Welp, I’m in Africa. So many people have asked me what it’s like, so I thought I’d share a little “day in the life” overview:
Welcome to Beira, Mozambique, Kedesh Orphanage for 9-18 year old boys. We wake up at 5am in the morning to run a kilometer long obstacle course with the boys. Then we head out into the fields to help them manage their gardens. This can be anything to helping clear weeds, hoeing the soil to plant new plots, or planting new seeds. I’ve personally learned a lot about gardening and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it’s actually convinced me to have a garden once I return to the states.
After gardening, the boys return back to the house to complete their morning chores. During this time, I slip away for some much needed quiet time with the Lord. I’m very thankful for this time and appreciate being filled with God’s word before tackling a whole day.
Sometimes, after the boys complete their chores, we round them up for a pre-breakfast game of volleyball or baseball. The sun starts to come out and get really hot around 8am or so and only gets hotter until about 4pm when it starts to finally cool off, so we try to do things like sports or manual labor early in the morning or early evening. Then around 8 or 9am we have breakfast, which consists of oatmeal or a mineral/root cereal.
Then the work begins. Our team has tackled various jobs this month like, building a goat corral, digging a trench for a new water tower to help irrigate the boys gardens, shucking kapok (wood like things full of a cotton substance) to make pillows for the boys, organizing tools and cabinets, cooking with the boys, and various other jobs that come up day to day. For example, today I repaired 4 baseball gloves by threading twine through the fingers. Our main ministry is the boys and pouring into them and simply spending time with them, so whatever that looks like, we do it.
Around noon or 1/2 we have lunch, which is usually rice and something else, like beans or cabbage/leafy greens. Following lunch, it’s down time. Our team usually spends a part of this time doing “one on ones” or having feedback with one another. Afternoons are very unpredictable, because a number of projects can happen after rest.
We have dinner around 7ish and it’s usually the opposite from what we had for lunch. So if we had beans, we’ll have cabbage/leafy greens, and vice versa. Mondays and Fridays we have bible study with our contacts. Every other night we have movie night with the boys, along with an awesome plus – popcorn! Those are some of my favorite nights. The boys really enjoy movies like High School Musical, in which we’ve watched all 3, which I’m definitely not opposed to! And after the movie we all wind down to bed. We usually go to bed anywhere between 8-10. It seems ridiculous, but something’s gotta give when you’re waking up every morning at 5am!
I have thoroughly enjoyed our ministry this month. Our contacts, John and Heather, run this orphanage like a family, so everything is super laid back and chill. The boys are incredibly awesome. They serve and bless us so much. They always allow us to go first in line for meals, they always offer us their seats at the table and during movies, and bring us food if they’ve made something special like onion rings or cake. I have definitely developed a protectiveness over these boys and see them like my brothers. They take really great care of me. They wash my clothes weekly, take Montecanos (sand fleas) out of my feet when they’re the size of peas and don’t complain, and they simply bring joy to my life.
The spiritual aspect is a little bit harder to explain. Witchcraft is highly practiced here. Many of these boys have grown up around witchcraft, and that could be one of the reasons they’ve come to live here. Sharing the gospel is hard because they don’t understand the concept of Jesus being raised from the dead as significant, because in witchcraft, people are called back from the dead often. Huge termite mounds are found all along the roads where witches go to practice their religion.
Every morning during breakfast we have a mini devo where someone on our team reads from the bible and shares some things to think about. All of the boys are present and listen, but not many of them are vocal about what is spoken. John says that it’s hard to tell how the boys view Christianity until they’re actually away from Kedesh. That’s when it really becomes apparent if they’ve truly accepted Jesus because it becomes apparent in the ways they live their daily lives.
I’m thankful for my time here in Beira. I’m thankful for the ways the Lord is doing some much reconstruction in my heart. I’m thankful that the Lord spoke the word “receive” over me at the beginning of this month and that I’ve really been able to walk in that. I’m thankful for my team and the way they’ve received me and loved me so well. I’m excited about where the Lord is going to take us through these next 7 months! Thanks again for all your support! It’s truly a blessing to feel so loved all around the world!
