Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope you are having a great holiday spending time with family, eating lots of yummy turkey, and watching tons of football. Haha….the only reason I mentioned those three things is because that is what I am missing the most right now. But I press on. My faith in God and my assurance in what God has spoken to me is what keeps me going daily.

You will be happy to know that Jabulani, our new orphanage, is about finished being renovated. We have already started training the orphanage manager and will be starting to train the rest of the orphanage mothers in December. I have been getting more and more involved in the training sessions as the weeks go on. I am helping type and design training materials/putting together the training manuals and spending a lot of time helping the lady who is doing the training to problem solve her processes…..thank you Pastor Greg!!

As part of the training process for the orphanage staff, we will be conducting an HIV/AIDS training session. I was given the task to sit down with an HIV/AIDS counselor and put together a packet of questions that the staff will then answer at the end of the training. I learned a lot about the terrible myths surrounding what the African culture teaches about people and children infected with HIV/AIDS. It is amazing some of the false ideas people believe about how you can contract HIV…or even how you can be cured of HIV. They are disgusting and the witchdoctors here are the root of the problem. It is just another way the enemy of this world prowls around like a roaring lion waiting to devour people. But we will not let him prevail. We are going to debunk those myths and teach our staff the proper way of caring for our children in the orphanage.

I am really excited about getting more involved in Jabulani. I am feeling like this is where I am most needed as part of the ministry here. I will be conducting a lot of the training sessions for the new staff as well. For example...how to bath a baby properly, how to stimulate a baby...this culture has issues with simple things like that so we want to train them properly in the simple things. There is even talk of me being able to possibly work at Jabulani a couple of days a week once we get it opened...I am hoping it will be more though. Which, of course, would be an amazing experience.

I have been here about 2 months now. It is almost hard to believe. I am learning a lot about living in a different culture and how different life is here compared to how we live in America. Time goes by quickly most days, but some days I can BIG TIME feel the distance between us. When those days happen, I try and keep my mind busy. I am getting lots of opportunities to see more of Zimbabwe. The lady I am living with, Christine, is planning some trips in December to some of the rural areas of Harare so I can see what the orphanages are like there. She is taking me to a town called Mvuku to put on a Christmas party for children infected with AIDS. We will also be having a Christmas party at our house for some of the children in our own neighborhood. Also, as part of the church and small group I am attending, I will get to spend one Saturday a month at an orphanage in my community that Pastor Alan’s team does not go to.

This year at Thanksgiving, even though I don’t really get to celebrate it, I am thanking God for you…my faithful prayer partners, supporters, and family. I am thankful that you love me and believe in what God has asked me to do. Being far from you is not easy for me..especially at the holidays. Pray that God will continue to show me my place and where I fit in the ministry here. Pray for my health as well. I was pretty sick over this past weekend and my allergies don’t seem to be subsiding. I would love to hear how each of you are doing. When you get some time, drop me a note. I look forward to the times I get to hear from you.

I love and miss you,
Gina :)