It seems like the first few months have flown by in the blink of an eye! Before I knew it, it was month three and we were in Mozambique. Prior to the race, I hadn’t heard much of anything about Mozambique, so going into this month I wasn’t sure what to expect. But one thing I did know was that God was preparing my heart. As we left our second country, the Lord kept giving me little whispers of excitement for whatever was going to be coming my way. I vocalized this often to my teammates and told them I didn’t know why, but I knew this month was going to be incredible!
Unfortunately, it didn’t start off that way. A 21 hour drive from Mbabane, Swaziland to Quelimane, Mozambique turned into a 56 hour continuous bus ride, ping ponging all across the country, dropping off the other teams that were in our van with us. Within those couple travel days, we got stopped by police officials approximately 19 times. I guess I could say that probably contributed to the delay, along with the hundreds of potholes the size of small cars. Despite how uncomfortable the situation was, we decided to make the most out of it. I had some pretty great conversations with some of my teammates, Kate broke out her uke and we worshipped, and we all just had fun and enjoyed each others company.
So the day finally comes when we arrive in Quelimane and my nerves are on the fritz due to lack of sleep. As we drive down the streets filled with bike taxis, tuck tucks, and pedestrians, I quickly realize that the roads here are a dangerous place. We literally drive inches away from bike taxis riding down the side of the road. And to the worst of my fears, before we even get to our host, we accidentally tapped one of the cyclists. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt but he was ready to pull the driver out of the bus and hurt him. At this point, my anxiety is through the roof. I just began calling on the name of Jesus, asking him to protect us from this angry man and the crowd that began to congregate by our bus. Thankfully, the Lord sent someone to talk the man down and we were finally able to continue driving.
Month 3, we partnered with Life Church & Life Child. It was also the first we tent camped and to be completely honest, I wasn’t a fan of it at first. It was ridiculously hot, and I’m not that big of a fan of bugs. We pitched our tents in the field at the local primary school in this rural village. We were a spectacle to be seen. And the children there made that blatantly obvious. They would come and sit on the play ground and watch us all day. Wake up in the morning, open up the flap of my tent to go brush my teeth and get ready for the day, and a group of kids would be waiting there for us. I felt like a zoo animal on display.
Ministry during month 3 was pretty similar to what we’ve already done. The first week, I helped Benjamin in the garden pulling weeds, watering the plants and picking moringa (an herb that they use to help with digestive health). It was physically draining and I didn’t have anywhere to go to get away and “recharge” because the kids also followed everyone around in herds. And on top of that, I got my first taste of being homesick. I pulled out my little book of encouragements and that my wonderful friends made for me and one of the entries really helped me get my perspective back in check. And in that moment, I made a conscious decision to embrace where God had me and to be intentional with every moment going forward. The timing was pretty great bc it was the end of the first week and we placed in different jobs.
It was almost as if He was giving me a fresh start. We went to a different village called Gogone and did a number of things within the community there. We painted bricks of homes (which is really just rubbing mud on the bricks), mudded a house (literally taking mud and putting it on a stick house structure) and helped out at the peace school serving lunches and hanging out with the kids in the classrooms. With that I also had the opportunity to get to know and befriend quite a few of the teachers. On the weekends, we had the opportunity to stay with host families and dive into the culture of Mozambique first hand. It was probably one of my favorite times this month. The first two weekends we were there, I got paired with two amazing, Godly women in the church who poured into me, and in doing so, opened my eyes to something that God is now cultivating a new desire and passion within me! And it makes me so excited! DISCIPLESHIP!! I was able to sit in on their small group sessions and as they began to talk about discipleship and I got to see discipleship firathand, my heart began to get overwhelmed with love and excitement for discipleship!
One thing I don’t know why it surprised me like it did but one thing that I absolutely love is how universal the Holy Spirit is. It knows NO language barrier and it needs NO translation. I can worship my Savior like I would back in the States and His spirit is the same here as it is there!!! Now, whenever I’m sad and missing home and needing something to fill that need, I can turn on some worship music and be reminded that “home” is not defined by a physical building or city, but home is wherever I am with Him!
