Many of you who follow my Facebook updates and Instagram posts know how hard it was for my team to get into and out of Mozambique. After living there for one month, I understand the severity of the situation. There is a huge need for missionaries to shine God’s light on a country that is dreadfully full of spiritual warfare, witchcraft and false idols. However, the greatest lesson God taught me in Mozambique was to pay attention.
I’m from the big city of Philly, so I am quick to be aware of my surroundings no matter where I am in the world. I was especially on guard the day we left Mozambique; that entire day we faced countless challenges. To name a few, the ferry for cars to cross over the river to the road we needed to take was out of fuel, we had to walk across a bridge (that was at least 3 miles) with our things to get over the river, we got stopped by the cops (because we are American of course) and it was blazing hot in a country where none of us easily understood the native language.
Once we crossed the bride, we were met by some police officers telling us to hand over our passports and to check our bags. Then, out of the blue, I see a tall but small in stature white man. He was walking towards us and speaking English! He asked us if we needed help, and told us we wouldn’t be able to cross the border that night, especially with the cops on our trail. He offered his home to our whole team to stay for the night and he would take us to the border in the morning. Not knowing who he was or even where he came from, the other team leaders and I told him we really wanted to try to get across the border that night. So, he told us he would try to get us there on time (over an hour drive) for free.
As we boarded the back of his huge truck that he uses to hunt crocodiles, we were a bit skeptical but had a weird peace about this man and his friend who was also with him. He even gave us cold (unopened, lol) sodas to cool off. While in his truck, we got stopped by the cops again… and had to drive to the station. While we were at the station getting questioned by the police, Conrad drove to get his friend Peter, another English/Portuguese speaking man, who knew the cops very well. Once Peter arrived, he was demanding the cops give us our passports back and let us continue on our way out of the country (Those Mozambican cops are to American citizens as some American cops are to African-American and Mexican American citizens… but that is a whole other blog post I’ll probably never write). While all of the back and forth was happening between us and the police, Conrad was back and forth from the station to the store making sure we had water to drink and just looking out for us.
With the help of Conrad and his friends, we finally got our Passports back. We were able to get out of Mozambique that night and safely into Malawi. However, I was so focused on the cops, their greed, the safety of my team, and getting out of Mozambique before the border closed that I didn’t pay as much attention as I could have to the man who God sent to help us, Conrad.
After my team arrived in Asia, I e-mailed Peter to thank him again for all that Conrad, his friends, and he did for us. Peter then replied to my e-mail with very sad news. Conrad died of Malaria not too many days after he helped us get across the border. This had me in shock and my head spinning.
“Did he know Jesus?”
“Did God send him to us so we could minister to him and we missed the mark?”
“Would I have recognized he was sick if I hadn’t been in there with the cops?”
The answers to these questions, I’ll never know this side of heaven. However, the entire situation made me realize I should pay more attention in general- not to the kids who try to pickpocket my friends or to the people who try to cheat us in the market or in the taxis, but to the spiritual. I need to not be so focused on and so adept at knowing when bad situations could potentially arise and focus more on the good things God is going to use me to do through those bad situations. It’s all about balance.
Have you ever been in a situation and were so focused on solving the problem that you missed the lesson being taught within it? If this is you, I encourage you to set your eyes on the things that are of God and know He is setting you up to be blessed or to bless someone in the process. God will always work things out for your good if you love Him and desire to be used for His purpose. You just have to be willing to pay attention.
RIP Conrad. I pray you are in heaven watching over us.
Xoxo,
Belle
