Dear Mozambique, you are far more beautiful than I could
have ever imagined!
So hey peeps, made safely to…. Well I don’t know where,
Mozambique. We are like 30ish miles from a town called Beira, and I am, once
again in love. Surprise, surprise, I know.
K, so to catch you up… We left the, oh so wonderful, Zomba 2
weeks ago, and met our entire squad at Mabuya Camp, a hostel/campsite in
Lilongwe, where we stayed for 6 days. It was so good to be with the whole
family, sharing in our experiences, praising the Lord for His movement and
victories throughout Malawi, and finding comfort in the community we have so
come to depend on. We also got to see and spend time with our fabulous squad
parents (coaches, yes, but that doesn’t come close enough to describing them)
our beloved Chuck and Selena Day. Michael and Kathleen Hindes and Sean Smith
also made it out for a few days, encouraging us, teaching us, and helping to
usher us into a new time on the race. And our amazing squadies each brought a
powerful message for us. God was clearly with us and upon us throughout the
week, and worked heavily on all of our hearts, setting this squad, this family,
all the more in Him and the power of His truth. The only things missing were
our 3 original squad leaders and members of our family, Kim, Kyla, and Janina.
The day before leaving, we also had some more team switch
ups….. Our beloved Jer Bear, Jeremy is no long with team Last Place. Hard as it
was to let him go, we are proud to support him as a team leader of a new team,
so keep him in your prayers. 🙂
Sad to leave the squad, but excited for the month to come,
we left Tuesday morning en route to Mozambique. After the travel day fiasco
introduction to African travel, we prepared for the worst, praying for the
best, and PRAISE THE LORD we got the latter. The 30 hours between our leaving
and our arriving were definitely the easiest and most pleasant travel day I
have had yet on the race. We, with Team Abundant Life, packed like sardines
into a small mini bus and all of our things for the short ride from the camp to
the bus depot. There we were blessed with a much larger bus for the trek to the
border and awesome bus driver. The drive was filled with prayers of expectation
and thanksgiving, and so much excitement for the month to be shared between our
two teams. Our previous experience with the Mozambique border made us expect a
few hours before we would be able to get through. 30 minutes later, however, we
were through the Malawi side and loaded with our packs, walking the couple hundred
meters between the two borders. Then, another 30 minutes later we were loading
our stuff onto our next mini bus, marveling at the favor the Lord was pouring
out on us.
Around 9 we made it to Tete, our stop for the night, and
after driving around for a while to find the hostel Daniel found for us, and
having no luck, opted for a hotel right down the street from the bus station we
would be leaving from in the morning. After an amazing treat of soft serve ice
cream we were off to our three separate beds, knocked out in our AIR
CONDITIONED rooms, and filled all more with reverent thankfulness for the Lord.
The next morning we were up and out bright and early, and
loaded onto our last mini bus of our journey, waiting for our contact who met
us in Tete to escort us home. He found us and after getting coffee from a
surreal coffee shop of American standards for sure, we were finally on the last
stretch home. The drive to…. Well here, where ever that is, was about 9 hours,
and with each passing mile all I could do was marvel at the beauty surrounding
us. This place is so green and lush and absolutely BEAUTIFUL!
We are staying in a village here, actually camping out in a
house that they rented for us, on our sleeping mats under jimmy rigged mosquito
nets and so well taken care of. Our ministry here is a fulfilling variety, and
our contact is so laid back and awesome. While here we have the opportunity to
do prison, hospital, widow, and orphan ministry, as well as community outreach
in this village and others. We are serving with and living with an orphanage
with 15 kids as well, and get to spend time with the kids of the orphanage and
neighboring homes as well. God is just so good!
I love it here, and am excited to see where God is going to
take me, and the victories that my teammates, squadmates, and I get to be a
part of for the Lord. This place is so alive with the Lord, and yet also so
covered by witchcraft, so please be praying for us. Please keep our healthy,
strength, and spirits in your constant prayers, and be excited for the stories
of victory to come!
Love and miss you all from home so very much!
And p.s. getting to internet is the most intense hassle yet,
so I really do not have any idea when I will get to write again, but know that
I am thinking of, praying for, and loving you more and more every day 🙂
Oh and p.p.s. my only Christmas wishes are a Zambian safari
next month, or bungee jumping off of Victoria Falls next month…. Just saying 😉
