Rachel's Reflections

What does it look like to cook Mozambican style? I arrived at Mama R's house at 8:00am for my Kimwani cooking lesson. She set me to work pounding peanuts. What an arm workout that is! Usually, early morning is a bit cooler, but I was dripping in sweat after several minutes and I was nowhere near done. After pounding the peanuts I pounded leaves into a pulp. Do you know how long it takes to pound leaves into pulp? A long time. After pounding the leaves, Mama R put them on to boil. Thankfully, she saw that I was tired and needed a break; she had me go home and rest while the leaves boiled. When I came back, she told me to grate two coconuts in order to make coconut milk for both the rice and the Matapa we were making.  I sat on the little bench and used the sharp, metal end to grate the coconut. Then I poured water over the coconut and squeezed out all of the coconut flavor to get coconut milk. I put half in a pot and put it over charcoal to boil before adding the rice. Most women I ...

Oh, what a tiny booklet can do to open the door to huge opportunities! On Monday I walked into Mama R's yard for my regular Kimwani lesson. I sat down next to her and greeted her. She greeted me back, then jumped up and went into the house. She came back with a small booklet. "Read this," she said. I stumbled through the Kimwani words, with pronunciation help from Mama R. An African father tells his children the story of Creation, Adam and Eve's sin, Jesus' birth, childhood, miracles, love for children, death, and resurrection. At the end, the son tells his parents he wants to be a child of God. He prays and asks God to forgive him and save him from his sins. What an incredible resource ! I thought to myself when I finished.  "You need to practice this so you can read it well," Mama R told me, "and teach it to children." A great idea,  I thought, surprised that she was the one suggesting it. "Can I borrow it to practice reading it to other...

Imagine being in your 80's and walking to the hospital with your granddaughter because you're not feeling well. She carries your great-granddaughter on her back and waits patiently as you hobble along. Going to the hospital isn't so bad, downhill all the way in the coolness of the morning, but coming back up the hill in the heat of midday? Oh, it's excruciating as pain shoots through your joints and lines your already wrinkled face. -- I went to visit Mama N Monday afternoon. When I arrived at her house an elderly lady on the porch thought I was from one of the organizations passing out food. Mama N told her no, I'm family. My heart warmed at those words. My friendship with Mama N began just over a year ago around the time her baby was born. She had a hunger for God's Word and desired to learn more about Jesus. She wanted to attend the next Bible study we held, but then Covid shut everything down and people started arriving from the northern villages. Now, she h...

I can be independent and stubborn at times. It's true. I think back to two years ago when Mama R asked me when I was going to hire a house helper. I didn't want to. I was capable of cleaning my own home and didn't need any help. Mama R helped me understand that it was expected of me to provide jobs for those in the community when possible. She introduced me to Mama F, a wonderful house helper! Now, I'm thankful for Mama F, for her friendship, hard work, and incredible ministry opportunity God has provided through her. When Mama F came to clean on Monday, I played the song,  O Grande Eu Sou (The Great I AM ) for her. She broke into a huge grin, singing along to the parts she remembered. It's her favorite song but she hasn't heard it since I left in July. I wanna be close / Close to Your side So Heaven is real / And death is a lie I wanna hear voices / Of angels above Singing as one Hallelujah / Holy, Holy God almighty / The great I am Who is worthy / None beside ...