Ministry of the month
This month, we were in a small village staying with Elias, his brother and his family. We were living in tents (good thing I sent mine home last month…even better thing that I have Meg who lets me live in her tent!) Elias is the owner/founder of Emmanuel Children’s Home. The home is currently under construction. The land is not fully paid for yet, there is one building completed on the land, and no one is living there yet, but Elias has a huge vision for this place. He envisions many homes on the land inhabited with widows and their children/other orphan children that they look after. We spent most of our days visiting the homes of the widows and praying for them and worshiping with them. We also spent time at the land clearing away tall grass and weeds.
Church situation
This month, we spent our Sundays (and Wednesdays and Saturdays) at two very different, and yet very similar churches. Let me explain. The first church was in our village. It is a small building made out of bamboo sides and roof and a dirt floor filled with plastic lawn chairs with a small stage and a few worship leaders at the front. The other church is a huge circle stadium with an open roof, seating around the outside and chairs placed in the center and a huge stage complete with two projector screens and an array of instruments and members of the worship team. While the building sizes (and therefore the congregation sizes) are completely different, the people and their passion for the Lord is the same. We worship for hours and then worship some more. People pray with fervor and determination. Their trust and belief in the Lord surpasses most that I have seen. Prayers are said, and people fall over (either by the power of the Holy Spirit or the presence of a demon). Deliverances and healings happen at the end of each service. For these churches, this is normal.
Favorite memory
This month there are two memories that stick out the most. The first involves a woman named Grace and her young baby girl. She is a neighbor to one of the widows that we visited. She came over while we were worshiping and asked for prayer. The rest of her story and the events that took place are written in the blog titled A Woman Named Grace.
The second happened at large church in the city near the village where we lived (the one that resembles a stadium and has about 6000 members). After being introduced to the church on our first Sunday there, we were asked to lead worship for them the following Sunday. After a few nervous, yet excited glances around the group, we agreed. We spent the Saturday before practicing with the worship team and preparing for Sunday night. That night, standing in front of thousands of people singing praises to the Lord, I experienced a worship filled with passion and fire! There is something about watching thousands of people with arms raised high and voiced lifted that proclaims the power of our God!
Biggest challenge
I struggled this month with wondering what I was doing here and what purpose I was serving by being here. A lot of days were slow and there wasn’t a whole lot to show that we have actually been doing ministry. On top of that, NWMC (the mission conference that I have been to every year since I was born) took place the last week of this month. Last year, when I thought about missing NWMC for the first time ever, I was bummed but at the same time fine because I would be in Africa! When the day came for the conference to start, however, I was stuck wondering why I was here feeling like I was doing nothing when I could have been there, surrounded by people who have poured into my life for so long and who I usually only see once a year at this conference. (Don’t worry, I didn’t stay in this mindset too long…read the spiritual realization section to see the conclusion!)
Food
We cooked for ourselves this month. Most of our meals were made from ingredients purchased from the market and therefore often meant egg sandwiches, chicken, rice or pasta and veggies. Our host, Elizabeth, made us rice with beans that included cabbage, onions and spices which was delicious. We have also found a few delicacies here including little round fried dough that tastes a lot like a donut hole and triangular pastries filled with potatoes, meat and curry called samosas. Most days have also included giant clementines and a can of coke. Last Sunday, we attended a church potluck which served an array of traditional salads and meats for us to try! (It ended up looking and tasting a lot like a potluck in the US would!)
Random WR moment
In the month where random WR moments seemed to be the theme, it is hard to narrow it down to one moment (so I think I will put a short list here instead).
Training camp becomes real—so far on the race, I couldn’t see why most of the scenarios that we went through that week were relevant. Mozambique is why! We spent two nights sleeping on a bus, one at the station and one stuck at a check point that closed at 3 P.M. and wouldn’t reopen until 10 A.M. the next morning. We slept in tents and lived out of our packs that were kept in one small room. We cooked over a fire after working our way through packed markets. We wandered aimlessly without directions, often turning around and heading back in the direction in which we had just come, only to never find our destination.
On our first Saturday in Mozambique, we were told that we were going to a youth service at the big church in town and that we needed to have a song prepared (a pretty normal request on the race). When we arrived at church, however, it wasn’t quite what we expected. It was as if we had stepped foot onto the screening of Mozambique’s Got Talent: Church Edition, complete with judges ready to critique the performers. The youth would be called up on stage to perform and then upon completion, would stand and listen to the judge’s critique. The event was being filmed with live footage displayed on the screens for all to see. We kept turning to one another and asking what in the world was happening and if this was really our life. Our turn came to perform and we went up on stage, worshiped and then awaited our results (which were mostly about our lack of sound on the instruments that weren’t able to be plugged into the sound system).
On our second free day, our Elias asked us if we wanted to go to the beach here in town (which according to him wasn’t a very nice beach) or head to a resort touristy beach (we, of course, decided to go to the nice beach). That morning, we all piled into a chopa (a large van with bench seats that we very snuggly fit four people into) and began the short (or what we thought would be short) trip to the beach. After about an hour of travel, our drivers pulled into a small village that barely housed people, let alone had the restaurants and shops that we had been promised. We were told that it was a short cut to where we were headed and that we just had to walk a little ways down the beach to get there. No big deal. It was a beautiful day, the beach was gorgeous and what was waiting for us was worth a little walk. 45 minutes later, after wading through thigh high water (more like waist high for me) to continue on our walk down the beach (I rode on Daniel’s back for this trip!) we came to a place where the only option to get across was to take a boat. As we are standing on the shore, a wooden boat being rowed by four men and with one man whose job was to pour out the water that was collecting in the bottom of the boat starts making its way over to us. We do what any sensible person would do and pile into this boat to head over to the island (an island, mind you, that we all thought would be home to hotels, restaurants and shops). Upon arrival, we were met by a huge crowd of men on what turned out to be a fisherman’s island where the population consists of only men (and we had just brought 11 white women there). Shortly after being stared at like we were zoo animals, we realized that this was definitely not the place we were looking for and we piled back into the boat to head the hour back to our van and drive to our original destination. Oh, and did I mention that our beautiful weather had turned to rain just as we were getting into the boat the first time? We made it back to the van, soaking wet, and drove an hour to the resort, where we had time to check out the beach and order dinner. Not quite what we ever thought our relaxing day at the beach would consist of, but an adventure that will never be forgotten.
Funniest moment
Last Sunday, walking to the location of the church lunch, I found myself in a really bad mood. I had spent the morning wondering what purpose there was to being here in Mozambique as I sat in a church service where unfamiliar songs were sung and a translator was nowhere to be seen. As we neared the home where the potluck was taking place, I noticed a group a kids following us. One boy no more than 7 years old was trying to sneak up behind us. I turned my head and saw that when I made eye contact with him, he froze. I looked back ahead of me and could hear him trying to creep up close behind us again. This time, I jumped around and said “AH!” to startle him. The look on his face was one of sheer terror as he turned and bolted in the opposite direction! I busted out laughing (as did the pastor that was walking next to me) at his reaction. My bad mood was instantly lifted! (Don’t worry, the boy still came back to follow us some more, although he kept a little more distance between us.)
What I will miss
I will miss the depth of worship and love that the church community here displays. I will miss the children that played between our tents each day. I will miss the walks to the widow’s homes which allowed me to get to know teammates and squadmates better. I will miss the hours spent at each church service in worship and prayer.
Spiritual lesson/revelation
Like I said above, I struggled with feeling as if we were doing much this month. I sat down with Heather when our teams went over to their contact’s house for a cookout and voiced these frustrations. I then told her about church the day before and how when we lay hands on people they usually fall over and she responded asking me how I felt that I was doing nothing when that was happening when we prayed. This month, the Lord really opened my eyes to seemingly obvious revelations. Things that have become normal and common teaching/occurrences began blowing my mind. The power of the Holy Spirit at work here was evident as we prayed and people were literally knocked off their feet. The reminder that even after we crucified our Lord, the response is just to repent and be forgiven. The depth of sacrifice by Jesus as he hung on the cross and died for all of our sins and that we don’t have to do anything apart from accepting his love.
Prayer requests
Pray for the widows and orphans here, that they will know the love of Christ and that He provides for those in need.
Pray for Elias as he continues to make his vision a reality.
Pray for our squad as we head into Swaziland and for our time during gender month (I labeled it just for you Randy!)
Pray that I will be more determined to work hard at what the Lord is wanting to teach me the next four months.
