Westover Luncheon Sept 13th-Join us!!

Hello all!

Please join us for a covered dish luncheon at 12:30 pm, Sunday, Sept. 13th at Westover Church in Greensboro on Muir's Chapel Road. We will be sharing about our trip to Zimbabwe. We will be joined by the China team, as they will share about their recent trip as well. So, it's like a two for one deal! You get to hear about two wonderful mission experiences at one delicious luncheon. Each team is scheduled to share for about thirty minutes each.

So, bring a dish to share and come hungry, with an open heart, to take in some wonderful stories of love and compassion. Learn more about two of the countries that Westover is so blessed to be able to minister to; among many others. See pictures and hear about a few of the special people we are privileged to now call friends.

We would especially love to have you join us ahead of time for the worship service from 11-12 pm and then you can just walk right through the sitting area to the gym where we will share in some wonderful fellowship time for the lunch and the presentation.

If you have any questions, please call Diona at (336) 687-3709.

Have a most blessed day!!

Just a few more of our favorite pics & people!.

From left: Susan, Rezina, Jephat, Garikai, Virginia & Farayi.
Thank you all again for everything!!!

English is too funny! Ask her to do her goat impression for you sometime...

Our man William!! He is one of the sweetest children we have ever had the privilege of meeting in our entire life!

The Belvedere house dog, Jessie, who fell in love with our team! She would've packed herself up in a suitcase to come with us if she could have...trust us!

The famous Chiremba Balancing Rocks...only explainable as a God thing!

Just drying the school uniform on the bob wire that surrounds the homes. Most homes either have barbed wire or shards of glass along the top of the fence line.

Jenna and Sara had children running & jumping into their arms wherever they went! I can only imagine how much their students in the states, that have them all year, must love them.

Cameron being the hands & feet of Jesus...spreading and receiving love thru Zimbabwe.

Praying for the hurting people of Zimbabwe was, by far, the most meaningful time we were given the opportunity to have been blessed with.

Cooking up a big pot of sadza, calls for a BIG sadza spoon!

The big Cholera issue...

Esnati's immaculate mud hut home! And how gracious of her to have all of us over for a great sadza meal. It was VERY good by the way!

Young little girls taking care of babies...and always with a smile on their face.

Inflation in Zimbabwe! $500 "TRILLION" Zim dollars to $500 US dollars!

Taking a stroll through the town alongside the Karanda Mission Hospital.

Can you guess who's African feet these are??

Now "SFS" Sara...there you go, up to your shenanigans again!

Candi blessing us with song once again...what a beautiful voice God has given to this woman!

Running into the U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James D. McGee. What an honor!

We all fell in love with Judith!! Miss Jessie, our team photographer, gladly handed over her camera to let lil Judith try our her talents for taking photographs. She was a natural!!

A picture on the computer at a feeding station we were at, of the actual children there praying over their Samaritan Purse Christmas boxes before opening, and wandering what they were about to enjoy! How precious!

Carolyn...the baby whisperer! They love her!

Our final day and night in Zimbabwe...at Bally Vaughan...sad but fun!

Hold on tight!

Our fabulous hosts...Gordon & Debbie Putterill.

Sara, Jessie & English having a cup of tea. TIA!

Jenna, Lauren & Candi getting toasty.

Looks like one BIG happy family!

Nice elephant...English likes this side...no tusk.

Oh yeah...just a little to the left now; but very carefully!

Brother & sisterly love.

What lovely locks you have...

Chip finally found his cobra! Or is it??

Need a lift?

Judy was a great backseat driver...hardly said a word about what to do & did most of the work! Great job Mama J!

Jenna & Sara...love you guys!!

Don't mess with this guy!

Absolutely georgeous!

Karanda Mission Hospital

Pastor James...that big bright smile says it all about him!

We were able to walk around freely and give the patients that weren't in ICU some candy.

A mother smiling down on her young child.

We enjoyed giving the kids, along with several adult women, some toys to play with as they spend their time at Karanda healing. They all were so appreciative!

Mr. Personality Leo Missoni.

A woman who was praising Jesus as we spent time talking and praying with her.

The patients at Karanda all seem to be very pleased with the great care they are given by all the devoted doctors, nurses and other missionaries on staff.

Day 7,8,9 & 10

Esnati and Judy...two strong Godly women who love Mr. Lynn!

Our last night w/Jephat (above), Garikai, Farayi and their loved ones as we gave the 3 of them along with Virginia and Rezina each a bible signed by all 12 of us. They all were a true blessing to each one of us!

One of the classrooms where the children are packed in, but oh so eager to learn!

Playing some volleyball with the girls from Hillside Home. I must say...our Miss Sara is quite the player!!

Wow! It has been quite an adventure the past 1½ weeks. We are nearing our time to depart and we have a bitter sweet feeling. Tonight we are at Doug and Nancy Everswick’s home and we just enjoyed dinner w/them and the Gopperts. Doug, who is Lynn Everswick’s younger brother by 10 years, is talking beside of me and they sound just alike!! We are about to sing the Everswick’s family folk song 'Charlie and the MTA’!

Since the last time we wrote, we visited a school w/1184 students that are packed into 2 small buildings. The conditions are unbelievable, where the children are expected to learn. But, amazingly, it seems they are all anxious to do so and the atmosphere is, unfortunately, what they are used to, it seems. So many children are packed like sardines into rooms w/hardly any light, very few have a desk, and most do not have pencils or paper to use. When they were shown a few schools supplies brought to them (i.e. pencils, crayons and pens) they all cheered as if they were presented w/a truckload of new toys. These children love Jesus and it shows! Afterwards, we went to Shalom; the orphanage jointly supported by Westover and Hands of Hope. This is a lovely place that currently is home to all boys and a new baby girl that was abandoned at the nearby hospital. We then went back to Hillside Home for girls, where Jeff and Cameron had been painting and a few of us joined in a friendly game of volleyball with some of the girls there. We then joined in prayer over a young teenage girl who is HIV positive and had the flu or possibly strep. This young girl was forced into prostitution at age 5…unfathomable!! This girl’s name is Nda Tenda; please pray for this young girl as she has faced so much already.

Friday we re-visited a few of the homes we had previously been to. It was nice to continue to build on the connections we had begun to establish. In the evening, we enjoyed a nice dinner with our wonderful hosts; Jephat and his family, Garikai and his wife Virginia, Farayi and his fiancé Joyce, and sweet Rezina. We were honored w/closing the evening by praying over all of them and washing the feet of Jephat, Garikai & Farayi. This was our last night staying in the Belvedere Home, where we have stayed from the beginning of our time here. We will stay the next night at the TEAM hostile.

Saturday morning we left on a 3+ hour drive out to Karanda Mission Hospital where we met all the wonderful missionaries. We visited the different wards and gave out candy and toys. Dr. Roland Stephens performs about 15 “scheduled” surgeries a day; not including emergency surgeries! We saw the goat project and things are progressing along. This morning, Sunday, we visited again w/the patients and then enjoyed a sweet worship service that Chip had the honor of leading again. We sang songs in English and Shona! For lunch, we walked to a nearby village; hoping to see a cobra on the way J (only Chip wanted to-which reinforces why he was named Penga, meaning “crazy”, last time he was here). We went to Esnati’s homestead and had a very good traditional sadza meal. Esnati used to be Lynn Eversick’s babysitter and carried him on her back. Can’t you just picture how cute that must have been?!

Tomorrow, Monday, we leave for Bally Vaughan to enjoy some African wildlife and have our debriefing time. We will stay there one night, depart on Tuesday to arrive home on Wednesday! Please pray that our time here has been impactful, meaningful and that we have brought glory to our sweet Jesus. Also, we ask that you pray for our safe travel home as we are so anxious to get back and share our stories of some of the most amazing people all of us have been SOOO blessed to have had the pleasure of getting to know! God bless you all and we love you!!!

Day 5 & 6

Another Hands of Hope Home...doing good things in the name of the Lord!

Counselor English listening carefully as she talks with Franchesca.

Women always know how to multi task...no matter what part of the world!

Mr. Ethan...what a cutie-patootie!

Judy is so happy to reunite with her family...Chris & Joyce Goppert and Sean & Kim Doyle! What a great time for us all!

Diona's Baptism...What a wonderful event to share with the team! Praise God!

Hi all! We are excitedly spending time in fellowship with our wonderful hosts tonight, Sean & Kim Doyle along with their sweet son, Ethan. They are, as many of you know, Westover missionaries and daughter and son in law of other wonderful Westover missionaries, Chris & Joyce Goppert. also who live here in Harare.

Tuesday we went out again to Goshen Farm and finished painting. A few of us spent time working with the children on their preschool skills. A few of us visited a couple of the nearby village homes to spend a little time with the children there. One of the homes had four small children ranging in age from about 2 to maybe 7. The parents were out working in the fields and the children were home alone, with the oldest tending to the others. This is the way these children spend almost every day we would imagine. Please pray for the children of Zimbabwe tonight!! They need your prayers. You should see the love of Christ that many of the people of this country have! It is awesome! They give praise to Jesus constantly and love Him with their whole hearts. All of us spent time playing with the children and talking with the aunties and other women and men of Goshen Farm.

Today we visited a market where we were able to purchase some African gifts for some of our family and friends. We then visited Franchesca's home where she is a great auntie to 27 children!! Can you imagine?! It really puts things in to perspective when you see the sacrifice of these women. We visited another small community in the city and then Roosevelt, a school for girls where we watched some play volleyball, tennis and practice cheerleading.

Each evening, at the end of very full days, we have a time of talking about the day, spending some time in the Word and praying. As stated before, we also share our "highs and lows" of the day. For sure, a "high" for us all today was the baptism of Diona Slaughter. Several weeks ago, Diona mentioned that she had finished the Westover Membership class and Baptism class. She shared that she would have liked to have been baptized before coming to Africa, and Judy asked if she would want to be baptized IN AFRICA and she said she would. What a special time to have Garikai and Jephat share words of blessing, Candi sing a song and Chris Goppert bring a wonderful word from Scripture. Then together as a team we were blessed to hear Diona's testimony, and rejoice together as Chip baptized Diona. What a precious privilege to share that time as a team, and a moment we shall remember and for which we will praise God.

One week from today we will be home. Until then, we ask for your continued prayers for our team and the people of Zimbabwe.