´Children of light´ spared from shipwreck

Zambia | Holly Steward

In early April, the lives of Moses Siame, his wife, Foster, and their four children were spared when a public transport boat nearly capsized in a big storm on Lake Tanganyika. The Zambian missionaries were headed to Chipwa, a village on the border of Tanzania.

They started from Mpulungu in reasonable weather, but an hour into their journey the waves became huge. As the storm increased, the boat took on water faster than it could be bailed out. A passenger managed to make a cell phone call, requesting a large boat be sent from Tanzania to come to their rescue.

Moses described that the passengers were screaming and crying, sure they were all going to die. Moses and his wife remained calm. When asked why they didn’t also cry, he said, “We knew we were in God’s will and could trust Him no matter what happened.”

As their boat was sinking, a larger vessel arrived and the passengers managed to climb aboard. Moses said he didn’t give a thought to the supplies and possessions they had with them. Instead he counted his children to make sure they were all safe.

A few days later, members of the Lake Tanganyika team visited Moses and his family to see how they were recovering from their experience. Most of the family’s clothing had been retrieved, but they lost a month’s food supply. Moses’ oldest daughter, age 11, shared her perspective on what happened. She said, “We are children of light, and that is why we were saved when the boat was sinking. Even the other people on the boat were saved because of us. If we had not been children of light we would not have been saved.” 

Moses and his family continue to serve in Chipwa village. They see how God used the crisis for His purpose. If there had been no storm they would have arrived comfortably with all of their supplies, but the people of the village would not have noticed. Now, because of their struggle, the people are glorifying God. They are saying it is because missionaries were on board that the boat did not sink and all of the lives were saved.

“We thank God for this reminder that even in situations where it seems like everything is going wrong, He is faithful,” says an OM Lake Tanganyika team member.

Credit: Holly Steward
© 2012 OM International