Disclaimer: this was written over a week ago. We don’t have wifi so I haven’t been able to post it, but we got these little internet sticks so I am using it to finally update everyone! I will have another post up about the rest of the month here when I can!
Hello! So we have been in Mozambique for about 2 weeks now! The first week my team and I were serving at Beacon of Hope (a boys home) outside of Maputo with two other teams. Our main role was to organize and teach classes for the boys.
Last week my team traveled north to Guija to serve with Pastor Tienie for the remainder of the month. After an eventful taxi trip, we arrived to Tienie’s around sunset. It was absolutely beautiful. Side note, the sunrises and sunsets here are breathtaking. There were a ton of kids playing soccer on the field behind Tienie’s home and we felt so welcomed upon getting here! Every morning we go to the pump to get water for all of Tienie’s trees. It takes our team of 6 about an hour and it’s a great arm workout. Kids always flock to the pump when they see us there and we are greeted by them shouting “Hello! Hello!” in their version of an American accent. Pretty stinkin cute. After chores we all have breakfast together and someone will lead a devotional. Then 4 of us will go out with Tienie’s team to different parts of the village and essentially go door to door praying for people while the other 2 stay back to prepare the food for that day. We have a lot of downtime in the afternoons because it’s too hot to do much of anything. Which means a lot of reading! And listening to Adam rant about different things.
Yesterday we went to Beline. It was so beautiful!!! It’s a lagoon on the coast of Mozambique. It was such a contrast to where we have been serving in the bush of Africa, but we all had such a great time there. We took a boat out to where the lagoon meets the ocean and got to walk along the beach there. It was crazy how fast it dropped depth wise. You could see sand maybe a foot out from where you were walking and then it just dropped off into deep, dark blue. Insane waves too!
Today we went to our first African church service in Mozambique. Walking in there I immediately felt overwhelmed by the gratitude and joy of the people there. Everyone comes up to shake your hand and kids are running up to you grabbing on to a leg or spare arm. Getting to worship with them was incredible. You can see their hunger and emotion so clearly from how they sing to Him. A couple people from our team shared the message and we sang a couple songs. The message was from the book of Esther. The big takeaway verse for most of us (and probably most people in general) from the book was “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 5:14
God has a great plan for you. For me. But it’s up to us to say yes to His plan. He doesn’t force it on us, He lets us choose. It becomes a question of whether or not we have the courage to step out in faith and let Him use us for His glory. “The question is not, ‘Who are you?’ That’s simply the result of taking time to identify the material. The question is, ‘Who will you decide to become?’ That’s the measure of the artisan soul. The canvas is only the context for the creative act.”
Can we just let that sink in for a second? We are the creation of the creator. How can we think God intended to make anything other than a masterpiece? Life becomes a work of art when we live it not for ourselves, but for others. The masterpiece is a life lived with courage and faith, with integrity and intention, with love and passion.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
