Two years ago Karen and I visited the city of Durban. In transit we met a missionary by the name of Eugene. We became friends and have been in touch with him and his wife, Tina, ever since. Below is their latest newsletter. I include it here, partly to honour them, but also to give you a picture of the life they have. They gave up a very comfortable existence in Cape Town to live amongst the poorest of the poor. Those who can pray, pray for them and those who can wish, wish for them.
“The feeling, at times, is that my life in the mission field is like the man who could be called, “The silent, invisible juggler.” We had a S.A. team arriving to work on the appalling electrical system in our home and they had scarcely arrived when the leadership of the local church came to ask for help in a situation that was nothing less than a nightmare. While attempting to appear calm on the outside, we juggled furiously on the inside, to resolve this.
We send a few selected student families (Husband, wife and child) to a long-term Bible training school in Beira. These young families live and study there on a full-time basis for a period of three years, after which they are placed as full-time church workers in Moz. On the day they were due to graduate one of the young wives collapsed and died in the bathroom. The family were obviously tremendously distraught and wanted to bring their daughter’s body back to Zambezia province for burial. The costs of doing this were absolutely prohibitive (equivalent to about 3 years’ salary for a Mozambican) and so they approached us for help. We gave them what we could but the costs kept on spiralling up as the governor’s office became involved, post-mortem procedures had to be paid for and to really crown the crisis, the refrigeration unit of the mortuary ceased working and the body was simply allowed to lie on a slab for three days in Mozambican summer temperatures of 38 degrees!!! We finally got Joanna’s body back to Quelimane a full five days after her death.
We strive so hard to avoid creating a “dependency culture” mentality among the locals, and yet at times such as this, the question remains, “What else could one do?” The juggler juggles on – time, resources, people, finances and wisdom flow through his nervous, clumsy fingers, guided only by a supernatural power, not by his fragile abilities.
On a much lighter note, the team from S.A. were awesome. The pic on the right shows three men in a body of water. The scary part, not shown, is that the body of water is actually the crocodile infested Zambezi River. Judging by the abandoned joy on their faces and the happy immersion in chest-deep water, they appear ignorant of the fact that many Mozambicans have become the main meal of the day for the local crocodile population in the very spot they chose for their midday bathe.
This same carefree joy came to permeate our home and we have been revitalised, refreshed and more motivated than we have been in years. Victor, João, Vincent and “Matches” – Thanks guys, not only for the huge job you did in making our home liveable and free from “death by electrocution”, but especially for the fellowship and the fun we had together. Your sense of humour and fresh comments were like a cool shower on a 42 deg. day.
We live in a brutal environment; life here seems to be heavily focussed on simply having the strength to make it from sunrise to sunset. Our view from the apartment is filled with ugliness, and you guys brought in the fragrance of His Spirit. It all helps to make it bearable and provides strength to carry on. Thank you.
Our living space has also been remarkably transformed – we have new ceiling fans in the lounge, working plug points in the kitchen, an automatic veranda light with a day/night sensor so that we no longer have to struggle up a darkened staircase in order to reach our front door. The icing on the cake was an automatic float-switch for the header tank, so, no more stumbling naked from the shower, body covered in flaking, tacky soap, hands groping for the switch that turns on the pump. Ah! Such is life, to appreciate the wonders of electricity, automated air-cooled living and freedom from the technological perils that once stalked our humble abode.
We have been working hard toward the creation of that mystical state called “a weekend OFF!!!” and are proud to announce our third successful weekend off for 2010. Well, in reality, perhaps it wasn’t an entire weekend, it was in fact just a day, and it never happened over a Saturday or a Sunday. Springing forth from the fellowship of the nuts came the fruit of their labours. The team finished before the appointed time and so on their final day with us we decided to take everybody for a short drive up the coast and go to the beach at Zalala, about an hour’s drive north of Quelimane. For all the guys out there who drive Toyotas, I thought that I would sneak in this one quick pic as a small bit of unsolicited advertising. As the old advert goes, “There are many, many vehicles that will take you off-road in Africa, but only Toyota brings you back!!!”
Another Nissan/Mitsubishi/Land Rover/..etc safely rescued from the burning clutches of the shifting sands. I am mature enough now, not to leap forth from the driving seat and place another notch in black koki pen on the front fender. We did have a great time at the beach though and the guys were quick to forgive me for leading their lesser vehicle into sandy danger. Finished up with a superb meal of local, freshly caught Rock Cod with traditional Mozambican prawns. Since the shower and toilet facilities at the beach were broken, the guys decided that we could still freshen up after our swim and long walk with a communal spray of deodorant. The can, much depleted was left standing on the table.”
Back to the usual blog territory next week.
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