Touchpoints

Touchpoints 

by Donna Stroop

I sat amazed listening to this young woman give a speech at our Clinic Dedication on the impact of a medical facility on the community. 

Afterwards we all congratulated Prisca. She was graduating from the mission high school and had been chosen to give a speech at the Clinic Dedication, representing her 1,000 school mates! Our team befriended her and invited her to come and join the Revival that we had planned for the weekend. Our theme was “Lost and Found” and it was during the sermon on “The Lost Coin” that Prisca said she realized that she was lost. 

We stayed in touch with Prisca after coming back to the States and a few months later, I made sure that she had the opportunity to go to College Days sponsored by Hippo Valley Christian Mission at Zimbabwe Christian College. It was there that Prisca answered the invitation and was baptized. Prisca told me, “College Days changed my life and it enabled me to be a true Christian. I wanted to cry because deep down I knew that I was incomplete because I was not baptized. When I was baptized, I felt like a new person.”

As Prisca continued to grow in her faith, we offered to sponsor her to go to Bible College. She wrote to me, “Thank you, Aunty Donna for helping me. I don’t want to disappoint you. I will try by all means to make you proud.” 

Several touch points in the last year and a half have changed the trajectory of this young woman’s life, from identifying with the lost coin, to participating in College Days, to going to Bible College, yes dear Prisca, we are very proud of you!

Returning to Zimbabwe

I am planning on taking a mission team back to Zimbabwe in June. We are already making our airplane reservations, talking about shots and malaria meds, packing lists, and itineraries. With a humanitarian airfare, we are also allowed three checked bags each with up to 50 pounds per bag. We have seven people on our team, so that is 350 pounds of goodies that we can take for the mission.

You just have no idea what our coming and our bringing of gifts absolutely makes a difference in these dear people’s lives. Following is a list of potential things we will be taking over. If you would like to do a fund drive or sewing party with your youth group or women’s group or civic or church group, we will make very good use of it.

Below is a list of goodies we will try to take:

Baby Layettes for the clinic:
• Onesies
• Cloth diapers and pins
• Receiving blanket
• Bonnets
• A church in Central Kitsap is making women’s cloth washable sanitary pads.

School Supplies:
• Pens
• Pencils
• Crayons
• Exercise books, Notebook paper
• Think anything on a standard back to school list

Medical supplies:
• Gloves
• Masks
• Bandages and Ace Bandages
• Think anything in your first aid kit
(We don't take any prescription or expired medicines)

Other:
• Ties for men (this is a huge hit and many men just have these in their closets that they don’t use anymore and would be glad to bring them for a donation for our trip.)
• Scarves for women

Some pictures of our gift giving last year at the newly dedicated medical clinic that we opened.