Friday! It's almost Friday, ya'all!! Eeek! This Friday I'll pick up my hiker's backpack, into which I've packed my little life, tent and all, and head back to Mozambique for some serious camping adventures. Yeah, that's right...CAMPING. IN MOZAMBIQUE. OMG. What's the purpose of this craziness, you ask?
Manchester UMC, in it's total awesomeness, funded a primary school in the middle of the bush at their partner church, Mabumbuza UMC. The building was recently completed and we are going to both dedicate the building and engage in conversations with the Bishop of Mozambique, the leaders of the Mabumbuza community, and government officials about the next steps in increasing access to primary education in the country. Because of the great travel required to Mabumbuza, camping is sort of our only option in achieving our goal of spending significant time with the community...showers are overrated anyway, right?
What is so super rad about this trip is that it's not just another short-term mission trip to some unknown land. It's not just two weeks of feel-good, drop-in, head-out, never-meet-again ego stroking. This trip is the fruit of a loooong partnership, harking back to 2002; it's the culmination of years of investing in the lives of one another - Missourians investing in Mozambicans, Mozambicans investing in Missourians -and mutually responding to real needs in sustainable ways. Manchester UMC and Mabumbuza UMC have been together in ministry for 12 years, and this visit is dedicated to celebrating the depth and richness of this history while strategically investing in the future of this relationship.
Longevity.
Investment.
Commitment.
These are the hallmarks of what makes mission and service work. I'm proud to be a part of this initiative in that we are about relationships. We are about partnership. We are about people. And these things take time...so much time, in fact, that sometimes you have to pitch a tent and forgo showering. Check out this video to learn more.