We have been raising money for a 15 passenger van, and our goal has been to raise $25,000. So far, we’ve received donations from individuals and churches, totaling $12,000. Last week, we were blown away when we received news from another one of our supporting churches, letting us know they will be donating $14,000! This will give us an extra $1,000 for licensing and insurance. This was an unexpected surprise for us, but God knew! We are very appreciative of everyone who has given for a van! After watching the women pile into the back of our pickup truck just last Tuesday and Wednesday for the umpteenth times in the last decade, we know they will be so thankful to sit in regular seats when we drive them back and forth each week and other places at different times. We will now also be able to host more visitors, i.e. bigger mission teams (although we still prefer to keep groups relatively small, we will now be able to host more than 3 at a time).

We feel very blessed and are excited to now be able to look at specific vans to purchase! Thank you so much to all who have given and have made this a reality! Your generosity is much appreciated!

The Sunday night, the day before Holiday Bible Fun started, Emily, who had taught the ladies while I (Yolanda) was recovering from my surgery, had to cancel last minute on teaching the older kids for HBF week. She had gone away for a couple weeks with her family to SA and had just returned. She was more tired than she realized and requested the possibility of not helping out for the week. This at first caught us off guard and was a little frustrating, as our regular teacher, Mai Whisper, didn’t want to commit to teaching because she was due for labor and delivery any day. I joked with Pamela and Michael (both retired teachers) that I may need to call on them at the last minute to teach for the week. They laughed and agreed, and then I realized that they were literally my only answer on such short notice! I reminded them of the need to be flexible and God stretching us on mission trips and then asked if they would be willing to take over teaching for the week. You may think this was obvious, but understand that the kids are from a different culture than they are used to, language is still a deterrent as some children are not fluent in English, so even though the lesson is taught in English, usually Mai Whisper still takes advantage of some Shona as is needed. In addition, the sun was literally setting on Sunday evening, and it was the night before the event. They had not yet seen their classroom, the space they would be teaching in, the curriculum, or even the schedule for the day. They were meant to be extra helpers in multiple capacities, coming alongside the women who were already teaching crafts or cooking meals, etc. Needless to say, Pamela and Michael were more than willing, albeit a little anxious, to take over and teach the older groups. 

The first day, the children were very quiet in their lesson times. They didn’t laugh at jokes, they didn’t interact, and it seemed like Pamela and Michael would have to fight an uphill battle to reach the kids. Needless to say, Tuesday came, and the kids were quickly feeling more comfortable with their foreign, expressive teachers and began to come out of their shells! The rest of the week proved how well suited Pamela and Michael were for the job, as well as how much the children enjoyed their teaching!

It was once again a wonderful week of pouring into kids and sharing the love of Jesus in very tangible ways: feeding them nutritional, well-balanced meals and snacks, allowing kids to be kids while they had fun with games and activities, enjoying puppeteering skits that introduced the lessons each day, boisterous, exuberant worship with dancing actions and praising, crafts that introduced necessary skill sets like cutting with scissors or fine motor skills in weaving yarn through holes, crafts that were not only fun, but also pointed to the daily lesson, lessons that opened Scripture and taught children Psalm 23 in applicable, biblically accurate ways, object lessons and daily memory verses, coloring pages and worksheets to drive the lessons home, and lots of hugs, high fives, “you are special,” “Jesus loves you,” and “the Good Shepherd is always with you.” 

What a joy, what an honor, and what a privilege to pour into kids in such intentional, proactive ways that highlight the biblical story and show the love of Jesus!

Since HBF, we have met with the ladies to debrief and revisit everything that went well, highlights of the week, and also areas where we can improve and make adjustments for the future. The ladies always come prepared with countless stories from children who attended and the parents and grandparents of the kids. 

We know that this time, we had the opportunity to minister to kids from cults, Christian and animistic sects often called “white-robe” churches that meet in open air areas, don’t open Bibles, are led by polygamous “prophets,” anti-education (especially for girls), and clearly not Christian. We also had the opportunity to minister to kids from Seventh-Day Adventist churches and Roman Catholic churches. We ministered to children who were unchurched, as well as children from multiple Christian denominations. In addition, we ministered to 27 children from the local orphanage, all of whom have experienced unbelievable trauma in their lives from sexual, physical, emotional, and mental abuse. These kids have also experienced food insecurity. Some have experienced homelessness and lack or no education (we had 12 year olds who are in second grade from this group). We also once again ministered to children with special needs and even a few from private schools and well-to-do families. We ministered to children who’ve attended since first grade and are now in seventh grade, as well as children who attended for the very first time. For the first time, we even ministered to a few 4 year olds (grandkids of volunteers), who sat in classes and made crafts and even had an older high school kid who had attended for years, volunteer and help with craft time. In addition, we were also able to minister to a handful of kids who had come all the way from the rural area to stay in the “big city” (note, we live in a small town) with one the ladies, all week, to attend HBF for the first time. 

We know that HBF is far more reaching than we could ever imagine. These are only some of the children who we know of and whose stories we’ve heard, but there are so many more stories we haven’t heard, so many more children who were impacted and whose families were impacted and we may never even know about… and that’s perfectly ok. The point is the Gospel is being preached, lives are being impacted, and we have the distinct privilege to play a small part in all of it because of YOUR continued generosity to JM2Z.

So, who is ready to come and serve on a mission trip?

At the end of a crazy few weeks, Michael and Pamela treated us to a week in Victoria Falls with them. We became unofficial tour guides for them for the week, as we showed them around and helped book a few fun activities for them to enjoy. They graciously covered our airfare, accommodation, and an overnight camping experience an hour’s drive away in Botswana. Their hearts from the beginning was to bless us as missionaries and to include some missionary care during their mission trip. This was very much appreciated and is often forgotten as a possibility on mission trips - missionary care (which can take different forms). 

We were so honored to host friends who came on a mission trip to serve alongside us over the past several weeks! After two long days of travel from Oregon, they almost immediately got to work. Like us, they worked tirelessly in any and almost all areas of the Children’s Program. They lived out the motto we have for all mission trips, “Learn. Observe. Serve.” And in true mission trip fashion, they were given plenty of opportunities to experience flexibility in multiple areas. Needless to say, they passed with flying colors! To say we are grateful for all that they did, often last minute or not even asked to do, is an understatement. My (Yolanda) energy levels were still not at 100%, even though I gave every day my all until I flopped into bed at the end of each day. We truly are not sure we would have accomplished all that we did had it not been for Pamela and Michael and their incredibly good work ethic that went above and beyond. Their generous hearts and service minded attitudes made the past several weeks so much more enjoyable. An attitude can make or break a mission trip experience, but if one comes ready to serve and willing to be flexible in all situations, you are guaranteed an experience of a lifetime! This type of attitude is also an incredible blessing to us, the host missionaries. 

We had told the ladies in advance that our guests who would be visiting were some of the friends who had helped with food hampers, school fees, medical assistance, and so forth and so on. Although Michael and Pamela may not personally be sponsoring all these programs, we knew they represented their church who had - Myrtle Point First Christian Church. Anytime we help the ladies or give them some kind of assistance, we make it clear that the gift is not from us, but from Christian friends in the USA, and ultimately from God. Naturally this meant they came prepared to the next week’s Ladies’ Gatherings with signed cards of thanks and songs of praise (to and for God). They were eager to hand out hugs and share many, many testimonies of God’s goodness and His provision through JM2Z (they did not use that name, but it was implied by giving my (Yolanda) and Andrew’s names). 

In addition, we finally finished the last verse of Psalm 23 in our Bible study, just in time before HBF (Holiday Bible Fun) started the following week.

In typical generous American fashion, Pamela and Michael showed up with a wrapped gift for each and every lady (including the 2 who haven’t been able to attend weekly since they have started jobs). And like us, they were quick to point out that the gifts were not only from them, but also from other Christian friends. The gifts were welcomed with joyous song and excitement and big smiles and clapping and obvious gratitude and appreciation. We opened one sample gift (so they could take the wrapped gifts home to open in front of their families, since wrapping paper is extremely rare) and went through each item explaining it - the ladies oohed and aahed and sat wide eyed and with gaping mouths, with complete shock that they were being spoiled so abundantly. The gifts were Bible covers, so their Bibles will be protected from the weather, dusty conditions at home, and each pocket and sleeve were stuffed with items like pens, pencils, notebook, batteryless light, and even a very nice magnifying glass that lights up. These gifts once again proved to them how loved they were, how seen and valued, what a light they were in their own right within their families and communities, and how lavishly God blesses us by allowing “our cups to overflow.

The kids were not forgotten during the groups. They got to color in pictures, play together with toys, and eat some candy after lunch. They also got special attention as the adults went out at separate times to compliment their coloring or hear about their stories, even if there was a language barrier. Andrew even held little Adele while her mom was getting some things done. Of course Little Western and Angel felt extra special since they got extra attention from our guests too (on other days).

As many of you are aware, we have mentioned before about the drought that Zimbabwe is presently experiencing. Many of the ladies and their families have been struggling with the lack of water. City water only comes on maybe once a week at random early hours of the morning (1am-4am), completely unannounced. Many of the ladies walk down to the river to do their laundry and fetch heavy buckets of water for bathing, cleaning, toilets, cooking, and drinking. The water which may very well be bilharzia and/or cholera infected. In the past year, over 600 people have died of cholera and over 30,000 have been infected.

Two weeks ago, we heard of 4 adults who had been taken by crocodiles (and who died) down by the river here in Chinhoyi - the same river the ladies frequent for their own water supply. We’re not even talking about a rural area, this river is right here in our town, in the high density area. 

Anytime someone comes on a mission trip, we encourage them to raise funds for a special project that they will cover. We had several ideas for Michael and Pamela before their arrival, but they all seemed to fall through - sewing project, jungle gym project, etc., etc. - needless to say, God knew! It became apparent to us that we needed to assist the women with larger water containers so that when the city water came on they had a larger storage container for the water, that would last them much longer than small buckets. Before Michael and Pamela had arrived, we asked the ladies to research where to purchase 55 gallon containers, how to get a deal on about 20 of them, how to source good quality containers with lids that sealed, and so on and so forth. They also researched the cost for transport for all the containers to their respective homes. When we finally told them our guests, along with their Christian friends, would be blessing them with these as gifts, they were overwhelmed. In typical African fashion, they broke out in song and worship thanking God for His provision.

We were able to hire a truck to deliver all the containers to the ladies. We also delivered 3 of the containers to the ladies who lived the farthest away from the market. This also gave our guests the wonderful opportunity to see more of the high density area and be welcomed into several ladies’ homes. The ladies we visited were excited to show off their different micro-enterprises (small businesses), as well as the homes in which they live. As always, they were gracious hosts, welcoming us to sit down and visit with them for a time. Giving our guests the opportunity to experience these tiny, basic homes, with minimal furnishings and yet filled to the brim with people, was both a cultural and spiritual experience. These small spaces were filled with so much joy and so much gratitude for all that they had. The pride in the voices of the ladies as they showed off their small businesses was obvious too. We wish we could welcome each and every one of you to experience this too.

In addition to our regular weekly Bible study, special gifts, and lunch, the ladies also helped with HBF prep. Everyone got plugged into working on all types of tasks to frantically get it all done for the following week. And even once the ladies left, myself, Andrew, Pamela, and Michael kept working on stuff. A group of 10 of the women even returned on Friday to help with additional cutting, sorting, organizing, counting, and food prep. We have scores and scores of pictures showing just a little of the prep involved in hosting an event for over 120 kids. 

Enjoy this gallery of pics below, showing some of the food shopping, food prep, laminating, gift wrapping, craft cutting, paper counting, and organizing that we all accomplished. (If you’re wondering why Yolanda isn’t in many pics, it’s because she’s usually the one behind the camera).

Look out for another blog post next week to see how the week of HBF went with all the children and volunteers!