February Joys and Heartaches

Urgent Prayer for Rain

Zimbabwe has been experiencing a drought once again. Even though the rainy season started out well, the rain has gotten less and less and everything is extremely dry. Water levels are at unsustainable levels. We have heard from several ladies who have planted seeds and fertilized the soil and done everything by hand, only to have everything dry up and make the entire crop be a failure (about 3-5 acres each). This is devastating, as far as food and finances for these women and their families and unfortunately not uncommon. The fact that most people live off of subsistence farming means that this can be catastrophic for so many moving forward throughout the next year. We are already hearing pleas for assistance. We ask that you urgently pray for a very strong finish to the rainy season in hopes that fields that have been replanted will bring in a crop (for many small-scale farmers, replanting is not a feasible financial possibility).

This is part of Mai Tsitsi's crop from a couple years ago

Mai Tsitsi's message from last week

The second largest city in the country, Bulawayo, is experiencing an extreme water-shortage. Many areas in the city have gone for weeks with no tap water whatsoever. Recently, the city enforced a 120 hour shedding schedule for all residents, in attempts of maintaining what little water source they have (meaning that for 5 days at a time, certain areas of the city will have their water shut off, so that others are guaranteed to have it, and then they rotate). 

The water shortage countrywide just further exasperates the cholera epidemic. The water issue has continued to affect the women we work with personally. 

In addition, unrelated to water, the country has experienced a polio outbreak as well. This resulted in an emergency nationwide polio vaccination campaign for all children under 10. 

A baby receiving the polio vaccine

New Baby

Mai Dean, who was part of the Wednesday group and used to teach the younger kids in our VBS program, recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She doesn’t have a name yet, as it usually takes some time to decide, while they are getting to know the baby. Mai Dean has not attended weekly gatherings for some time, since she was able to get a job in the local prison - beating over 100 other applicants (we had mentioned her success in a previous blog concerning this and during our church visits last year). 

Unfortunately, Mai Dean had a very stressful and high-risk pregnancy. At 6 months pregnant, she was rushed to the hospital for excessive bleeding and extreme abdominal pain. They thought she would lose the baby. She recovered and was immediately placed on bedrest. She attempted to return to work as to not lose her employment, but clearly was unable to handle the long standing required for her work. She did finally return home and adhere to her bedrest requirements. In the months thereafter, she struggled with her pregnancy. She experienced a lot of pain and discomfort, among other symptoms. 

We praise the Lord that Mai Dean is well and recovering from her labor and that she gave birth to a healthy baby! Please pray that once she is fully healed, she will be able to return to work. Job security is not something that exists here, even due to illness. 

Mai Dean's new baby :)

Health Update

I (Yolanda) am doing very well. I had my 6 week post-op appointment a couple weeks ago and the doctor was very impressed with my healing and progress. She insisted I still need to try taking it slow (which is very hard for me, as I just want to get back to normal) for a few more weeks. I’m struggling with post-surgery fatigue (I already suffer from chronic fatigue, an endo symptom) and she told me that is to be expected and could be the case for the next six months. Needless to say, getting plenty of sleep has been crucial for me, so that I can function normally. All the medical professionals involved in my case have been astounded with how well I’m doing and how quickly I improved and am getting back to myself, post-surgery. We know it’s due to the power of prayer - so many of you have been praying for me and my recovery and it’s obvious those prayers have been answered - thank you! I will return to the doctor in July for my 6 month post-surgery check-up, but other than needing to pace myself, all is good. Praise the Lord!

Child Outreach

Mai Tsitsi, who is in the Wednesday group, has a small farm and has been spending most of her time there as she prepares her fields and plants her seeds. Unfortunately, as we already shared, she has lost her entire crop this season, due to high temperatures and very little rain. At our one-day Christmas children’s event we hosted in December, she brought a little girl from the rural area to attend the event. Of course, she loved it! Mai Tsitsi had an idea to share more of God’s Word with the children on the farm. She asked if we had a children’s Shona Bible (we only have the one which we use for VBS, but we knew we had to give it to her). She wanted to read the Bible stories to the children. We also gave her leftover coloring pages from previous VBS events, as well as one box of crayons. She was so excited!

Recently, we received photos from her daughter-in-law of some outreach she has been doing in her area with the children. She welcomes several kids of different ages, provides them with a meal, reads them a Bible story and has them ask questions that she answers, then finishes off with handing out coloring pages as a fun treat for them to color. As you can tell from the pictures below, the children loved it and she had a great little group of kids to minister to. Who knows how God will use her and use these little kids. Please pray for her and for the children. And please praise Him with us for this new outreach!

Van Update

So far we have received $11,495 in donations for a 15 passenger van. Thank you to all the individuals and multiple churches who have given toward it! We appreciate your generosity! We are still working toward the $25,000 goal. So please continue to pray and keep us in mind should you have the ability to give any special gifts in the near future.

South Africa Trip

Next week, we fly to South Africa for our regular big shopping time for supplies. As we’ve done for several years, we will shop for all the craft supplies for the ladies’ crochet projects, along with necessary supplies for the upcoming VBS, and other ministry needs (please be in prayer for our upcoming April VBS, for the children who will attend and the volunteers). In addition, we will shop for personal groceries and needed items. We will be in SA for the week to “shop until we drop,” but not the fun kind. It’ll be a change of pace and scenery, so we do always enjoy the trip, but it’s almost always very exhausting. Thankfully, we will stay with my aunt and uncle (free accommodation) who are more than willing to drive us around to various stores and places, so that does help, which will allow me to do this, as I am finishing my recovery. Our goal has always been to be good stewards with what God has entrusted to us, which results in going to a wide variety of shops, not always in the best areas, not always the cleanest or easiest to shop in, but always the cheapest prices and most affordable, while still being quality items. We hunt for bargains and deals and bulk options wherever possible - all to ensure that we make every penny count and every dollar stretch so that even more can be accomplished for Kingdom work. Know that your hard earned money you donate to JM2Z is always appreciated and we show that through wise stewardship. You can be assured that your donations are always an investment in Kingdom work, so thank you for giving to JM2Z when we know there are so many worthy causes worldwide.

Thank you!

Thank you all who have sent Christmas cards or get well cards! Since mail takes so long to get here from the US, some have just arrived in the last couple weeks. We really appreciate it! We love receiving snail mail and enjoyed catching up with your family updates in your Christmas cards. Your get well cards have really encouraged me too! Much appreciated! Below are just a few from one batch :)