We ended up going to mozambique twice, but the first time we came to mozambique we were in Vilanculos helping Yacco & Maria with their church, Jesus for Africa. Vilanculos was so beautiful, it is right on the beach, the Indian Ocean is so blue and the water is warmer than Hawaii. The show survivor was being filmed on one of the islands off of Moz while we were there. A few of us had actually met some of the production crew.
Our ministry there were home visits, hospital visits, prison ministry and running Sunday services. My favorite ministry of that month was the hospital and prison ministry. We could only go twice a week to each place but each time we went was amazing.
It was so depressing going to the hospital. The wards are basically army tents, they are ridiculously hot inside and reek of urine. It is so sad, the patients are sick and in pain, the tents are far from comfortable. About 15 people would share a tent.
I didn’t really do much in the prison, i kind of just went for moral support, but i loved it there. Our team was the first team to go to that prison. They would gather all the inmates into a main room and we would share. The first day we went to the prison there was a heavy feeling of hopelessness, you could see it in their faces as well. Jessica shared the gospel with them and the entire room of about 200 prisoners accepted Christ that day. Each day we would return we could see more hope in their faces. They were so eager to hear what we would share and each time we would leave they would have huge smiles on their faces. I wish I could put into words what happened in that prison, but God definitely moved in that place. By the end of the month we were worshipping in the room with them and they were rejoicing more than i ever thought I would see them rejoice. I wish i had photos but we weren’t allowed to take any.
We celebrated Thanksgiving in Vilcanculos. We had that day off from ministry and a group of us prepared our thanksgiving feast. It was a bit makeshift considering Moz doesn’t have everything we eat, OR we couldn’t afford somethings but we ended up having a spectacular feast. We had turkey legs and chicken, mac n’ cheese, somewhat mashed potatoes, dressing (stuffing, i grew up calling it dressing), cooked carrots, brie, green bean casserole, apple pie, milk tart, Even though we had a tiny stove and limited resources we still had a wonderful family thanksgiving. Our families were able to call our team phones and wish us a happy thanksgiving, so that was really nice.
I loved our contacts, Yaco & Maria. They were so hospitable and really took care of us as if we were one of their own children. They moved to Moz 7 years ago from South Africa and truly have such a strong heart for Vilcanculos.
This is very jumbled because it was so long ago, i’m trying to remember everything.
