Greetings All!
It has been entirely too long since we posted on this blog! Please do forgive us for failing to communicate through this outlet for over a year. We consider that terrible and do apologize for the failure to complete our embarked upon goal of blogging regularly.
Since we last wrote, we returned to the United States for a ten month furlough. We traveled many thousands of miles and had fantastic visits with many friends, family, supporters and new acquaintances all over the Eastern United States. We are so blessed to get good quality time with family, which is one of our highest costs of being missionaries, the loss of time with that family, as we shared Sunday lunches, vacation to the beach, special events like hiking and going to many special events, and playing disc golf. It was a rejuvenating and encouraging time in America. God blessed us with a safe, healthy delivery of Gabriel Asher, and expanded our family to 5. We are so grateful for little Gabe, who's already 9 months old! We were also blessed to raise additional support, build stronger relationships with all of our supporting churches and to get to serve at Ridgeview Baptist Church in the fall while were were "stationary" for Gabriel being born. We were in America through January 24th, when we departed Washington, DC to begin our second term in Zimbabwe. We plan to be here through sometime in March 2017, as Zimbabwean immigration dictates and allows.
Since we arrived back in Zimbabwe, we've re-transitioned to our home, killed LOTS of spiders and gotten reacquainted and connected to our dear friends and colleagues here. We've also begun some exciting new facets our the ministry here. Ian continues to meet with the three teenage boys regularly, though we've had some health challenges so far this year that have hindered the desired regularity. Victor, Tinashe and Tinotenda are the three young men Ian is mentoring now and they are all doing great! We've started having a Bible study in our home every Wednesday and Friday at 10am for between 5-7 Shona people who work for Eden in our segment of the ministry. This study is an overview of God's history and plan, as recorded in the Bible and gives us time to read, slowly, through the Bible and ask and answer questions according to the revealed truth of the Word! We are absolutely loving this study. We see the impact it is having in the lives of several of the people who attend and we are delighted to see hunger and thirsting for righteousness in these precious souls who were created to glorify God! What we are finding is that the platform of an open discussion, allowing for questions, taking time to answer thoroughly and biblically, is highly effective in relationship building and in assisting in worldview formation. As we've shared before, there's an entirely different worldview inherited in the rural culture here, than that depicted in Scripture. So, it is very exciting to see the Spirit of God working in the hearts and minds of everyone at this study, committing their time to studying the Bible. We trust faith will come from hear and hearing from the Word of Christ! Already we've seen two huge decisions made by two of these brothers that are extremely counter cultural.
The first decision came when one man's father died. Traditionally, he would have done a great number of rituals and then planned on "welcoming his father's spirit back into the family" after a year, but after discussion and prayers and reading on his own, Robson decided he was going to celebrate his father's life and faith, believing that his father's eternity was settled in Jesus and further offerings and rituals were unnecessary to procure a solid salvation for him. This was a bold and "dangerous" decision for him, as the family don't share his perspective on the world now and consider his decision one that welcomes the "wrath of the spirits" upon the family. Robson has chosen to stand in Christ by faith and rely on the perfect work of Jesus to protect him from any spirit that would try to harm him. I do believe Robson will be just fine and the family will have a powerful testimony of Jesus' power and authority through this entire situation.
The second reality came after the harvest this year. We had poor rain and subsequent poor crops this year. The local witch doctors have begun traveling around the area informing everyone that the rains were not good because they, the witch doctors, were not paid enough to appease the spirits who control the rain. So, everyone is being "taxed" for next season's rain to come. When they came to Joshua's house, he told them to "get away," and that he no longer followed these practices and didn't believe they had power over him. Joshua's crops were quite good this year, even though the farmers around him suffered quite a bit. Using conservation farming or Farming God's Way, he has grown to believe that God is in control of his crops and the rain and that he need not fear these other spirits. Joshua's faith is still very young, but we are seeing it blossom and grow in a way that makes the last three and a half years of pray and relationship feel so entirely fruitful and worthwhile! Never give up, friends, God may take His time in using you in another's life...persevere and see!
Now, as we reach and pass the halfway mark for 2015, we are encouraged that so much time and energy is being poured into growth and maturity in Jesus through our lives. Ian is leading 4 intentional studies of God's Word each week, including the Boy's Bible Study which is inspiring and overwhelmingly encouraging in its own right too. We are overjoyed at all God is doing here in Doma and are so delighted to see what He has in store for the rest of 2015.
As for the blog, we long to renew our commitment to writing you quality, worthwhile posts about life, ministry and faith as we live and serve in rural Zimbabwe much more frequently. I, Ian, feel led to commit to a bi-monthly post, at a minimum and will strive to accomplish this in a timely fashion. If you thought we disappeared, thank you for finding us again, sticking with us, praying for God's work in and through us here. We are honored to serve here and to be a part of what God is doing to reveal Himself to men, women and children in rural Zimbabwe. Thank you for your prayers! We appreciate them so much!
Until next time,
The Frys
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6
It has been entirely too long since we posted on this blog! Please do forgive us for failing to communicate through this outlet for over a year. We consider that terrible and do apologize for the failure to complete our embarked upon goal of blogging regularly.
Since we last wrote, we returned to the United States for a ten month furlough. We traveled many thousands of miles and had fantastic visits with many friends, family, supporters and new acquaintances all over the Eastern United States. We are so blessed to get good quality time with family, which is one of our highest costs of being missionaries, the loss of time with that family, as we shared Sunday lunches, vacation to the beach, special events like hiking and going to many special events, and playing disc golf. It was a rejuvenating and encouraging time in America. God blessed us with a safe, healthy delivery of Gabriel Asher, and expanded our family to 5. We are so grateful for little Gabe, who's already 9 months old! We were also blessed to raise additional support, build stronger relationships with all of our supporting churches and to get to serve at Ridgeview Baptist Church in the fall while were were "stationary" for Gabriel being born. We were in America through January 24th, when we departed Washington, DC to begin our second term in Zimbabwe. We plan to be here through sometime in March 2017, as Zimbabwean immigration dictates and allows.
Since we arrived back in Zimbabwe, we've re-transitioned to our home, killed LOTS of spiders and gotten reacquainted and connected to our dear friends and colleagues here. We've also begun some exciting new facets our the ministry here. Ian continues to meet with the three teenage boys regularly, though we've had some health challenges so far this year that have hindered the desired regularity. Victor, Tinashe and Tinotenda are the three young men Ian is mentoring now and they are all doing great! We've started having a Bible study in our home every Wednesday and Friday at 10am for between 5-7 Shona people who work for Eden in our segment of the ministry. This study is an overview of God's history and plan, as recorded in the Bible and gives us time to read, slowly, through the Bible and ask and answer questions according to the revealed truth of the Word! We are absolutely loving this study. We see the impact it is having in the lives of several of the people who attend and we are delighted to see hunger and thirsting for righteousness in these precious souls who were created to glorify God! What we are finding is that the platform of an open discussion, allowing for questions, taking time to answer thoroughly and biblically, is highly effective in relationship building and in assisting in worldview formation. As we've shared before, there's an entirely different worldview inherited in the rural culture here, than that depicted in Scripture. So, it is very exciting to see the Spirit of God working in the hearts and minds of everyone at this study, committing their time to studying the Bible. We trust faith will come from hear and hearing from the Word of Christ! Already we've seen two huge decisions made by two of these brothers that are extremely counter cultural.
The first decision came when one man's father died. Traditionally, he would have done a great number of rituals and then planned on "welcoming his father's spirit back into the family" after a year, but after discussion and prayers and reading on his own, Robson decided he was going to celebrate his father's life and faith, believing that his father's eternity was settled in Jesus and further offerings and rituals were unnecessary to procure a solid salvation for him. This was a bold and "dangerous" decision for him, as the family don't share his perspective on the world now and consider his decision one that welcomes the "wrath of the spirits" upon the family. Robson has chosen to stand in Christ by faith and rely on the perfect work of Jesus to protect him from any spirit that would try to harm him. I do believe Robson will be just fine and the family will have a powerful testimony of Jesus' power and authority through this entire situation.
The second reality came after the harvest this year. We had poor rain and subsequent poor crops this year. The local witch doctors have begun traveling around the area informing everyone that the rains were not good because they, the witch doctors, were not paid enough to appease the spirits who control the rain. So, everyone is being "taxed" for next season's rain to come. When they came to Joshua's house, he told them to "get away," and that he no longer followed these practices and didn't believe they had power over him. Joshua's crops were quite good this year, even though the farmers around him suffered quite a bit. Using conservation farming or Farming God's Way, he has grown to believe that God is in control of his crops and the rain and that he need not fear these other spirits. Joshua's faith is still very young, but we are seeing it blossom and grow in a way that makes the last three and a half years of pray and relationship feel so entirely fruitful and worthwhile! Never give up, friends, God may take His time in using you in another's life...persevere and see!
Now, as we reach and pass the halfway mark for 2015, we are encouraged that so much time and energy is being poured into growth and maturity in Jesus through our lives. Ian is leading 4 intentional studies of God's Word each week, including the Boy's Bible Study which is inspiring and overwhelmingly encouraging in its own right too. We are overjoyed at all God is doing here in Doma and are so delighted to see what He has in store for the rest of 2015.
As for the blog, we long to renew our commitment to writing you quality, worthwhile posts about life, ministry and faith as we live and serve in rural Zimbabwe much more frequently. I, Ian, feel led to commit to a bi-monthly post, at a minimum and will strive to accomplish this in a timely fashion. If you thought we disappeared, thank you for finding us again, sticking with us, praying for God's work in and through us here. We are honored to serve here and to be a part of what God is doing to reveal Himself to men, women and children in rural Zimbabwe. Thank you for your prayers! We appreciate them so much!
Until next time,
The Frys
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6
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