Report by Jesse M. Nzima
We had a four days visit to Chitungwiza Zimbabwe from the 28th of June to 2nd of July 2019. Chitungwiza is a small municipality located about 20 km southeast of Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.
We traveled using Brother Phiri’s car. From Lusaka to Chitungwiza is a distance of about 480 km, taking about 8 hours of drive.
Day of Travel – Friday, 28th June
We started off from Zambia at around 3:30 pm local time. We were initially scheduled to leave Lusaka early in the morning the very day but my wife’s passport was misplaced at the passport office and so she had to resubmit her documentation. We therefore decided to let her sort out the paperwork and later link up with us in Zimbabwe. To our surprise this whole delay on her apart was actually a fulfillment of a dream she had early this year, which she had shared during a prayer meeting and which we had emailed to Bro. Phiri.
Note: This is the dream which was shared during a prayer meeting and was emailed to my inbox on 29th March, 2019. The details of the dream were remarkably fulfilled but with only one detail we do not understand – that of two Filipino children.
ON THE BUS
Dream by sister Moudy Nzima
In the dream I was on a long journey on a bus and on the opposite row of the bus sat our pastor (Bro. Phiri) and next to me was a lady whom I couldn’t make out who she exactly was.
After we disembarked from the bus, I gave directions to the place the pastor needed to go and it appeared like we were all heading to different directions. However, immediately Brother Phiri left, I found myself at the same destination he was heading to and at this time I could not see the woman I had sat next to in the bus.
Once I got to the place I saw Brother Phiri seated next to three other brothers whom I couldn’t identify . I then by passed them without greeting them and went straight into the house where I found two kids in the living room. The children where Filipinos. I then saw sister Norah coming from the bathroom towards me. I was surprised to see her and I then asked her , “You are already here?” and that is how I woke up.
This was the first time for Sister Nzima to travel to Zimbabwe. She testified to us that Pastor Veremu’s house and the environment was what she had seen in the dream. What is interesting in this whole testimony is that of all the three people accompanying me on this trip – Brother Nzima, Sister Nzima, and my wife, Sister Nzima was the one who had submitted the passport application earliest. Her travel document was suppose to be the first one to be ready but against all odds her papers got lost and she had to do the entire application and interviews on the same day we were scheduled to travel. Her papers got ready long after we had left. We made arrangements for her to travel by bus and join us in Zimbabwe! All this while she got discouraged and was almost giving up and none of us remembered the dream which had foretold this event!
We reached Chirundu border at 5:00 pm . The clearance process delayed by almost two hours and by 7:30 pm we were cleared and we finally crossed over into Zimbabwe. We had to drive the 350 km stretch for six and a half hours. We arrived Brother James Veremu’s residence at exactly 1:00 am. We had no trouble finding his place as we used the GPS system for directions.
Second Day, Saturday, 29th June
We had our first meeting on Saturday 29th June. The meeting started at 2:00 pm local time and ended at 6:00 pm. Bro. Phiri spoke on the subject Only Believe. He read from Mark 5:36 – “As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe”. He emphasized the importance of relying on God in all we do.
He further highlighted the complexities in nature and how everything in nature adheres to God’s established laws. This is different with man who was endowed with free will and used that to disobey his creator. He also pointed out that in the absence of knowledge fear is the dominant emotion in the journey of life.
He also read from Matthew 14:22-33, stressing that like Peter, we have to stand on the Word in order to walk on the uncertain ‘waters’ of life.
Third day, Sunday, 30th June
We had two services on this day. In the first service Brother Phiri preached on Peter’s Journey of faith. The scripture reading was taken from the book of Luke 5:8 – “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord”. The focus was on the call of Peter. When the miracle of the great catch of fish was performed, Peter was not excited at the abundance of fish as something that signaled financial prosperity for his business. Instead the miracle brought fear and the conviction in his heart. Peter saw something deeper than what others may have seen. He discerned the message of God to his heart. That day Peter was actually to leave his nets and trade. But with no job, how would he now take care of his family and how would he pay the often burdensome Roman taxes? Well, what could this miracle mean but that the God who caused the unexpected great catch of fish would supply Peter’s needs? This sermon took us through other trials Peter went through with regards his calling (the sermons are available on our YouTube channel. Go to the Sermons tab above and locate the titles).
Chitungwiza church building
In the afternoon the title of the sermon was The trying of your faith. The Bible reading was taken from Matthew 3:11 – “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire”. A deep thought was shared on the fire that God sends to cleanse his people for perfection!
In the evening we drove some 10 km to a house of brother and sister Tindilika. Sister Tindilika is the daughter of Brother James Veremu, our hosting pastor.
Brother Phiri with Brother James Veremu
We had a wonderful meal and a good time of fellowship on the table. And as is the case it was time to say our good byes.
Fourth day, Monday, 1st July
This day was the last stay of our visit. We took time to relax and have a walk around at Bro. James Veremu’s farmland. It was interesting to learn the process of successful farming and characteristics of plants. I was particularly interested in the grafting process of plants. Pastor Veremu showed us a number of fruit trees that were grafted. One interesting thing I learnt about the process was that it did not matter how young the stump of a tree was as long as the branch being grated in is old enough the plant would start producing the fruit.
We visited the house of Brother Isaac Veremu and his wife. Our sisters had a wonderful time of fellowship with Sister Veremu junior ( Bro. Isaac’s wife). Later in the afternoon we visited the house of Brother Peliah Veremu, another son of Pastor Veremu. We then had a drive around Chitungwiza municipality. Thereafter we drove back to the house of Bro. Peliah where we were served dinner. The daughter of Brother Peliah sung us a wonderful song. The title being Be not afraid , tying in well with the message we heard earlier in the day. It talks about the time the Lord Jesus Jesus came walking on water and the disciples were afraid and then he shouted to them that it was he and that they needed not be afraid. After dinner we headed back home to where we were keeping up at the pastor’s house.
Fifth day, Tuesday, 2nd July
We started off back to Lusaka on this day. In the course of our driving back home we reflected on the wonderful time of fellowship we had with the brothers and sisters in Chitungwiza . We reflected on the lessons that could be drawn from the life of Peter. We reached Lusaka around 6:00 pm local time.