Passing It On - LTLA Update - May 2025

Important Donation Notice: When making donations to Life to Life Africa, checks need to be made out to Life to Life Ministries with "Africa" written in the memo line. Our organization is registered as Life to Life Ministries with the IRS and our bank needs checks made out to our registered name. See below our updated giving instructions. Thank you for your attention to this change. Greetings LTLA Friends, As the university semesters come to an end here in the US this month, so do most of the semesters in Zimbabwe. The LTLA teams in Chinhoyi and Mutare have been busy passing on the good news of Jesus and discipling students this semester. Here are reports from Chinhoyi and Mutare: Chinhoyi University of Technology Ministry Zviko Charariza, LTLA college ministry leader in Chinhoyi, shares that he is encouraged by two students in particular who have demonstrated an eagerness to know Christ more deeply this semester. Emmanuel, who hails from Bulawayo (the second largest city in the south of Zimbabwe) and is from the Ndebele tribe, has been discipled by Arthur Nhau, LTLA Director in Zimbabwe. Emmanuel is soft spoken but demonstrates faithfulness, availability and teachableness- a FAT guy. Arthur says he is moving toward being a man of FAITH, as he has the H- heart for God & people, but just needs to add the I- initiative to minister to people. Would you pray for Emmanuel as Arthur maintains contact with him from a distance as he will be away for a one year internship?

Emmanuel (right) with Daniel who visited from Iowa last year.

The other student who has proved to be a FAT person, is Eva. She faithfully has been attending the weekly meetings and inviting others to join. LTLA college ministry co-leader, Marvelous Makumbirofa, hopes to begin meeting with her for discipleship next semester. Would you pray that Eva avails herself for discipleship especially since it will be her final semester?

Eva (left) participating in a game during the weekly fellowship meeting.

Marvelous shared the photo below of the recent ladies fellowship outing. These ladies are all involved in discipling relationships with Marvelous as well as Stella and Prestege, the other LTLA Training Ministry team members. Marvelous highlighted that in this photo, Mitchell invited her fellow first year classmate Precious, to our ministry fellowship and Miriam invited Faith. Fadzai and Rumbidzai have actively been inviting friends to join our ministry fellowship. Aleta is the spiritual "daughter" and "granddaughter" of two former students who were discipled through our ministry.  As you can see God is blessing the ministry with women of FAITH. Would you pray for continued fruitfulness among the women on campus and that God would raise up men of FAITH (Faithful, Available, Initiators, Teachable, Heart for God & people)?

(L to R) Daisy, Mirriam, Mitchell, Faith,Fadzai, Rumbidzai, Marvelous, Stella, Precious and Aleta.

Mutare - Manicaland State University of Applied Sciences Simba Mangore. LTLA Mutare Ministry Director, reports that the Lord has given him twelve students to intentionally disciple at Manicaland State University of Applied Sciences (MSUAS).  They have hosted many students at their home for fellowship gatherings as seen from the photos below.

Fun Mutare student ministry gathering.

Mutare guys gathering.

Simba asks for your prayers as he plans to expand ministry efforts to Mutare Polytechnic, where Tinotenda from Chinhoyi is enrolled. Tinotenda has established relationships with classmates this semester so is ready to begin gathering students for Bible studies. Simba also asks for prayers for the following FAITHful students with whom he plans to meet weekly on the weekends next semester to equip them for ministry at MSUAS.

Lucy. Tino & Panashe will be second year Accounting students next semester at MSUAS.

Faith will be a second year accounting student next semester at MSUAS.

Emmanuel will be a fourth year student studying software engineering at MSUAS.

Simba shared the following verses that he is asking God to fulfill as he serves the Lord in Mutare: Genesis 26:4, Isaiah 43:4, Isaiah 46:4, Exodus 4:12 and Hebrews 11:8. I encourage you to look up these verses which proclaim God's promises. Like Abraham, Simba moved to a new place last year not knowing what to expect. The Lord has blessed him for stepping out in faith. Trusting the Lord's Promises, Mike Sulc Life to Life Ministries, Africa Director 515-520-3607

IMPORTANT: Donation Clarification for Life to Life Africa & Mike Sulc

Dear Donors,

Thank you for your faithful support of Life to Life Africa and of me as I direct this ministry to orphans, widows and the poor as well as to college students in Zimbabwe. The Lord has sustained our ministry efforts through your prayerful support for more than twenty years. Thank you!!

I am writing to inform you that donations made for the work of Life to Life Africa and to Mike Sulc will need to be made out to Life to Life Ministries with "Africa" or "Mike Sulc" written in the memo line to designate the gift accordingly. Our ministry is registered as Life to Life Ministries with the IRS and our bank needs donations made out to the name listed on our account. The bank is stepping up their security measures due to increased fraud in the banking sector. They had allowed donations made out to Life to Life Africa in the past but they can no longer allow that.

You may have recurring payments set up through your bank's Bill Pay system to send donations, so please make sure the donations are being made to Life to Life Ministries with a designation of "Africa" or "Mike Sulc" in the memo line. If you wish to split your donation between the Africa and the Sulc accounts you can include a note specifying the amount to each. Thank you for your attention to this change. I am sorry for the inconvenience it may cause. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Grateful for your faithful, generous, and prayerful partnership!!

Mike Sulc
Life to Life Ministries - Africa Director
515-520-3607

Harvest Time - LTLA Update - April 2025

 

Greetings Friends, As farmers are now planting their crops here in the US, crops are being harvested in Zimbabwe. Thank you for your prayers for rain in Zimbabwe! The Lord provided abundant rain which has produced a bumper harvest. It is a huge blessing after the severe drought last year prevented anything from growing. Below you will find photos of a few family members Life to Life Africa has trained with their bumper corn harvest. It is encouraging to see smiles as they rejoice in the fruit of their labor. We are also seeing a spiritual harvest among children and young people after the Love Zimbabwe Festival and sharing with them the meaning of Easter. (See photos and a video below) Thank you for your prayers for the evangelism efforts during the Love Zimbabwe Festival. Please pray for the critical follow up being done by our team and all the churches involved. Just as it takes the blessing of God for the right conditions along with the hard work of cultivating, planting, weeding and harvesting the crops we grow, we see the same need for God's blessing and our work to see a spiritual harvest in the lives of people. Thankfully our work is empowered by God's Spirit which enables us to see a fruitful harvest in people's lives.  We are also encouraged to see a harvest of generosity among our team and those we serve as they put into practice and share the lessons learned from the Biblical generosity training. During "bring and share" times, people are giving clothing, vegetables, and kitchen utensils among other things to one another. It is very encouraging to see God's heart of generosity taking root in the lives of our team and those we serve. Enjoy below photos and a video of harvest time in Zimbabwe:

Some family members in their corn plots.

Some of the corn harvested at the LTLA Community Center.

The Love Zimbabwe Festival stage in Chinhoyi.

A lot of young people attended the Love Zimbabwe Festival.

Some of the LTLA youth who attended the Love Zimbabwe Festival.

Prestege (LTLA team member), first from the right, performing on stage with one of the musical artists during the Love Zimbabwe Festival.

Prestege (LTLA team member) taught the hand gestures for Matthew 5:14 to the LTLA youth as they recited the verse.

These children prayed to receive Christ the Saturday before Easter after being told what Jesus did for them.

Rejoicing in the Lord's harvest, Mike Sulc Life to Life Africa

Generosity - LTLA Update - March 2025

 

Greetings LTLA Friends, As we approach Easter, we celebrate the extraordinarily generous nature of God. Through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ we are the recipients of God generously extending his mercy and grace to forgive us of our sins. We see God's generous character in creation and throughout the pages of the Bible. Two weeks ago, our team explored in greater detail God's generous nature and were trained with tools to disciple people in the area of generosity. Generous Church, an organization committed to inspiring and empowering believers to live generously so they can impact their communities, provided two facilitators from Kenya to conduct a two day seminar on Biblical generosity with our LTLA team. They were trained in using the Stations of Generosity Bible study, which uses song, hand motions, drama, testimonies, and facilitated discussions to explore God's generous nature with those whom we are discipling. The facilitators were encouraged by the team's preparation and excitement to engage in the training as they had examined this topic prior to the training. As our team is personally impacted by God's generosity, it is our prayer that their example of generosity will have a multiplying effect among those they are discipling. This week, from April 3-6, the Love Zimbabwe Festival will be taking place in Chinhoyi. Three LTLA team members along with some young people from our Chosen Generation group have been participating in preparation activities for this event. Kubamba, a ministry from Kenya that focuses on reaching young people for Christ, has been providing training in using drama, dance, and digital media to share the Gospel. Marvelous and Tatenda, LTLA team members, received drama training and participated in one Gospel drama at a downtown clean up campaign where many responded in receiving Christ. Prestege, another LTLA team member, received dance training and will participate in the festival with the dance team.  These team members are excited to use these skills they have gained in our ministry efforts with youth and young people. They are also excited, together with young people from our Chosen Generation group, to share Christ during the Love Zimbabwe Festival. Would you join us in praying that many, young and old, will respond to the great news of Jesus Christ? And pray for the critically important work of discipleship that will take place with those who respond to follow Christ. So, March was a good training month for the LTLA team. We look forward to how the Lord will continue to minister through them as they use these trainings in their evangelism and discipleship efforts. Below you can see photos and a video from the Biblical generosity training along with photos from the downtown Chinhoyi Cleanup Campaign for the Love Zimbabwe Festival. Grateful for your partnership with us in prayer and financial support! Mike Sulc Life to Life Africa

LTLA team members learning the hand motions associated with the Stations of Generosity Bible study.

LTLA team members working in groups during the Stations of Generosity training.

A Generosity diagram shared during the Stations of Generosity training.

LTLA team members acting out the good Samaritan story during the Stations of Generosity training. Other team members are singing, "Love is not love until you help somebody, until you give it away, and you know that love."

Prestege (in the center) participated in the Youth Praise &  Worship Bash during the downtown Chinhoyi Cleanup Campaign for the Love Zimbabwe Festival.

Tatenda (kneeling) participated in the God's Love drama during the downtown Chinhoyi Cleanup Campaign for the Love Zimbabwe Festival.

God Hears - LTLA Update - February 2025

 

Greetings from rainy Zimbabwe, When arriving here last week, Shelton, LTLA Community Ministry team leader, informed me that the crops needed rain. Well, the Lord heard the prayers and has answered bountifully. We have had a lot of rain and we were blessed the other day with the reminder of God's faithfulness as a brilliant rainbow graced the sky over the Life to Life Africa Community Center as seen in the photo below.

Rainbow over the LTLA Community Center.

There was concern in Chinhoyi that the rains would miss this area as it seemed like the southern part of the country was getting all the rain. But God heard their cry and has provided timely rain. When it rains, there are even more power cuts which affects pumping water in the city. That is affecting our operations for the Critical Care Center ministry to preschool orphans.  Twice per week, we are transporting water in containers from our Community Center where we use a generator to pump water from our well when there is no electricity. These challenges are leading us to consider drilling a well at our Critical Care Center as well as installing solar power at our Community Center and our third ministry location where we serve the other side of town. With support from Hopevale Church, that location has a well and we have solar power at our Critical Care Center.

(L to R) Arthur, LTLA Director in Zimbabwe, with Tatenda & Letwin, transferring water from containers on our truck to containers at our Critical Care Center.

The challenges are ever present in Zimbabwe, even in the midst of the blessings.. It causes the LTLA team to be dependent upon the Lord on a daily basis. The LTLA Community Ministry team begins and ends the week in prayer as seen in the photo below. There were two team members absent, Itai due to the death of her daughter-in-law from complications in delivering her first child and the other due to a bad bacterial infection on a finger. Unfortunately, these situations are common in Zimbabwe where medical care is poor. Thankfully the LTLA Clinic doctor caught the bad infection on Otillia's finger.

LTLA Community Ministry team praying yesterday.

You can join us in prayer during the month of March for two items. First is the Love Zimbabwe Festival that will be held in Chinhoyi April 3-6. Many churches in Chinhoyi are collaborating with this evangelistic event. LTLA will provide some discipleship training as churches prepare to follow-up those who respond to the Gospel. Would you pray for lasting fruit from this festival?

Marvelous (left), LTLA Training Ministry team member, helped with translation and participated in this evangelism demonstration at the Love Zimbabwe Festival evangelism & discipleship training.

Secondly, we have learned of an opportunity to share the Gospel with a Mapostori group from Mutare, where LTLA team members Simba & Pamela are ministering. Mapostori is the largest religious group in Zimbabwe. They mix traditional African religion with some Christian teaching, but they typically do not allow their members to read the Bible. It sounds like God's Spirit is moving in this group as an influential member has been impacted by the truth of Christ. Would you pray that the door for sharing the Gospel with this Mapostori group remains open and that the leaders would turn to Christ? If the leaders receive Christ, they will have a big influence upon the members. Thank you for praying with us to our God who hears, Mike Sulc Life to Life Africa

Here are some additional photos:

Mr. Chigwida holding the first eggs from his hens with his wife and Shelton, LTLA Community Ministry team leader, along with him. He is retiring from serving with LTLA, so we have helped him establish an egg business to provide him retirement income.

The LTLA ladies continue with their sewing projects on Mondays. Shelton & Tinotenda's young daughter, Kunashe, in the foreground keeps everyone entertained with her jabering.

A full room of kids at the LTLA Critical Care Center.

Patricia busy cooking for the Critical Care children.

I was really encouraged by the interaction among the LTLA Chosen Generation group. These young people have good insights from God's Word.

There is a new batch of broiler chickens. The heat light was off due to a power outage, which is common when it rains. The frequent power outages have caused us to lose some of the chicks. We will try starting them inside a room in our triplex and put buckets with hot coals near their enclosure to keep them warm.

Mr. Lunga washing the feeders and waterers for the broiler chickens in preparation of new batches of chickens. We are planning to do batches of 50 every 2-3 weeks.

Unloading corn meal and cabbages for the LTLA food distribution.

The packed church for the Love Zimbabwe Festival evangelism and discipleship training.

Corn & Chicken Production - LTLA Update - January 2025

 

New Year Greetings! We are extremely grateful to everyone who made year end contributions to Life to Life Africa. Your support and that of our faithful monthly partners enables us to start another year of ministry among vulnerable people in Zimbabwe, where last year the inflation rate reached 635%, highest in the world. We ask for your continued prayers as we come alongside increasing numbers of hurting people who are struggling to survive with no hope in sight for an improved economy. Thankfully it appears like this year there is hope for a harvest of corn, the staple food. Last year the country experienced a severe drought, but there has been more rain so far this year, though erratic, and some farmers had to replant. With our new drip irrigation system, we have been able to ensure a good harvest of corn at our LTLA Community Center. The three plots for planting are filled with corn, as you can see in the photos below. We estimate that it will supply the corn meal needs for the LTLA Critical Care Center that feeds 30 pre-school orphans along with our team of 20 people for a year, as well as helping feed some of the batches of broiler chickens we are now raising.

From our first batch of 100 broiler chickens, we sold 60 and will use 12 for our ministry needs. We lost 28 but heard that some people lost half of their batches. There was a rush to produce day-old chicks in preparation for Christmas and it is believed that impacted the quality and health of the chickens. Our plan is now to begin with batches of 50 chickens every three weeks to ensure we have a steady supply and then increase the number as our market grows. We have purchased a large freezer where we will store chickens, as butchered and frozen chicken sells at a higher price. Most people purchase live chickens and butcher themselves. LTLA team member Tatenda, shown in the photo below, was our first customer buying two chickens. We sold the chickens for $6 each.

Tatenda holding the two broiler chickens he bought.

Freezer for storing butchered chickens.

Video of the broiler chickens nearing maturity and point of sale. Video Link: https://youtube.com/shorts/ehPoDXyh1q0

Thank you for your prayers for our corn and chicken production along with our ministry efforts among the vulnerable in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe. By His grace, Mike Sulc Life to Life Africa

Life Changing Investment - LTLA Update - December 2024

 

Dear LTLA Partners, Since Thanksgiving, I have been sharing with you words of gratitude for Life to Life Africa from those to whom we minister. I would like to share a few more words of gratitude for the impact that your support is having in the lives of the next generation in Zimbabwe. Through your prayers and financial investment lives are being changed.

Tambuzai Perego

My name is Tambuzai Perego. My husband and I have been blessed to be discipled by the Life to Life Ministry through our involvement in the Women and Men of Hope meetings. We are growing in our relationship with Christ which is helping our marriage. Due to our financial hardships, the ministry has also cared for our two children as they attend the (LTLA) Critical Care Center where they receive two meals each day and are taught about God. They are also prepared well to begin school and our older child is now attending first grade. We are grateful to Life to Life for helping our whole family. The following two young girls are part of our Children of Hope ministry to those who live near and make a living collecting recyclable materials from the landfill just outside Chinhoyi.

Janet Mutsago

My name is Janet Mutsago. I am so grateful for Life to Life because two years ago I was not going to school and now with the help of the ministry I have been attending school for two years. I can now read and write. The weekly Bible studies have helped me learn how to pray and talk with God. The lessons on forgiveness and obedience have really helped me with my anger issues. I am so glad to see the positive changes in my life.

Margaret Banda

My name is Margaret Banda, I am thankful that Life to Life is paying for my school fees so I can go to school. The Bible studies have taught me more about God and how to be obedient. I am most thankful that I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior at one of the Bible studies. Below are words expressed to me by Tinotenda Kakusa in a handwritten letter he gave me on my last trip to Zimbabwe. Tinotenda is an orphan to whom we have ministered since he was in high school. With the help of a sponsor, the ministry has supported him as he pursues his mechanical engineering degree. Next year he will attend the Mutare Polytechnic where he will help LTLA team member, Simba, launch a ministry on that campus.

Mike with Tinotenda Kakusa

"I am deeply grateful to Life to Life in spreading the Word of God in Zimbabwe and serving people in need here. The impact of the ministry extended to me as I gave my life to Christ and have been challenged to grow as a disciple of Christ. I now have the opportunity to continue my education and to spread the Gospel with others. The guidance and mentoring I have received has been invaluable. As I reflect on the impact of the ministry, I am reminded of the profound difference it has made. The investment has sparked a fire in us that burns brightly and compels us to share the Word with others. Remember that the labor in the Lord is not in vain. You are shaping lives, including mine, for eternal purposes. Keep shining God's light into our lives and keep in mind that we are committed to carrying the torch forward. Thank you again for sharing the beacon of hope with us, Jesus Christ." Yes, thank you for your partnership that enables us to share the great news of Jesus Christ and to help those in need carry the light of the Gospel forward in this dark world. Mike Sulc Life to Life Africa