Let me tell you a little story about my non-adventure into the country Mozambique. I spent spend three months in Africa on my Race; one month in Zambia, 1 in Malawi and 1 was supposed to be in Mozambique. Zambia was an amazing month and, honestly, we were a little spoiled. We had an actual house with running water…sometimes. We only had three chairs and a bamboo floor mat for thirteen people and we had to set up our tents in the house to avoid the mosquitos but it was still cozy and our contacts that month were amazing! Malawi rolls around, we take our 20 hour bus ride from Livingstone, Zambia to Malawi and then, a few days later, take a crowded mini bus to a small town on Lake Malawi called Nhkotakota. In the beginning of that month, I was stoked. We were having a bush month, where we lived in our tents, used squatty potties, took outdoor showers and basically live how people think missionaries in Africa live. It was great at first; I was excited…I could handle it! Then I got sick. Not like a little sniffly or an upset stomach here and there but actually sick…I won’t go into details but I was dang sick….miserable actually. I laid in my tent for days, pretty much just sleeping and sometimes walking (or running) to the squatty potty. I was exhausted. Then came the homesickness. It was the first moment in seven months that I seriously wanted to go home. Even after getting over my sickness I was still weak, not just physically, but spiritually and mentally. I didn’t want to do ministry. I didn’t want to invest in my team or the three short term girls that were with us that month. I was dreaming of my bed, of real toilets, of food that didn’t clean out my system every time I ate. That month was hard; I had to push through to be present…in ministry and with my team as well. We had some awesome opportunities that month; including teaching and praying healing over people but by the end of the month, I wanted OUT of Malawi. I wanted to put that month behind me. I wanted to forget how miserable I felt the first two weeks, I wanted to forget about how I had half-heartedly done ministry, how I had robbed myself and others of beautiful moments because I was so caught up in thinking about home. I told myself I would be different in Mozambique. I was ready to leave and to start over.
Let me tell you how that travel day from Malawi to Mozambique went. But, first, let me tell you that we were already having troubles with the Mozy government. Our AMAZING logistics people had worked for a month to make sure we had all the stuff we would need to get through the border. When we finally had all our paper work, we packed ourselves up onto the bus and left.
We drove for hours to get to the border.
We got to the border.
We exited Malawi. PRAISE THE LORD.
We walk with all our packs to the Mozambique border.
We get there.
We sit.
And sit. And sit.
Then we sat some more.
There are rumblings of concern among us as the hours tick by. We can see the concern on the faces of our logistics people and our squad leaders. They tell us to pray that we get through the border. Our contacts are waiting on the other side but still we sit, and we pray, and sit some more.
Then the border closes. Just like that. They say we cannot get in and send us back to Malawi. So we haul all our stuff back to Malawi but that border is closed as well and they will not let us back in. We are stuck in no-mans land now. Neither country wanted us. All I wanted was to move on to my next country, to my next opportunity but I was stuck. We were all stuck.
After a few more hours in limbo, Malawi let us back in and a man in a town not far away, who had never met us in his life, but who had worked with the World Race, told the office we could stay with him as long as we needed too. We got to a small house/ school building in the middle of the night. All forty one of us crowd into the tiny house, seven or eight people to a tiny room and backpacks stacked all the way up the wall and in every nook and cranny. We wait all the next day to hear news on Mozambique. But no news comes; we wait again on Sunday but still no news so we move to Jarvis’ (the contact) mother’s house so we can have more room. Everyday we waited, we were told to be packed and ready to go at any moment. I was ready. I wanted to get into Mozambique. I had a feeling though, a feeling deep down like I wasn’t meant to be there. I had felt it for months, but I pushed it down. Eventually half of the squad is able to cross the border! We believed we would be next and that we would follow a few days later but everyday feels less and less promising. One week after we got stuck in between the borders, we finally get the answer I had started to expect.
We were not allowed to get into Mozambique.
Honestly, by then I wasn’t even disappointed. We had started doing ministry with Jarvis…and I loved it. A week and a half before I had been itching to leave that country but all of a sudden I was excited about staying again. It was a new town, new place, new people and I loved all of it. I knew God had a plan in it. For some reason, we were needed in Blantyre, Malawi that month and not Mozambique. We had our plan, but God’s plan was better.
I am so thankful for my Malawi 2.0 month. I am thankful for Jarvis, for our friends we made there and for the church we served at. The month before was exhausting and draining but in Malawi 2.0 I was able to relax and rejuvenate. We had a kitchen to cook in, couches to lay on, real toilets and showers (although they were freezing, but who cares…ALS challenge, anyone?). We even had a T.V. I hadn’t had one of those babies since leaving the U.S. I got the opportunity to speak at a Discipleship Training Class, do kids ministry, go to an orphanage and youth juvenile facility, and do home visits. We even raised enough money to buy blankets for some poor widows and their grandchildren….about 67 blankets in total! That month was not about what I wanted, but what God desired and had planned for the three teams that were denied access to Mozambique. Because of that, that month became special…
So my Mozambique month became NOzambique…but the Lord had other plans for us…better plans and I am okay with that!
