This blog is a part of a 3 part series, written in reverse order. Enjoy!
Once upon a time in South Africa there was a squad that was supposed to go to India. Before going, however, they had to apply for Indian visas. Typically the processing time for a visa is seven to ten business days, but when a group of 42 people applied at the exact same time naturally the processing time would take longer. However, they were not prepared for it to take as long as it did.
When this squad arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the beginning of Month 4, they filled out all of the paperwork for their Indian visas. They gathered all of the necessary information, gave their passports to their logistic coordinators, and sent them on their merry way as the rest of the squad continued on to their ministries for the month.
Month 4 came and went with little to no change on the process of their visas. When they arrived in Nelspruit for Debrief they expected to hear some good news. It turned out there was still little progress being made on the Indian front. Their logistics coordinators ended up spending the entire month away from their teams, trying to take care of all of the logistical stuff for the squad. Debrief happened, which was a great time in and of itself (all kinds of fun things happened including team changes and new squad leaders, post on that coming soon), but instead of only being five days, it turned into ten because the squad could not move on to Swaziland without their passports. At the end of these ten days there was still no word on the status of their visas, and as much as they loved Crazy Dave and Old Vicks Travelling Inn, they needed to find new lodging that was not eating into their budget.
So, one of the squad members, Marina, Googled ministries in the area and came across Manna Fellowship, made contact, and the entire squad was invited to the church’s facilities, which included lots of room to pitch tents, a swimming pool, soccer field, large pavilion with private kitchen, bathroom with hot showers, a volleyball court, paintball field, gym, an outdoor fire pit and lots of trees to hang hammocks. The best part : they got to help Manna with some of their incredible ministries, help with maintaining the church grounds, and they got to stay for ABSOLUTELY FREE!
The squad thought they would just hang out for a few days, help with ministries, camp out, and then move on to Swaziland with their passports and Indian visas. Apparently, God had other plans. They are currently still at Manna after being there for almost two weeks, they just got their visas for India on Tuesday, November 19, and will remain there until the 29th. They have also been given updated travel and ministry plans: they will leave for Swaziland on November 29th, minister there until December 19th, and then probably return to South Africa until further notice. In addition, they will probably NOT be going to Mozambique at all. There has been a lot of violence and political unrest so AIM has decided not to send anyone there.
This squad doesn’t know why any of this happened. They don’t know why they had to spend so long in one place. They don’t know why they are not going to Mozambique. But God does. Behind all of this God is in complete control and has incredible plans. He has provided for and guided this squad in incredible ways this past month. Though it has not worked out according to their plans, it has the way He planned.
I am excited to see what God will do through all of this. It has not been easy this month always being in our tents and spending all of my time around 44 other people, but in the end it will all be worth it. So what if we don’t go to Mozambique? So what if we have to start using #10in11? So what if we never see the results of this? God is still God and He knows exactly what He is doing.
