Back in Pemba! Hallelujah!

I feel like I could start all my blog entries with the title “Jesus is Good!” Because He just is.

My first few days in Pemba have been spectacular. Wonderful beyond words. So much goodness has taken place I don’t even know if I can type it all :) I like it this way.

Everything is very much the same, and very different at the same time. It was very strange to be back the first day. I didn’t realize how much my heart recognized all the sights & smells of Mozambique. It was crazy, so much came flooding back.

So i got here on a Saturday afternoon and had a good time meeting some staff & just being reminded how things run here. I have a bit of relearning to do, but is good. I had forgotten how different life was here. It is beautiful and simple, but a very very big shift from the way I am used to living. But thank you Jesus for the joy in it all!

Sunday was amazing. A perfect gift from above. I went to church here on base and in worship I see Mama Afia (the mother of Carlitus, etc) & I just run over to her shedding tears of joy. It was so so wonderful. She told me she was going to walk all the way home (a good 15 minute walk) to her village to tell the boys I was here so they could come see me. A while later she returns, followed not long after by Carlitus. Oh my goodness. He is so grown up. He has gotten so big. I just held him & cried I was so happy to see him. Jesus is so good. Thank you God for beautiful reunions. Later that day Focas & Hasam came to the base to see me & that was wonderful too. A day full of lots of hugs & smiles & laughs & joy. So good to be with them.

Also in church there was a woman who I had just met (honestly I cant even remember her name) & as the church was taking up the offering (during which i had no idea what was going on because the service is only in Makua & Portuguese right now) this beautiful Mozambican woman with a baby strapped around her back comes over & puts a coin in my hand so I can give to the offering. Wow. God your people are beautiful. It was very humbling & very beautiful. Such a gift. Thank you Jesus for how you move and work. The whole service was very moving, just having children all around me at all times, loving on me & worshipping with me. I love this place so much. So much beauty.

Today we spent the morning getting the houses set up for students to come. :) Can’t wait for them to start rolling in a couple weeks. I get the honor & joy of being the House Mom for House of Peace C and I just know its going to be wonderful. I am really excited for all He has in store.

I spent the afternoon at the boys house, ironically without them there. I just hung out with Mama & her daughter, Laucinda (19) and their older brother Papaitus (18) who speaks pretty good English. Most of the time it was just me & people who don’t speak English though so it was a pretty funny time of just sitting in the dirt together. I love this place. In America the whole situation would’ve been so awkward but here it was perfect. Laucinda did my nails after I complimented her black nail polish. It reminded me very much of the time I allowed her to put Mesha in my hair, which made me nervous. Their nail polish is some strange gray substance (reminds me of cement) that she put on with a toothpick, let dry/harden and then wiped off, leaving my nails black. I’m curious to see how long this lasts and what exactly it does to my nails... aye TIA (this is Africa) Sidenote: when she finished my nails Mama took the leftover goop & put it in Papaitus hair as hairdye i guess? So strange. So very strange. But it was a wonderful afternoon.

Tonight we had a cookout with the staff, first time eating a steak in Mozambique, pretty good. Now it is getting late (almost 9:15pm) and I am ready for bed. I hope & pray your all are well. Thanks for reading the long updates. I feel like I could write a million more pages about the goodness of God & all that is happening here but I will save some for later. God is good. I am thankful for each minute here. Thank you for your prayers and love, I can’t express how much they mean to me.

a verse i discovered this morning-
1 Corinthians 8:1- “while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.”
whew. amen Jesus. I pray we are all filled with more of His love each day. I pray we continue to learn how to love where we are and who we are with each day. Thank you for the love you share with me. Blessings and love to each of you!

ps- thank you for all the prayers because all of my luggage made it with me on the plane. First miracle of the trip- check!

Jesus is Good!!

I could list you a million reasons why but I will try to limit it to a few:

the journey has begun!! i am safe in jo-berg. all my flights went smoothly, i slept a little bit on the 15+ hour flight :), i was seated between two amazing women- one from Germany who teaches New Testament studies at Berkley- wow, and one who is from South Africa but living in Chicago (shout out to LORI) with her husband. There were also 3 pastors sitting in the row in front of me & I was reminded that "i am surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses" thank you jesus! ok other reasons Jesus is good- got to be sent off by the 3 best roommates in the whole world (no arguments please, i know it is true), i am staying at the cutest little bunk house run by an older couple who are the SWEETEST, the wife is a cancer survivor and told me all about her story- wow, and there are some other cool people staying here from all over- australia, cookeville,tn (haha, small world) and Minnesota and i dont know where else. my cell phone miraculously worked here and i got to talk to mom. i felt completely wrapped up in prayers and love all day long, my heart was so moved every time i thought of all the love & support i have been covered in. thank you all so much. let's see- tomorrow i will be in the Pemba dirt! glory glory hallelujah! i want to go to bed right now so i can wake up, hop on my plane & see all the faces of those i love. :) ok those are a few good reasons to praise Jesus :)

also, as i was in the airport waiting painfully for my first flight for like 2 hours because we got there so early i had some time to read & journal & i wanted to share what God showed me because its really wonderful...

1 Corinthians 1:2-5
1 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. 5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.

-that's Paul talking, about he came to teach and preach only through the Holy Spirit, not by his own skills or wisdom. He decided to know nothing but Jesus. Thank you Jesus- that that's all you ask of me. I just have to seek you out, rely on you. You don't ask me to be well-versed or well-spoken. You just ask me to know you & rely on your Spirit. Such a comfort. Even Paul came in weakness- timid and trembling. Whew, what a consolation. thank you God that all the glory is Yours.




prayer requests-
~that my baggage gets all the way to pemba :) haha they said it was checked all the way through so i didnt have to get it tonight but i'm not 100% sure about that... :)
~continued health and energy
~unity and sweet connections with the other staff members as we begin to meet up.

Love to each of you! Can't wait to send you an update from Pemba!!! :)
kelly