Bring Justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause

What a privilege it was to be able to travel back to Mozambique this month! The place where it all began in 2011 when God gave us unity and clarity about what missions looked like for our family for our next season. Although we really wanted to visit Pemba this time to see Rolland & Heidi, we decided not to go to that area as the insurgents have been moving closer to Pemba(where our mission school had been held). Please pray for Iris Pemba as so many of their pastors are in danger and churches are being burned down!  

Tete, where we visited, is a city southwest of Pemba and is far from the coast. It is known to be the hottest and driest city in Mozambique. That being said, it was super hot! But we arrived with excitement to see Shaun again and meet his dear friends at the mission base there. This 10 day mission trip to Mozambique will be one to remember for years to come! I was reminded that in the giving and going, there is always receiving too…these amazing people taught us so much!

Our son, Shaun, had been serving in Tete for nearly 7 months and we travelled over to visit him and see what God was doing in that part of Africa. He was serving with Pioneer 61, a ministry who has been loving on the poor in the mid-western part of Mozambique for 10 years already. Nick & Marlene Boyd, the founders of the ministry, have lived in unimaginable conditions at the start of the mission. We saw their very humble beginnings in a little concrete room with no air conditioning or electricity and now the lovely house that Nick has built for them on base. Today, they have a construction company where they hire and raise up local guys, giving them a solid job and discipling them. Another part of outreach there is in the brothels, bringing hope to the beautiful women who are broken and vulnerable. One of these precious women, who was their first rescue, works on base as a nanny/teacher and she is amazing!

The poor have so much to teach us…life can be simple, yet complicated at the same time. More is not always better. One day, we used the washing machine on base to wash our clothes, but as we started hanging them on the line to dry, we noticed they were all brown. Apparently, this was because the water in the pipes was dirty from the tanks being cleaned. One of the kind house helpers on base said we should give all of this dirty laundry to her. She filled bins with soapy water and started washing each piece by hand, multiple times, until they were clean. When I asked if I can help, she told me to just watch. She made it clear that we could help hang the clothes up after she was finished. She was so quick and made it look so easy. She grew up in the village doing this and it was normal to her. When we lived in Mozambique in 2011 for three months with our 4 kids, I started out washing all of our clothes by hand(maybe 3 times), but then we hired a local woman to do it for us as it was a blessing for her and us. I realized again how very spoiled I am…running water, a washing machine and dryer, heat, AC, a car, paved roads, so many options for groceries, and so much more! 

Another highlight from our trip was a boat ride in Nick’s boat on the Zambezi river. We saw many hippos, one with his mouth wide open! Thankfully, our boat worked great as hippos are dangerous when you get too close. Nick has had some close calls already when the boat was failing to start up until the last minute. We didn’t see any crocodiles, but they do see them there sometimes. Along the shore, there was a local man fishing who had caught some big tiger fish. Nick took our boat over to the shore to talk to him and ended up giving him hooks and lures to make his fishing easier. I’ll never forget that man’s big smile! Nick loves to fish too and brings hook and lures from the US when he visits, but it was so neat to see his generosity in blessing the fisherman! Seeing the many local people bathing or fishing in their dugout canoes along the riverbanks knowing all that this river held, was so hard for me as I knew the danger these families face daily. From what Shaun said, people from the remote villages also drink that river water. Again, I realized how good we have it living in the States!

One afternoon, Chad & Shaun took a motorcycle ride to the local villages and mountains, while I stayed at the base and made soft pretzels with the missionary kiddos. It was a little wild, but fun! But that hot kitchen…again I realized what a spoiled (blessed) American I am. :) We enjoyed spending time with the three families on base and had quality time with each of them. They served us delicious dinners and we got to listen to their hearts and bring some encouragement too. The base is going through a reset with all the missionaries, apart from the original base leaders leaving, which has been difficult. But I believe Jesus is bringing some clarity and grace in the midst of it. The ministry has grown so much in 10 years which is wonderful, but life has been so busy and exhausting for them. So they are resetting and listening for Holy Spirit to show them what is important for now…not just to spread themselves thin, but to thrive!