Village Living

The boys with the hospital laundry staff as we were looking for projects around
the hospital. 

Now that we’ve settled, I have been trying to pinpoint exactly where the kids and I can be the most useful.  With the school, church, hospital, and orphanage all in need, I feel pulled in many different directions. We have found the mornings best for home-school and try to attend the hospital morning devotional once or twice a week with Erik. At tea time (10am), the kids and I head to the orphanage to see some of the students and spend time with the orphanage staff.  Our afternoons have been very inconsistent and in the midst of trying to come up with a good plan for our afternoons, I have come to realize that God has already been at work.

Fresh raw peanuts - YUM!  They
were given to me by the hospital
chaplain's wife after I taught the
Thursday women's worship.

The Nhowe school children get out of school at 2:30pm. Many times the children gather at our house after school to play.  It is still taking some time for me to get used to this whole village living.  The children here have no regard for boundaries or privacy.  It seems that everyone is welcome anywhere they want at any time they want.  Looking in others’ windows isn’t even viewed as a no-no.  I often feel like we have a lack of much-needed privacy and there are days when just feel like closing the curtains and hiding in our house.  It has been a learning experience as we learn to accept the village in and around our house at all hours of the day or night. It has been humbling for me as I have caught myself being selfish with our space or impatient with our time and had to openly admit my wrong and ask for God's guidance.

Torsten and his monster-sized grasshopper,
which made for a fun home-school day!

My children, on the other hand, are usually more than happy to have a neighborhood of playmates available whenever they want to play. Many of the older kids have taken time to show our kids around, teach them about snakes and other dangerous animals, insects, or plants, and have begun to teach them Shona!  It has been a blessing to see relationships build and I have especially loved watching Klaasen make friends.  He is finally in an environment where he can just be himself and he doesn’t have kids thinking he’s weird or adults making more rules for him because he's a little different.  It’s nice to see him “free” and happy.

It's also been a blessing for me to witness my children openly and freely ministering to their non-Christian friends.  Of course, that's the whole reason why we've come here, but it just seems to come so naturally for children.  I found it ironic last week as I felt pulled in many different directions of work here,

Video chatting with cousin Kinley and realized her toothless
smile matched Skogen's!

yet couldn't settle on just one place of focus, God was already at work through my kids and in the examples they were setting.  This was quite apparent to me on Sunday morning when three of Klaasen's friends showed up at church, all three around 6 years old.  They had come without their parents and were a bit hesitant to come in the door, but when they spotted us, they very happily came to sit with us. This week, another friend asked if he could join us at, too.

Erik and his translator, school chaplain, Farai

This last Sunday we traveled to Wedza (about two hours away) where Erik preached for a small congrecongregation there.  He had an inspiring lesson about being ambassadors for Christ!  It was an appropriate lesson for me to hear as I have recently been learning to share my space and time.  It was also a great reminder for our kids and for the Nhowe Football Club (FC).  Nhowe FC is a soccer team from the Nhowe Mission community that focuses on ministering and sharing Jesus with the other teams they play and some of their own players, as well.  I am so thankful for these soccer players and the examples they have been for our children.  This was the third game we have been a part of and it's great to see athletics used as a ministering tool and so wonderful to see so many ambassadors for Christ!

Worship at Wedza.

After church here in Zimbabwe at every congregation, everyone leaves the building,
gathers outside, and has one more prayer together.

The ladies of the Wedza congregation cooked us all lunch!  It was a traditional
Zimbabwean meal of sadza, tomato gravy, rice, and goat stomach wrapped in goat intestines.

Erik's sweet tan lines after the four hour worship service with no roof!

Everything else here in Zimbabwe seems to be going well.  We truly feel settled and at home here at Nhowe.  Erik is loving being at the hospital and being involved in the health care side of things.  He has also been teaching and preaching whenever he can!  He always says he's not a preacher, but his lessons are always so great and his words so appropriate.  He has such a gift of reaching out and touching others.  I am so thankful for this long-term opportunity to serve here in Zimbabwe.  I look at Erik here and truly feel like he is living out God's calling.  He happily, and without hesitation, has embraced this culture and is always willing to pitch in to help whenever and wherever.

Simba Zino Scharrer - 7 weeks old

One big change for us in the past week has been our new addition!  We got a puppy!!  It was a tough decision, but the kids were missing our dog, Camber, back in the States and I was very intrigued by the different types of dogs they have here in Africa that aren't as common in the States, like Rhodesian Ridgebacks (Zimbabwe was formerly called Rhodesia).  We ended up finding a Boerboel in the Zimbabwe classified ads (which made me feel like a true resident!).  He was seven weeks old and his name is Simba Zino (meaning strong/powerful fang in Shona).  He's super tiny right now, but Boerboels can get up to 150-200 pounds!  Boerboels are a native breed to the neighboring South Africa and were loyal guard dogs to defend the farms against lions and hyenas!  It is going to be so fun to watch him grow since we all want a BIG dog. :)  He was very sick when we first got him and I even wondered if he would actually survive, but after a few days of homemade chicken broth and rice and a round of antibiotics, he seems to be doing much better.  Hopefully his illness didn't stunt his growth.

Thank you so much for all the prayers!  We feel very covered and supported by many of you.  We were just talking about all our financial supporters this week, too, and how thankful we are for you, also.  We couldn't have asked for a better community of support back in the States and wish you all could join us here in person to see and experience this beautiful culture!  In fact, you should come!

A few more pictures of our first week with Simba...