We have been in Zimbabwe for about 3 weeks now and it has been an amazing 3 weeks. We are staying in a township called Chivi. Here we work with our hosts, Pastor Kudzai and his wife Eugenia. They are the sweetest people and I could not be more thankful that my team has gotten to spend this month with them.
Chivi has 1.5 million people living there, but it is considered a ‘growth point’, which mean one day it will become a city. We stay in a newly built house in Chivi that will be used to host future mission teams. We have some electricity from solar panels they put on the roof our first week there. We also have running water from a tank that we fill up every couple of days. We have gotten to be pretty good friends with the water guy, Mr. Mauvire. We have a few neighbors that are so sweet and are constantly bringing us buns (fried dough that is delicious). I love Chivi so much, all the people we have met have been so welcoming and kind to us, but the best part about this month has for sure been Pastor Kudzai and Eugenia!
From the second we met Pastor Kudzai and Eugenia they have loved us and treated us like family. They have 3 sons, Peter, John, and James who are ages 7-13. Pastor and Eugenia love the Lord so much and if you spend 5 seconds with them you can see that.
Ministry is a little different everyday but we have spent time chopping down trees and praying at their land that will be the site of their future orphanage. We have gotten to do door-to-door evangelism, and we have been preaching at every church service! Pastor Kudzai told me that he wouldn’t be preaching again until we left because they want to hear the Word from us.
I want to tell y’all a little about Pastor Kudzai and Eugenia, I got permission from them to share their stories.
Pastor Kudzai is such a sweet man. He loves the Lord and has a faith like I have never seen before. As soon as we met him he told us about a vision the Lord gave him to build an orphanage in Chivi, I’ll talk about that a little later. He grew up with a father who was a polygamist and had three wives. His mother was the third wife and his father died when he was young. His family worshipped ancestors and spirits, but not the Lord. His oldest brother was a strong believer in Christ, but he also died when Pastor Kudzai was young. When he was 12 he found Jesus and he says his life was never the same. His family treated him pretty bad because of his beliefs but even though he was 12 years old he stood firm in his faith and didn’t let them sway him to their beliefs. When he was around 17 years old his older brother’s wife was very sick and his family not knowing what to do asked Pastor to pray healing for her. He prayed for her and she was healed! That part of his family gave their lives to Christ after that. Then another one of his brothers’ wives was possessed with a demon and they would beat her and nothing would happen so again his family, not knowing what to do, called Pastor to pray for her and he cast out the demon inside of her and she was healed. The rest of his family then gave their lives to Christ. Pastor Kudzai was only 17 but because he listened to the Lord he was the reason his entire family found Jesus. At 20 years old he began to minister and evangelize. Years later he was planting churches and happened to be planting a church in the town where Eugenia was from. Eugenia’s mother was the first person saved in that church. Then Eugenia found Christ and was saved. Two years later Pastor Kudzai and Eugenia fell in love and were married. They have now started a church in Chivi called Christian Fellowship Church.
That was a short version of their story but I love their family so much I wanted to share some background on them. They have faced lots of rejection and ridicule from non-believers but that has not stopped them from proclaiming God’s word. They both have amazing relationships with the Father and always say yes when He asks them to do something.
A couple of years ago Pastor Kudzi and Eugenia got a vision from the Lord telling them to build an orphanage. They shared the vision with their church and some people from their town council and their town council has now given them land to begin building that vision!! Hearing Pastor Kudzi talk about the orphanage is so inspiring. He knows that only through God will this be possible and he works so hard every single day to bring the vision to life. After we get done working at the orphanage site we pray before we leave for God’s will to be done, we also pray for the children that this orphanage is going to have an impact on. You can already begin to see what a huge impact this orphanage is going to have on the people of Chivi!
Pastor Kudzai and Eugenia are crazy about Jesus and are so inspiring to me. They love us so much and truly care about us, they ask us about our families and our lives back home. Leaving them is going to be so difficult but I know we will see them again. They both want to visit the U.S. one day and I already told them that they are staying at my house because I know the first place they’re going to want to visit is Murfreesboro.
This month has been so special for me and my team.
Please be praying for Pastor Kudzai, Eugenia, Peter, John, and James.
Pray for their church.
Pray for God’s will to be done at the orphanage.
Pray for the construction.
Pray for the future kids that will one day live there.
And please be praying for Pastor Kudzai, Eugenia, and their boys to have a renewed spirit and to continue to listen to God’s plan for their lives.
