“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 when Jewish Voice Ministries helped Mandinyenya. He 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’s 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!”
Why is Jewish Voice Ministries in Gutu, Zimbabwe? Read on…
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! We broke more records that week – including a Jewish Voice Ministries 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 that 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 a 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! 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.
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!”
Jesus Voice Ministries mission is two-fold: Proclaiming the Gospel to the Jew first, and also to the Nations (Romans 1:16), and equipping the Church—providing education about the Hebraic roots of Christianity, the Church’s responsibility to Israel and the Jewish People, and how to share Messiah with the Jewish People. We proclaim the Good News through television, print, humanitarian/medical outreaches, and large-scale international festivals.
Why was Jesus Vice Ministries in Gutu, Zimbabwe?
The Lambe people of Gutu, Zimbabwe are a Jewish People who clearly have ties to the ancient Israelites. They are believed to have fled Jerusalem after the Temple was destroyed around 586 BC. Though not among the traditionally described Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, these Jewish People were scattered when the Southern Kingdom of Judah fell to Babylonia. It is believed they fled Judea and ended up in Yemen. From Yemen they migrated to Africa, eventually settling in Ethiopia and Tanzania. Many left Ethiopia and moved south to Zimbabwe and became known as the Lemba. Seventy percent of the Lemba have tested to possess Cohanim DNA proving their claim to be from the priestly line of Aaron. Beginning with our first trip 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.
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