Update!!
Tuesday afternoon ( March 26th) we left Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to get on a bus to head to Johannesburg, South Africa! After 13 hours of driving and 3 hours waiting at the border to get through security, Wednesday morning we finally made it!! A driver from Impact Africa picked us up at the bus station and we headed to the base where we will be living this month. Now I know I said we were big time blessed with our living conditions last month….but this month ….. holy heck! WE ARE BLESSED! The base is an old b & b and is freaking BEAUTIFUL! We have hot water, can drink water straight from the faucets and drum rolllllllll AIR CONDITIONING hahaha I am so thankful. God has definitely given us a good balance this month though. I’ll be completely real, ministry this month is hard, but also it’s beautiful and real and rewarding. I’ve been completely pulled out of my comfort zone and while it’s something I’ve been praying for I wasn’t completely expectant of it happening. This month is almost all evangelism in different communities and, for me, is completely new. While I love talking to strangers and getting to know them, talking about Jesus with them is something I’ve never ever done before.
I keep thinking of this quote I like from We Bought a Zoo. I can’t completely remember it but it says something about “15 seconds of insane courage and something beautiful will come from it.” I’ve learned that that is the absolute truth! When I didn’t even know what words would come out of my mouth, God put the words into my mouth and fully led me through those conversations. And the best part, in the less than 2 weeks we’ve been here, I’ve already seen 3 salvations, a healing and tons and tons of seeds planted in God’s people. Never did I expect to see that happen. Like I said earlier, this is completely completely out of my comfort zone but God is surprising me in so many ways here.
This month we’re also living with people our age, from the states, who are interning with Impact Africa. This has been such a blessing. God for sure lined this up for us. They constantly pour into us, call us higher, and have really impacted our teams dynamics. They have been great examples of living like Christ and I think I can speak for my whole team in saying that we have already learned so much from them. I’m so excited to get to know them, grow from them and live and serve alongside them this month.
Time is already going crazy crazy crazy fast here. I feel like we got here yesterday and we’re almost 2 weeks in. As much as I hate to it, we have less than 3 weeks until we leave Africa. While in some ways I’m ready to come home and see my parents ( hi mom, hi dad) and all of my friends, my heart also aches knowing that this trip is almost over. I’m going to miss my teammates more than I ever thought was possible and most of all I’m going to miss the beauty of Africa and it’s culture. I’m so thankful for this chapter in my life, but I’m so sad to see it coming to an end. Don’t worry though, I’m still making the most of every day and being where my feet are. I know that God is going to do crazy cool things these last couple of weeks.
Please pray for my teammates and I to step out in boldness and courage to allow God to work through us. Please pray for safety and health these last couple of weeks and that we can fully send it til we go home. Thank you for all your comments, messages and support- fr it means the world to me:)
Also update:!!!!! Didn’t get to see any snakes in Zimbabwe sadly, but this past week I finally got to see one!!!! One of my teammates stepped barefoot on the head of (what we learned to be) a very poisonous snake. Don’t worry, God had him in that moment and he’s all good. We did have to cut the head off of the snake though:(
Also…. through ministry I got to meet a very kind lady named Lebu, she’s a devoted follower of Christ and we got to visit her several times to just sit and talk with her. She also taught me how to kill and butcher a chicken!!!! Hahah what a learning experience!
