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A Jon Post

We’re back in Maputo. It is so good to be here. We were married in June of 2008 and since then we’ve been in someone else’s house or in a hotel or in a tent. Tomorrow… for the first time… we have a home. We can finally unpack our bags. We have an address and a residence that’s not on wheels (we’ve mostly been living out of our Land Cruiser for nearly 6 months now).

We have a home.

We went back to the hospital on Friday. It felt good. The peeling paint, the smells, the cold concrete floors, all of it so familiar and so packed with emotions. Memories of intimate moments flooded back to us as we hugged familiar faces and kissed new ones on the cheek in greeting.

We have a home.

We bought a couch, a table, a refrigerator, a bed…

We have a home.

Maputo isn’t what we had in mind when we first set out on this journey. We went to Angola back in 2008 to see a country we hoped to live in. We saw that we needed to learn Portuguese so we went to Portugal in 2009 to learn it. We met missionaries Areménio and Elizabeth Anjos there who introduced us to Jorge and Alice Pratas, missionaries to Mozambique. We came to Maputo at the end of 2009 to keep up with our Portuguese as we awaited God’s timing for a move to Angola. And here… in Maputo… God whispered “here is your home.”

We have a home.

Our journey has been long both in time and in distance. In the last 5 months we’ve driven more than 6000 miles and lived in 5 different countries.

We have a home.

Rejoice with us dear friends and family. We are planted and we are pursuing long-term ministry with kindred spirits whose heart for loving and serving people is nearly identical to our own.

We are here.

Done Traveling For Now

Done Traveling For Now

May 30, 2010
Mozambique, Travel
7 comments

On the Road Again

A Layne Post

Well Jon and I have been on the road again. I am really believing that there will come a day in my life that I will not know the next “trip”, but for now that is not in the near future. I bet when that day does finally come, I probably will be antsy to go. Ha!

On our way from Namibia we traveled through Botswana and stayed a few nights with our dear friends, who are really more like family, the Walkers. We thoroughly enjoyed fellowship, pizza and Mexican food, and games.

*Insert Note* We are so blessed to have friends as close as family all over southern Africa.

Thank you Lord!

Mozambican Visa

Mozambican Visa

Now we are in Pretoria, South Africa wrapping up preparation for Mozambique. Good news! As of today we can excitedly report that we have 6 month business visas! It is not ideal because it still requires exiting the country every 30 days (which is about 1.5 hours drive); however,  it is 6 months, which feels like a long time. Once we are in Mozambique we can pursue a residence permit. Won’t that be an exciting day? To be residents of Mozambique… yes, yes, that will be a very exciting day.

Wednesday we will be making the 7 hour drive to Maputo, which is really one of my favorite drives here. It is beautiful! We travel through gorgeous rolling green hills, sprinkled with rich farmland, through mountainous areas with a rushing river flowing just near the road; we stop at a precious little fueling station called ‘Milly’s’, complete with homemade candies and jam; we drive past banana tree fields and palm tree lined roads. Ah! Lovely, right? Someday I hope some of you can make this drive with us.

Prayer Requests

  • Safety on the road
  • Residence visas shortly after arriving
  • Low or no import fees for the vehicle
  • Smooth language transition into Portuguese, once again
  • Jon’s back, which has been bothering him for a week or so

Thank you guys so much for loving and praying us. Your presence is undoubtedly felt.

May 24, 2010
Mozambique, Personal, Travel
3 comments

Joy Crashing Into Grief

A Jon Post

Layne and I are in Maun, Botswana visiting good, good friends whom we used to minister with as missionaries from 2005 to 2007. Layne’s medical condition is still undiagnosed and when we spoke to the doctor in Windhoek, Namibia he said we are waiting for test results and biopsies results of some spots in her stomach found during her recent gastroscopy. Because Maun is about a day’s drive away we decided to spend the weekend here with friends. Maun is situated just south of the Okavango Delta, the largest inland delta in the world. It is a haven of African wildlife and has been a favorite camping spot of ours for years. We decided to spend two nights camping on our way to visit our friends here.

I was going to post the rest of this about our safari trip and about Mother’s Day. But we went to our old church here in Maun today and saw friends we’ve not seen in a long time. Today was going so well, we had an incredible camping experience, and God seemed to be smiling on everything I looked at.

Then I spoke with a friend that I’ve known here in Botswana for many years. I’ve kept in touch with him since I left, and he loves the Lord so much. He is an incredible doctor, husband, father. His wife just had a newborn baby girl.

And she isn’t well.

I wish you could see and share in the tears I have while writing this dear friends. My friend’s name is Enok and I could see the pain in his eyes as he spoke of seeing his little girl through the eyes of a doctor and knowing the gravity of her illness. I could hear the agony in his voice as he spoke of his wife’s wavering voice telling him to stop giving a doctor’s diagnosis and simply hope the hope of a father.

Sometimes my theology is of no comfort to me.

I know that God promises that He works for the good. I know that.

It doesn’t lessen the pain.

This little girl is suffering and her lungs are in danger of collapse. Please pray with us for her. Please join with us as we pray for little Tefile (pronounced Tehfeelay). Pray for Enok and his incredible wife Patience. They are an amazing family.

Sometimes, when life seems so good, when joy is found in every little thing, the gravity of this fallen world hits like a hammer.

I can wrap my arms and heart around my Savior, because I know he sits with me… with us and He cries too. He knows what it means to see the innocent suffer. He knows. And he cries with us.

Please pray for Enok, Patience, and especially Tefile.

We love you all.

You can read about our safari trip here.

May 10, 2010
Travel
4 comments

6 Months in Africa

A Layne Post

On Friday this week, it will have been 6 months since we left the United States. And what a whirlwind it has been! We have stayed in 5 different countries for weeks to months at a time. (Two week minimum) We have loved deeply and lost tragically; and all of it has opened our hearts to know Jesus more and more.

He is beautiful and terribly mysterious.

Tonight we were chatting with new friends, explaining how we plan to live in Africa for the rest of lives, or at least as far as we can see in the future. It really feels like home; we are so comfortable here. Every now and then I try to imagine us back in States, living life… and I can’t. We belong here; God placed this place, this continent, in the core of our beings. We are captured. I believe the Lord knew this before we were knitted in our mother’s wombs.

———————————————————————————
While in Angola we visited the hospital one day. We were supposed to visit a sick young girl, the daughter of the missionaries’ friends; however, when we arrived she had been taken into an emergency operation and was not doing well. The doctor kept telling us it was bad, very bad. Minutes after being there, the father was taken aside and told his thirteen year old daughter had died of appendicitis.

Wobbling he came of the room in a state of shock. After a few helpless sobs, he knew he had to find his wife, her mother. She had just gone to the river to wash some clothes, a simple task, one she does everyday. But today was not ‘everyday’. I knew she would never be able to forget this day. He went to find her with the little strength and sanity that he had.

I wanted to hide; I shouldn’t have been there. This was private, and I was a stranger, an intruder. I tried to blend into the wall.

The body, so small and petite, so young, was wrapped in sheet and taken on a stretcher into the chapel. I heard the wailing coming in the distance. My previous detachment suddenly began to crumble, as I was drawn in. I slipped behind a pillar.

Her mother, physically supported by the shoulders of her husband, came wailing, thrashing, and singing out the name of her dead daughter. It was haunting. Other women joined in the wailing, almost in dancing movements around the body. It was raw grief, eerily beautiful and confident.

As I stood outside, behind my pillar, sobs welled up for the loss this family was experiencing. This life here; loss is common, closer it seems.

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Sitting on the front steps of the hospital in Menongue I thought of my friends at the hospital in Maputo, and I longed to be with them, to be the arms of Christ once again to the sick and dying, to people I knew and who knew me.

The Lord knows what will satisfy us more than we could ever muster up. Six months ago when we left the United States, we would have never imagined our new found passion, but our mysterious Lord in His beautiful ways knew.

I cannot wait to see what else He has in mind.

Thanks for your continued love and support. We think about and pray you, individually; we love you so much. We have no new health news for now, though I haven’t been sick this week. Praise God!

Short hair for me; 6 months of beard for Jon

May 2, 2010
Angola, Travel
5 comments

We’re in Namibia now

A Layne Post

It is crazy how life can change so drastically in a matter of days.

I told Jon, “Only a couple of days ago we were sitting in our little mud house, sipping our off brand sodas, and eating our meat from a can… Now we are being hosted by the most gracious family, staying in a beautiful home, eating steak and chicken and drinking iced tea!” Sometimes I have to laugh thinking about this life Jon and I live.

Jon, Jorge and Lazaro

Jon, Jorge and Lazaro

Leaving Angola was difficult. Because my last bout with sickness was worse, we were rushed to get to a doctor, and we felt unable to properly say ‘goodbyes’. There were many we were just unable visit. Those we did say ‘goodbye’ to were very understanding and sympathetic. I will not forget standing with two Angolan pastors, holding hands as they prayed over me for healing and prayed peace over my family in the States. They cared for me. Genuinely.

The precious family hosting us in Namibia has overwhelmed me/us with their love. They have opened their home, schedules, meals, lives, and hearts to us with no reservations. They have gone to lengths to make sure I am cared for medically, which has put my mind at ease. They have been Christ to us, in action. How He cares for us so well!

Where I am at medically: We have seen the doctor, who seems a bit as baffled as we are. After checking me out, he said, “You look healthy to me!” Which I am until it hits. My symptoms sounded possibly like gallstones, so we went for an ultrasound. No gallstones, everything they could see with the ultrasound looked normal.

Layne Washing our Clothes

Me Washing our Clothes

I have an appointment tomorrow (Monday) to decide on more tests. We will test for h-pylori, a stomach bacterium I had last year; the symptoms do not match perfectly, but it’s worth checking. We may also have an x-ray done where I swallow barium to check for hernias and whatever else they could see in there. We may run blood tests to check my pancreas. Really, because we are limited on time, I want to run every test that could be a slight possibility.

Pray for wisdom and direction for the doctors.

Where I am at emotionally: I was sick again yesterday. I am tired. I am frustrated that we have not found anything out. I know it takes time, but I was still hanging on to the hope it wouldn’t. I struggle not to worry about going to sleep or dread any small pain in my tummy. Jon prays with me, as we hand it to the Lord. Jon is such a support to me in all of this.

Where I am at spiritually: I trust the Lord and His mighty hand. I trust that He is more than capable to heal me in an instant. As encouraged by my mother-in-love, for this time, it could be an opportunity to gain a bit of understanding for pain, as I plan to serve the sick and dying. I am not the only one to suffer. I am not the only one in pain. There are so many others who endure much more. I hope to know the Lord in a more intimate way at the end of all of this.

I want to thank you all for your encouraging words and prayers. I feel completely surrounded by love and supported by friends, even from so far away! What a precious gift that I do not want to take it for granted. I am humbled and grateful. Thank you.

April 18, 2010
Personal, Travel
4 comments
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