Angola (DTS Part 2)

 

After 3 months of lecture phase, our DTS team went on outreach for two months. Our leaders had prayed long and hard about where to go. God opened many doors for Angola and Namibia, confirming His direction for us to serve there.

We spent the first month in Angola. Junio, Natalia, Claudiana and Nicole were the staff members who came along with us to guide, organize, support, facilitate and translate (Angola is a Portuguese speaking nation).

On the way- the first time flying for some of the students

Arriving as the sun sets

Welcome to Luanda, Angola!

Our group always found a way to have fun

Waiting for local Christians to pick us up from the airport and bring us to the bus station. Angola (at least, where we were) is incredibly humid! The guys on the team jokingly decided they had better convert again just in case, because if hell had Angola's humidity, they certainly didn't want to end up there!

Milisa, a Xhose Troubadour student, always kept a good attitude. She is a deep thinker who ponders the Bible and challenged me to ask deep questions. Her maturity, kindness, compassion and understanding inspired me daily; she fulfilled God's command through the apostle Paul, "spur one another on towards love and good deeds."

Waiting for the bus. We were the only non-Angolans in the bus station, so everyone turned to look as our large group of various ethnicities strolled in, laden with hiking backpacks.

After an all night ride on the bus, we were dropped off on the side of the road in Beguela, half way down the country. Here a Brazilian missionary named Paulo picked us up to bring us to the nearby YWAM base.

Gotta make room!

Paulo, Dayse and their two boys, Noah and Nicolas, welcomed us warmly. Dayse had breakfast ready for us and showed us around the house. 

I am forever grateful for the feeling of safety and comfort Dayse's kindness gave me. After three months without my mom, Dayse felt like a piece of my mom's presence. I loved discussing missionary life and homeschooling with her. Her hospitality and willingness to serve still inspire me. 

Paulo is so hard-working; we often saw him walking from home to the Projecto Ser school (the ministry they oversee) to work on one of many projects. He is incredibly humble, a true servant leader.

Paulo and Dayse are amazing parents who have raised up respectful, fun boys! I loved hanging out with fellow missionary kids. Both Noah and Nicolas are smart, innovate, creative, enthusiastic, friendly and dedicated. Noah wants to be a missionary piolet when he grows up, and Nicolas likes the idea of being an artist, astronaut or doctor.

Please pray for this precious family as they wrestle through the future of Projecto Ser, the best way to do high school for their boys (Noah is now in 7th grade), and for financial provision.

Land barren

but beautiful

taking my 

breath away

calling me in

to see

your wonders

the people,

ground and sea

struggles, victories

wars lost or

won. battles

in daily life

Jesus can

overcome

Come, stranger,

share the

news. we

hear God

Almighty

lives in you

a well

of living water.

can we drink

to quench

our thirst?

Projecto Ser's sponsors generously allowed our team to use the house they built for their own short-term mission teams. I can't even put to words the blessing it was to have running water, clean bedrooms, a full kitchen, nice beds, showers and flushing toilets! At first I was disappointed we weren't living in "real" outreach conditions. But God humbled this pride, telling me that each blessing or sacrifice comes in His perfect timing.

The YWAM base next door to Projecto Ser was an enchanting mix of broken down buildings, new and renovated ones. A startling reminder that Christ has made each of His children a new creation, but the journey of sanctification- learning to live as a new creation- is ongoing, a journey ongoing until Heaven.

I was so excited to see these huge trees all around the base; they are the same kind of tree as the one in my family's front yard in Obule! In fact, many parts of Angola closely resembled Ugandan life. I was constantly excited at this feeling of home-ness. On the flip side, I prayed for God to keep me humble, so I did not begin acting as an expert in a place where I really wasn't. Our leader, Junio, encouraged me to ask God to give me a new experience, to see missions through fresh eyes. I happily report that God answered this prayer!

Life

even in

broken

places

still

surviving

even

thriving

resilient

Projecto Ser day one!

Projecto Ser is a school and Bible study children's ministry. Paulo and Dayse founded it with another Brazilian couple back in the early 2000's. However, both couples needed to leave and when Paulo and Dayse returned in 2017, they found the program had died. After prayer, they obeyed the Lord's direction to resurrect the Project! A Brazilian women works with them from the other side of the ocean, creating media posts, raising support and mobilizing service teams. Projecto Ser now has classes from kindergarten to 8th grade. Additionally, volunteers run afternoon Bible studies.

Currently, Projecto Ser is by far the best school in the area. The government school is running in a wall-less shack and teachers don't regularly come. Additionally, folks in Brazil sponsor Projecto Ser students so they can have affordable education and two nutritious meals a day. Parents across the surrounding area are begging for their children to have a spot in the Projecto Ser school. The waiting list is quite long. In an attempt to host children in need while determining which are the best candidates, Paulo and Dayse decided that all children on the waiting list for the school need to first attend the afternoon Bible studies for some time.

Please pray for Projecto Ser! They need teachers who love the children as God does, who teach out of joy and not simply for a pay check. Pray for the teachers' morning Bible study to be impactful and produce lasting fruit. Pray for more local volunteers to help out, especially with the afternoon Bible studies. Thank God for the volunteers that are working, many of whom grew up as a child in Projecto Ser. Pray for God to renew their strength and provide for them. Pray for the children to truly come to know who God is, and to take His Truth home to their families. Pray that the government will have favor on Projecto Ser and register it properly. Finally, pray for wisdom for Paulo and Dayse as they oversee the everyday challenges and needs of the project.

A touching welcome choir!

Complete with dancers in local wrappers

Noah and Nicolas often participated, helping with translation or just hanging out. Noah was fondly known around the Project and neighboring YWAM base as "DJ Lusaka"

After being welcomed, we helped serve one of the two daily meals. A lot of work is required to cook, dish up, serve and wash hundreds of bowls. The women who volunteer to cook remind me of Martha and Mary in the Bible, serving the least of these- thus, serving Christ.

Mortars and pestles, just like Uganda!

That afternoon, the cooks prepared a fancy welcome lunch for us- complete with dozens of local dishes!

Explaining each food

Mupani worms, a local grub. (Yes, many of us tried them, and some team members like them, too)

Peanut butter and spinach sauces, dried fish, and salsas.

Riding around outside the base. These roadside shops are mirror images of those in Uganda.

Motorcycle taxis

Waiting for customers

Normal life, empty it seems

but vibrant with yellow beams

inside life goes on, unseen

a truth about reality

Touring around the school classrooms before we started helping with morning and afternoon Bible study.

The craft and sewing room, where students learn these skills

They even made this stunning dress!

We split into groups to teach all the grade levels. My group (two other students, our leaders Natalia, and I) taught sala de 7, grade 7. We enjoyed getting to know them and teaching them about the love of God through the stories of creation, Noah, David and Goliath, the Good Samaritan and the basic Gospel. We did our best to creatively catch their attention and involve them through using drama, drawing, dancing and song.

Often we would start class by teaching them a song, then ask them to teach us two of their songs. They had a lot of songs with motions!

One of our small group members, Roman, celebrated his 19th birthday the first week in Angola. The kids showed him a local tradition- throwing water on the birthday boy or girl! He's lucky they didn't toss eggs or sand at him, also local birthday traditions.

Our small group leader and translator, Natalia, went above and beyond. Although us Troubadour students created all the lessons, Natalia would elaborate or clarify, keeping the kids engaged. Whenever she translated back to us what a student was saying, she would stand next to him/her, patiently listening with an attentive expression. She gave the kids lots of hugs and love, answering their questions during break times and getting to know their needs, struggles, talents and dreams. The students loved her!

Getting ready to do "Baggage" at the YWAM base's community meeting (like a church service).

At the community meeting, I had the privilege of preaching! God had been speaking to me through the Sermon on the Mount for a month, and I felt Him nudging me to share what I'd learned. I spoke on the first twelve verses, showing how kingdom living is about coming near to Jesus, sitting with Him and acting according to His character.

Community... sitting together in the shade because the African sun is too hot :)

Once a week we helped run the elderly ministry at the YWAM base. Two of us would share testimonies, a couple of us would help in the kitchen (also practicing our Portuguese there!) then we'd all pitch in to serve a meal and clean up. In true Troubadour fashion, we broke out in a spontaneous singing party while washing the dishes!

One of our DTS leaders challenged all of us before we began outreach, saying, "I want you to look back on your outreach and say without a doubt that the best part was your daily time with the Lord. Because everything else about outreach is meaningless without Him." Joyfully, I can say that daily reading Truth was my bedrock, joy and anchor during outreach. I could not have gone through the entire time without hearing Him speak each morning.

Bare stub now

where did things

turn wrong? Harken,

weeds surround

sucking away life

draining essence of

soul, showing fleeting

nature, an empty

promise of goodness,

their followers rewarded

with barrenness.

God truly uses fragile clay jars! In my moments of greatest weakness, frustration or embarrassment, God shone through unhindered by my distorted appearance of self-sufficiency.

A couple examples.

We were playing soccer during a worship camp we crafted and hosted for the local DTS by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. During the match I didn't see a fellow player running towards me and we collided hard. I fell to the ground, then quickly jumped up- flustered- and asked the man, "Are you OK?" He looked surprised, then asked, "Are you OK?" I felt so embarrassed! That night, however, another local DTS student called me over. Through an interpreter, he told me that my reaction to the man who ran into me stunned him. "I have played soccer since I was a small boy," he told me. "And I am always proud and harsh. But today, you showed me how Jesus would play." I was so humbled! I did not show him how Jesus would play; Christ used my weakness to reveal Himself!

Another time, frustration at my weak Portuguese vocabulary increasingly irritated me. I kept beating myself up inside, reprimanding myself that I was a failure of missionary and no good because I only speak English fluently. Why hadn't I tried harder to become fluent in the other languages I'd studied? Why did we used English for our common language in the Troubadour class, making things easy for me but draining for some other students? My self-anger distracted me from teaching the Prjecto Ser kids that day; I was mentally absent. After the class, a student came up to speak with Natalia. Natalia then came to me and shared, "That girl wants to be an English teacher when she grows up, but she had become discouraged in pursuing that dream. Hearing you speak English to them has inspired her to continue in faith that God will provide. She would like to practice her English that she had learned from one English book at her home; so can she write letters to you?" I felt shaken, and quickly repented for being so consumed with myself and my own skills. God loves to use His children, no matter how qualified or not they seem, because it's Him at work, not me.

I am forever challenged by Romans 10:14-15: "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

This is the reasons my heart cries out to not only go to other nations on a mission, but to live in a mission- to make the Kingdom's coming known.

Pruned, bare, exposed

stump

Yet pushing through

abundant

new life, vibrant;

emptiness

wasn't so, but a

making

room for growth

On our way to visit a local church on the beach.

Praying before we set out on the hour-long walk to the fishermen village where the church is located.

The congregation kindly welcomed us with a selection of beautiful songs!

Worshipping together. The pastor asked us to lead the service: worship, testimonies, a sermon and presentation.

The ladies of the church blessed us by doing a choir of their own!

The village... I couldn't help but "hear" Jesus speaking about a house built on sand. As we walked through the village, my heart cried out for God's word to penetrate the villagers' hearts, for harvest workers to come among them. "Lord, may their souls be built on the Rock even if their physical houses are built on sand!"

One of the local DTS students who came along with us brought her toddler. This sweet child endured a day of intense heat and humidity like a trooper!

Building a boat

The long trek home...

I think it's safe to say you're eating in Africa when you get visitors on your plate. At my home in Obule, when bugs fall from the ceiling onto our plates we declare them "extra protein" even though they get picked off the plate.

the tunnel ends

it concludes in life

not all broken

please don't despise

this journey, strengthening

you, teaching endurance

to tread to the end

of the tunnel

Although we had a small washing machine, it was tricky to get everyone's clothes to fit. So I washed my clothes by hand every day. It's one of my special Angola memories.

Nicolas took David (a Troubadour student from Uganda) and I to paint the old houses. This was definitely one of my greatest highlights from Angola!

Since we arrived, Dayse warned us about keeping an eye out for scorpions. When she and Paulo were in Angola in the early 2000's, they had scorpions fall from their ceiling and crawl up their walls throughout the night! I'll be brutally honest, I'm terrified of snakes (Dayse also warned us about those) and scorpions aren't far behind on my fear list. Thankfully, God answered my daily morning prayer: "Lord, I'm coming outside to read Your Word. Guide my feet and keep them safe." I only saw one scorpion the entire time... a few guys working on around Projecto Ser caught a large scorpion one day and cut off its venomous singer. After watching them hold it, I decided I needed to have a turn.

Side note, I had been warned that when we were in Namibia we had to watch out for mambas. These snakes are one of my greatest fears; they are fast and aggressive, sometimes chasing people rather than running away as other snakes would. I prayed before leaving for outreach, "Lord, I said I was willing to follow wherever You lead. You're leading to Namibia, so I'm committing myself in trust to Your protection and following joyfully. I pray You will keep me from seeing any snakes." Then, the first evening in Benguela, a friend and I were strolling through the base. She suddenly gasped and grabbed my arm. There was a black snake slithering off the path only a few feet in front of us! As soon as the snake went into the bushes, we ran to the house. I realized that night, I had never asked for His protection from snakes while in Angola! The book of James says, "You do not have because you do not ask of God." So I committed myself again to His safety, this time for Angola as well. I never saw another snake on outreach!

Brave Miche! I loved having this sweet girl along. She never let me be alone in my adventures. We had so much fun together, doing daring things and keeping up with the boys as best we could.

Nicolas wasn't so sure at first...

But he couldn't resist. A true MK!

As I mentioned previously, one weekend we crafted and hosted a Worship camp for the local DTS. God really showed up, blessing this time together. Friday night we opened with a worship-saturated service which two Troubadour students led. The Holy Spirit filled that time, bringing many of us to our knees, crying or rejoicing.

Saturday we had two lessons on what worship is- a lifestyle of obedience. Afterwards, we did frozen images depicting different Bible scriptures and had a time of relay games. All of this was lead by Troubadour students. The local DTS blessed us Saturday night with a campfire where we ate grilled corn/maize and sugar cane. Local students shared their testimonies, and we all joined in a dance party.

Sunday morning our team led a church service for the YWAM base and some Projecto Ser kids.

During the weekend camp, we came to know and appreciate the local Angolan students. Despite language barriers, the Holy Spirit helped us connect and encourage one another.

Sunday afternoon, following the worship camp, we headed up a small mountain to serve a kids' house church.

On top of the mountain, we could see the ocean beyond the neighborhood/village.

At first, the kids didn't really know what to do with us.

However, they listened attentively and participated eagerly in worship.

One thing that really hit my heart was the teenage girls carrying younger siblings on their backs. Noah told me that first-born girls in Angola don't have the luxury of being a child. They are put to work as nanny and house keeper as soon as they are able. The same thing often happens in Uganda. I believe Christ grieves over children who are being robbed of their childhood, over parents who are taught to do this by their parents, over cycles of poverty and neglect. The question is, am I willing to grieve? Are you willing to grieve? To open your heart without holding back, feeling the pain of God's image bearers around the world. Are you willing to feel the weight of injustice and hurt, as Christ did on the cross? 

As Christ defines compassion, it is an emotion flowing from God's heart existing in you that results in action. You do not have what others need in yourself. BUT by God's mercy, Christ lives in you! He is what the world needs. Will you bring Him to a broken, hurting world? The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Will you surrender to God as a worker, willing to serve wherever He directs?

Priceless to Him

Worth My blood,

the King Almighty

over all of space

and time declares.

Does your heart

for this child,

for every one

crafted in His

likeness, match

His sacrifice?

My daughters

I reach,

O!,

how I call

longing for

you to give

your heart

to Me

open it to

receive

the never-ceasing

flow of My

love.

I cry for

you

to swim in

the waters of

My grace,

where I accept

you, growing you

into full abundance.

Proclaiming the good news that Jesus is with us in the boat (of course, using drama!)

The last day of Bible study with Projecto Ser! I never thought leaving would rip my heart the way it did. Lord, now I know a small bit more how Your heart cries out for the children of this world to run to Your arms, secured forever.

In the same spirit they had welcomed us, the kids threw a meaningful goodbye party for us, filled with singing, presentations and hugs.

Several classes made stunning dances or songs to say goodbye. We felt so humbled and undeserving of their love!

They definitely kept a piece of my heart!

Leaving Benguela was incredibly hard. I hated saying farewell to Dayse's family, Projecto Ser and the memories we made. We left around 3:00 a.m. for a 17 hour trip to the Angola-Namibia border for our next stop.