We had an amazing time in Zimbabwe.   I LOVED this outreach and cannot wait to take a Sanctuary team again.

A few highlights from our mission journey…

1.   The little old lady from the Gwayi River Village. We were walking through the poor village with shacks and she was wearing nothing but rags for clothes.   She had 12 children to care for all by herself.   She daughter died two weeks ago.   Her mom died a few months ago.  She looked extremely tired.

When we first saw her, Glen Megill simply hugged her and held her for a few minutes.   No words were really spoken.  Just a human touch.   I was only a few inches away with my arm on her shoulder.   She was weeping silently, wiping tears away from her eyes.   We did not speak her language, but she experienced the language of God’s love.   I was moved and her face is etched on my heart.

2.  The Bible Give Away. After the Sunday morning service, we gave away a number of bibles to the Gwaii River Church.  I will never forget the way the people were dancing and holding up their bibles in the air as they rejoiced.   For many this was the ONLY book they had of any kind, and their joy was amazing.

3.  Worship Service Dancing. When the service concluded, the church broke out into an off the charts rejoicing and dancing.   We were dancing in the dirt, under the full sun.    The joy was contagious.   It was a ton of fun.   I started to get so tired that I was happy we finally came got to take a little break!!!   They danced a good 30 minutes they were so thankful to God for their new bibles.

4.  The Feeding of the 200+. This was such a great experience.    I had the high honor of squirting out tomato ketchup on the rice and meat dinner that everybody devoured as they walked through the food line.   It was worth it to travel 10,000 miles just to be a part of this feast.   We got to share the Lord with them and the cleansing power of His blood over our sin.  It was an awesome night.

5.  St. Joseph’s Boys Home. Taps did a worship concert that was off the charts amazing.    It was a high energy night of singing with such kingdom gusto that you had to be there to experience it.   We got to hang out with the teenage boys and share about life in America and make some great friends.   Another amazing night!

I would love to see us send many teams to Africa before Jesus returns. I prayed for many of you while I was there and am fired up to bring you!

Zimbabwe had been the most awesome outreach!

I cannot wait to bring another team here next year.    I have been praying for specific people to come from Sanctuary.

Today we visited Victoria Falls Hospital and delivered much needed supplies.   We prayed with the administrator of the hospital.   He was overjoyed with the supplies we were able to deliver.  I prayed that some medical personal will come next year.

We then paid an unexpected visit to Chief Impala of the Toga river tribe.   They had 350 homesteads and 89 orphans, with about I would guess 1,500 people.

“It has been a bad year” the chief told us regretfully.

In Feb. a pack of elephants ate and trampled all of their corn crops, leaving them without this vital food source for the upcoming year.   The Chief was overwhelmed.   It weighed very heavily on him.

“Our only hope to scare them off would have been torches.”   (torches =  flashlights)

Chief explained to us that the elephants would be scared by seeing the flash of lights in the darkness of the night when they look for food.  Otherwise, there is no way to scare elephants.

Amazingly, about 50-60 high tech flashlights were donated to Sanctuary only months ago! We did not know what to do with them, so they sat in storage.  While packing, we decided to bring them to Africa.

The flashlights were specially designed by a hospital team (Loma Linda University Medical Center) with LED technology and a wind-up crank to recharge the battery.    This was absolutely HUGE because they don’t have batteries ANYWHERE in Zimbabwe!   And in the bush it is impossible to get batteries!   Normal battery flashlights would be useless after only a few months os usage.

“Chief, we have some torches”. The chief was beside himself with joy!   We went to the car and unloaded every torch we had, around 25 of these cool LED flashlights.   Women clapped their hands as we handed out the first batch and the rest would be dispensed through out the community, a couple miles wide.

“This is a miracle!” the chief declared as we brought the flashlights to him.

It was so worth it to come to Zimbabwe!

We prayed for the chief and the rest of the people at his homestead, a collection of about 6 thatched roof mud huts.  Then we headed out for our next outreach.

Rose of Sharon Orphanage had 22 children with half of them HIV positive.

When our team arrived, the children were being served lunch.   I jumped in and helped serve the orphans.  The kids sat very orderly on a cement slab with legs crossed waiting until everyone was served.   Plastic bowls with rice, carrots and green beans made the orphans happy campers.

Our guide Regina told us that the orphans seldom see male visitors at Rose of Sharon. She was almost in tears telling us that this was the first time in 4 years she had a team with actual fathers, of which there there three dads, armed and ready to play the orphans until someone dropped.

GAME ON!!!    I went directly into warfare mode. Wrestling.   Horse rides until my knees gave out.   I was huffing and puffing, but not about to surrender.   More rides with kids hanging on my back through the corn fields.    My shirt was covered in sweat and urine.   Yes, orphan urine!   I discovered in the midst of battle that the fragrance of urine was all around me… in fact on me.

We played all afternoon – Jeff, Steve and Rod from the Sanctuary team.   I had the time of my life.   It was non-stop intense action.  The little boys aged 3-8 years almost never experienced rough housing or  any kind of flesh-to-flesh combat with men.

After a couple hours of playing, I paused to process the moment. I loved being a father to the fatherless.   Words cannot describe the emotion that flooded my soul.   Little Zimbabwe orphans holding my hands.   Hanging onto me everywhere I went.   Jumping on my back.   Wearing my watch.   Adorning my sunglasses.

I needed a moment to process the moment. My soul was flooded with an ocean of emotions.   I was undone.   The reality of the orphanage penetrated my inmost being.  I could not control the emotions welling up inside me.   I needed a place to run and hide and cry.  But a quick scan of the orphanage revealed that there was no place to run and hide.

I fought back the tears.

Back to wrestling and horseback rides.

Then it was time to go.

The little hand of Caleb reached up and  held my hand as we walked toward the metal gate exit.   I wanted to take him home.   Imaginary conversations were running through my head floating the idea to my wife Kirstin that we needed to adopt Joshua and Caleb.

Those little Rose of Sharon orphans just stole my heart.