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Hello Zimbabwe!
I woke up this morning and looked out the window. An orange glow streamed through the colourful, patterned curtains. The trees outside were tinged with the fiery yellow of the breaking dawn. I could hardly believe it. I was waking up in Africa. I am now in Zimbabwe. I think it will take a few days for this surreal realization to fade away. Or perhaps it never will.
I am living at the ACTS missions team house in the
north of Harare with a few other missions
volunteers from Melbourne and Perth. It is amazing when I think about how
God connected me once again with such like-minded individuals to share the
first two weeks of my time in Zimbabwe.
One of them is Lucinda De Vos, a 21 year old chicka whom I had never met in my
life, but who turned out to share the exact same passions in music, teaching
music, working with children with special needs, and music therapy! And of
course most recently, coming to Africa.
Honestly, if we truly just lived in a purposeless, accidental world, what are
the chances I meet someone like that on the exact trip I am planning with all
this in my mind’s eye and heart’s vision for the future!? It is unbelievable
and yet something I somehow expected – because I had specifically asked God for
it! I wanted to embark on my Africa trip
knowing people who shared the same vision and convictions in life – it sure
does make the journey a lot more fun and exciting.
Today was my first Sunday in Zim. I had the
privilege of joining a pioneering ministry called ONE Church
in a suburb called Avondale. It was such a great thing to join a bunch of
believers – a mix of missionaries, local white and black Zimbabweans, and
visiting volunteers like myself – for a Sunday morning of praise and worship,
and hearing God’s word. What always amazes me when I go someplace different and
yet find myself among fellow Christians and believers, is the simple fact and
feeling that these people – no matter how different they are from me – have
also encountered the love and truth and hope of Jesus Christ where they’re at.
I count it such a blessing to be able to hang out with these perfect strangers
and yet know deep down that they aren’t strangers at all – because we are
fellow sojourners on this life journey. By the grace of God, founded on the
solid rock of faith in Jesus, we’re headed in the same direction and pursuing
the same things in the kingdom
of God.
One thing I keep writing about is the simple thing
that every where I go, I intentionally ask God to lead me to the right people,
and for Him to draw the right people to me. People who share the same heart and
vision for serving God and living out their faith and love for Jesus by serving
others wherever they may be. You could be in a wealthy country, or an
impoverished slum, but you can still serve and bless others with what you have
– you.
After church, I struck up a conversation briefly
with a young chap named David who soon revealed that he was from England, and
that he moved to Zim after university to work with Christian Aid and coordinate
the advocacy program for Gender Equality here. We didn’t talk for long, but
before I had to rush off, I just told him with all sincerity, ‘I’d love to hear
more about your work here and what you do. Hope to meet again sometime!’ Then I
had to say goodbye.
But just before we went off, he ran up to me and
invited me to catch up again next week with a few other young people at the
church for lunch at a sushi bar or something. We exchanged contact and that was
that. I believe we’ll meet again!
I think it’s especially awesome when you cross
paths briefly with those whom you’d never meet anywhere else, but if there’s
that flicker of like-mindedness, it just draws people together no matter how
short a time they have. I feel like I have been learning so much the last three
years in all my travelling, volunteering and serving with different
communities, that if you keep an open heart and an inquisitive mind, you will
always meet other inspiring folk who can impact your life and teach you
something new no matter how small it may be. And it makes me smile to think of
it – that God would love us so much to bring the right strangers, friends,
family, or even foes along our path every step of the way to shape us and grow
us to be more like Him along this life-long odyssey.
As if not enough things have already been happening
the last ONE AND A HALF DAYS I’ve been in Zimbabwe, after church, we were
invited to attend our first Zimbabwean wedding! The groom – Douglas – is one of
the leaders working with ONE
Church and he is going to
start a ministry in an impoverished township called Hatcliffe. I will actually
have the opportunity in the next few days to help out in the street kids
ministry and orphanage projects there, so I will get to know Dougie and his
wife. Anyhow, we were soon on our way to the venue as we trundled along in our
run-down but immeasurably useful combi-van to the outskirts of Harare at a place called Westgate, where the
ceremony and party was to be held. All along the way, you would see people
milling about along the red-orange dusty road sides, selling maize, veggies,
drinks, newspapers and the like. I figure people walk a lot here, any time of
the day, even when it is pitch black at night (as most of the street lights are
either non-existent or do not work).
The wedding was conducted almost entirely in Shona,
the largest tribe in Zim and the most widely spoken language apart from
English. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, the loud music, the lively dancing
and whooping and cheering. The food was simple, but delicious – rice with
potatoes, yellow sweet potatoes, a chunk of curried beef, veggies and a piece
of chicken. It makes me so happy just to know that everywhere, people want to
love and be loved – by God, who loves so unconditionally, and by our fellow
man, who is learning to love by the transformative power of God’s grace :)
And as if all this was not enough, I was also
invited by my dear friend Simba (a.k.a Marc) to join his girlfriend and his two
younger siblings for a carols night Christmas event at Celebration Ministries –
one of the largest churches in Harare.
It was so, so, so great to have finally met Simba in person – to talk face to
face and laugh face to face! It was equally awesome to meet his family, who has
kindly offered to have me join them during the Christmas and New Year’s period
after I have finished with my missions volunteering. I sent him a message
afterwards saying, ‘I’m already convinced that I’ve met some of the best people
in Zim now!’ And he replied, ‘And we have met one of the greatest people out of
Australia.’
I just think he and his family are the friendliest people on the planet earth.
How often do you find such genuinely kind and God-fearing people? And what
more, to find them halfway across the world through the most impossible means?
Out of millions of people in Africa and hundreds of thousands in Zimbabwe, this
one person – Simba – found my blog and got in touch after reading one of my
write ups? And because of this simple, thread-thin connection made possible
through the precarious realm of the World Wide Web, I found another invaluable
God-sent friend traversing the same path of faith and yet living in a place I
had never thought to go to. Honestly! :)
But as we always say, ‘God is good!’
Now I’m sitting in my room, in its lovely
simplicity, journaling all this. I have some Hillsong worship music playing on
my phone. And right now, I’m thinking, I’m gonna get off this and I need to
sing some songs. I just feel so full – I’m bursting with the desire to thank
God and sing out my gratitude for all He’s doing, not only in my life, but in
every person I am meeting here and in every person I have met in Australia who
has been part of my journey and instrumental in preparing me for this pivotal
season of my life.
I trust God for tomorrow. It is in His mighty
hands. The world will worry and fret and envy, but I want to be free. I am free
in Jesus because of His love for me – it is the first and only thing that has
brought me to this place of trust and freedom. Nothing else in this world
satisfied me – nothing. Why do I write all this? Because I believe it, and I
see this truth changing lives all around me who are also daring to take the
leap of faith and reason. Through it all, God is enough for me.
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