Bush Bush of Africa

What’s up guys! Another amazing week in Mozambique Africa! I hope all of you guys are enjoying the cooler weather while it gets hotter every day here. No longer is it a joke about going outside and cooking stuff on the pavement, because from 10-3pm I probably really could. This week I just want to purely tell about my experience in the bush bush of Africa. There are so many things to tell and explain but I really genuinely just want to tell you how amazing and fun it was and try to paint the picture of true Africa outside the city and city villages, otherwise known as the bush bush.

The bush bush is anything basically 2 hours drive or more outside of any city, which basically means that about 90% of Mozambique is considered bush bush. If you go about 10 hours drive or more from a city it’s called the bush bush bush haha. We only had a six hour ride to our destination which was very interesting. We managed to pack about 12 people in the back of a big truck and the roads are anything but paved haha. After about 3 hours it started to poor and it just so happened that our trucks cover was torn all over. Therefore we stopped and fit about 25 people in the back of one bigger truck. We were soaked and now standing or kneeling on the bumpiest ride ever haha it was quite exciting! The bush bush is like nothing I have ever seen before. Whoever said over population is going to happen is quite unintelligent because there was enough open land to fit millions and millions. Nothing but dead trees and dirt for hours everywhere around the village we arrived at. Now if you remember when I stayed in the village about 10 minutes from where I am staying kids were a little scared of white people. Some of the kids in the bush bush were literally scared to get within 10 yards of me until they got warmed up to me.

The kids were by far my favorite part by the end of the trip. Forget everything I have ever told you about poverty in Pemba (the city I am staying by). Being in true Africa amongst the village gave me a whole new idea of poverty. Some kids were walking around with no pants while others had rashes all over their head. I know I have mentioned poverty quite a bit but this last story changed me forever and thought it should be shared. After breakfast we had some left over rolls and thought it would be good to share it with the village kids. So one of the mommas of the village started handing out the rest of the bread rolls one by one. Everything was going smoothly until one person soon realized there wasn’t going to be enough for everybody. Madness broke out amongst the children and fights started everywhere as I literally saw the box fly in the air. Although it was over quick it seemed like it lasted forever. All I could do was look at the ground and try to process what I just saw. One moment they act like they are all related, and the next they are punching each other in the face for the last piece of bread. Even the Christian Mozambiquans take part in this and other situations similar. The Lord began speaking to me that it is because the principality of poverty that exists over these people, they may fight for a piece of bread when they have rice and beans waiting for them at home. It’s almost like the devil lies to them and sais they must steal and fight to survive when it’s not true in most cases.

After breakfast we split up into teams to go house to house and share the gospel or encourage other Christians. The first house we stopped at was 5 guys and a woman sitting outside the house hanging out. We soon figured out 3 were muslim and 3 were Christian. I learned so much from this house. The problem here in Africa if any of you come will soon find out is discipleship. Most of these Christians say they are Christians because they accepted Jesus as their savior and Lord one day a long time ago which definitely makes them saved. But after that day of being saved they were never once told how to live a life full of Jesus and living out the destiny that is prepared for them. And the majority of Muslims have never heard the true gospel. They only get the messed up version that their mosque feeds them. After about 45 minutes of talking the one Muslim wanted Jesus and the husband and wife of the house were going to go to church on Sunday but said they were not ready to accept Jesus. It amazed me how simple the questions these people were asking! Missionaries come here all the time and preach the gospel in huge meetings but no one ever stays to disciple the village. I am so serious when I say any of you who know Jesus that are reading this could easily come to a village that has about 1000 people and disciple the whole village to growing into intimacy with the Father. It’s not a joke. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few has become so real to me. We visited a couple other houses that ended in many simple questions and answers that I’m sure most of you could have answered. This is just an example that Jesus just wants us! These people just wanted us and the simple answers and friendship we had to offer. We weren’t some crazy bold people walking in with the anointing of apostle Paul. We just gave these people our time and lead at least 5 people to Jesus. Yea I guess that’s a decent morning.

After relaxing and hanging out with the kids for the rest of the day we began to get ready for the night. The whole night consists of us driving another hour to the other village, meeting the chief, king and elders of the village, play around with the kids for a couple hours and then show the famous Jesus Film on a projector screen for everyone to see. After arriving we all got on our knees and met the king who is basically the overseer of three different villages and this was one of them. He was a wonderful man that was full of laughter. It was funny to think that even the chief and elder had ripped up clothes. Before I knew it I found myself in front of about 200 kids imitating everything I did haha. If I raised my right hand they raised their right hand, if I jumped they jumped etc. It was basically a huge game of Simon Sais accept nobody gets out. They thought it was quite funny. About 30 minutes later I got asked to play in a soccer game against the villagers. I hate soccer and I am not going to explain how the one goal we lost was my fault ha. After all the playtime it was game time. Everybody started setting up the sound equipment and the film screen while the village began to crowd around.

Before I knew it there was about 4-500 people right in front of our faces ready to listen to whatever we had to say. At this moment things were shifting in the spirit all around us. Battle broke out that we couldn’t see but could feel all around us. One of our girls immediately started throwing up, and another one began to get severe attacks from the devil. Others noticed stuff happening all around the crowd that could easily be scene as schemes of satan. So they all began to intercede as me and the girl went up to share our testimonies before the film. I never enjoyed being in front of 4-500 people so much in my life. After sharing my story and giving a quick little preach it was time for the movie. Needless to say they love watching movies haha. After a 2 and a half hour movie of the life of Jesus and what he did the lead pastor came up and preached. After a quick sermon the entire team came forth and boldy told anybody with sickness to come down to the front to receive prayer, whether it be for a blessing which mostly was, or to be prayed for healing. I could sit here and say everybody got healed that I prayed for but here is the reality. Although many kids gave me thumbs up and smiled and did all sorts of things after being prayed for healing I don’t speak one bit of their language and their was no true way of knowing because most of their sicknesses were in their stomach and head, nothing physically scene. There was one momma though that couldn’t even raise her shoulder before me and two others started praying and by the end she was doing windmills with her shoulder and stretching it in every angle. Hundreds stormed the front to where literally bigger kids were shoving little kids out of the way to be prayed for first. I have never seen people so hungry in my life to receive prayer it was amazing.

The goal of the whole experience is to plant a church and disciple the village with a local pastor. This experience will be remembered for the rest of my life. To think I am going to be doing stuff like that for two weeks in Zimbabwe gets me pretty pumped! I only have 10 full class days left and a little over two weeks total before I go to Zimbabwe! I might not be able to post a blog next week just a heads up!

Thanks again for taking the time and reading what’s going on in my life and over here it really means a lot! And a special shout out to my bros from Allen you guys know who you are I love yall so much! Have a great week everybody may it be overflowing with joy like Paul spoke of!