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. I also posted one about community and another about ministry. But this one is about three specific stand out moments I had in Zimbabwe where I was either stirred up for God's heart or reminded of His love for us.
STAND OUT MOMENTS IN ZIM
"Good morning, Best Friend”
Words that made me smile and broke my heart simultaneously. I had spent several days holding Ashley quietly in my arms, just loving her. I tried to ask her questions but would only receive a sweet smile in return. Even after having the opportunity to visit her home and pray for the grandmother who took care of her and her sister, both orphans, I still knew very little about her life. Then on our second to last day of ministry at Tafara Christian Caring Trust, one of the caretakers told me that both Ashley and her sister were HIV positive. Immediately, my heart shattered. I loved this little girl so much. She meant so much to me in such a short time, and to hear this news was devastating. I was determined to spend as much time with her as possible that day, and so I pulled her aside. We sat on some steps while other children played all around us, and I asked if I could pray for her. She gently nodded “yes” and I prayed. Then I told her that even though I wouldn’t always be there with her that Jesus loved her and would never leave or forsake her. Although I’m not sure if she knew what I meant, she nodded “yes” as if she did. I simply held her in my arms for about five minutes, and then she looked up at me with her beautiful brown eyes and said in perfect English, “Good morning, best friend.” This was basically the only thing she had said in three days other than her name, and she said that. And I didn’t know what to say. I simply squeezed tighter, smiled, tried to push back tears, and thanked God that His love translated through me. This moment was just so real, and I will never forget it. I will never forget Ashley.
Meeting with Mutare’s Mayor
Actually, he’s the mayor in suspension. Which is why this was such a stand out moment. We had the honor of meeting with him, and hearing a lot about the circumstances that Zimbabwe has been through, especially since 2008. It provided a lot of insight into the government’s corruption. One of the main reasons that this man was removed from his position was because he was under a different political party than the current president of Zimbabwe, which meant that his ideals, although good for Mutare, did not line up with what this party wanted so they found a way to remove him from office. Sounds unfair, right? Well that’s because there is a serious lack of justice in so many different ways in Zimbabwe – in politics, in poverty, in the school system, in business, in economics, etc. This meeting was such a stand out point for me because I left this meeting completely broken for the lack of justice and burdened for the country of Zimbabwe in a whole new way.
Called Out with Confirmation
One night, our host, Jenni, pulled me aside and said she needed to talk to me about something God had been laying on her heart for me. She basically then proceeded to speak out everything I had been processing internally and hadn’t communicated to anyone yet, and said that the things I was walking through were many of the same things she had dealt with during her first month of the race. She called me out on some things, gave me advice in some areas, and basically just confirmed everything that I thought the Lord was already doing in me since training camp. (See this blog to understand what I’m talking about: http://raychelmanko.theworldrace.org/?filename=training-camp-transition-to-a-season-of-submission) But the whole experience, was just a great reminder that God cares about what’s going on in each of us personally not only what’s going in the world. He cared about me so much that He gave Jenni insight to know exactly what to speak to me. Man, I am so blessed. Jesus loves us so much!
