Overdue Update

Maida,T, Klaas, and Sko during a sunrise hike at Nhowe

 As we have discovered, being a missionary means that there is always work to do.  This post has been written and rewritten several times.  It seems like there are just not enough hours in the day.  Internet data is a challenge, too, so we apologize for the lack in postings.  I actually had a post all ready to go a week ago, but it accidentally got deleted and it’s been hard to find the time to rewrite.

Nhowe kids smiling through the new basketball hoops Erik hung.

Kids in Harare

When I first wrote the original draft of this post, we were in the middle of a power outage.  As I wrote, I reflected on the situation we were in with no electricity.  The orphanage (the “hostel”) was in the middle of a five day power outage and almost near a “water crisis” because of it.  I often think about friends and family back in the States who have been without electricity for a period of time and how detrimental they feel it is.  Perspective is funny.  Here, people can go WEEKS without power – and that’s completely NORMAL – daily life continues on as it normally would.

Shopping downtown Harare with Simba. This sweet lady
showed me how to tie him on my back!

A couple Saturdays ago, we attended a farmers market in Marondera (a bigger city about an hour from our home).  We gained a whole new perspective there as we gathered stories from locals.  As much as I love my little Nhowe community, I also love getting out and exploring the rest of the country.  It is so valuable to reach out and get to know others.  We have made many connections throughout this country and it’s been a blessing to hear of life that is so different than I will ever know or completely understand.

With Restoration Hem

A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of hosting an amazing group of people in our home.  Restoration Hem found us through Facebook connections and contacted us when they found out that we were here at the same time they were here.  I was so inspired by their stories of how they ended up serving in Zimbabwe and I was especially intrigued by their mission here.  It’s so wonderful to see people changing this world for the better.  Restoration Hem brought their business model and products to the Nhowe Mission School and we’re hopeful that through the connection, we will be able to get help for Nhowe girls very soon.

4th of July party

All the American kids living in Zimbabwe

We spent the majority of the 4th of July sitting in the immigration office.  We prayerfully attempted renewing our visas and despite how difficult it can be to renew, our family was approved to stay here for another month, at least!  4th of July festivities weren’t skipped, however, as our family was invited to attend a 4th of July party at the US Embassy on the 8th of July!  We made many new connections there while we had a potluck-style picnic with many other Americans living here in Zimbabwe.  It was so inspiring to meet other people who have given up the American lifestyle to live here and serve others.  I was surprised to see so many families with kids here, too!

With the group from Connecticut: Patrick, Shannon, Haylie, Diane, Carl and Linda

Butchering live chickens at our house potluck for the elders,
deacons, and their families!

Our 1st goodbye to the Connecticut group!

Cleaning out hospital storages.  We made $2,000 for the hospital.

Our last week has been spent hosting a group from the Manchester Church of Christ, which is located in Connecticut.  We got a ton accomplished while they were here and it was so nice to have company!  The group was able to give tons of encouragement to various groups at Nhowe.  They held question and answer sessions with the upper school boys and girls, they spent time with the orphans, visited patients in the hospital, attended a funeral for an elder’s father, held several devotionals, delivered gifts from the States, and helped Erik and I clean out our last storage area.  It was so nice to have help and I enjoyed having someone to have coffee with several times a day!  We first dropped the Connecticut group off at the airport to fly home on Friday, but their flight time had been moved up without notification, so they had missed their flight.  After lots of negotiating and planning, they were able to get a flight out first thing on Saturday.  So, we enjoyed one more night with the group in Harare where we got family-style Chinese food!

Mukuvisi Wildlife and Environment Centre

We saw so many African animals on our ride!

Erik and the kids and I took the weekend off to do a little traveling.  We spent Saturday exploring in Harare.  We found a peaceful little environment education center in the middle of the city where we went on a horseback safari!  Maida was especially happy about the horseback ride and now all we hear is all about her horse Shine and how she reeeeeeally wants a horse when we get back to the States.  On Sunday we headed to Chinhoyi where Erik preached for the church there.  We also were able to meet up with Restoration Hem to go through the Chinhoyi Caves.  It was so beautiful!  It was a refreshing weekend away.  Our trip home was eventful, as always.  We decided to take the scenic route home to see other parts of Zimbabwe.  It was all fine and dandy until we almost ran out of gas.  As we drove down the road with the empty warning light on, we would stop to ask a local walking down the road where the next service station was and it seemed like they all told us to go about "six more kilometers" up the road!  Ha!  We eventually found the gas station, but couldn’t fill up all the way because the “swipe” wasn’t working, so we couldn’t use our credit card.  Cash is really hard to get here.  Even when people have a ton of money in the bank, they still can only take out a certain amount every day.  So we are conserving our cash as much as possible.  We put a few dollars of gas in the car, but down the road when we needed gas again, there was no gas station.  Long story short, after stopping at several gas stations that wouldn’t take a swipe (and only running on fumes), we finally found a station where Erik recalled gassing up a few days earlier where he used a card.  The only problem: the gas station was closed!  There were workers inside, though, so Erik knocked on the door.  He explained our situation and they reopened the gas station just for us so that we could make it home.  (They were apparently supposed to stay open for another 3 hours, but they closed and shut off the lights because they were suspicious of robbers just before we arrived...)  People here in Zimbabwe are so nice.  I have never met more genuinely nice people and because of them, our time here in Zimbabwe has been so wonderful.

With Nhowe kids on their lunch break

We’re back at Nhowe today and back to somewhat of a normal life.  Erik has been at the hospital all day and the kids and I have been catching up on laundry and cleaning.  Maida and Skogen took a break from homeschool to learn knitting! The Manchester Church of Christ sent over knitting needles and yarn!  It has kept them busy most of the day.  Skogen is now teaching Klaasen as I write.  Life here is so different, yet so blessed.  I cannot imagine not being here and doing this.  I feel like the luckiest family in the world!

Erik purchased heaters for all the wards!  This was much
needed as it sometimes gets to 30 degrees here at night.

Thank you to everyone who has sent support.  We recently got word that taking all the expected monthly financial contributions into consideration; we have reached our financial goal for this trip!  We couldn’t be more thankful for how you all have supported us on this journey – financially and prayerfully.  God is so good and we have seen His hand through everything here.  I almost feel as if it’s a bit unfair, though, because I get to be here, experiencing this all firsthand!  I wish you all could join us, too.  The invitation is open!  God-willing, we will be able to complete our time here, and plan to head home at the end of October.

Visiting Restoration Hem's office while in Chinhoyi!

In our new Restoration Hem headbands!