Hello everyone, salibonani! A week has past passed here in Bulawayo Zimbabwe. So far, we have had a blast. I have had more fun so far than any of the other countries. Everyone has great attitudes about everything. I have posted updates on Facebook about the month so far with pictures. You can search my posts.
First, I will talk about our host. We are staying in a house with a family of six. A wife with her three kids, also auntie as we call her and Duncan. Jubalani the husband is out of the house, but we have talked to him a few times. Hope Ministries is the organization they help with and the organization we are a part of this month. Jubalani has been our contact for the month relating to ministry. They are a lot of fun. We get along well. Auntie cooks all three meals for us throughout the day. We are served very well and they have treated us like family. It has brought me back to Honduras. It has been a while since we have stayed with a host that lives in the community that is from the country and has grown up here. I feel like we are part of the culture, not just alongside it. I think it makes a world of difference. Also, I feel a lot closer with my team. Being in a hostel can feel like we aren’t as together. But God has grown me as well to have better attitude. It definitely feels more like home.
Also, the power goes out frequently and the water shuts off. It is cool to live like them. The weather is beautiful here as well but at night it gets cold. It is sunny and in the high 70s every day without a cloud in the sky. I sleep with the 2 guys in a room and the other 5 girls sleep in another room. We have the 2 raised up squad leaders with us this month too. Zimbabwe is economically not very good right now. The president is driving the economy into the ground as I’m told. Uneployment rate is extremely high! Won’t talk much more about that as I’m not supposed too.
One of the reasons I have loved this month is because of ministry. We have been doing door to door evangelism. It is more accepted here than in the states. Wow! We have seen many people come to Christ and recommitments. I was a little worried at first. I felt like they expected people to get saved and it felt pressuring. I sometimes question “the salvation prayer” started by Billy Graham and how do you know if people are serious when they pray. Do they really know what they are saying and the meaning behind it? But the thing is that the gospel is so simple and I think we can complicate it. And I do believe God was using Billy Graham to simplify the Gospel. The Lord is the one that makes the way and not are human wisdom. It shows a lack of trust when we question all the time. I can drive myself crazy wondering, but the Holy Spirit made a way. I know people have truly given there lives. We did follow ups after and we talked with some of the people and it was very encouraging to see them pursuing the Lord. I could tell you a story about a man, but I don’t have time.
Wow! That’s all I can say. Getting to pray with people and to share the Gospel with complete strangers. They are so receptive to the Gospel here. This is only week one! I can’t wait till what the next three weeks will bring.
This month reminds me a lot of my first and second mission trip to Ensenada, Mexico. We presented the gospel and people got saved. The host in Mexico was awesome like this host. In a lot of ways, it has brought me back to what I learned there. Even the landscape is similar.
The team that we work with at Hope Ministries is awesome too. We worked with two pastors Douglas and White. They are so fun. We do a lot with them. We also worked with numerous other locals preaching the gospel and opening up a new church. Pastor Whites church opened this last Sunday. We are doing follow ups this week with the people we visited last week. Very proud of our team this week and really since we started. We were very bold and preached with the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus, for coming through!
Above all love is the most important thing, we are striving to love these people, want y all to know that.
Prayer Requests: Pray for our follow ups, that these people grow in their faith and that they eventually go make disciples. Pray for our visits to the orphanage. Pray as we are leaving for Binga this upcoming week. A small community that we will be working with. Evangelizing and planting a church there. Whatever the Lord wants to happen there that it would happen. Pray that our team would grow in boldness and confidence. And always to grow in love by encountering more of our amazing savior every day, because He is love.
Though I speak with the tounges of men and of angels, but I don’t have LOVE, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as the move mountains, but not have LOVE, I am nothing, If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not LOVE, I gain nothing.
