First, I want to thank God for his mercy and grace, which endure forever. If not for God’s grace, I would have died because I was doing evil things before Him–but God showed me mercy.

My name is Lawrence, and I grew up in Zivurawa, a village in the Masvingo Province. I am the youngest of four, and my father passed away when I was four years old. It wasn’t easy for my mother to pay my school fees because she was unemployed. Through God, VisionTrust came to our local school, Chasiyatende Primary School, led by Mr. Muzezewa. I consider VisionTrust a family because it played the role of a family, especially to me! They came to our school looking for orphans and vulnerable children, and I became a part of VisionTrust. They started paying my school fees and giving us food and stationery. This was a very happy day for me; I was nine years old.

Though I was taught the word of God by our VisionTrust mentors every day, I started to smoke marijuana (mbanje) in 2016, while I was in high school. This was due to bad friends and peer pressure. After a few months I started drinking alcohol, and my mentors didn’t know. All these things drew me away from praying and loving God.

At that time, Mr. Muzezewa, who was like a father to me, ordered us to have a leader’s retreat. Our guest speaker was a pastor from America. The pastor preached a scripture from the book of Hebrews: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:1-4, KJV). This is the day when God spoke to me through His word, and I received Christ Jesus as my personal savior.

Upon returning home, a sudden change occurred: I started to hate all evil things. I started looking for a church that was sound in faith, and I ended all my friendships, which was difficult for me. I faced many temptations during that time, but God gave me strength. I fasted for three days and nights because I wanted to know Christ Jesus! I became interested in reading Bible scriptures and started to have passion for evangelism and preaching the word of God to everyone. I started attending discipleship lessons, which were important to me because they helped my spirit grow. God guided me through all these tough situations, then I studied theology to know Christ even more.

God strengthened me when I was weak! I am now a 22-year-old pastor. I know God did this for a reason: so that younger brothers and sisters in high school can imitate me as I imitate Christ through this lovely family, VisionTrust. This is the role VisionTrust and its members have played for me! I am also proud of Mr. and Mrs. Muzezewa for their faithfulness and commitment before God. It’s a great job to do for God, and your reward is in heaven. I now preach to different people and people are repenting because of you, VisionTrust! You are preaching the word of God to different nations through us, your children.

I want to thank VisionTrust for everything you have done in my life. May the Lord God, whom I worship, give His servants many more years of doing wonderful work. Thank you! 🙏