For Bob and I one of the most rewarding things is seeing how people are changed by their first overseas experience on a Mission Team. We love hearing about their experience and wanted to share this one with you. There is nothing that compares to being available to God and living like a “Sent One!”
Zimbabwe 2022 Mission Testimony by Fred Block
When we are told having a baby is life changing, we don’t fully understand what that “change” is until the baby is born. Likewise, I learned quickly that being on the ground in a 3rd world country, doing God’s work as a “sent one”, is another life changing event that’s unimaginable if not personally experienced – and so incredibly blessed!
For about a month and a half prior to the day our mission team boarded the first flight of our trip, when asked what I’d be doing in Zimbabwe, my reply was always, “I don’t exactly know, but I am EXTREMLY EXCITED to just have God use me as He wishes!” [God did exactly that, and then some!]
My backpack and checked bag were packed with everything I’d need for a mission trip; my heart was packed and even overflowing with an eagerness to serve Him! God took us to orphans to lay hands on them and their foster moms, out into “the bush” for painting buildings, hanging doors, raising a roof on a parsonage, praying over land that will someday be home to a medical clinic and a skills center, praying over a young woman with a heartfelt desire to become a dentist (and “yes”, this will surely come to pass), praying over pastors, praying over each other on our team, and just more praying, praying, and praying – powerfully! I’ve seen God move each of us individually and of course me personally.
We witnessed miracles happen right in front of us. Two women with bad knees that had walked many kilometers to get to where we were in Buhera, were prayed over and then “danced” with us immediately after! A couple of days later, on our flight from Harare, Zimbabwe to Johannesburg, South Africa, God had a divine appointment waiting for me. There was a South African man sitting next to me – he was separated from his traveling partner. I encouraged him to sit with his friend, but he chose to stay seated next to me. We ended up chatting and I learned his name is Moses, he is a believer, and he has a desire to share the things of God with people. In that moment, I felt God’s leading to pray over this brother in Christ – I asked permission, he accepted, and I prayed – hard. After praying, with tears in his eyes, Moses told me he never felt more encouraged to follow his heart and fulfil this desire. He knew there was work to do. While I was on this trip “as” a “sent one”, God had me “send one” and all the glory goes to God alone!
During this mission trip I was often asked by many of the wonderful people I was honored to meet and share time with if I’d come back to Zimbabwe. My reply was always a firm, “If it be God’s will, I will come back!”