Holy Moments and Hosting Visitors

We hosted another learning tour. This time the group came from The Meeting House, a large Brethren in Christ church based out of Toronto, Canada. From what I understand, they have a heart for southern Africa and are beginning a several year partnership with MCC. Through this partnership they are sending multiple teams each year to visit the various MCC programs within southern Africa. So last week, they visited Mozambique.

When I worked for DOOR, I sometimes wondered what my job had to do with my larger passions for life -- international peoples and social justice -- particularly because the majority of my work was in the national office. Now, three years after leaving DOOR, I am discovering that the adminstration skills and understanding of how to organize short term groups to visit a new place are coming into play. It's one of those mysteries of life that I find facinating how God weaves all parts of our lives together into a bigger picture that we don't see until much later.

The group arrived on Thursday and left the following Tuesday. It's good to host visitors (that sounds extremely African! They say in Moz that a house isn't a home unless it receives visitors.) Perhaps it sounds selfish to say how much I learn from seeing new perspectives. I like having people come because it shows me again where God is moving and how there is hope when often it seems to have become common place in daily living.

We visited an day time drop in center devoted to working with orphans affected by HIV. The group did a great job intereacting with the children. They had all sorts of games planned for the kids. In the morning, we visited a preschool. Suddenly the preschool was filled with not just preschoolers but older children, teens and mothers from the neighborhood curious to find out what this group of foriegners were doing. The kids played "pato, pato, ganso" (duck, duck, goose), the hokey-pokey, and listened to a story about Zacchaeus. In the afternoon, they interacted with older children (who got the idea of duck, duck goose really fast) and also had relays and played with a parachute.

We visited one of the Brethren in Christ (BIC) Theological Education by Extension (TEE) classes. TEE is a way that the BIC church in Mozambique is training its pastors in understanding the Bible, theology and what it means to be a pastor. Each week, the pastors go through a chapter of lessons then they meet once a week together to go over the material. The BIC church has added two additional components to the weekly meetings--discussions about what it means to be a pastor and a half hour discussion about what is happening in the pastors' communities. Through these discussions, one of the churches dug a well to help with the community's lack of water (we met at that church). So, we listened to the TEE class and in the afternoon, listened to the BIC HIV/AIDS project coordinators talk with the people present about HIV. The BIC's are developing an education program that is reaching out to their pastors through the TEE classes and regional conferences to talk about HIV and the church's response to people affected by HIV. As we listened to both the TEE class and the teaching about HIV, it felt like a holy moment because of how this burgeoning church is working to develop itself and spread Christ's love to their communities.

Sunday we worshipped with two of the BIC churches. Like I wrote earlier, an African house isn't a home without visitors. The same applies to churches and to receive a delegation like we had, was a cause for celebration. At the end of the service, the church members presented all the women (and me too) with matching capulanas and the men in the group with handkerchiefs as appreciation for visiting them. It was a good bonding time between the three churches and a greater understanding for all how global the church is.

Monday, we listened to the United Church of Christ's Women's Society talk about their savings group project. Once again, Dona Cristina and her husband shared how the savings groups are transforming their churches, communities and women's families. We visited a group and they shared how it is affecting them directly. Because of the savings group, some have opened up small stores which they then are able to give more to the church through their offerings. It was amazing how this group of women expressed their new found freedoms that this project is helping them to claim. Women who formerly would have sat in silence in the precense of the president of the denomination and foreign men and women, talked freely with their heads raised and making eye contact with us. Their eyes spoke of the confidence this group has helped them find. Again a holy moment and revelation how God is using something as simple as a wooden box, two locks and a group of people to transform lives.

Like I wrote in November about the learning tour from the Canadian Food Grains Bank having groups come to understand the complexities of life here is important. We in North America are talking more and more about the need to think about how our lives are interconnected with people from all over the globe. Learning tours like this help us understand people and they us. My hope is that from these visits, perhaps, God will call some to come and stay for a while, not just come for 1-2 weeks, but to come for several years. In the meantime, thanks for coming!

To read more about the group's thoughts and experiences in Mozambique, check out their blog at: http://africa.themeetinghouse.ca/?p=5 I wish I had photos to share of the group but I abided by their decision to have one photographer at a time so perhaps when I get their pictures, I can post some.