When we first arrived that morning, Pastor Fibion took us out behind the church to show us an empty piece of land. But this land won’t be empty for long! With the help of Forgotten Voices International, the church is building a pre-school for the young children in the community. The dry & desolate land will soon be filled with a school house teeming with laughing children! It’s hard to picture it now, but just IMAGINE the possibilities…

Trevor, Fibion & Horace discussing the plans for the pre-school

Trevor, Fibion & Ryan envisioning the future

After praying in the field, we set out for some more home visits in the community. Our first stop was the home of a little girl who had very recently lost her mother after already losing her father. We spoke with her and her Grandparents and uncle, and prayed with them as well.

The little girl was so beautiful and so sweet. She sat there listening to everyone talking about her, and she just remained quiet and mostly looked at the floor. When they started talking about her mom, she got tears in her eyes and had to leave the room to cry. My heart just ached for her. It’s so wonderful that the church is able to help her go to school and is making such a difference in her future, but a child is never the same after losing a parent. While I’m encouraged about this girl’s future, it broke my heart to see the pain she is feeling right now.

Her Go-Go was a vibrant woman, with so many expressions…

Her Grandfather was also very quiet, just like his grand-daughter. His health is failing and their family worries what will happen if he too should pass away.

Her Uncle comes by the house from another town as often as he can to check on her and his parents. He told us that he used to worry a lot about her future, but now that she has been able to return to school he is more hopeful.

The next home we visited was yet another GoGo taking care of her orphaned grandchildren. And yet another strong woman withstanding the hard realities of life in Zimbabwe with children to care for.

After the home visits, we went back to the church for a youth event with the local kids. There were so many kids there, and it was a lot of fun playing with them, and watching them play, and then worshiping with them afterwards. It made for a fun afternoon!

As we left Magwegwe, the most wonderful thing happened… RAIN! It was short-lived, but such a blessing! When you think of Zimbabwe, please pray for rain. They are suffering from a drought and every drop helps!!

On our way back to town, we stopped at the Eskimo Hut for some “ice cream” (or a frozen yogurt-type product, rather). There was only one flavor available, and only one topping. Mmm, vanilla with chocolate “sauce” (or chocolate water, whatever you want to call it). It was no Dairy Queen, but it definitely hit the spot. You’ll notice in this picture there’s just about nothing on the shelves or in the fridges at the Eskimo Hut. I don’t know how they stay in business, but we were happy to do our part!

After Eskimo Hut we went to dinner at the Bishop’s house. It was a fun evening, full of laughter! You know you’re off to a good start when you show up for dinner and the Bishop asks if you enjoyed your ice cream… Busted! He’d apparently driven by on his way home and saw us getting our snack. Good thing he’s got a sense of humor and good thing we still had big appetites for dinner! It was great spending time with him and his family – they are such sweet people. I felt perfectly at home with them, and that was really nice after a few hard days!

Next up, Sunday at The Rock Church…