Chapter 17
My First Testimony
The next day, Sunday August 28th was a big day for me. Today I would give my
testimony for the first time. Needless to say, I was very nervous. The Lord gave me
the words to say, telling about how the Lord had been dealing with me. I told of the
troubles with the kids and how that Lord had given me the gift of seeing them all together
at the alter just before I came to Africa. I also spoke to them of the love that husbands
and wives, children and parents have for each other. I ended with telling them of the love
that Jesus Christ has for his Bride and the love she feels for him. That was my
introduction to the song;
In moments like these, I sing out a song,
I sing out a love song to Jesus.
In moments like these, I lift up my hands,
I lift up my hands to the (my) Lord.
Singing I love You Lord, singing I love You Lord,
Singing I love You, Lord I love You.
Other Voices - Simplicio Shamba
Bro. John came to Zimbabwe in August of 1994. His mission was to wire up the public address system for the Harare Christian Fellowship. I was head trustee and had just taken leave [vacation] so I had all the time in the world to move around with my new friend. During one service day Bro. John gave an item of singing in church. He gave a testimony of his children and broke into tears.
In the end I said more than I planned to during my testimony, including an outline of my affair with Susan. I got pretty emotional during the song but I was able to finish okay. Bro. Peter Mataka was a guest preacher for the sermon and Bro. Jeremiah got up and said a few words also. This was my first experience with talking through and listening to a translator and it went pretty well. It was interesting to hear Bro. Peter preaching because he would switch back and forth between English and Shona, sometimes in the same sentence! It appears that a good translator needs to be anointed by the Lord, just like the pastor.
After the service, I had a most wonderful reception from the people. They all crowded around and thanked me for my testimony. Some of them had, or are having, problems with their kids and we talked over some of their concerns. Color made no difference, we were just Christian parents trying to raise our kids up the best that we know how. I knew that there would be lots of kids at the church because most of the people in Zimbabwe have large families. I had seen about 20 sets of double-decked cribs in the nursery, and I came prepared. In my Bible case I had stuffed as much hard candy as I could. I made the little ones come up and shake my hand so that I could say, God Bless You, before I would give it to them. What made this interesting was I attempted to say God Bless You in Shona - Mwari Akuro Bahfadzei (mah’ra a-kou’ ro ba-fad’ za). It went over pretty well - once some the kids got the candy, it wasn't long before I had swarms of them around me, and I loved it. The little girls would kind of curtsey and the little boys would just have big grins.
I was interested in the comments that Bro. Jeremiah made during the service. He said that, "If children are not disciplined at home, the church becomes a house of judgement instead of a house of salvation." To me that was a very powerful statement. After the service I met a couple of really sweet young ladies. They introduced me to their mother and I got to visit with them for a few minutes. They apparently were from Mozambique and her husband is an alcoholic. They have six children and she is having to support the family. She appreciated my testimony and I was able to share that I believed that the righteous prayers of my wife were instrumental in saving our marriage and my subsequent return to the Lord. This lady's situation had been going on for thirteen years!
This church does something I
hadn’t thought of before coming to Zimbabwe. As I mentioned, this is a large
church, about 1200 members. The majority of them do not have personal vehicles nor do the Emergency
Taxis come to the area of the 
church. Therefore, most
of the people walk to and from the closest bus stop, about 1 mile away, and from there
take a bus to wherever they live. Because of that, and the fact that they have two
services on Sunday, the church has a small kitchen and they provide some of the food for
the people between services. The morning service starts about 9:30AM and goes until 12-1
PM. They then have their lunch, sort of a picnic, and the afternoon service starts at
3:00PM, lasting until about 5:00PM. I never got to eat with the people.
I was always treated special and taken out to lunch and dinner. I really would have liked
to visit with them between the services.
We went to lunch at a restaurant called Nandos. It is one of the few fast food places in Harare and so was very crowded. Nandos is sort of a Zimbabwean version of Kentucky Fried Chicken. The chicken is a little more spicy than I usually like but I survived anyway. There are a number of restaurants in Harare, but fewer of the fast food places than we are accustomed to. Most of the people cannot afford to eat out that often, so I guess they prefer to go to sit-down restaurants when they do go out.
The character of most of the people that I met was just wonderful. They were, for the most part, cheerful and kind, especially when I tried my stumbling attempts at the Shona language and always seemed ready for a joke and a quick smile. Rarely did I see anyone there that was cranky or unhappy. This doesn’t mean that my stay was altogether perfect. I was immersed in a totally different culture than what I was used to. I am a pretty punctual person and so the Zimbabwe concept of time was an irritation to me, although they would probably consider our lifestyle as pretty hectic. You know, I think they would be pretty close to the truth. We had another wonderful service and a pleasant dinner at the Harare Sheraton hotel. Oh! Wonderful cooking and dining more like what I am used to.
We had a slight problem with the sound system with static being introduced by the step-down transformer we were using for our mixing board. Bro. Shamba and I spent Monday traveling around locating a shielded unit that I hoped would solve the problem.
Other Voices - Simplicio Shamba
There was a humming sound being produced by the transformers. John phoned Linda, his wife, and instructed her what to buy us using her money for our PA system. This showed me that John Low was sold out to the cause of Jesus Christ. In that same package John had Linda send gifts for various Brothers and Sisters whom he had met and were needy.
John and I used to go to various food outlets for lunch and supper. He is a man who really enjoys his food. He liked Nandos best. In some places he would pay for the food and I did in other places as well.
By this time Bro. Shamba and I were becoming close friends. We
teased each other and shared jokes with each other. He seemed to like to listen to gospel
music tapes and so we sang on the way to many of the places we went. He has a much sweeter
voice than I do, but I can sure make a lot of noise so the volume level in the small
pickup we were using was usually pretty deafening. I got to meet his wife, Sister
Beatrice, who was pregnant with their 4th child. A real sweet lady.
I would like to share this one incident with you. A number of us went to the Harare Sheraton for a buffet dinner. As we left, they had a bowl of mints by the front desk. We all grabbed one or two on the way out, but not Bro. Shamba. In that big old hand of his he glommed onto a whole fistful and I have never quit teasing him about it since. What a wonderful friend he is!
As a thank you for my coming
to Zimbabwe to work on their sound system, Bro. Jeremiah and the church bought me a round
trip ticket to fly to Victoria Falls and Kariba, two of the magnificent sights in
Zimbabwe. I had been planning to go, but I sure was embarrassed to have them pay for the
trip. While Zimbabwe is a beautiful country and has many wonderful things to see and do, I
was most interested in visiting with my African brothers and sisters - seeing how they
worship and worshipping with them.
