For over five months, I’ve been carrying things in my pack
that I have never used. They weigh my bag down and they continually get in the
way, yet I’ve never been able to get rid of them.
Why you may ask? Africa. Everyone promised that I would use these things
in Africa.
Tent, swiss army knife, silverware, plates, wet wipes, first
aid kit, pots and pans, cooking stove, headlamp, clothing line, etc; tons of
things that I have not used in five months… that’s almost half of our entire
trip.
Well times are a’ changing. Let me introduce you to team seven:eleven’s ministry for the month:
This Monday, February 4th, we will be headed over
to Nelspruit, South Africa,
about a three hour trip from where we are currently located. In Nelspruit, we
will be working with a woman named Lynn and her husband Mike, a couple
originally from South Africa.
The city itself is actually quite developed and fairly large. It is home to a
mall, coffee shops, supermarkets, clothing stores, etc. But in true world race
fashion, we will be on the outskirts of all this.
Team seven:eleven will be camping outside of a ministry
building by the name of IRIS Ministries.
Bathrooms and showers will not be
readily available, food will be cooked on camping stoves, water will be bought
daily from grocery stores, and electricity will not be a luxury. We will be working alongside Lynn and Iris
ministries to help out in a variety of areas including: carepoint feeding
programs, teacher workshops, hospital visitations, game/craft days for local
preschoolers, and helping to build a playground at the preschool. Also, Alexis
Black, daughter of a local AIMer in Swazi, will be joining us for the month.
Our exact time at this destination is currently up in the
air. Our prayer right now as a team is to hopefully eventually be headed over
to Mozambique
for a period of time. Due to the intense floods from a couple weeks ago, there
is a great need for help in Mozambique
and we are trying to get over there over the course of the next four weeks. Our
biggest obstacle right now is transportation, because we need two 4×4 vehicles
to make it in on the damaged roads.
But let me just tell you about where we are hoping to go and
what we are hoping to do while in Mozambique.
The city we are interested in going to is Mutarara, Mozambique, which is a four
day drive from Nelspruit (no—that wasn’t a typo—4 DAYS). Our living conditions
will be very similar to South Africa,
including tents, cooking for ourselves, no electricity, unclean water, etc. We
will also have to finally take that malaria medication…bummer. Our intended
ministry during our time in Mozambique
is to help rebuild an orphanage that collapsed during the flooding. We are
hoping to purchase some strong bricks that will be able to withhold future
storms. Also, Gary Black, the man that we have been learning from this past
week, will also join us in our travels to Mozambique.
As with each location we travel into, the key is flexibility. This is the information
that Mark and I were able to receive while making a short trip to Nelspruit
yesterday, however, things are not often how they first appear, and may end up
being quite different from this. But our team is thoroughly trained in this
area, so come what may, we are ready!
