Our team left Harare on September 28th and we arrived in Pretoria, South Africa the morning of the 29th. We had a much better bus service this time- Intercape. Despite 5 and half hours waiting at the border, the whole trip took only 20 hours compared to over 24 on the way up. We are stationed here in Pretoria for two nights then dispersing across South Africa for month 2! While we were only in Zimbabwe for just over two weeks, here are some of the ministry highlights we encountered.
RUSAPE, ZIMBABWE
-Our bush ministry was amazing. Twenty-six people came
to know Jesus that night and all of them stuck around throughout the chilly
night to watch the Jesus Film in their native language. A church was just
planted there a few months ago by our friend Pastor Ngoni and this night of
ministry will hopefully dramatically increase the church attendance.
-Being a part of Ngoni’s church was a real blessing. The
praise and worship that is done here is so much different than American
culture. These people that are coming to the church have nothing but give
everything to Jesus and others. We as a group shared a word during the service.
The locals were so happy that we were there and shared our hearts with them.
-As you read about in my last blog post, not everyone we
prayed for was healed. On the upside, however, three people were healed from
long-term headaches and intestinal issues. God used our team to pray for these
people and to share our stories and testimonies with them.
-One of my favorite activities was the scripture reading at
a local school. More than 60 people jammed into a small classroom with us,
excited to hear a word from us three Americans. I got the opportunity to share
and lead a small discussion about being the light of the world and adding a practical
real-world issue to this scripture. I also talked about what it means to be an
example to younger siblings through this passage.
EPWORTH, ZIMBABWE
-We were here for a couple of days when there wasn’t much
going on in Harare that we could do. We spent one Sunday here attending two
church services: one under a big tree that was just children, and the other one
was in a church with only children and women. Again, phenomenal praise and
worship and dancing at both of the services. It was awesome to minister to all
the children who came without parents and who just wanted to be a part of the
service and hear about Jesus. The children could have played for us hours and
hours more.
-We met Thomas in Epworth. Evil spirits and witchcraft
killed his firstborn child and evil spirits were at work again. He was a young
Christian but his mother practiced witchcraft. His second child was up at night
crying for hours and scratching the back of her head. There was a slight
language barrier, but we communicated to him as best we could. We prayed over
Thomas, his wife, and the baby. We prayed over the house. We prayed against the
witchcraft. It was scary and eye-opening stuff, but they got nothing on Jesus.
-Forget and I developed a very good friendship with the
limited time I had in Epworth. He had many trades and was very good with his
hands; building walls, roofing, furniture, this man could do it all. He always
invited me into his house, offering me tea and bread, drinks from his little
store, and always wanting a picture. His 6 children loved me and were very sad
to see me go for the final time. I gave the family a picture of myself before I
left, and instead of just saying “thanks” or “that’s nice,” his wife took down
a picture out of a picture frame and put my picture in the frame and hung it
back on the wall. I’m going to miss their family and their joy and kindness to
me. Forget and his family were Christians but did not attend a church in
Epworth, but in a neighboring town.
