A Chapter in Time

An interesting, bumpy day…

Janice, Jeff, Emma, and I went out to a village about 30 kilometers out of Lichinga today. We brought along Omar, a man who grew up in the village and is now a believer. He shared with Janice that the village people are hungry for the Truth and they have been traveling out there for the past few months.

It truly feels like the end of the earth when a paved road falls off onto a bumpy dirt road and later becomes a muddy trail. Janice’s little pick-up took the challenge and got us all there in one jostled piece. We arrived in the village and went to sit on little boards under the grass roof of the chief’s house. We were greeted by some of the men in the village and the chief came along after while. We talked to him and learned that the other men in the village were building a house and would be delayed. This is really not a surprise since no one care too much about time in this place. The meeting began and I slipped out to watch the restless Emma. Many of the people there spoke some Portuguese as well as Chi-Yoa, so the meeting began with a reading of Luke chapter 2 in Portuguese and then Omar and Janice translated it verse by verse into Chi-Yoa. Janice later described this way of teaching as a tedious way to evangelize, but still there were 30 people who came to listen to God’s word. They accepted the truth willingly, telling anyone who disagreed with what was taught that God’s word is for each person individually. They were very thankful for the teaching and asked for more. “Can you come tomorrow?” They asked. “Can you send someone to live in the village with us and teach us more Truth?” They asked Janice again. It was such a cool experience to witness eagerness for Bible teaching.

While Jeff sat on his little board “listening” to the meeting in Portugese and Chi-Yoa, Emma and I roamed the village. She loved the goats and followed them through people’s yards and into their huts. We got our fair share of stares and I took a lots of pictures, trying to catch just one person in a natural pose. The highlight was when I took a picture of a group of village children and then showed them the back of the camera. Disney Land doesn’t get such a good reaction!

One thing I learned on our last visit to Africa is that a vehicle is never full. Traveling out to the villages inspired many people to ask for a ride. The back of the pick-up with full (by my estimation) on the way there and the way back. We even brought a wife back to her husband, as well as all her things and children. Janice has a watchman whose wife left him awhile back. She went back home to her family in the village after an argument. Family involvement in marriages is the culture here, so the uncle who arranged their marriage had to come along to negotiate the wife’s return. It was quite the experience, but they are back together now and hopefully they will stay that way.

We are all doing well and keeping busy. One thing you can pray for is the tile to arrive so we can do what we came to do! The tile Janice ordered 2 months ago did arrive in Lichinga last week, but the man who owned the shop was not in when it came, so it was sold to someone else. Now we are waiting for another shipment from Maputo (1,500 miles away). Where is Home Depot when you need it?