First Time Ever

For the first time ever, LTLA was able to have an information table during orientation week at Chinhoyi University of Technology! Our ministry team was able to connect with 69 first year students, and of those 69, ten students have become active in attending our weekly Bible study. Pray with us that these and other students would encounter Christ, respond in following Him and be equipped to become laborers in His Kingdom.

You may recall that our ministry team was restricted in their presence on campus last semester. The university chaplain, an Evangelical Church of Zimbabwe pastor in Chinhoyi, was influential in enabling us to participate in the orientation week. We are grateful for his friendship and for the Evangelical Church with whom we collaborate well for the cause of Christ. They are holding strong to the purity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a time when the prosperity gospel is infiltrating churches.

We were encouraged by two student leaders in our ministry, Mike and Theodora, who joined the ministry team at the orientation table. Mike was led to Christ by Ezra, an Iowa State Univ student, who served with a Navigators team in 2017. Join us in praying that more students will join our ministry team in evangelism and discipling efforts on campus.

LTLA college ministry team members and two student leaders met incoming first year students during orientation week at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT). (Standing L to R: Mike (CUT student), Stella, Gogo Mildred, Theodora (CUT student), Otillia, Marvelous; Kneeling: Zviko (left) and Tatenda)

Zviko, Theodora (CUT student), Otillia & Tatenda at the LTLA orientation table at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT)

Community Impact 

You may also recall that in May the Life to Life Ministry team from University of Central Florida encouraged the LTLA team in their evangelism efforts. Since then, the LTLA team has led the following young adults to Christ: Junior, Levenia and Mildred, as well as Gogo Rice, a grandmother. The team also has come alongside the following young adult "spiritual orphans" in discipling relationships: Privilege, Abraham, Tawanda and Divine. Please pray that the LTLA team will establish these new believers in their relationships with Christ and that they would progress toward being equipped to labor for Christ.

What is especially encouraging is that the full LTLA ministry team is engaging in these efforts. The older team members have been receiving more in-depth evangelism and discipleship training this year. They have paired up with younger team members, going out two by two as Jesus sent out his disciples. We are excited to see the impact that the LTLA team is having in the Chinhoyi community!

Life to Life Africa Team

Thank you for holding us up in prayer!
Mike Sulc
Life to Life Africa

Stewardship Training & Refreshment

Dear LTLA Friends,

Thank you for your prayers for me to be encouraged in and guided by the Lord! I am experiencing encouragement and guidance in my personal life as well as in my leadership of Life to Life Africa. Thank you for supporting me and this ministry by asking our Lord to remind me of his good promises that tell us "darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you." (Isaiah 60:2)

The remainder of Isaiah 60 & 61, speak of our hope in what God has done and will continue to do in establishing His kingdom. God is indeed taking the least in Zimbabwe and multiplying their lives spiritually. (Isaiah 60:22) The good news of Jesus Christ is being preached, the brokenhearted are being bound up, prisoners to sin and darkness are being freed, those mourning and without are experiencing comfort and provision. (Isaiah 61:1-2) These ones, who God calls oaks of righteousness, are seeing their beauty in God's eyes and they are filled with joy which leads them to praise God instead of living in despair. (Isaiah 61:3)

The next verses in Isaiah 61 speak of how his people will rebuild, restore and renew as well as how they will be ministers of our God. (Isaiah 61:4,6) Below are updates that tell how God is equipping the LTLA team to function in these ways.

Stewardship Training 

Shelton, LTLA team member, as well as Park and Tyler, ministry contacts in Malawi, graduated on August 31, in Blantyre, Malawi from the Crown Ministries Training of Trainers course. The six week course objective is to equip the trainees to become "faithful stewards of the natural, financial and human resources that God has entrusted to [them] with the expectation that [they] will use [their] expertise to train others." The core values of the training are: Christ-Centeredness, Faithfulness, Excellence, and Servanthood. They were trained in the following areas: Personal Finances, Personality Trait Assessment, Character First, Sustainable Farming, Composting, Vegetable & Mushroom Production, Bee Keeping, Farm Planning and Life Skill Training.

Crown Stewardship School Graduation Invitation

Shelton (right) participating in sustainable farming training at the Crown Stewardship School.

Bee Keeping Training at the Crown Stewardship School.

Shelton shares how even human waste can be redeemed for use as fertilizer. 

(Video cuts off short before he can fully explain the compost toilet concept. 

See photo explanation below.)

The three types of compost toilets that Shelton showed in the video:

 

They are extremely grateful and encouraged by the intensive training they received. These are very practical and sustainable projects that they are equipped to implement, which will supply food and income. As they embark in these projects and develop in skill they will be able to train others to duplicate these enterprises. Along with the practical training, Shelton highlighted the following as the key lessons learned:

The Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the foundation of everything as it redeems our relationship with God and empowers us to live the life God created us to live.

Faithfulness and Good Stewardship. We are not owners but stewards of all that God has given us. He will bless us with more to steward as we are faithful to him and his ways.

Integrity. We are accountable to God in everything. Just as he has shown himself to be trustworthy so should we in all aspects of life.

Biblical Principles. The Bible speaks to how we are to live and it guides us in our every endeavor, whether personal or a business effort.

We are eager to see how the Lord uses this training to advance God's kingdom through LTLA in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, and through the ministry efforts of Park & Tyler in their communities in Malawi. Pray with us to see lives transformed as the Gospel of Jesus Christ is declared through these stewardship projects.

Tyler, Park, & Shelton (l to r) attended the 6-week Training of Trainers Course at Crown Ministries Stewardship School in Blantyre, Malawi

Refreshment in Ministry 

Arthur & Mildred Nhau, LTLA Director in Zimbabwe, were refreshed and encouraged in their labors for the Lord by attending a reunion conference in Nigeria of all the people who have been trained there for ministry. Arthur and Mildred were trained in Nigeria by Musa & Regina Yashim during 2013-2014. Musa & Regina were trained by Ron & Mary Ann Shimkus in the early 1980s.

Here is what Arthur reported from their experience: "What stood out for us was to observe different age groups who are still pursuing the great commission. It was encouraging to listen to others share their joys and frustrations in ministry and how God has been faithful to his promises." Would you pray for Arthur & Mildred as they continue providing leadership to the LTLA team in Chinhoyi and the ministry efforts we are undertaking there?

Nigeria Training Reunion group photo.

For God's kingdom & glory,
Mike Sulc
Life to Life Africa