1/17/16 8:07am
-It’s windy and raining outside, which is awesome given that the area has had draught conditions and has been in water-saving mode. This will help replenish the pond and the well.
-We are at a boys orphanage on the outskirts of Beira, Mozambique. Before this, we survived our extremely long travels, which lasted 68 hours from the time I left my hotel room until the time we arrived here.
-The longest part of the trip was the bus ride from Maputo, MZ to Beira, MZ which took 21.5 hours due in part to an engine breakdown that set us back 3 hours before we ever left town. The bus had beds though!
-The campus of the boys’ home here is awesome. It is a beautiful area with a few different buildings for housing, kitchen, etc, there are ~35 boys of different ages, a good chunk of land for adventure / play / alone time, cows/goats/cats/dogs/chickens, a sand volleyball court, and more. Our ministry host was a carpenter back in the States and he has utilized his skills to build the campus into the place it is today, along with the help of the boys who he teaches and trains himself. It is all very impressive, and so cool how he empowers the boys with responsibility to keep the place humming along.
-We are taking bucket showers with water from the pond. Much different than America.
-I was sick all day on my birthday lol. I threw up the morning of Thursday the 14th, but was recovered by the next day. No fever or anything thankfully, just something with the stomach. I’m sure it didn’t help that my immune system was weakened from all the travel.
-Here at the orphanage we practice Sabbath on Saturday, and it is much more intentional than what I’m used to back in the States. It is pretty awesome though, I woke up that morning and it felt like a day to play and to relax, it was a refreshing feeling that made me feel like I was a kid again. This has been a big thing for me, seeing the difference in the pace of life and the level of busyness in the States versus here. I still have a lot of processing to do regarding how that will translate into me living a deeper, more “in-touch” life when I get back to America, and I’m sure that will be a struggle for all of us to balance our whole lives.
-104.7 radio station plays Drake
1/23/16 10:56am
-No major updates. We are working on tiling a new floor for the boys’ room, along with a few other minor projects and tasks.
-There have been a lot of ups and downs the past few weeks. Riding a bike through a busy, beautiful African city was a thrill for instance, playing and spending time with the boys is joyful, and getting to know my teammates and my ministry hosts has been very enriching. On the other hand, water rationing is not fun, drastic diet changes are not fun, and constantly being sweaty and dirty is an adjustment. Throughout these highs and lows though, I have only gotten deeper assurance that God our Creator is our true source of energy and joy. No amount of money, no amount of ‘exciting travel’, etc. etc. can fill the void. I am still working on developing my relationship with God and still an infant in my faith life. All I can keep on doing is putting one step in front of the other everyday and keep walking towards Him.
-Miss you guys!
2/9/16 11:41pm
-In Malawi! At our beautiful debrief location at Cape Maclear near the southern tip of Lake Malawi.
-The bus ride to Malawi was super long and we almost had to sleep on the bus 2 straight nights. Which brings me to an interesting story on how the Internet said the Malawi border closed at 6pm. If it did in fact close at 6, and given that we arrived there at 6:15pm with 35 people, we would have been stuck at an unsafe border crossing for the night. But for whatever reason, they said they stayed open til 9, and the workers ended up staying there working on our visas until 11:30pm! There was a lot of prayer from myself and the rest of the squad before our arrival that we would get through. To make the story even better, we got stopped at a police checkpoint at about 2am and myself and my teammate Eric had to talk to the cop (I can now say I talked to a cop wearing a zebra-patterned flight pillow around my neck). We told them our story and the cop was skeptical because he said the border closed at 6pm..and then once he believed us that we had just in face crossed at 11:30pm, he was trying to get us to tell him how much $ we bribed them to stay late and do our visas (which we did not). I can be a very skeptical person at times, but this was an instance I really put my trust in God before we got to the border and he came through in an awesome fashion.
-I got pickpocketed for about $22USD. I thought I would be fine since my pocket was zipped, but when we got off the bus with all our luggage we were hounded by a group of people and by the time we got out of there I realized the zipper on my pants was unzipped. Lesson learned, keep all pockets completely empty in those situations. Thank God they did not take my iPod touch or my cell phone that were in that exact same pocket.
-Today marked the first time ever I VOLUNTARILY took a cold shower. Today was the first time I had warm water option in a shower in Africa, but the cold water showers I liken to confession: you dread it going in, and it’s uncomfortable at first, but then you hit that point where you realize it’s not that bad and afterwards you feel great!
-We are heading to African Bible College in Lilongwe, Malawi (the capital city) here in a few days to aid in the teaching and various ministries they have there. More to come!
