Extreme Poverty Overflowing into Generosity, and Another Adventure Begins

July 17, 2015

"Mike, it is a blessing to have you and your friends worshiping with us today," was the welcome that Tyler, Rod, Harold, and I received from Pastor Philip while attending the worship service at Tabernacle of David in Chinhoyi during our trip in May. What transpired next continues to blow me away. "Mike, God is directing us to give our entire offering today to your ministry," he informs us, stunning me as I shed tears of disbelief and joy, holding a bag full of money.

He said God had been laying 2 Corinthians 8:2 on his heart in the midst of the current economic situation in Zimbabwe. It is probably the lowest point that the country has been in, with the closing of so many companies this year due to the scarcity of cash and lack of investment into the country. This has been brought on by new government policies. Through these very trying times, we are witnessing God develop deep faith in Himself among His people in Zimbabwe. What a blessing for us to experience what Paul spoke of in 2 Corinthian 8:2, "In a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity."

Rod, Tyler, and Mike (back row, L-R), Pastor Philip and wife Hanilee, and Harold (front row, L-R)

This update is long overdue. Thank you for your prayers for the men who joined me on my last trip! Thomas, Life to Life staff from Florida, and Tyler, an ISU student, invested a lot of time in ministering to the young people in Chinhoyi, which infused the team with enthusiasm.

Thomas (back, middle) and Tyler (kneeling at right) with the LTLA Ministry Team at Chinhoyi University of Techonology

Rod and Harold, from Hopevale Church in Michigan, worked tirelessly to prepare the triplex building at the Community Center so we can house more young people for ministry training. The electrician, Mr. Phiri, whom Rod worked with, joined us for morning devotions. He said, "I have heard things that I have never heard before." He wants to continue reading the Bible with the men in Chinhoyi.

Harold Tiling the Bathroom

Rod Wiring for Electricity

While there, 3 more men from the Men of Hope group entered into a relationship with Christ! Further evidence of what God is doing through severe affliction in Zimbabwe. Do pray for these men to be established in their new faith, and that their joy in Christ will draw others into life that is everlasting.

Harold and Ron (L-R) standing with New Believers in LTLA's Men of Hope Ministry:
Misters Ephraim, Philiko, and Marume (L-R)

The triplex building that Rod and Harold worked on so diligently can also house visiting groups, which will happen July 18 - 28 when a group of 7 from Hopevale church comes to serve. These 2 women and 5 men will help break ground on the new Life Discipleship Center, along with engaging in ministry activities with the LTLA team. I will also be traveling to Chinhoyi with the group from Hopevale, and will remain through August 7 to work with the LTLA team there. Pray for safety, productivity, rich fellowship, and learning for all involved as we experience God working in and through us.

Grader Leveling the Site for the Life Discipleship Center

Adventurers Welcome! LTLA Prayer Bulletin

May 21, 2015 

On May 21, three adventurers will join me in traveling to Zimbabwe. I am excited to have Tyler Marshall, an ISU student, along with Harold Dost & Rod Kwaiser from Hopevale Church joining me. I know they will be a blessing to have in serving the ministry in Chinhoyi and know that they will be blessed by the experience.

Tyler will be in Zimbabwe for 11 weeks as he completes a 6 week internship requirement for his major and volunteers with LTLA for 5 weeks. His internship will be with Foundations for Farming, the organization which provided training for the corn plot project we are conducting with the families we serve. Harold and Rod will be assisting in completion of plumbing work at our triplex building along with helping break ground for the new Life Discipleship Center.

Thomas Gilbert, the Life to Life Ministry Campus Director at Univ of Central Florida, will be joining us in Chinhoyi as well. He and I will then travel to Uganda on June 6, where we will visit Matt & Laura Bubalo, Life to Life Ministry missionaries. They recently settled in Mbale and are serving with Jenga, a Christian community development organization. We want to experience what God is doing there and encourage them in their service for our Lord.

Thank you for your prayers for Tyler, Harold, Rod, Thomas and myself, fellow adventurers in God's kingdom work.


For His Kingdom & Glory,

Mike Sulc
Life to Life Africa

In Arthur's Words

May 20, 2015 


We are passing along to you a ministry update provided by Arthur Nhau, director of Life to Life Africa-Chinhoyi:

Greetings, as I look back I can’t believe it’s been almost six months since we left Minna, Nigeria. I have been greatly encouraged by the other trainees who were together with us in Nigeria as they share what they are trusting God for and now as we try by God’s grace to put into practice what we learned on how to do and think ministry. 

One of my major highlights so far in coming coming back home knowing that Paul (Uncle Ron Shimkus) is gone and that I left Barnabas (Uncle Musa Yashim) back in Minna. But I have been encouraged by Exodus 4:12, when God told Moses “ Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” One promise that has kept me going is Genesis 12:1-3 and I’m beginning to see it unfold with relationships that God has given me and continues to give me. 

One of the encouragements so far has been Campus and the joy of seeing the excitement of the LTLA team when they make new contacts and to see their disappointment when they struggle to follow up student. We continue to learn together that without God, it is impossible to do evangelism and that indeed “no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him." 

Shelton finished college last year and has joined our LTLA team. He has really pushed me as he is zealous and wants to learn. I am really ​encouraged as we learn together. I am praying that he will continue to live in Christ, rooted and built up in Him.

Arthur (L) and Shelton (R) on campus at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT)

Lunga, who I am also discipling, is leading a group of elderly men called the “Men of Hope.” This year six men have given their lives to Christ. Please pray that Lunga and these men will continue to delight in the Lord.

New Believers among Men of Hope, with Lunga (third from left)

Men of Hope group meeting

On Campus, we started a bible study group this semester. A first year student, Ericsson, seems really interested in knowing the Lord. Pray that he continues to believe the scriptures.

LTLA Discipleship Team at CUT
(L-R: Anna holding Daisy, Mildred, Arthur, Gogo Mildred, Simba, Shelton, Otillia)

As a family, we have settled well. We are grateful to the daily bread that the Lord continues to provide for us. My wife, Mildred, is really enjoying doing ministry with high school and college girls and she is now teaching our children to memorize scripture. I am really grateful on how we are complementing each other as a couple. 


Humbled by His Great Love, 

Arthur and Mildred

Chosen Generation Bible Study (young adult orphan group)

Prayer Needs, and Exciting News in Zimbabwe

April 15, 2015 


In the days that followed the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ascension to heaven, the disciples "joined together constantly in prayer." (Acts 1:14) During one of these prayer gatherings God filled them with the Holy Spirit, and the result is that you and I today have heard the great news of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.

God continues to work today through the lives of people who pray to Him and are filled with His Spirit. Would you pray and ask the Lord to fill the Life to Life Africa team in Chinhoyi with His Spirit so that His kingdom would grow there, dispelling the hopelessness of so many?

Please pray for the 90 families that planted plots of corn this year, that they place their hope in God even as it appears that their harvest will be meager. The country has experienced a drought and not all of the families were able to provide a mulch cover to preserve what little moisture there was in the soil. The grass and leftover corn plants from the year before tend to be burned, a common planting custom that is hard to stop there. When one does try to use grass clippings and old corn plants as mulch they may find that someone sets it on fire as they hunt for rodents to eat. Do pray for our team and the families we serve as they educate others in how to effectively grow crops.

Below you see Veronica Ndlovu, a widow, at her corn plot last month. She weeded her plot well but did not provide a mulch cover. You can see the condition of her 3 month old corn. Next month they will harvest what little corn they get. Last year we were able to stop our twice monthly food distribution to these families for 4 months, as their corn harvests yielded a four-month supply. They will be doing well if they get a 2 month harvest this year.

Jesus said we would still face trials as his kingdom has not yet been fully realized, but he has provided his resurrection power to confront the challenges we face. May we follow the example of the first disciples to "constantly pray," worshiping our Lord and asking that His kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven.


Exciting News: Jonathan Govero's Wedding

Jonathan Govero, the chairman of our board in Zimbabwe, got married to Shalom this past Saturday, April 11. Jonathan leads the Navigators collegiate work in the capital, Harare, and received his master's in development recently. Shalom currently works in the development arena. Their love for the Lord and people along with their interest in development efforts will continue benefiting the work of LTLA in the years ahead.

More Exciting News: A New Building Project in Chinhoyi 

Hopevale Church in Saginaw, MI, has generously raised the funds that are needed to help build the Life Discipleship Center on our property in Chinhoyi! This new building will provide the space where we can teach young and old about an abiding relationship with Christ and the space to train them with sustainable skills for their livelihood. It will enable us to also expand our impact on the Chinhoyi Universty of Technology campus next door to our Community Center.

Life Discipleship Center Building Site

Life Discipleship Center, Front Elevation

Maita Bassa (Thank You) Hopevale Church for your partnership with us! And thank you to all who support us in prayer and in finances to see the Lord's kingdom come to Chinhoyi!

“Even to Your Old Age” 

February 27, 2015 

"There are 5 men who want to receive Christ and they want you to pray with them," Arthur told me when I arrived in Chinhoyi. God is fulfilling his promise in Isaiah 46:4, "Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you."

Misters Simirando, Chafewa, Phiri, Mukuwo, and Tembo publicly acknowledged their trust in Christ as the savior of their souls on February 7 at the Men of Hope meeting. They have been attending this LTLA discipleship meeting for men over the past year, where they were memorizing gospel centered Bible verses. Mr Lunga faithfully carried on these meetings in Arthur's absence and it was good to rejoice with him over the fruit of his labor.

Arthur (l) and Mr. Lunga (r) with Misters: Simirando, Chafewa, Phiri, Mukuwo, & Tembo

Mr. Lunga will continue leading this ministry to men--with the help of Mike Shimkus's mountain bike that came in the container. He uses the bike to visit the men along with carrying his daughter to school on his way to care for our LTLA property. (I kick myself for not getting a photo of him on the bike with his daughter.)

Thank you for praying for Julie and me as we traveled to Chinhoyi. It was good for Julie to experience what God is doing there in order to know how to pray. She was able to share with the team from her relationship with Christ, along with her experience in discipleship and counseling. We are seeing the need for soul discipleship that guides people to experience Christ in mind and heart. 

Mike and Julie spending time with the LTLA team

Would you join us in praying for soul discipleship to happen in Chinhoyi? Please see the specific prayer requests below. Arthur is using the process of Intimacy with Christ, Imitation of Christ and Impact for Christ. Please pray that orphans and widows, young and old, children and adults, young people and elderly, boys and girls, women and men will experience intimacy with Christ in order that they will be able to imitate Christ and make an impact for Christ.  

On Our Way to Zimbabwe with Grateful Hearts 

January 23, 2015 

Dear LTLA Friends,

With your prayers and support we are launching into 2015 with a strong start. Thank you for partnering with us in showing the love of God to vulnerable widows, orphans and poor in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe!

I am excited to share that today I board a plane to Zim with my lovely bride, Julie, at my side. We are excited to minister together for the next week in Chinhoyi. I will remain for an additional two weeks. Julie and the team there are excited to finally meet one another. Please pray for us as we spend time encouraging the team and taking the opportunity to do some counseling with some who are really hurting.

Your prayers will also be appreciated for my time with Arthur, who is now in place leading the work. It will be good to be together in Chinhoyi with him for the first time in two years. I am sure we will feel the void of not having "Uncle" Ron Shimkus with us. He prepared Arthur well for the training he received in Nigeria and we know that he is cheering us on as we trust God to continue the discipling movement among the vulnerable and also college students in Chinhoyi. Please join us in asking the Lord to show us His plans for Life to Life Africa.

Gratefully,
Mike Sulc

Mike, Julie, Johanna, and Micaela Sulc

Caring for Widows and Investing in Orphans 

December 5, 2014

Life to Life Africa continues caring for the vulnerable and impacting future generations in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe. As we “look after widows and orphans in their distress” (James 1:27) we are trusting God that our efforts will “bind up,” “free,” “comfort,” “provide,” and “bestow beauty, gladness, and praise” among the old and young who are “poor,” “brokenhearted,” “captives,” “prisoners,” “mourning,” “grieving,” and “despairing.” (Isaiah 61:1-3) Thank you for your interest and concern for these dear ones whom God loves and treasures.

You can see the “gladness” in the face of Naome, the widow pictured here, whom we were able to “provide” training, planting inputs and encouragement this year as she planted a plot of corn to help feed her family. Her family along with 89 other families yielded four months’ worth of corn meal from their plots. The other eight months of the year we were able to distribute food twice a month to the 101 families we serve. There were eleven families whom we fed throughout the year as they were too weak to plant their own corn.

Naome

This widow joined 50-60 widows and ladies from our families two Saturdays per month for spiritual encouragement this year. It is during these gatherings and during individual meetings with Life to Life Africa trained “ambassadors” that heart issues are addressed to help “comfort” them in their trials and “free” them into life that is found in Jesus Christ. Bible Studies and individual discipleship is occurring not only among these widows but also among men, high school and young adult orphans as well as with local college students.

The future of Zimbabwe will be determined on what type of investment is made in the lives of the over 1 million orphans living in this troubled country. Life to Life Africa is seeking to make the love of Christ real in the lives of nearly 200 orphans living in the 101 families we serve. Munashe, with the bright smile in the front in the picture below, is one of the 30 orphans we feed twice a day and provide Christ centered instruction at our pre-school format Critical Care Center.

Munashe, with other orphans at the Critical Care Center

Over thirty high school orphans participate in our weekly Bible Studies and half a dozen young adult orphans are being discipled. We are trusting God to fulfill His promise in Isaiah 60:21-22. May His work through us in the lives of these “least” and “small” ones display His “splendor” and grow his kingdom to “thousands.”