Dear brethren,
It is with great joy that we can send our first newsletter.
It is more difficult in Zimbabwe than it has been in many years. And that’s saying a lot, as it has been difficult in Zimbabwe for many years.
Since arriving, we have come to appreciate things we used to take for granted—things like being able to send an email or an update to friends and family! (Joshua Mack is having to write and send this one from South Africa based on what I have told him because we are simply unable to.)
Just living life in Zimbabwe is a serious challenge as things are always changing. One takes each day as it comes. You can’t really make solid plans for tomorrow because tomorrow brings something completely different. Prices of commodities are just going higher and higher, which makes life difficult for an ordinary person. Things like bread are no longer affordable. Eating bread has actually become a luxury. And even those who can afford it have to queue for it early in the morning. Our petrol and diesel have become the most expensive in the world and queues are the order of the day. In the above picture you see me waiting in one for diesel fuel.
But we thank the Lord for bringing us safely home and helping us to slowly settle into an environment that is so different than the one we had become used to.
The children are all in school now after a big struggle to get them enrolled. Our oldest daughter has had some difficulties with our mother language, Shona, and the teacher suggested extra lessons, which seem to be helping. But really, they have all adapted well and seem to be loving school.
And yet, in the midst of the challenges, God is at work.
The church has become our source of comfort. Meeting with other believers and worshipping God has kept us going.
The joy of worshipping and the fact that we know our God is in the driver’s seat even in situations like this has had tremendous effects on us. May we continue to find joy in him alone!
We are currently going through a series on the church at Reformed Baptist Church Harare, which has become our home church here. We are looking at what the Bible says about the church and its purpose. This is so important as so many wrong ideas are being taught about the church all around us, which has brought lots of confusion to many people.
We are also doing Bible studies with a few people we have shared the gospel with. Most of them believed they were Christians because they went to church and all their hope was in the fact that they have a church they are associated with. But when we first talked about their relationship with God there was no mention of sin, Christ or the finished work of the cross. This is a sad reality among so many people. It’s our prayer that the Lord will make this small group the beginning of a church plant that will be serious about the gospel, a church serious about the truth we have in God’s word, and a church that exists only for the glory of the triune God. That’s my heart—even with all the other difficulties surrounding us. May the Lord raise men passionate for the truth so that churches can be planted that would become pillars of the truth.
Prayer requests
- Please pray for my wife, as she is due any day now.
- Pray also for the Bible study—that the men and women who are attending will be amazed by the truths they are learning and that real conversions will happen.
- Pray for me personally to be able to minister to my family and not to be caught up in the many things happening in my country, and to be faithful in doing what the Lord wants me to do.