My friends, family, loved ones, strangers, everybody reading this blog…
Month one has just about come and gone, as of tomorrow October 4th, I will have completed my first month on the field. This is crazy. “Am I really doing the world race? Is this real life? Am I really a missionary?” and “I can’t believe this is my life but, I love it,” are thoughts that have found me time and time again.
So you may be wondering what the heck did I even do my first month in Zimbabwe?
That is a great question.
Essentially, my team, redeeming D.U.S.T and I did about 9 different ministries.
There is so much to say so I decided to make a list about some of it…
Month 1:
Location: Mutare, Zimbabwe
Languages: English and Shona
Contacts: Felix and Jenni Mueska.
– Felix is a native from Zim
– Jenni is originally from Canada
– Together they were a delightful couple
– Marked by realness & honesty.
– They just celebrated the birth of their first baby girl, Njiva.
– Nijva looked my kid, haha. J
– They had the cutest dog named “Smoky”
– They felt like family
– And I would love to visit them again, wink wink 🙂
Ministries:
Tafara: a feeding ministry for the children located in the ghettoes called Sakubva.
– we helped make lunch
– we played with the kids for hours on end
– we danced
– we laughed
– we sang
Hope for Life: a ministry for children with HIV/AIDS.
– we cried
– we colored
– we hugged
– we prayed
– we wrote our dreams and hopes for when "we grow up"
New Hope at Lighthouse Church: a youth group for the teens of Mutare to come and learn about Jesus
– we had coffee
– talked about Jesus
– shared our lives
– did crazy dance worship
Sunday School at Lighthouse Church: for babies and toddlers
-we played
-taught about Jesus
-held the most epic Puppet Show
GoGo Olive: a ministry for that is to “empower the local women” as they learn to create handmade products to support themselves and family. Check out www.gogo-olive.com
– we talked with the woman
– prayed with the woman
– listened to the woman SING.
Life in Zim consisted of:
– bucket showers
– big wasps
– random electricity shut offs
– random water shut offs
– cooking food by fire
– Africa time (“We’ll pick you up at 10am,” “great!” (Time elapses)…11:49am rolls around… “They are here!)
– Transportation in a truck bed with 14 other people
– Odd stares
– Beautiful weather
– Pranks
– Bucket flushing
– Hand washing clothes
– Driving on the opposite side of the road
– Lots of hugs
– Sick 3 times
– Mozambique border 6 kilometers away
– 14 people living in a 4 bedroom house
– 1 bathroom!
– Cozy bed
It was an awesome month.
Now, as some of you may know, my Team redeemIng D.U.S.T. myself included are staying in Pretoria, South Africa for month 2 of ministry. We're partnering with Popup ministries and I will be working with PopKids, hopefully watching 0 to 2 year olds! 🙂
Finally, finances as of today October 3rd I'm at $9,070.33. WoW! Thank you SO SO much for your contributions. It means the world…literally…to me.
By December 1st I have another deadline of $11,000. So if you feel so led to donate, then thank you advance for helping me stay on the race.
Love to you all,
Lynette
