The contrast is striking.
As we walked down the little path, the mountains were clearly visible. I could not help but be awed by how majestic and beautiful they looked! But at the end of the path instead of a mansion with this awesome view, was a little cement house. I wanted a picture, but I always hesitate to take pictures.
As we approached you could see a lady washing dishes in a plastic tub. Their yard was neatly swept.
I am often overwhelmed with the two extremes – deep poverty in view of such beauty!
I sometimes wonder if they miss the beauty in their backyard because of the dirt floors in their houses. Do they see it as I do?
The Lord is doing so much in our lives and in the world around us. If we look, we can catch glimpses of His majesty…yet how often do we miss seeing Him because our eyes are on the circumstances and troubles around us?
Saturday we went witnessing in a different area of Phokera. As we approach a house, seating, if available, is pulled out for us. The most common chairs are made of thick sticks with slightly rounded backs, and a slight triangular seat with three legs. Mats and little benches are also pulled out. Then as adults and little ones continue to gather, I have liberty to share the Gospel for about 30 minutes.
As we walked through the village, we always meet ladies with sticks stacked on their heads for cooking their meals, and there are always plenty of cows.
Sundays I continue to teach here in our village and also in Phokera. I was excited to see a few of the kids who had asked prayer concerning witchcraft come forward to be saved, but I have been concerned as I haven’t seen them since. I have continued praying for them as I know that even if they were sincere, they would be under attack by Satan. Kids continue to ask prayers for nightmares. Extremely scary nightmares seem so common here and even attack adults. I know it must be from all the witchcraft in the village. One of our kids asked me the other day, “Do people in America remember to pray for us?” How greatly we covet your prayers!
I probably shouldn’t say anything because it has been an ongoing problem…but, it seems like our water system has finally been repaired! Well, mostly. Eric still has to manually turn it off and on until one more switch is replaced. But that is a small inconvenience. We have had running water since Saturday night. We still haven’t removed the buckets of water in all the bathrooms because we are still in shock that we may actually have running water. The Lord has given us great grace through it all, but it is still so nice to not need to refill buckets, and be able to flush toilets as needed. Going without it for a while definitely makes you grateful for what a blessing running water really is!
This weekend, besides the pastors at the Bible college, we also had seven pastors from Mozambique cross the river and stay with us for the weekend. A couple have been crossing over to get discipleship materials from the mission. They have been using that to train men in Mozambique. No one believed them that there was a mission and American missionaries here, so their purpose in coming was twofold: to get materials and to take a lot of pictures to show others that it was true.
Before they left one pastor said how he wished that we had come to them as missionaries and that they would have been so happy if we had been theirs. They are begging for us to at least come visit them. We are not sure how that would work out because of our visas, but there is definitely a great need in that part of Mozambique!
Today the Lord allowed me to minister at the gate again, binding up the wounded and sharing with them about the Great Physician. After I shared, one lady thanked me and said that she goes to a church, but they have never clearly shared the scriptures or how to be saved with her.
If there is any clarity in the message I share, it is only because of Jesus Christ. My mind is often a cluttered mess, with so much pulling me in all directions. I am prone to forgetfulness, even mid sentence. But I am often reminded…
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for the: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
fromtheheartofmrsmissionary.com 