Ebenezer & Bulawayo

Dear Family & Friends,

On the veranda at Hopedale with Renee

Since last Tuesday Carol and I have been spending time in and around Matabeleland. For about half our time here we have been based at Hopedale, a farm just north of Bulawayo where Renee currently lives. The remaining days have been spent at Ebenezer, a training center situated in the beautiful Matopos Hills dedicated to equipping young people with business, agricultural, and other life skills while sharing and demonstrating the awesome extent of God's love for them.

Out at the training center (about an hour drive from Bulawayo) I was able to help out as a taxi driver on several occasions and decided that owning a truck would actually be pretty sweet as long as there are loads of good dirt roads around. Other highlights were: a late-night Kudu hunting expedition (they had been regularly infiltrating the apprentices gardens), some chain saw work, early morning run/swims, and a soccer game between the Ebenezer apprentices and the local villagers that was as close to playing in a professional soccer game as I will ever get (those guys have some serious athletic ability and footie skills). Learning a bit about the regional history and culture was also fascinating.

Ebenezer Dam reservoir at the training center in the Matopos

Both Carol and I enjoyed working together for a couple days painting the interior of one of the Ebenezer houses, driving around with ostrich eggs, live fish, and as many as 15 people piled into Renee's truck (Big Bertha), several wonderfully refreshing swims in the reservoir on the property (jumping off the dam is the best), attending a graduation ceremony for a few of the apprentices who are currently enrolled in the program at Ebenezer, and getting to know some of the wonderful people who work there. We also had some fantastic meals at the family farmhouse open air dining room looking out over the granite rock outcrops of the Matopos, and rounded dome of Mt. Silozi. We actually got to hike a bit around Mt. Silozwe later and check out some amazing cave paintings dating back about 2000 years!

2000 year old cave paintings near Mt. Silozwe

Back in Bulawayo we got to attend New Creation church on Sunday morning at which Renee's brother Peter gave the sermon; a very thoughtful and encouraging reminder of how our daily jobs and work should be so much more deeply rooted in our identity as victors (over despair, doubt, fear, etc.) through Jesus than we typically realize. After church we called up Bob, a cousin to the Jelbert Family, who invited us over to lunch at his place on the other side of town which was wonderful. Carol even cooled off in the pool with the kids for a while to escape the pretty hot sun which has been keeping us a bit sweaty and thirsty these past few days.

Sunday afternoon found us back at Hopedale for tea, cakes, pool games, and some great conversation with more friends. Zimbabwe has been yet another fantastic experience for us both, and though it is time to move on at the moment we feel extremely welcome here by the amazing people that we've met and hope to be able to come back sometime in the future.

Love,

Joe & Carol