FBC Missions

The Joy of the Lord is our Strength…..

Somehow that phrase sounded different in Portuguese to me this morning when I heard the soulful and strong voice of a beautiful spirited Mozambican woman belting it out at the top of her lungs.   

I have had the most awesome couple of days and I just had to tell you why.  For example… this morning I went to an early morning church service.  I was not excited because first- I am not a morning person and second- I’m feeling quite drained at the moment because we have been working hard for the past 2 weeks with the team that’s here from Chicago (hosting a team is hard!), and so I went sort of begrudgingly.  BUT! Let me tell you God blessed me.  This lady this morning, she’s the pastor’s wife, and she starts off the service by welcoming everyone and speaking some short scriptures of truth and encouragement and after everything she said she would just burst out in song and the rest of the congregation would join in.  Her song wasn’t just any song.  It was coming from somewhere deep- welling up and then overflowing with joy out onto us all.  It was the way she spoke- with conviction.  It was the way she sang- with confidence and joy.  We really worshipped God this morning.  It was awesome.  In the church services here, the africans- they move and they express their joy with their whole body.  They sing between every part of the service, when the pastor goes up to the front and when he leaves… they sing with joy wholeheartedly, their thanks to the Lord.  God is showing me that He wants that from me.  When I pray to Him, or I respond to Him, I worship Him, or say something in His name…. he wants me to say what I mean and mean what I say.   

Backtracking a bit- yesterday afternoon we were out in a community on the outskirts of town giving a talk at a baptist church about sexual abstinence until marriage.  It went really well, but the cool part was what happened afterwards…. the african worship group got up and sang this beautiful song about how God is sufficient for us and He picks us up when we fall and forgives us and makes us clean…. in portuguese.  it was one of the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard- because it was filled with God’s spirit… you know the way they were singing.  

With a title like that, you just know this is going to be good! Oh man.

This last week has been insanely busy because of a team that is here from Chicago. We have been putting on abstinence programs, doing house visits, baking, putting on VBS, working in orphanages and filling our spare time with other tasks. And, wouldn’t you know that during the busiest time yours truly came down with the most wretched of flus. I was up all night (thankfully only one night) and the most miserable I have been in quite some time. Ashley was blessed with the same sickness the next night!

On Monday, we went with the team to Kruger Wildlife Refuge in South Africa. We spent all day searching for all of the animals. Between Monday and Tuesday we had seen the following: elephants, giraffes, hippos, crocodile, rhinos, kudo, impalas, duikers, warthogs, waterbuffalo, zazu birds, zebras, 5 lions (including a male), a leopard and a cheetah! WOW. Our most fantastic discovery of all came on Monday night, however. There the three of us were (me, Rachel and Ashley) in our little mini suite in the lodge we were put up in for the evening. Our room was on the top floor and had the most amazing thatch roof. Rachel went in the bathroom to take a quick shower and SCREAMED, “Aaahh…spider, spider, spider. He’s HUGE! Aaaaahhhh!” Ashley then started screaming and ran to jump on the bed (in order to save herself from his wrath, wouldn’t you know). There I am left to be calm and deal with this little problem like the strong Survivor constestant that I am. But, Oh My Word! It was HUGE. There hiding beneath our toilet paper holder was our “little” friend…the circumfrance of half an orange…and quite hairy. So, there I am ready to valiantly battle whatever the problem was. I calmly walk out of the bathroom and down the stairs to get the most powerful weapon I think we possess: Men. Needless to say, we did not sleep well that night.

Over the last few days I have begun to develop a little dry spot on the jawline on the right side of my face. I’ve had dry spots at times before and thought nothing of it. Turns out, folks, I’m infected. A nurse told me today that Africa was never meant for white people because it does funny things to our skin… General consensus: Ringworm. What a truly African week. My life makes me smile!

Truth is, life has been pretty darn good here minus those few little incidents. I had a hard time coming back to Mozambique after leaving the very westernized and very nice country of South Africa. You see, while you are here you get used to what you see every day. When you leave Maputo you begin to see what it is you are missing. And, frankly, it is much easier and much more comfortable to live without poverty staring you in the face each and every day. I guess that is why this trip is a sacrifice. At times, it can be especially draining. We gave a young boy some bread today for he and his mother…I still struggle with wanting to do more. But, I can meet immediate needs. I have the resources and abilities to do that right now. When I go back to the States, even if I don’t have a ton of money or a job right away (you could be praying about that, by the way), I will still have the ability to meet immediate needs! Who knew that someone would enjoy the leftover pancakes Corinne had? It can get daunting when you look at the big picture, I’ve been praying for specified tunnel vision — that God may give me the direction to go to meet a need, and that I may focus on that.

Love to all!

The weekends here have been wonderful. We are still doing things like going to church, teaching kids VBS, and doing some social things (like meeting up with people) but they are much more relaxed for the most part and allow us time to have new experiences, see more of the city, or just hang out. Today, for instance, while Rachel was babysitting, Brooke and I decided to have an adventure. You see, we’ve fallen in love with a beautiful fruit; the Maracuja, or in english- the passionfruit. We are fortunate enough to have a huge tree growing just outside our doorstep and over the garage. So today, Brooke boosted me up and I climbed around on the roof of the garage picking out all the abundant overgrowth of ripe fruits that are too high for most people to reach… but not for me; I am nimble like a monkey. So, after a great deal of picking through vines and swatting at fruits I shimmied down the wall and Brooke and I took our pickings upstairs to start the juice making process. It was glorious!

I would also like to tell you about some of the people that we have been meeting. it’s funny, we came over thinking specifically about working with Mozambicans but God has some other plans in mind as well, as he usually does. The first week we were here, we met a girl from Ireland who is staying here for the summer as well, to volunteer and experience Africa. She has been coming with us everyday to work at the orphanages and we are blessed to have her as a friend. She is staying with another Irish friend who lives here and it’s been really fun to spend time with them and see how God is allowing our paths to cross. We are excited to see the ways that God is revealing himself to them and the ways that He will continue to work in their lives.

So there you go… a look into the important things in our lives; friends and fruit : )

I am a woman of action. From age 5, I’m pretty sure I had my whole life planned out. It doesn’t matter that my life has panned out a little differently than I originally planned (I kind of gave up the whole paleontologist thing), but the point is this: I am a control freak. And, it’s chronic. Needless to say I have continued on my control freakish path and even today am learning about letting go, COMPLETELY.

The problems here are huge. Most of the AIDS relief money that comes from other countries is lost in a tangled barbed wire mess of governmental officials and agencies. Little, if any, gets to the people. Thousands of children are left at the dump or on the side of the street with nowhere to go and no one to help them. And, even the children with a parent often live in worse conditions than the orphans. So, me being who I am, I have thought tireless about a plan that would help. But, have been left with this question time and time again: Can I really solve this problem?

I’ve struggled with my desire for control for a long time. But, here in Mozambique, no amount of planning will help the situation. I am not saying that it is helpless here, but just like the problems in the US, they run deep. The Lord has really spoken to me these last few days. I am just one person. But, I have the very essence of my God living in me (1 Cor. 2) and His joy, His strength, His love, His peace, His mercy, His grace and His goodness is enough! As just one person I can still reach the world…one person at a time through a loaf of bread, through a hug, through rocking a baby to sleep (something the orphaned babies rarely get), through holding a hand, through a kind smile and a greeting (a kiss on both cheeks here in Maputo). AIDS is a huge problem, poverty physically hurts my heart, I want to adopt all of the children, but I can’t do it all. How blessed I am to have the Holy Spirit in me…to help me discern where to serve and who to serve and to pour the very essence of Our Savior on those I meet.

And, this lesson is something I can carry with my in the States. Not by my strength, alone. The truth of the matter is, I can serve God most when I am just still before Him. As I lay down all of my inhibitions, my insecurities, my questions, my fears and my plans, I am able to revel in Him and His beauty. I can’t plan a solution to poverty, but I can be still and know that God is God, even if I don’t understand Him. And in that very moment, I feel peace. A peace that transcends understanding and a peace that I hope transpires from my being to those I see on the street, in the orphanages, at my house and at the store. God has control. Why is that so hard to grasp sometimes? Why do I continually re-grasp the reins?

I am learning this week to relinquish my plans, and I have made A TON. I find peace knowing that my God already has control and will direct when He thinks I am ready. Until then, He has said, “Be Still and Know that I Am God.” Be still.

p.s. Because it is unsafe to take cameras out into the city and the orphanages don’t like people taking pictures of the children, we have a limited selection of photos from our day to day lives and it takes a long time to upload…so sorry for the lack of photos…We’ll have plenty to show when we get home!

It’s funny how God can use any situation, any activity to teach us about Him… about what’s important in life. Today Brooke, Rachel, and I ventured out with our new friend Suzanne from Ireland to a government-run orphanage in the center of town to help out for the afternoon. We held babies, fed toddlers, played games, gave hugs and just did alot of loving and talking in an unintelligible language to grown-ups but quite understandable to babies. They were dirty, most of them smelling like shi-shi or co-co (I’ll let you guess what that means). They were sick- I thought many of the babies looked like newborns but found out that many of them were 8 months old to a few years. Lots of the toddlers even had trouble sitting up on their own. But they were all still beautiful and looked up at us with big eyes asking us to love on them.

It was very interesting observing the children for awhile. I saw those that were fussy; at the drop of a hat they were upset and started wailing. Some would calm down right away when we went to them and others just kept on crying. But all of them needed and responded to our love and attention. I held one baby for about half an hour and I was amazed at how content he was. He would smile up at me and look around and then just lay back down. Somehow God used that little baby to teach me about being content. He showed me today that He cradles us all in His arms and never lets us go. That despite ever-changing circumstances He is constant and he invited me today, to be content with that.