Things to see and do in Zimbabwe

Living in Zimbabwe has its ups and downs, but it is a beautiful country to explore. We would like to share with you some of the beauties and fun things we enjoy living here. Victoria Falls is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. It is a mile wide and a football field deep!

Pix. After viewing the Falls we enjoy “High Tea” at the historical Victoria Falls Hotel.

In the evening we enjoy eating at the Boma where we eat a wide variety of game meat and enjoy the dancing and drumming of local entertainers.

We also enjoy camping in the bush.

And relaxing in game parks while watching for game.

The Chinhoy Cave is an unexpected treasure. The water in the cave is so deep that divers have not been able to ascertain its depths. The water is a stunning sapphire blue.

Great Zimbabwe is an ancient ruin whose purpose and origin is quite a mystery today. Zimbabwe is derived from “dzimba dza mabwe” which means “houses of stone”.

At the top of the hill is another enclosure where five mythical carved stone birds were found. One of them has become a symbol for the country of Zimbabwe.

Another beautiful sight is the Bridal Veil Falls in the Chimanimani mountains.

The Matopos rocky hills are fun to explore and one can find many different caves in which are found Bushman paintings.

One of my favorite views of Harare is from a hill overlooking the city, especially when the Jacaranda trees are in bloom.

In the Nyanga mountains one can see many beautiful waterfalls like these – the Inyangombe Falls.

Cruising on Lake Kariba in a houseboat is also a fun thing to do!

Because of the dust in the air during the dry season, our sunsets are incomparably beautiful and colourful.

Building God's Kingdom

In February, a team of six men from Oklahoma came to minister to folks in and around the Baptist Caring Center in Mberengwa. Paul, pastor of Bartlesville Southern Baptist Church, brought 4 other men with him from his church. Paul is a missionary kid from Zimbabwe. Pastor Jim, also a missionary kid from Zimbabwe, came representing his church, First Baptist Church of Watonga. Bartlesville Southern Baptist Church has been in partnership with the Orphan Caring Center for several years now. (See previous blogs for more information.) On this trip they had several purposes: oversee the construction of a storage building for the caring center, do some leadership training, and spend time fellowshipping and building relationships in the neighborhood around the caring center.

While there were three professional paid builders from Harare who were in charge of the construction, we enjoyed working alongside them to erect the storage building.

The building was about 12 yards X 5 yards and when completed had 4 rooms for different uses. One will be used for storing food, supplies, and cooking pots, etc. which are used by the caring center. The second room will store tools, garden implements, etc. which are used by the caring center. The third room will be used by the new male caretaker who will be overseeing the boys who are staying at the caring center. The final room will be a multi-purpose room (for studying, storing a small resource library, a gathering and eating place), especially when it is raining.

This was Robert’s first trip to Zimbabwe. He said, “I was amazed at the dedication of pastors (unpaid lay-leaders) to God’s Work. Even this week when they were invited to come for leadership training most of them had to walk several hours to get here. Just to hear what their life is like on a daily basis was almost unbelievable. It reminded me of Jesus. They don’t have much of anything but they are faithful to God.”

Matt, who has been to Zimbabwe several times said, “The thing really stood out for me this trip is how much God has blessed the Orphan Caring Center from when I first saw it in November of 2011. How everything has come together is truly God’s Hand at work. It was also exciting to see how much the kids have matured, both physically and spiritually. God has just allowed it all to happen in a way beyond even what we could have imagined when we first began.”

“The thing I enjoyed the most,” said Pastor Jim from Watonga, “was teaching the church leaders. They were like sponges. They asked really good questions and soaked up everything you could teach them. I also got to spend quite a bit of time getting to know the local folks and building relationships with them. Preaching on Sunday to the local church was also a highlight for me.”

Butch, a first time volunteer to Zimbabwe was touched by the orphans themselves. “I particularly enjoyed spending time with one young man who tried very hard to teach me how to speak Shona. There was also a girl that wanted to talk to me a lot and we became good friends. There were also several young Christian men who came to Mberengwa to translate for us while we were here."

This was Mark's second trip to Zimbabwe. He shared, “We and several local church members worked alongside the professional builders. We were mostly gophers just doing whatever needed to be done. It was really amazing how much we enjoyed getting to know the folks here and working with them to complete the building."

"There was also a man who owned the truck that brought the building supplies from Harare. I learned that he doesn’t have a regular job so he hires out his vehicle to transport goods to earn money to support his family. He was an older gentleman, a believer. When I prayed with him about his family and financial situation you could tell he was deeply touched that I cared so much about him." Team leader Paul commented, “I always love to see what God does in and through the team when they come. It’s great to see and hear how God has been at work in their lives while in Zimbabwe. For me, just being with the people is what meant the most to me. I have a great love for kids at caring center. They are like family to me and it is always a pleasure to see how the kids are maturing and growing.

The teaching time we offered to the lay-leaders was well attended, and Sunday for worship time there was probably about 100 people crammed into a classroom. After worship, people walked about 2 miles to a baptismal hole where 38 were baptized. Five of them were orphans from the caring center!”

Matt summed up their trip like this: “Even though our main purpose in coming was to build a building, God used us to build His kingdom.”

Till We Meet Again

Several weeks ago Pastor Titus Sibanda was traveling in the back of an open truck and there was an accident and he was thrown out. He never really regained his health after that. Titus (pictured below) leaves behind his precious wife and ten children, some of whom are grown and married. He was an overseer of at least 5 churches in Tongaland and the many people from those churches who came to bid farewell were testimony to His love for God and His people.

I would like to share some of the images from the funeral and share briefly some of our experiences. Leaving Gweru, we took three pastors with us. As we began to descend the escarpment into Tongaland the road grew noticeably worse.

The shoulders had not been maintained to the degree that thorn trees were encroaching on both sides and at times it was like a one-lane road instead of two.

As we approached his village we saw smoke rising from the where the women were cooking and people huddled in groups.

We were invited under the tarp where the other pastors were sitting who had also come.

I believe there were about 12 pastors altogether who managed to come. Soon after we arrived we were served sadza and meat and we ate while the pastors organized who would do what for the funeral.

As the service began about 12:00 noon the sun was bright and hot. But the people joined in singing and dancing as they participated.

Many of the pastors there were given an opportunity to speak. Others helped carry the coffin to the nearby burial site.

I had never been to a Tonga funeral before and was disarmed by the amount of wailing. It was very hard emotionally to hear the desperation in their cries. Several of the pastors, including the final speaker at the graveside sought to encourage the family and church members by reminding them that this is a graduation which all Christians will experience one day and that God will be with us until we all meet again on the other side.

Training Lay Leaders to help carry out the Great Commission

Our Baptist Convention Evangelist knows the necessity of empowering lay-people in order for the gospel to spread more rapidly. He has been training a young man and that young man has been training other lay-leaders in Mberengwa. Five churches in the Mberengwa area recently came together for a fellowship weekend. Over 300 people participated as they met outside under trees for teaching and worship. That weekend 115 new believers were baptized by their church’s lay-leaders.

It is exciting to see how the believers in this area are sharing the gospel and continually introducing more people to Jesus. Pray that God will raise up more lay-leaders to help shepherd the new Christians. Pray also for those who are willing to train the new leaders and release them to work in God’s Kingdom. "And what you have heard from me (Paul) in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." 2 Timothy 2:2