Skip to Content

Author: Layne

Unforgettable Communion

This past Thursday night Jon and I were provided the opportunity to have dinner with a local Angolan family. They wanted to cook for us a traditional meal, and then following it we would start the Easter weekend by sharing communion together.

On our way there we noticed dark clouds in the distance, not all too uncommon these days as it seems to rain regularly. In our minds we worried a bit, knowing that we would be eating outside since their stick homes are not really set up for indoor fellowship.

Upon arrival we saw a beautiful covered shelter, complete with a lovely cloth back wall, a plastic table covered in a nice table cloth, and many chairs seated around. You must understand, the father in his late 60’s or early 70’s had made this shelter that very day specifically for our meal because he was concerned about the rain coming.

Humbling.

The daughter, Tchihinga, had worked hard to prepare their local meal for all of us. We ate a porridge called ‘funge’, which is a bit sticky, almost reminding me of a dumpling; I would cut mine with my fork. Before when I had this, I gagged, but this time I actually enjoyed it mixed with the other foods. Along with the funge, we had some leafy greens which are cut in strips and cooked with tomatoes and onions. I personally really enjoy them. For the main dish Tchihinga made chicken, which was also in a nice sauce.

We were so blessed.

As the meal was ending, the winds started to pick up and the clouds continued with their daunting presence. We decided we should take communion. After some difficulty getting our hands on some bread, Tchihinga’s father gave a small message. He spoke of the Passover and while some of the message was lost in translation (he does not speak Portuguese, but N’Kangela, which was translated to English) his heart could not be mistaken.

This passionate old Angolan man, complete with his big black glasses, needing to practically shout over the wind, which threatened to tear his hand built shelter down… this man, he loved Jesus, and he wanted to remember what He had done. And he chose to do that with us.

Unforgettable.

Tonight we took communion again, and it had such meaning. Christ’s death and His resurrection are hope for me. It means that I am able, through the precious blood that was spilt by my Savior, to enter into the next life miraculously pure and spotless, dressed in white and ready for my groom. I can have hope that this present world is not my home; it is not the end. These present afflictions are but momentary.

Hosanna.

Robbery and Fear

A Layne Post

Last night while eating dinner at the other missionaries’ home, our little mud hut was broken into. Jon must have spooked them because one bag was dropped outside close to the house. When he saw it he was alarmed, ran into the house and noticed his computer and computer bag were missing.

The next couple of hours were filled with Jon driving, chasing guys, and talking with the police and neighborhood chiefs. While chasing a suspected thief, Jon sprained his ankle pretty bad. Unfortunately, we have not yet recovered the computer, but we hold onto hope.

The police are keeping their eyes out at the markets, and we have put the word out in a couple neighborhoods that we will give a reward if someone brings it to us.

Even still we are reminded of the many things to be thankful for and continue to praise the Lord. We are blessed to have the privilege to own the things we do; they are blessings that can be given and taken away.

Here are some positive things about the situation:

  • There were many things that could have been taken in the house that were not
  • Many things that are normally in that bag that were not
  • We still have my computer to use
  • All of Jon’s data was backed up and no information lost

Here are a few specific ways you can pray:

  • That the computer would be recovered and returned
  • If not, that the thieves will be unable to break the passwords and access information
  • If not, that we have favor with the credit card company we bought it through and possibly be able to be reimbursed
  • Pray for Jon’s ankle to be healed quickly; it is swollen and bruised

Ironically the following is what I had written to post for this week before the events of last night. The Lord is faithful to me in so many ways.

This week the Lord has been dealing with fear in my life.

Some people may laugh, thinking a young girl who has chosen to live her life in Africa cannot possibly struggle with fear. You would be wrong though. I have even tricked myself into thinking that from time to time, but this week has shone a bright light on some big ugly fears.

I am doing Beth Moore’s study ‘Esther’, and while I had even seen this week’s video before, the Lord had new things in store for me, new things to work out.

Can I be honest? Sometimes when the Lord starts to work on a specific area, I begin to wonder if He is preparing me for something to come, maybe even soon. (That is not exactly comforting, since the topic is fear; nonetheless, I’ve pushed on and told the Lord He can continue His work.)

Beth Moore points out that solely begging and trusting God not to let horrible things happen to you is conditional trust. We must get to the point that we are able to say, “Even if the worst I can imagine happens to me, God is faithful and I trust Him.”

I knew this. I did. Sometimes I even got a hold of it. But it hadn’t rooted itself. From time to time fear would creep its ugly head into my life.

Early this week I began to hand things over to God, starting with the little things.

Recently I had been having some trouble with fear during the nights, as I could hear loud parties and drunk people very close to the house. There were nights I would lay awake hearing every noise, letting my mind take me to crazy scenarios. Going potty outside was terrifying. My heart would race, and I would literally run back inside feeling relieved no one had grabbed me along the way.

After my study, when I would go to the toilet, I would force my mind to calm down. I would say to myself, as Esther came to say, “If I perish, I perish.” (Go ahead, you can giggle at the thought of me on the toilet saying that to myself; makes me laugh too.) Maybe it was a little extreme, but it helped. I was choosing to trust God, not to keep someone from being out there, but even if someone was out there.

A couple nights later, the Lord decided to move on to another area. My husband. I want you to know that I have the best, most faithful husband ever, who loves me, cares for me, and reassures me constantly. But due to experiences in my life, to experiences in other women’s lives, I have let fear keep a little hold on my heart, completely separate from anything Jon has ever done. And it isn’t fair to him, which is why I am thankful that the Lord is ripping it out of me at this point in my life.

So there I lay, letting my mind be taken over. I knew immediately that it was Satan and that everything in my head was lies. I wondered if I should talk with Jon. Thinking it was unfair to even be thinking these things, I decided to try and battle it out myself. It got worse. I even began shaking. I made up my mind to ask Jon to pray for me, but in my pride I wanted to calm down a bit more. I began saying the name of Jesus over and over and sure enough, my soul settled.

I gathered my courage and humbly asked Jon to pray for me, confessing all this ugliness inside of me. He lovingly took me in his arms and began to pray over me.

Fear was conquered that night, though this time I needed help. Unlike the time with the toilet, I could not do this alone. I needed my husband, a fellow believer, to stand by me. Sometimes we can’t do it alone. Sometime we need each other. And it’s worth it. It is worth the humility, worth the courage. God desires that we live in freedom.

I desire to live in freedom.

We’re on the move…

This past week has been a whirlwind. After speaking with the missionaries from Angola on Monday, we decided we need to head to South Africa to hand in our paperwork for our visas in person, as well as stick around to make sure they process.  If we do that, it should cut the process time to one week as opposed to one month, and we can still make it to Angola by the middle to end of February.

What that means is that we are leaving Mozambique tomorrow.

This news was shocking. We thought we would have almost a whole other month here. We were  not prepared to begin our ‘Goodbyes’. Nonetheless this is an opportunity that we cannot pass up; it is the open door we have been praying for.

Our schedule looks like this:

Feb. 1 – Drive to Pretoria (Stay at Operation Mobilization base)

Feb. 2 – Hand in visas at the Embassy

Feb. 3-4 – Get our vehicle tuned up and ready for Angolan roads

Feb. 5-8 – Drive to Botswana to visit Mike and Heather and watch Superbowl with them

Feb. 8-12 – Drive back to Pretoria. Wait on visas and buying things for life in Angola, which includes being prepared to live in tents for months at a time.

Feb. 13 – Drive back to Botswana

Feb. 14 – Drive to Namibia (Happy Valentines Day!)

Feb. 16 or so – Drive with missionaries to Menongue Angola. Stay about 4 weeks in their shared missionary housing.

Mid-March – Drive to Luanda and visit Operation Mobilization missionaries and current running programs. Stay about 4 weeks, most likely in tents.

Mid-April – Drive back to Menongue. Stay about 4 weeks.

Mid-May – Drive back to Mozambique for at least a couple of weeks.

If we decide to partner with Operation Mobilization and them with us, we will need to leave Angola for 3-6 months to wait on our long term work visa, which will then be good for 2 years. That time is a little up in the air right now, but we trust that the Lord will guide us as He always has.

For now, “Goodbye” Mozambique. Who knew we would grow so attached?

We can look back over our time here and see nothing but the hand of God. I am humbled beyond belief. I feel like we have grown leaps and bounds in a mere 7 weeks.  It makes me excited to see what lies ahead.

This week has been __________ for me. Humm… I am without a word to fully describe it. Horrific. Hard. Beautiful. Stretching. Traumatic. I have blogged a few times about this week, and I do not feel the need to rewrite it here. You are welcome to read about it at: www.africangypsy.blogspot.com

This morning we said our “Goodbyes” at the hospital… well we spent four hours with them, but eventually said “goodbye”. It is hard to leave them.  I stayed in the hospital visiting with the women, while Jon was able to wrap up his relationships with the men by going to church with them at their home church, a neat opportunity. Boy are we going to miss them…

Here is how you can pray:

  • Pray for safety while traveling
  • Pray that our visas would process quickly while we are in Pretoria
  • Pray that our vehicle gets in perfect condition without spending too much
  • Pray that our hearts remain open to God’s will. We want to hear clearly from Him, and not just decide based on desperation. We are asking for a ‘Yes’ from God rather than not a ‘No’.

News

Has it really only been a week since we updated on here?

I feel like so much has happened since we last “talked”. I have some good news and some sad news. I’ll start with the sad, so that we can end positively…

Our new friend at the hospital Joaquim lost his life Thursday morning. We knew it was coming. Everyone did. Death loomed over him for about two days. Each hour he lived we felt like a miracle had happened.

He was fine. He was laughing and having spirited conversations with Jon just one week earlier. But then it seemed like we came in one day and he had taken a turn for the worse. Two days later he died. It was a blow.

I have never been involved in ministry like this. Watching people die. Loosing people so regularly.  It is changing me. I cannot pinpoint exactly how, but I feel it; I know it is happening. Lord, you must know what you are doing. ..

I wrote a bit more about Joaquim at www.africangypsy.blogspot.com

And for the good news. The Angola news. That’s right, Angola news again! Thank you for your prayers. You have been a part of all of this!

Jon and I needed to head to South Africa this week to reset our Mozambican visas, and as I told you a couple weeks ago we had and interview with a potential ministry to partner with for Angola. Well after 11 hours of travel south, we had the interview, and it went really well!

The couple we met with have a really neat heart for the Lord and His work. Their views and approach to ministry seems to line up well with what we believe. This was important  for us to feel connected in this area! They have been in Angola since 1996 and have established relationships with the government and people. (Huge advantage!)

The organization is call “Operation Mobilization”. Many of you may have heard about them. They have a small team working up in Luanda and then do work part of the year in a town called Menongue, however there are no permanent missionaries there. If we begin working with them, we would be permanently in Menongue (pronounced maNONgay). You may remember us talking about the town of Namibe, where we originally wanted to work. After talking and praying we feel a release and peace about changing locations in our hearts if all were to work out.

Our hearts remain focused on the orphaned and vulnerable children, especially those affected by HIV/AIDS. Their ministry has already started construction for a children’s center in Menongue, but it has yet to be completed, and they have no one to run it. We are praying about being the ones to do just that.

Here is the approach we would like to take towards pursuing this:

We would like to get a temporary visa (3 month) and do a bit of a trial run with them. We would go visit both the Menongue site and the one in Luanda. We could get a feel for the town and the local people.  We would work out all details and get all questions answered. (One meeting over lunch is hardly enough time!) If we can, Lord willing the paperwork can get processed quick enough, we would like to meet them in Menongue, Angola on February 20th.

If paperwork does not work out, we would push that date back until May, when the couple would return to Menongue.

From there, if we receive confirmation from the Lord and things work out, we would be required to leave Angola until our work permits could be processed. That could could take about 3 months to 6 months. During that time it is yet to be decided what we would do. One possibility is that we would return to Mozambique and continue working here while maintaining our Portuguese.

Here are ways you can pray for us:

  • That our paperwork for a short-term visa would be processed quickly
  • That the Lord would continue to speak to our hearts and confirm His plan for us
  • Wisdom and discernment

We welcome advice or thoughts on any of this! Thanks for your constant love and support. We could feel the prayers during our travels to South Africa and on the day of our meeting.  We love you!

Enjoying Tiramisu coffee and a Hazelnut/Caramel coffee!

(This is the only coffee shop we know of in all of southern Africa that has flavored coffee. Yum! )

Our Christmas in Mozambique

A Layne Post

Jon and I spent our first Christmas in Africa as a couple… and it was good. Of course there were plenty of people and things we missed; however, our new experiences here were priceless.

We spent Christmas Eve with three other missionary families; a Portuguese family, a Brazilian family, and an American family. Our traditions were combined as we ate chicken wings and quiche for appetizers, a yummy fish and potato dish that is common in Portugal for dinner, and cupcakes and snickerdoodles for dessert. Though it may sound odd to you, it was really good!

Ladies on Christmas Eve!

And the men!

We also exchanged small presents in a gift exchange, complete with the opportunity to steal gifts. I think Jon and I ended up with the best gifts; Jon got a headlamp and I got a bottle of cocoa butter lotion! Nice!

Not sure if Jon was ready for the pic, but he is cute.

Christmas day I decided to keep with my tradition of making cinnamon rolls, and I do believe this year they were the best yet! I have to tell you a secret… We ate the whole pan before the night was over. YES! All of them!

Cinnamon rolls with cinnamon cream cheese icing... yum.

After breakfast we had previously made the decision to spend a couple hours at the hospital in the Oncology ward, where we have been volunteering for the past couple of weeks. Many of the patients are too far from home to leave for the holidays, so they were going to be alone and far from family. We could kind of relate. That time was definitely the highlight of our day. Funny how you go to be a blessing, and in return you are the one that is blessed. (More at: www.africangypsy.blogspot.com)

Later that night we were also grateful to have the opportunity to join our families for a few festivities via Skype and webcams. We seriously felt like we were sitting in the room with them. Awesome.

Angola Update:

We have a little bit of exciting news. Yes news! It has been awhile!

I recently decided to go ahead and send another round of emails in search of connections in Angola, and quite honestly I thought I would not hear anything until the New Year, but guess what? I already got two replies!

One is probably not going to be of assistance with a visa, but is still a good connection. The other is with a ministry that is already established in a couple cities there in Angola. (Remember we must come under an already established NGO to even submit an application for our visas.) What is exciting is that they are potentially interested in working with us and want to have an interview!

The lead couple is in South Africa for the month of January, and on the 7th Jon and I were going there anyways to renew our visa for Mozambique. The trip will be much longer now, but we feel it is more than worth it, and is nothing compared to needing to travel to Angola. We consider this a huge blessing!

So here is how I would ask you guys to pray for us. This interview will be two-sided, as we want to get to know their heart and mission as well. It is no small thing to partner and come under a ministry or organization.

While I would like to get terribly excited and say how perfect this could be, how the timing is fabulous, how things could line up beautifully… above all we want the will of the Lord. If this is His open door, we would like it to be clear and confirmed to both parties involved.

We love you guys! I pray your holidays were blessed and that you had the chance to reflect on the goodness and faithfulness of our Lord and Savior.