Foot-washing ceremony with the Mozambican bible students. ...Speechless.
Seems like to serve someone else has become easier; it was so natural to sit at the feet of some of the most amazing men in the world, and gently bring water up over their feet, as your hands run against a maze of scars; a man who has trusted the Lord with not only his life, but the lives of his family members, to come learn more about this hope they have found in Christ. However, I cannot begin to describe how it feels to have this same man, get on his knees, cup ever so gently my foot in one hand, and with the other, bring up the same water to wash the dirt off of mine. Someone who has risked his life to see good news advance, someone who has almost no earthly posessions, kneeling down, praying over me. WOW...
July 29, 2010
Wrecked again by Mama Aida as she talked about what it looks like to be pure in heart, and persecuted for righteousness... wrecked.
Left with a small team for a bush outreach; this time... about 30k's outside of town we picked up a family heading to their village, then headed off-road. No roads, no nothing...just bush. Almost got stuck going over an empty riverbed, then really got stuck in the mud, in the middle of NOWHERE!
As the men gathered, any sticks they could to put under the tires to get us out of the mud, I sat with a young boy and began to teach him John 3:16 in Makua. How fun... we played hand games and sang and danced. After being stuck for at least 4 hours, another IRIS truck came and got us out of the mud. And because it was already dark, we headed to another village back on the road. Oh but the surprises were just around the corner...
When we got to this other village, we set up camp in front of this pastor's house...and searched for the latrine. If you were not careful you could almost trip on the hole in the ground; as there were no walls aroundit... just a hole... no fence around the pastor's property... nothing. So... grabbed a couple of the girls... some kapulanas....and went for it...
Then sat and played cards with the boys of the house... the eldest is learning portuguese, so we practiced best we could!
July 30, 2010
Woke to the sound of scraping burnt rice off of a pan at 4:30am. WOW! ...Then by the time I actually made it out of the tent to face the latrine situation, the pastors had built a makeshift wall around it! If you ever wondered what love looks like in the bush... that's it!!
Went into the church for worship celebration, then split into three groups to walk throughout the village and pray for people. Again, how did I end up to be the translator!! So funny, but I made a pretty good pair with the local bible teacher.
Out in the village, we saw many things I had never seen before: an elderly lady with worms that were eating away at her foot, a small house that was used to sacrifice animals, and an occasional child... we ended up praying for people, prophesying over people, talking to people about Jesus, etc.
Came back to camp for lunch and were met by a sea of hungry people. Their hopes were met, when we split them in to groups of three and handed them a plate of rice and beans to share. I don't think I have seen a group of people, here in Mozambique so hungry.
The adults then went inside the church, and we took the children out to play some games... on with the fun! :) We ended up playing the largest game of "duck, duck, goose" I have ever seen! The children kept picking white people to chase them, and when they did, the entire audience would errupt in laughter!! They thought it was the funniest thing to see a white person running!!!
That night we did some ministry; showing the Jesus film first, then the local pastor wanted us to share our name and where we were from. I stepped in front and introduced myself in Makua... and all the villagers laughed and waved at me; so precious. We then prayed for people, loved on em, danced and sang with them, and went to BED!
July 31, 2010
Sat in the dirt with my new, beautiful, little friends; played an immense amount of hand games, and sang lots of songs. As I stood up to go back up the camion, a little girl runs up, yelling, "Elena, Elena" (My middle name in Portuguese). I turn and she opens my hand and places in it a hand full of millet. Tastes terrible... but sweetness to my soul!
As the camion pulls out from the village... a large group of children begin yelling, "Elena, Elena" ...As I turn around and poke my head out of the windom... they all start cheering and waving. I almost lose it... How you love people, matters.
We get back to IRIS; I do laundry, shower, rest, and wait for Tetra. Then we grab our boys (Juma and Awali) and head to the beach. We skipped rocks, swam... then they wanted to make videos. It was time to go, so we bought some donuts and headed back. I told the boys I would see them at dinner and then watch the movie with them.
As I walk into the biblioteca to watch the movie... the boys find me! :) They have saved me a seat in between about 6 of my boys. As we watch, Lion King II and then Pride and Prejudice, they sit around me and ask me to explain what is happening. HAHA! Now I am translating an english movie into Portuguese. Wow! Never thought... I give them all kisses goodnight, and head to bed.
August 2, 2010
David Hogan is here...enough said.
August 3, 2010
Q and A with David Hogan, then with Heidi and Rolland; I prayed a blessing over Heidi and Rolland, we all started weeping. So humbling...
Then made my way with Tetra to go visit Filamina (another mama who works in the kitchen, but lives in the village). Sat on her beautiful lanai, as her son fell asleep in my lap. We chatted, and played games with her daughter. It was such a beautiful, sweet time. ...It came time to head back to IRIS, a long walk through the village...
On the way back, about 15 children from the village started coming up, grabbing our butts, pulling our hair, just being really ridiculous and annoying. So Filamina grabbed a stick and started threatening to whack them. She then hands me a really big stick and encourages me to do the same. AH! ...I froze...All I could think; "walk in the opposite spirit." ...So I took that big stick, stuck it out above my head, and started singing makua worship songs, and marching and dancing down the street. All these kids started to laugh, then sing and dance with us. We began passing by all of this barracas, and places where people from the village are drinking/drunk and such. It was awesome; a free worship and evangelist outreach, done by people under 4 feet!
...Returned home for dinner, then headed to the talent show: and as soon as I arrived, my boys found me! :)
Achimo sat and began to tell me about how is going to do a dance for the talent show, and when his time arrived... he kept looking at me as he danced. It was so sweet... He knew I cared... So awesome to be the one there, he knew was so proud of him.
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