This is where I often find myself in the middle of the day. It’s by far where the coolest breeze blows by. It is almost the perfect spot to unwind. Only downfall? The mango ambush that threatens the safety of your skull at any moment but we haven’t had any serious injuries yet.
Many of my days begin around 5:30 am. It’s the best time to get our gardening done. I take that back, it’s the best time to get our farming done. The majority of our month consists of working the fields. I always find this so ironic because I consider myself in the business of spiritual seed planting. It’s just like the Big Man to put me in a place where I am literally planting seeds.
“So why exactly is a World Race team farming in the middle of the Mozambiquan summer?” you might ask. Well, let me tell you, we ask this question on the daily. But God is doing some amazing things here at Beacon of Hope – Africa.
We are helping this ministry prepare for the upcoming year. Beacon of Hope is a place where teenage boys in the surrounding communities of Machava are given the chance to receive education and life skill training that they wouldn’t normally have the chance to receive. Most of these boys come from families who have abandoned them or that live on streets because of poverty or who are raised in one parent households that can’t afford to send their kids to school.
Angie, our contact, is from America. She has such a big heart for these boys. She houses them, feeds them and educates them alongside her amazing staff. The boys, in turn, learn how to take care of themselves by doing daily chores, taking care of the gardens, learning to cook and participating in various projects around the property in hopes of learning trades that will allow them income in their adult lives. All of the things they learn are taught from a Biblical perspective. They are learning to truly become Men of God.
Even though this month has been messy, laborious, and wicked hot, it has allowed me to step in a self- abandonment I have never experienced. We are helping to enable these boys to have a future. We are planting seeds that they will nurture and one day harvest, both physically and spiritually. MMM God is good.
So, I have learned to love these Mango tree moments. God has met us here in prayer, in worship, in fellowship and even just in a simple escape from the summer heat. Taste and see that the Lord is good. No, literally. Have you had an African mango? Mmm Mmm.
