Greetings from Chokwé, Mozambique!
Month 5 was one of my favorite months on the Race thus far. During this month my team lived with our loving host Mana Sybil and many opportunities to immerse ourselves in the local culture. My 3 months in Africa flew by and far surpassed my expectations. This place and it’s people will forever hold a special place in my heart.
My new teammates with our host, Mana Sybil, and Anneke, another missionary from South Africa. I loved getting to spend time with these ladies throughout the month.
Each morning consisted of an hour walk to our ministry location with a stop at the market to buy bananas. Our friend selling bananas greeted us with a huge smile everyday and taught us Shangaan phrases in the sand. Visiting her became a highlight of my day.
One of my team’s ministry tasks this month was painting projects at the elementary school founded by our host. As we painted the playground children would walk by and whispered,”ooohh preetty, vvvisitors!”
In the middle of the month my team and I spent three days Sifo. This is a small “bush” village of unreached people. Recently a church was founded in this village but is still unknown to most of the locals. While in Sifo my team helped host children’s bible lessons, sermons for the adults, and evangelized throughout the community.
This experience was incredibly rewarding but also stretched me far outside my comfort zone. I’ve never felt comfortable or confident in evangelizing and felt like I had no idea what I was doing at first. As we talked with the locals (through a translator) we came to learn that the majority of these people had never heard of Jesus or even the story of creation. My teammate wrote a blog worth checking out about our experiences sharing the Gospel with the villagers- http://rachelradak.theworldrace.org/?filename=just-start-from-the-beginning
Our team with the youth group who were apart of the outreach trip to Sifo. The youth group kids help translate for our team and are organizing more outreach/teachings in the community.
Throughout the month I was able to experience a few aspects of life the way the Mozambicans do. Early in the morning women line up at a well to pump their water supply for the day and then carry it back to their homes on their heads. Tough work!
This is what it looks like when you try to go the beach on an off day and the driver (who you don’t speak the same language as) takes a wrong turn and your van gets stuck in the sand. oops! (Yes, that is smoke coming from the back tire.)
After a whole lot of pushing and laughs we finally made it to the beach.
My team with our entire host family at dinner to celebrate Viveca (center) finishing her graduate thesis! I loved being apart of this family for the month and hope that I will have the chance to travel back to Mozambique someday. Month 5 you were so good!
On to more adventures and seeking the Lord on a different continent. Here we come Europe!
