Chinamo Mashiri

I live in Zambia in southwestern Africa. My parents died when I was little, and my aunt and uncle took me in. They sent me to a boarding school to study. There I met some Adventist students who shared their faith with me. They taught me about God from the Bible, and I decided to attend church with them.

When I returned home for vacation, I told my aunt and uncle what I had learned. They were angry and threatened to send me away from home, so I kept silent about my faith. They wouldn’t let me attend the Adventist church.

Back at school, my Adventist friends continued teaching me, and I asked to be baptized. When I returned home and explained my faith to my family, they allowed me to attend the Adventist church. But when I returned to school, I discovered that my uncle was no longer paying my tuition. I didn’t know what to do except pray.

Every quarter I expected to be sent away from school, but it was as if the registrar overlooked my balance and I was allowed to register. By God’s grace and with the help of friends at church, Igraduated from academy.

I wanted to become a pastor, but I didn’t see how I could. So I found a job and began saving money for university. I worked for a year, but still I didn’t have enough money to enroll in school.

Then I learned that Zambia Adventist University had just opened, so I applied to study theology. Because it was a new school, there was much work to be done on the campus. I gladly worked six hours a day to help pay my school fees.

I couldn’t afford to live in the dormitory, so some other students and I found another place to live—a chicken coop that we converted into a room. We cooked our rice and vegetables over a fire and managed to live this way while we studied to become ministers.

God sustained me, and I’ve finished my pastoral training. I praise God for making a way when there appeared to be no way. I see how God has provided for me, and I know He will continue to lead me. He is so faithful!

A recent Thirteenth Sabbath Offering has helped construct a library on the campus of Zambia Adventist University. Little by little the school is taking shape. It is God’s school, and I praise Him for your generosity in helping this dream to become a reality.

Chinamo Mashiri serves God in southern Zambia.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.
Find more stories like this at AdventistMission.org

email: 

in**@ad**************.org

Print/PDF/Email