We are up early for quiet times and breakfast. The place where we are staying has a tradition of singing before breakfast. So all of our guys break forth in Hillsong music and the lady that runs the place starts to cry. (at that point I did too cause they really did a great job)
We eat quickly then off to church. Pastor Isaac and Carol Williams have really done a great job over the last two years working in the community of Nkobe. The really have turned the church into a Healing Place for a hurting world. I think they must feed 300 plus orphans everyday, help build houses for widows, visit and pray for the sick. Do you get the drift... a real church that is making a real difference.
We get there and enjoy worship in a different language. It was fun and lively. Then I get the chance to share with Pastor Isaac translating. We are talking about a receipe for a heart for missions. I cannot tell you how hard it is for me to share with people that have almost nothing about giving. However in my time in Africa I have realized that is exactly the message that Africa needs. It was fun to share with Isaac translating because of the interaction. We had a sword fight with a pocket knife and a cake knife at one point.
After church we had some lunch with the Mozi guys and headed for home. I have never seen young people more tired than I did yesterday. It was a good kind of tired though. The kind that knows that you did the will of God and left everything on the field.
Thank you to everyone that helps make Children's Cup and HPC Swazi work. Lives are being changed everyday.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Day 2
Saturday we are up early to have a time of devotions. Our youth intern Tyrone shares about looking down on people. Very interesting because Swazis look down on Mozambiqueans because in general they are poorer. Great discussions
Then we are off to pick up some supplies but not before we have our first run in with the Mozi police. They see our foreign license plates and stop us to see what were doing. For many of our young people this is the first time to see a police man with a AK47 strapped to his shoulder. After a few minutes he is satisfied an off we go.
We get to the CarePoint and work with the members of HPC Mozi to visit church members, widows, and the sick. I made friends with lots of the kids. Giving them cookies to take to the children in the community and inviting them to church. (Who says you have to be an adult to start a Servolution)
We then have some partially cooked chicken for lunch and we go back to the church for the weekly youth meeting. This is a first for our Swazi youth to do anything in a place where they cannot communicate with anyone. Everything has to be translated (our Swazi youth speak English but in Mozambique they only speak Portuguese). We had a great time dancing, shouting, and praising God. Our Swazi kids learned that Mozi vibe is awesome. They did a drama without words to communicate the importance of serving. Karl Marx, HPC intern, then shared a brief message to end things up.
Then off to town to grab some grub. On the way back to our place to stay I got lost and made a illegal turn. But thankfully the Mozi police were there again to help us. They very kindly (not really)pointed out to us that we had commit ed a very serious crime. As I was busy trying to plead my ignorance our youth's eyes were getting bigger and bigger. The police then decided to help escourt us to the place we are staying. So one of our girls has two policemen on each side of her with their AK47 guns in their laps. They helped me to reach our place then wished us well... (in a Mozambiquean police sort of way)
then in bed a little after midnight....
Then we are off to pick up some supplies but not before we have our first run in with the Mozi police. They see our foreign license plates and stop us to see what were doing. For many of our young people this is the first time to see a police man with a AK47 strapped to his shoulder. After a few minutes he is satisfied an off we go.
We get to the CarePoint and work with the members of HPC Mozi to visit church members, widows, and the sick. I made friends with lots of the kids. Giving them cookies to take to the children in the community and inviting them to church. (Who says you have to be an adult to start a Servolution)
We then have some partially cooked chicken for lunch and we go back to the church for the weekly youth meeting. This is a first for our Swazi youth to do anything in a place where they cannot communicate with anyone. Everything has to be translated (our Swazi youth speak English but in Mozambique they only speak Portuguese). We had a great time dancing, shouting, and praising God. Our Swazi kids learned that Mozi vibe is awesome. They did a drama without words to communicate the importance of serving. Karl Marx, HPC intern, then shared a brief message to end things up.
Then off to town to grab some grub. On the way back to our place to stay I got lost and made a illegal turn. But thankfully the Mozi police were there again to help us. They very kindly (not really)pointed out to us that we had commit ed a very serious crime. As I was busy trying to plead my ignorance our youth's eyes were getting bigger and bigger. The police then decided to help escourt us to the place we are staying. So one of our girls has two policemen on each side of her with their AK47 guns in their laps. They helped me to reach our place then wished us well... (in a Mozambiquean police sort of way)
then in bed a little after midnight....
Swazi Missionaries?
This past weekend I had the privledge of leading a team of youth leaders and interns from HPC Swaziland to our sister church in Mozamabique. For many of these young people this was their first experience outside the country. As HPC and Children's Cup we want to see the heart for others (MISSIONS) instilled in these young people. We know they will be much more effective in reaching their generation in Africa than I will ever be. So we invest, train, encourage, and love these young leaders greatly so they will bring Jesus into the middle of all the issues in Africa.
So here is a little recap.
Friday:
It took us a little while to get everything together. Everyone is upbeat and excited. It's a 3 hours road trip from Mbabane, Swaziland to Maputo, Mozambique. Going across the border in Mozambique is always a bit intimidating. Swaziland is so laid back and Mozi is just a little more aggressive about everything.
We have a little KFC (KFC is taking over the world) and then we go off to the sands of Nkobe where HPC Moz is located. The sand is deep so it is like driving in the Baha5000 (which I love). We have a few hours for everyone to get the tour and play with the kids.
We tried to play dodge ball but our team of Swazis learned quickly that communicating cross culturally is very difficult. The kids all jumped on the ball like a Rugby game. Then super man Karl Marx jumped in and taught his great Zimbabwean dance moves. I think I know now where Michael Jackson got his moves.
We had some supper and then off to the bed but wait.... We have to sleep under mosiqtoe nets. It is like sleeping in a spider web. Everyone was really tired so it didn't take long for people to enter lala land.
check out pictues at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32765&id=1418732406&l=c39210c823
So here is a little recap.
Friday:
It took us a little while to get everything together. Everyone is upbeat and excited. It's a 3 hours road trip from Mbabane, Swaziland to Maputo, Mozambique. Going across the border in Mozambique is always a bit intimidating. Swaziland is so laid back and Mozi is just a little more aggressive about everything.
We have a little KFC (KFC is taking over the world) and then we go off to the sands of Nkobe where HPC Moz is located. The sand is deep so it is like driving in the Baha5000 (which I love). We have a few hours for everyone to get the tour and play with the kids.
We tried to play dodge ball but our team of Swazis learned quickly that communicating cross culturally is very difficult. The kids all jumped on the ball like a Rugby game. Then super man Karl Marx jumped in and taught his great Zimbabwean dance moves. I think I know now where Michael Jackson got his moves.
We had some supper and then off to the bed but wait.... We have to sleep under mosiqtoe nets. It is like sleeping in a spider web. Everyone was really tired so it didn't take long for people to enter lala land.
check out pictues at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32765&id=1418732406&l=c39210c823
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Brown Big Brother Beijing
The title of this article is not meant to scare. While it is considered a given that in China you are often being watched, nowadays it’s a lot more out of curiosity than due to any governmental desire to know what everyone is doing. After all, there are over 14 million residents in Beijing, and you’d need at least that amount to keep watch on everyone.
The big brother I’m talking about is Beijing, the city. As an imperial capital, Beijing looms large over London, Vienna, Prague, Rome and the other (some former imperial) European capitals. Even compared to Washington DC, which is probably the closest there is in modern times to an imperial capital, Beijing is more impressive.
Beijing has undergone a massive reconstruction program in the last few years. It was visible when I was here last a year before the Olympics. But things develop so rapidly here, it’s hard to fathom. Of course, when you have literally millions of working hands, the speed of construction becomes understandable.
Beijing exudes power, authority, muscle, clout. The wide boulevards, sometimes twelve lanes in the middle of the city, are lined with massive steel and glass towers. The overwhelmingly impressive array of architectural creativity – all of it Chinese – cannot but strike awe into anyone who visits here. This is a serious WOW factor.
Modern Beijing is also a playful city. The Beijingren (people of Beijing) are, in general, a happy bunch. They are talkative and gregarious, curious and outgoing, cheerful and hospitable. I get the impression that prior to the Olympic Games, the citizenry was encouraged to learn some Basic English, which they are all too keen to try out on every visitor. I cannot count how many conversations went like this:
“Hallo Sir!” – hello
“Where you from?” – Israel – Puzzled look – Yutairen (Jewish people) – “Ah! Very Smart!”
Alternately,
“Where you from?” – Canada/Spain/Germany/Brazil .
“Canada/Spain/Germany/Brazil very beautiful country.” – Thank you.
“You are very handsome man.” – Thank you.
Or, when haggling at the market, the standard response to my low counter offer on any asked price would be “You are killing me!”
Meeting with the Beijingren in the night market where folks go out to eat cheap and plentiful food (if you consider it to be food; among the offerings there are snakes, scorpions, and varied wriggling things) is an absolute delight.
But the sky of Beijing is brown, and it’s a pity. The impressive measures taken by officialdom prior to the Olympic Games has been allowed to fall by they way. The air of Beijing is horribly polluted. The sky is brown. And nothing but a serious downpour of rain will clean it up – and even then only for a day or two. In my opinion, the alternate day rule for cars should be reintroduced, and polluting factories should be fined into compliance with the yet-to- be legislation requiring purer air for the capital. It’s a blight on this otherwise wondrous place.
In one of Beijing’s Hutong districts I was hosted by a local family in their courtyard home. Beijing was once filled with these, but they have mostly been torn down to make way for the expansion and rapid modernization of this city. I have written before about the effort the Beijing government placed upon the new public housing. So much investment has gone into making Beijing’s suburbs attractive and pleasant to the eye; the great lengths to which they have gone to ensure an esthetic and green environment around the multitude of apartment buildings, is simply admirable.
And Beijing is not a poor city by any stretch of the imagination. Just down the street from my hotel on Wanfujing Street were the following four car dealers all in a row: Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Ferrari and Maserati. They were opposite the Legendale Hotel which makes the word ‘opulent’ seems like ‘slum.’ I have never seen lodgings anything quite like this.
And the crowds. Oh, the crowds. My best underestimation is that on a bad day the Forbidden City must get half a million visitors. The big advantage is that the place is HUGE! It wasn’t called a city for nothing. Far more than a palace, it is a site, a location, an experience. The numerous halls and pavilions are overwhelming. The offices of the officialdom and the homes of the concubines, the courtyards and the passageways, the yellow imperial roofs and the red imperial walls, the marble – how much marble!
There are a number of sites which are must-see places here in Beijing: The Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, The Temple of Heaven and Jingshan Park, The Lama Temple and Ho Hai Lake, the Spirit Way and the Ming Tombs, and of course, a mere 40 kilometers out of the city you can walk on the most impressive item of all, the Great Wall of China. If you have some free time, take a jaunt over to the City Museum of Beijing. A wonderful modern Museum built in the best spirit of Feng Shui; it has an amazingly balanced design that incorporates everything that Beijing ever was and is.
General McArthur best summed up my feelings about Beijing when he said (yes, I know, about a completely different place): “I shall return.”
The big brother I’m talking about is Beijing, the city. As an imperial capital, Beijing looms large over London, Vienna, Prague, Rome and the other (some former imperial) European capitals. Even compared to Washington DC, which is probably the closest there is in modern times to an imperial capital, Beijing is more impressive.
Beijing has undergone a massive reconstruction program in the last few years. It was visible when I was here last a year before the Olympics. But things develop so rapidly here, it’s hard to fathom. Of course, when you have literally millions of working hands, the speed of construction becomes understandable.
Beijing exudes power, authority, muscle, clout. The wide boulevards, sometimes twelve lanes in the middle of the city, are lined with massive steel and glass towers. The overwhelmingly impressive array of architectural creativity – all of it Chinese – cannot but strike awe into anyone who visits here. This is a serious WOW factor.
Modern Beijing is also a playful city. The Beijingren (people of Beijing) are, in general, a happy bunch. They are talkative and gregarious, curious and outgoing, cheerful and hospitable. I get the impression that prior to the Olympic Games, the citizenry was encouraged to learn some Basic English, which they are all too keen to try out on every visitor. I cannot count how many conversations went like this:
“Hallo Sir!” – hello
“Where you from?” – Israel – Puzzled look – Yutairen (Jewish people) – “Ah! Very Smart!”
Alternately,
“Where you from?” – Canada/Spain/Germany/Brazil .
“Canada/Spain/Germany/Brazil very beautiful country.” – Thank you.
“You are very handsome man.” – Thank you.
Or, when haggling at the market, the standard response to my low counter offer on any asked price would be “You are killing me!”
Meeting with the Beijingren in the night market where folks go out to eat cheap and plentiful food (if you consider it to be food; among the offerings there are snakes, scorpions, and varied wriggling things) is an absolute delight.
But the sky of Beijing is brown, and it’s a pity. The impressive measures taken by officialdom prior to the Olympic Games has been allowed to fall by they way. The air of Beijing is horribly polluted. The sky is brown. And nothing but a serious downpour of rain will clean it up – and even then only for a day or two. In my opinion, the alternate day rule for cars should be reintroduced, and polluting factories should be fined into compliance with the yet-to- be legislation requiring purer air for the capital. It’s a blight on this otherwise wondrous place.
In one of Beijing’s Hutong districts I was hosted by a local family in their courtyard home. Beijing was once filled with these, but they have mostly been torn down to make way for the expansion and rapid modernization of this city. I have written before about the effort the Beijing government placed upon the new public housing. So much investment has gone into making Beijing’s suburbs attractive and pleasant to the eye; the great lengths to which they have gone to ensure an esthetic and green environment around the multitude of apartment buildings, is simply admirable.
And Beijing is not a poor city by any stretch of the imagination. Just down the street from my hotel on Wanfujing Street were the following four car dealers all in a row: Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Ferrari and Maserati. They were opposite the Legendale Hotel which makes the word ‘opulent’ seems like ‘slum.’ I have never seen lodgings anything quite like this.
And the crowds. Oh, the crowds. My best underestimation is that on a bad day the Forbidden City must get half a million visitors. The big advantage is that the place is HUGE! It wasn’t called a city for nothing. Far more than a palace, it is a site, a location, an experience. The numerous halls and pavilions are overwhelming. The offices of the officialdom and the homes of the concubines, the courtyards and the passageways, the yellow imperial roofs and the red imperial walls, the marble – how much marble!
There are a number of sites which are must-see places here in Beijing: The Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, The Temple of Heaven and Jingshan Park, The Lama Temple and Ho Hai Lake, the Spirit Way and the Ming Tombs, and of course, a mere 40 kilometers out of the city you can walk on the most impressive item of all, the Great Wall of China. If you have some free time, take a jaunt over to the City Museum of Beijing. A wonderful modern Museum built in the best spirit of Feng Shui; it has an amazingly balanced design that incorporates everything that Beijing ever was and is.
General McArthur best summed up my feelings about Beijing when he said (yes, I know, about a completely different place): “I shall return.”
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
A Great Testimony from Zimbabwe
This is a note I just received from one of our pastors in Zimbabwe that is doing a fantastic job in an area that is one of the most difficult places I have ever been. It is difficult because almost nothing grows in this area and the people are very poor and hard towards many things. Take a look at this report.
CHAMBUTA CHURCH “TESTIMONY”
The lord remembered me by allowing the man of God in to my life. I was ill most of the time before I met Pastor Mafukidze. I usually felt dizzy and had a heart attack. Before the Lord was introduced in my life, this problem hounded me for a long time. When I was introduced to the man of God I received my healing.
The Pastor did not stop teaching me that with God all things are possible .I also had a marital problem because my husband had gone to South Africa to seek for employment and had not returned for a period of 2 years. This was a very difficult time for me and the children. I had no money for school fees food, clothes, and other necessities. I introduced the matter to the church and we prayed over it . I am happy now to say my husband has since returned home.
I was hoping for something good after his arrival but he wanted to divorce me. I went to the Pastor for councelling.The man of God did his best to help me as he was lead by the lord. Our marriage was restored praise God.
Having failed with the above trials, the devil thought if he could introduce illness in the house I could be blamed for demon infecting my child. My child became very sick that day that people were so astonished.Pst Mafukidze prayed with us and our child was miraculously healed.
For our daily food the lord blessed our field the moment the man of God prayed for the seeds and the field. Even working in the field was not tiresome because we prayed every time before working I the fields.
This shows the power of God in my life with God nothing is impossible.
A testimony from Mrs. G Samu
SUBMITTED BY PASTOR .G.MAFUKIDZE
CHAMBUTA CHURCH “TESTIMONY”
The lord remembered me by allowing the man of God in to my life. I was ill most of the time before I met Pastor Mafukidze. I usually felt dizzy and had a heart attack. Before the Lord was introduced in my life, this problem hounded me for a long time. When I was introduced to the man of God I received my healing.
The Pastor did not stop teaching me that with God all things are possible .I also had a marital problem because my husband had gone to South Africa to seek for employment and had not returned for a period of 2 years. This was a very difficult time for me and the children. I had no money for school fees food, clothes, and other necessities. I introduced the matter to the church and we prayed over it . I am happy now to say my husband has since returned home.
I was hoping for something good after his arrival but he wanted to divorce me. I went to the Pastor for councelling.The man of God did his best to help me as he was lead by the lord. Our marriage was restored praise God.
Having failed with the above trials, the devil thought if he could introduce illness in the house I could be blamed for demon infecting my child. My child became very sick that day that people were so astonished.Pst Mafukidze prayed with us and our child was miraculously healed.
For our daily food the lord blessed our field the moment the man of God prayed for the seeds and the field. Even working in the field was not tiresome because we prayed every time before working I the fields.
This shows the power of God in my life with God nothing is impossible.
A testimony from Mrs. G Samu
SUBMITTED BY PASTOR .G.MAFUKIDZE
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