I had a great first “month” of the World Race in Zimbabwe. I say “month” because we actually only spent a few weeks in Mutare, Zimbabwe after launch and several travel days. And we actually had to head back to South Africa a little early because our hosts had a conference to attend.
During the month I saw a lot, did a lot and learned a lot, but I really failed at consistently blogging about it because I was so overwhelmed with my experiences and we only had a limited amount of Internet to share among 16 people.
So I figured the best way to update everyone at home was to summarize my whole month through a series that I’m going to call Zim Recaps. The first one was about our living situation and what daily life looked like in Zimbabwe. Stay posted for the ones about community and one with three of my standout moments from the month. But this one is about the ministry we did in Zimbabwe.
Tafara Christian Caring Trust
Tafara is an orphan ministry in Sakubva, one of the poorest communities In Mutare. It basically functions through volunteer-based caretakers who are responsible for checking up on the welfare of orphans in the community. These caretakers are amazing and do their best to make sure that the children in their care are fed and go to school. Every day they cook a huge meal for all of the children. We were at Tafara for four days. While we were there, we helped these ladies cook, did a Bible study with them, and prayed for them. We also helped feed the children and spent time loving on and plating with them. The pastor in charge of Tafara told me that many of these children never receive love and affection as freely as we gave it, and that even our hugs meant the world to them. Needless to say, that broke and touched my heart at the same time.
Mission of Hope
This is a local ministry for orphaned teens. We broke into smaller groups and I got to spend some great time with a group of 12-16 year old girls. Although we were just there for one day, but it was incredible how deep I got to go with these girls. I got to spend one-on-one time with three of the girls. They told me their stories, their aspirations, and I told them about me. I got to pray over all three of these girls and speak some powerful things over their futures. Also, some of my team mates spoke to the entire group and the Holy Spirit moved in a very powerful way.
Cleaning Ministry
One day we stayed home and just cleaned our hosts’ home to bless them. Plus 16 people in one small house = a big mess.
GoGo Olive
We spent one of our days in Zim, visiting a local ministry for older women, which is basically a microbusiness that enables these women to support their families by knitting keychain stuffed animals. GoGo Olive is more than just a microbusiness though. It’s a ministry because it also works to facilitate spiritual growth and community among these women. It also works to train up these women as leaders, and works closely with the local prison. Many of the woman who come to GoGo Olive are former prisoners, and through the redemptive power of Christ now go back into the prisons to minister.
Check out their site, and think about buying something to support these women: www.gogo-olive.com
Light House Church Youth Group
One Friday night, we were extremely blessed to get to know the youth at the church we attended while we were in Mutare. Youth group basically felt like the youth group I grew up in, and it was so awesome to see the unity in the Body of Christ. Apparently the youth have been talking a lot about missions, so I had the blessing of sharing with them about what we’re doing through the World Race. Then several of my squad mates shared their testimonies of how God called them to come on the race, and one of my squad mates preached a short message out of Joshua. Then we broke up into small groups, and I helped lead the group of girls. We let them ask us anything, and they asked some very challenging questions before opening up to us and allowing us to pray for them. The night ended with tea and hot dogs, so you know it was definitely a good night.
Hope for Life
Hope for Life is a Christian-based support group for children with HIV. This was probably one of the hardest, most emotional days of ministry of my team. But as hard as it was, it was incredible to see that these children still had hope because of Christ in them, the hope of glory. One of our host’s friend, Ann, shared with the children about how they are fearfully and wonderfully made, and we got to play with the kids and hear their stories through an exercise called Tree of Life. One of the most touching moments was when a sweet 15-year-old girl named Kelly got up and started tearing when she expressed genuine thanks for our presence and the hope and faith we brought to that place. This was definitely a time when we like these kids blessed us more than we blessed them. We just felt blessed to hug them, play with them and pray for them.
For more details, read this blog post from my team mate, Lynette: http://lynettealegria.theworldrace.org/?filename=fearfully-wonderfully-made
Light House Church Sunday School
It’s pretty self-explanatory, but our teams had an awesome time teaching Sunday School with some experiments, an epic puppet show and Bible lessons. I actually missed what went down it Sunday School because I taught the toddlers, but that was fun too! Love those babies.
Nzeve Deaf Children’s Center
Deep in the neighborhood of Sakubva, Mutare, there is a place where the deaf community is treated with the love and compassion of Christ. It’s a place where they can feel at home, and where they can receive education and understand God’s Word. We were blessed to serve at Nzeve Deaf Children’s Center by cleaning windows, sweeping, washing their truck, and helping them prepare for their upcoming government inspection. We also did water activities with children and watched their faces light up with the most beautiful smiles. We also had the unique opportunity to attend a deaf church service, and worship alongside of these amazing people that God created. We acted out Acts 12, which accounts Peter’s miraculous escape from prison. I think the most amazing thing for me was to see how God speaks and still moves in the hearts of those who can’t hear physically. This was definitely an eye-opening experience for me, and God stretched my heart for these people.
Prayer Ministry
In between everything else that we did, we talked to Jesus a lot. We had the opportunity to pray against sickness, cancer, and spiritual strongholds, and pray blessing over many people and many ministries. Although we didn’t always see the direct fruit of our prayers, we know that God will be faithful in all of those situations.
