Maputo, Mozambique

We made it to Mozambique and are in the care of our wonderful sister/host, Lisa Frist. It was refreshing to hear and see Lisa as she called out from her friend Inacio's car at the boarder. She had arranged to come out to meet us because she had to renew her 30-day Mozambique visa (she has to make the hour & a half trip every month of her stay here). Although the greyhound was fairly nice, it was a bit loud, blarring music or movies over the speakers without the option to fade the volume. So our drive to Maputo was instead filled with catching up with Lisa, sharing experiences, and gain understanding about this next leg of the adventure. So we've been in Maputo about 3 days and are still drinking in the culture, the sounds and smells. We saw the Indian Ocean for the first time on Tuesday. We've been blessed to meet so many people... nationals, Brazilians, Brits, Swedish, Swiss, Americans. Lisa introduced us to her Mozambican pastor named Paulo. He also serves with a ministry for street youth called Manasa ("light" in the indigenous language). We observed the ministry on Tuesday... worshipping with the group and meeting, eating lunch, and praying with the leaders. It is such a blessing that Hope can translate for me. Her portuguese seems to be flowing well (she may not agree). It is a beautiful language that is mesmerizing even though I comprehend so little. I usually get the context of the conversation but that is about all. Paulo knows a bit of english as does Amacleto and Luis. Tuesday night we walked over (Maptuo is a walking city unlike Jo'burg... it's wonderful) to Mollie & Wesley's for Bible study. Mollie & Wesley are from Winston-Salem and are fellow Tarheels, having already trained their four-year-old to say, "Go Heels!" Sarah was another American here serving with World Vision (she's from Knoxville, TN). It was a blessed time of study (James 1) and sharing. Please keep Bill & Courtney, Sarah, Sophia, and Mollie in your prayers. (Also, I tripped on the sidewalk and hit my left knee-having a history of fluid in that knee, it has swelled up fairly big... keep that in your prayers as well.) Yesterday we went back to Manasa to lead games and an experiential devotion on trust with the young men and boys (pictures). It was a very different experience for them and a learning experience for me! We also surveyed the leaders of this youth ministry & took portraits. It was truly a blessing to get their perspective on their country, the youth of Mozambique, the effectiveness of ministries (and in some cases ineffectiveness), and their own prayer requests. All the leaders asked for prayers of wisdom for God's will for them and their ministry. They hope to find a larger place to host them (they are at an Episcopal Church now) so they may reach more youth. I hope to have more information about Manasa soon but internet access has been a challenge. We ended our time with Manasa by sitting in the side alcove of the church, listening to a vocal quintet, drinking in the experience of angelic harmonies while looking out the side window of the church to clothes drying on the many balconies of the high-rise apartment building next door. We have more ministry opportunities coming in our stay in Mozambique that I will share in the next post. Please keep us in your prayers as we arrange logistics of travel. We have decided against travel in/through Zimbabwe due to the crisis there. So we are now investigating other options to get to Lilongwe, Malawi and then back to Johannesburg.