Visit Every City

18th August 2025

After a morning of resting, a few cups of coffee, and a nice breakfast, Derek and I went out for a walk in the neighborhood. People in the neighborhood in Eiffel Flats are friendly. We waved at a few folks and said good morning. Derek practiced a few Shona phrases. He has picked up a smattering of Shona and Sindebele through the years and also studied the Zulu language. He also speaks fluent Afrikaans which is one of the official languages of South Africa, derived primarily from Dutch but influenced by several other languages. It was a very pleasant walk, although dusty and a little warm. It’s still the tail end of winter here but things seem to be warming up in the middle of the day.

We had a decision to make after our walk. There were two goals we had for the remainder of our time. We had to decide if we wanted to accomplish both in one afternoon or split them up between two days. Mabasa came in the living room and asked us a second time what we wanted to do. I think all three of us had some other things distracting us (emails, writing blogs, answering text messages, watching the state of the world from afar) so we didn’t end up giving a straight answer right away.

Eventually we settled on going to see the latest updates to our property in Kadoma (we’d save the visit to see Douglas and his family for the next day). In January of 2023 I had come out to see the newly purchased property. The funds for the property and its infrastructure have come from an ABC charity auction fundraiser (ABC = Ambassador Bible College), Good Works donations, and a few private donors here and there. The goal was to hopefully have it ready for brethren to keep the Feast of Tabernacles there the same year, but that was a lofty goal given limited funds, and the fact that the only guy working on the infrastructure is a part-time pastor, full-time mine manager (thanks Mabasa for all your hard work and attention to detail on this project).

Although Good Works did supply additional funding and work on many of the structures and plumbing had begun, there were some further delays due to a faulty contractor who used inferior materials and was overall very unreliable. Since that time Mabasa has closely supervised the project and continues to develop various aspects of the of the property, always keeping in mind the moving around of brethren, the cooking and feasting that will happen, various activities, sleeping arrangements, plumbing and water needs, lighting and electricity, etc. There’s a lot that goes into literally building a Feast site from the ground up. Even below ground if you count the borehole well.

Some of the highlights on the property include the thatched roof dining/sitting area, the outdoor kitchen (just needs a few more bricks and a roof), the meeting hall, the bathhouses, dedicated tent pads, solar lights, and borehole well complete with a large water tank and a second tank specifically dedicated to the bathhouses (men and women have separate structures). One particular challenge that I hadn’t initially considered was the sometimes watchful eye of local officials who sometimes scrutinize churches and their construction projects extra careful. In general they look down on permanent church buildings in certain places so we’ve opted to use prefab concrete construction with a metal roof. The bathhouses are also made of the same construction material. The prefab walls are sturdy and cost more than locally made bricks. I kind of like the aesthetic.

This year, 2025, there will be two Feast of Tabernacles sites in Zimbabwe. There will be the usual location in Chemba with brethren from the surrounding villages joining together there — definitely a more rural site with plenty of group meals (perhaps some goat meat or a cow prepared for the occasion to feed the crowd for a week), beautiful scenery, lots of fellowship time, and group Bible studies. The second site will take place in Kadoma on UCG Zimbabwe’s very own property! The place is really coming together and will be functional by the opening night on October 6th.

The neighborhood where the property is located is a new subdivision that is slowly being developed. There was a lady who has build a rather large lodge complex next door. Initially she had her bar area playing loud music all the time to hopefully attract customers. She began developing some beautiful rooms that rival many hotels I’ve seen in various places. Her funding, it seems, has slowed down and she has some unfinished projects. When it is finished it will truly be a beautiful lodge/compound. Mabasa has negotiated a very low rate with the lady and booked all 20 of her rooms for some of the feast goers. Others will be able to stay in tents on the grounds or rent a room somewhere else nearby if they’d like (and if God has so blessed them with a rare well-paying job and they faithfully keep their second tithe of course).

Just up the road from our property is a lodge complex that Mabasa and I saw the beginnings of a few years ago. The owner, who we found out lives in the US but is passionate about his homeland, has been developing the land, building some chalets, a pool, a playground, etc. But the real highlight of the place is the beautiful main building which is built like a giant thatched roof traditional Zimbabwean home. The ground floor has meeting rooms and a kitchen. The top floor is an open air restaurant with views over the top of the fence. The staff is friendly, the place is clean, and the menu items (at least the descriptions) sound delicious and aren’t overly expensive by some standards. Once the chalets are finished it might make for an additional place for feast goers (especially visitors from other countries … hint hint) to stay or at least visit for occasional meals. It might also make for a unique place to have a group meal or family day outing for the whole feast site depending on cost and funding.

I should mention that occasionally brethren from various parts of the world do donate their excess second tithe so brethren in various parts of the world can have an extra special Feast. Sometimes this means an excursion that the brethren themselves can’t afford, extra meat added to the meals during the week, gifts for the children, new sound equipment, etc. I’m always excited, humbled, and overjoyed by the generosity of our brethren around the world who make things possible for their own brethren. And I sometimes get to be the one to give the brethren the happy news. While the highlight of any Feast, regardless of the location and glamour of the accommodations, it’s fun to have some extra activities to look forward to.

After leaving the area near the Feast site, we had the pleasure of seeing some of the mining operations that Mabasa oversees just up the road. Kadoma has a lot of minerals underground including gold. There are several larger mining companies still in operation in the area, and of course several small scale operations as well. It’s a dangerous business but if you hit gold then the pay is alright (the laborers get pay but each of the bosses up the line get a larger cut). We met up with one of Mabasa’s supervisors who works closely under Mabasa often on the ground (as opposed to in the ground) who is a Church member. He’s a faithful and trustworthy guy who helps make Mabasa’s work a little lighter.

On the way home we stopped off for a snack of roasted maize (millies) which Derek remembers fondly from his growing up years in Bulawayo. We drove home with hot corn on the cob in hand (not the best planning on my part to try and hold the cobs but I did it). A delightful snack!

In the evening I had some emails to send, some vehicle situations to work out, some discussions to have about Feast plans and travel plans, etc. Of course Chisomo prepared another delightful meal for us. This time we had a delicious fish dinner. I wish I had taken a photo of the fish while they were still whole. Some kind of large bream from a local river which might rival Malawi’s chambo. Hopefully Derek will have a chance to taste that Malawian delicacy on his first visit to the country. We ended the evening with ice cream. Definitely a lot of eating, but really the food is an additional way to connect with people and to show hospitality and appreciation.

-Lewis VanAusdle