Our team is safety in Zimbabwe and loving every minute of it! We experienced a delay with the flight out of Washington because of rain. And after about 18 hours on the plane, we got a good boost in adrenaline by our run through the airport in order the catch the flight from Johannesburg, South Africa to Harare, Zimbabwe. Thankfully it was delayed a little bit so we made it on time! Other than that bit of unexpected trouble, everything has been smooth and so incredible!
The people of Zimbabwe are so full of joy! They are full of life, enjoying the simplest of games and activities with the biggest smiles and giggles of laughter. If they are concerned about the cares of this world, they do not show it. Instead they are generous, selfless, and servant hearted…and not just to us because we are guests, but you can tell this is how they experience life with each other in true community, sharing everything with one another, with genuine love.
Yesterday we helped ADMT host a Family Fun Day at one of the churches called Eastside Church. We coordinated some games, and they taught us some of their games. We made buckets of popcorn over an open fire to share with everyone and they served a meal of the local cuisine. My favorite part of yesterday was the shear joy that every person shared. From toddlers to adult men and women, they competed in games like hot potato, volleyball, net ball (a Zimbabwean game), and three legged races for hours. This is community at its finest. This is what doing life together looks like. No one was concerned with where they had to go afterward, they simply just wrapped things up as everyone started to get tired from the day’s events and the warm sunshine. It was so much fun!
Today we started off the morning with a church service with the same congregation as yesterday, Eastside Church in Harare. (It was great to see some of the same beautiful faces as yesterday!) I love how the church of Jesus looks similar throughout the world. Like back in Savannah, their services include singing, communion, collecting the offering, and preaching the Word. Unlike in Savannah, they danced! Just like their joy in the Lord expressed itself in their love and laughter during the Family Fun Day yesterday, their joy of the Lord was evident today through their dancing during their praise and worship portion of the service. Their love for Jesus couldn’t be contained, it was out of the overflow in their hearts that they danced. And just like our life with Jesus should be contagious, their dancing was contagious…you couldn’t help but smile and dance along!
Tomorrow we head for the village of Mondoro, then we are off to a new village called Chipigne a few days later. Both of these places have churches in the area that were started by ADMT, but only Mondoro has other community developments in the area. The exciting part about going to Chipigne is we will be the first team to help them begin the community development projects in the Chipigne area like they have been doing for Mondoro over the last several years. It will be fun to be part of something in the very beginning steps in the next steps for that village.
Please continue to pray for us until we are safely back at home. Until then, we are going to soak up every moment of life here in Zimbabwe! See y’all later!
Victoria
Thank you so much for the update Victoria. It is greatly appreciated.
Praying for you and the team everyday with a thankful heart.