Veterinary Team from Lake Charles, LA

The veterinary team from Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles, LA consisted of three people: Dr. Kyle Hebert, Mr. Rusty Sittig, and myself (Katherine Bonvillain). Dr. Kyle went ahead of our group a few days to buy cold vaccines for Lumpy Skin Disease, which we had been informed in advance was a big issue with herds in the community where we were working.

Treating animals in wooden shoots made of tree branches is hard. We all got banged up a little from the cattle and being pushed up against the wood.

There were days when the cows were pushing us around and dragging our mood down, but the people were a joy to see. They came and drove the cattle in and worked along side us. They came with hands ready to work and hearts ready to listen. Their respect for Dr. Kyle's position and help led to an eagerness and willingness to listen to the Gospel he shared. Over and over again we were astonished as they asked for us to talk to them, and then after we had, they would almost all raise their hands and ask to pray to receive Christ. Also, those that were already Christians would ask to pray with us in unison or for us, and watching those men get down on their knees and bow to pray was more beautiful than any view of Victoria Falls. During our 6 days of work we saw over 3,200 animals, predominately cattle, also sheep, goats, dogs, and donkeys. We spoke with hundreds of people, and around 300 prayed to recieve Christ. Serving in Zimbabwe has been an honor, a privilege, and a blessing.

One day Dr. Herbert heard about a man who had a sick cow who was about to slaughter it so he went to check on it. He was able to treat and save the cow. Then Dr. Herbert told the man, the reason I am here treating cows is so I can have a chance to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the owners of the cows. The man listened to Dr. Herbert’s testimony and prayed to receive Christ. The man was later chosen as the lay-leader for the new church formed in his area.

Katherine Bonvillain shown above with her father Robert Bonvillain who worked on the construction team in Zimbabwe.

U.S. Construction team helps at Baptist Seminary

A construction team from Trinity Baptist Church of Lake Charles, LA recently came to Zimbabwe to help with some repairs on the Baptist Seminary property.

After unloading their tools they did an assessment of the work needing to be done and compared that with the building supplies with which they had to work. This turned out to be a real challenge for the team. Almost daily they made trips into town (the seminary is about 15 miles outside of Gweru) to try to source basic building supplies. Often they could not find exactly what they were looking for, but they always managed to come up with a plan to accomplish their task!

Connor Fry is a university student and the newest member to join this volunteer construction team. The others have been on previous volunteer trips.

The team found working out of a trunk instead of a toolbox a bit interesting. It seemed easier to just dump it all out and dig through to find what one needed.

Earlier this year a storm took the roof off of one of the student housing duplexes and did damage to another seminary house roof. The first project was replacing and repairing these roofs. (Robert Bonvillian is seen here on the roof.)

Connor Fry and John Davis found that one of the houses required brick work before the roof could be completed.

Dr. Dick Landry (a doctor on the Trinity Team) and Gregg Fort went out to the seminary one day to check on the work. After the roofs were completed, the team moved over to spend their remaining time beginning on the needed repairs on the seminary chapel.

While Robert and Todd painted the chapel roof with vinyl paint to extend its life. Ron Ritter, John Davis, and Connor Fry stripped off the rotten underneath ceiling board on the front porch. Then they put on new ceiling boards.

And painted them.

All in all a job well done.

CELEBRATE!

Gregg and Donna Fort have been celebrating for many different reasons!

They are celebrating their 26th year as missionaries in Zimbabwe working in partnership with the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe. Recently they shared in a very special day of celebration as friends were united in marriage.

Another celebration, which has been long in coming, is the celebration of the Open House of the new house for the pastor of Mkoba Baptist Church. Ever since the church building was completed, it was the desire of the church to build a home for their pastor. However, due to economic hardships it has taken the church awhile to have the money to build the house. With great joy a large crowd of well wishers from the church gathered for the ribbon cutting ceremony.

As the speeches were given, umbrellas came out everywhere to shield people from the hot noonday sun.

Pastor James Tembo, the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe (in the middle reading his Bible) was there to stand with the deacons and Pastor Jeffrey Ncube (to the right of Pastor Tembo.) Pastor Tembo also prayed for the Ncubes, the church, and gave a prayer of Thsnksgiving for God's help in making this possible.

After a brief tour of the house, many of the church members gathered around Mrs. V. Ncube (pastor's wife in brown suit) and danced and sang with her in celebration.

In Africa, there always seems to be something to celebrate about!