things on the road. You might even see a goat riding on the back seat of a
motorcycle!
on a towel don’t be surprised if a lizard jumps out of the towel along with a
swarm of mosquitoes. (Thankfully we invested $3 in a mosquito zapper…I enjoyed
it so much that every time Dave saw me killing mosquitoes he said “Let it go,
Elaina. Let it go.”) haha, see video below.
if you find yourself willing to walk in the hot African sun for an hour each
way just for a single scoop of vanilla ice cream!
just might be asked to cook beans and maize everyday over an outdoor fire and remember
to stir…its B.Y.O.S—bring your own stick!
food budget don’t be surprised if a stranger looks right at you and makes a
comment such as, “Well, you can’t be doing too badly, you sure don’t LOOK like
you’re fasting”! (Thanks for the ego boost, buddy)
with Jesus!”
don’t immediately assume it’s because you are miraculouslyradiating God’s love. It could just be that one of your teammate’s hasn’t cut
his hair in a while…
will have to sit on each other’s laps and the car will bottom out the whole
way. Most likely you will have to climb out of the car every time there is a
bump in the road to help push it over. But don’t worry, you will be overcharged
J
come with an open mind. You may just end up sleeping on the bus, or running out
of food, or listening to bad rap music the whole way. But God will watch over
you and teach you perseverance!
trip ask for your passports so he can extort money from you. Your ministry
contact will probably come up to you and whisper, “Okay, this is how this is
going to work… everyone is going to get into the car as quickly and quietly as
possible and we’re going to drive away”. And suddenly you might find your face pressed
up against the glass of a car loaded with 6 oversized bags, 2 guitars, 10
medium bags, 8 people, and a partridge in a pear tree. And yes, driving away
from corrupt police officers. Oh, the adventure!
This month definitely had its struggles and frustrations, but also
plenty of joy and rejuvenation at a beautiful location. We were working with a
missionary couple who have dedicated their retirement to serving in Mozambique.
They serve the local missionaries and host church services at their home. We were
helping with a building project and mostly sanding and scraping wood beams.
However we found this as a valuable time to pray, worship, memorize scripture,
and get to know each other better through conversations. My theme verse this
month was Colossians 3:17, ” And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do
it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through
him”. I figured if I was going to do manual labor all month I was going to do
it as if I was working for Jesus!
We were also able to be involved in Iris Ministries, started by
Heidi Baker, and God did many supernatural things through the people we met. It
was also cool because we kept having these random connections with people every
day. One day we were speaking with a woman and it happened to come up in the conversation
that our team leader, Dave, grew up in Thailand. She said her son’s family
lived there for a while and mentioned her granddaughter’s name to see if he
happened to know her. It seemed like a silly question since there are 700
million people in Thailand but he said, “Actually…yes, she was in my class in
school!” We also met a guy from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and it turns out he lives
less than two miles from my teammate, Allison. Then we met a guy passing by who
asked us where we were from and what we were doing. He acted surprised when we
said the World Race and said, “Do you guys by any chance know Juddson Vance?
He’s my buddy from Dallas” (Juddson just happens to be on our squad and a good
friend of ours). Later that night a girl asked if we knew Vinny Farino and said
he was her brother’s best friend. Vinny is also on our squad and she actually had
a letter and snacks for us to deliver to him! The next night we met some more
people and one of the girls in the group said she was from Philadelphia. I told
her I had gone to school in Philadelphia and lived there for several years after.
She asked me where I studied and I was reluctant to tell her. I said, “Oh, it’s
just a really small Bible college…I’m sure you’ve never heard of it”. She told
me to tell her anyways and so I gave her the name… Valley Forge Christian
College. She looked at me in amazement and said, “What?? That’s where I go to
school!”
So you get the idea. It was cool to see how God weaves people
together. I can picture Him up in heaven… nudging some angel saying, “Hey, check
this out…I’m about to have these two meet each other on the
other side of the world and it’s going to be hysterical!”
So overall, it was a cool month. Looking forward to amazing experiences in South Africa!
