5/30/98: More hospital analysis for Ruth and more photography for me. Today I took photos of the Awana Club children’s outreach program. Also finally reached Arthur and Sylvia H. in Bulawayo. Friends of friends from back in the US… Finally got a call in to the Hs in Bulawayo (friends of Ruth’s sister-in-law’s parents… oh, never mind!) They were so excited to finally hear from us that they invited us to go on safari with them if we can manage to make their departure date of next Friday. I hope so. Invited to dinner at Mileta’s home. She’s one of the nurse/instructors.
NOTE: Photo above is from a village worship service near Karanda Mission Hospital.
5/29/98: Arthur and Sylvia H were Zimbabweans of European descent. Their daughter had been a Rotary Exchange Student about 20 years earlier and lived with the family of Ruth’s sister-in-law. We were asked to look them up when we arrived in Zimbabwe, and when we did, they were so excited to have “friends” from the US visiting their country that they invited us to visit them in Bulawayo the following weekend. More on that in a few days.
After our work for the day, Ruth and I were still processing the activities of the night before. Along with Dan and his wife Julie, we went to a small nearby town where a local church was holding an outdoor worship and evangelism service. There was vibrant singing, the showing of a film about Jesus, and a brief devotional. There was fierce competition with the loud music from a local beer hall, but the gospel singing and the movie about Jesus won out, I think, attracting even some of the roughest of characters from inside the beer hall. A few men came forward wanting to find out about knowing God, though they were still hazily inebriated. Who knows if they’ll remember what happened in the morning. But that is why the pastors and chaplains in these rural areas, and the missionaries at Karanda, pray so much and serve so sacrificially. They are not out there thumping people with judgment and condemnation, but rather seek to teach them about the love of God and the power He gives for living. They are literally working at bringing physical healing, providing education, and proclaiming the way to spiritual restoration to people have little hope or power to change their circumstances. Even if only a few respond at a time, it is a difficult work worth doing, and we were so humbled to get to play a small part and witness the work first hand.