Meeting the Unexpected in Gokwe, Zimbabwe
Take a look at how many lives you helped change in Gokwe, Zimbabwe.
- 8,855 Patients Received Care
- 1,268 People Received Dental Care
- 2,443 Eyeglasses Distributed
- 29 People Received Minor Surgery
- 200 Families Received LifeStraw® Water Filters
- 952 Children Attended the Zehra Kids Program
- 374 School Children Experienced Zehra in Their School
- 3,038 People Heard the Gospel
- 236 People Received Yeshua
- 505 People Requested Congregational Follow-up
Last November, we held a Medical Outreach in Gokwe, Zimbabwe. The outreach location is situated off a series of obscure dirt roads in the middle of nowhere. It is home to a Lemba Jewish community that was new to even the national Lemba Messianic Jewish network of Believers.
The Gokwe Medical Outreach was unusual. After the first day, officials withdrew their permission for any international participation. Non-Zimbabweans – including JVMI staff, medical professionals, logistics personnel and Outreach Partners – had to leave the Clinic and campsite.
But God is faithful. The Outreach continued smoothly, run entirely by Zimbabwean medical and spiritual care teams. This is precisely what indigenous ministry is about – fostering mature leadership able to carry on the work without us.
Meanwhile, the international team prayed and shared the Gospel wherever they were in the following days. One day found them waiting at a “Chicken Express” for staff as they met with officials and made new housing arrangements. The team prayed for a woman with back pain. She said she felt somewhat better, so the partners prayed again. The woman tested her back again, bending over and standing up straight. This time, her face lit up and her eyes grew large. “It’s gone!” she said. “My pain is gone!” The Lord healed her!
Others around the local restaurant began asking for prayer. The shop owner even called friends and family about what he had witnessed. Soon, a long line of people formed, waiting for prayer, and the team of displaced Outreach Partners ministered all day.
This dedicated and flexible team of Outreach Partners expected to spend the week at the Medical Outreach campus. But God had prepared good works for them beforehand (Ephesians 2:10) in completely unexpected settings, ministering to people they never would have met had they stayed at the Clinic site. Ministry was multiplied during the Gokwe Medical Outreach – and your gifts to Jewish Voice enabled us to be in all the places God had planned for us to work that week. Thank you!
Your gift today will enable more Outreaches to take place in 2024.Outreaches to take place in 2024.
