So for my team’s first month in Africa we are located in Xai Xai, Mozambique. I know most racer’s first thoughts about Africa is that this is when things get REAL! Spiritual Warfare, Demons, and overall the devil working against us as we do God’s work. But along with all that come Healings, God showing up in Big ways, and miracles. My expectations for Africa were to be living in a hut type building, or camping in our tents, using a hole in the ground for a bathroom, and using Deet bug spray as cologne….Again God proved my expectations WAY wrong(which is probably why they tell racers to leave you expectations at home).
View of the Beach near our house!
The house we are staying in. We have the bottom Flat.
This month Team REAL is working alongside an American couple, Rachel and Jason Helm. They work withUnitas International here in Xai Xai, Mozambique teaching at a bible college, as well as do many other ministries in the area(Reach4Life, Farming etc..). My team and I have been doing a lot of different things this past month. We started by helping out around the Missions house where Jason, Rachel and their 2 children, Tristan(age 4) and Jocelyn (18 months) live. We have been doing some landscaping work, mainly changing the sandy yard into a yard where grass can be grown. To do this we needed to move load upon load of red dirt from down the street/beach, to their yard and spreading it out. Then move load upon load of Fertilizer(composted Cow poop)…yes cow poop, on top of the dirt. The red dirt provides a good hard base for the soil, and the fertilizer helps with the growth of the new grass that will be planted.
Team REAL with Jason and Rachel, our contacts.
The pile of poo we had to shovel
Unloading the Poo.
Throughout the week the women also attended a Women’s Bible Study with several South African Women in the area while Ben and I hung out with Jason(Ben working on the Unitas International’s Website and myself helping with Tristan and Jocelyn). One of the days we also went over to a resort owned by some friend’s of Jason and Rachels and prayed over some of the buildings as there have been some strange noises coming from one house and another has had multiple bad things happen to it in a short amount of time. So we went over to them and prayed over the buildings and everything in them. Here in Mozambique Spiritual Warfare is a big deal. There are a lot of practicing witch doctors in the area who like to show people how ‘powerful’ their gods/spirits are and because of this there is a lot of spiritual warfare….a ‘darkness’ in a home, weird occurrences, people getting sick or injured. A lot of times these things can be traced back to some objects in a house that were either used by a witchdoctor(who may have lived in the house before the current tenant) or decorations that have been used or prayed over by a witchdoctor. In these cases the object(s) are taken out of the home and burned and the house prayed over.
The Bible College where Jason and Rachel Teach
Some of the Children we helped look after.
Now this last week the team is working at the bible college where Jason and Rachel teach, helping out with the kids(ages 0-3), teaching English, as well as assisting around the grounds of the college(cooking, cleaning etc..). Of course the Kids and their adorable faces steal the show, all grasping at your legs to be picked up and everyone wanting attention. Some come from the surrounding area, however most children are all from the families who live at the bible college and attend classes.
One of the girls that stole our hearts.
This little girl, Lucia, absolutely stole my heart 🙂
So far our time in Africa, while not being what I imagined, has been great for myself and my team. God always knows what we need, when we need it, regardless of what I think I need or want. In about a week my Team will be leaving for Swaziland. I’m not sure what our ministry will be like, but I know that God will put us just where we need to be J
P.S. I know that my previous blog post I said that Team REAL was officially the six of us(Kristin, Sarah, Ben, Jenna, Alicia and myself). However it seems that Team REAL no longer be 6, but 5. Alicia is feeling that her season here on the World Race has come to an end and that She is being called back home. It’s been great to be able to lead her for the past 2 months, but I can see in her face and in conversation that home is where God is calling her for her next season. So please keep her in prayer as she transitions back home. Also please keep her mom in your prayers as she has shoulder surgery on June 4th and her brother and the family in your prayers as he leaves for another tour in the army on June 10th. Again thank you all for everything and your constant support of me, my team, and the work that God is doing through us all on the Race.
