You must be wondering by now, what exactly we’re doing here, in Khongolote, Mozambique. I’ve been living with my new family of six ladies in a small room that can sometimes get upward to 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit and I’ll wake up having slept in a pool of my own salty sea of sweat. Thank the Lord that at least we have a fan to soothe my oozing glands.
We’re staying with our host family – who are such a blessing to us: Anna, Felito, their 2 ½ year old son Issachar, and their adopted 13 year-old daughter, Paulina. They are absolutely wonderful, and welcomed us into their own home, shared stories with us, and opened up their ministry to allow us to serve alongside them. What a privilege. Felito pastors at their local church and also holds outreaches in other towns and villages – in markets and soccer fields to reach and minister to locals. In between outreaches and church, we also walk around and enter people’s homes to pray for them. Even though we’ve only been here for two weeks, I feel as though we’re already beginning to impact the community and the household simply with our prayers. The “streets” here are dirt roads with the occasional dug up hole filled with rubbish and massive pools of muddy water after the rain. Homes made of cement bricks riddle the roads and there aren’t street names or addresses. Megan and I got extremely lost one morning while on a run. Apparently it’s not wise to use a thorn bush as a landmark… or a plot of corn. Everything here looks impressingly similar.
Felito and Anna are both incredible visionaries of the Lord and have hearts that feel deeply for injustice. They have given up literally everything in order to follow the footsteps of the Highest. I really am amazed each and every day. Their ministry is called, Africa on Fire, which came to Felito in a vision that illustrated a portrait of a clay pot from heaven falling onto the continent of Africa and setting it on fire beginning from the south and spreading to the north. Their current project is called the “Center of Hope” in Chibutou, which is the plan to build a community in a village that has absolutely nothing – populated with hundreds of orphans who have lost their parents to AIDS, disease, or neglect. Women would give birth to their infants on the streets because they were trying to get to a hospital that was too far away and didn’t make it. This community would have a church, a Bible school, dormitories for permanent staff workers and part-time missionaries, an orphanage, a pool and basketball courts, a health clinic, farmland, trade schools, as well as schools for the kids. This community would bring hope to a hopeless land.
I believe that this can happen. They’ve already got the land, and now, they’re waiting for the resources and the people to come and help make this happen. How many people see a need and turn their heads to look for an easier way? How many people actually sit down to make the blueprint for God’s plans? It really breaks my heart that we haven’t been able to make our way up to the site this month, but I’m so excited for what’s to come. I’m so excited for God to answer prayers in a radical way. If your heart burns for Africa and finding a permanent solution to a inescapable problem, whether it’s financial or otherwise, let me know! You may be an answered prayer.
PS. Apparently, lots of kids run around wearing TOMS in Chibutou. Keep buying TOMS, it actually works!
