It wasn’t until recently that the 8,000 square-foot infrastructure of the Good Samaritan Church in Kadoma even included a rooftop – a needed addition made possible by the helpful hands of local missionaries from the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Oviedo, a city in Seminole County, Florida, United States.

Although known locally as Seminole County’s largest African-American church, the church made a new name for itself internationally through its “Rooftop Project,” which reached completion during a mission trip to South Africa and Zimbabwe this past May 23 through June 13.

Antioch nicknamed the Good Samaritan Church its “little sister church” and has been nurturing that relationship for years.

Most recently, Pastor Charles Jones and Zimbabwe mission coordinator Darren Woods traveled to Kadoma to oversee the roof’s completion in addition to other initiatives. These included passing out previously made goodie bags, cookies and juice to the children there.

The bags were created under the direction of Ruby Mobley, Antioch’s Sunday School superintendent, and her husband Frank, the co-superintendent. Each Sunday School class was assigned an item to collect, resulting in an array of such essentials: toothbrushes, toothpaste, candy, pens, pencils, erasers, crayons, wash cloths and girl’s hair bows. The children also decorated the bags.

In Kadoma, about 500 children were present to collect such items, including a young girl who, Woods said, stopped in her tracks, eyes closed in prayer. The turnout was roughly double what the church had prepared, but the team was able to give the other children drinks and cookies.

The mission trips to Zimbabwe sit among numerous other trips done through Antioch, including work done at such places as Haiti, South America and China, to name a few.