six degrees of separation?

One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned over the last week is how wonderfully small and interconnected the world is. It’s so amazing to discover God’s kingdom this way. The moment we walked into Pangani Nieu Communities in Pretoria, we immediately met Alycia, a beautiful, gregarious woman from the States. After less than 5 minutes of conversation, we found out that she works with 13th Floor, a performing arts ministry based here in Pretoria that we’re already connected with through Karien Murray. Similarly, our old friend Amy Wilson connected us with her friend Kevin Thomas about trying to meet while he traveled through South Africa, but we had no idea that we’d cross paths so soon. We met here at Nieu Communities the night we arrived (Tuesday), but we didn’t make put it all together until on Wednesday morning. Then, Saturday morning, we went with our new friend Dayna to the bus station to pick up her old friend, Bell, who came to Pretoria for a vacation from her job at a Bible College in Jeffery's Bay. It didn’t take us long to make a connection with her, too. She graduated from Gordon College with Natalie Burns—an old friend from First Church of Christ in Wethersfield, who also shared an art class with Hope in high school. It really is a small world after all… And, believe it or not, we’ve had more experiences of the same nature! Kevin Thomas spent a week with Greg Oefinger in Paarl (near Cape Town) that we’re already planning to connect with thanks to our friend Brittany, who we met at Ministry of Hope in Malawi. Our new friend/ministry colleague Hein Reyneke got married at the house of Cois, who we already connected with through Rodney Seals a month ago in Johannesburg and hope to meet with while in the Cape Town area. A former participant of the Pretoria Nieu Communities, named Betsy, serves with the Turks in Madagascar, and the Turks are PC-USA missionaries that we are hoping to visit thanks to our previous connection through the Dimmocks (missionaries from Montreat Presbyterian, now serving in Lesotho after 15 years in Malawi). These names may not mean anything to you, but my point is that it's more like 3 degrees of separation within the ministry world. __________________________ Now we're back in South Africa, a 1st-world country with frequently seen McDonalds & KFCs, more consistent electricity, and Sudafed for my head cold. Cecile, Andries and Anelia Louw graciously opened their home to us again. In our brief visit, we connected with SAAWE, met new people, reconnected with Mutodi, Leslee, & Mutodi's family, ran much needed errands, made dinner for the Louw's, and Hope even fit in sanding & painting a rocking chair and shelf for their new baby's room. (Marisje is due at the end of August and could come any day. We hope to meet her before we leave the continent.) Saakie Fourie, with SAAWE, not only gave us a ride to Pretoria but he also made possible a meeting with Hein Reyneke, the coordinator of the southern Africa region for Kids Games, SCAS, and "Ubabalo 2010"… After our meeting over brunch on Tuesday, we spent Thursday afternoon with Hein and got a short orientation on these ministries and to get some guidance on our upcoming visit to Cape Town. Hein reminds me of Shawn Stewart in that he has so much energy and gift of vision for kingdom work with youth. Kids Games is my type of ministry, using games to share the Gospel with youth. I won’t give you a full overview but you can check out the website through the link. I highly recommend anyone who uses recreation in youth work to register with them and use the invaluable, free resources they provide! I can’t express how thankful I am for the connection to Nieu Communities through Amy & Johnny Wilson! Definitely check out their website. Anyone who wants to get a taste of missions in the context of an intentional, Christian community would benefit from spending a year at one of the 3 Nieu Communities sights (Pretoria, Vancouver, or Glasgow). We have been blessed to participate in 2 women’s gatherings (dinner & birthday celebration), an incredible fellowship meal, and many wonderful conversations with progressive Christians seeking a different perspective. On Wednesday we learned about Tshwane Leadership Foundation, which is the umbrella over the Pretoria Community Ministries who are doing incredible, holistic, urban work. TLF strives to “strengthen the unfolding movement of churches, communities and programmes with capacity, resource development, advocacy and policy work, communication and marketing, and spiritual nurture.” We met with Kathrin --- for over an hour to try to grasp an understanding of this movement and it’s history. We were very thankful for her taking time to meet with us considering the huge, annual project unfolding this next week called “Festival of the Clowns.” We wish we could stay here to check out all the events and participate in the social justice workshops but alas we are catching a bus down to Pietermaritzburg tomorrow. She arranged a tour of the ministry sites for us with a humorous, outgoing, Malawian staff member, Eric. It was moving to visit the AIDS hospice house, the boarding house for young women trying to get out of prostitution, and free day care and homework club for urban youth who would otherwise be on the streets or alone at home throughout the day. On Friday we ate lunch with Colin Honiball from 13th Floor and his colleague Ritich. We learned about the unique ministry of 13th Floor, the history, their current work here in South Africa and in the US, and the vision for the UK and Mozambique. 13th Floor has a distinctive way to minister to the youth culture through arts and performance by thinking outside the box, an issue most churches are challenged by. After lunch we joined Dayna Curtis in a trip to Soshanguve, a township of over 3 million. She introduced us to GoGo’s (grandmother’s) family who Dayna had ministered with during her year participating in Nieu Communities in 2005. Dayna recently facilitated a mission trip with a group of non-Christian’s from Los Angeles… quite a unique adventure. Our time in the north part of South Africa comes to an end for now. We ended this segment of travel by meeting up with Mark Walkup, an old family friend who has been working in Harare, Zimbabwe but visits Pretoria for a work conference. He has a refreshing perspective and some incredible stories as Zimbabwe is in a state of chaos which is something few can relate to.

Tionana

"See you" -a common farewell in Chichewa We left Malawi yesterday with mixed feelings: sad to say goodbye once again yet gratitude for our friends there and the sense of fruitfulness in our work through the Ministry of Hope (MoH). These last 10 days have been full. I appreciated returning to Matapila, the village I stayed in last year with the Montreat Pres. summer mission project. This visit differed from last years in that we were hosted by Gift (the MoH Feeding Center Director for the nearby village Katonda and interim Director for the Matapila Feeding Center) and his beautiful wife-Esnart, daughter-Tawina, and son-Takodwa. Unfortunately we didn’t get out to Matapila until mid-afternoon... once again leaving after lunch when we thought we would be leaving first thing in the morning. African time. We did get to catch the Matapila market day in full throttle, the busiest day of the week. It’s a bit uncomfortable to be starred at constantly by hundreds of people but after a while you get used to it. They rarely see azungus (white people) out in their villages. The highlights flourished throughout our time in Matapila. One blessing entailed spending evenings with Tawina and Takodwa. It took a short while for them to check us out but it didn’t take long for them to melt our hearts. Another blessing involved visiting Selengo, a village about a 30 minute walk away, where we spent 3 days in ministry last year. The changes amazed me: finished goat pin with 2 male goats & 8 females, finished maze mill in action, and the mini-market formed next to the mill bringing support to the local economy. With the help of Mavuto & Wiseman (African Bible College students/MoH interns), we played Red Rover with the kids and led a devotion. Unfortunately the last child to make a run got “clothes-lined” when he chose to try to break through 2 bigger kids’ arms. He fell back on the ground hitting his head on a rock. It reminded why we never played Red Rover at the Boys & Girls Club. But it all worked out… Jimmy (the Director) told me Monday that he healed alright. Another highlight consisted of a very successful workshop on recreational evangelism: using games as an experiential way to share Scripture lessons. The morning filled with smiles and laughter from a diverse age-group of youth and youth workers (more than 40 all together). After lunch (of nsema & soy- common protein source here, not just for vegetarians) we met with just the youth workers. I wanted to make sure that they grasped the concept. They did! We ended the session brainstorming scripture lessons for a Malawian hide-and-seek game. I was so excited! Then the youth leaders decided, of their own initiative, that they should meet once a month to share ideas and encourage each other. Dean Borgman (of GCTS & Center for Youth Studies) said this might happen and I’m so thankful it did. This week we were blessed to go out to Mponela, a village in the north. Actually, it’s much bigger than what you would think of as a village, something like 11,000 in the surrounding area. Our new, good friend William directs the Feeding Center and goes beyond the normal programing with hundreds of orphans by doing some amazing things in the community. He developed a support program for widows and he’s now beginning a job skills training program. As we walked into the city center we observed his connection with the community by all the kids running up and people calling out "uncle". He’s doing great work while giving God all the glory. Tuesday evening we were called to spend some time with an encouraging, generous woman, Enala, who has supported William like a mother. She treated us to coffee, tea, croissants, and mandasi (Malawian doughnuts) while she prepared a dinner for us to take back to Williams. We invited Violet & Felocia (2 young ladies MoH is supporting through textile school) and the 3 guards for the Center to join us for dinner and we still didn’t manage to finish all the food! I must admit that I’m glad we didn’t eat with Enala otherwise I would have felt obligated to eat the goats’ intestines that were one part of the meal. (Hope tried some anyway.) When we got up the next morning we found Enala sitting in William’s living room waiting to visit with us and she brought a breakfast which ended up feeding 7 people! In addition, Enala sent over some medicine and leamons to help Hope fight the infection which had set in. And before we left she sent over 4 nsomba (fish) and 2 big bags of teza (peanuts) to take with us. Enala radiated generousity. A huge highlight to our time in Mponela involved the workshop we facilitated with almost 50 youth workers. William recruited at a number of churches in the Mponela area and various ministries. Unfortunately we experienced the coldest day yet but that didn’t hurt the turn out too much. I took the workshop further by teaching 5 games and connecting them to scripture lessons, then teaching a couple more games but having the youth workers brainstorm scripture for them, and finishing out by inviting them to share Malawian games to link to lessons. It intrigued me to find that not many people could remember games youth played. I observed that in Malawian culture there lies a distinct division between youth and adulthood. Youth ends in marriage which most often happens fairly young, especially in the villages. It seems like a lot of adults forget how to play. I engage them in play and it reminded them of childlikeness of faith. Christ encouraged this quality in Matthew 18 & 19. I’m so thankful He is calling me to facilitate childlikeness in His people. We ended our visit to Mponela by listening to the beautiful harmonies of well over a hundred youth. As I stood there I made a conscious effort to hold on to this memory as it would probably be a long time before I hear such sweet sounds from African youth again. Although our new friend Felocia and her brother gifted us with a demo of their families' new album which they will produce as soon as they raise enough money. Unfortunately Hope’s infection didn’t get better so we visited the African Bible College clinic where she received the diagnosis of a sinus infection. She tried to take it easy for the rest of our stay only venturing out to the pharmacy, to pick up our new, beautifully-tailored African outfits from the talented and fair tailor, Ishmael, and to walk down to the neighborhood market one last time. Our final evening in Malawi entailed hours of no power, wonderful company (Daniel & William), and the simple delicacies of sandwiches instead of the italian meal we planned for. God designed this so we would bask in the fellowship of our brothers in Christ, which I thanked God for as I drifted off to sleep very late in the night. We safely rested our heads at the home of Cecile, Andries, and Anelia again here in Johannesburg. As will be the case throughout the next almost 11 months, the direction of our next steps aren't confirmed yet. We might make our way up to Pretoria next to visit ministries there. Keep us in your prayers as we pursue connections throughout South Africa. We'll keep you posted as the events unfold.

Mulungu akhale nanu

"God be with you"... as He has with us. I'm amazed every day by how blessed we are. The Ministry of Hope (MoH) has been so good to us... specifically Daniel Moyo, Charles Gwengwe, Rollins Mtambo, Mr. Kamanga, Agnes Guta (who is leaving), Rowana (who is replacing Agnes), Kalvin Kalonga, & Mpho Lungu. Daniel, the Director of Education, Spiritual Development, and Volunteer Coordination (quite a mouthful), has been an incredible host and friend. We had met last year just after he graduated from African Bible College (ABC) and right before they brought him on full-time... a great move on their part. A lot has happened since my last post including saying goodbye to our fellow North Carolinians as well as our new friend Brittany, a retreat at Lake Malawi of 120 youth (8-15 year olds) from the six MoH feeding centers, lots of walking around the chaotic streets of Lilongwe, haggling with the women in the fabric area of the Old Market, a formal service at the neighborhood CCAP lasting 2 1/2 hours, a late therefore shortened recreational ministry workshop at ABC, feeding precious babies at the Crisis Nursery, leading a Bible Study about the Dangerous Wonder of childlike faith, and a blessed afternoon with Youth Care Ministries filled with good people and games with urban youth of Lilongwe. Many, many blessings. The youth retreat was an incredible experience filled with lots of dancing, playing, swimming at the beach, praying, inspiring talks with some translation, small group activities Malawian food, wonderful youth workers and ABC student/interns, and did I say dancing? Daniel had arranged for a Afro-reggae-gospel band from Scripture Union in Lilongwe to come out for the week. They kept us dancing until we headed to our tents and then woke us up to dance some more. That's where the video clip comes from (below). We had a different experience than the Lutheran High School group from CA (who helped facilitate the retreat) because we chose to camp with the kids at the "House of Joel Bible, Missionary, & Training Center" where the retreat was held. We could have taken the more comfortable route by checking into a room at the Chipoka Lodge. They would take off to the lodge around 8pm while Hope & I would continue on dancing with the kids. We were woken each morning around 5am to little voices speaking Chichewa all around us but we wouldn't straggle out of our tent until we heard the Afro-reggae-gospel vibes floating through the camp around 7am. Although the retreat was a bit exhausting, it was a huge blessing! Saturday we spent with Daniel and my friend Yohane walking all around the city center of Lilongwe visiting markets, tailors, a community center, taking a minibus packed with 23 people (quite normal, actually), ending the day at the Area 47 (neighborhood) market to get fresh vegetables. It was an educational experience, perspective shifting. We chose to get up early Sunday morning (6:15am) to join Daniel for the CCA Presbyterian church service. I was amazed at how formal the service was, not what I expected. We literally sat for 2 or the 2 1/2 hours... my butt was going numb! It's interesting how ceremonial the Malawian culture seems yet at the same time they are always late (hours) sometimes never even showing up. Seems to contradict itself. Early Sunday evening we went down the street to the MoH Crisis Nursery to help with feeding time. I know we're there to help but I think we're the ones blessed. Mom, you would love it... 18 beautiful babies. They are there because they are either orphans or they have health issues that their parents need help with (including malnurishment and HIV/AIDS). Some will go back to their families (sometimes extended family), some will be adopted, and some will end up in orphanages. Hope & I both would love to adopt one but the Malawian government doesn't make the process easy. You must live in Malawi for 18 months before you can even start the application process, which takes another 18 months. Somehow Madonna bypassed this process last year. So Monday we experienced Malawian culture quite vividly which ruffled our American perspectives. We showed up at the ABC gym (which we had rented) to find the leftover mess from a wedding from Saturday strewn all over the floor. Then over half the workshop participants showed up 2 hours late. It all worked out fine and it was still a blessed time but it was a gentle reminder of how clock-oriented our time perspective is in America... as opposed to event-oriented as is the perspective here in Malawi. Tuesday we began our day reconnecting with the ABC student/interns and William, the MoH feeding center director for the village of Mponela. He is an amazing "man after God's own heart." At the youth retreat he had shared with me his experience doing missions in Rwanda during the height of violence and turmoil. He has traveled all over central & southern Africa working with youth. He expressed his frustration with the church lacking any focus on youth. It seems like a common theme so far in my African experience: for youth to have no voice. It's frustrating. Jesus said, "when you did it to one the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me" (Matt 25:40). In Malawi (& Mozambique) you're considered a youth until you have your own family. Paul (writer of much of the New Testament) would have been treated as a youth... interesting. Then we ate lunch with Lessie, a former MoH staff who I connected with last year. She's had a challenging year including losing her job at MoH, catching gastoral-malaria, and therefore losing a 7-week old baby she was carrying. She's an amazing woman, still showing kindness and contentment. After helping with feeding time again, I drove Hope & I over to a Bible study with a "youth group" of 17-20 somethings. God placed Dangerous Wonder by Michael Yaconelli on my heart. I encouraged these "youth" to hold onto "the childlike attribute of our faith called dangerous wonder", "- a place landscaped by risky curiosity, wild abandon, daring playfulness, quiet listening, irresponsible passion, happy terror, and naive grace." If you haven't read it, you should. Today we thoroughly enjoyed our visit with William Nyasulu and Youth Care Ministries. I met William last year, briefly, and caught a glimpse of his vision for urban youth in Lilongwe. Youth Care has two after-school programs and a "safe haven" housing 8 homeless youth. William gained perspective on effective, urban youth programming by taking part in "Urban Promise" in Camden, New Jersey, a ministry supported and promoted by Tony Campolo and EAPE . He now has a vision to build a 'campus' with a primary & secondary school, 8 'group homes' for homeless youth, resource center, technology center, library, guest house for missionary groups... and it goes on. They have acquired land and he hopes to make it to the States to raise support and research more urban programs. We spent the afternoon with one of the After-school programs which they call "camp". I encouraged Mavuto (an ABC student/intern) to facilitate 2 games devotions he had learned with me on Monday (Red Light, Green Light and Elbow Tag). We met many volunteers including 4 ABC graduates who are heading to New Jersey in September to work with "Urban Promise". One, Robert, wanted to hear my perspective on American youth and how they differed from Malawian youth. One big difference is respect. In America, adults don't get respect, they have to earn it relationally. But here in Malawi, respecting your elders is a part of the culture. I've observed this in many ways, even in the handshake. I hope that the western culture doesn't dilute the Malawi traditions too much. Tomorrow we go out to Matapila, a village to the south where MoH started. We will be staying with Gift and his family, helping with the feeding center programs, and facilitating a recreation workshop for youth workers. It should be another unique, perspective-shifting experience.

dancing to afro-reggae gospel

Muli bwanji? Ndili bwino.

"How are you?" "I'm fine." Actually more than fine... Upon arrival at the Lilongwe Airport, we were greeted with officials, Malawian national guards, and many on-lookers. I knew we were expected but I didn't think our visit had such earthly importance. Come to find out that President Bingu wa Mutharika was flying in just after us. We walked out into the small lobby of LLW Airport into a sea of unrecognizable, starring Malawians faces. It was wonderful to see my good friend, Yohane, walking through the crowd toward us with a huge smile on his face. Mr. Kamanga drove us to the Ministry of Hope office (our housing/base camp) to met all the new staff and we were given a short, casual introduction and tour from Charles, the Executive Director. It felt great to be hugged by Philip the same "cook" from last year and greeted by Mr. Perri the same guard. The office crew eventually left us to a vacant house where we settled into a quiet evening of dinner and emails (MoH has "high speed" which is an unexpected convenience). After joining a MoH staff meeting, I caught up with my friend Daniel Moyo, MoH Program Officer, to talk about the "schedule" of events which includes a youth retreat to Lake Malawi, a sports evangelism workshop in the African Bible College (ABC) gym, and another workshop at the MoH feeding center at Matipila, a village north of Lilongwe. Daniel is another friend from last year that is now on MoH staff full-time. Yohane & I then walked over to ABC to confirm the use of the gym and to tour the campus... beautiful! I was blessed to meet some wonderful classmates of Yohane and was reminded why they call Malawi "the warm heart of Africa". Friday afternoon we drove with Rollins, one of the other MoH drivers, out to pick up Hannah, Samantha, & Jeff (from WNC) in Matapila... where the MPC youth group stayed last year. As we made our way through the traffic of Lilongwe, we passed many landmarks... the shady 7-11 & Internet cafe we frequented last year, the wood market with the high-pressure salesmen, the old town market, the mosque... it warmed my heart to recognize the city. As we made our way, Philip and Rollins were humored by Hope & my attempts at speaking Chichewa. They taught us some useful phrases like "achemwali anga", "my sister"... something we use a lot. We made our way north in the the very familiar, purple, MoH minibus. Rollins is a very fast driver; we hung on for dear life. We turned on the dirt road that took us out to Matapila & Serengo. It seemed much shorter this time, probably due to Rollins driving. Our visit in Matapila was very brief but I was filled with warmth seeing the church, primary school, and the MoH house where Shadrack lived. I look forward to getting back out there to stay for a longer visit. Saturday morning we ventured into town with Daniel, beginning the journey by cramming into Mpho's car. We picked up more groceries for dinner and faced the challenge of perusing the wood market. Even though the vendors exclaimed, "looking is free", they desperately worked at convincing us to buy from their "discount shop". For me this experience was humorous; for Hope it's something she could do without. Saturday afternoon MoH hosted a "Founders Day" event. It was a 3-hour event filled with testimonies of MoH's effectiveness with orphans, vulnerable children, and facilitating adoptions. It's interesting to observe the formality of public speaking in Malawi. Each speaker makes a point to greet all delegates and representing parties... it becomes quite time consuming. They did include a bit of entertainment from the ladies at the crisis nursery while kids played all around us. The ceremony ended with a moving talk from Nancy Dimmock, a MPC missionary who started the crisis nursery program. During refreshment time I reconnected with William from Youth Care (an urban "youth center" program-I met him last year) and the Dimmock's (who are moving to Lesotho). Saturday evening we enjoyed dinner and fellowship with our fellow North Carolinians. Brittany, a Azuza Pacific University senior, arrived from Nkhoma with stories of her experience attending a Malawian wedding... quite an unique cultural event and one I would love to go to! Sunday morning we attended a powerful service at Capital City Baptist Church (CCBC) with a guest preacher from the Baptist Church of Blantyre. He spoke on 1 Corinthians 7 regarding marriage, singleness, and not being defined by others, only by God. Afterwards, Daniel and the Dimmocks helped me in networking with youth workers and sports evangelists known all over Malawi whom I look forward to learning from. Sunday evening we treated Daniel, Mr. Kamanga, his wife and daughter to Indian food. It was a blessed time of fellowship with lots of laughter and good food. Monday morning began with staff devotions, singing, & giving thanks... a good way to start the week. The office then filled with action, people, and preparations for the youth retreat at Lake Malawi. Rollins gave me the keys to his car to use for the day. He was a bit reluctant maybe because he wasn't so sure that this silly, American girl could drive on the left side of the road. I have to say I was a little nervous but the only challenge involved hitting the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal... quite a few times. Monday evening we were powerless. You see, here in Lilongwe the power goes off every day, sometimes up to an hour but yesterday evening the power was off for a good part of 5 hours. The night turned into wonderful fellowship, an experimental dinner, and dancing. We learned that our new friend, Jeffrey, is quite the dancer... waltzing and swinging. He's going to make a young bride very happy one day. Today we celebrated Hannah, Samantha, and Brittany's service to MoH with a fellowship lunch and chocolate cake, ending with "Till We Meet at Jesus' Feet." It was been a wonderful beginning to our time here in Malawi.

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!

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.

Soweto youth choir

Almost a week...

We have had a wonderful adjustment in our first stop in this worldwide voyage. We have adjusted to the jetlag and learned a lot about the history and culture of South Africa.

We have visited Museum Africa, which featured various exhibits from Alfred Martin Duggan-Cronin’s photography from 1919-1939 of Southern Africa to “Gandhi’s Johannesburg, Birthplace of Satyagrha (passive resistance or soul force) to Jurgen Schadeberg’s “Tales from Jozi”, a photography exhibit of urban life in South Africa. It was an experience that has contributed to some cultural intelligence for our mission.

Yesterday we had a unique “tour” of Soweto beginning with sharing “fat cakes” with Mutodi and his extended family. Then we went to see Nelson Mandela’s house (Desmond Tutu’s house was on the same street… the only two Nobel Peace Prize winners who lived on the same street). Next we visited Regina Mundi and were blessed to stumble upon a youth choir practice (hopefully I’ll attach a clip later). Mutodi drove us all over different parts of Soweto where I re-connected with many that I met last year. Although many were surprised to meet this smiley, white, American girl in the township last year, many more were surprised to see me come back and bring my sister.

Today we visited with Mutodi’s family some more and are about to go to an evening service at Little Falls Christian Centre a short walk from Mutodi & Leslee’s house.

Tomorrow we are catching a Greyhound (same name as the States bus company) to Maputo, Mozambique to visit with Lisa Frist. She has arranged some great, youth ministry opportunities so it should be very exciting. We’re still trying to coordinate our travel arrangements to Malawi. We are a bit anxious about possibility of taking a bus through Zimbabwe… it’s so unstable now. Keep us in your prayers.

Mutodi & Leslee Neshehe have offered to keep their place as a home-base while here in southern Africa. So if you want to send us a letter, package (Leslee misses peanut butter candy), or get a phone message to us, this is their information:
c/o Mutodi Neshehe
PO Box 651056
Benmore 2010
Republic of South Africa

We made it…

We are so blessed to jump off this cliff of international travel to land into the soft, warm arms of our dear friends Mutodi and Leslee here in Johannesburg, South Africa. After a long 15+-hour flight, which was blessed with a lot of sleep (after several sleep deprived nights), we find ourselves adjusting to jetlag fairly well. Our first day was lazy one of grocery shopping and emailing followed by an amazing experience at Atlas studios. They host a film night the first Wednesday of each month of various themes along with corresponding food. Tonight they hosted “Counting Headz”, a documentary about South African female hip-hop artists from deejays to emcee’s, to graffiti artists, to beat-boxers to b-girls (break-dancers). As many of you know, the urban culture is a huge part of my call so it was a nice setting to begin our journey with a taste of urban South Africa. We also got a chance to converse with one of the co-directors/director of photography, Vusi.

Today we got a chance to experience a South African television studio (our friend, Mutodi, is a celebrity on a popular national sit-com). It was interesting but definitely not my vocational call. So, tomorrow we are going by the bus station to work out our transportation to Mozambique to see Lisa Frist on Monday. We're a little anxious about working out land travel in Africa, especially our trip through Zimbabwe to Malawi. It's not popular being American, especially in Zimbabwe.

We’re making connections with ministries here in Johannesburg but plan to visit when we get back from Malawi. Transportation around Johannesburg is a bit challenging because our friends work… so we’ll see what happens… it’s in God’s hands so I know it will all work out.

I don’t think I mentioned it before but we have a Skype number that has voice mail. (828) 333-4672 or hope.deifell. So be in touch. We were blessed to talk to my parents and Dave & Elizabeth yesterday for free… and mom & dad again just now. Wow! Technology is so facinating.

Keep us in your prayers as we work out the logistics of Africa land travel. We will try to post again soon.