Wow. Wow. Wow. The amount of work the Lord did this past week was absolutely incredible.
It was quite a crazy, stressful week, but oh, such a good week. I’m going to walk you through what a week in Zimbabwe has looked like for me.
At the beginning of Zimbabwe, I blogged about how ministry was slower this month due to the political situation, but it has now returned back to normal, praise the Lord.
Tuesday: You Have it In You Foundation, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; street advertising, 1 to 5 p.m.
Wednesday: Planning for the remainder of the week, 8 a.m. to noon; Youth for Christ scavenger hunt, 2 to 5 p.m.
Thursday: Time with Jesus, 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.; preparing for Beauty for Ashes, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; hospital and elderly ministry, 1:30 to 5 p.m.
Friday: You Have it In You Foundation, 9 to 11 a.m.; Beauty for Ashes, noon to 5 p.m.
Saturday: Youth for Christ in-depth graduation, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m; Auntie Sue’s sleepover
Sunday: Revival church visit; Townsend High School church visit; Youth for Christ birthday party
This was my past week. It was one of the best weeks on the race, and that is why I am sharing every detail with you because the amount of work God did this week is absolutely beyond my comprehension. It was an exhausting week but a week where you sit back after it’s over and say, “Thank you, Jesus.”
You Have it In You Foundation is a girls orphanage center that we have been visiting throughout our time in Zimbabwe. This foundation has 80-plus girls who come on a daily basis. The girls range anywhere from ages 6 to 18. While going there, we played games with the girls, sang songs, made drawings and spoke to them about relationships, seeking the Lord with all of their heart and their worth and value in Christ.
My favorite thing about this place was having the opportunity to sit down with the older girls and talk about struggles, temptations, their value, their worth, dating, etc. While being here, I realized that this is my passion. Sitting down and sharing my heart with teen girls has been such a blessing, and I’ve been able to see the Lord work through that in so many ways.
Each day visiting these girls, we did declarations. This is where we declare what the Lord says about each of us. We would go around the room, and these girls would declare, “I am a daughter of the one true King,” “I am chosen,” “I am loved.” It was a sweet sight to see and hear these girls declaring what the Lord says we are. These girls blessed me so much while being in Zimbabwe. They shared their hearts with us and invited us into their space. It was an anointed time with these special ladies.
On Tuesday, we also did street advertising. I went with one of my teammates named Courtney. This was one of my favorite afternoons. We set out for the streets of Bulawayo to advertise for our upcoming events. We talked to so many people. We heard stories and shared stories. We were intentional with every person we encountered.
After handing out 80 fliers, we continued to advertise without fliers because we were having so much fun. It was the first day that we had the opportunity to hit the streets of Bulawayo and do street ministry, and it was blessed.
On Wednesday, we hosted a scavenger hunt. Throughout this month, we have hosted several events for the youth at Youth for Christ. This was something that we wanted to do so badly with them, so we made it happen, and it was a great time.
After much planning and advertising, we had about 50 kids show up. We went out with the different teams, and it was a fun day as we raced around the town to earn points. My team won after a tiebreaker dance-off, so it was even better.
On Thursday, we went to Time with Jesus. We go to a private primary school every Thursday to put on this program for them. We play games, sing songs, speak to them about Jesus being our leader and then we send them off to school for the day.
Also on Thursdays, we do hospital ministry. These days broke my heart but were some of the best days where we got to see the Lord move in the lives of these sick people.
We visited two different hospitals in Zimbabwe. The Lord wrecked my world during these days, and many times, they were very overwhelming for me. My team was praying over people who had meningitis, people who were hit by cars and couldn’t speak or hear any longer, people who were famished, people who needed full and complete miracles and healing from the Lord, people who needed what only the Lord could do for them. We saw many heartbreaking situations, but the slight happiness that we were able to give to these people was worth every moment of us being there.
Friday was one of the sweetest days yet. My team and I hosted a Beauty for Ashes retreat for all women that focused on worth, value, forgiveness and community. We shared stories, they shared stories, the healing process was started in many girls and the Lord was working through forgiveness in these women. There is too much to say about this day, so I’m going to write a separate blog about Beauty for Ashes.
On Saturday, we attended a graduation for an in-depth program that Youth for Christ does for the youth. We got to fellowship and congratulate the kids who had finished this program. It is a huge accomplishment, so we celebrated all day.
On Saturday night, we had a sleepover at Auntie Sue’s, our African momma’s home. This is the first night that we have stayed in an actual home, so it was very refreshing. She cooked us dinner, we chatted all night long and we even got to watch some television for the first time in three months. It was a sweet time with our African momma.
On Sunday, we visited a church and then visited Townsend High School. Townsend High School is a boarding school for girls in the city of Bulawayo. We went there Sundays to perform a church service for them. These girls worshipped with their whole hearts with us, we danced, we sang as loud as we possibly could and we shared the word of God with them. I even got to share my heart with these ladies, and it was a God-anointed time with them.
On Sunday night, we went to the Youth for Christ birthday party. This night was one of the greatest on the race so far. We got to celebrate, eat lots of food, play games, dance around and enjoy the fellowship of one another.
This night was one of the sweetest but one of the hardest, as well, mostly because the reality of leaving is coming very quickly, and my heart is so sad as I’m leaving behind some of the greatest friends I’ve ever had. These people are my friends. These people are my family. Leaving them in a few short days is going to be nothing short of absolutely heartbreaking.
This last week was very busy, very exhausting, very tiring, but it was one of the best weeks and so ordained by the Lord. The Lord worked so incredibly throughout this week, and I am so excited to see how he continues to work in the people and lives that we have ministered to. Jesus, you are so good. Even when things get a little hectic.
Keia Blair is a Seymour native who attends Cincinnati Christian University. During her nine-month mission trip around the world, she is submitting a series of blogs that will appear in The Tribune. Send comments to [email protected].