Out of Africa?

Mark Young World Traveler June 26th 2007 No comments yet  

Where We Are Now

I’m writing from the airport in Dubai. We flew overnight from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Dubai where we are connecting to a flight to Tunis, Tunisia. Although Tunisia sits on Africa’s northern coast, the culture and people are so different that it’s difficult to think of it as Africa. That’s why most people instinctively say “North Africa” when referring to countries like Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, and Morocco.

Where We Have Been

While in South Africa we stayed with Charlotte Moore, one of my students at DTS a few years back. Charlotte leads a ministry called Turn the …

Final thoughts on Mozambique

Mark Young World Traveler June 22nd 2007 No comments yet  

We left our friends in Maputo and have come to Johannesburg, South Africa, where we are staying with my former student, Charlotte Moore. Charlotte heads up a ministry called “Turn the Tide for Children.” More about that later.

Our ten days in Maputo went by far too quickly, and leaving dear friends is never easy. Some final reflections about our experience in this very complex and challenging mission environment will hopefully help you get a picture of what the Church here faces. Mozambique’s history, like every country’s past, powerfully shapes its present. Mozambique has been described as post-colonial and post-communist. After …

I’d like to choose what I eat.

Mark Young World Traveler June 20th 2007 4 comments so far  

Here in Maputo South Africa, we spent Tuesday with the local Opportunity International (OI) staff. According its website, OI’s mission is “to provide opportunities for people in chronic poverty to transform their lives.” Their core “business” is providing small loans to those who want to grow a business. After an orientation session in the main office we visited several groups of loan recipients. While each of the groups had its own character, they all had one thing in common–an unusual commitment to each person’s success. Most of the loan recipients have a stall in a market area where they …

Multi-cultural Worship

Mark Young World Traveler June 18th 2007 2 comments so far  

I thought you might enjoy my wife, Priscilla’s, reflections on the worship service we attended this morning in the country of Mozambique as part of a Missions trip. Here are her thoughts:

This morning we worshiped at the Malhangalene Baptist Church where our friend Isaias Uaene is the pastor. The church building is small, holding about 60, so there are two services. You talk about a “blended” worship experience, we had it this morning. The first service was at 7:30 and every bench was filled. The worshippers were Mozambican, Brazilian, American (us), Austrian, old and young. We began with …

Was a miracle sitting in my lap today? Day five in Maputo

Mark Young World Traveler June 16th 2007 2 comments so far  

Sitting in the open doorway on a concrete floor in a red checked dress, little Filomena lifted her arms and her liquid, dark brown eyes to a tall bearded stranger. All of the other kids at this remote one-story orphanage had either run out, or been carried out, to swarm the white guests who had just driven up into the red sandy yard. Already undersized at twelve months, she weighed little more than most babies half her age. Like one-third of the babies born to HIV positive mothers, Filomena tested positive soon after birth for the virus that …