Hello western world!
Mozambique is vibrant and beautiful. It is hot, but that’s what you get near the equator.
I love the people I’ve met here. On the plane over here I was worried about communicating with the people I would encounter, and the Lord has just completely blown that out of the water.
Our entire squad is staying at Iris Ministries in Dondo, Mozambique. Dondo is near Beira and about a 21 hour bus ride (I kid you not) from the capital city of Moputu. This site used to be a boys home, but now the focus is on ministry within the area. Most teams have ministry sites within an hour of Iris, but my team (Rooted Waters) and the other all girls team (Grow Freely Inc) are based here.
Each team on the squad takes turns helping Victorina and Carlito prepare meals for the people on campus for lunch and dinner. Last Wednesday, my team helped with preparation. I got to help gut a bunch of fish and then help with clean up after lunch.
Breakfast always consists of these amazing freshly baked loaves of bread, and it’s even better if you can remember a sporkful of peanut butter. Lunch is usually served with “sheema,” which is this white gunk that’s made out of corn meal… It looks like mashed potatoes and grits, but basically tastes like paste. The locals LOVE this stuff. Where I can usually only force a few bites down, people from here take a mountain of it and scarf it down. Dinner is usually served with white rice… Africans like their white carbohydrates.
We don’t have running water here, so bucket showers are a staple. I LOVE BUCKET SHOWERS. It’s the only time of day where I feel cool and un-sweaty… Well, except for right now because I’m sitting outside writing this at 10 PM instead of sweating inside.
Some standards of daily life include:
- the fact that my eyes pop open of their own accord at 6 AM (I can here the chorus of laughter from the friends who know me at home), and I’m usually asleep around 10… I can barely keep my eyes open to write this blog tonight.
- We have squad worship/sharing time at night around 7:30.
- Oh, and in Mozambique you can’t show your knees. They’re sexy. You also can’t hug the opposite sex because that means you’re either married or “involved” with one another.
-Iris has mango, avocado, papaya and lime trees near the pavilion. The team that helps with food gets to go rake up all of the fallen fruit that is being attacked by swarms of flies.
Ministry:
-Widow’s ministry
-teaching a women’s group about the Holy Spirit
-hospital ministry praying for babies with malaria. Some of them also had AIDs. That was by far one of the hardest days.
-going to a clinic/weighing babies (also with AIDs/heartbreaking) and playing with kids at the preschool next door.
I’m sweaty, clean is a relative term, I have tan lines from my teva’s and I could not be happier. This is exactly where I was made to be. It’s a place where I can grow and a place where I can walk the Lord’s calling on my life.
Love and miss you all.
PS. You can subscribe for blog updates. I won't have internet much this month. 🙂
