Preparing Spiritually for the Trip

As preparation for our trip to Mozambique, we are reading through the Short-term Missions Workbook for Mission Tourists to Global Citizens by Tim Dearborn. After reading the first chapter, I already feel like I’ve received lots of helpful insights that I hope to carry with me on our trip. I’ll just share a couple with you from chapter one.

Dearborn offers “Eight Great Questions” to consider before, during, and after your short-term missions trip. I’m planning to print out a copy of these and put them in my mission trip journal, which I’m starting up this week:

1. What can I learn about myself?

2. What can I learn about God?
3. What can I learn about community and the church?

4. What can I learn about culture and its impact on faith?

5. What can I learn about justice and poverty?

6. What can I learn about discipleship?

7. What can I learn about my lifestyle?

8. What can I learn about my vocation?

Dearborn says, “The fundamental ministry God would have all of us exercise as short-term visitors and servants in another culture is the ministry of affirmation. God is inviting us on a treasure hunt. Our privilege is to be so led by the Spirit of God that we can find treasures in this new context that had been hidden from our eyes previously. Not only were they hidden from us because we’ve never been there before, they may even have been hidden from the eyes of the people who live there.”

Dearborn offers ways to engage in this ‘treasure hunt:’

Walk with humility. Remember, you are showing up late to a meeting. God has been at work among these people long before you arrived!

Embrace with affirmation. Your greatest gift to the people you meet will be affirmation, not criticism.

Live with vulnerability. Don’t be afraid of weakness – it’s normal.

Practice flexibility. Always expect the unexpected—you’re not in control.

Live as a student. Be determined to learn from everyone.

Work as a servant. Be willing to do whatever needs to be done.

Speak as a storyteller. Let the Spirit tell God’s story through you.

I’m already preparing to act on two challenges that Dearborn gives at the end of chapter one:

1. I’m going to find a prayer and debriefing partner who will agree to pray daily for me while I’m gone and meet with me several times after I come home for prayer and debriefing.

2. I’m going to pray now for two new relationships God will give me while in Mozambique. I’m going to commit now to pray for and keep in touch with those two people after I return.

One final quote to close the chapter with: Dearborn is quoting from a book called Beyond Duty: “The weakness of much current mission work and much current preaching is that they betray the sense that what is yet to be done is greater than what has already been done.”

--Hillary

Worship and Scripture and... Teaching? Oh my!

We have some more specifics to share with you on what I (Mark) will be doing in Mozambique!
Let's have a brief look:

• hang out with national and local musicians
• learn about cultural music/dance/art in Nampula (the province we will be staying in)
• observe and participate in worship services
• be a part of a three-day scripture recording session
• help teach at a Bible college

I anticipate much personal growth and stretching as a result of all of these activities, but especially one in particular.  I'll let you guess which one that is :)  That doesn't mean I'm not excited.  On the contrary, I'm as excited as this soft-spoken introvert gets!

Also, I have a link for a website that gives a picture of the kinds of things that are currently happening in Mozambique related to worship and art-
http://acacmoz.org/
If you click on the media tab near the top, you can see and listen to different songwriting workshops, worship services, drama presentations and  more!

A Mozambique Timeline

I’ve typed up a brief chronology of important events in Mozambique for your reference. (The timeline was taken almost word-for-word from Culture and Custom of Mozambique by George O. Ndedge. I’m not attempting to plagiarize!) This timeline has been incredibly helpful to reference as I’ve learned more about the country.

In case you don’t feel like reading through the whole timeline, I’ve pulled out a few facts from Mozambique’s recent history that I think are worth noting.

Mozambique was in a state of unrest for a long time. For about ten years, starting in 1964, Mozambique fought for independence from Portugal. The Frelimo forces that defeated Portugal set up a communist government in Mozambique.

For this reason, almost immediately after the war with Portugal was over, in 1976, an anti-Frelimo party, Renamo was formed. What followed was almost 20 years of civil war. Almost thirty years of war took their toll on Mozambique and left it one of the poorest countries in the world when their first elections were held in 1994. Under government initiatives and strategies for poverty reduction, the economy of Mozambique is beginning to bounce back, but the scars from war still remain.

A Mozambique Timeline

3^rd Century – Iron Age Bantu-speaking communities move into area from west-central Africa.

11^th Century – Shona empire develops in the area between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers.

12^th – 15^th Centuries – Arab traders dominate the coastal trade between the Mozambican coast and Arabia.

1498 – Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama arrives.

16th – 17th Centuries – Portuguese venture into interior. Colonists set up trading posts and mining ventures.

18^th – 19^th Centuries – Mozambique becomes major slave-trading center.

1820s – Nguni warlord from what is today South Africa invades southern Mozambique and founds the Gaza kingdom.

1842 – Portugal outlaws slave trade from Mozambique. However, clandestine trade continues for decades.

1895 – 1917 – Portuguese pacification wars.

1902 – Lorenço Marquez (present day Maputo) becomes colonial capital.

1950s – 1960s – Colonial economy thrives. New Portuguese settlers arrive, especially after World War II.

1962 – The Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) is founded under the leadership of Eduardo Mondlane.

1964 – Frelimo forces begin war of independence.

1969 – Eduardo Mondlane, Frelimo’s leader, is assassinated. Samora Machel replaces him.

1975 – Mozambique attains independence under the leadership of Samora Machel. Many Portuguese settlers leave Mozambique.

1976 – Anti-Frelimo resistance group, Remano, is established by Mozmabican rebels, apartheid South African, and the South Rhodesian regime.

1977 – Under the leadership of Samora Machel, Frelimo adopts Marxist-Leninist doctrine. Frelimo becomes the sole political party.

1986 – President Samora Machel is killed in a mysterious airplane crash. Joachin Chissano Succeeds him as president.

1989 – Frelimo formally abandos its commitment to the Marxist-Leninist idealogy. Mozambique embraces political and economic reforms.

1990 – A new constitution that allows for multiparty elections and a free market economy is instigated.

1992 – A U.S.-negotiated peace accord between Mozambican government and Renamo rebel forces is signed.

1994 – National elections are held in December and President Chissano and the ruling Frelimo party emerge victorious.

1995 – Government publishes its Strategy for Poverty Reduction in Mozambique program, which sets out for the first time explicit policies for poverty reduction in the country.

2000 – Heavy rains, the highest recorded in 100 years, hit Mozambique. The devastating floods kill 700 people and displace nearly 500,000.

2004-5 – General Elections. Frelimo emerges victorious with 62 percent of the vote. Armando Guebuza is sworn in as president to replace Joachin Chissano.

Doing Our Homework on Mozambique

Finding books to read about Mozambique is not the same as finding books about, say, Kenya. I discovered that fairly quickly when I had to interlibrary loan all of the books we wanted to read. Our little library had one book about Mozambique, and that book was fiction. So, I went on Amazon, found about three titles and a travel guide, and ordered them through interlibrary loan.

If I’d been thinking, I would have spaced my requests out by about two weeks. As it was, all four of the books came in around the same time, and since then, I’ve been scrambling to read through them before they need to be mailed back to their respective libraries.

The guide I sent back pretty quickly. We’re going to be staying in Nampula, Mozambique, and the guide did have a few pages on the city, as well as a small map, but I decided that most of that kind of information I could obtain once we were there.

Then I read this book:

A good place to start. I learned just enough about Mozambique history and culture to whet my appetite for more.

Now I’m reading this book:

Beyond the Shadow is a missionary autobiography, written by Ellie Hein in 2000. Ellie and Rodney Hein are from Zimbabwe, but during the long war for independence, followed by the long civil war between Frelimo and Renamo forces (which I’ll mention a little later), Ellie and Rod braved the war zone to bring the gospel to many people in the Gorongosa Mountains. They were also instrumental in the process of negotiations for the General Peace Accord for Mozambique, which was finalized October 4, 1992.

Through Ellie Hein’s account of their travel throughout northern Mozambique, I got a taste for the spiritual climate in Mozambique, at least in the bush region, where there are fewer Western influences, as well as the suffering people endured on the long road to peace. Honestly, before I read this book, I didn’t even know that Mozambique had withstood such a violent and exhausting war.

This book is also helping me adjust my perspective before flying off to Moz. I am not going on a pleasure cruise, though I do expect to experience many wonderful things while in Africa. I must be prepared to be flexible, to interact when I expected to be asleep, to walk when I expected to eat, to share my home with tiny crawling guests when I expected to share it only with Mark. And much more! I must be ready for anything and open to letting God work through me, undistracted by trivial discomforts.

I’m also reading bits and pieces of this book:

Though it’s a bit drier of a read than Beyond the Shadow, this book is incredibly informative. I’m hoping I have a chance to read it all before I need to send it back!

I can’t report too much on it yet. I’m only into the second chapter. The first chapter covered the history of Mozambique (watch for an upcoming post with a brief outline of the history of Moz.) The second discusses in great detail the religion and worldview of the people of Mozambique.

So far in the second chapter, I’ve begun to get a picture of how, for the people of Moz, religion and daily life are much more interconnected than they are for us in the U.S. Even as Christians, we struggle to ‘make’ God part of our daily lives. Besides Christianity and Islam (both of which are present and active in Mozambique), traditional religions are alive and well for a majority of Mozambicans.

Traditional religion in Mozambique is not animism, like we normally picture when we think of traditional tribal religions. People believe in a Supreme Being, who communicates his thoughts and feelings through natural phenomenon. Ancestors are also highly regarded by people of Mozambique. They aren’t worshipped but are seen as mediators between the living and God. Ancestors are seen as good spirits, who try to help people who are alive on Earth. Bad spirits are those of people who died in bitterness or neglect, who committed suicide, or who were witch doctors in life.

I’ll leave you with that taste of Culture and Custom of Mozambique for right now. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to read more of the book and share more tidbits of information with you.

Interesting, yes? I’m trying to bear in mind as I read that no amount of reading about Mozambique will be able to substitute for the learning that we’ll do when we get there. Hopefully the sources I’m reading and sharing from are accurate, but I’ll make sure to correct any misconceptions when I get there and learn from Mozambique firsthand.

 I’m having fun learning about and beginning to love this country in which we’ll be spending some time!

--Hillary

The Reason Why

And now for the question on everyone's mind- Why are Hillary and I going on this trip?  What purpose will it serve in our lives? In the lives of others?

Hillary and I have, at different times in each of our lives, given "Missions" some thought.  Sometimes it was a general desire to learn more about the world, but at other times we thought more seriously about whether or not God was asking us personally to serve abroad.

In college, I took a class on the music of different cultures around the world.  Our professor told many stories of the impact that music could have in the missionary field.  Being a music major, this opened up some ideas as to what my future might hold.

Now, several years out of college, I am still struggling to understand where my own desires lie as far as my future career is concerned.  Hillary has been such a blessing in this area, prodding me to research and explore the different options available to me.

This led us to the Wycliffe Discovery trips.  These trips are specifically designed to give a person a taste of what Missions is really like, out there in the field.  Between 6-8 weeks long, they seemed to be just right for us, especially since I have never even been on a short-term missions trip before.  This trip, then, will aid us in discerning if God possibly wants us to pursue long-term missions.

However, it is not just about us. Like Hillary said previously, we will be doing, not just observing.  Hillary will be putting her children's ministry skills to good use, helping an international school plan and implement a Bible school for kids in local churches.  I will be helping local churches to develop their own worship music according to their culture's tradition, instead of teaching them to use our Western worship music, which in some cases hinders their ability to worship and develop spiritually.

We believe that God has led us to this trip, and we know that He can use it for purposes other than what I've mentioned here.  Whatever those purposes are, we are praying (and hope you will join us) that we will do all we can to let His Spirit work in and around us, unhindered.

~Mark