It Only Takes Ten Days
A first-hand account of the way God worked in and through the Ten Days for Jesus Zambezi outreach team in July.
On 28 June I headed to Zambia for Ten Days for Jesus Zambezi 2011. This was the first Ten Days for Jesus launched an outreach in a location other than Cape Town and the outreach was focused on the two countries on the banks of the great Zambezi River, Zimbabwe and Zambia. All Nations has a base in both countries, in Livingstone, Zambia, and Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The team of about 40 people was divided into two teams, one in Zambia and the other in Zimbabwe. The Zambia team reached out to a local Zambian village where they camped right by the river and had great fellowship with the crocodiles and hippos. They had a proper ‘African experience’ as they didn’t have electricity, running water or other such comforts.
However, I was fortunate enough to be on the Zimbabwe team and we were based in a township in Victoria Falls. All Nations Zimbabwe leader Munyaradzi Hove hosted us together with a team of locals who were part of some of the house churches he had planted there. We only had ten days to reach the community which didn’t seem like much at first, but God moved in such a tremendous way. We were divided into three teams and we were assigned to different areas of the township. Each morning we would start off the day with devotions and some teaching based on our theme, Finding True Love, then we would set off to the community.
Finding Beauty in the Poverty
Victoria Falls is a small tourist town and tourism is the main source of income for most households. But the economic situation in Zimbabwe has deteriorated so much that there are few tourists coming in and a lot of businesses have closed down. So there is a high rate of unemployment and there is so much hopelessness. There is also a high rate of alcohol abuse, prostitution and poverty. However, there is also a high rate of spiritual hunger. One of the first houses my team went to was occupied by a group of ladies who turned out to be prostitutes. We visited them regularly, got to hear their stories and just spent some time with them. We even went one day and one of my teammates, who is a professional make-up artist, did their make-up for them. They really appreciated this and they started opening up to us.
Rastafarians Meet Jesus
We also met a guy named Ephraim who is a Rastafarian and on our second visit with him, we told him that his name comes from the Bible and he was interested in finding out more about the origin of his name. So we told him the story of Joseph starting back from Jacob’s story until the blessing of Joseph’s sons by Jacob. While we were narrating this story Ephraim’s friend, Sydney, joined us and we started just chatting about what we can learn from Joseph’s story. Then Sydney posed a question about what do we believe would happen after we die and that led to us sharing about Jesus. Sydney shared about how he was tired of how his life was; that he was trying to turn his life around and he had even stopped drinking. We led him and Ephraim to the Lord that very moment.
The Mighty Men
One team started a Discovery Bible Study in a tavern with a group of men, who were later termed “The Mighty Men,” and at the end of the study these men made statements such as ‘I will try to drink less beer’ without being prompted by anyone. The next day when they had another Discovery Bible Study some of these men gave their hearts to the Lord. That night one of the men shared what he had learned from the Bible study with his brothers and friends and he led them to the Lord. The following night he had another Discovery Bible Study with other friends and led some of those men to the Lord. On our last day we had a celebration service where we invited the people we had ministered to and The Mighty Men shared their testimony. Their testimony was so genuine; they shared how their lives had changed in just ten days and how some of them had gotten work during the course of the week.
Loving One Another
And there are more stories like these- stories of people being healed, the elderly being taken care of, serving the community through labour, and seeds being planted in people’s lives. But the greatest testimony is what God was doing among us as a team and within us as individuals. We learned that it is not enough to just profess our love for God but not love our brothers (1 John 4:20) and this starts by loving each other as a church and loving the lost. We learned how to serve each other and take time to listen to each other’s stories. We found true love in each other as a team and the Word does say that “if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:12).
Locals Commissioned
When we left, the local teams were commissioned and they followed up with all the people we had met. Ten Days for Jesus was such a great experience and the beginning of great things in both the communities we worked in and in the lives of the individuals who were part of the outreach. We also got to experience what David spoke about in Psalms 90:4, “For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by…” We experienced the God who is not subject to time but everything is subject to Him.
This is a report on Jombile’s outreach to Zimbabwe as part of Ten Days for Jesus. Ten Days for Jesus organizes ten-day outreaches in Cape Town, South Africa, and recently in Zimbabwe and Zambia and is one of the ministries that are part of All Nations.
