goodbye to Mozambique, on our way to Malawi

We are in West Kempton, Johannesburg, staying with our dear friend Karien’s sister, Cecile, and her wonderful family, Andries and 2-year-old Anelia (note picture). Our hosts have been such a blessing as they have already connected us with effective urban ministries and a number of youth workers… but before I get into those details I must first report on our time in Mozambique. Saturday morning, we joined Mollie with her son, Philip, and Lisa for a trip to the craft market. Much like the wood market in Lilongwe that I visited last year, this market was crawling with very aggressive salesmen who claimed to be our “friends” and said that they’d give us a “very good price.” Due to the language barrier, Hope had to handle most of the haggling, but she didn’t much like it… in fact, it flusters her quite a bit. Maybe because of my background in marketing and sales, I actually get a kick out of their persistence matched against my insistence on my set price. After the market, we caught a “chapa” (minibus) to a small school where Lisa’s church meets—A Igreja Reformada do Mozambique. We met with Pastor Paulo and Luis, the youth leader, before the start of youth group. After a few praise songs and prayer, I led them in “steal the bacon,” which Luis translated for me as “pega o bife” (“take the beef”). They got really into it! (see pictures) Then I led a experiential devotion: “Who are you listening to?” It went really well although it was a challenge to break my thoughts up into short sentences and phrases for translation. From there, we went to Lisa’s old flat to meet up with her Jacana friends for dinner. After a yummy Thai dinner on the coastline, we caught a passing, empty chapa back to the city. Lisa was a little thrown off by how empty the chapa was although it was very convenient for a group of eight. She explained that she would never jump on a vacant chapa if she was alone or even just with a friend. Come to find out that the driver was taking his lady into the city for a date and figured he’d pick up this large group to make some extra money… funny. Sunday, we woke up early in order go to two church services: one in Portuguese at A Igreja Reformada do Mozambique and the other in English at the International Church. Although I didn’t understand the first service, it was wonderful to listen to the prayers, praise songs, and Pastor Paulo’s sermon. I tried to sing along to the overheads and follow the scripture readings. It’s amazing to me that I could follow the context considering how awful I am at languages. It was truly a blessing to worship with these brothers and sisters whom I had spent time with throughout the week. All the youth workers from Masana attended the church while several of the young adults from “youth group” the day before led worship. Pastor Paulo even incorporated a bit of my talk into his prayer. Afterward, while at the International Church, I was surprised to connect with Les & Mark Harper (associated with CBN). What a blessing! After both services, we rushed back to Henrik’s to see Lisa off. It was sad to see her go but at least we know we’ll reconnect with her in Montreat for years to come. We were quite spoiled by her amazing gift to host. Through her we met so many people in ministry and missions, participated in kingdom work, and were blessed with a beautiful place to stay. I’m so thankful for her! Sunday night we met up with Pastor Paulo at the KFC (yes, there are actually 3 in Maputo… no McDonalds though) and caught a ride in Luis’ VW bug over to Café Shalom—an outreach created by American missionary Jim Bower to minister to the middle-class, Mozambique youth… Although, Youth for Christ uses it occasionally while Sunday is reserved for A Igreja Reformada do Mozambique. We played pool there—Luis & I against Paulo & Hope… needless to say, Luis & I won. They played Kirk Franklin as well as some other contemporary, Christian music. I hope to coordinate more urban, Christian music for them to play like Lisa McClendon, Out of Eden, Mary, Mary, and Mars Ill, among others. While there, I interviewed Luis to learn about his experience with Youth for Christ’s “Africa Team,” which travelled throughout southern Africa performing dramas and dance dealing with life skills. He is still active with YfC’s Board. It’s amazing and wonderful to hear about how ministries in Mozambique & in South Africa are invited to schools to teach about life skills (HIV/AIDS, drugs, etc.) while also having the oppportunity to present the Gospel. That would never happen in the States! As I closed with Luis, “Beto” (Alberto) from Youth for Christ showed up. He jumped right in, thoughtfully answering my questions. Then, Les Harper, also with YfC, joined us. It was a blessed discussion that involved some brainstorming. Afterwards, Les expressed her appreciation to be able to discuss issues with an objective youth worker… I’m thankful that can God use me. Monday morning, Madalena (Henrik’s neighbor/housemate) invited us to come along with some other American missionaries (Katie, Connie & Marshall) and friends (Maggie, Charles, & Neil) to visit an effective ministry in a village outside of Maputo called Magoanine. Pastor Vasco Munhane is a visionary who empowered his community to minister to the orphans and provide a school through their church, "Arca da Salvação". It was an amazing story that seems rare in Africa. One of the biggest frustrations of many nationals I met was the lack of empowerment of the people. Instead, people seem to look for hand-outs or quick-fixes, like the idea of giving a man a fish… On our way back into Maputo, Neil & Charles invited us to catch a ride back to Jo’burg with them that afternoon instead of taking a bus the next morning. When we got back to Madalena’s we called Cecile to see if we could come a day early, and she said Yes! We packed up our things quickly and took off to Jo’burg. It was a quick goodbye which tugged on my heart-strings as Mozambique had grown on me quickly. I would love to go back and spend an extended time there (which I’m sure will happen everywhere we go). While back in Jo’burg, Cecile & Andries have connected us with several ministries which we will visit when we return from Malawi. We got a chance to visit with Andries’ friend, Siphiwe, who is involved with a job-training ministry—one of the 7 programs facilitated by MES. This ministry is in the heart of the city and in an infamous area of Jo’burg, called Hillbrow. We learned about the training program and participated in a Bible study with 23 of the 28 guys in the program. It is a very effective ministry that turns clients over in 6 months or less, helping them get jobs and learn life skills. MES is a ministry I’d love to work for, if I lived in Jo’burg. Today, we were blessed to meet with Rodney Seals who is a renown youth worker, visionary, camp director and minister for over 27 years. He was so encouraging and we hope to visit with him and his wife in Pretoria when we return from Malawi. I apologize for the long entry but God has blessed us with so many ministry opportunities, and I want to share them all with you. I’m learning so much, growing so much… and we’re only about 2 weeks into our trip!