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Staff Reports
Reports of recent Trips and Work by Godspeed Missionary Care
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Staff Missionary Reports
Reports and Experiences of the Godspeed Staff
"An ordinary groundhog day...."
Saturday, an ordinary day in Mozambique, a day when I am allowed to be part of watching God build a special missionary team out of six people of different ages, nationalities, and gifts. Things I experienced today which caused me to stop and consider my own somewhat provincial but blessed life:
- It is a challenge trying to explain "Groundhog Day" to a Mozambican, who has no idea of what a groundhog is, has difficulty grasping the concept of winter hibernation, and has more success pronouncing Punxatawney than I have spelling it.
- Just as somewhere today in my home country a group of people are hunting down a groundhog, today is Hero’s Day in Mozambique, marking the anniversary of a remote battle. The celebration includes sending a group of young men armed only with spears up river to find and kill a hippopotamus. The flooding and salt-water contamination of the past several years has meant the hippos haven’t been around recently, but there is hope this year that the hunt will be successful.
- As we go around the group, each person telling about their families, one young man struggles with the question, "How many brothers and sisters do you have?" As was the custom in his village, status was determined by how many wives one man might obtain, and he has no real idea of how many children his father had. The young man’s voice softens as he relates the time during the civil war in Mozambique, when he was sent to Maputo to live with relatives. His adjustment to the city was difficult, and he was lonely. But, there was no food in his village, as the war cut off all supplies to the area for years, and his father had to disperse the children so that they would not meet the same fate of death by starvation that they had seen friends experience.
- God can reach someone when and where He chooses. When one has to attend school (run by Russians during the Mozambican communist period) from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., and lives a forty minute walk from school, then it isn’t possible during the one hour noon break to walk home to eat and get back in time. But there is enough time to begin to read the New Testament that someone shared, and over many non-lunches this better nourishment can lead one to more training for one to now pastor a local church.
- In the event of one having to attend the funeral of a young friend killed in an automobile accident, tearful expressions of sadness and grief are highly inappropriate, as they communicate to the deceased’s twin brother that you wish the same premature death for him.
- Keeping a scheduled meeting time on Saturday morning is difficult if one has to travel the one road which leads past the only cemetery for this city of several million. Saturday is considered "the eighth day" after any recent burial, when one again visits the grave. This is re-enacted for other anniversary dates for months and years, so the road on this and all Saturday mornings is clogged with people attending to the gravesite visitation ritual.
- As six people of varied ages, nationalities, and gifts exchange stories of how they came to know God and how He orchestrated events in their lives to bring them to this place together at this time, the power of Scripture and godly relationships to reveal His plan is profoundly evident.
Saturday, in Mozambique, another ordinary day, brought to me compliments of an extraordinary God. I hope to continue to have e-mail contact throughout my stay here until Wednesday, when I bundle up and head to Kiev. I would greatly value hearing from
Godspeed,
Barney
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