It was Sunday, September 16 and it started with a simple
trip to the tuck shop (small grocery store) with Mark and my Zimbabwean friends
Simba and Pastor Ngoni. They wanted to buy us a bag of chocolate milk as a
treat for all the hard work we had been doing earlier that day. We went inside
the store, bought the milk, and then walked out. I then had to shake all the
hands of the people working the fruit stands because that’s just how I roll in
Africa. As I was doing this, a man in a van started shouting at me across the
gravel parking lot. He was speaking in English, but I couldn’t understand him.
I asked him what was going on, and he motioned me to come to the van. I did, and he also climbed out of the van holding two Castle beers. He had
obviously had more to drink before that and I was assuming that he had been
hanging out at the sports bar next to the tuck shop for most of the afternoon.
He chatted with us for a bit, but it was hard for me to understand his slurred
speech. I had a tough choice to make and looking back
I know I made the correct one. We aimed to change his heart first, and then
his behavior. When someone’s heart is changed, a change in behavior is likelu to
follow. Instead of condemning his alcohol abuse, we asked Frank if we could pray for him and he agreed. We prayed for
him for quite a bit and after we finished we asked him to come to the service later that night.
He agreed, but his eyes were still so red and his words were so slurred that I
honestly didn’t have high hopes…
The service started at 6PM African time- so people were
still showing up around 7PM. The surprising venue of the church was Ngoni’s
front yard. He had two long sticks set up, and when he wanted to have the
service, he put up a huge blue tarp. About 30 minutes into the service, a
familiar yellow shirted man was walking down the road- none other than Frank. I
found out later that he had completely forgotten the address of Ngoni’s house
and God had led him there. I learned a lot about my friend Frank that night. He
was only 23 years old, a merchandiser, a husband, a father of one, and a man
who was on the wrong path in life. Later that night I had the opportunity to go
to his house and meet his wife and child. Frank was a Christian, but didn’t
have a solid relationship with Jesus anymore. That night at church, we as a
team prayed for Frank and that he would be blessed and be a blessing upon his
family. We hung out a bit the next day after he had finished working. It was
great to spend time with his family. I made it very clear to him that he had
great responsibility as a husband and father, responsibility I feel that he
didn’t completely understand yet. Their family dynamics were off, something wasn’t
right. I explained to him that he was the leader; the one to set the example
and tone within his family. He said he understood and I believe that he did. I
pray for Frank and hope that how I intervened within his life made a long-lasting,
positive impact upon his family.
I want to give you more of an understanding of what the
church service was like. About 40 members were in attendance that Sunday, with
about 30 of them children. Praise and worship are huge in Zimbabwe and in
Africa in general, so we did that for more than an hour. Singing loudly and
moving your body are the norms and are encouraged. After the praise and worship
Pastor Ngodi had our team share a few words about what God has placed on our
hearts. Two of our girls said something to the audience and then apparently no
one else had anything to say. Before I can do anything to stop it, Pastor Ngodi
announces the first guest speaker to share a message. It was Jochem. Yes, me.
I’m speechless, not moving, and wondering why Ngodi just called me to say
something. I’ve spoken in front of more people before, but always had something
prepared. Not this time. I have nothing to say, nothing prepared. Its pitch
black outside except for nine headlamps on me, so I can see everyone that is
waiting for what I have to say. I talk about the first thing that comes to
mind, God’s plan through both good and bad times. I talk for six, seven minutes
top about my last blog post, and though that was not what we expected, there
were lessons to be taken from it. To be very honest it didn’t go good. I paused
frequently, stuttered, and looked onto my teammates for advice. God taught me
something that night. Always have a solid word to share with others; it may be
life-changing for them. Three days later at a scripture reading at a school in
Rusape, I was once again asked to share a profound word. I was ready, and gave
the students a word I felt like they should have received. It was of similar
length; but I engaged the audience, received feedback, and felt very confident
it was what they needed to hear.
On Thursday, September 20th, we went to the bush!
We were supposed to leave at 2pm African time, so we ended up leaving at 6pm.
Makes perfect sense to me. We piled into two kombis and headed 20 kilometers
from Pastor Ngoni’s house to the middle of nowhere where there was a very small
village. About ten African guys that were with us headed into the countryside
to search for people who wanted to come to our program. About an hour after we
got there, there was about 35 people ready to hear our spiel. First off, praise
and worship. There was dancing and music for more than an hour. Then, Pastor
Alan, a good friend of Brian, our ministry contact, preached for about 20
minutes. When he was finished he asked if there were was anyone who wanted to
give their lives to Jesus. Twenty-six people gave their lives to God right then
and there. After that the Jesus video was presented in Shona, their native
language. This is about a two and half hour video highlighting the life of
Jesus as a young boy until his ascension into heaven. The film was fantastic-
if you spoke Shona. Our group enjoyed some bonding time since it was a little
difficult for us to understand the film. It was quite late when the film ended,
but some of the new believers stuck around for prayer and fulfillment. It was
awesome to see God working in the bush of Zimbabwe and this was an experience I
won’t ever forget.
