zimbabwe

it’s funny how God can change and move our hearts in ways and places we never thought it could go. 

it’s been about a month now since coming back from zimbabwe.

it felt like a different dimension - worlds apart from nyc. although a small part of myself did miss the comforts of being home, another part of me was scared to leave this dream.  i remember the last day (after half our team had already left back to the states due to the ticketing mishap), i was strolling around pastor tatenda’s compound and a wistful, almost grievous feeling overwhelmed me. i couldn’t help but think i would probably never be back here again.  the thing is that i know i'll miss it... but not in a way that would make me want to desperately come back. it’s the kind of longing where you know that you can't recreate this time again as much as you want to. it is a memory that can never be brought back but will be frozen in that moment at that right temperature with the right circumstances and people. this is what made me truly sad. 

zimbabwe was a place of miracles, of transparency, of rawness. it was hard thinking i’d have to go back to the sterility and the emotional coldness of the NYC. but God is working here too – albeit differently. 

what i’ll miss most though is not doing ministry and doing “God’s work” per se, but it will be the familial warmth of daily Zimbabwean life.  there was a feeling of belonging/kinship at the tatenda home – cooking together, dining together, working together, just living life together. here in nyc – it’s so easy to feel alone… everything is so self-involved and individualistic (and i thought that’s what i initially liked about it), but i see now such is not the case. 

pastor tatenda – lucia – tanatsuwa – tatenda jr. – netsai – amos – adam – tapiwa – privilege – mercy – thelma – sandra