Many of you have read the story about me hearing clearly from God that I needed to GO somewhere. Most of you don’t know the story about how Africa works into this equation. In 2021, I renewed my passport and listed Honduras as my Intended destination. Clear Creek was not going on mission trips at the time due to Covid, but I saw lots of trips in and out of Honduras and thought I could sledgehammer my way into a trip.
I remember asking Aaron in the hall one day after church, “When we were going
to GO somewhere?” He shared with me the concerns that Church had about “getting
stuck“ somewhere. What if we went to a country that went into Covid lockdown
and we couldn’t get home? What if one of our members turned up with Covid and
had to quarantine in that country? Would we leave them? Would the whole party
stay? What were the testing and vaccine requirements? What if they changed?
There were just too many unknowns to risk a trip during such uncertain times.
As sad as I was, I understood. I began to pursue other avenues outside of Clear
Creek. I met with a gentleman who runs Impact Junkie. We spoke about my heart
for missions, and what I wanted to do when I went somewhere. I listened to all
the podcasts and learned as much as I could about their mission. As intrigued
as I was by his organization, I just couldn’t seem to get plugged in.
Then I went to lunch with Nick and Ali after I finished their book (shameless
plug for What Comes Next?). We talked through a lot of things. Nick suggested
that we just make our own mission trip. I was 100% on board with that, but it
never came to fruition. Shortly thereafter, I attended a hackathon with Nick, Ali,
and KSBJ. I met a few people there and put out some feelers. More dead ends. It
felt like one closed door after another.
I won’t say that I gave up, but I got frustrated and I backed off. My small group gently
reminded me that God has a very different timetable than we do. They encouraged
me to be patient. As hard as it was, I tried. It really did feel like I was being
taunted. It seemed like every sermon had to do with GOING. It seemed like every
story that Story Team published had to do with missions. I just couldn’t understand
why I couldn’t seem to GO.
I was sitting in a sermon in January 2023. I’d have to go back and listen to it
again. I don’t really remember what the sermon was about. I know we were in the
middle of a study on Awakening, and I know that Aaron mentioned our will
aligning with God’s will. He said something to the effect of, “God won’t ask
you to go to Africa, unless he has laid it on your heart to go to Africa.“ How
funny, I thought. Africa! Who even goes to Africa anymore? I was still very
much waiting on my opportunity to go somewhere, but the Caribbean just really
seemed like the only place to go.
Fast forward just a beat to February. Two full years after the ice apocalypse.
I scheduled a meeting with Aaron about something completely unrelated to
missions. As I sat in his office and we talked through my role at the church,
he asked me what else was on my mind. I brought up to him my frustrations and
the following conversation took place.
A: So what else is on your mind?
Me: I want to GO somewhere.
A: What do you mean?
Me: I’ve been trying to go on a mission trip for two years and I just can’t
seem to make it happen.
A: Well you’re not being blacklisted. Where do you want to go?
Me: ANYWHERE. Literally anywhere Clear Creek goes, I’ll go.
A: Spain?
Me: Yeah I’ll go to Spain.
A: Mozambique?
Me: (in my head… where the heehaw is Mozambique? That’s in Africa, yeah?)
Out loud: yeah I’ll go to Mozambique.
He threw a few others out there, but I couldn’t tell you what they were now because I literally heard nothing else. I
was instantly bought in to this country that I knew nothing about. I went home,
thinking that I would need to learn to speak Swahili. I went to the library and
checked out every book on Mozambique I could find. Fiction, non-fiction. It
didn’t matter. I learned all about Gorongosa National Park and the restoration
attempts made over the last 20 years. I learned about the Portuguese
colonization of Mozambique. I learned that I would need to learn to speak
Portuguese, not Swahili. I learned about their civil war and the treatment of
the Mozambican people. I threw myself heart and soul into learning everything I
could about Mozambique and their history, culture, art, food – you name it. I
could not get this place out of my head.
A week or two later, Greg Poore spoke at East 96 all about his adventures in
Mozambique. There was a podcast about his adventures with Richard Sarpong. I
listened intently to every word. One day, I opened the Apple news app to learn
all about a devastating storm that was headed to Mozambique. I learned all
about how they have lost all their crops in a storm the year before and how
they were so worried about losing another year of enterprise. I was praying for
their safety. I was praying for provision. Everywhere I looked, there it was. Mozambique. I still could not get these people
out of my head. Or my heart.
A week or so later, I ran into Greg and Karl Garcia at red river BBQ. Let me
insert here that I am not a fan of barbecue. Please don’t hate me for hating
BBQ. My point is that the odds of me sitting down in a barbecue restaurant are
pretty slim. The odds of me sitting down in a barbecue restaurant and running
into Greg a week after a sermon he preached on Mozambique? Long shot. Super
long shot. Greg walked past my table and I stopped him. I told him that I was
completely wrecked. I told him that I had a heart for Mozambique and its
people. I told him that I couldn’t get it out of my head. I told him that if
the opportunity presented itself to go back, I wanted in on that mission trip.
I finished my lunch with my friends and got up to leave. When I stood up, Greg
and Karl stood up. I went over to say goodbye and Greg said, “We’ve just been
talking here while we eat our lunch. We want you to go on our next trip to Mozambique.”
Tears sprung to my eyes. I wanted to believe it, but I was hesitant. Africa. If
I somehow couldn’t manage to get to the Caribbean, how could I get to Africa?
And THAT is how I came to put my name on the list to GO to Mozambique.
To be continued…
