Bzzzzz….thunk.
My mind immediately went to the pregnant cockroach the girls in the next room had been screaming all evening over. I hesitantly turned my light on to my pillow where I had just heard that ominous sound and found a much smaller than expected beetle, flicked it off, and breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The next morning I woke up here in Zimbabwe from flies constantly landing on my face. I came to the realization that nowhere was safe from them. We may be indoors for the month but the bugs are still abundant.
The only solace I found in waking up to flies swarming my face was knowing I was about to seek revenge by killing them with the fly swatter I had carried with me since Albania.
It’s the little things.
Later in that first morning we met with our host, Pastor Wonder. Full of nervous energy, we sat around the table outside of a market/restaurant/hardware store waiting for him to discuss what the next month of our Race was going to look like.
He gave folded ‘programs’ to us and we hesitantly opened then. In that moment, I imagined rays of light pouring out of the page and the sound of Angels in the background, beautifully singing, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh….”
We held in our hands the most scheduled schedule I think anyone on the Race could ever hope for. Every hour of every day of the month we were here in Zimbabwe we essentially knew what we would be doing.
All of the Myers Briggs ‘J’s’ on the team almost broke out in tears.
However, with the knowledge and privilege of the schedule, we also found out what would be expected of us. We all sat a little dumbfounded as we were told he was essentially handing the reigns of his church over to us for the next month. Every night, along with most days, one of us would be doing a teaching or testimony. There would be no hiding in the crowd this month. How could we when the crowd was coming to see us?
Jesus was calling us out and to a much higher place of dependence on Him this month.
Our first day of ministry we were ready with a teaching and a testimony for the evening revival service, but we were not ready to be picked up three hours earlier than expected. We scrambled to pull ourselves together and squished eight of us into our tiny car.
Slightly disheveled as we were, Pastor Wonder took us to the beginning of the market in Glendale and told us to just walk along the streets streaming with people. As long as we were with him, the people would know something was going on at the church because they all know him as pastor. They will get curious, and they will come.
So us seven American females set out onto the orange dirt roads to bring people to the service. It was by far my most interesting day of the Race.
We passed vegetable stands, popcorn machines, tarps full of shoes, people picking mangos, and more people giving us confused and wary stares than I could ever hope to count. However, as soon as we smiled and waved saying hello, huge smiles broke out on their faces and even the suspicious children broke and ran out at us.
I even got to pick a mango from the tree using their long stick and hook. It was much harder than it looked and I may have caused a spectacle in the street as a group gathered around to watch the white girl struggle to pick a mango. There may or may not have been a crowd cheering when the mango finally hit the ground with a loud, satisfying thud.
As we made our way to Pastor Wonder’s home where the service was being held, I found myself unable to stop rejoicing and smiling. Jesus knows this is the continent where and the people who He molded my heart for.
Then, I met Jesus like I never had before in Pastor Wonder’s front yard.
We were escorted to our designated seats in the front row. Behind us was a sea of beautiful dark faces eagerly awaiting to hear what these seven American girls had to say. Curiosity is what brought the numbers but Jesus is what made them stay.
The yellow-orange glow from the one light bulb illuminated the entire front yard as a beacon the church brought to the township. When we started worship I understood why we were outside with the sky as our ceiling and not in a sanctuary with a roof.
The music was unlike anything I had ever heard with the keyboard and its soundboard in full swing. We had one woman on a microphone singing, but by the end of the first song there were five more praising alongside her. They all moved in sync while they danced praising the Lord as the seven of us tried hilariously to keep step with them. Jesus flowed through every facet of that night and if there had been roof, He would have blown it off.
One phrase from the night significantly stood out to me. “In the mighty name of Jesus!” They repeated it over and over with a reverence I don’t hear often enough. When these people worship, they worship with their whole bodies in surrender and unashamed, hands raised and feet dancing. They completely embraced the mightiness of our Savior and revel in all the goodness and love that He pours out.
They showed me the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, which transformed my heart for this month. This is going to be a month of challenges and new mountains to climb, but more importantly a month of new beginnings and transformative thinking to set me up for the rest of the Race.
So, come on, Holy Spirit, fill me up. I am ready to love your people, proclaim your mighty name, and boldly be your vessel, bringing your power alongside your warriors here.
I’m just sorry in advance for the amount of flies I am going to kill along the way…
