He Said, “Come back!”

“I have never seen a place that gives medicine but also gives prayer.” That’s what Mandinyenya from Gutu, Zimbabwe said to us in 2014.  Mandinyenya was 75 years old then. He arrived at the gates at 7:00 in the morning, and because so many people were in line in front of him, he waited five hours before getting into the clinic. “Of course, it is worth it,” he said. Mandinyenya received reading glasses that day – and prayer. “I want the people in America to pray for us. I want the clinic to come back again!”

He said, “Come back,” and we did!

We did go back to Gutu in 2015. It was a record-breaking clinic in a number of ways. We helped bring eight babies into the world, including a set of twins. Seven little boys and one baby girl were born during the five-day clinic. Staff members from a small local clinic were helping us, and they said they never see that many babies born in a month!

More records broken

Mid-week of the clinic we broke another record – a JVMI outreach record. We treated more patients in a single clinic day than ever before. We’d done over 30 medical clinics by the time we returned to Gutu in 2015, and never before had we treated so many patients in one day. How many, you ask? We treated 2,518 patients on Wednesday of the 2015 clinic!

There’s one thing about records: you never know how long they’ll last. That exciting record set on Wednesday lasted only till Thursday when we treated 2,701 people! In the sports world, it might be pretty disappointing to have your record broken the very next day, but in the world of humanitarian aid, well, we were ecstatic! We were also very proud of our amazing outreach partners, and we were so happy to help so many people.

So much good

With a team of 52, including staff, we provided 10,281 people with much-needed no-cost medical, dental, and eye care last year in Gutu. We distributed 1,503 pairs of eyeglasses, improving the daily lives of that many people. We prayed with 4,424 people in the prayer tent, and 2,156 of those people prayed to receive Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah! Also, 833 people filled out follow-up cards to be contacted for more information about Yeshua.

Last year in Gutu, we also taught 1,918 people how washing hands and face can help stop the spread of disease. We taught them the importance of clean drinking water, and we distributed LifeStraw® personal water filters to each one of them. Each personal LifeStraw® offers almost four year’s worth of healthy drinking water. We also gave out 18 Family LifeStraw® units that will supply a family with safe water for three to five years. These simple devices help prevent so much disease!

Going back to Gutu – July 2016

Our Global Outreach staff is preparing to take another group of dedicated outreach partners to Gutu this July 21 through August 1. Two years ago, Mandinyenya said he had never seen a place that gave medical care and offered prayer as well. Not many medical missions do. As much as we love helping meet the physical and medical needs of the people we meet, we know that their eternity matters even more. That’s why our medical outreaches include a prayer tent with partners who team up with local translators to pray for hurting people and share the Gospel of Yeshua with them. The Lemba of Zimbabwe are a Jewish People who clearly have ties to the ancient Israelites. Since we first went to Zimbabwe, we have seen them come to know their Messiah Yeshua in astounding numbers. Since 2012, 56 new Messianic congregations among the Lemba have formed throughout a number of districts in Zimbabwe. They are growing in the Lord, sharing their faith, and discipling new Believers.

At one Gutu clinic, as lines of people walked toward the clinic to see doctors, dentists, and receive eyeglasses, one man came for a different reason: he came to be immersed. He’d heard the Gospel three months earlier and came to believe in Yeshua. Before that, he identified himself as Muslim, and the Muslim community had been helping him with food and clothing. When he declared his faith in Yeshua, they stopped giving him aid. “I told them they can keep it,” he said. “All I want is Jesus!”

As you can imagine, we’re excited to return to Gutu this July. One of the things that makes our Zimbabwe outreaches even more exciting is that we camp. Whereas for most of our Ethiopia locations we stay in hotels, in Zimbabwe we set up a pretty amazing campground for our partners to call home for the week. You’ve got to see it to believe it, so take a video tour here.

It’s not too late to join us! We’d love to have you on our team! Visit our Gutu outreach page to find out more, or give us a call at 800-299-9374.

Even if you can’t go, you can have a mighty impact through your prayers. We’ll be posting daily prayer points as the outreach draws closer, and you can also sign up for specific times slots on our Outreach Prayer Calendar to help cover Gutu with round-the-clock prayer during the outreach.

For more information about Jewish Voice Ministries outreaches, visit our website at www.jewishvoice.org, or click here.