We arrived to the bush on Wednesday. Soon after we got there, we walked to a home where a 37-year-old man, Xavier, had recently died. There were about 10 family members there including his wife and kids. Our host kept telling us that we would return on Saturday to place flowers on the grave. We weren’t exactly sure what that meant and thought it was somewhat odd that strangers would be invited to such an intimate thing. Saturday rolled around and we woke up for 5:00am tea time. After tea, we headed to place flowers on the grave. I expected those same 10 family members to b there, but when we entered the clearing, we estimated about 160 people to be there. As was normal, there were four chairs (Andrew & Amanda weren’t with us. Side note: Amanda is no longer on the World Race. She went home by her own choice.) at the front for us to sit in. The pastors said a few words, then everyone entered a processional to the grave site singing somber songs. The processional was led by family members carrying the cross marker and flowers. The crowd gathered around the grave all dressed in their best clothes. The women wore wraps around their chests. Two men dressed in suits used sticks to draw a square in the dirt around the grave. After that, a man sprinkled flowers and vines on the square. The one by one people came forward and planted the flowers and vines into the square. Next, the family came along and sprinkled water on the flowers all while the singing continued. It was powerful except nobody was crying except for Morgan and I had tears in our eyes. Then, they turned to me and I got to give a eulogy kind of and a word of encouragement. I acknowledged and apologized for their loss and then shared with them Psalms 13. I got to share about God’s unfailing love and the eternal hope we have in Christ. They were very attentive.
Next, we proceeded back to the family home where Morgan preached on the seasons of life from Ecclesiastes. To finish off the service, we got to dine with the chiefs and king of the village for some bread, tea, and traditional Mozambiquen drink, mill maise. It tasted like a beer flavored extremely watered down oatmeal, but we put it down like pros.)
After that, we had a complete church service where Spano preached. The whole church body of about 30 or 40 people followed us singing and dancing all the way back to our home. The proceeded to watch us intently as we packed up all our stuff. There’s nothing like popping your head out of your tent to 40 staring African faces.
James, Morgan, Candice, and I with our host family and church friends.
They wanted to give us gifts before we left. We took our respective seats in the four chairs in front. Then, (while singing of course) they gave Morgan a bag of peanuts, I received a bag of oranges, Spano got a bag of eggs, and Candice another bag of peanuts. The next thing we knew, the crowd started to part and the cutest little old man emerged from the crowd dancing with a live chicken in his hands. He was coming right towards me. In my head, I was thinking, “Oh no, I’m going to have to hold this thing.” I bravely started to reach out my hands, but then I got nervous and couldn’t do it so under my breath I called for Spano to save me. He reached out his hands and rescued me from holding the chicken. Whew!
Morgan, Me, Candice, and James with our gifts!
Overall, it was such an honor to be a part of their lives. They served us like kings and queens. We spoke at their funeral and they gave us gifts including a live chicken, which is a HUGE honor in their culture! We are so blessed!
(Update on the chicken: We carted it back with us to the main town, but then realized we had no idea how to kill and cook a chicken or the means to do it, so we found some nearby kids and gave it to them. You would have thought we gave them a million dollars.)
This is what’s left of the church after the cyclone.
**Also, I didn’t have my camera with me in the bush, so please check other people’s blogs for more pictures. I hope to snag some from them and post more soon!
