After a short border crossing, a lost battle that involved a baboon enjoying my muffin for breakfast, and 7.5 hours on a bus, my team made it to Lusaka, Zambia for month three. Although we are here, I feel like a part of me is still back in Zimbabwe, and will be forever. Our month in Zimbabwe was filled with playing soccer every day in the African heat, loving on the youth, and experiencing the Father’s love in big ways.
In South Africa we did a lot of evangelism and door to door ministry. We prayed for salvations, healings, and for God to work in the communities in Johannesburg. We prayed a lot, talked to many people, but I honestly didn’t see a lot. I didn’t see a lot of the fruit of my labor. In John 20:29, Jesus says to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” I just had to have hope and believe that things were moving even if I couldn’t see it with my own eyes.
Entering our month in Zimbabwe, I felt hopeful. I believed that at some point we would see the fruit of our labor. We would experience something that gave us that nudge of confidence that we were really doing work for the kingdom. Even though I hadn’t seen much yet, I was believing in seeing something big.
In Zimbabwe, our partner, Youth for Christ, has a vision of reaching the youth across the nation. We were specifically with the youth of Victoria Falls. Each week we attended four different schools to pour into the students. We would go to the schools to talk about topics like leadership, peer pressure, and vision. However, the students were hungry for more than just that. They wanted to know who God actually was and what the name of Jesus actually holds. The youth of Victoria Falls stole a piece of all of our hearts in three short weeks. Specifically, there were three young individuals that changed my life.
Tecla
I spoke to my small group at one of the schools about the goodness of our Father, despite there being suffering in this world. At the end, Tecla pulled me aside to ask me to pray for salvation in her life. The following week she came up to me to thank me. She said the moment that I prayed for her she felt a shift in her spirit. Within the one week she said that her life had changed. She prayed about her dancing and received a sponsorship to travel to South Africa, and she felt the Lord everywhere around her because she accepted Jesus into her life.
Hope
We met Hope at the school we went to every Friday. She had a spirit in her that we noticed the first day we met her. She possessed a hunger for the Lord that moved us. A couple weeks in, we held a session for the girls of the school to read truths from God. One girl would sit in front of her peers while the rest of the girls would write what they were hearing from God to tape on the wall behind the girl in the chair. These truths embodied what the girls’ classmates saw in them, but more importantly what God saw in them. This specific girl read truths saying how chosen she is, how fearfully and wonderfully made she is, and how loved she is by our Father for the first time in her life. We wept with Hope as the power and magnitude of our Father’s love washed over her.
Tinashe
He was the first student to ever come to the soccer fields, where we did the other half of our ministry with YFC, to talk with us more. Irma, Tinashe, and I sat down in the dirt and the Holy Spirit began to move. The boy poured his heart out to us as we learned how he has a vision for his classmates to know Jesus even though he didn’t even own a Bible because he gave it away. The moment he said he didn’t have a Bible, Irma and I exchanged a look of agreement. I told him that if he came back tomorrow I would give him my Bible. The next day, he not only showed up for the Bible, but he came with a friend. Within the one week we had left in Zimbabwe we were able to hold a Bible study with not only those two boys, but eventually four boys who were all eager to talk about Jesus.
In Matthew 9:37 it says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
In less than a month, I got to experience three laborers of the Lord. Three people who not only let me see the fruit of my labor as I poured into them, but let me see how their labor is already spreading amongst the youth of Victoria Falls. They were talking about Jesus to their families more, they were starting Bible studies at a soccer field, and they were becoming more in love with Jesus day by day.
I’m believing that we will continue to see the fruit of our labor, because that’s how good our God is. He didn’t have to show us the fruit of our labor, but he chose to. Just like God is choosing me, I’m going to choose to believe in our Father. Although we left Zimbabwe, I’m carrying this hope into Zambia.
