First all survived! 20 left and 20 came back.
Well we are back in the States and home. There is very little I missed while I was gone. I missed my family, both biological and ecclesiastical (if you don’t recognize the word, please look it up and use it in a sentence today). And if I am being honest, I did miss Dr. Pepper as well.
Some insights I gained from this trip. Keep in mind these are my insights, I am sure of the other 19 who went on the trip there are other insights gained. Let me begin.
I find that we tend to talk in generalities way too much. Maybe we are afraid of being specific. For example, “the Church in America”…fill in the blank however you want. I know the Church is different from Ohio to Kentucky to Florida and even Michigan. Yes, there are similar events that take place at each “branch” of the body. For instance, we all have worship in some form, we all give an offering, we hear a sermon or message, we all partake of the Lord’s Supper. The differences I can say I have seen and been a part of is the way these events are done. There is form and there is meaning. Meaning is the Truth and form is way the meaning (Truth) is presented. I heard several times on the trip the form of the American Church “discussed” and compared. Honestly, I decided that you cannot compare apples and chicken. Both are food types, but they are completely different. The Church in America and the Church in Mozambique are completely different. Let me say I love both.
Andrew Peterson, one of my favorite Christian artists, writes a song about a lady named Elma (I think it is Elma). Elma lives in poverty in South America. Let me restate the words of his song as if it were my statement, only because it is right on as to how I feel:
I’m just a little jealous of the nothing that they have.
They are unfettered by the wealth,
Of the world that we pretend is going to last.
They say God blessed us with plenty,
But I say they are blessed with poverty;
Cause they never stop to wonder,
Whether earth is just a little better than the land of the free.
It’s funny to me because they do see us as richly blessed (we are), and we would say we are not rich. They want to be “one of us”. We saw their simple lifestyle and were jealous because they were so innocent of materialism. Of ALL the Churches Don works with (I don’t remember but I am certain it is double digits), only one person has a car and it is a piece of junk apparently. I never saw that car. I met men who walked 20 kilometers (10 miles or so) to preach. I met another guy who walked 40 kilometers (about 25 miles or so) to get to school. I know people who complain about driving for more than 10 minutes to get to Church.
Another thing I bring back is prayer requests. I expected the African Churches to ask for money. They didn’t. Not one Church asked for money from the Americans. They asked for God to send missionaries. They have several Churches that don’t have a preacher. On our second Sunday we went to a church in Chibutu (in the Gaza province of Mozambique). This church was in the bush (also known as bushveld). This church has no minister. They meet once a month when four local preachers or evangelists come to this church to preach. Yes, all four men preach. I have already spoken about this though.
The Church wants missionaries, they want preachers and elders and evangelists to rise up and share God’s Word. How many times have I personally not prayed for God to raise up individuals but prayed that God raise up some type of thing, like a ministry or finances? These Churches made me think about what I see as important.
One final point that I have learned. We need to redefine missions and our role in missions. I am going to leave that up to you. If you are content in defining missions as an overseas or out of this country experience I am ok with that, but please support a missionary (I would recommend Don and Aleta Hulsey of Good News for Africa if you or your Church family does not know one). If you are not okay with defining missions as something that takes place far away then I challenge you to become a local missionary in whatever setting you are in.
This mission trip was unlike anything I have done before. While I have been on an overseas missions trip before this was definitely different. Usually on a missions trip you build something like a Church building. On this trip we did build something, the Church. We trained men as they go out and build the Church. One of the men I met started 30 Churches and another started 17 and another 11. 58 Churches were begun because of the work of these 3 men, and there were 22 other men whose stories I did not include here. They came to this college to learn how to “more effectively” share the gospel. I had to ask myself if that is what they are doing to become more effective, what have I done to be effective? This mission focused on building relationships.
Thank you to all of you who prayed for me and financially supported this missions trip. If you or your church are looking for a missionary or missions group to support I would recommend the work of Christ being done by Don and Aleta Hulsey through Good News for Africa. The website is http://mozambiquemission.moonfruit.com/. More than sending money though, let me make one final request of you. Go. Go to Mozambique for a few weeks. Let me know when you go because I will support you in every way I can. Thank you so much to you my supporters and thank you so much to Julie and Micah for sharing me for two weeks. I am glad to be home with you all.
all about Christ,
David
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Safari and then some
Julie and Micah,
I don’t know how to start this entry. Well on Sunday night I decided to do laundry, thinking I would get up early enough on Monday (the day we left for the Safari) so I could put everything in the dryer. Well I got up early enough, but then I kind of forgot until the last few seconds to get everything out of the washing machine. I decided to get as much out as I could and then leave the lid open. We wouldn’t be back until Tuesday night so I thought everything would be fine. NOPE. My clothes that I left in the washer, which included a number of Brian’s clothes, were neatly piled on top of the empty dryer and smelled quite rank. As I sit here writing this I hear the spin cycle that is a part of the rewashing process.
So the safari…
Well I have never been on a safari before so I didn’t know what to expect. It was fun, but honestly I didn’t think about having to be on the same bus we drove to the park in for the whole day. The seats were not exactly comfortable. All is okay though. Everyone survived the first day and no one was eaten by anything. We saw all kinds of animals. We got to our bungalow by 4:30 and had to board the night viewing bus by 5:00. The sun sets early when everything is surrounded by mountains. We took just over 3 hours for our drive. It was a great time for our group to finally be together and not doing anything. We sat on an open air bus and saw many beautiful pieces of God’s creation. There are “The Big Five” in Kruger National Park, which include, the lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and elephant. We saw everything but a lion. There were two things we saw in the dark that would not come out from behind whatever ever it was they were behind. We saw their eyes reflecting off the light of our bus flash lights. It was weird to see nothing but dark and then two shiny eyes. Because their color was a reflected yellow the tour guide said it is most likely some type of cat. Some of us on the trip would like to believe we saw two lionesses who had just killed an animal and were eating it. In case you did not know a lioness does the hunting BUT the lion gets to eat first. Kind of like a wife who goes grocery shopping yet the husband eats the food…sort of. Personally I thought it was another buffalo that we saw because of how far the eyes were a part. We saw giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, zebras, rhinos, kubus, deer, wild boars, wart hogs, mere cats, monkeys and lots of birds.
The trip back was very eventful. First, some of us decided to get up very early and do a morning drive for about an hour. I saw the most amazing sunrise. It was very, majestic. No other word could describe it. We were asked if we wanted to leave straight away from the park, take a short but bumpy unpaved path or a long but paved path. We took short but bumpy. Exciting! When we stopped for lunch things started to change. Our bus that we are renting rolled almost going through a fence and almost seriously hurting one of people. It was a freak accident that none of us can explain. The bus is a diesel and it is a clutch. It is parked in first gear, which means it won’t roll. The main door must be opened when the key is at least in the ACC position. For some reason, with NO ONE behind the wheel the bus started to roll. Now someone did put the key in just before it happened, but you have to wait for the engine (in a diesel) to be ready, depress the clutch and finally push the gas. If you push the gas, without the clutch being depressed, the vehicle will lunge forward, but the engine has to be engaged. So now that that is explained, the vehicle just started to roll forward. The person in front of the bus turned just in time to prevent any serious damage. The person who had put the key in the bus experienced, understandably, a lot of anguish and guilt. Those of us who saw it were left speechless. Here is where God provides for us. One of the guys on our team is an E.M.T. and one of the ladies on our team is a nurse. The person who was in front of the rolling bus was in some pain but they were able to give a quick prognosis. We did end up going to a doctor’s office, and were blessed with the same prognosis. A big bruise. There was a lot of relief and no one was blamed for the accident.
So we kept on going to the boarder. The boarder took forever. We met a really nice older lady in an odd sort of way. She saw a group of us guys “having fun”. She assumed because of our jolly outlook on life that we must be Christians. She approached us and began talking in a language that none of us knew. Realizing we spoke English she began to be understandable. She was from Victoria, which I believe is in Australia. She told us her story and we bid her God’s blessings on the rest of her journey.
Finally, we are back in the bus. About a half an hour more and we hear a bad noise coming from the back driver side (which is on the right here) of the bus. We had a flat tire. GOD BLESS double axles. Then the question comes, does anyone know how to change a tire on a double axle vehicle? Out of the middle of the bus comes a yes. One of the guys on our team is a technician (commonly called a mechanic) for Toyota. He just happened to majored in double axle when he studied in trade school in Orlando.
In short our 3 hour trip turned into 10 hours. Not exactly fun, but from what I understand, it’s an average day on the mission field.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Mozambique…and Africa for that matter. We will be debriefing (talking about what we did and didn’t like or understand), repacking, getting last minute things done which includes laundry (mine is almost done thought). Tomorrow night we will have our last campfire (making it three). The fires have been interesting. I was told hey, you’re from Kentucky build a fire. So Bradley and myself, both being from Kentucky, decide the best type of fire to build is a “log cabin” styled campfire. It was a thing of beauty. Don, who was also from Kentucky, said he had never heard of a log cabin fire, he only knew of the teepee fire. He told us to build a teepee the next time we did a fire. Bradley and I built the teepee fire and it flopped. It eventually lit, but that was after everyone trashed talked the fire, without knowing (or perhaps knowing but not caring) who built the fire or that it was Don’s request. Well tomorrow night it will most definitely be a log cabin, and Don agreed.
Let me end by saying everyone is OK and seem to be getting along or tolerating each other. God has done some great things through us and with us on this trip. Today was a day we got to see how we were gifted in different ways. We are a body. We all always have a purpose. It was nice to see so many people using those purposes in different ways today. Good night. I will see you soon dear. I love and miss you. I can’t wait to hold you in my arms when I get home. Tell my little buddy that Daddy is coming home. Tell him when I get home I want the best hug ever!
I love and miss you!
all about Christ,
David
I don’t know how to start this entry. Well on Sunday night I decided to do laundry, thinking I would get up early enough on Monday (the day we left for the Safari) so I could put everything in the dryer. Well I got up early enough, but then I kind of forgot until the last few seconds to get everything out of the washing machine. I decided to get as much out as I could and then leave the lid open. We wouldn’t be back until Tuesday night so I thought everything would be fine. NOPE. My clothes that I left in the washer, which included a number of Brian’s clothes, were neatly piled on top of the empty dryer and smelled quite rank. As I sit here writing this I hear the spin cycle that is a part of the rewashing process.
So the safari…
Well I have never been on a safari before so I didn’t know what to expect. It was fun, but honestly I didn’t think about having to be on the same bus we drove to the park in for the whole day. The seats were not exactly comfortable. All is okay though. Everyone survived the first day and no one was eaten by anything. We saw all kinds of animals. We got to our bungalow by 4:30 and had to board the night viewing bus by 5:00. The sun sets early when everything is surrounded by mountains. We took just over 3 hours for our drive. It was a great time for our group to finally be together and not doing anything. We sat on an open air bus and saw many beautiful pieces of God’s creation. There are “The Big Five” in Kruger National Park, which include, the lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and elephant. We saw everything but a lion. There were two things we saw in the dark that would not come out from behind whatever ever it was they were behind. We saw their eyes reflecting off the light of our bus flash lights. It was weird to see nothing but dark and then two shiny eyes. Because their color was a reflected yellow the tour guide said it is most likely some type of cat. Some of us on the trip would like to believe we saw two lionesses who had just killed an animal and were eating it. In case you did not know a lioness does the hunting BUT the lion gets to eat first. Kind of like a wife who goes grocery shopping yet the husband eats the food…sort of. Personally I thought it was another buffalo that we saw because of how far the eyes were a part. We saw giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, zebras, rhinos, kubus, deer, wild boars, wart hogs, mere cats, monkeys and lots of birds.
The trip back was very eventful. First, some of us decided to get up very early and do a morning drive for about an hour. I saw the most amazing sunrise. It was very, majestic. No other word could describe it. We were asked if we wanted to leave straight away from the park, take a short but bumpy unpaved path or a long but paved path. We took short but bumpy. Exciting! When we stopped for lunch things started to change. Our bus that we are renting rolled almost going through a fence and almost seriously hurting one of people. It was a freak accident that none of us can explain. The bus is a diesel and it is a clutch. It is parked in first gear, which means it won’t roll. The main door must be opened when the key is at least in the ACC position. For some reason, with NO ONE behind the wheel the bus started to roll. Now someone did put the key in just before it happened, but you have to wait for the engine (in a diesel) to be ready, depress the clutch and finally push the gas. If you push the gas, without the clutch being depressed, the vehicle will lunge forward, but the engine has to be engaged. So now that that is explained, the vehicle just started to roll forward. The person in front of the bus turned just in time to prevent any serious damage. The person who had put the key in the bus experienced, understandably, a lot of anguish and guilt. Those of us who saw it were left speechless. Here is where God provides for us. One of the guys on our team is an E.M.T. and one of the ladies on our team is a nurse. The person who was in front of the rolling bus was in some pain but they were able to give a quick prognosis. We did end up going to a doctor’s office, and were blessed with the same prognosis. A big bruise. There was a lot of relief and no one was blamed for the accident.
So we kept on going to the boarder. The boarder took forever. We met a really nice older lady in an odd sort of way. She saw a group of us guys “having fun”. She assumed because of our jolly outlook on life that we must be Christians. She approached us and began talking in a language that none of us knew. Realizing we spoke English she began to be understandable. She was from Victoria, which I believe is in Australia. She told us her story and we bid her God’s blessings on the rest of her journey.
Finally, we are back in the bus. About a half an hour more and we hear a bad noise coming from the back driver side (which is on the right here) of the bus. We had a flat tire. GOD BLESS double axles. Then the question comes, does anyone know how to change a tire on a double axle vehicle? Out of the middle of the bus comes a yes. One of the guys on our team is a technician (commonly called a mechanic) for Toyota. He just happened to majored in double axle when he studied in trade school in Orlando.
In short our 3 hour trip turned into 10 hours. Not exactly fun, but from what I understand, it’s an average day on the mission field.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Mozambique…and Africa for that matter. We will be debriefing (talking about what we did and didn’t like or understand), repacking, getting last minute things done which includes laundry (mine is almost done thought). Tomorrow night we will have our last campfire (making it three). The fires have been interesting. I was told hey, you’re from Kentucky build a fire. So Bradley and myself, both being from Kentucky, decide the best type of fire to build is a “log cabin” styled campfire. It was a thing of beauty. Don, who was also from Kentucky, said he had never heard of a log cabin fire, he only knew of the teepee fire. He told us to build a teepee the next time we did a fire. Bradley and I built the teepee fire and it flopped. It eventually lit, but that was after everyone trashed talked the fire, without knowing (or perhaps knowing but not caring) who built the fire or that it was Don’s request. Well tomorrow night it will most definitely be a log cabin, and Don agreed.
Let me end by saying everyone is OK and seem to be getting along or tolerating each other. God has done some great things through us and with us on this trip. Today was a day we got to see how we were gifted in different ways. We are a body. We all always have a purpose. It was nice to see so many people using those purposes in different ways today. Good night. I will see you soon dear. I love and miss you. I can’t wait to hold you in my arms when I get home. Tell my little buddy that Daddy is coming home. Tell him when I get home I want the best hug ever!
I love and miss you!
all about Christ,
David
Going to CHURCH
Julie and Micah,
Today we went to Church. We went to CHURCH. We woke up while it was still dark, 6:00 a.m. here which is 12:00 midnight there. It was great. I decided to sit up front with Don on this trip. I wanted to get some video footage of the roads we were driving on as well as see what we were driving on. It was bumpy enough. I saw the sun rise over Mozambique and had we been a few minutes ahead of schedule I would have seen it rise over part of the Indian Ocean.
Which reminds me…Yesterday, I don’t remember if I told you, we had a baptism at the Indian Ocean. The water was COLD. But a large number of us went down to stand in the water and watch the baptism. God bless the makers of Crocs, they are a very universal shoe! Okay back to Church.
So we drove on Highway #1 for a very long time. Pot holes are big and the bridges never line up with the road, which means more whiplash…I mean bumps. We came upon lots of great sights, like a cattle crossing and there was of course lots of great car passes into oncoming international traffic. Maybe you know what I am talking about, maybe you don’t, let’s just say Jesus and I got very close today.
We finally get to Chibuto (the village we had Church at). There was a man who died last week in South Africa from the village. They had just got his body back and the funeral was today. When I say the whole village went to the funeral, I mean the whole village. I got some great footage of the line. We sat for about 10 minutes while people marched by 2 across past our van. 500 people would not be an exaggeration. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. I am sorry I am not able to post videos on uTube while I am here, the dial up internet is too slow and the cost is great.
So on to Church, again. We finally get to Church, which was late due to the funeral. Africa, or Mozambique, is not ruled by the clock but rather the event. There were kids singing in the church building as we walk in. There were many ladies in the church. We walked in and the singing began to get louder. We knew 2 of the songs. They sing a Changauna version of No Not One. The other song was one we learned in Portuguese and Changauna and English. We had planned do sing that in our song time. We listened to not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4 but 5 preachers today. Church lasted about 3 hours. The end was a bit awkward. Cole, Bradley, Brian and myself (along with Don) we called up on “stage”. The people of the Church had a gift for us. Lunch. There were different types of roots and vegetables and a chicken. Now the awkward part was that the chicken was ALIVE.
Let me back track for a second, as I began to go up to the stage Josh, Don’s oldest son (age 23ish) said you have to kill a chicken. On stage Don said we have to kill a chicken. Sure enough the ladies hand me a chicken. I didn’t know what to do with it. I am thinking back to my years in KY and how I would kill a chicken if I had the opportunity. I remember you grab its head and spin it around, thus breaking the neck and separating the head from the body. Then I realize, before I do anything, that I am supposed to pass the chicken on to the next person, Brian, who wants nothing to do with the chicken because he thinks the responsibility of killing it now comes to him. We ended up passing each piece of their “offering” down the line. Somehow Don was able to pull the “translator” card and I ended up holding the chicken again. I realized at this point, we were not going to have to kill the chicken. I had a huge grin and tried very hard to not laugh, as our team is doing their best to impersonate a group of paparazzi outside of Paris Hilton’s jail cell.
We took the chicken home with us, back to the compound. Don gave it to the students because we are not going to be here tomorrow. Let it be said though that I would have killed the chicken and eaten it if that is what the Lord would have required of me. Fortunately for me and the chicken (and PETA) God is good. Well, the chicken probably won’t make it through tomorrow. I talked with the chicken a bit, she had a look of total fear in her eyes. She knew what was coming. She asked me about why her other friends would just “disappear”. I told her about the happy pecking grounds.
Any way, back to reality. After the service we went to pray with a lady in the village. She had a sore on her foot and wanted to know what to do. There is always a temptation, I guess, to go to a witch doctor. Animism is very much alive and well. It is a form of worshipping ancestors. We actually went to an ancestral spirit grave site and had the practice at this particular village explained to us. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch with the Church in Chibutu. They were very kind.
It was while we were at lunch that Don said hey, it’s time for Church to start in America so we made a few phone calls. Don ran out of credits while I was on the phone with you. It was so great to hear your voice and the tears just went rolling when Micah said, “I love you, Daddy.” You were on speaker phone and it made the day of a lot of people to hear some familiar voices. Brian got a little choked up about hearing Sarah’s voice. Well my battery is dieing so I have to go to bed. We leave for Kruger bright and early and I think I am the last one up again. I love and miss you. Tell my little buddy I love and miss him too and that I am coming home soon! See you in a few days.
all about Christ,
David
Today we went to Church. We went to CHURCH. We woke up while it was still dark, 6:00 a.m. here which is 12:00 midnight there. It was great. I decided to sit up front with Don on this trip. I wanted to get some video footage of the roads we were driving on as well as see what we were driving on. It was bumpy enough. I saw the sun rise over Mozambique and had we been a few minutes ahead of schedule I would have seen it rise over part of the Indian Ocean.
Which reminds me…Yesterday, I don’t remember if I told you, we had a baptism at the Indian Ocean. The water was COLD. But a large number of us went down to stand in the water and watch the baptism. God bless the makers of Crocs, they are a very universal shoe! Okay back to Church.
So we drove on Highway #1 for a very long time. Pot holes are big and the bridges never line up with the road, which means more whiplash…I mean bumps. We came upon lots of great sights, like a cattle crossing and there was of course lots of great car passes into oncoming international traffic. Maybe you know what I am talking about, maybe you don’t, let’s just say Jesus and I got very close today.
We finally get to Chibuto (the village we had Church at). There was a man who died last week in South Africa from the village. They had just got his body back and the funeral was today. When I say the whole village went to the funeral, I mean the whole village. I got some great footage of the line. We sat for about 10 minutes while people marched by 2 across past our van. 500 people would not be an exaggeration. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. I am sorry I am not able to post videos on uTube while I am here, the dial up internet is too slow and the cost is great.
So on to Church, again. We finally get to Church, which was late due to the funeral. Africa, or Mozambique, is not ruled by the clock but rather the event. There were kids singing in the church building as we walk in. There were many ladies in the church. We walked in and the singing began to get louder. We knew 2 of the songs. They sing a Changauna version of No Not One. The other song was one we learned in Portuguese and Changauna and English. We had planned do sing that in our song time. We listened to not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4 but 5 preachers today. Church lasted about 3 hours. The end was a bit awkward. Cole, Bradley, Brian and myself (along with Don) we called up on “stage”. The people of the Church had a gift for us. Lunch. There were different types of roots and vegetables and a chicken. Now the awkward part was that the chicken was ALIVE.
Let me back track for a second, as I began to go up to the stage Josh, Don’s oldest son (age 23ish) said you have to kill a chicken. On stage Don said we have to kill a chicken. Sure enough the ladies hand me a chicken. I didn’t know what to do with it. I am thinking back to my years in KY and how I would kill a chicken if I had the opportunity. I remember you grab its head and spin it around, thus breaking the neck and separating the head from the body. Then I realize, before I do anything, that I am supposed to pass the chicken on to the next person, Brian, who wants nothing to do with the chicken because he thinks the responsibility of killing it now comes to him. We ended up passing each piece of their “offering” down the line. Somehow Don was able to pull the “translator” card and I ended up holding the chicken again. I realized at this point, we were not going to have to kill the chicken. I had a huge grin and tried very hard to not laugh, as our team is doing their best to impersonate a group of paparazzi outside of Paris Hilton’s jail cell.
We took the chicken home with us, back to the compound. Don gave it to the students because we are not going to be here tomorrow. Let it be said though that I would have killed the chicken and eaten it if that is what the Lord would have required of me. Fortunately for me and the chicken (and PETA) God is good. Well, the chicken probably won’t make it through tomorrow. I talked with the chicken a bit, she had a look of total fear in her eyes. She knew what was coming. She asked me about why her other friends would just “disappear”. I told her about the happy pecking grounds.
Any way, back to reality. After the service we went to pray with a lady in the village. She had a sore on her foot and wanted to know what to do. There is always a temptation, I guess, to go to a witch doctor. Animism is very much alive and well. It is a form of worshipping ancestors. We actually went to an ancestral spirit grave site and had the practice at this particular village explained to us. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch with the Church in Chibutu. They were very kind.
It was while we were at lunch that Don said hey, it’s time for Church to start in America so we made a few phone calls. Don ran out of credits while I was on the phone with you. It was so great to hear your voice and the tears just went rolling when Micah said, “I love you, Daddy.” You were on speaker phone and it made the day of a lot of people to hear some familiar voices. Brian got a little choked up about hearing Sarah’s voice. Well my battery is dieing so I have to go to bed. We leave for Kruger bright and early and I think I am the last one up again. I love and miss you. Tell my little buddy I love and miss him too and that I am coming home soon! See you in a few days.
all about Christ,
David
Bringard de football...
That mean's let's play football (soccer), I think.
Julie and Micah,
It is official, I am out of shape. I just played “football” with the students here. They play barefoot and in sand. After the first five minutes I was asking, “How do you say, OXYGEN or GATORADE or POWERADE or I THINK I AM HAVING A HEART ATTACK. It was fun. I left the game after the first fifteen minutes because I needed to get my laundry. The trip has been very good thus far.
Today in class we taught a drama that was written last night and a drama that was rewritten last night. I was supposed to teach about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet today. That changed slightly when the drama changed. I rewrote my devotion or lesson and all was fine until we got to class. The drama changed. So my lesson had to change.
About 5 minutes before the other class we learned that no one had been assigned to teach it. So I was blessed with the opportunity to teach on what I thought was the lost parables. I decided to teach on the lost coin. We get to class and I learn we are actually just doing a drama on the lost son. Oops. So I prayed for the Spirit to speak through me and then started jotting short hand notes. I knew I had until the drama was over. It went well.
The men here are really picking up on the drama well. They will be able to use it to show the people in Christ’s Church down here. I got choked up Tuesday after the drama. We reinacted the feeding of the 5000. Don, the missionary, was talking to the students after the drama and lesson and said, “Can’t you just see God now? He is looking down from Heaven with His angels and saying look, they are remembering.” I don’t know why but that just choked me up. He loves these people and what a great mission this is. He is training men who are in turn going out and reaching people. He could come to Mozambique and start a Church, reaching a few hundred people. His mission, working with the Church leaders, reaches 1000s of people in some very remote parts of Africa. The students come from all over, currently there are 25 students from 6 provinces in Mozambique, which is twice as long as California. The men do not have cars so they walk to the school to get here. They stay for 8 months, away from their families. Some of these guys have 7 children. One student has 11. They range from 20 years old to 62 or 63.
They have taught us a lot. Funny how that works. A lot of times we as Americans just want to help by giving money to help or “cure” a problem. That is not what they want, and if it is that is not what they have asked for. They asked us to pray for more missionaries to come to Mozambique and they asked us to pray for more leaders in their church.
God is not done with us yet on this trip. I love Africa, but I can say I don’t think I am “called” to be here full time. This is definitely a place where I would love to come and minister on occasion. I fully agree with and support Good News for Africa mission that Don Hulsey and his wife, Aleta, are a part of. He told me he was here 10 years before the first group of short term missionaries came over. He has been here a total of 13 years, 2 in Zambia and 11 in Mozambique.
I know Rhonna went to “visit” a school here. Guess what, they have a position open. Funny how God works or places things on our hearts. There is God’s will and there is our will. We are all learning how to judge the two.
They days go slow and the nights are lonely without you here. I miss the sound of your voice. I miss the phone call at 5:20 saying what time am I coming home today. I miss the dozen or so text messages during the day just to say you love me. I miss Micah crying in the middle of the night because he doesn’t know where he is or because he has gotten out of bed and just wants us to tuck him back in. I miss taking the dogs out in the middle of the night. Okay, it’s 8:30 and you and Micah just got to school so I am going to let you go…maybe I will try to send you a text message.
Oh and one more thing, pray for us. We, as a group, have been around each other for a week now. Now is a time that can make or break this team. Pray for unity and peace.
all about Christ,
David
Julie and Micah,
It is official, I am out of shape. I just played “football” with the students here. They play barefoot and in sand. After the first five minutes I was asking, “How do you say, OXYGEN or GATORADE or POWERADE or I THINK I AM HAVING A HEART ATTACK. It was fun. I left the game after the first fifteen minutes because I needed to get my laundry. The trip has been very good thus far.
Today in class we taught a drama that was written last night and a drama that was rewritten last night. I was supposed to teach about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet today. That changed slightly when the drama changed. I rewrote my devotion or lesson and all was fine until we got to class. The drama changed. So my lesson had to change.
About 5 minutes before the other class we learned that no one had been assigned to teach it. So I was blessed with the opportunity to teach on what I thought was the lost parables. I decided to teach on the lost coin. We get to class and I learn we are actually just doing a drama on the lost son. Oops. So I prayed for the Spirit to speak through me and then started jotting short hand notes. I knew I had until the drama was over. It went well.
The men here are really picking up on the drama well. They will be able to use it to show the people in Christ’s Church down here. I got choked up Tuesday after the drama. We reinacted the feeding of the 5000. Don, the missionary, was talking to the students after the drama and lesson and said, “Can’t you just see God now? He is looking down from Heaven with His angels and saying look, they are remembering.” I don’t know why but that just choked me up. He loves these people and what a great mission this is. He is training men who are in turn going out and reaching people. He could come to Mozambique and start a Church, reaching a few hundred people. His mission, working with the Church leaders, reaches 1000s of people in some very remote parts of Africa. The students come from all over, currently there are 25 students from 6 provinces in Mozambique, which is twice as long as California. The men do not have cars so they walk to the school to get here. They stay for 8 months, away from their families. Some of these guys have 7 children. One student has 11. They range from 20 years old to 62 or 63.
They have taught us a lot. Funny how that works. A lot of times we as Americans just want to help by giving money to help or “cure” a problem. That is not what they want, and if it is that is not what they have asked for. They asked us to pray for more missionaries to come to Mozambique and they asked us to pray for more leaders in their church.
God is not done with us yet on this trip. I love Africa, but I can say I don’t think I am “called” to be here full time. This is definitely a place where I would love to come and minister on occasion. I fully agree with and support Good News for Africa mission that Don Hulsey and his wife, Aleta, are a part of. He told me he was here 10 years before the first group of short term missionaries came over. He has been here a total of 13 years, 2 in Zambia and 11 in Mozambique.
I know Rhonna went to “visit” a school here. Guess what, they have a position open. Funny how God works or places things on our hearts. There is God’s will and there is our will. We are all learning how to judge the two.
They days go slow and the nights are lonely without you here. I miss the sound of your voice. I miss the phone call at 5:20 saying what time am I coming home today. I miss the dozen or so text messages during the day just to say you love me. I miss Micah crying in the middle of the night because he doesn’t know where he is or because he has gotten out of bed and just wants us to tuck him back in. I miss taking the dogs out in the middle of the night. Okay, it’s 8:30 and you and Micah just got to school so I am going to let you go…maybe I will try to send you a text message.
Oh and one more thing, pray for us. We, as a group, have been around each other for a week now. Now is a time that can make or break this team. Pray for unity and peace.
all about Christ,
David
First Worship
Julie and Micah,
We had our first worship service today with the people of Mozambique. Weird because we just got her late last night and we had no idea what to expect. Brian preached today. He did well. There was a lot of singing and the service was in three languages. The service lasted three hours long but we didn't notice. As I write this I notice that is 8:00 a.m. back home. You all are just getting ready for church.
The service today had wonderful singing in it. Their choir group that sang a few times is in a Mozambique equivalent to American Idol and they are in the top five that are left.
Here is what this week is supposed to look like.
Every day at 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. we will be teaching and doing dramas at the Bible college. They youngest gentlemen at the college is 19 and the oldest is 60. All the men at the college are either Elders, Deacons or Evangelists at their churches. They come here to learn how to teach better. We are teaching them how to use dramas. I don't know what day(s) I will be teaching.
Tonight, Sunday, we have an English worship service with another group that is here, they are teaching conversational English to Mozambiqans through the Gospel of Luke. They seem really nice and are from a college in Nebraska. They all have a Church of Christ (non-instrumental) background so I am looking for some good singing!
Monday, Tuesday and Friday of this week we will be visiting some village churches.
I don't know what is happening on Thursday.
Saturday we will be doing our shopping. Micah, as promised, I will look for a lion for you. Julie, I have a great idea for a gift for you...but you will just have to wait until I come home to see it.
Next Sunday we will be leaving VERY early in the morning to go to a church in the bush about three hours from here. We will be with them all day. I believe Cole will be doing the preaching that day. Keep him in your prayers as he has a pretty serious ear ache still. Another person on our trip is feeling sick and my stomach is being well, my stomach.
Monday through Tuesday morning we will be at Kruger national park for a safari!
Wednesday will be a debreifing/repacking day.
Thursday we begin our journey home. It took three days to get here, hopefully it will take less than three days to get home. I love and miss you so much dear. I hope you are doing well and that Micah is making good choices and that Isaac has stopped kicking your blatter, liver, spleen, kidney, stomach, and anything else...well stopped kicking them so hard.
Okay I am going to wrap this up now. Internet usage is VERY limited here and is dial up. I will continue to write but I may not be able to post as often as I would hope.
I love and miss you. Give Micah a kiss for me.
all about Christ,
David
We had our first worship service today with the people of Mozambique. Weird because we just got her late last night and we had no idea what to expect. Brian preached today. He did well. There was a lot of singing and the service was in three languages. The service lasted three hours long but we didn't notice. As I write this I notice that is 8:00 a.m. back home. You all are just getting ready for church.
The service today had wonderful singing in it. Their choir group that sang a few times is in a Mozambique equivalent to American Idol and they are in the top five that are left.
Here is what this week is supposed to look like.
Every day at 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. we will be teaching and doing dramas at the Bible college. They youngest gentlemen at the college is 19 and the oldest is 60. All the men at the college are either Elders, Deacons or Evangelists at their churches. They come here to learn how to teach better. We are teaching them how to use dramas. I don't know what day(s) I will be teaching.
Tonight, Sunday, we have an English worship service with another group that is here, they are teaching conversational English to Mozambiqans through the Gospel of Luke. They seem really nice and are from a college in Nebraska. They all have a Church of Christ (non-instrumental) background so I am looking for some good singing!
Monday, Tuesday and Friday of this week we will be visiting some village churches.
I don't know what is happening on Thursday.
Saturday we will be doing our shopping. Micah, as promised, I will look for a lion for you. Julie, I have a great idea for a gift for you...but you will just have to wait until I come home to see it.
Next Sunday we will be leaving VERY early in the morning to go to a church in the bush about three hours from here. We will be with them all day. I believe Cole will be doing the preaching that day. Keep him in your prayers as he has a pretty serious ear ache still. Another person on our trip is feeling sick and my stomach is being well, my stomach.
Monday through Tuesday morning we will be at Kruger national park for a safari!
Wednesday will be a debreifing/repacking day.
Thursday we begin our journey home. It took three days to get here, hopefully it will take less than three days to get home. I love and miss you so much dear. I hope you are doing well and that Micah is making good choices and that Isaac has stopped kicking your blatter, liver, spleen, kidney, stomach, and anything else...well stopped kicking them so hard.
Okay I am going to wrap this up now. Internet usage is VERY limited here and is dial up. I will continue to write but I may not be able to post as often as I would hope.
I love and miss you. Give Micah a kiss for me.
all about Christ,
David
Good Bye Civilization
Julie and Micah,
Well we left civilization this morning at around 8:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. back home). Don woke us up at 6:00 a.m. We slept in a nice hotel last night, two to a room. Brian and I got paired up. The hotel was really nice, Don (the missionary we are working with) said they gave him a great rate. Brian and I talked about how we hope Mozambique is less posh, because so far South Africa is very Westernized. There was a McDonalds not far from our hotel, we did not eat there.
So we got on the bus and left for Mozambique. It’s a seven hour bus ride, if all goes well. As you know (just by knowing me) all did not go well. We had to go the weighing station, something I didn’t know buses did. We were approximately 2000 pounds (I think they said 900kg but now that doesn’t sound right) over the available weight.
Trip one through the weighing station: Shift the weight. Apparently the weight was distributed incorrectly (my doctor said that to me once). So we shifted weight from under the bus to the front of the bus. I lost my seat in the process, but that’s ok because they made me a new one in the back of the bus, which is where I am writing this now. Only 19 of us could ride on the bus, which seated 40. Brian had to ride with Don in his truck and the rest of the bus was full of other people passing through. We will be changing buses at some point in the near future to a 26 passenger bus.
Trip two through the weighing station: Call a back up bus to put a large amount of stuff on. We were told the bus would be there in 1 hour. Problem 3 hours later still no bus, but we got a little four-seat truck with a short bed. We reloaded the books (780 pounds) and some bags. They then shifted some more weight.
Trip three through the weighing station: We drove on to the scales only to be denied again. More shifting and re-hifting of weight.
Trip four through the weighing station: We failed again but they have a plan. Drive and around and have the people at the back of the bus redristribute their weight (make that a doctor and now a guard from the scales for transportation in South Africa who have told me to redistribute my weight)to the front of the bus.
Trip five through the weighing station We run to the front of the bus. You can totally see us all standing. We can totally see the guards laughing. Sure enough, we are waved through. The whole process took about 3 ½ hours. It’s now 13:45 hours and 27 degrees Celcius. So seven hour bus ride will now be 10 hour bus ride.
We had to "sneak" through 3 more weighing stations. :)
We were able to start working on our passport stuff for the border guards. They have certain rules about getting into Mozambique.
Currently there are a number of people asleep and Cole has a pretty nasty ear ache which the altitude changes didn’t help.
Driving across South Africa has been not really all that different from diving across the Mid-West. The scenery is mostly the same, aceept for a shanty town that we passed. Houses were maybe 9’ x 12’. They were stick framed and it looked like just mud walls. The houses were built connecting to each other. Well I am going to get off for now, this turned into a longer entry that expected. Don told us that they compound has dial up so I don’t know how often I will get to post, I will most definitely write every day, even if I can’t post so you may see two or more posts appear at a time.
I just turned the laptop back on to share two other quick stories. So we went through another weighing station. The back half of the bus went up front and had to kneel down in the center row. So we basically hid the weight on the front. It was comical because we were able to pass through with no problem.
So we drove for a LONG time and it was past lunch time, like 3:30 here so we hadn’t eaten since 7:00 a.m. We were hungry so we made it to a town Noveld I think was the town. We stopped at a restraint chain that was started in South Africa but designed with an American mindset. It was called Chicken Licken! Pretty greesey and westernized. They advertised Soul Food. They called their chicken sandwhiches SLYDERS. The coolest part was when we met these two guys who saw someone on our team’s passport and asked us where we were from. We said America. He flipped out and his friend, whose name was X, ran away. A few moments later he was back with a digital camera and explained to us that he was a radio D.J. and his friend, X, was the web guy. They took our picture with him for their radio website and promised to email it to us. He has never left the country and thought it was cool that we were on our way to Mozambique. Good times, but honestly the chicken isn’t sitting well, a little too greasy.
I love and miss you!
all about Christ,
David Buckham
Well we left civilization this morning at around 8:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. back home). Don woke us up at 6:00 a.m. We slept in a nice hotel last night, two to a room. Brian and I got paired up. The hotel was really nice, Don (the missionary we are working with) said they gave him a great rate. Brian and I talked about how we hope Mozambique is less posh, because so far South Africa is very Westernized. There was a McDonalds not far from our hotel, we did not eat there.
So we got on the bus and left for Mozambique. It’s a seven hour bus ride, if all goes well. As you know (just by knowing me) all did not go well. We had to go the weighing station, something I didn’t know buses did. We were approximately 2000 pounds (I think they said 900kg but now that doesn’t sound right) over the available weight.
Trip one through the weighing station: Shift the weight. Apparently the weight was distributed incorrectly (my doctor said that to me once). So we shifted weight from under the bus to the front of the bus. I lost my seat in the process, but that’s ok because they made me a new one in the back of the bus, which is where I am writing this now. Only 19 of us could ride on the bus, which seated 40. Brian had to ride with Don in his truck and the rest of the bus was full of other people passing through. We will be changing buses at some point in the near future to a 26 passenger bus.
Trip two through the weighing station: Call a back up bus to put a large amount of stuff on. We were told the bus would be there in 1 hour. Problem 3 hours later still no bus, but we got a little four-seat truck with a short bed. We reloaded the books (780 pounds) and some bags. They then shifted some more weight.
Trip three through the weighing station: We drove on to the scales only to be denied again. More shifting and re-hifting of weight.
Trip four through the weighing station: We failed again but they have a plan. Drive and around and have the people at the back of the bus redristribute their weight (make that a doctor and now a guard from the scales for transportation in South Africa who have told me to redistribute my weight)to the front of the bus.
Trip five through the weighing station We run to the front of the bus. You can totally see us all standing. We can totally see the guards laughing. Sure enough, we are waved through. The whole process took about 3 ½ hours. It’s now 13:45 hours and 27 degrees Celcius. So seven hour bus ride will now be 10 hour bus ride.
We had to "sneak" through 3 more weighing stations. :)
We were able to start working on our passport stuff for the border guards. They have certain rules about getting into Mozambique.
Currently there are a number of people asleep and Cole has a pretty nasty ear ache which the altitude changes didn’t help.
Driving across South Africa has been not really all that different from diving across the Mid-West. The scenery is mostly the same, aceept for a shanty town that we passed. Houses were maybe 9’ x 12’. They were stick framed and it looked like just mud walls. The houses were built connecting to each other. Well I am going to get off for now, this turned into a longer entry that expected. Don told us that they compound has dial up so I don’t know how often I will get to post, I will most definitely write every day, even if I can’t post so you may see two or more posts appear at a time.
I just turned the laptop back on to share two other quick stories. So we went through another weighing station. The back half of the bus went up front and had to kneel down in the center row. So we basically hid the weight on the front. It was comical because we were able to pass through with no problem.
So we drove for a LONG time and it was past lunch time, like 3:30 here so we hadn’t eaten since 7:00 a.m. We were hungry so we made it to a town Noveld I think was the town. We stopped at a restraint chain that was started in South Africa but designed with an American mindset. It was called Chicken Licken! Pretty greesey and westernized. They advertised Soul Food. They called their chicken sandwhiches SLYDERS. The coolest part was when we met these two guys who saw someone on our team’s passport and asked us where we were from. We said America. He flipped out and his friend, whose name was X, ran away. A few moments later he was back with a digital camera and explained to us that he was a radio D.J. and his friend, X, was the web guy. They took our picture with him for their radio website and promised to email it to us. He has never left the country and thought it was cool that we were on our way to Mozambique. Good times, but honestly the chicken isn’t sitting well, a little too greasy.
I love and miss you!
all about Christ,
David Buckham
We Made It
Julie and Micah,
Well we made it. I am writing this from our hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa. We got in about 6 p.m. (11 a.m. back home). I think most of us adjusted to the time change well. Brian and I tried to get onto the Internet but they wouldn’t let us use the credit card that we had, Visa and MC only type of thing.
The plane ride was, obviously, long…real long. On the first leg of our trip to Africa everyone was split up. Some of the team grouped together, the rest of us just left our seats the way they were. I took the opportunity to chat with the guy next to me, Ilee (or something like that). He was from Senegal but now lives in Louisville, KY. Small world. He became “perturbed” with the stewardess when she wouldn’t give him medicine for nausea. She was kind of parental to him, telling him that if he knew he would get sick why didn’t he bring his own medicine. All in all the trip was extremely uneventful, meaning no real turbulence. The touchdown in South Africa was by far just flat out amazingly clean. The pilot who flew us was on his last flight as a copilot he is now a captain.
So I wanted to call when we landed here but my cell phone sure enough didn’t get a signal. All is well though. I miss you two terribly. Every kid that cried on the plane reminded me of Micah and one of the movies that was showing was Charolet’s Web.
Well it’s 4 where you are now and you are still at work but it’s 11 here and we have to be up at 6 a.m.
I love you dear.
all about Christ,David
Well we made it. I am writing this from our hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa. We got in about 6 p.m. (11 a.m. back home). I think most of us adjusted to the time change well. Brian and I tried to get onto the Internet but they wouldn’t let us use the credit card that we had, Visa and MC only type of thing.
The plane ride was, obviously, long…real long. On the first leg of our trip to Africa everyone was split up. Some of the team grouped together, the rest of us just left our seats the way they were. I took the opportunity to chat with the guy next to me, Ilee (or something like that). He was from Senegal but now lives in Louisville, KY. Small world. He became “perturbed” with the stewardess when she wouldn’t give him medicine for nausea. She was kind of parental to him, telling him that if he knew he would get sick why didn’t he bring his own medicine. All in all the trip was extremely uneventful, meaning no real turbulence. The touchdown in South Africa was by far just flat out amazingly clean. The pilot who flew us was on his last flight as a copilot he is now a captain.
So I wanted to call when we landed here but my cell phone sure enough didn’t get a signal. All is well though. I miss you two terribly. Every kid that cried on the plane reminded me of Micah and one of the movies that was showing was Charolet’s Web.
Well it’s 4 where you are now and you are still at work but it’s 11 here and we have to be up at 6 a.m.
I love you dear.
all about Christ,David
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