been given, more will be given to you. The parable of the talents says this. The parable about the vineyard owner going away says it. If you value your beginning and are faithful with the little given, more will be added to you.

I have met no one in any nation who is not praying for blessing. But God has everything. And God is everywhere. On top of that God loves everyone. So what is the hold up? If you do not value what has already been given, how can you be trusted with more. If you can't love your life as it is, a change in circumstances will make no difference. How many times have the poor been given money to come out of poverty? Why doesn't it work? Because the ability to utilize resources comes in valuing what is already there. Whenever you have seen someone truly promoted by God, it is because they have lived by this spiritual law. Some may trick their way to a promotion, but their reign is temporary because they do not have what it takes to hold that space or that blessing without being destroyed by it.

We must become a people who are asking God to change our hearts, not our circumstances. Money will not fix the poverty within. A new relationship will look like the old one quickly if what is missing inside us is not remedied. Possessions are a fleeting treasure. Those who are truly rich, love what they have and are trusted with true wealth. Sometimes that even looks like possessions, but many times it is contentment that gives birth to a teachable, hungry, and available heart to God.

So here is the step. Today, love what you have and where you are. Take time to be in the moment God has given you. Live in the place where God has planted you. Do not look ahead. Do not look behind. Spend even this moment in the present. Eternity is forever, but you only have access to it in this moment. Right now you can choose to love it by being in it. My examples to the pastors were different, but I will share them with you. If you have one pair of shoes, wash them in the morning, dust them off at night. Treasure them and they will become two pair. If you pray for a motorcar, but will not even take care of your own shoes, do not expect God to answer that prayer. If you ask for your own home and your own plot (of land), take care of the place where you live now. If you live in a small place, look after it. Take special care of it. If you live on someone else's land, care for it as it was your own and God will bless it. When this is done, it opens you up to receive the answer to your prayer for your own land.

Jesus says in Luke 16:10-12

¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?"

To my friends in the West I would say, a lot of our prayers are about God bringing peace to outer circumstances, relationships, or our mental position. If our prayers are for peace, then we have to position ourselves to let go of the turmoil in our own minds. The suffering which is often caused by overanalyzing, overthinking, or attempting to control what is out of our control. I will write something to speak to this soon. Even as I am writing today, I feel God asking me to write another day on acceptance, but I will leave it for another teaching to stay on track.

For today, there is a prayer I want to teach which will help facilitate loving your life as it is. It is a prayer exercise God has taught me and I want to give it to you as a gift today. As with any gift, if you do not want it, or would rather wait, please feel free to scroll past it.

1. Breathe: (silence)

   Find a quiet or private space where you can have 5-10 minutes to practice the exercise. Take a moment to breathe deeply for three full breathes. Breathe in through your nose, hold it until the tension builds in your body and release it slowly. During the prayer, continue as you can to remember your breath and come back to it if you become distracted.

2. Release: "I will let go"

   After 3 breathes, hold 2 fists out in front of your body. The intension is to let go of trying to control life. Release the hold you have tried to have over your circumstances and say "I will let go." Speak it with that intention and release your fists. Feel the tension and weight come off of you.

3. Raise your offering: "I will lift up"

   Next, see your circumstances and maybe the state of your family or even the world in the palms of your hands. Now in this part of the prayer we offer our lives, which we have let go of, to God. Raise your circumstances up to God in your palms and bow your head in reverence to God as you say, "I will lift up." This act of surrender may come with peace flowing into you.

4. Lift your eyes: "I will look out"

   Lift your gaze with the intention of seeing God and what God has for you. As you raise your gaze up speak, "I will look out." During this part of the prayer God may bring new ideas, or understanding to you.

5. Build your faith: "Because, You are enough"

   Take your raised hand and bring them down into prayer hands over your heart. Speak over yourself that God is enough to take care of all these things. God is enough to lead you in what you are going through. God is enough to bring you to the promised land He has for you. With you hands over your heart say, "because you are enough." You will feel your faith rise during this statement. Repeat it and repeat it and your faith will rise even more.

This can be practiced for a short time just once through, or you can continue to go through the steps. I once sat for an hour and spoke these words with these motions: It has been one of the greatest hours of my life so far. Practice and watch what God will do.

1. "I will let go" (fists released)

2. "I will lift up" (palms raised, head bowed)

3. "I will look out" (eyes lifted to God)

4. "Because you are enough" (palms together over your heart)

My last notes, ramblings, and wrap up: God already has everything. He can give it to us at any time. So why isn't God giving what we are asking for? We are not ready. We have not matured to take hold of the blessing which God has set aside for us. When you are rich, you will know that all God is always with you and all God has is yours. When you need it, it will come to you. When you know that God is enough, all the things which are required to go to the next place He is calling you to will come. When you love and use what you have, even more will be added to you. When you want what you have, you will be rich. If you want what you lack, you will always be poor. Thank you for the love, encouragement, resources, and prayers. God is within you and when you seek Him you will find Him. God bless you all today.

Pastors' School 2026

87 pastors, 10 facilitators, and 3 translators have come from 4 nations all over this part of Africa to embark on another semester of pastor's school at Kafakumba Transformational Outreach. For one month these pastors and some of their families stay at the Kafakumba facility and go to classes from 8am to 5:30pm 5 days a week with a half-day on Saturday. There are 4 grade levels of students seeking a theological education. I have been teaching 3 of the formation classes this semester and one class on discernment.

Pastors' school is an 8 year program with 4 grade levels. These pastors come for classes one month a year for 8 years and are ordained after graduating the program. Most of the pastors coming already are pastoring at least one church. Many of these churches are based in rural areas. They are reaching areas of Zambia, Namibia, and Tanzania with the love of God.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c6940b_8c4590ca33474e91ab26a87f0e996240/720p/mp4/file.mp4

This is a short video of morning chapel time. Each morning at 06:15 Pastors would gather with their families and some of the staff at Kafakumba to worship. We would worship until 07:30, eat breakfast, and be at the first class by 08:00. It has been very interesting to teach this year. This is my third year to work with interpreters, and teach these groups of pastors. It is easy to see how much more can be accomplished this year than years previous.

Just a quick backstory on how I began teaching here: God had led me to some friends in Asia where I was working with interpreters to speak a few times a week over FaceTime for about six months. This led to trips in Pakistan, and later India.

After a few years of teaching with interpreters, some in person, some over the phone, I felt comfortable teaching in other cultures with the aid of interpretation. Two years ago I was invited by a friend to come and see the pastors' school in Zambia. Having just gotten back from a trip, I was not so keen to go, but felt that God was leading that way. As soon as I arrived, I was certain I needed to come back with our family. Having taught for a while in a similar way, teaching at pastors school in Zambia felt natural. After spending time in related environments, it was great to spend extended time with the pastors. Three years later, God's plan is clearer and I am grateful for each step. The first year of teaching out of random offices over the phone was very formative. The longer I walk with God the more I see instances like this. God is constantly forming me for the next steps, whether I realize it or not.

Working with pastors who are going out into villages all over this part of Africa is very exciting. I am thankful for the opportunity and the prior training. God is doing something great right now. I feel like God is asking me to continue to go to see the pastors. I am looking forward to visiting the pastors in their villages over the next year.

I will give a family update in the next few days, but with the 4 weeks of pastors' school finished, I wanted to give you this update. Thank you for all the prayers and support. We are grateful!