We Are Family

If you read the title of this blog post and started singing to yourself, “We are fam-i-ly. I’ve got all my sisters and me!” then you’re welcome.  If you weren’t singing it before, I bet you are now.  Just go ahead and belt it out, and while you’re at it, just get up and start dancing.  Now, just change the lyrics to your favorite worship song in either Portuguese or Tsonga and you’ve basically joined our team here in Mozambique. We’ve had an eventful, joy filled day here in Maputo, and I can’t wait to share it with you!

We started our day with some breakfast at our lodgings and then split into four groups to head to four different church services.  Pastor Chase, Pastor Valmir, Scott Schmocker, and Fermin Gomez gave the messages this morning and here’s a brief account from each of the services:

• Pastor Chase spoke at the church of the Bishop of the denomination of churches we partner with. This was the same church he spoke at in Maputo 2 years ago and where he decided that in two years he was going to come back and preach a sermon in Portuguese. Today he met that goal!  He preached his first complete sermon in Portuguese.  The congregation was beyond excited to hear him preach in Portuguese, and Pastor Benedito said that everyone could understand him.  One person came forward after the sermon professing faith in Jesus!  During the sermon Pastor Chase challenged the church to be missionaries in their community, and when the Bishop made a call for anyone in the congregation to answer that call the entire church stepped forward!

• Pastor Valmir went to preach at an Ambassadors colleague’s church in Maputo. On the way there the car they were traveling in got stuck and they all had to get out and push the car out of the sand!  They had a wonderful service and it happened to be the pastor's birthday!

• Scott Schmocker got the open-air preaching experience preaching at another local FEA church in Maputo. The building is undergoing construction and wasn’t fully roofed.  And I must mention that this was Scott’s FIRST time preaching, and he only had 4 days’ notice! He did an incredible job, and even introduced himself in Portuguese.

• Fermin Gomez preached on gratitude at Pastor Maulidio’s church, and one person stepped forward to profess faith in Christ there as well.  Rumor has it, the church was so filled with gratitude that a dance party broke out! I heard mention of Mason Scott busting out The Stanky Leg.  Rumor has it they are all still dancing...

After service, the four groups shared a meal with the leadership of each of the churches they attended, and then we all met back together for an incredible evening of fellowship with the youth ministry Caminho da Salvação.  We spent the evening worshiping the Lord together and encouraging one another in ministry, and then ended the evening with one of my favorite experiences I’ve had in Mozambique.  We split up into groups and just spent time getting to know one another.  We asked each other questions about ministry and culture, and got to know the faces behind the ministry we’ve been praying for as a church. It was such a sweet and intentional time of fellowship with our brothers and sisters from across the world.  

Before we said goodbye for the night, they presented each of us with a Mozambican gift and Jochua, the leader of the ministry, said to us, “We are not church partners anymore, so let's stop calling it that.  We are family”.

The prayer request for our prayer warriors out there would remain adequate transportation. There have been car troubles starting since we arrived in Mozambique which has made transporting our large group quite difficult, especially with our group being split between lodgings.  We have a lot of driving ahead this week, and it is imperative to figure out a solution for our transportation. We know our God is bigger than any problem we may face, and He hasn’t failed us yet!