Extraordinary things

As we begin to take off on the third leg of our five-leg trip home I can’t shake the feeling of the goodness of our God.  This morning during our devotional time I was reflecting on the story in Luke 5 when Jesus heals the paralytic.  Verse 26 states,

“And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today.’” I think that pretty much sums up our entire trip to Zimbabwe.  Each year I come with an open mind and heart to what GOD will do.  And once again, he has amazed me.  Most of you that know me know that I am partial to ADM (Africa Development Mission) and Denford and Shingi Chizanga, but just like the disciples each time they were with Jesus were amazed, I stand in awe of His glory and majesty as he faithfully continues to show me his heart in Zimbabwe.  Day one we hosted a Carnival (come and see event) for one of the 26 ADM churches.  Pastor Mabani has done such a good job with getting the word out that we were coming, that more than 200 kids and adults showed up to play games, eat popcorn, and fellowship with us.  I witnessed a ‘feeding of the 5000’ miracle.  We were only expecting 100-120 people to show up.  We had food to feed that amount.  Only one bag of our popcorn made it. As I stood over that open flame popping popcorn in a pot and pouring it into a bucket I thought to myself, this is not enough Lord…. the same with lunch- the kids and adults kept lining up and as one group finished their bowls and cups were washed and given out yet again.  And guess what- we never ran out of popcorn and we never ran out of food.  God was so faithful- so good.  We all left saying, “we have seen extraordinary things today.”

Our time in the village was such a blessing.  Our team worked, taught, and served so hard.  Personally,  I was teaching the 17/18 year old boys all week, pouring into them and teaching them about their identity in Christ, Faith, Purity, and Courage.  But only God could have shown up in the way he did.  Day three was Purity.  And just like Teenage boys in America, discussing these things can be comical to them, but I kept driving home the point of a pure lifestyle from many different angles when they started asking some real questions about their faith and forgiveness and if Jesus would accept them and forgive them for all the wrong habits they had formed.  Within that two hour class 9 young men gave their life to Christ and were scheduled to be baptized that weekend.  Unfortunately we couldn’t arrange the baptism to happen that day and our team was too far away on Sunday in another village for us to partake, but wow!  Only God! “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Also while in the village we had the opportunity to see the Community development aspect of the mission.  Friends, over the last 8 years I have witnessed a economic turnaround for the villages of Mhondoro.  I know that only God could do this.  Through many partnerships- transformation and the building of lives is happening.  I’ve witnessed it, I’ve seen it.  Because of the clean water initiative started by ADM in Mhondoro the quality of life has changed completely.  There are currently 36 wells that have been dug by ADM, and this week alone 6 new bore holes were drilled. That is 42 bore holes that are providing clean drinking water for families and making life a little more easier to not have to walk so far for water.  “Clean water changes everything.” Because of this clean water, ADM sponsors gardens were families are able to produce their own crops for consumption and sale.  There are currently 16 community gardens that are driving the economic turnaround of Mhondoro.  One thing that I am really excited about is that these families are partnering with one another to make these gardens thrive.  One garden has worked so hard that that councilman and chief have given more land adjacent to the property for them to begin commercialization of their crop and one company in Harare has already been working with them to collect and pay for the crop.  I can’t begin to tell you what this could lead to and the continued development that this will bring to Mhondoro.  ADM is dedicated to not only help provide clean drinking water and the drilling of wells, but also to Developing Leaders.  Two weeks ago ADM broke ground on a piece of land next to one of the churches that will, Lord willing, house the skills school to help with training and equipping men, women and children with different trades so that they can create income for themselves.  Not only that but also a leadership development track that is training pastors and community leaders how to be stronger leaders.  While we were there we we were able to partner with ADM and offer multiple leadership teachings from Discipleship to communication, family/ministry balance, computers, spiritual gifts, and motor mechanics. As you can tell life-change is happening and we have seen “extraordinary things.”

I could go on forever about ADM and the deep relationships that I have formed, but you need to see it and experience it for yourself.  You need to visit, you need to partner. There is so many other great things that ADM is doing but I’ll save them for another post.  But just for kicks I still haven’t told you about the over 300 children that are sponsored so that they can attend school, or the church plants outside of Zimbabwe in  Mozambique , Botswana,  Zambia and others, or the partnership with medical clinics in rural areas that being health care to those who wouldn’t have it.  Thank you for taking the time to read this.  We would love to partner with you to “transform and build lives” as he continues to do “extraordinary things.”