Ok, so I have missed writing, sharing the deepest parts of me on paper and, as I do, finding out that, somehow, the deepest parts of all of us are not so different after all… ok, it’s been 6 months. I am appalled, at myself, I guess, I’ll blame Lue :-
) There is so much I could write about. There is so much God has been doing in me as a new wife, in us as a new couple, in me, in us, in SO MANY areas. I guess I would say the theme of the past few months has been growth, for both of us. Growth is evidence of life and it’s exciting to see things grow, to grow…I still remember our honeymoon, counting how many DAYS we’d been married, calling each other husband and wife, writing ‘Zinty Ncube’ instead of ‘Zinty Chasusa’, moving into our first home and unpacking, making my first meal for my husband, going to a high school to minister together for the first time as a married couple, writing songs together, leading the ’band’ together, sharing our dreams, goals, passions, ideas, having our first guest over in our new home, painting our home(quite a few times!:-)), making new friends as a married couple, going to the Couple’s Retreat after just 3 months of marriage, having both our sisters visit us form Swaziland and Zambia, hosting the ‘Swazi team’ for a couple days, family get-togethers, planning events for our young adults group, watching 24 til 3 am, learning about each other and LOVING IT!!!!... growth is also painful…PAIN…a month or so back I had the MOST PAINFUL migraine headache. Oh, it hurt so bad and the more I tried to do something about it, the more it hurt. Lue advised me to just lay still on my back. After a while of resisting:-), I did. Eventually I fell asleep. I woke up in the morning to some mild pain, but it was MUCH BETTER and bearable! The lesson: when in pain, lay still, be still, REST! Of course, if you are like me or any other normal human being:-), you are like, ‘what the heck, that’s the hardest thing to do when you’re in pain!’ I agree. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Tossing, turning, and all kinds of moving around won’t help. It didn’t help me when I tossed and turned my mind to try and ‘figure out’, ‘fix’ or even ‘change’ things. It just made the pain worse… It’s painful to learn that you are not as ‘perfect’ as you thought as marriage ‘exposes’ you, it’s painful to stop arguing when you could easily ‘win’ the argument if you just kept going, it’s painful to say ‘I’m sorry’ about the same thing for the hundredth time, it’s painful to miss family, friends and all that’s familiar, it’s painful to ‘let go’ and fall flat on your face with no guarantee of rising again, it’s painful to give up what you thought was your purpose, it’s painful to lose…but if you just lay still, be still, REST(in Him), soon you would have fallen asleep( in Him) and when you wake up, you’ll find that you have grown because we plant the seed, but IT IS GOD WHO CAUSES IT TO GROW, in His TIME, his WAY, with the AMOUNT OF PAIN THAT HE DEEMS NECESSARY…you can be sure HE WILL CAUSE IT TO GROW!!!

Ministry pt 1...Band

Since being back in Zim the past four or so months,we have been involved in a lot of different areas in terms of ministry. There have been many times when we have had to remind ourselves to 'ease back' into the swing of things especially as we are only in our first year of marriage! :-)

Before we got married, Lungile was already heavily involved in the music ministry at Celebration Church particularly the band. Once we got back, he continued and I joined in! :-) We have been working on intentionally discipling and training new musicians and its been really exciting to see the guys and girls grow as musicians and as believers. One particularly exciting person to watch has been Desley who started out on the congas. The congas had a problem and Desley still wanted to play so he started talking to Lue about learning another instrument. Desley has been playing the bass now for over 3 months and is even participating in the main Sunday Services. He has grown in more ways than one and we have had the awesome privilage of a front row view!

I still remember coming to Zim in December of 2008 and hearing about how the band would do two services every Sunday(3 every weekend including How Mine on Saturday night). They would not only play in 3 different services, but also have to pack, set up, tear down and load equipment as the same set of equipment is used in all the services. I remember thinking that I cannot lift all that stuff, but I can help in some way. Since being back, I have taken upon myself the role of making lunches for the boys every Sunday afternoon. I love it, I feel like a mum(more like big sister! :-)) and it helps me not miss my brothers so much.

One of our goals in terms of the band has been to build the team in terms of people so as to 'share the load'...and to 'share the joy' :-) We are now at a place where we have two full bands that are of good quality and a couple extra people to share. It's exciting to see the team grow and see its effects on the church as a whole.

For me, the boys and girls in the band have become like younger siblings, and being from a large family, it's such a plus! :-) As we pour into these young people, we are learning so much ourselves. Having them around us so often keeps us accountable, knowing every little word and action is impacting someone really keeps us careful and we love that!

So that's it for part 1 of ministry over here! :-) Some pics to conclude ( I guess it wont let me put them here, so you can see them at the top of the blog:-)

Life in Zim...

Almost a month!!!!

On 5 September 2009, we stood before an audience of people that we call friends, people that have become family, people that have walked with us on this journey. We stood before all these people and declared our commitment to one another, our decision to spend the rest of our lives knowing and loving each other more intimately until death do us part! It was the most wonderful day of our lives, and that’s not just because that’s what you are supposed to say about your wedding day. It was an awesome display of His grace, a sweet reminder of His faithfulness, a powerful outpouring of His love! I(Zinty) have never been so calm, happy, relaxed for that long in a long time!!!!:-)I remember walking down the aisle, my dad beside me, my dress tripping me:-), and the man of my real life waiting for me!! (pics are on face book :-))…Today, 25 days later, we are sitting at my husband’s desk that I just got done setting up :-), in awe of the journey He has taken us on. Again, we don’t say that just because it’s what you’re supposed to say. Time and space keep us from sharing every detail, but we will say that He was walked with us step by step, teaching us lessons that will have an eternal impact and bringing us to deeper intimacy with Him and each other. Every day is filled with another opportunity to trust Him, every moment a time to rejoice in the day He has made and celebrate the life we get to live together!!!
A little more detail… 5 September was a beautiful day, the journey that had led to that moment made it even more beautiful, the prayers, love, support, friendship was amazingly overwhelming and all we could do was rejoice and have a blast!!! Becca, Nat, Kristen and Charlie came in from the States(YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST), Zinty’s older sister, aunt and uncle came in from Zambia, Lue’s sister and auntie and church family came in from Zim and then there was all the amazing Swazi residers!:-) The church looked beautiful (thank you Portia, Mary and everyone else who did so much!!!). The program flowed beautifully (Paul, Tye and Lizzy D, YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!). The food was brilliant (thanks to an amazing team of cooking and serving crew!!!). Kay and Kristen made sure the bride looked stunning and the guys made sure Lue looked pretty hot! ;-)SO MANY PEOPLE DID SO MUCH and the entire day was OVERFLOWING WITH LOVE!!!!!!!...
We left for Nelspruit with Mary and Roger that night and had 3 great days of fun. I (Zinty) learned that I am not the only one in this marriage with a competitive spirit :-)…a night in Joburg and then on the train to Cape Town (best train ride ever!!! Not to be confused with Zinty’s train ride to Joburg! :-)). 9 amazing days in Cape Town…beach, train rides….:-), malls, HILLSONG CAPE TOWN(an amazing LOVING church!!!)…etc…plane to Joburg(thank you Jesus for helping us not have to pay for extra weight!!!)…bus to Zim(really long, shady driver :-)…legs in need of some serious stretching!! :-))…
We got to Zim on Saturday the 19th and found more opportunities to trust God for the simple day to day needs…that whole week was a hectic one, but once again a BEUATIFUL DISPLAY OF HIS FAITHFULNESS…Zim reception on Saturday the 26th . So thankful for Mrs.Changara, Auntie Feli who set up twice for one reception!!, Shepherd, Anne and Faith, and the entire Zimbabwe ‘crowd’!!!…yesterday, we unpacked our suitcases and set up house (pics to be on face book soon! :-))…content, happy, aware of the Father’s love, ADVENTOUROUSLY EXPECTING INFINITLEY EYOND OUR WILDEST DREAMS OR IMGAINATIONS (Eph 3:20) because HE IS OUR GOD!!!! …
I( Zinty) am so happy to finally be in Zim, to get to be ‘Jesus with skin on’ to so many in whatever way He asks…and I am learning once again, that His ways are not only higher, but SO SO MUCH BETTER!!!!