I Zimbabwe...have I said that before?

LOVE it here! I know I haven't really explored the country yet, but Vic Falls and the people here are soooo wonderful.
I went back to the Pizza/Chicken/Creamy Inn and found Julius still there. He was positively thrilled that I came back as I said I would. "You are very honest, Jen", he said.
My friend Hilton hooked me up via Facebook with a childhood friend of his, Cesare, who lives here. Cesare is an Italian tour guide and he's a fantastic host! Thank you Hilton!! Cesare welcomed me into his gorgeous home, and his home away from home, Shoestrings Backpackers. Though the place is most definitely a backpackers (DJ booth, nightly parties, very active bar, etc.) they are super friendly. They've got an African Drumming Troupe that performs there along with some fire spinners. They asked me to light up and I obliged. 2 days later, folks are still going on about the show. It's SOO fun to perform in a more or less closed system, i.e. they only see the same people spin over and over. You get to show off a different style that no one has ever seen. Anyway...
Yesterday I was on my way into town with no particular destination in mind. I greeted two ladies across the street, and they said, "Come with us to church." I thought about it for a second and said, OK! So as I'm now starting to get used to, we walked for ages through the township, alternating between roads and dirt paths. We rattled on about the usual girl stuff (they were older ladies, in their late 40's or perhaps early 50's) but men and babies are usually where the conversation goes to. As we passed people, the ladies were asked what they were doing with the white person (I recognized the word that sounded like 'mukuwa'. They said I was going with them to church ("church" is said in English for whatever reason). That was met with great joy and some clapping usually. We FINALLY made it to our destination: a big tree in the bush. People were already gathered; most of the women wore white head coverings, and some had full length white robes. The few men that were there were the pastors, who also wore long white robes. There was a cloth banner strung up on a bush. They are Apostele or something like that, and I was later told that they are the equivalent of the Amish. There were maybe 15-20 people there. The service was all in the local languages, Shona, Dibele. There was a lot of 'hallelujah'ing and we got up to sing and clap about every 8-10 minutes. At first a lot of people were staring, but most smiled back when I did. After maybe 2 hours, one pastor started to welcome me to the congregation (in Shona) and everyone clapped. He then translated into English and also read a passage from the Bible. He said everyone and everything is about love. By then the little ones had grown quite fond of me (at first they were a little afraid) and were kinda crawling all over me. The whole thing was fabulous. I finally had to go, however, as I hadn't eaten anything and the heat was really getting to me. I started footing the long way home, but it wasn't long before a friendly fellow picked me up and gave me a lift back into town.
Today I'm going to get a SIM card, book my FREE lion walk (courtesy of Cesare), and probably do another fire dancing show at Shoestrings. The boys there want me to teach them a few things too.
So yes, I'm basking in Zimbabwe heaven.