This week was our first full week of ministry. Working with the youth/ young adult groups has been so much fun and the volunteers at the church have made it all the better!!! While we don’t have community in our neighborhood or our front yard, we’re able to build community through the church we’re volunteering at this month. The youth pastors and volunteers are all so passionate about what they do and it makes our time spent with them so much fun. Just last night, we were able to have some of them over for dinner and to hangout. It was refreshing to not have a typical quiet night at home. They cooked us a traditional meal consisting of sadza, chomo, some sort of okra soup thing, and CATERPILLARS (10/10 taste, 0/10 texture) !!! Then we played games with them…. and we ended with a BANG, of course hahaha oops……..don’t worry everyone’s okay…
It was definitely my favorite night in Zimbabwe so far.
Another ministry we have had the opportunity to serve with is our Bible study at the local vegetable and curio market. I don’t know what comes to your mind when I say Bible study….but you should probably throw it out the window haha. My expectations going into it were nothing like reality. I don’t know why, but I pictured us to maybe be in an organized tent, chairs sitting in a circle, all reading from our bibles. But actually, it was the absolute opposite of that. This was the most hectic, but beautiful Bible study I have ever seen. The vegetable market is a long strip in the center of town, with make-shift tents or mats on the ground where people sell their produce. Mid-day, when we have the Bible study, is probably the busiest time for the market and there are all types of people all around. As soon as we got there, Ramona, the woman who led the Bible Study gathered a couple of women in the group. I kept looking around to try to find the organized area I had pictured where we would sit, but every tent was filled and there were people all around. I figured we would just walk a little ways away and there we would find that space. Boy, was I wrong! We moved over to the curb right alongside a busy road and popped a squat. The ladies in the group all pulled over pieces of cardboard, over turned crates and buckets, and immediately offered those seats to me and my teammates. Ramona pulled out packets and handed them around to the ladies in the group. Among all the chaos and noise in the market, Ramona opened us in prayer and right there on the side of the road, our Bible study began. As we began to discuss prophesies in the Old Testament and how they were fulfilled in the New Testament, more and more people walking by on the street began to stop to ask questions or to just listen to what was being said. Over all the noise and commotion it was hard to hear, but people scooted in closer and turned their ears to hear the word of God. Of course, with all of this, it didn’t go over smoothly. There were a couple of intoxicated men who joined us and some were interrupting the message. One of the men even stumbled in and fell on top of me….scary but I’m all good haha. Even the drunk men were interested in hearing the word of God and some of my teammates had the opportunity to pray with some of them afterwards. Midway through the study, a lady, literally tied up, pulling an ox cart walked down the middle of the market singing into a microphone hooked up to the big speakers on top of the cart. All of this noise opened my eyes up to the goodness of God. God is still present despite the drunk people interrupting, the concert on the side, or the people giving us weird looks for being there. God says, “Where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there also.” And this was so obvious during or Bible study.
I’m thankful for the messiness of our Bible study. I’m thankful that God shows me that things don’t always work out the way they’re planned to be or how I imagined. I’m thankful that even in the middle of the chaos, people were still there to hear the word of God and to praise Him.
Life here, in Bulawayo, is nothing like I expected it to be, but God is still showing up in the most unexpected and beautiful ways. Please pray for me and my team as we continue ministry, and continue building relationships and as we still adjust to our different life here. Thank you for all of your support and love, you have no idea how much it means to me!
ps I still haven’t seen a snake (keep praying please because I really want to hahah)!!!!!!!!!
