Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path. And you're listening to Live From The Path here at, The Pathway Studios in Johnston and Proper. You don't know this, but this is not a regular night that we broadcast. You have no idea when we're doing it. I think it feels like a Monday night. Does it? It's got the vibe. We take the vibe with us, Dan. That's the thing. It goes everywhere we go. I don't know if it's a positive thing to say, hey. Your show really feels like Monday night. It feels like everybody else is in bed. This is great.

Alright. Well, maybe so you're feeling it, maybe you're not, but we're glad to, glad to meet you here at Live From The Path. You know, it's it's been probably years since I said we're about honest faith, fierce grace, and donkeys. And since we were kinda talking about our tagline and a few shows back, maybe that's just been a show back. Yeah. We've not revised yet because we're not thinkers. We're we're we're we're talkers, prognosticators, and then kinda let go to the way siders type of folk. It needs to sit there for a while. Yeah. It needs a stew. Yeah. It's like a good chili. That's it. We're a good Monday night chili. Yes. So anyway, Honest Faith, Fierce Grace, Donkeys. You're listening to Life From The Path. Hey. So it's a cool show today. I I we're gonna talk to,

to Zebedee, and you don't know Zebedee, but you will after the show is over. You're going to know the man, and you're gonna you're gonna love it. You're gonna be super excited about what we're gonna talk about. So I'm gonna I'm gonna throw it to Dan though because, Dan knows Zebedee even way better than I do. So, Dan, maybe maybe just start us off with, how do you know Zebedee? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Zebedee lives in Zimbabwe, and, we have talked a few times about, going to Africa. I know you guys went to Africa to to to where'd you go? Ethiopia. Ethiopia. Oh, you went to Ethiopia. And

I took a team to Zimbabwe last year and went the year before as well with Shanna. And, Zebedee, heads up the whole world in Zimbabwe or at least the whole world of Hippo Valley Christian Mission. Alright. And, that's the part of the world that we have connected with over there. So Zebedee lives in Sherezi in Zimbabwe, and, he's here for a couple days. So we thought we should get him on Live The Path. Actually, he called us and said, can I come to America

and be on live from the path? That's that's it. His face kinda betrays it. That may not have been how it went down. I may have exaggerated how the conversation went. Actually, he just he just he's grad you're a graduate? I I'm I'm talking like you're not here. You're you're right here. We're looking at each other. Zebedee, is a graduate of of Kentucky Christian University, and they just brought you back, what was it, a week ago, two weeks ago, to give you an honorary doctorate degree? Oh, man. Congratulations.

Yeah. Sometime in February, that's when I was notified to be aware that the board had voted to to honor me with a doctorate. That and that that's because of your years of dedicated work in Zimbabwe. You have how many schools? 27? We have 27

schools, orphanages, three clinics, and 33 congregation. So your your hands have been very busy over the past few years since leaving Kentucky Christian University. Yes. Yes. I have been busy,

and it is good to to see that the Lord allowed me to be that busy. Yes. Because there are people who are even more educated, more clever, more older, younger than I am who could do it. Mhmm. But the Lord has allowed me to do that. I tell you what, I have been thoroughly impressed having seen firsthand a number of the schools now, having gone twice. I've seen quite a few of the schools. I've preached in two of the churches.

I have relationships now with several of the people, the preachers, and just just number of the people in the modern world, we can have relationships on on social media that you couldn't have back when we were in college Yes. Yes. Which has been really a a pretty neat thing to get to know people on a personal level. Things are rough though over there right now. Yes. Things are rough in that. This year, we didn't have the regular the normal rains.

So we are our part of the country is very dry. K. So we we have drought. But on top of that, the economic situation so rough that the common person on the street

finding some difficulties put food on the table. Mhmm. So what Zebedee, maybe you can just tell me a little bit more when when you say you're not getting the normal rains. What types of what types of consequences are there to that? Well, when you don't have normal rains, which means Zimbabwe Zimbabweans are people who live directly

off the the land. Oh, yeah. Yep. We don't live from the supermarket as much except for the basic needs like sugar, the tea leaves, and so on. Yep. But most of our the majority of what we need comes from the land.

It doesn't only affect the people, it also affects the livestock. Livestock is very important in Zimbabwe to the rural people because when you talk of school fees, want to pay school fees, you want to buy clothing, you have to go back to your livestock and sell some. Oh, yep. Yep. So now this year, it's very dry. Livestock

probably is not going to make it to the next rainy season because it's dry. So will will the school population drop because people can't afford school? Yes. It does drop in some in in some other areas, especially the rural areas Yeah. Where I said they live directly off the land. If they are going to pay school fees,

they have to sell something like grain, livestock in order to pay school fees. Right. So you will see a number of kids dropping off out of school. Yeah. And some parents deciding, oh, no. I can't afford to pay your school fees. You need to stay home.

Yeah. So I think that's that's interesting. Right? Because I think, you know, I when we say because the first thing I thought of when you said that the rains didn't come, thought, okay. It's there's probably gonna be shortage of of food and things. And I think but but our initial reaction doesn't include some of those peripheral things that say, look, it's not just humans, it's happening to livestock and then how the use of that food and that livestock even starts to impact daily life when it comes to schooling and things, I think that's something we could easily miss. Like, we wouldn't wouldn't see A number of people out here, especially in public schools around here, You don't pay school fees directly to the school. It's all taken care of through your taxes. Mhmm. But the majority of the schools in in Zimbabwe are private schools like council and church schools, fine schools,

they need money Right. Mhmm. Right up front as school fees. Gotcha. But then you're you're you're losing students. That means you lose teachers too? You gotta pay the teachers? I just find a ripple effect there, I suppose. We we we don't lose teachers Okay. Because we don't pay them directly. Mhmm. That's teachers are paid by by government, central Oh, okay. Central government. Gotcha. But what happens then is if the enrollment goes down,

then government will come and say, oh, there's per ratio. It's like one teacher to 35 or 40 students. If a class cannot come up to that number, then government is going to withdraw the teacher and post to them somewhere.

Okay. That's how you lose. Yeah. Yeah. So now now if I understand correctly, aren't this the annual school fees around, like, 20 American dollars? Around I mean Oh, it's it's more than that.

It's more than that, but with the unstable economy Mhmm. Where the US dollar sort of dictates how many Zim dollars a school can charge. Okay. Because the exchange rate is not regulated. It's regulated by the bank, but people are avoiding the bank to go on the street where they can get more money. Uh-huh. Those who can who have access to the US dollar, they go to the street

and resell it over there and not in the bank, which also means unstable amount of school fees in a school. K. Where parents earn in Zimbond, that's the Zimbabwe Dollar. Called a bond.

So where parents earn in Zim bonds, they cannot afford to to share that with the they will restrict that to food and other thing. I see. So so when you were talking, you'd you'd started talking about kind of the rains and then now you would you had started to talk about the economic squeeze. Is that that kind of part of that that you were talking about, just kind of the instability in the economic system? Yes. The drought impacts on economy. Mhmm. Because when you don't have the grains, when the livestock is not there,

then the economy for the rural person, the economy is hard to handle because you don't have the money. Right. Uh-huh. You can't go to the supermarket because you have not sold your goat, you have not sold your your your ox or whatever. Mhmm. Yeah. Mhmm. So how does how do those this that situation, how does Hippo Valley interact with with that? In what ways does that interact the things that you're doing and how how are you helping to address some of that stuff that's going on? Hippo Valley as a mission, we have seen

the need to help the kids. So we started off we we started up what we call the living proof. The living proof then we have approached several players here in The States, what we would call the the Sponsors, isn't it? The sponsors. Yeah. Yeah. You then. Yeah. The sponsors

we say to the sponsors, can you sponsor a kid $20 a month? Mhmm. Of that $20, 15 goes to Mission

and the other five remains in the bank waiting for a great kid to start high school because that's where the problem is. Oh, I see. I see. So we are cushioning them for their high school years. We recruit kids who are, like, in grade two, three, four. Yep. When they are done with grade seven,

they are ready to go into high school. Then that's where the five dollars our the kid's $5 Yeah. Comes into play. Is it is it at that age, like, there is there pressure to have them go work and not continue schooling? Is that the We are trying to avoid that Gotcha. By finding sponsors to sponsor these kids. Great schools, the parent can afford maybe

because it's like $20 a a term Mhmm. Which is three months. Yep. But when it comes to high school, it's going to be over that. I see. Okay. Some high schools are charging anywhere from 70 to $100,105. If it is boarding, then you are talking of almost 800 and something. Oh, man. Right. So we have tried to cater for

those kids whose parents are notorious for not sending kids to high school. We go through the headmasters to do the selection and recommend them to us. Gotcha. What what are the what quali like, what what causes for the recommendation? Is it like good good grades or or good effort or

what makes up the recommendation? The the recommendation is a bit rounded. We would like a well behaved kid Uh-huh. Who is average in school, whose parents are known for not sending kids. And

then the headmaster's recommendation together with everything else Gotcha. Will see that kid. And in other cases, the kid those kids who are orphans, who would like to help them include them in the living room.

Right. So when you're in the the cities and there's a lot of people not working and that think there's just a crunch going on. How what do they do to survive? How I mean, they they have to eat. You can't just decide to not eat. They have to live. Mhmm. What's what's happening? How are people getting by? You know, Dan, you have been to Zimbabwe. You have seen these roadside markets. Mhmm.

Somebody goes to a vegetable market, fruit market, and everything, buys a few, and then comes and sit by their roadside. Maybe it's, like, 10¢ profit on the item. That's what they do in order to live. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. And in in some areas, that's how families break up because

the father decides to go to South Africa, which is our next door country Mhmm. Where where most of the Zimbabweans have drifted to to find employment. Okay. So they leave families and go to South Africa. Do they do they send money back or they just leave? They're just done. Well well, they are supposed to be sending money back. Yeah. But what attractions, you never know. Yeah. Yeah. You never know. Some have gone.

You know, they say what? They go into old mines and abandoned mines and try to do something. Mhmm. And some of them die there.

And when somebody dies like that, unless they have a relative there to notify people back home that so and so have died, he was gold panning, Then you are not known. People just think, they've absconded to South Africa and not think about family. And yet the guy is dead. Right. Mhmm. Wow. The the the the schools you have, they

teach bible, I mean, as part of the curriculum. Right? So so you're you're teaching people of Zimbabwe scripture, which is really pretty cool. And I know you've had I've heard Al speak before. He there there's been a ton of people commit to Christ over the years. Do do you have I don't even know what the number is. Do you do you know any of them? I I don't I've heard them, but I don't I don't have the figures. Yeah. Yeah. But it is through the school system that I go to to come to Christ. Okay. Uh-huh. Yeah.

Of course, teaching the bible the bible is our our hallmark. Mhmm. All our schools, bible is a subject. And also government, Department of Education, they allow that. And at the end of the year, they also send examination.

These kids who learn bible are examined by government Mhmm. Of Department of Education. It is a subject that the government recognizes. Has that has that always been the case that the that the government has been receptive to the the gospel being taught or the bible being taught? Yes. That's the the the the

background of Zimbabwe. Because remember I was talking to you, maybe it's other people I was saying, when a new missionary came to Zimbabwe, the colonial government would look at and develop the areas and say, oh, you want to preach?

Go there and preach. What they were expecting you to do is you go preach, develop the people you you you you preach to by providing schools and clinics. Mhmm. So government has been in the forefront. And the oldest educational facilities

are church church run. Mhmm. That's really interesting, I guess. Like the like that's that's wise that that the very nature of the gospel brings with it certain levels of of infrastructure in order to try to help and develop people. Yeah. Yeah. That's Yeah. Like, no no. I was telling somebody,

the Dutch reformed from The Netherlands came way back. So when you come into the country, like, Zimbabwe got its name from the Zimbabwe ruins. Five kilometers from the Zimbabwe ruins, which is a national monument,

lies one of the oldest mission stations, the Dutch Reformed Missions. So you have the Dutch Reformed who came in the 1800. And then you have the Roman Catholic. You have the Anglican

and United Methodist. Then in the early, not very early, but early 1900, like thirties, forties. That's when the Church of Christ came into the country.

But coming from New Zealand, the American missionaries, those who are recorded, of whom I am connected, they came 1956. The Pembertons and Pruitts, they started they came in 1950

Those are the early mission station. So Zimbabwe part of Zimbabwe's educational development came from the churches. Mhmm. Mhmm. So it the the churches or the gospel is formed the backbone of Zimbabwe's development. That's pretty neat. Now there there's other religions

there. We saw pockets of people, off in the the trees, wearing robes and and things or kind of a mystic type. What what what was that all about? What are those groups? Those are religious sects with no defined doctrine. So

one of their misguidance is that they don't want to to worship in indoors. They can afford to build. Uh-huh. You have seen groups and groups of that. They can afford to build. But their religion, you know, calls for open air services. Those are misguided,

and some of them don't want even to read the bible. You don't bring the bible to church. They they don't want. They rely on prophets. They say we we we receive messages, fresh messages from the Lord each day, which to me

is is not true. Right. Mhmm. They believe they believe in the God of the Bible just not but they don't study the Bible and they don't use the bible as a way to otherwise guide If they did use the bible, it would contradict it contradicts some of their deeds. I gotcha. Yeah. I gotcha. Interesting. Well, okay. So we're gonna start a church in a few weeks in Chichi Chichi,

Zimbabwe. Chichi Chichi. Chichi Chichi. I'm saying Chichi Chichi. I gotta get that straight. They'll laugh at me every Chichi Chichi. Chichi Chichi, hour twenty to an hour and a half from the town of Cherezi. The government from 1980

after independence came up with an idea of keeping people in their own environment but replicating the town life to them by allowing them to to to form what we call growth points. Growth points are small towns

in the rural areas. So is one of them. Mhmm. There is a sugar industry or a a an agricultural big organization doing sugarcane right there. So it helps to back up

this settlement. And it's along the the sub river. Across the sub river is our is one of our churches across the sub river. But the the the like I've been saying, our people, our government

fails to bridge these rivers. Mhmm. So when it rains, no crossing. So we have decided to start this church across the river. Yeah. There are some other businesses there like a cotton industry because that's

where the the the the locals grow cotton. So it's it's right there. Okay. Dan, so so having having kind of interacted with with some of this, what what excites you about the prospect of of planning a church in a place like Che Che Che? Well, it is exciting in that for all this time, we had not done anything in that in that area. It's manikaland,

part of manikaland. Like I've said before, where the the the the colonial government would allocate places or regions to say, oh, church of Christ, you are there. Yeah. United Church of Christ, you are there. This was a United Church of Christ region. Okay. Now we are penetrating. We are crossing that line because we have people who who who can do

Right. Right. Is has that been a has that been a struggle in the past to have, the people that can do it, or is it something that you've seen some continual growth in? Well, church groups were were under that. They would do anything to block any other church to come in into the area. Even even among, like, Christian type churches? Even the Christian Christian churches,

not our church, but the Catholic would be under anybody coming into their midst. Gotcha. That church would be under maybe us too can be accused of the same thing. But now it's free to cross over. Mhmm. Mhmm. So I'm very excited in that this is going to be one one or the second church that we are going to plant in there. One is way up, not even, you know, close. Gotcha. Gotcha. What what kinds of things,

like, what seems like an exciting opportunity, what are the are there, risks or things that that, you worry about related to planning a church there or anything like that that's on your mind? I have no no no worries per se. Mhmm. But my worries are to do with the team that is coming the safety of the team when they come over there. Yep. I want to make sure that they are safe in an environment where

you don't see a lot of white people Right. Running around. Uh-huh. That would be my my my my concern and my worry. Yeah. But otherwise, I'm sure we are going to succeed. Now with the help of Pathway, I think it's going to excite us in that we have a partner

Yep. In the work. So what would you what would be an important message to bring to the people of Che Che that are struggling, that are one are hungry, that are facing all the challenges they're facing now, what would you what would an what should a new church say to them?

Well, when it comes to church, we have to be very careful what we include in our in our message Mhmm. Except that ours is Christ's service Mhmm. Without, you know, bundling it with the the the the worldly gains.

Mhmm. Oh, we will bring you this. We'll bring you the because when that the the the the the bundle is worn out, then they are also worn out. They go away. I understand that prosperity gospel is kind of popular. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. People are clinging to something. That's why I'm saying that. Yeah. Because Zimbabwe right now is full of preachers who are preaching prosperity gospel. Okay. And most of our young people, most of our young preachers have been sucked into that. Uh-huh. Yep. There are prosperity

gospel and also demon possession like we can pray for people, you know, for demons to go away. These are things which can be done but that's not salvation. Right. Right. That's not salvation. You can be a rich person but still you need the salvation. Mhmm. Uh-huh. Right. And so is that that's interesting, I guess. So if, we're we're a country, if we start with where we started, we were talking about,

the lack of rain and, kind of the economic situation, And there are people who are preaching a gospel that bundles with it worldly gain or worldly wealth. And, obviously, as they look around, they're not they're not seeing it. Are you finding that to be a significant problem, as far as trying to introduce people to kind of the real notion of of Jesus saves? Well, it has become a problem in Zimbabwe. Why? Because

it has brought with it division Ah. In in our own church. The young people who who say, we need to preach the prosperity gospel. And the old horses

who say, no. No. No. No. No. No. No. Let's not attach that to to the gospel. All we know we must preach is Christ serves. Seek ye the kingdom of God first, and everything will be added on to so they are they want they added first Mhmm. Before they they they they seek the kingdom. Gotcha. What does prosperity go So that's a good question, Evelyn. Yeah.

The prosperity gospel is kinda kinda what we were talking about where the notion of your relationship with Jesus comes with worldly blessing. The thought that, because I am in a relationship with Jesus, I should expect that he will reward me with things like good health, lots of money, the desires of my heart. And the the the the way they talk about it is to say, well, if he's a good king who gives good gifts, then these are the types of things that would come along with it. It is a it is a shallow perspective and it is not seeking first the kingdom of God. It is a reflection of, trying to use God to a certain extent to say, oh, it's a means of which I can make my life better, which ultimately is a selfish thing. And it isn't that God doesn't give good gifts, but, like, the way that we measure what is actually good has to come through a kingdom lens as opposed to,

I think it's good because it's delicious even though it might give me a stomachache. That that makes sense? Okay. Also, just to add, prosperity gospel, you don't there are people who measure their faith by what they get.

Look, I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm a a Christian in good standing because of all these things. The Lord has blessed me. So if you don't get what I get, what I have, you are not a good Christian. Alright. Yeah. Yeah. That is terrible. Measuring one's faith by the wealth around him

is what we call prosperity gospel. If you are a really good Christian who'll be rich, that's not it. That's gotta be and that's gotta be a very tough message to hear when people are preaching the prosperity gospel and you look around and you you see the poverty that surrounds you and the implication of what that seems to what you're saying about everyone else. Probably, like, faithful Christians here who are just in the midst of a drought and an economic uncertainty that is not of their own doing and

have that implication. That's, that's not hope. That's not the good news. Yeah. That's true. So prosperity gospel is if you are a good Christian, God will will bless you

if you are not look at how poor you are and all that. Mhmm. That's that's the wrong measuring rod. Yeah. Like Job's friend. It is. It's like Job's friend. Yeah. It's very different. Yeah. Yeah. There you are. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There you are. So so you have two orphanages. I I've been to one of them, but I don't I haven't I haven't been to the the other I went up on the Shredzi, but but I don't know where the other one's at. But what goes on in these orphanages? I mean, you're you're you're teaching them some pretty neat life skills. Well, when we say we have two orphanages, we started off with a

dorm situation where kids lived in in dorms. That was called the children's home. And then our dream was to build individual

houses like you saw in the village. Mhmm. And that that individual set up, we call the tragic Christian children's village where kids live in family setups. Mhmm. So the old children's home,

we have turned it into a halfway house. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Have turned it into a halfway house for the boys. Those who are over 20, over 18 Uh-huh. We move them to the

to the home. Yeah. We still supply them with the food, everything. But they are no longer under government scheme. Mhmm. The girls too, we have a house in the township. Look, when these kids came come to us,

some of them will be older than the the grades they they are in. So when government writes us to say, so and so is 18, you need to to release.

And we see that the kid is still a year or two before they complete high school. Yeah. So we move them to to the halfway house where we will continue to to educate them until they are done with the high school. Excellent. Or else, if the kid is very smart, we send them to to either the the college, technical college, or university, teacher's college, whatever.

This is going to be their home. When they come back on on break, they go to to to to the halfway houses. What what are the risks in in that society for boys without something like halfway houses at their age if they just had to leave the orphanage and kinda go out to the society? It is very hard to predict, but some of it is predictable.

Because as boys, your heart breaks when you see them, you know, walk up and down the township. They have nothing to do. Our policies, we would like to provide them with something to even those who can who have failed their

high school diplomas. We send them to the polytech where they are going to just observe. That program, you don't have to produce grades. You need to be there,

understand what the teacher is saying, and then they will release you to go back. Ah, okay. So so that now we have plumber plumbers amongst us. We have car mechanics or builders. We don't employ them, but we let the community absorb them. Oh, right. The girls too, we have had, you know, some heartaches with the girls.

You can't just let them walk the street. They are going to be abused. It's going to be their first time into the real world. Yeah. And they are going to be attracted by things which are not worthy Yes. Right. To wreck your life on. Now now life in the the the village, the orphanage is is I really love how you have it set up. There's there's the homes and there's there's, like, parents who live in a home and there's a mixed age of children, but you're teaching them how to clean and cook and and grow food. Like, they even were grinding their own peanut butter out of peanuts. You know, mean,

can you talk about that a little bit? The just the life skills they're they're learning? Yes. We we want them and we also treat them like the ordinary kids in their homes. Mhmm. In our in our setup as Africans, a kid needs to know how to cook, know how know how to clean the house. Most of these chores,

a kid needs to to to do that. Mhmm. The only thing that I regret about us is this where the demarcation of duties.

A girl does this, a boy does that. And that limits and deprives kids of some of the things they could do. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it the way we have set up the the the

village, eight the we each village has 10 no. No. Each house has 10 kids, five girls, and five boys. Okay. Boys do do gardening. The girls do the cooking. There's no crossover

where girls can do the gardening. Of course, they do these days, but the boys cooking. So that when they are done with the village, they are going to start learning to cook wherever if they are employed, they have to learn to cook for themselves.

Yeah. Something that they should learn while they are Yeah. With us. Yeah. Yeah. So, Dan, you you have been, you're you're obviously a church planner. We're we're broadcasting from, Pathway Church here in Johnston that you started. And so as you start to hear and interact with the work of Hippo Valley,

like, what what gets you excited about that work having come from this context? Yeah. I just I I first became so excited about what Hippo Valley was doing when I when I heard of the schools and the churches in the schools and the orphanages. And and and they're not just going through the motions, they're they're teaching the bible, they're teaching Jesus, they're teaching salvation and and people are responding and they're becoming Christians and and they're changing lives and and I think that's that's it. I mean, that's what we're called to do. That's that's the gospel, you know, no

matter where you're at, where you know, as you go, that's what you do. You make disciples. And and it's exciting to me to see, an organization, a mission that that is that is literally impacting, the nation of Africa or of anywhere, but but happens to be Africa. And I just wanted to join with what you guys were doing, because I I just was so excited about the

passion you guys have. And, so as I've gone there a couple times now and and taken part, we delivered viable, we did, the teacher conference. What do you I can't remember the the actually, what you call it, the the annual teachers gathering two years ago. I was part of that. And I don't know how we led to the point of starting a church this year other than I thought, well, why not? You know, that's what you guys do and we can be a part of that. That's I I love I love starting churches. I love starting things and new things, and and here's an opportunity for us to jump on and help start something. But you already have the oversight there, you have the people who are trained, you you have, people in the culture, of the culture that can teach the culture, you know, so you don't rely on us, but we can be the the

spark to get things going. Enabling. Yeah. You are enabling us Yeah. To accomplish some of these things. And there's so much hardship over there. How how do people go through hardship without Jesus? You know, it just makes it worse. And I think if we can that improves their life just giving you joy in the midst of of a bad time. But it also if we can impact an eternity,

I don't know. The whole thing just to to me gets gets my blood going and and gets me excited about being a part of that. So No. It's an exciting thing also for us that we get partner we we get partners like you who are saying to us, identify

areas where there are no churches and we'll help you to establish. We'll help you come up with maybe with the funds to hire a preacher for some time.

That's very exciting because we would like to do that, but it overwhelms us. Right. Right now, we have almost 15

preachers. Some of them preaching two two or three areas. So it overwhelms us. Yeah. But getting partners

like this, you are we are not alone Right. In the field. Mhmm. We have partners who are with us. And the idea of you coming along, experience, see,

it cuts on the homework on us to tell you, oh, this is this works this way because you come and your hands Yep. Get your hands dirty Yeah. So to speak. Mhmm. You get your hands dirty. Some of the things we don't explain, you see them right there. Some of the poverty that we would I would have a hard time explaining, you see it. Yeah. Mhmm. And even on on this end, it has been really neat to take a team over there, watch them get their hands dirty, fall in love with with people and the people of Zimbabwe, and then come back and and their their vision of the gospel is so much bigger and their involvement here becomes so much bigger and their involvement with their friends and making disciple. They're making disciples here

before. The sake of that too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, well, shoot. I went that far to to do something. I can surely do it here too. And they have a passion they didn't have before. So it's a win win for for both both of us. Yeah. Like, Pathway, I was listening, you know, today. There are people who are coming to Zimbabwe who are not part of this congregation. Uh-huh.

But they want to be part of it. Mhmm. So when they come back, there is going to be a closer link between Pathway and those people. Eventually, they are going to decide, ah, the best way is just go to Pathway. Yeah. Yeah. Because some of them are going to choose when they get over there, see the poverty, see the excitement of the kids, they will choose, I want to sponsor a kid here. Mhmm. Uh-huh. Mhmm. So

it's a win win situation. And I hope Pathway gets blessed both numerically and economically in in this

venture we have got we we have gone into. It has been neat to we're calling this the ZIP project, the Zimbabwe, Iowa project. And it has allowed people

that weren't part of Pathway to to say, hey. We just can you can you support $5 a month to help get this church, you know, going? And we have not fully funded that yet, but we're we're I mean, I'm just gonna cover whatever is not. So it's Juergen, don't don't don't don't get nervous. Well, you're like, what? We're not funded. No. The it's just been neat to see people throughout the state say, oh, I can I can afford $5? I said, of course, you can. That's a cup of coffee down the road, you know. And and they'll do it once a month, and they they just get on their their rotation. And so it's it's been neat to see other people get involved. That has been my goal is to expand beyond just the Pathway Church thing but but to like, hey, there there we can impact the world. We can impact Africa

Mhmm. By starting a church and and and change generational cycles over there in in families and and a whole ripple effect, from Chichicha into wherever, will happen as the gospel spreads. And I think we're a part of that. Just man. Yeah. That's a I was I was telling one couple last year. They have sponsored a kid not through Living Proof, but through the the the orphanage. Oh, yeah. Mhmm. The kid has gone ex excelled.

He's now doing second year of university. And I said to them, maybe down the road, the kid you will see the kid in person. Yeah. You will see the kid meet the kid in person. So what a joy when you see

you have changed the lie a a life. Here is somebody who had no future, so to speak, but you have helped to to usher in some future in the kid. Mhmm. University graduate. No no parents.

But it it it becomes a university. The ripple effects to that, maybe the kid is going to replicate that that he or she can help somebody.

Right. Uh-huh. So so, Zebedee, you've been you've been, you've been at this work for a while, for quite a while. What would you say like, was there anything that was unexpected about like, I'm just thinking about all the things that the Hipaa Valley is involved in in orphanages and church planning and, and the programs with the with with the boys and then the schooling and and it just there's a lot of really cool things going on. What has, if anything, surprised you about doing this type of work? Well, I I always say, God has a sense of humor. Just to give you an an an example,

I'm one of 24 kids, and who would have thought one of 24 kids would end up in in The States. Right. My father educated me up to maybe eighth grade or so.

And then from there, my education came through the bible college and this and now here I am. Right. And I I am excited by what God can do. God does, you know, things beyond our

imagination. We were we were in in Kansas 2013 with Al when we talked about the living proof. How about start this organization

living proof where we can save $5 of the 20 blah blah blah. Now the living proof is excelling. Mhmm. We are almost 15 or 1,800 kids in the living proof. Wow. That's that's amazing. Uh-huh. We are there. Yeah. Our goal is to net 1,500,

which we which I think is going to and our first crop our first crop is doing I think it's the second year or third year. It's sec second year of high school. So it God does things beyond our imagination.

Mhmm. If we are allowed to if we allow him to use us, both mind and and body. Yeah. And you have some medical clinics too. Oh, yes. Holy cats. I wasn't even ready for this. Medical clinics. Yeah. It's kinda off my radar because I'm not in the medical world, but, we we we toured one that was in the process of being built last year. I'm assuming that's is it going now or has it met all the code? The one that you went to is a new a new project,

which means we have to be inspected every stage. Yeah. Yeah. We have when you went there, you saw the the the the clinic Uh-huh. The clinic building and also the houses. Yeah. Now we we are left with the building, a waiting mother's shelter. The pregnant women come and stay there waiting for their delivery day. Now, yeah, can you explain a little bit about why that's necessary? Because it's,

you know, it's just different than here. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You see, in in Zimbabwe, the clinics are way apart. The villages are way apart from the clinic. So women that we don't have ambulances running around, people don't have cars to throw in a woman who is in labor. Mhmm. So they have to come and stay there in the clinic.

So in order it is government requirement that every clinic must have a waiting mother's shelter. Ah. A house where they are going to come. They cook for themselves. They cut up for themselves so that when whenever their day is there, they can walk to to clinic. Gotcha. So we we we are in the process right now of building the the Waiting Mothers' Shelter. Gotcha. And also, we have to build an outer building

for the clinic. The clinic will have inside plumbing, but we have to provide that the outer house in case the water system is not working. Is that common that the water Very common. You

you have to have it out there. Gotcha. But before we do the plumbing, we have to drill a water well. So the plumbing is held off until we find a water source. Right. So that when we do the plumbing, we don't send it to the water source. Alright. Yeah. And contaminate the water. Right. So that's the major

that's the major step right now. Is that is that that difficult work to locate the the water sources that, take a lot of resources? It takes a lot of resources because you have to bring in somebody to divine that is a spot where the water is underground, and then you have to hire a drilling rig. And then you do the piping,

set up the tanks, and then you plumb the houses. Nurses' houses must have running water. The clinic must still have running water. Once we have done that, then we can do the ceiling of the clinic. Right. Then we can do the the tiling, ceramic tiles

in the clinic. Gotcha. Because the labor the labor room has to be tiled. Uh-huh. Gotcha. And how many you have? Is is that the third clinic? That's the third clinic. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We have Dama Clinic, which is from Tresi. You may go for an hour, an hour twenty.

K. And then we have Dine Clinic. You go for three hours. But Dine Clinic, where we build a clinic building which we dedicated on March 22 Okay. Uh-huh. Simply because the sponsoring church set a date to come out

and do the the the dedication. So we invited dig inaries from Department of Health, from council, from the police, the chiefs and headmen. Mhmm. They were all there. The school teachers,

they were there. Those who are going to frequent the clinic. Mhmm. So so let's say someone someone's listening and they say, look, there's a lot of a lot of good work going on here, and I'd like to be a part of it. So I don't know if that's a two part answer or a one part answer. Dan Zebedee, how can how can people help? What's the website? Hippo Valley Christian hippo I don't yeah. I just it's just in my memory, so I don't know. I where did I see the papers? Down there on that desk? Yeah. We do have pamphlets

for the, living proof. Yeah. That's where the the the the website is. I guess you could go to hippo valley dot org. I think so. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. You can learn about yeah. They're about Zimbabwe, living proof. Yes. Okay. Good. Dan, Dan, let's say people, they like the they like the local. They like this Zip Project business. What do what do they get in on? We actually have a Facebook page, The Zip Project, and it has a zipper on it. It's the state of Iowa, and it's a zip the zip project. Or our church website, there's a if they wanna give $5 a month or whatever figure, they can actually sign up on our website for online giving and we'll spam it all through to the new church. So that's, Facebook Facebook. You can look for the zip project. And, if you wanna give through Pathway, you go to the pathonline.org

and, there's a link there that you can get to from the front page for for giving and you could set up for that. Yep. Yep. K. Perfect. Alright. Sweet. Well, go ahead, David. I would say as many people as there are partner with us, the better. But don't do it for Hippo Valley. Do it for your Lord. Right. Yeah. Don't do it for Hippo Valley Christian Mission because Hippo Valley Christian Mission

is one of the players who when you do it, you become one of the players too. So don't do it for Hippo Valley. Do it for the Lord. Two and four, the Lord. You know, it's really funny. This all started on on for me, and I saw an opportunity to I could sponsor for a $100 a college student in Africa for room and board for one month, and I thought that's a great opportunity. I have a $100. It's they could it could give them a college education to train an African to teach in Africa. I don't have to go there. I don't have to learn culture. You know, there's all the it's just that's a that's a win. That's great. So I did that a couple months and then I met Al and he's like, well, come out sometime

and then it's all kind of blown up from there. But, but it was all because, yeah, it's like we can help you be much more effective in Africa just like I'm much more effective here, but we can go be a shot in the arm and be a partner in ministry with you rather by going or simply by funding and That's true. That's true. It's all for the glory of God. So All to the glory of God. We do it two and four is glory. Yep. Yep. Amen. Hey. You've been listening to live from The Path. Big thanks, for for Zebedee. Thank you for coming in and talking with us. We really appreciate it. Best of luck. I hope, this is a good opportunity for folks to jump on board. Actually, Dan, what you said reminded me of something you said earlier, which is,

you know, or what Zebedee had said earlier, if you're just willing to let God use you and your heart and your mind in, like, that one step into the the college fun thing, just kinda open up more doors of which God can continue to kinda reveal that he's doing awesome work with you even if you weren't ready for it. Yeah. And so that's awesome. I hope you guys I hope that's encouragement to you guys. If you got any feedback for us, shoot us an email info at live from the path dot org. Otherwise, we will see you next week. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Live From The Path.