2013 Pastor's Conference Plans

I pray and hope that you had a very wonderful thanksgiving time. We are all fine this side, its beginning to rain and the whether is a little bit cool this week.

I have been talking with some Pastors about the conference next year, and many of them are very much excited about it and they are agreeing with the suggestion of having the one conference at Mthombothemba with extended days so that they get much out of it. I also tried to talk with the other Pastors from the other region who are also excited but are a little bit concerned that due to difference of languages (since they speak a different language from the one we speak here in Bulawayo) some of their leaders who do not understand English might find it difficult to understand everything since translation is done in Ndebele. We are praying and talking with them that they send their key Pastors especially those who understand English so that after the conference they meet with their leaders and dish out what they would have learnt to their leaders.  Our team is also prepared to provide accommodation for the Pastors who will come from afar; there is only the need for food. We are ready for the conference.

Today we have been praying about the correspondence training after the conference and would like to let you know that its something that we are seriously considering doing as a way of providing training and encouragement to Pastors in very remote areas. We hope that we will talk more about it when you come for our desire is to see these men and women of God discipled that they transform their communities with the power of the word of God.

How are the preparations going that end, how many people are prepared to come with you this time. Is Kathy coming as well, do we have to consider preparing something for the ladies? Please be assured that we are praying for you as you prepare the teachings for next year.

Pass our regards to the team.

Blessings

Gideon & Jennifer

Pastors' Update

Warm greetings to you from Zimbabwe, I hope and believe that you are all fine. Please find here-in attached the scanned financial distribution report for September offering .Thank you very much for supporting us here in Zim, may God continue to bless you with more wisdom and all the boldness to stand for the truth in a crooked and perverse world. We are still hoping and praying for us to have the Pastors’ conference and would like to ask you to keep on praying for breakthroughs for us together with you to be able to run the conference next year.

We hope and believe that you are still praying and considering the prospect of running the correspondence Bible training. We are this end praying about it and would like to see it running. We are currently working on establishing a Bible resource Centre whereby we are collecting material that people can use to enhance their understanding of the word of God, so please pray for us that we get material that is very relevant and that which will help people grow in the knowledge of God. Please just pray with us for us to see this becoming a reality.

Pass our regards to your family and the Church under your care.

Blessings,

Gideon

Prayers for Pastors

Hello!

Warm greetings to you from the hot weather of Bulawayo. Would you please join hands with us in praying for Pastor Joseph Zvidavo, who has not been feeling well for the past days. We haven’t gone to see him yet since he lives in the other province which is a bit far away for us  but his wife has been communicating with us about their situation that he has been very weak physically that he spend every day lying down in bed . Jennifer and I have been praying for him and his family and we thought it to be good also to communicate with you so that we can pray together for this family.

Apart from him, Pastor Kenneth Linda`s son was admitted at hospital last week and the family is waiting for a report from the doctor. It seems like he has got TB but this is just an assumption based on symptoms of TB that we know. We managed to visit this family during the weekend and prayed with them and again we saw it fit for us to communicate with you so that the Church that end can also pray for the Pastors this side.

These Pastors are really part of our family and that’s why we gave them the freedom to share with us the challenges they face in the ministry, so that we stand with them in prayer. We have also opened our home for them to come and rest whenever they feel the need to do so, for we really do appreciate the work they do in these remote areas. We do appreciate you very much for all the support you are rendering to these men and women of God, THANK YOU.

Blessings,

Gideon

Christ-Centered Families Workshop

As a follow up to our last conference, we held a 2 day workshop on building Christ centered families this past weekend. Most of the material that we used was from the workbook that we used during the last conference, thank you very much for coming up with the workbook, its really going a long way in building up families. We focused more on couples under the age of 40 this time around and not just leaders but brethren from the community. We had also time to discuss on some issues that were raised up  in the last conference when people said that some issues like that of men helping their wives to change children`s diapers etc.  are taboos in our culture. In short we had really a wonderful time with these married people and thank God we saw one couple that had problems being restored during the workshop. We would like to let you know that your ministry is building up families thereby transforming our communities. At the end we all agreed that we are going to be the salt and light in our society and slowly our communities will emulate the life that we live. Please find here-in below the picture of couples who attended the workshop

We will let you know once there is a final announcement on the election date. We hope and pray that this will not disturb our plans of having the conference in March next year for our people are geared up to have the conference.

Blessings,

Gideon

  

Summer Children's Camp: August 2012

CHILDREN`S  CAMP  August  2012  

Venue:  Peniel  Centre   #  of  Children  who  participated:  35:  14  boys  and  21  girls   Age  group:  8-­‐  15years.  

The  camp  was  attended  by  35  children  between  the  ages,  8-­‐  15,  from  the  community  of   Mthombothemba.  The  main  aim  of  this  camp  was  to  make   these  children  know  God  as  well  as  to  provide  comfort  and  

counsel  to  some  of  them  who  are  living  positively  with  the   HIV  virus.  We  had  a  number  of  children  who  are  HIV  positive   who  attended  this  camp,  who  had  a  lot  of  questions  about   their  status.  With  the  grace  of  God  we  managed  to  talk  and   provide  counsel  and  hope  to  these  children.  One  boy  Prince   who  is  14  years  old  was  at  one  time  on  tears  when  he  could   not  play  with  others  because  his  body  was  very  much  weak  ,   he  blamed  everyone  for  this  condition  ,  his  parents,  his   grandmother  who  is  staying  with  him  and  as  well  as  God.  Our

team  managed  to  minister  to  him  and  at  the  end  of  the  camp  he  was  able  to  understand  and  accept   God`s  love  for  him.  We  also  realized  that  this  is  going  to  be  a  process  for  him  to  fully  understand  God`s   love,  so  we  made  a  commitment  that  we  will  keep  on  following  him  and  some  of  these  children  to  give   further  explanation  on  God`s  love  for  mankind.  We  are  however  so  much  grateful  that  all  these  children  

made  a  decision  to  follow  Jesus.    

Games  

We  had  a  very  amazing  moment  of  playing  games  with  these  children   with  the  aim  of  uniting,  motivating,  inspiring  and  educating  them.   Apart  from  that  the  games  were  to  encourage  them  find  peaceful   solutions  to  their  problems  as  well  as  to  teach  them  essential  values   such  as  cooperation  and  respect  for  one  another.  Games  were  also   used  to  help  them  to  open  up  concerning  the  difficulties  they   encounter  in  life  and  were  the  door  way  to  counselling  sessions.  Most   of  the  children  were  assisted  through  the  time  of  playing  games.    

  

WHAT  DO  THEY  HOPE  FOR?  

We  had  a  wonderful  time  of  brainstorming  with  these  children  on   their  specific  needs,  other  than  food,  clothing,  shelter  and  school   fees,  they  expressed  the  following  needs: To  be  accepted  and  loved  like  other  children   To  be  given    opportunities    to  play  and  recreate     To  be  able  to  attend  Church  every  Sunday  and  be  given  an  opportunity  to  encourage  one   another    

To  go  to  school  like  other  children     Not  to  be  laughed  at  or  discriminated  because  of  their  condition   To  be  protected  by  guardians  and  members  of  the  community     To  be  listened  to  and  for    the  guardians  to  respond  to  their  concerns  and  to  involve  them  in   decisions  that  affect  their  lives     To  be  called  by  their  names  and  not  be  called  an  orphan  child  etc.   To  be  given  the  opportunity  to  choose  and  buy  clothes  they  want  to  wear     Not  to  be  robbed  of  their  belongings  by  aunts,  uncles  etc.   To  be  taken  to  hospital  and  cared  for  when  they  are  sick  

  

This  camp  did  not  only  provide  a  learning  curve  to  the   children  but  also  assisted  us  to  understand  the  needs  of   children.  Due  to  the  needs  and  the  plight  of  children  we   decided  to  come  up  with  community  based  Fathers  and   Mothers  support  groups  which  will  help  our  volunteers  to   provide    care,  life-­‐skills    and  guidance  to  these  children.   We  have  already  started  meeting  with  boys  to  talk  about   different  issues  that  affect  them  and  on  this  picture   Gideon  met  with  the  boys  who  were  recently  circumcised   to  talk  about  life  after  circumcision.    

We  are  so  much  grateful  to  you  for  partnering  with  us  in  brightening  the  future  of  orphans  and   vulnerable  children.  

Blessings,

Gideon  &  Jennifer  Chishamba 

2013 Preparations Underway

My brother we are so much prepared for another conference next year, because
we feel that it's our time to equip the Church to be able to run the race of
faith without being sidetracked by other diluted gospels. We are and will
continue to pray for the effectiveness of our conferences which I believe
will raise up men and women who fear God and who will influence and disciple
our communities.  I would like also to let you know that the brethren this
side are standing with you in prayers, in fact one of the reasons why I am
meeting with brother Kudzai Chigowi and others next week is to find out
better ways of organizing prayer meetings in our congregations to pray for
you and also for other Christian leaders in rural Zimbabwe.

Again we are so much grateful for all the support you are rendering to us as
Pastors in this country.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Blessings

Gideon

Update: Mind the Gap & Tina Motsi

Thank you so much for the money and the gift for Tinashe.  We are so grateful for this support.  It always comes at such a great time when we are short of food for the children.

Tinashe came home a week last Friday and we had managed to get her bedroom decorated and it looks fabulous.  She is doing well but is in a fair amount of pain especially when she is carried to the toilet. 

The doctors have said there is nothing more that can be done so she is totally in God's hands.  She believes God is going to heal her but not immediately so we keep praying to that end and hope.

Her spirits are very high and her positive attitude to it all has been quite remarkable.  She is quite a special lass.

As for the farm we still haven't taken possession.  It certainly is taking much longer than I thought so I have to be patient which isn't easy!!

Oh we got the birthday cards too, thank you so much they are lovely.

Take care, with love Jenny