There's more detail and photos on our Lifeline webpage and updates. These updates start life as emails back to home, then get a little reworked later. Click on any photo for a full-sized one.
These reports start life as emailed updates sent home while we are in transit. They are later reworded somewhat before being published on the Internet - to carefully respect the cultural and political sensitivities of the region... To save download time, many of the images here are hyperlinked to a larger more detailed one if you want to have a closer look. They aren't just a log of activity, but we try to offer insight into what we experience, and how it affects you.
11/7/06 Plumtree
We are only three days into our visit and it seems like ages longer. We had a full row of seats each on both sectors from Sydney-Perth-Joburg (on relatively full flights too). And spent two hours in Perth with Derick Dove, just two weeks before he and Collette move back to Sth Africa after 25 years in Perth to obey a fresh commission from God (I told him they would be the only people on that Jumbo going back one-way! Everyone else is getting out!). We found a very reasonably priced overnight BnB only 3km from the airport, that provided a free transfer, breakfast, and bed for $A29pp!
Our first “welcome to ministry in Africa problem” erupted barely before the plane left Sydney, when I lost my voice! Oh no, God. Not again. I feel like Paul in 2 Corinthians, having pleaded with God so often to take away these inevitable afflictions in my respiratory/vocal system. After enjoying a year of trouble-free health in Sydney, and having taken a stand 47 weeks ago against my increasing asthmatic condition (and thank the Lord, not taking a single shot of anything in all that time), a slight cold has erupted into a headache, heavy congestion, bronchitis again… (but mercifully, no asthma).
Our second “welcome to ministry in Africa problem” jumped up at the flight counter when my ticket “disappeared”, and they would not let me onto the plane. It was weird. John and I scoured our baggage, wallets several times; the airlines official had gotten John and I mixed up on the tickets, then said he had given us the ticket back, but we could not find it. BA wanted to charge me for a full flight to Harare then Sydney! A fortune. They had my identity, the seat was booked, but would not budge. One staff member said, “do it E-ticket next time”. Big help that was. With time running out, I had to purchase a ticket Jbg-Hre-Jbg for an additional $A500. I was really mad at this fiasco, but my spirit was saying, “recognise where the harassment is coming from”, which enabled me to calm down. We made it onto the plane with 5 minutes to spare. And the crazy, crazy part was once in the air, we went again over our travel documents, and there was the missing ticket in John’s wallet! How it got there, and/or how we missed seeing it – we have no idea….
We arrived in Harare Saturday afternoon and hit the ground running! Arranged the travel, etc, with Loxley. He and Mavis had only arrived back from their delayed-by-illness trip to UK the day before, so it was pretty rushed for everyone. But, it was good to see them, and they were very helpful in setting us up to leave the next morning for Bulawayo. And Kefasi Makava walked over to see us; it was so good to see my son-in-the-faith again. The process is not yet finished with the Australian Embassy for his visa, but it’s not far away. We hope to bring him home with us on August 11. He stayed for dinner, and is so looking forward to coming to live with us in Sydney. The culture shock will still be considerable, but at least he will know quite a few who have been here from our church.
The drive down to Matabeleland was uneventful. There is much more fuel around and that’s a relief, after the tension of last year.
ODD SPOT #1 – How different is the moral climate from Australia’s, I hear you ask? Try this on for size! We carefully and prayerfully pick up hitchhikers from time to time. This trip was on Sunday, so Bible carriers were plentiful on the highway. At one spot in the bush, a mother and 11 y/o girl were trying to get a lift. We stopped, opened the door, and the mother put the girl in, told us where she was going, AND CLOSED THE DOOR!! So, two old varungu (white men) drove this young lass some 40k to the town. I said to John, “would you ever see such a thing happen in Australia!?!?” Yes, folks, it’s not all bad in Zimbabwe – there is such a greater wholesome trust here – no public displays or sale of pornography, and young girls are relatively safe.
In Bulawayo, it was such a joy to drive over to where Garry McMahon and the team of 7 from Blue Mountains Church of Christ were staying, after two weeks of the most challenging ministry in the displaced persons’ camps outside Bulawayo. They have had such a learning and giving experience (Elizabeth and I had spent a couple of sessions with them during their months of preparation). And on Monday, they are heading off with our friend, Sam Gabara, into the National Park bush and Victoria Falls for four days.
The seminar here in Plumtree went well the first day. There are quite a lot more leaders attending (total count passed 50), and Cosmos has a couple of ministers coming all the way from Beitbridge (450k away), and hopes we can do a similar seminar there next year. My voice had returned barely enough to get through the sessions, but the interpreters did a good job in helping me.
18/7/06 from Nyamandlovu
Hie everyone from Nyamandlovu, 20k’s out of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Nyama = flesh; ndlovu = elephant! And that’s what John and I will end up looking like with the kindness of our present host, Mick Allard. Mick is a well-known painter who has accommodated me for the past four trips to this part of Zimbabwe – a haven in every way (his paintings have always created a lot of interest among our friends, and he now has a website www.michaeljallard.com ). His 9 y/o son, Jack, was delighted to discover John will play cricket and chess with him!
The five days at Plumtree wound up Friday late afternoon and my voice somehow survived (some days from 9am till 9pm…). The coughing, and interrupted sleep pattern continued all week and by Friday I was wrecked. But, somehow, prayer from John and the unseen host of pray-ers back home kept me going, and according to all reports it was a very effective conference. A lot of ladies attended this one, and as time went along, they pitched into the discussions more and more – quite un-African…
ODD SPOT #2 – The sergeant chaplain of the Army base again attended most of the sessions, and invited us one night to visit a woman in a Zimbabwean cult he had been witnessing to. It turned out to be a guru-type Hindu-style god-man cult, and she was helping lead their local branch. Initially, she was not willing for us to pray for her, as she said she was unsure who Jesus really is. However, the Holy Spirit showed me some details on certain health conditions she had as a result of her contact with the spirit world through dabbling in this cult. This seemed to shock her – that her constant pain and crippled feet (hidden under a blanket) were the result of the witchcraft “law of compensation”. Her attitude changed quite dramatically, and she asked heartily for us to pray then and there. We left her considerably more open for the chaplain to return and continue to read what the Bible has to say about the person of Jesus Christ.
Saturday morning saw us in another leadership seminar with the growing church leadership of George Moyo’s church, Breakthrough Ministries. Compared to most of the churches I have visited, this one is a very mature group, and always a joy to be around! After a two-hour opening prayer meeting(!!), they had a praise service for 90 minutes (full bore!), then we had another hour of preaching. This made for a day of around 61/2 hours of meeting, plus another hour of fellowship! But, they mainly meet once a week, and make the most of their time together. The idea of clock-watching so they can run off to other commitments seems to be far from their mindset. A former Lifeline student (Chamu) led the singing again – enough to send your spirits soaring right into heavenly places! Then another ex-student, Dorcas, asked when Debbie was coming back to see them! Heck, it’s been 5 years since Debbie stayed in Bulawayo and taught part of the Lifeline Ministry Training Program! But, several remember her with great affection (was it the lollies, Deb?)!
Sunday 16/7 - we went out to an outer suburb to a small church that meets in a high school – together with 31 other churches!!! It was like a Paddy’s Market smorgasbord of churches of every conceivable variety!! I wandered around filming a few, as the singing styles clashed with each other – classroom to classroom. It blew us away! The school charges a very cheap rental for a room, and they queue up to take them! And of course, being African, their names are usually a mouthful – often including words like “global, worldwide, universal, national”, etc, etc.
Then we drove out to where Shepherd and Alice Mutasa have started a small butchery business. He was in a 3-rollover smash two days ago (no seatbelt on – this is Zimbabwe, remember), and we were amazed at his recovery – not even neck soreness). Alice was a 2001 student too (a good year, Debbie!) and has had to shut down her clothing business because of the recession. We also met Sitabile (widow of Felix Mhlanga (Lifeline teacher and brother who died after a long battle with stomach cancer in January). They had a child just before he died, and my heart went out to her. Praise God, we were able to pass on some of the unallocated missions’ money from our church that we have been carrying with us.
So, we now have a three-day break from the intensity of last week and the coming fortnight up north in Gweru. So, yesterday (Monday), John and I drove to nearby Matopos National Park, home to 40 rhino (you are warned, get out of your car and we will shoot to kill – literally - because of poachers of rhino horn), and several wildlife species (giraffe, deer, crocs, hippo, etc). It was John’s first time in the bush, and we had a marvellous day – finishing at Cecil Rhodes grave at “World’s End” – made famous at the end of “the God’s Must be Crazy” where he threw the coke bottle off the end of the world! We visited several caves, dams, and saw some amazing granite formations (mother and child enclosed).
Unannounced power cuts are daily here now, and water is switched off daily for a few hours. If you can afford one, you buy a generator. Fuel is now $Z480,000 (that’s about $US1 on the parallel market rate, and is now much more available (you have to search, but last year, I had to drive into Botswana to get diesel to drive back to Harare!).
Thanks to everyone who has continued to pray for us. My voice and heavy chest cold are slowly recovering – in time for the next nine-day, all-day teaching stint in Mkoba. We’ll try to send some more from Gweru – providing the Internet café isn’t down again.
1/8/06 Update #2 from Harare
We arrived back in the capital Sunday night straight from Gweru where we completed eight full days straight of teaching, preaching, praying with people, and generally getting exhausted! An “African moment” happened yet again when on the way through Harare to the Lifeline Base, I took John through downtown Harare (pop 2 million) after telling him I needed to make contact with Kefasi Makava to pass on the developments re his coming back with us to start a two-year stint in Sydney with our church. When who should step off the very crowded footpath but Kefasi! He will now fly home with us.
We have had a lot of impromptu ministry, running into people left, right, and centre along the way. We were well received by Joy’s friends, Roy and Melodie Wilson. Roy is currently the Presbyterian minister in Gweru, and their manse / house was like a haven to us (our accommodation in Mkoba stalled when Addmore could not get access to the home our church helped purchase until the day after we left).
Mkoba was a terrific time. We were the only varungu (white people) in 30,000 – which makes it very safe; people know you are Christian helpers, and honour that (unlike Australia). The pastor (Addmore) left his bike unlocked out the front for five days during the teaching times. When asked why he didn’t lock it, he replied, “oh I do if I ride into Gweru, but this is Mkoba”. We were trying to reconcile that with the Western Suburbs of Sydney…. The church attendance rate is now, with the economic hard times, around 70%! I have never heard of such a figure anywhere else in the world! As we said last update, there are meetings EVERYWHERE and at ALL TIMES! It’s unbelievable – listening to the beautiful singing that wafts across the township (Mkoba Villages 1 to 20! How’s that for Rhodesian originality?).
Much walking is done here; every morning we walk and pray up in the National Botanical gardens. Last night, I jogged 7k around the block, past the President’s palace. Just before I came to the 6pm road closure (barriers, armed soldiers, spikes across the highway), a screaming siren on a motor bike at 90kph warned all pedestrians, cars (and lone jogger!) that the Presidential entourage was coming out of the Palace heading back to his private residence out north. EVERYTHING stopped dead. Including me. As the several vehicles and 40+ heavily armed soldiers raced past, I asked another pedestrian, “what is this?”, he replied, “It is our President, and if you move they will shoot you”. And he wasn’t kidding…. I didn’t move…. Come on, fellow joggers… When was the last time you ran past Kirribilli with the back of your hair on end???
Stop Press: The currency was devalued by 1000% yesterday. Three zeros were cut off, and new notes came in today – the largest being $Z100m ($A300!). This is much better for handling (we needed a backpack in the South). Up till yesterday the largest one was $Z100,000 ($A30c!) – but no news on the underlying inflation rate (reported at 1400% - that’s 1% every 6 hours).
We are off to Mozambique in the morning after yet another “African” stuff-up in the visa process… It never ends. This time, the Mozambican office would not accept Zim$ for us three foreigners (John and I are being joined by Andrew from Andrew Evans church in Chesterfield UK). But they didn’t tell Loxley. The passports just sat there for three weeks; then the clerk was about to go to the bush for a funeral (common here). Mavis rescued the passports with less than a day to go, but we all now have to pay $US25 (instead of $US10) for a “late application”! Oh what a frustrating place to live and minister – you need patience, grace, and to watch “Zorba”!
We are looking forward to seeing Sparrows' Nest again, and the people at the Base in Beira. We plan to connect with many of the pastors again who have attended our Lifeline ministry and leadership development courses over past years. Jeff Wakeman has added youth leader training too with his local contacts. We are looking forward to the visit (but not to the slow 600k trip in one day).
ODD SPOT #3: There has been a report of a man arrested in one of the larger supermarkets. In the current economic situation, security has been tightened to prevent an increase in shoplifting. He had tried to carry a suitcase in. When stopped by the security guard, he challenged the man’s attempt to take his suitcase off him and store it until he left the shop. He was told, “I am sorry, Sir, but you cannot take a suitcase into the store.” “Suitcase!”, he indignantly replied, “THAT’S MY WALLET!!”
Thanks once again for all the prayers on our behalf. They have made a significant difference in my health (which was teetering on the edge of the cliff for three weeks). And to top it off, I have been able to check the Aussie Rules a couple of times, and find that despite the conspiracy of umpires to cast us out of the finals, we have been triumphing!
9/8/06 Update after Mozambique
The
past week was spent in a pretty hectic fashion going 600km down the highway and
border to Beira, Mozambique. John, Loxley, and I were joined by Andrew
from the Lifeline-supporting church in Chesterfield, UK. The roadblocks
were incessant as the money changeover took place and the various "official"
arms of enforcement went searching for local currency on the move. When
your cash is depreciating 4% per day, we can't understand why anyone
would keep large amounts stashed anyway.
But, Beira was such a blessed time of ministry - numbers we have never seen before (Brian's 8th visit). We taught a total of 85 pastors and youth leaders all day, Saturday, with a further 35 attending Friday and/or Monday the other pastoral development teaching times. A great hunger for God and His Word - to not only grow, but also strengthen the local churches according to the Word. One youth pastor was a landmine amputee with no legs whatsoever. His friends brought him in perched on the pannier of a pushbike - reminding us of the men who tore the roof off the house in Jesus' time!
What a blessed time John and I have had in Africa. We took it home in our hearts and spirits. You can't come here and stay the same...
These reports start life as emailed updates sent home while we are in transit. They are later reworded somewhat before being published on the Internet - to carefully respect the cultural and political sensitivities of the region... To save download time, many of the images here are hyperlinked to a larger more detailed one if you want to have a closer look. They aren't just a log of activity, but we try to offer insight into what we experience, and how it affects you.
Jeremy and I left Sydney for the 31-hour trip to Harare via Singapore and Joburg... The spotless efficiency of Singapore airport (World's no. 1 airport for 13 years), complete with free internet in the enormous transit area, plus (to Jeremy's delight!) $2.70 laksas gave way to.... welcome to Africa! We queued twice in the first half hour at Joburg airport to (literally) squeeze through a narrow door with hundreds of other transit passengers, to pass through an almost non-existent security check. Then , after settling into a very pleasant place for our 5 hour stopover, had to wait again for the credit card machine ("sorry, Sir, there appears to be no paper"; followed by, "we are having a little technical difficulty with the machine"). No problems... A good intro for Jeremy to what awaits him, after the smooth efficiency of Singapore Airlines and airport!
We had no sooner written that bit and discovered that our e-tickets required a boarding pass validation before they would let us on the plane to Harare from Joburg - and even though the gate was still open, the 'recording' had ceased 10 minutes previously! So, we were stuck for an extra 5 hours - making the trip over 39 hours go to whoa... Longest ever for me. Funnily enough, though, with room Singapore-Joburg to stretch out on rows of seats, we did not suffer any jetlag.
Jeremy
and I have been here in Africa for nearly two weeks, returning from a quite
exhausting trip to Central Mozambique yesterday. We covered a lot of
ground, visiting the Sparrows’ Nest orphanage our church has been supporting
for the past three years, the Lifeline Base in Beira (supported since 1989), and
three very l o n g days up higher in Manica province – staying in
a real African village with 49 church leaders coming in for teaching and
training. We had to sleep in a mud-brick hut – on the hard floor with no
mattress! I (Brian) am just too old and creaky for this kind of
“realism”… Our backs hurt; no electricity, no seats to sit on, smoke
from innumerable fires in your nostrils continually, long drop long-grass
toilet, reed outhouse for washing (see the 6am with Jeremy’s hand raised in
the photo, next to the cattle corral!), fish and rice for three days! But
what a great time with sincere, loving people who were so appreciative of us
coming. One man asked us how many hours drive Australia was away from
where we were (in Beira)!
Vanduzi was quintessential Africa! Smoke from early morning cooking fires. We just had to enclose this photo... These people, in their poverty, were so kind and generous to us...
Things are very “tender” where we currently are, as the Police have forcibly moved on some 30,000 people from roadside trading and “temporary” housing areas around the cities. Oh, the hurt… Harare is much cleaner as there are no street traders anywhere. No one hassles you on the street – very different from recent previous trips. Where they have gone…?? There is such need here. We walked down into the inner city to visit a friend of Brian's, and we were literally the only two varungu (Europeans) we saw anywhere! Caucasian people seem to have abandoned the downtown city.
We are pretty tired at present. But, yeah, we have managed to squeeze in a little jogging here and there (running past the President’s palace and the heavily armed palace guard was a new experience for Jeremy!). And Jeremy has been teaching children Aussie Rules kicking and marking wherever he goes. It’s like watching the Pied Piper!
We
were in the middle of a Mozambiquan compound with minimal signs of
“civilisation – we entered the mudbrick church building, in
semi-darkness; the meeting starts, when… wait for it!… a
mobile phone went off!! We cracked up! It was so incongruous…
It turned out a supporting church had supplied many of the pastors with
cellphones (makes a lot of sense when they are so scattered and where the
coverage is ok), and they were like kids (teenagers!?!?) with new toys -
text messaging each other in the dust!
Brian has finally got his Zimbabwean Wimpy’s’ senior’s card! After a one year application! 15% discount to old people. Heck! With no. 60 coming up in 2 weeks, he feels he has earned it.
When the ministers drive out of the Hear the Word church in Harare, the gateman salutes them! We are thinking of introducing this bit of American Uncle Tom’s cabin into our own church car park! Our first suggestion is Joel Watts as the gateman – in a striped uniform like they wear here…. We’re sure he’ll jump at the opportunity! Yeah... And demand double time on Sundays....
"Do not, we repeat, DO NOT take any oranges with you to the National Park!" These words are meaningless in Oz, but here, if ignored, can result in the building you are staying in literally being flattened! By elephants! Apparently, they go crazy at the smell of oranges. We saw a photo of a fairly solid building with the outside wall pushed over as they invaded the room where the oranges were stashed! Talk about drug-crazed behaviour!
Ahh, Africa! Land of adventure... Especially when you go to the toilet! The land where almost every publicly accessible loo has had the toilet seat stolen (not vandalised like in Oz; oh no. Here they are recycled). The land where the hand-towels are chained to the rail. We have photographic evidence... Thieving is an everyday reality here. It's like everyone thinks they are Robin Hood - taking from the haves and passing it on to the have-nots. You must lock and chain everything! And the township house toilets are often a hole in the floor - in the same small outer room where you shower as well. Brian nearly lost the soap down the hole!
We have just returned to the Lifeline Base after going out for a meal with the Directors, Loxley and Mavis Ford. The bill came to $Z1 million! But, we must add that was for the four of us. Oh – by the way – before you think we are living the high life here - it came to the equivalent of $A15 per head all up!!
Tomorrow we head for three days at Lake Kariba with the Fords – first time for both of Jeremy and myself. There are reports of elephants and lots of crocs near the lake-edge lodge we are staying at. Noah’s words to Jeremy yesterday on the phone were, “don’t be scared of the animals, Daddy!”
We
have just spent two days in Chitungwiza, the nearest thing in Zimbabwe to Soweto
in South Africa. An estimated 1m black Zimbabweans (and one white
resident!) live 20 km out of Harare in very high density. We saw the
devastation the Govt policy of bulldozing the camps has done, and our hearts
ached when we saw women and children camping out in the open (it gets cold at
night here this time of year). The locals are calling it the Tsunami, and
it looks like a smaller version of the photos of Aceh.
Pastors and leaders came together from quite a number of churches and we had a great time over two full days teaching and fielding questions. We were told not many varungu (white men) go out there, but we sure benefited from the experience. The photo is of the last session (under a fruit tree!). I (Brian) am going back after Jeremy returns home.
We are looking forward to ministering in the Chinhoyi churches for 5 days on the way back from Kariba. Our stay will overlap old friends Jim and Jackie Bowler (from Manchester, UK) for 2 days, and that is a bonus! We will be staying in the same house as they are.
I feel like old Paul writing this one... Jeremy has gone home; I turn 60 on my own in 5 days time; and travelling and ministering on your own is no great joy… Fortunately, before this sounds too much like a hippo wallowing in its own mud, I am staying with Mick again 18k outside town. Mick’s painting furiously again for an exhibition in Florida next December. He is currently struggling to capture the essence of his neighbour’s scrawny old sulphur crested cockatoo! His paintings never cease to amaze me! Especially his bike series. The original photo of this one is quite amazing! There really were seven people on one bike!
Lake Kariba was great, but now a ghost town with no tourists. Jeremy caught his tiger fish, and came face-to-face with a few agitated elephants for the first time! We did one day in the Matusadona National Park – lots of animals and birds as we drove and cruised in a boat along the Lake’s edge (felt safer…)!
Jeremy and I were spoiled by our 5 days around Chinhoyi. It was perpetual ministry, but (as someone prophesied to us beforehand), it was very different to what we were expecting; it was almost entirely personal one-on-one with many, many people. But different from home. For instance, we visited a farmer under harassment, who suspected his commercial export roses operation had been cursed by re-settlers using a witch-doctor. Continual disease was ruining his whole stock. We used the authority of Jesus’ name and broke the uroyi (curse); he came back 3 days later very excited to say there was absolutely no sign of disease in a sudden burst of new growth! That’s the kind of reality you live and minister in here. If you don’t handle that stuff to well, it’s best to stay home in Oz... And we cheered up a lot of people in a very distressing time. The church caretaker just had his dwelling knocked down. Our friends, the Banda family, are about to move for the umpteenth time. Jeremy spent a lot of time discussing with Peter how to put into operation an effective discipleship process for new Christians.
I
(Brian) preached in the Banket church last Sunday (where Martha Zulu and her
family still fellowship after Peter's death), <<< The church
office behind their house was - ahem - renovated last week... Meanwhile,
Jeremy played in the band for the meeting in Chinhoyi at which Jim and Jackie
Bowler ministered. They are familiar to many of us after their visit from
The UK to our church last year (elders Peter Banda and Shadreck Beka with Brian
and Jim Bowler >>>).
Jeremy’s big hit for his trip was playing bass in a band at our Chinhoyi host’s 50th birthday party! It was a great night and they loved his joyful invasion! Speaking of invasion, we have mentioned Peter Zulu on former visits. He died last year, and when we visited his widow and children at their home, we found the Tsunami had gone through their township. Their tuckshop (no permit) was demolished out front, and Peter’s church office (a well-built addition out back) was also smashed to bits. The whole township was in a similar state.
I addressed the Christian Students Union at the Harare Secondary Teachers’ College the night after Jeremy left. My topic was identifying mweya wetsvinamato (religious spirits) and how to deal with them and their influence. As usual, when you address this subject, an unprecedented (according to the chairman) level of restlessness, disturbances, people falling asleep, distractions, and so on, occurred. People in Zimbabwe are much more aware of this realm than Aussies, but it still gets the invisible realm fired up!
Last night, I visited a elderly farmer and his wife who have helped us on previous visits. Their house was built many years ago by one Miss Guiness of the Guiness Brewers family in Ireland. Their workers have often seen “her spirit riding her horse” near her grave. We discussed some of the manifestations that have occurred around their home. This is commonplace here, and you pray for people and to our Lord Jesus for His protection continually.
Staying
at Mick's again outside Bulawayo brought me in touch yet again with this man's
amazing gift for capturing Africa! His bicycle paintings are just
something to be seen. I would love to put them all on the web! This
painting was done off a photo with seven people on one bike!
I am in two different churches this weekend; then 3 days near the Botswana border for a 3-day live-in pastors’ conference (this means I can cross over and fill up with diesel – chronically short nationwide at present). Then back to Bulawayo for 3 days, back to Gweru for 6 days with Mkoba township pastors for a conference. Being probably the only murungu (white person) again in a township of 20,000 is really an experience! It’s very safe and friendly, although you have to lock everything and keep your wits about you at all times!
Later
update: We have had a wonderful time in Plumtree, near the Botswana border,
with the local Ministers' Fellowship - doing a three-day seminar on Corinthians
11-14 - "how much can we apply today to our local churches?"
Some of the ladies with church responsibilities have attended too, including one
albino sister >>>.
Email has driven us nuts this trip. It has not improved over recent years. Turning 60 alone was not looking like much joy, but the local people surprised me with TWO birthday celebrations! Cake(s), and of course it IS Africa after all!! Plenty of singing and a bit of dancing…. I was really touched by their affection. I wish I could bundle them all up and bring them home to Sydney... In the midst of real serious economic hardship, they are so cheerful and full of faith in God’s goodness.
After doing another leadership seminar at George Moyo's church in Bulawayo, it was off early Sunday morning to pick up Artwell from TCZ (Theological College of Zimbabwe), and the 170km drive back to Mkoba for the 10am service. Except it was raining! Most unusual; here this time of year, and we nearly skidded off the highway at one bridge on the slick road surface. Another 4WD had flipped over ona railway bridge and destroyed itself just before us...
Hie (Zimbabwean greeting), everybody. We are back in the land that DeFaT have warned all sane Aussies from visiting, to find that things have settled down here somewhat since I (Brian) was here last December. Our getting here was “bumpy” to say the least, so we have sent this out to friends, family, and some other interested folks from Harare before we leave tomorrow morning for Gweru where we start the first of two Ministry Training Programs. 24 hours before getting on the plane, I was still in bed in the coronary ward of the Intensive Care Unit at Gosford Hospital…. Here’s the story so far….
Last weekend our church had our annual camp at the foot of the Blue Mountains with Jim and Jackie Bowler, Lifeline friends from Manchester, UK. Unfortunately, my enjoyment of it was limited to the spiritual and fellowship aspects, as physically, I was not in good shape. The beginnings of a severe bronchial asthma attack were brewing and I suffered badly both nights up there. We were up at our family’s holiday cottage at Budgewoi where we have taken Jim and Jackie for two days r ‘n’ r after their wonderful ministry to us before they headed home to Manchester (via Perth), when a build up of bronchial asthma hit me like I have never had before in my life (I am not asthmatic by background), and I had to drive to the emergency ward at Wyong Hospital at midnight for help.
They tested me for various things (X-rays, blood tests, ECG, etc). An ECG graph done at 3am registered a heart attack after I was settled in for the night on the leads – plugged up all over! The 6am ECG test clearly showed major aberrations to my heart condition. Even I could see what they were saying. When I told the doctor I was due to fly out to Zimbabwe in 48 hours, he rolled his eyes and said, “I hope your travel insurance is paid up coz you’re not going anywhere…” So, I was off by ambulance to Gosford ICU the next day for more tests by the coronary specialist, and some serious discussion about what was really wrong.
On the funny side – getting bawled out by a grumpy cardiac nurse because I was wandering around (with leads hanging off me like a choko vine) looking for a phone to call Elizabeth and a dunny to visit, shouting “get back in bed! You’ve had a heart attack!” I was the only happy patient in a very depressing ward… Kept doing my stretches though when they weren’t looking…
Finally, the specialist admitted my blood tests showed no signs whatsoever of a heart attack (Including a “silent one” that the Wyong doctor had indicated had happened) – the enzyme count was perfect. So, it looks like the original alarm was from a heart strain because of the lack of oxygen, and coughing like a chronic smoker in the death rattles set it off. But it was a temporary aberration rather than a real attack. They wanted to keep me in for another night for observation, but without my mentioning I planned to be on plane in less than 24 hours time, they agreed to let me go home and call on my own family doctor.
“Strangely”, my own GP was not on deck that evening when we got home and I had to see a new Chinese doctor to fill a prescription to take to Zimbabwe. It turned out that he was a born-again believer who has only been in the area a few weeks. His parting words were, “I will pray for you in Zimbabwe”.
Still, I am going to get a full stress test by my local GP when I get home in early July. Just to check if it “was a warning shot across my bow” as one doctor put it. I do have faith in God’s goodness, but I am also a pragmatist and believe sound information is very important in decision-making.
On the positive side though, I felt to trust the Lord, not fight anything, and make the most of the rest. Turned out I hadn’t realised how tired I was – slept 13 hours straight the night spent in the Cardiac ward. I felt much fresher going to Africa.
It’s good to know God in a time like I have had. [Psa 84:5-7] jumped out and blessed me (thank God for Gideons – I had nothing with me, expecting a quick trip in and out). Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. My heart was already on pilgrimage in Zimbabwe and I didn’t intend to leave it in Gosford Hospital!….
Please pray for us as we are in Zimbabwe especially. I am not well yet (breathing problems are not over). Seems like what I call a “typical Zimbabwean attack”…. Mwari akuropa fadzwe! (God bless you, in Shona). At least I did get uninterrupted time in hospital to brush up on some Shona… Regards from Brian
Yet another quite amazing mini-miracle took place at Sydney Airport. In fact, it was quite weird… We were in the long queue for several Qantas flights, when all of a sudden an official came up to us (and only us) and said, “go over there to the other row of check-ins”. It was the USA row opposite and with few queued up. When we approached the counter with our four enormous overweight suitcases (mostly full of stuff for the Relief ministry), the check-in operator said, “you shouldn’t be here; you should be over there with all those people”… I explained we were doing what we were told and she booked all the luggage through without raising an eyebrow (the significance of the USA counter is you get 64kgs each if you fly through the USA on your global fare – coz Americans don’t know how to travel light!). It was again (seriously) like an angel leading our steps (in fact, I went and read Acts again as a result of this!).
We had a flight jam-packed in cattle class. Talk about no room at the inn… Got to the overnight stop with few glitches, although Joburg airport swarms with touts, thieves, and beggars. Then, on to Harare airport where the church letter we had composed to accompany everything saved us from duty and inspection. Mind you, it took three customs officials discussing it (beginning with one who kept asking about what everything we were bringing in was worth). Prayer from home and on the spot made the difference. We have heard some horror stories of demands for duty on all kinds of stuff being brought in.
So,
we are now settled into another three weeks of travel, teaching, catching up
with people, trying to be relevant in a country where the needs are
overpowering. Our trip to Gweru was "interesting" in an African
sort of way... We towed an old bomb car for 300km unregistered, etc, etc.
The man involved was a Lifeline student and commented later to us the township
was not used to seeing varungu (white men) help a local (black) man push a car!
Similarly, Loxley takes his tool kit everywhere (and Brian his book and shoe
healing ministry) and this speaks volumes about having a mushandi (servant)
spirit.
We are in a “breakfast” break here in Gweru at 11am! The sun is shining – it’s been windy and cold in Gweru – but today is a lovely day. We are in the third day of 8am to 4.30pm sessions. Because the location is so much better than when Craig and Michelle were here, the students can get here and go home much more easily. We have accommodation on site, even our own bathroom – in the Lutheran ministry complex – it is very clean, basic but functional, and used for all kinds of training – computers, home economics etc, for young women, as well as some small conferences taking place. The management have been very kind to us and the food has been excellent! It is so good having accommodation on site where we can go and retire to bed early and sleep well. You operate here by the sun hours rather than our kind of timeframe.
Since
driving down the 300k from Harare, we have been in good health, thank the Lord.
It has been one week since we left Sydney, and Brian's health has continued to
improve daily. There have been absolutely no signs of any heart issues,
and his breathing is getting stronger. The strain of 6 hours a day
speaking, and some local church ministry has showed a little bit, but nothing
common sense (as in, Elizabeth’s warnings) can’t control!
The
course is going really, really well. Such a hungry group of pastors and
developing leaders – from 8 different churches. Brian used his Gen 37
lollies for 11 sons and chocolate for Joseph illustration today to great effect
while teaching on God’s grace. Africans love straight-forward humour and
get the message clearly. And yeah! Brian "donated" many of
his old ties to the students. They loved them! And were believing
they would pick up the "Brian anointing" as one said!!!
But why they insist on dressing like Europeans is beyond us….
This update comes from ‘Youngways Guest House’, Bulawayo where Brian and I have been staying since we drove here last Saturday from Gweru. Loxley has remained in Gweru, without a vehicle, to continue teaching the group there. Brian and I are very grateful for this accommodation. It’s a rambling old house, run as a base for people involved in Christian ministry; it’s in need of major repairs, but clean, inexpensive, and we have the use of a large kitchen with all the basic necessities. Our hosts are a retired American couple who are most gracious and helpful. Brian even found a guava tree laden with fruit which he cooked up and chilled so we can add it to our dessert and porridge…
Now that I’ve worked out that $Z500=12c, $Z4000=$A1, $Z10,000=$A2.50 etc, I’ve been able to not only buy our own food, but supplies for the students here, from money given by some of our church folks for this specific purpose. They are always short of food.
The
Lifeline teaching programme here has drawn students from as far away as Hwange
(350kms), mostly in their early twenties and as many women as men. This
group has some catching-up to do so classes begin at 9 and finish at 9 (with
breaks, of course). They are very long days, but Brian's voice is holding
up, and his health is improving every day. Credit for this goes to our
Great Physician and your prayerful support. This class is being held in a
nearby church facility, and the students have accommodation and cooking
facilities next door in a hospice. We need you to pray for their
accommodation in the next programme as the hospice facilities will not be
available.
Yesterday, we caught up with Wadzanai (Moses Koroka’s wife) who will graduate as a registered nurse this December. She continues to follow the Lord and it was a real pleasure to see her again. Later, we had dinner with a family at Nyamandlovu who previously gave accommodation to both Loxley and Brian. They are facing a severe personal crisis and it seemed God sent us there ‘for such a time as this’. We were able to share our faith in Christ and pray for them for a way forward (they are not practising believers).
The classes here will conclude Wednesday night and after Brian ferries them into town (no-one has transport) on Thursday, we will return to Gweru (only a couple of hours away) with George and Cosmos for the Lifeline network leaders’ get-together discussing the future direction of Lifeline. Next Monday, on our way back to Harare, Loxley, Brian and I will detour to see Martha Zulu and her family, and pass on the last of the gifts our church collected for Peter Zulu’s family after his death.
There is an amazing amount of Christian activity in this country but as one leader described it, “It is 200 miles wide but only 6 inches deep.” With 3800 being buried each week with AIDS, the message has yet to ‘take hold’. There is a vast gap between the widespread public profession of Christ and the private practice of so many; this goes with a great shallowness of understanding and respect for the Scriptures in many movements here.
Brian has been conducting his alternative “healing ministry” again – fixing broken shoes with our ever-trusty ShoeGoo, and binding up the broken hearted – ah – broken books with our specially bought book tape…. They are so appreciative. The condition of some of the footwear would appal you….
We were up at 4am this morning. It's strange how you sleep different patterns from home. We have just completed our Lifeline leadership conference back in Gweru and head out later this morning for Chinhoyi. Politically, things have really quietened down across the country with the population going about their daily life as per usual. Fuel and food are more available (unlike the crisis situation we encountered last year) but inflation at 600% staggers your mind when you try to comprehend the effect on the ordinary people here. It’s awful. Men who work away from home are facing paying 2 to 4 weeks wages just for the bus fare to get home and see their family…. Stack that up alongside the AIDS stats and you get the picture….
We
have just arrived back in Harare after 2 weeks away in areas where (apart from
one night in Gweru) email access has been really limited. Today we left
Gweru at 8am, after finishing our leadership time for Lifeline last night.
It was a profitable time and it was clear that the Holy Spirit was guiding us
forward, albeit slowly…. So today we drove Peter Banda (the pastor off
the farm that Joy and I went to in Dec, with the converts from the re-settlers)
back to Chinhoyi (nearly 300km). Peter and his family were driven out of
their home and land two weeks after we were with them last December. In
Chinhoyi, we met the senior elder of their church network there and spent time
with him, then with Peter’s family for an hour. He has a delightful
daughter named Faith. She took a shine to Elizabeth 2 years ago and still
remembered her (she’s only 6!). She is a remarkably gifted child, and
complained to her father lately that her 18 and 15 y/o brothers "don’t
give her enough respect!"
Then we drove 25 km to visit the Zulu family in Kuwadzana (Banket, where Debbie Hudson stayed in 2001 and Joy Doughty last year). They were not expecting us, but praise God, the whole family were home and we were able to catch up with all of them in one visit! We had hoped to stay overnight and catch up with their church before catching a local bus the 100km back to Harare, but because all the family were home (some live in Harare) we did not ask. We passed on the rest of the special offering given by members of our church at home to Martha and she was touched. She seemed incredibly serene considering it's only three months since her husband died. This kind of loss is surely THE test of whether we have real faith in the God of the resurrection or not... And the family is shining!
Then we drove the 100k back to Harare, stopping to visit Alan and Dorothy Graham, who are the Directors of a very effective children’s ministry called Child Evangelism Fellowship. They are friends of Fords and we have met before; they are also friends of the Bowlers and oversee a youth bible club program which has over 23,000 young people and children attending in Harare alone! Wow! They hope to come to Aussie some time.
Thank the Lord for so many praying for us. It has been noticeable. In fact, on this trip we have been obviously carried along by God’s protective grace and care in so many ways. Even in what appears trivial… So many things go wrong here. It never stops. Arrangements don’t work out; organisation goes down, and you have to learn to roll with it or you go crazy with exasperation. For instance, in Gweru Brian broke a pane of glass in a door through jamming it. No worries in Australia, but here – this can be major drama – especially when they see you are a white foreigner with foreign exchange! So when we reported it to the management of the Lutheran complex the course has been in, they got back to us with a quote for $Z412,000! That’s $A103! A ridiculous price here. As we were deliberating about what to do, another local pastor walked into our leadership conference who has all kinds of building expertise, and he immediately gave Loxley advice where we could pick up the glass ourselves at the best price and get the glazier to fit it. It was Friday afternoon (many places close Fridays about 3pm for some reason in Gweru) and it was past time. But an hour later, we had the glass and the total price had dropped from $Z412,000 to $Z40,000 ($A10)!!! That's 900% reduction! I said the pastor quite seriously, “you were sent by God!” That's what we mean by mini-miracles here. The timing occurs so often you almost get blasé about it. Life is full of such niggling irritations here and you have to “stay focused”…
Currency exchange, etc, has freed up. You can swap forex at any bank after years of parallel market operations. This means the exchange rates have all dropped as forex is less scarce. And fuel is more available. We rarely queued this trip. And the police have cracked down on carjackings (an imported problem from Sth Africa). This all helps things move forward.
This last update is being typed at Joburg airport during a 4-hour layover before our overnight flight to London. All in all, we will spend a week in the UK in contact with various Lifeliners, beginning by driving the 100k to Margate from Heathrow to spend time with Ron and Dorothy Davies, Founders of the ministry 30 years ago in Southern Africa. Brian has just finished updating the Lifeline website to include Ron and Loxley’s very interesting History of Lifeline Ministries Southern Africa.
Oh yeah, and we did find a couple of decent coffee shops! (and a lot that were still the same….). No bush, no animals this time. We reserve that nowadays for when we take someone for the first time.
On a personal note, as we close this Trip Update, we praise God for the sustained good health we (Brian and Elizabeth) have enjoyed this visit - especially considering the issues Brian faced at the start of the trip (see Update #1). Brian's Shona lessons came on quite a ways too! So, Mwari akuropa fadze (God bless you) as you read this and pray for the ministry and personnel of Lifeline Ministries Southern Africa!
We arrived safely in Harare and have a miracle to report! Our and your prayers have been answered for the safe passage of us and the 20 Bibles and other resources we brought over to give away. We were able to bring in the Bibles without any excess luggage fees as our (Craig and Michelle) around-the-world tickets allow us 64 kilos each!
But an even bigger miracle is to be reported. Harare is a lovely new airport with hardly any air traffic. When we arrived we were out on the footpath within 15 minutes of landing. Usually when people arrive most bags are opened and inspected to see if you are bringing in goods to be sold. We have been concerned that the 20 bibles might be charged a large duty on them, even though we put stickers on them marked, "This bible is a gift from Holroyd New Life Church. It is for free distribution to LifeLine students and is not to be sold".
Well when we were standing by the luggage carousel (for all of 3 minutes) an airport worker walked past who looked like he was on his way home (had his jumper over his shoulder). Brian greeted him in Shona and he stopped (he was surprised that Brian knew the language (after he saw us come through the foreigners' gate), and would even bother to greet him - perhaps because he was black). He chatted with us for a while and we found out that he was a professing Christian. We shared why we were in Zimbabwe. Once we had our luggage, he wheeled one of the two trolleys and told us to follow him. He walked to the left of the customs section (which is a row of rooms waiting for bags to be searched). He said something in Shona to one of the officials and didn't even stop! We simply walked completely around customs!
He then left the area. We were stunned! It was like having an angel turn up (Heb 13 style!) - especially after the warnings about what might happen with possible duty on all the Bibles, etc Praise God! He had a plan in place for the safe passage of the bibles that we couldn't possibly foresee or plan ourselves!
We are in good health and spirits. We have had almost no jetlag (after no sleep on the 15 hour flight from Sydney to Joburg). We pray for you all daily and appreciate so much the fact that we know you are praying for us! You have no idea how much of a difference it is making already! God is sooooooooo good!!!!!
from Michelle. Today we went to church in Beira - never will I again complain that our meetings are long - this one was 4 ½ hours!!! The people here are so eager to have God in their lives and they don't care how long it takes. Here if they don't have God they have nothing, unlike us where we have a comfortable home with TV, one or two bathrooms, electricity, running water and all the things we consider essential like microwaves, washing machines and dishwashers. Nor do they have a medical centre any time let alone 24 hours a day.
Coming across the border from Zimbabwe into Mozambique yesterday was the biggest culture shock of my life! I thought Zimbabwe was poor but Mozambique is unbelievable. Thousands and millions of people live in mud huts with thatch roofs that lined the 'main' highway (which at some points had no tar) for 300 kilometres and then you reach the city which is just slums after slums. The best area (that we are staying in) is full of ancient apartment blocks that have no electricity or running water or sewerage service. These people are so in need of God.
The
hardest part so far was visiting an orphanage. It became an orphanage simply because 32 children were dumped
at the door of a pastor in his late 50's (mostly AIDS orphans).
Brian and Elizabeth visited last year and left money for the roof to be
finished. So, yesterday we saw the
building. Simple concrete with an
asbestos roof. No lights or
plumbing. The girls' dorm was just
concrete floors with old broken thin straw mats on the floors for sleeping.
That's it! We could do so
much to help, but at times it seems overwhelming.
I could not handle seeing this orphanage - it is much worse than anything
I have ever seen on a World Vision Child Sponsorship TV ad.
Thank you for your prayers for us. We
have all been kept in good health and spirits.
Craig and Michelle are really fitting in exceptionally well and coping with Mozambique very well. Visiting Daniel and the orphans was too much for her and she left weeping. That is so good to see… Daniel has the roof on and the floor concreted in one room as a girls' dormitory. The scene would soften the hardest heart.
There are 20 Methodists staying at the Base too, from Seattle, building the roof on a church building. The place is overflowing with people, good coffee and all the food you could wish for in the US of A!! We covet their mountains of food as we chomp on our stale bread and jam (with ¼ an omelette) for breakfast… (is this "lust"???). The Base ran out of water yesterday (Tuesday), but after a little chat from Comrade Loxley the Americans were much more conservative today in water use and we coped OK. The water runs in the city after about 5.30pm every night, but not during the day. These folks are very amenable and don't grumble. They asked Loxley to speak for an hour last night about the Base here, even though it is no longer a Lifeline property. Anacleto is doing a good job with it, and the photos will surprise you (if you have read previous reports) how much he has done in renovations.
We had a great time with over 20 pastors here for two days. It was very animated and quite a few were men I recognised from previous visits. Some asked if we will return next year and do some more extensive teaching. Guillherme is still looking ill; his wife was here with their new baby (she was pregnant when the last one died).
We are in good health although Craig has had one of those "Mozambique" health problems. We rebuked it tonight as he is in constant pain in his foot…. And today as I touched on some elements of spiritual warfare, etc, the birds Anacleto has here now (chooks, roosters, guinea fowl, turkeys) all went ballistic! It was so distracting that we called everyone to prayer - and they shut up. So, please keep everyone praying for us constantly; we do really value it. That's not a spin-doctor report either, as you well know.
We
bought 20 NIV Study Bibles with us sponsored by members of our church.
They are expensive enough at home, but here they are unattainable with the
crisis in foreign exchange shortages. Loxley Ford suggested they
would best be passed on the pastors and teachers of churches, rather than the
students, as they are chronically short of good quality resource books and
bibles. So, we formally gave one to Anacleto Ferrao in Beira, in front of
his (growing) congregation.
We have met many wonderful people already on this trip from diverse backgrounds. What a marvellous Body Christ has put together without human help or engineering! On Monday and Tuesday, I did a two-day intensive training time with local leaders. We had a marvellous time with the 20+ pastors and leaders who attended. A group of pastors came back for a third morning to talk about current issues affecting them, so we sat out the front of the Base by the seawall (see right-hand photo).
But,
the most rewarding moment was earlier this evening when a man called Antonio
came to see us at the Base. On Sunday, we prayed for many, many people for
sicknesses. This man asked us to pray for his 11 y/o daughter who was
seriously ill with cerebral malaria (it kills people here). We did so in
faith, and he came today to say she had been miraculously raised up, fully
recovered! She is now eating, her strength has returned, the signs of
malaria gone! He said in broken English, "I do not want to be like
the nine lepers, but like the one who returned to give thanks for the prayers
and give glory to God". Loxley and I knelt on our knees with him,
hands raised in adoration of a caring Saviour who cares for the helpless and
makes them whole…. All I could think of later was how we can see these
kind of REAL miracles multiply to see more needs met, and Joy Doughty's words
came back to me again, "being truly humble is passing on to God all praise
untouched".
[24/7] We are sending this from Harare after a safe trip back today. As a reminder that this is Africa… Tonight we saw a car parked in the dark on our side of the road half across our lane (just missed it); then a cyclist being dragged off the roadway in the dark after he had been knocked off his bike (no idea how badly injured he was), and then 3 youths rob a woman of several things at a Harare corner and run off into an alley… All within 30 minutes of coming into Harare suburbs…..
The
descent of Zimbabwe into 80% unemployment has meant growing numbers of homeless
in the cities and towns. The photo on the left is not a Christmas tree,
but a collection of plastic bottles for recycling in a homeless camp near the
Lifeline base in Harare. And on the right - the Mozambique way of AIDS
awareness. You don't need any words to see the universal humour and
message…
We have added photos of Joshua and James on the Personnel page. They work out from The Harare Lifeline office marking and mailing the Correspondence study series mailed in from around the country (averaging 1100/mth at present). It is nearly 30 years since Ron Davies began this initial Lifeline ministry, and it is still a valuable part of the vision all these years later - one our church wholeheartedly supports.
Once you get out of the main cities, email is lousy. Heck! It took me half and hour just to find the Swans had knocked off Fremantle (first things first!)…. Since Update #1, we have been in Gweru in the Midlands for a week of the Lifeline Ministry Training Program with a mixture of pastors and developing leaders. Mkoba Townships 1 to 20 (now that's an original way to name suburbs...) are 10km from Gweru. What hits you (we are the only murungus (white people) in this high-density township area of about 20,000) is the number of fresh gravesites in the cemetery! Incredible! Figures released last week said average life expectancy for a male Zimbabwean is now 40, and a female - 30!!! Can you believe that??
We taught every day from 9 till 5. We have a marvellous bunch of students here again. Both Josephs and Addmore are back. One pastor left home at 3am to get here, another travelled overnight… The level of uncomplaining hardship amazes Craig and Michelle (and me too even after seeing so much of it).
The banks have run out of cash and this is making it hard for us too, as we have between us a total of about $A10…. Every morning the queues are 100m+ at the ATM's, and they get $Z5000 each ($A3)!! The largest Zimbabwe note is now worth $A30c (after 400% inflation this year!). We are keeping our $US cash until Victoria Falls. The level of kindness we have experienced here repeatedly has amazed us. We are staying in Gweru in a lovely comfortable home while the owners are in Australia doing fund raising for their ministry. We have seen God's hand here for sure.
People are very friendly and there is no sense of danger to us. Craig and Michelle love walking around - it's much safer than Sydney!. We go for our prayer walk at 7am before breakfast. It is very high here and cold in the mornings, and this morning it is very windy too. Gweru has been quite a lovely rural city that has run down badly. I am finishing this at the end of our third day of ministry here. They are a great bunch and on the dirt floor with all our stuff dust-covered, we are still having a wonderful time. The pastor's daughter (18) was baptised in the Holy Spirit today. She is so hungry for God - and gifted too! Michelle has taken up where Elizabeth left off last year with Ruth. She is so keen to learn and grow.
Michelle adds: In Gweru most students were pastors of churches (some small home churches, some larger churches). I had many opportunities to get to know the four women, Molly, Eilet, Felicia and Ruth, quite well. They are each facing unique difficulties and challenges and are each reaching out to God to see Him break through in their circumstances. Take Eilet, for example. She is a widow of just a few years who has become a Christian recently. As is the custom here, her dead husband's family wanted one of his brothers to marry her so they would have access to the estate. She refused, so the in laws organised for a nyanga (witch-doctor) to put a curse on her and her family. The result was that her youngest child (around 2 years old) became blind and limp. When we met her last week the child had been like this for some months. We applied the word of God, teaching her the power she has as a child of God to stand against the enemy in the name of Jesus. We then stood with her and prayed with her and for her. Two days later I spoke at a combined home group and Eilet was there with her little boy - he was running around playing on the ground with the other children with his eyes open! I can now truly say I have seen the eyes of the blind opened through the power of God! AMEN!!!!!
Brian adds: This made us very conscious of Jesus' words in Luke 10:17-21 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
We travelled to Bulawayo this morning and are settling into the Lifeline Ministry Training Program here for the next week. A Christian farmer built a school/hall/church building here (25 km from town), and Craig and Michelle are staying with him and his dear wife. He is now President of Zimbabwe Gideons and is interested in what Michelle is doing at home in our High Schools. But, Loxley and I had nowhere to stay. Once again, at the 10th hour, God supplied, and a neighbouring farmer (not a Christian) offered his overflow accommodation to us. And it is only 10 minutes walk from the hall! Thank the Lord! I met a farmer today who had been kicked off his farm and jailed last year. he is still distressed over what happened to his farm and all the workers and families kicked off the property.
So, folks, we hope this gives a balanced view of life here and the ministry of Lifeline on the ground. Loxley is turning 66, yet he is still happy to sleep in the most basic of quarters, in rough areas that others would maybe fear for their safety. That's what happens when you are doing what God has called you to - He supplies sufficient grace to do it! and be happy!
24/7/02 UPDATE #1 Hello from beautiful, fragrant Beira, Mozambique, where you hope the wind stays on shore….! (you have to be here to understand why). We hope the canvas of life here comes across sharp and fresh as you read this!
We flew into Zimbabwe via Joburg (none flies direct now), then up to Harare where Lifeline, the relief and missions agency our church has worked with for 20 years is based. We had a very beneficial recovery time the last 4 days here in Harare before we left for three weeks of Doulos training courses and travelling between the various places. Our health is good (no food poisoning this time!), the weather is wonderful, and we had a great time catching up with the Lifeline directors, Loxley and Mavis Ford. Brian spent a long time with Edmore, one of the Lifeline Zimbabwean leaders. It is the first time we had seen him since his terrible car accident. He is recovering slowly. He lost almost all of his right hand, and the prosthesis is more cosmetic rather than functional for gripping things. He has had to learn to write left-handed, and can't drive because the whole of his right hand and palm is gone apart from his thumb.
Elizabeth has been out walking and talking with Mavis Ford, the wife of the Sthn Africa Lifeline Director (Loxley Ford). Good cappuccinos are hard to come by here, but they walk anyway! Life in Africa - last year all the street signs had been stolen for aluminium cooking utensils! Now they are putting up plastic ones… A few weeks ago thieves cut down all the phone wires in the street where the Harare base is and carried them off! But when the phone went down again, the fault was at the Exchange (again). We take so much for granted in Oz. Life here is not as dangerous as our media makes out (unless you're a farmer, then it's very tense)…
Oh yes, by the way, the Lifeline truck now sports a big Sydney Swans Aussie Rules sticker on its back window!
We crossed the border late afternoon Sunday after the 300 km drive from Harare. Then another two hours down to Gondola, the town known for its enormous graveyard of rusting old steam railway engines. It's an amazing sight! We walked among them last night and Loxley was a boy with lots of large, very large, toys!
This is the first Doulos course here and is being put on with the sponsorship of a pastor who has lived here since before the Portuguese fled in 1975 and the 17 year-long civil war erupted. He is such an interesting man to listen to. He bought his house, then the Communists took it off him and he has been renting it for about 25 years! Now they have offered to sell it back to him again. The catch has been if you do any repairs, upkeep, etc, they want more money for it. And the Communists have done no repairs, as landlords themselves, in the past 25 years. So, you can imagine the state of the houses. They are unbelievable. Loxley arranged for three light globes and wires to be hung off the roof so they could see at night. The state of decay everywhere is far worse than Beira. It overwhelms you. The sights, the stench. At lunch, a dog, a cat, and then a goat wandered past our table in the dining room. The water supply broke down for the whole town. That was only five years ago and they are going to fix it real soon now…. So, you use borehole water, hand pump it up and then bucket it into the house….
We are staying at Maforga orphanage just up the road (run by an ex-pat Aussie and his wife). It has about 150 people living in the bush with all sorts of projects going. They are out of money so breakfast consists of bread, honey or jam (no margarine today), and tea. And that's it. The civil war went through here several times and the orphanage leaders were kidnapped by Renamo in the late 1980's and force-marched for many weeks across Mozambique. It's quite an amazing story, as the guerrilla leader became a committed Christian as a result of this and is now one of the head foremen at Maforga!
Our course went well. The power was off after a hailstorm the night before, but no worries, it came on mid-afternoon. The public toilets next to the church are a sight all ladies would die for… The men's long drop (hole in the floor) is at least on top of the ground, because the ladies has sunk into the cesspit over the years and is now 1.5 metres sunk into the ground! Elizabeth wouldn't go near it! Next to them, an old leper who has only stumps where his hands (wrists only now) and feet (ankles gone) once were, makes a living shaping and selling leftover timber. His name is Thomas, and the owners of Maforga built him a small one-room cottage years ago and he has become a local identity. There are cripples and maimed people everywhere. John Moyo tells us landmines still go off and maim people. It is all we can do to cope emotionally. The need is so vast and we are so small. But at least we have had the opportunity to minister to some 40 local leaders who can do something longterm for the needy there.
Today (Wed), we set out for Beira (3 hours drive away, where we do another two full days Thursday and Friday, before the long drive back to Harare Saturday. On the way down, we stopped to see an old friend from previous visits. Daniel Caetana. He and his wife have pastored in Nyamatanda, 100km inland from Beira for 30 years. On our previous visits, he has caught the shaperzays (jam-packed old bomb minibuses) down and back daily for the seminars. He's our age, speaks excellent English, and has a keen sense of humour. Today, he had some extra houseguests living with him - over 30 orphans! They started caring for a few orphans a while ago as the AIDS epidemic spread, then people started dropping unwanted, and/or single parent children at his door. He has started building an orphanage on his property, but ran out of money before the roof went on. The building will house over 40 children, but in the meantime, they are using their entire house to sleep the orphans on the floor at night! Heck! And this man is 56! I tried to put myself in his shoes, and I couldn't. Talk about putting your faith into action! They have the cement roofing but no rafters yet. About the cost of a night out for four in a Sydney restaurant would cover it….
We have been quite overwhelmed being here - more so than Beira ever has hit us, and that was hard enough. Please, folks, don't ever complain about your lot in life or else we will bring you here, and believe us, you will never complain again! About anything!
We hope this doesn't sound too preachy, or too much like a travelogue, or like a bleeding-heart guilt-tripper. But, we sure hope your heart is touched by what we send. Hakuna wah kaita sa Jesu! Regards from the Rensfords (Brian and Elizabeth).
1/8/02 UPDATE #2 Since our previous Update, we have been travelling, teaching, and experiencing life in most unusual circumstances… This trip is very different from our previous visits. But, there is only so much we can openly relay...
We drove south from Harare to Gweru, a cold, windswept, rural city in the middle of Zimbabwe. There we conducted our third Doulos program with a small group of local pastors in a high-density residential area. It was like no other location! The roof was half-built, the floors were dirt, there was no glass in any window so they were covered with tarpaulins and sheets of rusty corrugated iron, and the back wall was made of hessian cloth. There was no power, but we did have a blackboard! Yeah, but no proper seats, just bits of wood and iron tied together.
 Gweru Doulos site! dirt floors, |
 iron windows.. latest chairs, |
 and no back wall. It was rough! |
Yet, the men were terrific to relate to! We loved spending time with them. They had very able minds and we got into many deep and serious discussions. And we went with them to two house meetings; one was in a tiny two-room shack where the wife had given her life to Christ a month ago. People were jammed in the lounge / dining / kitchen room (3m x 3m). The next night was in another part of the township (it has 20 village areas called Mkoba 1 to 20!), and we got lost in the rabbit warren of small roads! The house there was very well appointed and much larger. We have had a far greater liberty in praying for the sick and oppressed and have seen God do some wonderful things. The pastors relayed back later several reports of healing and release - including the best one of all - a very old 80 y/o mama who was greatly touched by God as we ministered to her.
This is an area we were concerned about before we came - to add actions to the teaching and instruction side of what we are involved in. We have seen God's provision, demonic agitation, many sick people reaching out and being ministered to (especially babies and children), and you can't help but be moved by the need. There are few medical resources available to ordinary folks here. So, they reach out to Jesus just like the people in Galilee 2000 years ago.
The queue for mealie (the staple diet) was a km long at the food market yesterday. It breaks your heart. The nation is not really in a bad drought; it is a distribution issue, and now there are no stored grains left. Diesel is plentiful though.
Thursday, we drove further south to an area near Bulawayo. The farmer who so kindly hosted us is under standby eviction orders and is supposed to be off the land by Aug 10. We have walked into the middle of a most stressed time, as they are older folks and have farmed here for over 40 years and are now waiting to see what happens after D-Day. All their possessions are being catalogued. Some of their personal house staff has taken off (we think, in fear). There are 300 local people living on the property. The farmer is a very committed Christian and has built a large well-appointed church and school facility nearby. We have power there and toilets that work properly! (long drops of course; they are Blair toilets - and if you know Africa - Mr Blair (no, not Tony!) was a British engineer who invented an odour-free air-circulating long drop dunny! Thank God for Mr Blair! Elizabeth loves him (especially after Mozambique!)….
Our host has a very large and stately home with a ferocious boer-bull guard dog that prevents us from strolling in the well-appointed gardens! So, we walked around the farm this morning, with good old Brian greeting the locals (Ndebele tribe) with "lichoneelee", and getting smiles but puzzled looks. And then discovering he's saying "good afternoon / evening" to people at 7am!!! The house is like something out of Sunset Boulevarde; what a change from Gweru! And the tents we will be sleeping in at Binga in the bush in two weeks! So, we are making the most of their kindness and hospitality until we leave in another two days.
8/8/02 UPDATE #3 Hello again from Harare. Elizabeth and I have just returned from Chinhoyi, 120km north of here, where we finished the fifth Doulos course at 4 this afternoon. We have kept excellent health this trip; thank the Lord, and are very appreciative to everyone who has been praying for us. We walk and pray every day, and have really enjoyed this time. It's been quite exhausting as we are near the end of a three-week series of five programs with a lot of travelling between them. We have had no rest days at all; it's been either travel and / or teaching long hours. But, the Holy Spirit has carried us along.
This trip, we have been crying out to God for more effectiveness in ministry fulfilment of the principles taught. And God has been breaking through. We have seen more healings and people stepping out in prophecy for the first time. In the last Doulos course in Chinhoyi, there are 10 students living in for 2 weeks, and we (wrongly) assumed they were all baptised in the Holy Spirit. Last night, we had six baptised in the Holy Spirit, with release in tongues. And then some in prophecy and one in a (very biblical) vision too. On the coming weekend, we are back at Banket at the annual Heroes' Long Weekend farm convention for all the farm churches in the area. They get between 1500 - 6000 come. This is the one that last year got canned because of the troubles, and we were moved into the township for safety reasons. But things have settled down a lot (despite what the foreign media may say), and they are all looking forward to gathering on a Christian farmer's property. This godly man provides a large meeting area and accommodation huts for everyone. Amazing.
Today is the day all the farmers are supposed to be off their properties, but a lot are staying put, many with the quiet approval of local authorities. After the farm convention, we drive a long way the next day into the bush to take some seminars for rural church leaders near Lake Kariba. It's a bad malaria area, but at least the elephants are not raiding their crops this year (like last year when their leaders came down to Doulos!). We may even get to hunt kudu with Peter Zulu!!
To finish off…. What strikes us forcefully is the number of fresh graves everywhere in the public cemeteries. It's unbelievable, and really does bring the AIDS epidemic home in your face. This is very different from good old Aussie…
