TRUE LOVE WAITS

Robyn Allison and Jennilee Phillips have begun teaching “True Love Waits” lessons with pastor Vu Lusinga at Coghlan Primary Girls School. They meet every Friday afternoon for an hour with about two hundred 7th graders in the school auditorium.

Robyn explained, “We always tell a Bible story that teaches God’s truth about relating to Him and relating to members of the opposite sex. Then the girls act out skits related to our topic for the day. Then we ask them some questions and give them opportunities to answer and discuss what we have talked about.” Jennilee says, “The most challenging thing about teaching this large group of students is being able to speak loudly and clearly enough to be heard. They understand British English, but our American English and vocabulary is sometimes hard for them to understand.”

“At first I was very intimidated,” says Robyn, “when I saw how many kids we would be teaching and I wondered if we would be able to get them to respond to our questions and interact with us. But it wasn’t a problem, they were very responsive.”

A number of the girls chose to sign the True Love Waits commitment cards.

Pray that these precious young girls who are being exposed to the Truth will embrace it and live their lives in relationship with God and according to His guidelines.

NESHURO ORPHANAGE

Kristen Fowler and Jenna Clendinning are university students from Mississippi who came to Zimbabwe this summer as participants in the One Life Student Ministries. One Life ministry projects are promoted and funded by Baptist Global Response for college students who want to be involved in human needs missions on various levels; praying, giving, and going. at the orphanage at Neshuro in southern Zimbabwe. Living at the orphanage was a different lifestyle than the girls were accustomed to. Jenna laughingly told us that, "One of the challenges was washing our clothes by hand."

They both agreed that the highlight of the summer was getting to know some of the kids who lived at the orphanage.

One of their frustrations was not being able to speak their language, but they felt they were able to overcome the language barrier through playing games and singing songs with them.

Jenna mentioned that, “One Sunday we were able to lead a Bible Study on holiness and leadership. One of the young men in the group encouraged me through some of the insights he shared. I discovered that he was a real prayer warrior with very strong faith.” One day the girls had an opportunity to teach a Bible Lesson at the elementary school. “That was one of my favorite days,” said Kristen. “The kids all sat under a tree as we taught. I never thought I would teach that many kids at one time.”

“We didn’t get to spend as much time with the high school kids as we would have liked to”, said Jenna “because they were busy in school during the week and had sports at the schools on weekends. But we attended the sports functions and watched them with the other high school students. While we watched, students would come one by one to visit with us, talk to us, and ask us questions.” It seemed like we had the most impact in their lives during these informal visits.

BULAWAYO STUDENT MINISTRY

A group of six students from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, TN, spent 4 weeks in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe this “summer” as participants in One Life Student Ministries. One Life ministry projects are promoted and funded by Baptist Global Response for college students who want to be involved in human needs missions on various levels; praying, giving, and going. Kelli French, Haley Jacobs, Jessica Painter, Shaina Tilley, Seth Williams, and Emmy Winfree divided their ministry time between several orphanages. The Isaiah Home is a Christian operated facility which houses newborn infants up to 4 year olds. This little one named Keith is one of the older orphans (aged 4) who lives there.

The students spent time playing with the orphans, and helping to feed them

They were able to meet the needs of physical touch that an orphan has and even put some down for naps before leaving.

The children over age five from the Isaiah House which do not get adopted locally are filtered into two other homes: Wendell’s or Rehoboth. These are considered “Forever Families”. They live in a house with house parents who will take care of them until they reach the age of 18. The students from Tennessee helped the house parents by assisting with cleanup after meals, played games with the older kids, sang songs with them, and helped them with their homework. Kelli shared that it was encouraging for her to see how much the kids felt as if this was truly their home. They had become a family of brothers and sisters of varying ages. The most difficult place emotionally to visit was the home for girls who had been taken out of abusive situations. Many of the girls, as young as 12 and 13, come to the home pregnant. They are taken care of through their pregnancy and delivery. They are also given Christian counseling to help them deal with the abuse they have experienced. They are assisted in completing their education. The babies are taken care of as well. The girls physical, emotional, and spiritual needs are all looked after. Girls who receive Christ are discipled. The older girls get additional training so they can support themselves and not feel the need to resort to prostitution when they leave the home as young adults. The students from TTU also had several opportunities to help out in the soup kitchen at Bulawayo Baptist Church. Every Tuesday and Thursday a lunch is provided for destitute and homeless folks. There is a time of singing choruses and a devotional is given as a witness to those who come in off the streets. *One Life ministry projects are promoted and funded by Baptist Global Response for college students who want to be involved in human needs missions on various levels; praying, giving, and going.

Boiled Eggs

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…” Hebrews 4:12 This "summer" we have 12 university students in Zimbabwe working with our team. One of these students, Megan Scott, a recent graduate of Samford who will be doing graduate work at UAB this fall in Birmingham is here working with her partner Courtney Dunkerley. (Megan is on the left in the picture below.

Megan and Courtney are volunteering at the Baptist Orphan Care Center in Mberengwa. They are living in a small hut that has been refurbished by Baptist church members in Mberengwa for use by the Care Center.

Megan shared this testimony: There are seasons in my spiritual life where reading the Bible is like boiled eggs. Now I love eggs almost any which way but boiled. I seriously dislike eating them. But, since I’ve been at the Caring Center, somehow or other it was communicated to our caretaker that we like boiled eggs, so we’ve been getting them. Every day. The first day we were served one, I decided that even though I despised them, I would eat it so I wouldn’t hurt anyone’s feelings. Also, I figured it would be good for me (protein and all that) – even if I didn’t like the taste, it was still a good call. Then the next day we got another one; and the day after that, and the day after that. It finally got to the point where I couldn’t say anything about not liking boiled eggs. I knew that would raise the question “Well why are you eating them?” or they would thinking I was disposing of them some other way instead of eating them.

So, I just kept eating them. Then, something strange happened. I began to actually look forward to that boiled egg every morning. And just as suddenly, we stopped getting them. Well wouldn’t you know it (and I grudgingly had to admit it to myself), I actually missed that boiled egg. I felt unfulfilled the rest of the day. I never satisfied my hunger, even with the other snacks I was eating. I realized the egg I was eating in the morning was in fact helping me, as much as I held a grudge against them in the beginning. I was gaining something everyday I ate an egg, and I didn’t realize it until it was gone. Like I said, sometimes I view reading the Bible like I did boiled eggs. If I was consistent in reading for a while then got off track, I dreaded going back to the Word. I felt as though God would be angry with me if I didn’t read the Bible every day, and I also believed that I would be seen as less of a Christian by others. This discouraged me even more from cracking it open. I didn’t despise the Word itself, but rather the guilt I felt because I was not burying my nose in the Bible everyday. I never felt like I had enough discipline, enough time in the day…pretty much just fill in the blank for an excuse and I’m sure I’ve used it. My motivation was fear. Recently though, I began to see the Bible in a different light. A.W. Tozer says: “the Bible will never be a living Book to us until we are convinced that God is articulate in His universe... [people] may admit that they should accept the Bible as the Word of God, and they find it impossible to believe that they words there on the page are actually for them.” That has been my attitude far too often. But I know that our God is an articulate God in His universe. I’ve experienced His presence, in the African sunsets that take my breath away, in the ringing laughter of a child He’s created, and even in the air I breathe, day in and day out. I know my God is a living God, so the words He speaks through His word are living also. And that makes me want to love the Bible. It makes me want to soak in its truth and drink in what God wants to say to me. So I started reading. Every day. And wouldn’t you know it, if I miss a day now, I can feel it. Achingly so. Like a hunger that hasn’t been satisfied, I ache. And it makes me want to stop whatever I’m doing to go find my Bible and spread it wide open, eating of it’s truth and rejoicing over the fact that His word is Living, and it is good.