Recently we had a group of volunteers from Virginia in our
home. Their excitement to share all that
God had done during their time in southeastern Zimbabwe in a rural area near
Birchenough Bridge was contagious!
Team
members Chris Webb (front right) and Chris Hale (center) are from Gracelife
Baptist Church in Christiansburg Virginia.
This church partnered with Zimbabwe several years ago to help us reach
the Ndau. Jonathan White, (front left)
is the pastor of New Testament Baptist Church and Curtis Bryant represents
Woodland Heights Free Will Baptist Church.
Also pictured is Tino, their
driver and guide.
The team shared how they did village to village
evangelism. The villages here are not
large. Each village contains a family
unit often including grandparents, parents and children. In the evenings services were held and the
people they visited were invited to come.
The first night about 50 people came, but by the last night over 250
were in attendance. During the week 46
people prayed to receive Christ.
They also enjoyed spending time with local school children and were invited back by the headmaster (principal) to come and teach the children again next time they come!
Curtis, at age 83, was remarkable. Three months ago he met Chris Hale at a
spiritual retreat. Curtis had been
sensing that God had something for him to do, but until this point had no idea what
it was. Chris felt led by God to invite
Curtis on this mission trip. Curtis
said, “I didn’t even hesitate! I just
said YES!”
Curtis was able to keep up with the group and was very
sensitive to the needs and pain of those he encountered. One lady in particular he remembered that he
prays for everyday was an older woman who was no longer able to walk and who is
in a great deal of pain. He asks that
you join him in praying for this woman – for her physical as well as spiritual
healing.
Jonathan recalled that on the first day of visits they met a
woman and her husband. The woman was a
believer but being submissive to her unbelieving husband had stopped going to
church. Jonathan witnessed to the man
and he was convicted and prayed to receive Christ. He came to the services each night with his
wife. His wife was beaming. He had stopped drinking and other bad
habits. It was a powerful testimony to
the community. Please pray that he
continues to keep off the old sinful nature and allow his new spiritual self to
live in obedience to God and mature spiritually.
“We had an interesting encounter in one village,” said Chris Hale. There was a man in the village whose father
had been won to the Lord by earlier missionaries. But none of his children had ever become
believers. We witnessed to the son who
was now the head of this village and he prayed to receive Christ. He immediately began to share the gospel
with knowledge and authority to others.
He obviously had been taught the Bible by his father and knew it even if
he was not a believer. It is possible
that this man could potentially become the leader of this new church.
“What I saw that blessed me the most was our team unity,” shared Chris Webb. “Before this trip we did not all know one
another, but God united our hearts and minds.”
Another highlight for Chris, who is here for the third time, was getting
to spend time with a young man he met on a previous trip who is a new
believer. This young man is hungry for
God’s Word, for fellowship with believers and for doing God’s will. He is another potential church leader.
Jonathan remembered walking up to the top of a small
mountain in the area where they were camped. “Looking out over the valley filled with so
many small villages we never got to was something I’ll never forget.”
Pray that God would raise up laborers for the harvest among
the believers in Zimbabwe who are obedient to Christ’s command to GO and MAKE
DISCIPLES. . .
