Zimbabwe

Well now that I have been back in the USA for a couple of weeks, I figured it was time to update the old blog and write a little bit about my trip to Africa :-)

The Lord answered a lifelong prayer when I was chosen to be a part of a short term mission team from my church that was going to Zimbabwe. As I look back I am really blown away at how the Lord worked in every small detail for me to not only be able to go, but also to have the whole month of August off work. After almost 4 years in neonatal intensive care, I was getting very much burnt out!! I love my job and love the sweet tiny babies, but things have gotten EXTREMELY stressful with various management and political hospital issues. It has become harder and harder to go to work and just focus on patient care. So after much prayer and saving all of my summer vacation I got the whole month off!! I continue to pray that the Lord will help me to be a light to my coworkers and that I will be able to focus on what is important and not let the other circumstances stress me out.

So we left for Zimbabwe on a Wednesday evening and flew direct from Raleigh to London (somewhere I have never been!!) and got to spend most of the day roaming around London. We saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the Thames River, etc. It was a really cool side stop!! We left London that night and arrived in Zimbabwe via Nairobi, Kenya on Friday around lunch time. Then after lunch and afternoon tea, we took the 4 hour bus ride to the town of Mutare, where we spent the rest of our time. We stayed in a very quaint, sort of old English inn, called the Inn on the Vumba. Which was up on a mountain and had the most incredible view!!

Unfortunately, my suitcase was 'lost' and did not arrive when I did. Needless to say after 2 days of traveling and very little sleep I was on the brink of an emotional breakdown. My teammates were incredible!! They stepped right in and offered their extra clothes, toiletries, etc. But the Lord had an amazing blessing in store for me. Since I only had the clothes on my back and my toothbrush that was in my carry-on bag, 3 Zimbabwean ladies from the church's hospitality team showed up on Saturday ready to take me shopping. My friend Gretchen came along and we had the best day!! Because I had a need, we experienced relational bonding in one afternoon!! I was blown away at their warmth, friendship and how the love of Christ shown through each of these women. That day Gretchen and I made lifelong friends, and all because my luggage didn't show up!! The Lord rocked my socks off :-) (my suitcase arrived 2 days later)

After breakfast each morning, we would drive to the church and split up into our two teams: construction and vacation bible school. I was on construction :-) This was not what typical Zimbabwean women would do and the ongoing joke was that the girls helping with construction needed to stay in Zimbabwe to learn how to be proper women...haha. I learned how to tie rebar by hand, hand mix concrete with a shovel, and helped move over 2000 15lb bricks up to the construction site. It felt so good to work hard all day long out in the African sun and then crash after a yummy dinner. One of the highlights of the day was morning tea. Every morning, EVERYONE (including the burly construction workers) would stop and have tea and biscuits. Hot tea, in real teacups and saucers and the most delicious pastries and cookies I have ever had. Definitely a custom I think we should adopt!!

It is hard for me to put into words how this experience has changed my heart and has impacted my relationship with the Lord. And I am definitely still processing everything. But the Lord has given me a heart and a love for the people of Africa, especially Zimbabwe. I also feel like my desire to adopt an African child was confirmed even more. It may sound a little cheesy, but I feel like I left a little piece of my heart there and I pray that I will get to go back again.