Our Shona Names

My wife and I were richly blessed by the recent opportunity to go on a Volunteers in Mission trip to Zimbabwe. We left on Thursday morning, February 25, and we returned on Monday, March 14. It was quite a trip! It was an opportunity to be a blessing—and to be blessed. We are grateful for the prayers, support, and encouragement of the people of First United Methodist Church.

For much of our time in Zimbabwe, we hosted in the home of Kennedy and Vimbai Masunda. They are active members of the King David United Methodist Church, located in downtown Mutare. I had stayed with their family two years earlier, and it was good to renew acquaintances.

The first night we were there, the Masunda family announced that, since this was my second time there, I was no longer a visitor but instead family. This was a surprise and an honor. Since that was the case, I asked them what my Shona name would be. Many people in Zimbabwe have both an English name and a Shona name. They said that they would have to think about that in order to make a proper decision.

After a couple of days, they announced that they had come up with a name for me. I wasn’t at all sure what they might have decided. “Tall, clumsy one” seemed like a viable possibility! However, they said that my Shona name would be “Mutendi,” which means “believer.” They had no way of knowing, of course, that one of my favorite verses is found in Mark 9:24, “ ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’” They could not have picked a much more appropriate name.

Then, with just a couple of minutes to consider the possibility, they came up—quickly and easily, it seemed to me—with a name for Joyce. They said that her Shona name would be “Zvikomborero,” which means “blessings.” That, too, was an appropriate and thoughtful choice.

We probably won’t use our Shona names very often—at least not in ordinary conversation. But these names—”Believer” and “Blessings”—will be a rich reminder of our experience in Africa.

In looking forward to Easter, I trust that each of us will experience the joy of being a believer in the reality of the risen Christ and that we will know the blessings of being part of a worldwide fellowship of faith!

Grace and Peace,

Mark “Mutendi” Conard