Rachel's Reflections

How to write down something I don't fully grasp myself? How to explain something to others that's so hard to explain? Well, I'll give it a try. In Nampula last year, I wrote in my prayer journal, "[God] I want to follow You, wherever You would lead me. If it means back to the U.S., I will go. If it means to harder times, give me the strength to stand it... I want to live in Your will..." I've never desired to live in the United States. Maybe because I've spent almost half my life in Africa. I was born and raised in Kenya, interned in South Africa, and worked full-time as a missionary in Mozambique. Why would I want to live in the U.S.? It gets cold. It's harder to live a consistent Christian life. So in July, when I sensed God asking me to stay in the U.S., I balked at the idea. I loved Mozambique, loved all the people I'd gotten to know there, loved the work I got to do, loved my teammates. Why would I leave all that? What would I do in the U.S.? ...

She greeted us with big smiles and welcomed us inside. Introductions were made as best as possible. She introduced herself to me, proud to put her English lessons into practice. I learned she and her family fled Syria years ago and bounced between countries until finally arriving in Dearborn, Michigan. Well, with all but her oldest daughter whom she hasn't seen in years. She's never met her two grandchildren. "Very hard," she said to me, shaking her head, "very hard." Google translate became the central means of communication between everyone. She's an expressive lady and needs to say far more than her limited English will allow. She would press the  button to speak and we would read the translation. Sometimes this worked great, sometimes not. Despite language differences, we had a great visit. We filled the hours with smiles, laughter, savory lentil soup, thumbs-ups, and  thank yous. We consumed lots of tea and roasted watermelon seeds. Finally, the pur...

Imagine a kid shoving an object in your face and telling you to look at it. Can you see it clearly? Probably not. The object is too close to focus on. You have to put space between you and the object in order to fully see it. In order to gain perspective. - Suddenly, it clicked in my mind. I looked at the "senior saints" sitting in front of me in the church room and then back at my PowerPoint presentation behind me. We had done it. My team had accomplished one of our goals. I had just shared with this group the original two-fold vision of the Pemba team in early 2019: Share the Gospel with the Mwani people and mobilize Mozambican churches/Christians to get involved in ministry among the Unreached People Groups (UPGs) in the area. I looked back at the picture of the team in Nampula. There stood Nelio and Iza, a Mozambican couple now part of the team, with hearts longing to minister to the unreached in northern Mozambique. Not only that, but a Mozambican pastor has been partner...

What do you do about your ninja dogs when you're on a different continent from them? - I felt like I'd been hit by a curveball after listening to Evelyn's ten-minute voice note. So much news. So much to process. I collapsed onto the dining room chair where my parents were working and summarized it for them. "You need to do something about your dogs," Evelyn, my team leader's wife, had said. I focused on that first. I would process the rest later. What to do about poor Makala, brain damaged as a puppy from being stuck in a box in the hot sun for several hours before being rescued? About sweet Mocha who can melt a heart of ice with her beseeching eyes? About prancing Sokkies, queen of the yard?  Mocha "Maybe you can build a block wall to contain them," Evelyn had suggested. I laughed at the thought. Contain my ninja dogs? I had built a fence around a section of the yard to keep them away from visitors. They escaped. Many times. Over, or under, or throu...

There's no one driving the car! Or so I thought during my first week back in the US. Someone had cut my dad off while we were driving to visit my grandparents. Out of curiosity, I looked to see who the driver was. What!? I stared at the empty seat. There's no driver! It freaked me out. I looked again and still didn't see anyone in the driver's seat. Then I started laughing. I was looking at the right seat of the car. I looked over at the left seat and saw the driver. My parents gave me strange looks. "What?" my mom asked me. Everything had happened in my head except me laughing at myself. I told them and they laughed with me. In Mozambique, they drive on the opposite side of the road from the US. Not just that, but driving in Nampula stressed me out on a regular basis. It's sheer chaos. During rush hour once I counted four "lanes" going one way on a two-lane road. Two chapa vans tried to maneuver in front of me from my left and right with inch...

Am I crazy? Is this real? During my first week back in Michigan I started researching what it would take to get a second degree in counseling. Mainly out of curiosity. And I had time to kill. Also, I regret choosing a Christian Ministries degree over counseling only because Christian Ministries had fewer credits than the counseling degree.  "You qualify for the Master's program," the admissions guy told me, "and you would get a discount as an alumnus." I told him I needed a few days to think and pray about it. A Master's? I never thought I would even consider something like that,  I thought, b ut if I were to do it, then I should make the most of my time in the US and see if summer classes are possible.  I sent a message to the admissions counselor on a Wednesday afternoon asking about summer classes. "Tonight's the deadline for applications," he said. "I would just need a character reference for you from a pastor or mentor and ask you a f...

My whole team back in Mozambique went to Pemba to do Home Stays this week. They each stayed in the home of a Mwani believer for a few days to learn about the Mwani culture and language. I'm thankful that each of my teammates had the privilege to do this even though I never could because of the attacks, Covid, and other factors. When I asked Roseli how it went for her, she said it was great. The Mwani believer and her non-believing husband treated her super well. The husband surprised Roseli by helping his wife around the home, showing an interest in his kids and their education. This impressed Roseli since it's uncommon for a Mwani man to be that involved at home. A picture Roseli took during her Home Stay "The last night there," Roseli said, "I asked the Mwani believer if there was anything else she thought I should know about the Mwani culture. She looked me in the eyes and said ' it's very important to tell you that every unsaved Mwani is demon-possess...