New Proudest Dad Moment Unlocked

Today was another great day! We started off this morning with some much-needed team time. The last few days have been so busy and have started off so early, and the restaurants we've eaten at have all been so loud that we haven't had a chance to really recap the trip as a whole team. So, we started with team devotionals led by Laney, Reed, and Samuel! Each did an amazing job. Then we shared what’s impacted us the most on the trip, what was surprising, and if we had any concerns. It was a great open time of transparency, team building, focusing on our mission, and prayer.

After our team time, we loaded up in the cars and - guess what! God heard our prayers!! The fourth vehicle has been fixed! Thank you to those who prayed! We now have enough seats to comfortably make the 4(ish?) hour journey to the villages in Gaza tomorrow. One of the vehicles is still a bit... well, I guess I'll just say it's squeaky. (That’s my expert mechanic take). Nonetheless, God showed up in a major way, and we are beyond thankful! Please continue to pray – especially for our trip to and from Gaza and for next week’s excursions which require a lot of driving. God has gone before us!

Anyway, after we loaded up into all four vehicles, we drove to the church where we were supposed to have our Vacation Bible School at noon. However, upon arriving at about 11:45, we found out that the key to the church had been given to a child who forgot to meet us at the church and went to school, so we wouldn’t have the key for about an hour. So, Pastor Maulidio encouraged us to walk through the villages, visit people’s homes, and tell them about Jesus.

We split into groups of four to five (plus a translator) and we went house to house. There are so many amazing stories from that time I can’t get into all of them here. At least one group saw someone give their life to Jesus. The group I was in had the chance to go in and pray for a sick child. And we also handed each person we talked to a little pamphlet that was in Portuguese entitled “Seu Ingresso Para O Ceu” (Your Ticket to Heaven). Thank you, John Poling, for donating these pamphlets. The gospel has continued to go forth in the communities because of generosity like yours.

When we made it back to the church, the key had finally arrived, and we launched into our Vacation Bible School. Everyone did an incredible job with the kids, but here’s where I told you this blog gets a little more personal.

Our seven year old Ada had her first time teaching the Bible! Originally, she was going to simply do a devotional for our team on the Armor of God. She was so excited before the trip that we made her a little booklet and printed posters to go along with her devotional. She’s been practicing every day, and so Claudia Soares had the wonderful idea to have her be a part of the Vacation Bible School!

So, as the groups rotated through, Ada sat up front with Claudia and taught on the Armor of God! Claudia translated.

However, right after the final group had finished Ada realized that by teaching, she had to miss out on all the fun game rotations and all the other things the kids were doing. She was not happy. In her despondency, we talked about what it means to sacrifice in ministry and that opportunities like teaching about the Armor of God often cause us to miss out on doing other things we might like to do. She was still far from happy when we went back inside.  But upon returning into the church, all the kids had gathered together (about 50 in all), and they were sharing about what they had learned. Many of them recounted what they had learned about putting on the Armor of God. Ada’s tears turned into smiles, and I could not be more proud of her.  Claudia told her, “You were teaching about he armor of God, now you need to put it on.”

And she did.

After the VBS and after a delicious late lunch, we held an outdoor service in a soccer field near the church. If you are at all concerned about electrical safety, you would have had a difficult time. Let’s just say to install one of the heat lamps, one of the guys climbed up into a tree, shaved off a branch, and tied the lamp wires to hold the light in place. I won’t even tell you about the outlet situations...

But anyway, this service was similar to the crusades we’ll be doing in Gaza. Pastor Valmir preached, and many went forward to give their lives to Jesus. It was an incredible message and another amazing night of worship as our Corners music team mixed with the local Mozambique team.

This was our final night of mission in Maputo. Tomorrow we’ll head to the villages in Gaza. I don’t know exactly what the Lord has in store for us over the next five days. But I know it is more than we can even ask for or imagine. I know the show is just getting started. Lives are about to be changed. More people will come to know Jesus. I fully believe we’ll see miracles take place.

But for now, I’m just a proud dad.