Days 7

Which will mark our third day of teaching here in Nicoadala...


Keeping true to my word...this is a local pastor that almost everybody that has come to Mozambique and worked with John should know. His name is Sobrinho, and he is one of the most sincere and caring men that I know. Sobrinho was with Jeremiah when he passed away, and still has scars to show it. He is a husband, father, and just all around great guy.

Please, take a moment to pray for Sobrinho, his family, and his church. Also pray for his patince...as he has to deal with my horrible attempts at Portuguese, haha :)

So, yesterday was pretty much just like the others. Awoke to a wonderful breakfast and good conversation (not to mention coffee), and then quickly out the door by 7am to head to the teaching center. I enjoy the long drives each day...each day I see beautiful African plains. I mostly just take it in; think about my family and how much I love and miss them. I'll think about my students, and the things that I'm missing. Mostly though, I think about God...and how He's put me here, in this place, for whatever reason.

I'm getting all cheesy...I'll get back to the day.

After arriving to the center, I got set up and it wasn't long before we started. As usual, we began with a few African songs. I can sing along to some of them...mostly just the chorus though, haha. The devotion was out of Matthew 5, but I had zero idea of what was being said. The pastor was making sure to explain each beatitude of Christ with careful precision though. I was content in reading through the scripture, and thanking God for comforting me.

After some typical business stuff I was up. I had reached the second major point in the curriculum for the Kings. The curriculum had all the history in the four books of the Kings (1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles), broken into three major time frames:
The Division, the Alliance, and the Fall. From those three major time frames it highlighted most of Israel's and Judah's kings. Needless to say, it is a TON of information.

It was during this teaching though that it became evident that the local pastors where really grabbing the context of the stories, and connecting the dots. They were asking great questions, and had really good insight to several of the stories. It was a very humbling moment for me, because in the smallest of ways I was understanding how HUGE this is. Many of these men have never heard or read these stories, but now they are getting it. Simply incredible.

Mid-way through the second major point we stopped for our bread brake, I tried/learned a couple new phrases and then Rick was up. Rick covered the role of a Deacon in the church as well as church discipline this day. Both of which seemed to be fairly new concepts, but Rick explained everything very well and has TONS of experience to share.

Lunch came...fish, rice, and beans (sound familiar?) I got some more pictures of the local pastors, and slowly but surely I am getting all their names down. Currently I have 18 photographed, and I have their names pretty well memorized.

After lunch Rick took about another half-hour to finish his teaching on church discipline, which lead to some very good discussion. I took the remainder of the time, HOPING to finally finish the Kings but half way through the 3 major point we had run out of time. We quickly packed up a few things, but we also had to take time and set up "The Jesus Film" for the pastors to watch. Once we got done, John kept going on about something and I couldn't figure out what he was talking about for so long...then there was a silence...and then all at once all the pastors started yelling, "Godzilla!". I was highly confused until I realized that John had asked what other movie they wanted to watch.

We had to leave very quickly though, because a birthday party was waiting for us when we got home. Once home, I'm greeted by Wanne who tells me that it's my job to decorate and John reminds me that it was apparently my job to come up with a way to make Sally's birthday special. John then dubbed me, "Master of ceremonies". For the record, I don't know Sally. I know that she is a journeyman, and that she is Jessica's roommate...that's it. So, I decorate a chair with the supplies given to me, along with some flowers I found outside. When Sally came we brought the chair outside, made her sit in it, hoisted it up and paraded her back into the house while singing "Happy Birthday", making sure to place her at the head of the table. When then ate a HUGE meal, and once finished we went into the family room for dessert and presents. It was a great night with a lot of laughter. Even though I have only known a majority of the people here for a few days, it seemed like family. Me, Jim, and John though make a pretty good combination...Susan must have rolled her eyes at us over a dozen times, haha. I live up to my title as "youth pastor", haha

We'll...that is it for the blog today, I'll have to post about today (day 8) after a good night rest.

Things to remember...

* The many "swag" and "that's low key" references from John and Jim.

* Jessica learned that I don't hide facial expressions very well.

* Rick basically called Susan old...it didn't go over well. haha

Favorite picture...

Swag!