Zimbabwe was a wild month! Our team was blessed with two amazing hosts, Adam and Vicki Burke, plus their three children. They took us in to their hostel and completely adopted us in to their family. They would cook a family meal for us every Thursday and just completely opened up their lives to us. Vicki loved evangelizing, to her core, so our team was constantly exposed to reaching out to strangers about Jesus—a new concept to me. Back in the States, I had never really evangelized before. All of my missions experience was in more service-based tasks, so I was happy to practice something entirely new. Every day was a full day for us. Our first Saturday there, we went to a women’s conference at Antelope Park. The theme of the weekend was for us lionesses to awaken. They even mentioned Tribe of Judah a few times. Our team gleaned so much from that entire experience. My small group session was about stepping into your identity and not being afraid to be bold in who you are as a Christian woman in today’s world. It was so impactful. Getting to attend a lion feeding afterward was also pretty amazing! I had never seen anything so cool or smelled anything so fowl in my entire life!
The church we attended that month, Revival, was so alive with the Lord. They were partnering with other churches in the community to do a street evangelism project called Bulawayo for Jesus. People from these different churches would come together and practice door-to-door evangelism. My first experience was so funny. I was nervous, never having done anything like that before. My partner and I got to the first door, and this elderly lady answered. She ended up evangelizing to us for an hour and a half! So much for that. But, I learned so much from her. That day just so happened to be her 50th wedding anniversary as well, and she didn’t even know! Revival is so passionate about Jesus that they devoted an entire week of their lives to this project. At the end of the week, they hosted a youth rally. At this rally I got up and gave the short sermon for the night. I discussed things that are super relevant to kids that age, and I wasn’t sure how it would all be received, on top of the fact that I haven’t shared some of those things before, but they loved it. When we broke off into smaller groups, I ended up in an all-guys group, and thought they wouldn’t want to open up around me. Boy was I wrong! Those guys had some really cool, deep questions for me. They just had this hunger to grow with Jesus. It was a beautiful experience. It reminded me of working with my youth group back home.
A few mornings a week, our team would wake up and give devotionals to kids at a school called Petra. What a neat experience. Having Jesus present in the schools truly does make a huge difference. Those kids would run up to us, and their teachers, give us baked goods, hugs, and all kinds of praise. After five years of teaching in the States, I never had such a thing happen. We would then go to other school assemblies and give a brief presentation of the Gospel. The schools were so incredible and free there. One of my teammates and I got to go to a school specifically for students with disabilities. My heart. When we would ask them questions one student’s answer was always, “Jesus.” What an incredible moment.
Another ministry we partook in was going to a place called Ingutsheni, a mental institution. We would go and preach to the patients there, and even sing some worship songs with them. Another tender moment. They would come up to us and shake our hands and give us the biggest smile. Going there was difficult for me. The conditions there are the best that they can be considering that all of their money comes from donations, but many of the patients had feet sores because they were lacking shoes and walking on hot pavement most of the day. Yet their spirits were filled high with the Lord.
We went to Jairos Jiri, an adult center for people with disabilities. What a neat place. The people were residents there, and also attained jobs making things with their hands, such as baskets and shoes. They would sell their products at market for a profit, and some of the residents would attend technical college on campus a few nights per week. Zimbabwe had some pretty cool systems in place for people with disabilities. One of our last ministries including taking the Petra kids to a school designed for students with disabilities. They got to learn more about the culture, and my teammate and I even got to sign with some of the kids. I was so amazed. The day before we took the Petra kids to an elderly home, where they sang about Jesus and passed our Christmas cards to the patients. They were beloved there, and brought so much joy and youth into that place.
Probably the most impactful ministry we participated in was at a boarding school called Girls’ College. What a group of beautiful young ladies. We would take the middle-school girls and break into small groups to talk Bible study and life—they were so advanced and had deep relationships with the Father. We would then go to prayer night with the older girls. These girls would get together once a week, on their own, with no leader, and just pray together and share their lives together, and how Jesus was moving in themthat week. It was so beautiful.
A local named Litu would travel around with us, just about every day, to translate and evangelize with us. What a person! He and Vicki are quite the team. They travel around their community everyday spreading the good news of Jesus, getting to know their community better and better in the process. How inspiring. Zimbabwe was an unforgettable month, for sure. The entire country is so proud and just full of Jesus. I wondered sometimes why I was even there. Then I realized that it’s similar in the States. You can find Jesus everywhere you look, but there are still many places that are lacking in His presence. Zimbabwe left an imprint on my heart forever. The way they worship, pray, and love is just so deep and fearless. I love this new version of me, who’s no longer afraid to pray for people, worship out loud, and spread the Word. This ride has been so thrilling.
