One Body - Partnering with our brothers and sisters in Africa

So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others - Romans 12:5

Since I first gave my life to Jesus Christ a couple of years ago, one thing that He has really blessed me with is the opportunity to see the gospel shared in different parts of the world. Global missions is a significant part that my wife and I get to play as a part of Christ's body, His Church. We have had the privilege of travelling to Africa twice over the past couple of years. We have been to Kenya, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Africa is such an amazing place. The people there have to be the most warm and welcoming people that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.Unfortunately, Africa also has a lot of challenges. For multiple reasons that I don't really need to go into, there are several nations on the continent that are really struggling. It has left millions of people without some of the most basic necessities, such as food and water. Children are dying every single day simply because they cannot eat or drink. The unemployment rates in some places are astronomical. They are truly hard for us to even imagine living in a place like America. This creates a situation where even the most responsible and loving parents have a hard time finding work. They want nothing more than to provide for their families, but there is simply no work for them. It has left many people struggling to find hope. Even for the most devout followers of Jesus Christ, this is challenging. That is why we as a church are called to do something about it.One of the countries that is facing a lot of these struggles is a country in Southern Africa called Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is a country that has been on my wife and I's heart for a few years. We had the privilege of travelling there about 4 years ago, and we have several beloved friends who live there. When we traveled there back in 2012, times were tough. However, the reports we have heard recently is that they are even tougher now. Some experts place the unemployment rate as high as 95%! Unfathomable right? We have friends who head up a thriving church in Zimbabwe. They are working diligently day in and day out to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the people. They feed over 30,000 children every single day! On top of the that, the church is growing, and many people are giving their lives to Christ.So what is the problem? Many of these men and women devoting their lives to Jesus are still struggling to provide for their families. They are in need of love, encouragement, and financial support from their brothers and sisters in Christ in America, where we have been blessed so abundantly with basic needs that we often take for granted.  There are growing churches over there right now, who are actively spreading the gospel, and they are doing so by meeting in dirt fields. They take whatever supplies they can, and try to concoct temporary, tent like structures to protect them from the elements while they share the gospel.The Lord has placed it on my wife and I's heart to do something about this. A few months ago, the Lord encouraged us to reach out to the Pastor in Zimbabwe to see how we could help. After several months of praying and talking through it, we landed on a trip that is going to be taking me and a very good friend of mine to Zimbabwe in July of this year. While there, we are going to be working directly with one of these churches to construct a building for them to worship in and share the gospel. We are also going to put in bathrooms and a well to provide water. The water source will not only provide people with drinking water, but it will also provide a source to grow food to eat and sell. It will essentially help the church to become self sustained so that it can continue to grow. We will also be diligently pouring love and encouragement into our brothers and sisters in Christ while we are in Zimbabwe.To this point, God has graciously provided us with a substantial portion of the funds needed to complete this project. He has provided us with enough money to complete the building and the bathrooms, and to purchase pump for the well. We are still believing that God will provide another $5,000 to cover the cost of drilling the well as well as the costs for a tank and some piping that will be needed to make it functionalWe need a lot of support to make this trip a success. First of all, we need your prayers. There is a lot of spiritual opposition that comes with a trip like this, and prayers go a long way towards overcoming that. We also want to ensure that we are hearing God's voice, to ensure that we are carrying out His vision for this trip and not our own.Secondly, we are still in need of some financial support. $5,000 is a lot of money to raise in less than a month, but we know that God is going to provide! We believe that He is already moving on people's hearts at this moment.Thanks in advance for your support! We can say with full certainty that this trip is going to sow into a community that will use this support to further the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lives will be touched, hearts will be opened, and souls will be saved!