Welcome to our blog.
Over the next several days we will add information about our mission to
Zimbabwe to serve at the Sanyati Baptist Hospital. We are excited about what the Lord has been
doing and that He chose to share it with us.
Please join us in our journey as we prepare to go in April 2012.
Sanyati Baptist Hospital has nearly a sixty year history of
not only health care, but also of education, evangelism and discipleship. However, the economic crisis of Zimbabwe over
the last decade has left the hospital in a place of hardship. On average the hospital sees about 35,000
outpatients, cares for 1,800 inpatients, assists in 1,800 child births, and
performs 1,000 minor surgical procedures and 240 C-sections annually. This is a very important and vital bush
hospital for the people of Zimbabwe in need of critical repair and support from
fellow believers.
The Sanyati Makeover is a five year focus to renovate the
hospital. The project is coordinate by
Peter Sierson, the Missions Pastor at Pleasant Heights Baptist Church in
Nashville, TX. The makeover project had
its first construction team arrive in May 2011.
Last year, the Lord called me to join a team from Conyers, Georgia to
experience what He is doing first hand at Sanyati.
It was an awesome experience for me and I am humbled that my Savior
chose to share it with me.
While I was there, I felt the call to come back and serve as
the onsite coordinator and to help disciple the local men. I kept that to myself because I needed
confirmation. I thought that I might
just be getting excited and running ahead of the Lord’s plan. After I returned, the call to go was
confirmed when my wife, Rashel, shared with me that she also felt we were
called to go as a family. From then on
we have been on the journey of preparation.
Sometimes it has been fun and exciting while other times it has been
overwhelming. Welcome to the journey
with us!
The entire Sifford clan, Ryan, Rashel, Paige, Katelyn, and Chloe,
will be in Zimbabwe from mid April through the end of September. We will go as independent missionaries supported
through our local church, First Baptist Church in The Colony, Texas. We have to raise our own funding. If you feel called to support our mission,
you can do so by sending a tax deductible donation with a memo “Missions –
Sifford Zimbabwe” to First Baptist Church, 4800 South Blvd., The Colony, TX
75056. Tax receipts will be mailed out
at the end of the year in January 2013.
I will close today’s post by asking you to pray for us and providing some links for more
information about the hospital and the makeover project.
- Ryan
The Sanyati Makeover Project website:
The doctor and his family African Stories:
Baptist Global Response (BGR) information about the project:
So many questions! How amazing. I will begin to share the excitment with prayer warriors. Keep us posted.
ReplyDeleteHey, Debbie! Yes, It's been a crazy year! Full of new surprises! :) My new post might answer some questions and please do pray! Thank you so much!!!:)
Delete