MOZAMBIQUE 2010 - Musings and Untold Stories

Lichinga, Mozambique

December 21, 2010

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Musings and Untold Stories

A while back we sent out an email with these musings that our team sat down and came up with. I have included them below here on this blog post. But there have also been a lot of other stories that we haven't shared on our blog. We wanted to be able to write them down and share them with people. Some of them are funny about our life in Africa. Some of them are more serious aspects concerning the culture in Mozambique. We hope you enoy them.

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Sometimes I just get a craving to go get a good burger and fries, but then I have to take the cost into consideration and when factoring in the plane ticket it just seems too expensive. ~Jesse~

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You know your in Mozambique when you are on your fifth day of Malaria fever and rats are crawling between your mattresses on your bed and biting your butt. ~Christian~

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In Lichinga the difference between the city and the villages is that in the city many people approach you wanting to be your friend in order for you to give them something or take them to America, but when first arriving to a village everyone flees from you in terror confident that you have come to cook them and eat them for dinner. ~Jesse~

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You know you are in Mozambique when what is suppose to be the main road reminds you more of ski moguls or a motor cross track. ~Jesse~

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You know the feeling that someone is watching you? Try every time you walk anywhere seeing that everyone is watching you, talking about you, with many pointing and calling out “Whitey”! ~Tanya~

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There can be embarrassing moments while learning a new language. Once when I was trying to say to a local, “to drink water” it came out instead “to poop water”, and we did not know why they were laughing. ~Christian~

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Evangelists in the States often have to come up with a good method to gather people to hear the message, like a good band or performance etc. Here all you need to do is show up in a village and be white and within minutes you can have hundreds gathered waiting to see why you came. ~Jesse~

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You know you are in Mozambique when two showers a week is a luxury ~Christian~

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You know you are in Mozambique when you think you got a good tan, but then you take a shower and turn two shades lighter, ~Tanya~

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You know you are in Mozambique when you are at church and the Lady giving her testimony flops out her boob to feed her crying kid and even when the kid is finished, leaves it hanging out there the rest of the service. ~Christian~

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When crossing Mozambican bridges, while hearing the cracks and pops of rotted logs shaking beneath us, Our hearts jump at the possible free car wash and swim that might occur any moment.
~Christian~

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Being honest people is hard when the entire country is run through bribes. ~Jesse~

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It is good and considered healthy to be fat here. Once I was politely complimented by one of our Mozambican coworkers about how fat I was looking, and I replied that I hope to lose the extra wait soon, he answered, No! You will get bigger and bigger and bigger until you walk like, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! (it was a compliment) ~Tanya~

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We have a good variety of shops here in town, until going inside you realize they all carry the same limited supply of the same 36 items. ~Jesse~
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Can somebody please invite Smokey the Bear to Mozambique. ~Christian~

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While shaking or holding peoples hands in the villages, the crusty feelings of their hands reminds you that they don't use toilet paper here, and again you are reminded when sitting to eat with them while digging your hand into the same food plates of Shema and sauce. ~Jesse~

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The word for breakfast in Mozambican means (kill-the-bug). But in reality you are just giving more nourishment for the families of worms in your stomach. ~Christian~

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In Mozambique drunk, corrupt police walking around with AK-47's in hand causes you to feel safe?
~Jonas~

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In Mozambique an eight passenger van converts to a twenty-five passenger van without changing anything but your comfort. ~Jesse~

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Getting Struck By Lightning

One day, Jesse and I went outside our house in Lichinga to check out a storm that was rolling in. The rain was on it's way, but hadn't arrived in it's fury yet. We had heard the thunder and seen some lightning flashes nearby. Jesse and I were talking facing eachother, when all of the sudden a very bright light surrounds us and we hear the loudest snap we've ever heard, all while we feel the electricity entering through our heads and even leaving our bodies. My chest felt like my heart had stopped and restarted and my elbows hurt, as though the electricity made its' exit out my arms. Right as it happened, we were just in shock, looked at eachother and said, "Oh no!" We then ran into the house to get out of the storm. We had both been wearing shoes with good rubber heals. But we honestly believe that the Angel of the Lord encamped around us and saved us from death. In Mozambique, witch doctors often call down lightning to strike people they have been paid to curse and kill. If this was the case, it was once again proof that our God is bigger and stronger and makes their curses upon us null and void.

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Rats! Rats! Rats!

I believe that I have written in an earlier blog post the time that we had rats in our house when I was sick with malaria. But what I didn't explain was that there was a time when we were being overrun with rats. It was so bad that rats had actually found their way into our Nissan Terrano. I started seeing something that looked like rat feces. We weren't sure how it had gotten in. Perhaps through a small space in the vehicle's firewall. Anyway, one say I went into our truck to go somewhere. I wanted to use our GPS that was in the glove box. As I opened the glove box and reached in, I nearly grabbed a huge rat that was sleeping there. I believe it was then I screamed like a girl and ran out of the car. It made its' way further back under the dashboard after chewing through the GPS wires. Not long after that, we put out rat poison in the truck and never saw that particular rat again.

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Another time we were having a problem with rats coming into our house from underneath by actually biting through the cement floors. We had heard some noise one night in our room. We had heard them in our house before during the night, so Jesse had a machete next to his bed and I had an axe next to my bed; we were ready for our night visitors. I ran after the rat and it headed under the door into Jesse and Tanya's room. I yelled out to them that a rat had gotten into their room. Jesse spotted it and chopped at it with his machete, but missed. This rat was crazy-fast. As it ran out of their room and down the hall, I tried to smash it with the axe head. I hit the rat, but the axe head simply bounced off of this resilient rat. The rat then ran into the closet shelves up in the closet in our living room. Jesse began removing things from the closet. I was aiming a flashlight into the closet so he could see. All of the sudden we spotted the rat along the wall on the top shelf. Knowing it was cornered, the rat literally lunged out at me, nearly hitting me in the genitals. I lunged out of the way as it flew between my legs. We chased the thing into Jonas' room and finally killed it after striking it numerous times with the machete.

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MORE STORIES TO COME REAL SOON...

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Christian Young

UNITED STATES 2010 - Trip to Heritage Church in Ra1nier

Rainier, Oregon

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

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Sharing About our Travels at Heritage Church

Jesse had forwarded me a few emails of a guy named David Devine who had known his family when he was in school many years ago. I think that the Devines have been able to keep up with our journeys in Mozambique through Jesse and Tanya's email updates. Anyway, we had received an invitation to come and share about our missionary journeys at the Devines' church and we accepted the invitation.

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First we drove to Deer Island to have dinner with the Devine family at their home. Being the honest guy that I am, I'll tell you that we were already running about 20 minutes behind to dinner, and I had never driven those roads before. As I was trying to read our GPS to stay on the right roads, I wasn't paying attention to the speed limits and as I looked up saw the lights of a police car flashing in the rear view mirror. You have to know, I haven't had a speeding ticket for over 15 years now. But the very nice officer said that I was going 17 mph over the speed limit. He asked where we were going. I told him that we were missionaries and going to speak at a church. He took my information to his car. When he came back he asked if I wanted tithe to the city of Rainier. I chuckled and said, "no." He just gave me a warning and let us go. I think he was probably a believer. We thanked God for His favor in spite of my carelessness and made it 30 minutes late to dinner.

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After dinner, we headed back to Rainier and made it to Heritage Church. It is a small church that rents a building from a Russian Pentecostal Church. We already knew going into this that it was a more traiditional church than we are used to. The people were so warm and gracious. I played and sang, "Thanks To You," as I felt it was the way the Spirit of God was leading. We showed the edited version of "The Road To Tanzania." Then Jesse, Tanya and I shared about our missionary journeys. We could see the faith being stirred up in the hearers as we shared about all the miracles we saw God do in Mozambique. There was a question and answer time. Jesse prayed for the congregation. Then we had a time of fellowship afterwards where we continued to elaborate on our experiences and encourage the local believers. We also received some financial support from the church, which we never ask for; yet God provides for us.

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As we were leaving, David asked if we could pray for his sons; one of which was suffering with diabetes and rheumetoid arthritis, the other who wanted prayer for God's direction in his life. Jesse, Tanya and I laid hands on the boys and prayed for them. I believe that God had stirred up faith in David to ask us to pray for them. I haven't heard from them, but I am believing for a complete healing in their son. God is so good. It is so much fun to testify of the marvelous things we continue to see God do in and through our lives as missionaries.

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Christian Young

UNITED STATES 2010 - Sharing on Missions at Reveal Youth Group

Vancouver, Washington

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

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Reveal Youth Group at Whipple Creek Church

When we first got back from Mozambique to Washington on furlough we were able to share about our missionary journeys at Whipple Creek Church on a Sunday evening. Tonight we had the opportunity to share for a second time at our home church, but this time at Reveal Youth Group.

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Pastor James Porche recently took the reins of the Middle School and High School youth group at Whipple Creek Church and is doing a series on the Great Commission. I offered to come and share "The Road To Tanzania" video and share about our travels and he was excited about it. So after a time of worship that Jonas, Levi and Curtis led, we showed our video and shared about our journeys. We share a lot of stories as well as statistics about the unreached people groups of the world. Jonas shared as well about being a missionary at his age. It was awesome.

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We also wanted to have a time for prayer if God was stirring any of the students' hearts for missions. When we gave the invitation for prayer, most of the youth group came forward. Jonas and I laid hands on them and prayed for them all. We also had a time of prayer for any students who wanted prayer to receive a touch from the Holy Spirit and experience more of His power in their lives. It was a wonderful time and I believe that God has even called some of these students to go to the ends of the earth as missionaries.

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Christian Young

UNITED STATES 2010 - FacePlant Skate Comp Results

FacePlant 12-13-10 Skate Competition Results

We had a huge turnout at our first skate competition since moving SkateChurch locations to Ripzu Skate Park. Hero Yoon brought a crew from the FP Lab in Tigard. There was a lot of shredding taking place. A few of our local guys from SkateChurch placed. One big highlight was that our very own Ricky Brewer placed in the competition and was asked to ride for Era Skateboards. Check out the pictures and results of last nights' competition below:

YOUNGER/BEGINNER STREET PLACERS- 1st: Kyle Ward, 2nd: Corbin Raptis, 3rd: Chanse Gilbert

OLDER/ADVANCED STREET PLACERS- 1st: Ricky Brewer, 2nd: Nick Peterson, 3rd: Micah Ejah

YOUNGER/BEGINNER MINIRAP PLACERS- 1st: Kyle Ward, 2nd: Conor Carroll, 3rd: Chanse Gilbert

OLDER/ADVANCED MINIRAMP PLACERS- 1st: Joey Carnera, 2nd: Adam Freeman, 3rd: Ricky Brewer

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COMPLETE SKATE COMP RESULTS:

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YOUNGER/BEGINNER STREET:

1st Place: Kyle Ward - 60pts

2nd Place: Corbin Raptis - 44pts

3rd Place: Chanse Gilbert - 39.5pts

4th Place: Matthew Pitch - 36.5pts

5th Place: Austin Waite - 27.5pts

6th Place: Conor Carroll - 27pts

7th Place: Matthew Alexander - 26.5pts

8th Place: Daniel Diaz - 25.5pts

9th Place: Marilyn Danley - 23.5 pts

10th Place: Quentin Nass - 23pts

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OLDER/ADVANCED STREET:

1st Place: Ricky Brewer - 54.5pts

2nd Place: Nick Peterson - 50pts

3rd Place: Micah Ejah - 49pts

4th Place: Joey Carnera - 48.5pts

5th Place: Josh Newton - 45.5pts

6th Place: Franklin Richardson - 44.5pts

7th Place: Dominic Garcia - 36pts

8th Place: Victor Marquay - 26.5pts

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YOUNGER/BEGINNER MINIRAMP:

1st Place: Kyle Ward - 44pts

2nd Place: Conor Carroll - 31pts

3rd Place: Chanse Gilbert - 21pts

4th Place: Marilyn Danley - 15.5pts

5th Place: Daniel Diaz - 15pts

6th Place: Christian Stanton - 14.5pts

7th Place: Matthew Alexander - 13.5pts

8th Place: Corbin Raptis - 12pts

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OLDER/ADVANCED MINIRAMP:

1st Place: Joey Carnera - 43pts

2nd Place: Adam Freeman - 42pts

3rd Place: Dominic Garcia - 39.5pts

4th Place: Ricky Brewer - 39pts

5th Place: Anthony Grant - 36.5pts

6th Place: Josh Newton - 34.5pts

7th Place: Micah Ejah - 32pts

8th Place: Danny Hamilton - 29pts

9th Place: Alex Trautman - 28pts

10th Place: Quentin Nass - 26.5pts

11th Place: Franklin Richardson - 26pts

12th Place: Nick Peterson - 25pts

13th Place: John Hess - 21.5pts

14th Place: Victor Marquay - 20pts

15th Place: Jesse Elkinton - 4.5pts

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GREAT JOB TO EVERYONE WHO COMPETED!!! A special shout out to our judges: Travis Reeder, James Atchley, Zach Barazowski, Chad Stevens and Curtis Christnesen; to Bryan Neyman for timekeeping; to Cho Nas Chung for the photography; to Collin Whalen for the filming; to pam Knowles and Leeanne Hull for helping with the check-in madness; to Chris Gilbert and Ripzu Skate Park for help with the prizes and for always letting us shred your skate park on Monday nights.

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To all those who were new to FacePlant SkateChurch last night: Feel free to come and check us out every Monday night from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. Thank you all for coming out last night.

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Christian Young

FP SkateChurch Pastor

UNITED STATES 2010 - Ministry at the HOP in Bellingham

Bellingham, Washington

Saturday, December 11, 2010

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Leading Worship and Sharing About Missionary Journeys at IHOP

Ever since we attended and graduated the IRIS Ministries Harvest School of Missions in Pemba, Mozambique back in 2009, we have instantly had a connection with the students who were there with us. One of these students is Shannon Williamson. Shannon is from Bellingham, Washington and is in ministry at the Light of the World Prayer Center, which is an International House of Prayer. We got a chance to know Shannon and even lead worship with her at the Harvest School in Pemba. Ever since we have dialogued about coming to the HOP Bellingham to lead worship and share about missions.

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So it just worked out as our missionary partners and team members, Jesse and Tanya Gellatly, their daughter Zoe, along with us, as well as another IRIS classmate, Hillary Rhodes and Jesse's brother David and sister Grace had the chance to travel 5 hours north from Vancouver to Bellingham and minister at the Light of the World Prayer Center.

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We actually had a time of worship and preparation a couple of days before we left for Bellingham with Jesse and Tanya in our living room, as we knew that God was going to do many wonders on this trip. During our pre-Bellingham prayer and worship time, the Lord gave me a vision of the four corners of the mainland United States, Bellingham being the north-western most corner. Then I saw huge angels at each corner who had been sent there on an assignment. It was then I understand that through the prayer movement centralized at each of these four corners of mainland U.S., the angels began to lift something like a tarp in the shape of mainland United States and oil begin to flow from the four corners into every area of the United States. I knew it was symbolic of a revival of the Holy Spirit spreading through the States, yet I found it interesting that those four corners seem to be some of the least-churched, darkest areas of the United States. You would think that revival would flow from the central part of the U.S., or the "Bible Belt" to the four corners of the Unites States, but it was the opposite (Come to find out that this vision was confirmed by similar visions given prophetically in Bellingham in months prior to our trip there...thank you Jesus!).

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Anyway, we knew that God was up to something big. We headed out around 10am Saturday morning. As we were driving, Justine became so sick with back pain, stomach ache and headache. She was crying out in the back seat for us to pray. Of course we just prayed continually for her, but she didn't really imrove. Then I had Justine herself declare her healing in Jesus' name, and had her verbally break off any curses or demonic attacks. As soon as she did this, she was immediately healed. We were so thankful, and knew that it was even further confirmation that God wanted our family to be in Bellingham that day, and the enemy had caught wind of this.

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We arrived at Shannon's house and had a wonderful dinner that they had prepared for us. We had sweet fellowship. We met pastor Jason Hubbard, who is the leader of the Light of the World Prayer Center in Bellingham. Immediately I recognized it as a divine appointment and knew that we had kindred hearts for Jesus. From Shannon's it was off to the HOP where we started out by showing the full-length version of "The Road to Tanzania." Then we led a time of worship. The presence of the Lord was so tangible. I saw a vision of empty jars glistening with oil at the bottom and knew that the precious saints present needed prayer for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. Jesse and Tanya all laid hands on those who came forward for prayer, giving prophetic words and praying for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. After that prayer and ministry time, I shared the vision the Lord had given me in our living room.

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Jesse and Tanya then shared of our missionary journeys in Mozambique, which I know was stirring up faith in those present. We then had another wonderful time of ministry, focusing on God's calling on the lives of those at the HOP. Many, many other prophetic words and words of knowledge were given as people came forward again for more prayer. I believe that through word of knowledge a young woman was even healed of migrane headaches. It was such a wonderful time at the HOP in Bellingham. All were supportive of our team's missionary endeavors. And one of the highlights is the fact that through conversations with pastor Jason and something God had already laid on pastor Brett Aljets and my heart at Whipple Creek Church in Vancouver was that we are in the process of praying about starting a House of Prayer in Vancouver, Washington, as there is no HOP in Vancouver. We covet your prayers about this exciting possibility and believe that it is key for what God wants to do in the Vancouver area.

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Overall we had a wonderful evening of ministry and fellowship at the HOP in Bellingham. We are already making plans to return in February to "The Burn" prayer and worship conference at the Light of the World Prayer Center in Bellingham.

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Christian Young

UNITED STATES 2010 - FacePlant Skate Competition!!!

FACEPLANT SKATE COMPETITION at RIPZU - MONDAY, DECEMBER 13th

Please join us for our first FacePlant skate comp since we've moved locations to Ripzu Skate Park this Monday, December 13th. Registration will be from 5:30 to 6pm. Skate comp will start at 6pm. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Street and mini-ramp sections. Age and experience-based brackets. $4.00 to skate in the competition. Spectators are FREE! You won't want to miss out. Hope to see you there.

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Christian Young

FP SkateChurch Pastor