My wife, Rutendo and I stand in a unique place in our territory.  We were both born and raised in Zimbabwe, Africa. We stared extreme poverty, disease, and hunger in the face daily.  Many nights we went to bed with empty stomachs, only to hear them growl the next morning in class.

The 19th Century Missionary to Southern Africa, David Livingstone once said, “God had an only Son and He made Him a missionary.”  Our Lord Jesus Christ was a missionary to our lost world, and I believe our faith and our corps function best when we are sharing that faith with others and developing a true missionary mindset.   It is only then that we can truly see and appreciate how greatly we have been blessed, and understand how fleeting materialism is.  What we find is that our real wealth comes through a healthy relationship with Christ and our brothers and sisters throughout the world.   We find that we are all called to be missionaries, no matter where we live, and our world is beginning to see that.

And as we stand in between Zimbabwe and the United States, we bring a developing world mindset to a developed world ministry. We understand God wants us to link those two worlds.  We are conduits of grace, linking the material blessings of the developed world with the spiritual blessings of the developing world.

While I do not stare the conditions of my past in the face each day anymore, my friends, relatives, and former corps members do.  Over the years I have lost many relatives and friend to malnutrition, hunger, HIV/AIDS and inadequate medical care.  We bring teams to Zimbabwe not only to provide for some of the needs of Zimbabwe, but to show our teams that they are also losing brothers and sisters in Christ everyday and have the power to do something about it.

This Sunday, we will be bringing in our Global Giving funds, as way to support the various missions through The Salvation Army’s World Services ministry.  Please do not forget to bring your globes.  What else can we do to serve God in this way?

Here are a few other ways you can support The Salvation Army’s World Services ministry:

• Pray for missionaries – their health and effectiveness in mission.
• Write weekly checks for World Services.
• Support The Salvation Army El Cajon’s Zimbabwe Mission Trip team. https://fundly.com/zimbabwe-mission-trip-2015#
• Instead of sending money or prayers, how about you go on a mission trip to serve others?
• Identify specific missionaries send letters/emails of encouragement.
• Send Birthday and/or Christmas gifts to specific missionaries.
• Donate clothes and music instruments for the ZMT team to take to Zimbabwe.
• Sponsor a child, write the child, visit the child.
• Purchase heifers or goats for various families.