It starts with a smile.. a hand shake… a hug. That is how connections are made. Taking the Lord to the streets of Zimbabwe is one of my favorite things we have done this month. Street Evangelism is something that never needs to be scheduled, we should always be on mission, always ready to take on whatever the Lord puts in front of us. Some crazy cool things have happened in the last week involving evangelism. My first story is about a woman named Mary. Luke, nick, and I were on a team to walk the streets together. We got to a corner with many people and started chatting with a few, at first it was just a lot of drunk men trying to hold our hands. A lady called me over to her so I went, she pulled me aside and out of the random blew asked me if she could trust me, I told her yes. She followed with saying that she found out that morning that her husband was cheating on her. She has two kids and not much money. Mary told me she was a christian and attended church, but that she was in a place of just sadness in those moments, which is understandable. i asked her if I could pray for her and she responded with a yes, praise Jesus! I prayed over her that the lord would be on this situation and grant her peace, afterwards she told me she felt a weight lifted off of her and that she felt better. That can only be the lord, we serve such a great father. She followed with telling me that her entire day was made because usually white people don’t stop and chat with her, that brought a sadness to me. There is still racial things going on all around me. we do not need to look at color, shape, size, the lord looks at the heart and we are suppose to follow in the Lords footsteps, so we also need to look at the heart. Jesus was there in those few short moments, her life was touched by the father. What a sweet sweet Jesus I have. The next day it was just Nick, myself, and Litu (our interpreter) who took on the streets. We went to the market place because that is where many many people just hang around. The first booth we went to Nick took the lead, so I wondered around chatting with people and taking pictures (they loveee some pictures) a few minutes later Nick called me over to pray with a lady, she had just became a fellow sister in christ!! She said she needed prayer over the feeling of rejection (blog post soon to come on that), so I prayed over her and gave her a hug, she was so sweet and you could tell she was serious about the Lord. We talked to a few more people and then started walking to a cafe to find Litu’s friend, as we were walking a man came running up behind us. We stopped and turned, I was very confused. Out of breathe he looked at us and said “I heard you talking to other people, I want to know more about Jesus”. Let me just say, my heart exploded in that moment. God gives us people in life that we feel drawn to, that we can minister to. This time God had someone hungry for his word find us, that is so amazing. We sat down on the street corner with him. Nick and I tagged team just explaining the lord and of his great love and peace. The man asked questions and was so interested in the Bible. I read some passages from 1 John and James just explaining the simple things. We followed up with asking him if in that moment he wanted to know the Lord as his own, GOOOOD NEWS GUYS!!! He excepted Jesus right then and there! PRAISE THE GOOD LORD, WE HAVE A NEW BROTHER IN CHRIST FOLKS!!! we payed over him and then he prayed over himself, it was such a beautiful thing to be apart of. we serve such a fun God who gives us so many opportunities. The thing is, ministry never stops. We got a little hungry so we went and got chips (French fries) from one of the fast food restaurants (I eat a lot of chips here wow). once w e got our food and sat down a teenager asked to sit with us, we said yeah of course! It sparked a conversation about the Lord and he told us his testimony about finding Jesus. It was in that moment that I realized, I don’t need a scheduled “go tell people about Jesus from this time to this time”, it is always around me, I just need to be willing to hear what the Lord has for me in that moment. The guys name was Tony, he was 17. A few years beforehand he had been kicked out of school due to bad behavior involving girls. I chatted with him a bit and told him my views on a pure relationship, he said he understood and agreed. He told me about the steps he was going to take to further his relationship with the lord. Its sweet little random moments like that, that just make my day so much brighter.
One of the days we went to a rural village to do ministry. We split into team of two, one racer and one person top interpret. As we went house to house it was so cool. The first house was just a sweet little family of three who already new and served the Lord, they were excited that me, an outsider would come to their village, it was so fun! The story I am really excited to tell is about two woman. We walked up and started chatting with them. The older of the two took some type of herbs from her pocket and started snorting drugs right in front of my eyes, I was a little taken aback. I started talking to them and asking them about life and if they knew the lord. They said they went to church but the older woman said she started getting involved in bad spirits and witchcraft. At that moment I knew she needed prayer. She said she didn’t want the bad spirits in her anymore and that she Needed Jesus. I laid my hand on her back and started praying in a way I never had before, THE LORD IS POWERFUL, AMEN! We were jumping up and down, screaming, shaking, tongues, praying with such a power that only comes from the lord. We prayed those spirits out of her, she and the others started crying, I was in just utter shock in the way the lord works. After we prayed she said she felt a huge darkness lifted off of her, she said she didn’t feel the spirits anymore. The woman told me her family as cursed with a spirit of death, many family members had passed away really close to one another. She said after we had prayed that she knows that spirit has passed on away from them. It was probably one of the most powerful prayers I have ever been involved in. If we step out in faith and believe that God can move mountains, oh heck we sure know he will. The woman excepted the lord that day, she took the beads of wickedness off of her neck, she said she was not scared anymore, she said the fear was lifted. I walked away from that hut just on fire, I could not stop smiling snd jumping around excited about what the lord had just done. Jesus can do extraordinary things with ordinary people. We don’t have to be some type of holier then holy person, he uses each one of us as a vessel is we invite the father in. Evangelism is an amazing thing, you just step out in faith and believe the lord will speak through you to reach the unreached, and trust me, he will. We do not have to walk into situations in fear of what could happen. It would be worst to walk the opposite direction wondering what would have happened. The Lord works through us who want him. He is a powerful God and gives us power also. the lord says that we even will do greater works then himself. How crazy is that! Greater works then Jesus, the same Jesus who brought people back to life, who healed men, who walked on water! Each one of us holds gifts and power through the spirit. Never ever be afraid to step out and use those gifts as a vessel for the Lord. GOD WORKS FOLKS! LET HIM WORK ALONGSIDE OF YOU!
Much love from Zim,
Mara
