Mazwi is a resettlement area where people who formerly lived in a squatter camp have been given a small plot of land, and enough building materials to build a 2-room cinderblock house.
It is a large area and home to thousands of people, many of them elderly. There is no electricity or running water in Mazwi, no schools, no shops, really not much of anything. Residents have to travel up to 20k just to buy basics like mealie meal and cooking oil.
Ramona, IMB missionary in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe is very excited about developments in the Mazwi area. Several months ago she went recently with an IMB Nehemiah team to a Thursday morning gathering in a very remote community.
They went with two national young men who were going to translate for the team. “As we were waiting for people to gather, I overheard a conversation between one of the translators and a member of the Nehemiah team. He was telling her about how God had laid Mazwi on his heart, and how much he would like to see people there come to Christ. Well, obviously that was a God moment, so I joined the conversation.” Ramona says she only had about a minute to share before the meeting began, but she tried to encourage the young man to continue to be involved in the training of church members in evangelism and discipleship. “I figured I'd have a chance to continue the conversation afterwards. But God had another plan. He translated while one of the girls on the team shared her story, but then when she finished and sat down, he remained standing in the front. As he began to speak, I pretty much just sat there in amazement. There he was telling them everything I was planning to tell him after the meeting! God had certainly prepared his heart, and as he spoke, it was so evident that God was giving him the words to speak. And the best thing of all was that he was telling them in their heart language much better than I could have done!”
Ramona reports that as the months have gone by, “Samson continues to show a heart for evangelism, and it’s apparent that he has a true anointing from the Lord on his life. He is eager to complete the church planting training, and take it to more and more of the people of Mazwi.”
“We are still meeting on Thursday mornings with the original group. Most are elderly women. Often when we go, we are asked to go and pray for someone who is sick, and in one case recently to pray with a family who had just lost a loved one. Just this past week we arrived to find that one of the ladies who lives just by the church meeting place was very ill, and they were waiting for the ambulance to come and take her to hospital. We went to pray with her, and then continued to pray as we watched the ambulance come and take her away.”
“So far, they are in eager agreement that they need to share their story and share the Gospel with their friends and neighbors, but we have not yet seen the fruit. This past Thursday we challenged the people yet again, asking them if they were willing for their neighbors and family members to spend eternity in hell, or were they going to tell them about Jesus.” Considering that most of the residents are elderly time is certainly short for most of these residents.
Ramona asks that you, “Please pray for them to be convicted that they must share their faith—now. It’s not enough just to say “amen” when Samson challenges them to go, but they need to actually go. Pray that Samson, Maria, Noma, and I would know how to proceed—stay with this group a little longer, or start looking for a new group.”
Please pray for the people of Mazwi, that they will catch the vision and, like the apostle Paul, feel compelled to share the gospel with their neighbors and friends, and that new churches will form all over the Mazwi area. “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (I Corinthians 9:16b)
0 comments:
Post a Comment