We were anxious; it had been over 6 months since we had a “YF clean Up Day” at the local VGR office. A date was finally picked out and the information sent out to the always keen YF young people in Harare, Zimbabwe. As usual the response was and dozens of people calling and emailing back confirming that they would be coming. After all the preparations were made, tools and detergents stocked and stacked; the day dawned overcast, leaden and threatening.

Throughout the week, the weathermen had predicted thunderstorms on Saturday 23rd November. Prayers had been made to scatter the thunderstorms around the Avondale area where the cleanup would be held. The Lord certainly inclined his ear to our prayers. As the morning progressed, the sun began peeping from behind the clouds with warm rays penetrating through the forbidding skies where winds had been raging, slushing clouds and brewing a storm.

Activity started off about 8.45am when the youths present then where called around. Firstly Brother Barnabus Kariuki, VGR Office Manager in Kenya, was present to commit the long day into the hands of The Lord. Brother Barnabus and Brother Alfred had been in Zimbabwe’s recording studio for two weeks of a hectic translation schedule. He and his colleague were leaving that morning to go back to Kenya after a successful mission. Following this, the young people were quickly dispatched to their respective places where they’d be working for the day. The work began in earnest and the few stragglers arrived to find the ball rolling and rolling fast with so many willing hands to help.

A group of sisters were working in the lending Library and Display rooms. They removed the books and products from the shelves and the products; big bound books, CD cases, spoken word booklets, Bibles, YF products…etc. They swept behind the shelves, dusted the shelves, wiped them out and sprayed furniture detailer on them before rearranging the products back on the shelves. They went on to sweep the rooms, mop the ceramic floor tiles and apply floor polish to the wooden tile floors while another army was cleaning the windows both inside and outside. They washed the glass and window frames them with soapy water first, scrubbing stubborn stains on window frames when necessary then wiped the glasses clean and shiny; all with the aid of some effective detergents of course! A good deal of the youths was scrubbing the white pillars, the lamp holders and floors around the Conference Hall, the Admin. Section and the Lending Library. All the Bathroom floors were scrubbed and mopped dry, the walls, doors and doorposts washed clean, the surfaces and mirrors left spotless by this army on a mission, an amazing group of message believing young men and women.

In the translation and recording studio quarters, the translators’ bedrooms and bathrooms were thoroughly dusted, swept out, mopped up and spring cleaned. The windows were cleaned inside-out and left iridescent. The furniture dusted, wiped and had furniture detailer sprayed on it as well. The carpet, padded walls and doors in the Recording Studio itself were all vacuumed spotless.

This time the Conference Hall was to be cleaned only on the outside, the inside remained a mystery for the first part of the day; it’s a mystery to you too for now, so keep reading! However on the outside, it was a hive of activity as an unstoppable bunch of brothers washed the pillars and took care of the windows along the corridor on the outside of the Hall, swept and mopped the floors and finally applied the appropriate floor polish to it.

Although a lot of work had been done by this group in the ware house 6 months before, when they made, sealed and packed 600 sets of Zulu books, moved out all the material and boxes so they could scrub the concrete floors clean and blow the wooden pallets clean of dust then repack the boxes back into the warehouse again once the floors were dry. This time they were going to repack Lighthouse Packages orderly stack the life giving resources that were stored in this warehouse. The work was done with astounding ease and exactitude; hence this group was probably the first to complete their task. They moved on to the Memorial Hall where they rearranged some of the material in there too, then scrubbed the floors clean and mopped it dry.

Outside on the grounds we had youths wielding all sorts of apparatuses… rakes, brooms, shearers, mowers, blower, weed-eater. Etc. the results; the entire property was swept, lawns cut and raked, trees bushes/shrubs pruned all over the spacious premises. From the consignments we receive from Jeffersonville, we had accumulated pallets, used boxes etc… behind the warehouse. Moving some this debris had seemed like a formidable task indeed but not for this group. At the end of the day all this stuff had been ousted by able bodied young lads and wisked away in a big lorry that had come for just that purpose.

By lunch time, all the work was done, it was incredible; the place had been transformed in a matter of hours! While the work was going on, it was most expectedly accompanied by lots of chatter, laughter, shrieks and other indistinguishable noises, probably a major catalyst to the fact that they completed a mammoth task in record time!

Lunch was quickly served and devoured. Frankly the burgers, fries, fruits and beverages disappeared faster than they appeared! During this time, the clouds thickened and the rains began to fall but not for long. It quit just in time for us to gather back together and dismiss for Quiet time. After having communed with His children for half a day, it was time to commune with our Heavenly Father. It always seems so reverend and serene whenever people gather on these premises for Quiet Time. The place feels like Holy Ground, in fact at that time it is because the Holy God, the Author of fellowship, is present communing to His beloved ones at this time.

Brings this quote come to life:

Oh, that must have been a great hour for those apostles. Peter later on called it the holy mountain. Now, it wasn't a holy mountain, insomuch that the mountain was holy; it was the holy God on the mountain. It isn't the holy Church; it's the Holy Spirit in the Church. It isn't a holy man; it's the Holy Ghost in the man. Peter said, "The holy mount" where the holy God descended. And they heard His voice. 58-0126

The Holy God did descend and we heard His Still Small Voice. The rain pitter-pattered a little bit but it quit. The Lord was gracious to us and only at the very end of QT did it begin to pour! At this point the Conference hall was opened and we all went in to pray and thank God for the wonderful time. We sang one of the favorite Hymns, Be Still and Know That I Am God. And we all prayed. It was such a sweet spirit that engulfed the room while we prayed. The were rains pouring on the outside, yet pouring even more richly on the inside as the sweet incense; the prayers of the saints ascended to the throne of a most intent Papa God. After this, the youths were thanked for their willing help, and then they were informed that we were dismissed but to those who were willing, we were going to have the first Bistro ever in Zimbabwe!!!

Brother Joseph had sent the games over that the youths could enjoy while they fellowshipped and drew strength from each other to press the battle. A round of applause in gratitude was given to Brother Joseph and everybody who’d made this possible and immediately the youths descended on the games with youthful zest and soon the hall was alive!

Heads swung back and forth trying to keep up with the ping-pong balls bouncing across the tables. The foosball tables were alive with fast moving games where one person from the conceding team would shuffle out for every goal scored. The corn-hole boards weathered thuds and bumps as corn-bags landed on them. Although it had been a long day, everybody was in high spirits as they journeyed from game to game meeting and greeting on their way there! It was exclamation after exclamation, hiiiiis, ooohs, and aaahs echoed around the Hall as corn-bags sank into the corn-holes, goals clanked on the foosball tables etc. In short it was a major blast. The word, enjoyable would not do justice to the event; The Lord gave us a wonderful time. So that was the mystery; the Conference Hall was already cleaned and closed up because this is where the games had been set up for a treat to God’s young army of workers. They loved it! It was a perfect ending to a wholesome day. The youth in Harare are craving for more clean ups, Quiet Times, Bistros or whatever excuse they can cook up in order to be together again!

In case you were wondering what a mystery is, here is the definition from the man best qualified to define it because that was a major reason of his birth according to Revelation 10.7 and this quote:

Takes the Book and... of Seals and breaks them and shows the seventh angel, for this alone, the mysteries of God, is the ministry of the seventh angel. Now, we just come through the church ages with even history and prove that. See? It is the--the angel's message of the seventh church. All right, reveals all the mysteries that's been in the past, all the things in the past: Revelations 10:1-7. That's to be. 63-0318

The mysteries, here is "the mystery." A mystery is Scripture, is a previously hidden Truth now Divinely revealed, but (which is) a supernatural element still remains despite the revelation. 62-1230E