Zim Team '09: June 2009

Sunday, June 28, 2009

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!!!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Day 2, 3 & 4.

Hands of Hope's Fern A Home for the younger children.

Hands of Hope's Fern B Home for the older girls.

Here we all are with the angel Auntie Faith from Westwood Home.

Westgate Home with the lovely Aaron & Josie.

We have had a very joyous filled past few days. Thanks to Jephat, Garikai & Farayi, we have visited so many places and met so many wonderful people. Jephat is so great at keeping us on track to make sure we accomplish our goals while getting to know the hearts of so many along the way. We have also been blessed to have such wonderful caretakers, our new friends, Virginia, the lady who hosts the guests on behalf of Hands of Hope, Garikai's wife, Virginia, and a sweet lady, Rezina. They have been such a joy to get to know. A sweet orphan girl, named Susan, who is now 20 is so graciously sharing her room with 3 of us as well.

We had a very fun time with some of the children from the Highfield Home and some neighboring village children as they played against each other in a great soccer match! Check out the picture and caption below. We visited Hillside Home for teenage girls and are looking forward to spending more time with these girls who have faced far too many hardships than any person should have to face. We also visited Westgate Home, where a lovely couple, Aaron & Josie, have a large and loving family of 12 children. A few of us went back there to help the children with their studies. We were so blessed to spend time at Westwood Home with a most Godly woman, named Faith, who is now mother to 8 children; one of whom is now her adopted child.

We visited the Hands of Hope Homes called Fern A, which houses younger boys and girls, and Fern B, which houses all older girls. They have a lovely home with a lot of grounds for the children to enjoy. Hopefully we will get to visit with these cuties again and spend more one on one time with them. At almost each home we have been to, we have had the sweet blessing of song from Candi singing 'Just Give Me Jesus'! This has brought tears to our eyes so many times.

We spent a very great day at Goshen Farm, where we attended a beautiful church service where Chip gave the sermon, painted one of the homes (see pic below), played soccer and many games with the children, and had great quality time with all the aunties, women and men of the farm, and many others.

There are so many more wonderful experiences we wish you each could be enjoying here with us. We are all coming closer together as we call each other family and share our hearts, our stories, our lives, our emotions, etc. We especially enjoy when we get ready to settle in for the night and have our sweet devotions and sharing time. We share our highs and lows for the day and sometimes shed a few tears. Keep praying for us as we continue our journey and our desire to spread the Word and Love of Jesus Christ.

Just a few of the activities we were blessed to be a part of...

A beautiful glimpse of one of the future Goshen Farm homes where ten orphans will call home.

Jeff working with all his heart to prepare a new home for the arrival of the Goshen Farm orphans.

Everywhere we turn around are more & more beautiful children of Zimbabwe. What precious gifts of God's glorious work.

Pastor Mutatu of Highfield Church & Chip.

Runyararo Home for girls & now they've added a precious infant boy.

DO NOT kill the spiders! They are our new household pets. :-)

Cameron coached & was a referee while Lauren played soccer with the guys!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Day 1 blog entry...

We arrived safely in Zimbabwe with our baggage and everyone accounted for; Praise God!! Our most gracious hosts greeted us with big hugs & warm hearts. Our first full day in Zimbabwe was filled with enough smiles, hugs and love to last a lifetime. As Cameron stated, "I saw more smiles from children in one day than I have in the past year." We cannot begin to express what we are feeling from receiving so much joy from these most precious angels of God; not only the children, but their loving and faithful caregivers.

We first visited Arcadia Baptist Church Preschool where some of the tiniest of children we saw today were praising God with their whole hearts. It was priceless! Afterwards, we visited Rugare Presbyterian Church Preschool where we again saw beautiful angels of God, who just blessed our souls more than you can imagine. We then visited our first feeding station of the day and met some of the workers there and just a few children, and then returned in the afternoon for their feeding. There were so many happy faces waiting patiently after one another to get some food and then they all joined in for group fun with all of us. We visited another home for 12 children which is ran by the sweetest woman named Faith. They have implemented 'Farming God's Way' as their method of producing crops. Towards late afternoon, we had a very exciting time playing with the children of Highfield Feeding Station. Everyone of us had at least ten children gathered around us laughing and playing.

We wrapped up our day at Mbare Community Church sharing in worship and praising of our Most High God! What a day!! Words cannot begin to show the emotions we felt, but we look forward to sharing with you all of our wonderful experiences thus far. God Bless and we'll update as soon as we are able to again.