I can’t believe I am in Zimbabwe! I have officially made my last continent change before heading back home. It is so weird, but so exciting. The other day we were riding in the truck driving to ministry when someone was asking about our trip. A teammate of mine answered and she said we only have 2 countries left….we all looked at each other and I think it set in. This race is almost over and soon S squad is coming back to North America, but first we have to love on the people of Africa!
Last month we had a debrief, where leadership changed our teams for the last time. While this was definitely bittersweet for me, I am excited to live these last 3 months with some amazing women. Our first time together as a team was in a coffee shop called 2 Giraffes. During this time we also had to come up with a team name, nothing stood out to us except that we were going to Africa and Giraffes were written in big letters on the wall…..so my new team is the Giraffes!
Giraffes are known for their long necks as they stick their necks out, we can connect it with making connections. Due to this characteristic the giraffe is a messenger, encouraging us to elongate our vision, stretch ourselves and reach as far as we can. The giraffe also makes an appearance when we need a little reminder that we all of potential to rise ourselves out to a challenge. They also demonstrate grace, when a giraffe visits us, it is often a message to strive through challenges while maintaining balance and grace.
This month my team and I are working with Hope Zimbabwe, whose vision is transforming communities for Jesus Christ. The purpose of hope ministries is to proclaim and demonstrate the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ, meeting spiritual, physical and emotional needs of orphans who are homeless and in need of hope and to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.
Helping orphans with physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs
outreaches in taking the gospel to the villages, schools, cities and nations
Pastors and leaders conferences across the nations
Equipping and encouraging the saints through evangelism, leadership and discipleship seminars
We are working in the city of Bulawayo doing house visits and encouraging the members of the church here. We split into two groups each morning and head out with two pastors. Each day we probably hit about 14 members houses between the two groups. It is really cool to see how the pastors really cherish their members and want to keep in touch with them.
This past week we got to partner with Noah’s Ark church, which is a church that reaches out the the squatter community. The squatter community are people who do not have an identity. These are people that have grown up in the streets, not being born in a hospital, therefore not receiving a birth certificate. This means that the government does not identify them, which makes life hard. We went out to visit two of these homesteads and we wrote down the names of all the kids. It was cool to be part of the beginning stages of these families getting help from Hope.
We have 7 more days left in the city and then we head out to a remote village in northwestern Zimbabwe called Binga. There we will be helping with the continued building of an orphanage. We will be hanging out with the orphans of this village, doing house visits and street evangelism.
There will be different strains of Malaria present in this area, so if you could keep our health in your prayers we would really appreciate it!
It’s been an interesting week here in Africa, but I am loving it. The first day we were here, we had to kill the chickens for dinner. I didn’t cut any heads off, but it was pretty interesting to watch the other girls scream, cringe and laugh during the entire process.
It was a great first day in this country and we can’t wait to see what else the Lord has in store for our team and this beautiful country!
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