I’m in Africa! Specifically Maputo, Mozambique. It really hasn’t hit me still that I’m doing this! We are about a two weeks in so far (sorry it took me a bit to post this….I have some procrastination skills).
My whole squad of 48 people plus 4 squad leaders arrived in Maputo, Mozambique well past midnight on Friday 1/13. It was the longest journey to get here too. A total of about 46 hours of travel, by plane and bus. We started with full enthusiasm on a 10 hour flight to Istanbul, Turkey. Then sat with more or less excitement for a 10 hour layover (still in Turkey). I ended up being sick as soon as we got off the plane. Probably a combination of those darn malaria pills and a overwhelming feeling in my gut that made me feel the urge to puke. And unfortunately I did. I spent my first moments overseas in a hot, stinky, and crowded bathroom. That was the longest layover I have ever experienced and I can say I was not a fan.
Finally, onto our 10 hour flight to South Africa. Thankfully I slept for a good portion of the flight. Praise the Lord for sleep aids!! Yay! I would like to say the journey was complete once we landed in the beautiful land of Johannesburg. But that wasn’t the case. We still had a 6 hour bus ride to Maputo, where our ministry host lives. In my mind, I figured we would jump on this bus shortly and be on our way. Then I forgot we were now on African time. All 48 of us waited around the small bus station with all our packs in tow. Not gonna lie, we took up most of the station. The bus driver said he was pulling up in 18 minutes….then another 4 hours later we were loading up. The pressure was on at this point. We needed to get over the Lebombo Border from South Africa to Mozambique before it closed at midnight. If we didn’t make it over we would all be sleeping on the bus. All we knew was that it could take us anywhere from 4 to 6 hours to get there. It was dark at this point so the best thing to do was sleep as we made our way there. Thankfully we made it to the border. We then unloaded and had to stand in line to get our passport stamped. Not only at the South African border station but also at the Mozambique border station. It was quite the process. I know for sure my patience will be tested on travel days. Only 3 more hours (hopefully) of driving at this point…..
Once we finally arrived a Beacon of Hope (my teams ministry for month 1), it was around 3am. I was expecting to set up tents and go to sleep. But Angie, the founder and director had a whole dinner ready for all 48 of us. We all squeezed into her living room and shared our first meal of rice and beans together. Right from the start you could see that Angie has the gift of hospitality. At this point, all of our squad was still together but in the morning we would be splitting up to head out to our different ministries for the month. My team, Team Manna and also Team Firebrand would be staying here with Angie at Beacon of Hope for the month of January.
We were all pretty anxious to jump in and get started. But the Lord had some more relaxing/restful plans for us in mind. Since we arrived on a Friday night, Saturday would natually be considered our “Adventure Day” (Adventure days are when we take a day off from ministry to explore local culture and do something crazy like cliff jumping.) And then Sunday we also rest for Sabbath. As much as we all wanted to hit the ground running, I think the Lord was using those two days to help us recover from our travel and also give us more time to connect as a team. The Lord is so good and always knows what we need. This has been very evident even this early in our race.
So to close out my first blog post from the field, I would like to share a little bit about the ministry we are working with this month, Beacon of Hope. Like I mentioned, Angie is the founder and director of this ministry. The goal of this ministry is to raise boys into young men, through education, teaching them life skills and showing them the love of Christ. Currently, 11 boys are staying at her home. I quickly saw that this group of boys are some of the sweetest and most hardworking boys I have ever met. I will share more about the work we are doing and our interactions with the boys in a blog to follow.
For now,
Thanks for Reading.
Check back soon!!
Haley
