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God is literally SO COOL. His plan is so beyond complex and I will never understand it but I will always trust it because God is SO GOOD. We arrived in Bulawayo on Wednesday and it is much different than Namatama in Zambia. Here, it is basically impossible to bond with the neighbors because our house is gated and basically a private compound but it is absolutely beautiful. It is such a privilege to serve alongside Bulawayo Baptist Church and we are staying with the pastor and his wife. The entire church is so focused on loving their community and providing a solid foundation for Christians to come and be loved. They are always busy and always doing ministry in and around Bulawayo! This week has been incredible. It is so encouraging to see the way that God is active in peoples hearts and lives here. I know I’ve shared this before but I love being involved in different ministries just by being present and willing to serve! On Friday, we got the privilege of visiting a squatter camp called Killarney where we got to love on the kids while singing worship together and we even got to pass out hard-boiled eggs. It may not sound significant but for most of those kids, that’s possibly the only food they receive that day because of their living situation and it’s so exciting to be a part of that! We got to share a Bible lesson with them and tell them all about how much Jesus loves them. After we were able to spend the afternoon at Killarney, we got the news that the government was kicking them out of their homes, built of mud and scraps, and they were forcing them to move in order to bulldoze the place that these loving people call home. One week later, we got to serve them again in their new home but this time, we got to bring enough sheets and towels for each family to have and we passed out eggs to them again! We also got to hand out reusable pads to each woman that were donated to us by Days For Girls. In the United States, menstrual cycle supplies are always accessible. Here, they don’t have access to supplies and they will usually drop out of school when they get their period because they can’t leave their house. It is awesome that we could help these people with so much! But bigger picture, it is so amazing to me that God changed their lives with the worst news followed by his blessings and gifts of great news in just 7 short days! God is so good and his plan is always what is best for us, and my friends at Killarney. God always PROVIDES. We also got to serve at youth group for junior high and for young adults! On Thursday, we taught a Bible study with Ramona (a ministry contact from church,) in a vegetable market and it was the wildest Bible study ever! The man who sat next to me had so many tough questions including why God is allowing him to suffer. We got the opportunity to pray over him and answer some of his questions. It is such a joy to be used by the Lord! On Friday morning, I worked in the church in a soup kitchen! We got to prepare the food and worship God and then there was a mini-lesson and a prayer before serving traditional sadza(the same thing as sheema in Zambia) and chicken! We actually got the chance to plan for the junior high youth group music and games and the students loved it! I am so excited about the variety of ministry opportunities the Lord is blessing our team with this month! And although it’s been hard to adjust in a new environment, our team has many different expectations this month! For example, we automatically tell the locals to be an hour early so that their more casual timing will line up with our hope to be on time for our events. It’s been quite an adjustment but is just part of the culture here, and there’s still much to learn from them. Our days are filled with hard work, new relationships, waiting on the Lord, and so so much joy!
Please pray for our team that we would be able to continue serving the Lord with joy even when our jobs seem small or mundane! Also, please pray that we would be reminded of why we’re here! Lastly, that we can be intentional about relationships here and the depth of our relationships within our team!
Please pray for me personally as I’m praying that God would open my eyes and my heart to him. I am praying that he will empty me of my selfishness and that he would fill me with him. Please pray for more opportunities for me to serve, serve, serve! Also, I’m just really struggling because I feel far from the Bulawayo community outside of the church. I know that the Lord has other plans for our team this month but I love people and outreach so being in our gated home is an adjustment.
Thank you so much for all of your support! |
