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Burnt Rice
Posted 11 January 2012
By Carla
Last night we had fish and rice for dinner. I guess I had the electric burner on a little high, because the rice got a bit scorched and stuck to the bottom of the pot. The rest of it was fine, so we just scooped off the top and, after I put away the rest of the edible leftovers, I unceremoniously dumped the burnt bits into the trash.
Then I had a sudden flashback to another meal of fish and rice, a couple years ago and thousands of miles away from here.
In Mozambique we helped a vibrant jail ministry in our town, lots of prisoners turned to God to transform their lives and many came out as completely new men. A visitor from the States had been particularly touched by this ministry, and he helped fund it even after he returned home. One time he decided to send us enough money to make a meal of fish and rice for the entire prison of about 250 inmates, just to bless them. For hours the ministry team stood around two fires, one with a gigantic pot of rice and the other with a comparatively tiny skillet, frying up the mackerel in small batches of a 8-10 at a time. It took forever.
Before you can fully appreciate what this meal meant to the prisoners, let me tell you what their normal fare was. The staple food of much of Africa is a thick cornmeal mush, called xima, pap, massa, ugali, or sudza in various languages around the area where we were living. It didn't have much nutritional value, but it was cheap and filled the belly. At the prison they would add too much water, making it soupier and thus less filling, and throw a couple beans on top. Tiny portions. Once per day. If that were not bad enough, the guards were known to lace the cornmeal with tons of baking soda, which gave the prisoners diarrhea and made them feel weak all the time. That way, even if given an opportunity to escape, they probably wouldn't have the energy to do so. Always hungry. Always sick.
Finally the fish were all fried and we hauled all the food into the prison courtyard. The inmates lined up in a very orderly fashion, like 250 well-trained Oliver Twists, each carrying the item they used for a "bowl". Some had real plastic bowls or plastic containers, but many others had the cut off bottoms of jugs, some just a cup. They patiently waited in line, we served up the food in as large of portions as we could (and just trusted God to multiply it if we ran low before everyone was fed). Most thanked us with very appreciative smiles. They all quietly walked away and enjoyed their relative feast. It was all so organized and peaceful.
At the end, after the last prisoner walked away with his prized meal, we still had the bit of rice that was burned to the bottom (it's really hard to cook THAT much rice in a pot THAT big over an open fire without some of it getting burnt). Someone mentioned that there was a little bit left over and that they were welcome to have it...
Unlike the Oliver Twists of a few minutes before, no one came up to quietly ask, "Please, can I have more?"
On no. Chaos ensued.
At least 20 of the closest men all trampled over each other, yelled, punched, pushed, shoved, swarmed the pot and fought over those last little bits of burnt, barely edible rice. They were just that hungry. They were just that desperate.
We have no idea how good we have it. We will probably never know what it's like to be that desperate, to be willing to risk a black eye for the same thing I threw in the garbage last night.
"When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required" (Luke 12:47b).
O Christmas Tree...
Posted 27 November 2011
By Carla
Life and Choice
Posted 22 November 2011
By Carla
Happy Birthday
Posted 14 November 2011
By Carla
Failure and Regret
Posted 14 November 2011
By Carla
Where God Can Be Found
Posted 13 November 2011
By Carla
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up toheaven, you are there;
ifI go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wingsof the morning,
ifI dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there yourhand will guide me,
andyour strength will support me.
I could ask thedarkness to hide me
andthe light around me to become night—
but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
Toyou the night shines as bright as day.
Darknessand light are the same to you
Life, Death, and Hope
Posted 12 November 2011
By Carla
So here I am. Writing.
Posted 12 November 2011
By Carla
January-April in Dondo... Sheesh, did we go that long without an update?!
Posted 19 April 2011
By Carla
Hello everyone! Sorry it’s been a while since we have written, life is busy, and life in Africa is no exception!
We have the great pleasure of my (Carla’s) sister, Zhenya, visiting us until we return to the States! It has been so good having her and her friend, Janie, helping us out. We picked them up in South Africa, and there are some amazing ways God intervened in our time there so I’d like to share the testimonies! So we first went to the capital city of Maputo to visit our friends at the Iris base there. From there Jon took a bus to Johannesburg to meet the girls and another friend at the airport on one day and I took a bus the next day to Nelspruit, a town just across the border where we often get our visas renewed. We met up in Nelspruit at about 11:30, and from there tried to find the Mozambican embassy (since we had always been given a ride to it in the past we weren’t exactly sure how to get there). It took us a while to find it, which was a little nerve-racking because we knew that all visa applications have to be dropped off before 12:00 noon. We arrived at about 11:55 but they still let us come in and fill out the forms, and there was also a discrepancy between our applications and our letters of invitation, but they accepted us and gave us the kind of visa we asked for! If you knew how unreasonable that embassy has been toward us in the past, you would understand how big a miracle that was that we A) were able to apply even though we were late, B) got the right kind of visa, and C) were processed within the same day!
God’s provision didn’t stop there, on the next day we were trying to return to Mozambique and met a few roadblocks… Jon had rented a car in Jo’burg and thought that the rental place where he could drop it off was on the same block as the bus stop, so he dropped us off with just a few minutes before our bus was supposed to leave, was going to give the car back then walk down to meet back up with us. But… then he found out the car rental place moved all the way across town 2 years ago and they hadn’t updated their information on the website. It’s a pretty big town, and he figured by the time he found the place, turned the car back in and had it inspected, found a taxi, and got back to us our bus would have long ago come and gone. All of us at the stop were praying our bus would come late, so Jon took the car back, and a guy at the rental place felt bad about his situation so he offered to give Jon a ride back to the bus stop. Jon got back to us about an hour after our bus was *supposed* to have left, and just as we prayed, it was late! He got on with us and we all journeyed back to Mozambique together.
Things back in Dondo are going pretty well, the new preschool is running smoothly with about 50 children attending. It’s great fun having a younger set of kids on base, as most of the boys in our children’s center are 10-20.
The new church building construction is finally underway। The foundation is laid and the first few layers of cement blocks are already making their way up. The new structure is being built around the old one, which will still provide a roof over the church services while the new one is going up.
Jon is still giving his filming and computer classes, which are going well. The guys in the class are enjoying making DVDs of evangelism outreaches and selling them, then the people who buy them have been showing them to their neighbors, so the gospel goes out over and over in this new creative medium. One sad thing was we had 2 camcorders (our personal one and one for the base we planned on leaving behind), but both of them mysteriously broke a few weeks ago. They are still able to use a regular digital camera to take video, but the sound and picture qualities are considerably lower. We managed to send the camcorders back to the States to get them fixed, and we’re hoping the base one might make its way back before we leave.
Teaching in the Bible School has been a great experience for both of us, we have really enjoyed our class of students who are hungry to learn and eager to follow God. This week is the last week of the term, so we will be giving our final exams and then be done. We won’t be around long enough in the next term to teach again, and now I’m sad I didn’t get involved in the Bible School sooner in our time here.
Kyran turned 1 year old February 28th, and he is very active, walking and almost running now all over the place! He loves playing outside in the sand, swinging at the new playground, coloring with crayons, reading books, and getting into mischief whenever my back is turned :-). He is quite communicative with a few spoken words, a little bit of sign language, and a lot of pointing and yelling.
We’re very much enjoying Zhenya and Janie around, they have been a blessing in so many ways. They have been helping Jon redesign our website and taking pictures for it (coming soon!), and teaching photography skills to the film class. They help me with my hospitality duties, babysitting Kyran, helping around the house, and providing some great camaraderie :-). They have been able to spend some time in Beira, living with some Mozambican friends of ours, building relationships and really experiencing the culture in a more first-hand nature than even Jon and I have been able to do. They have participated in all of the usual outreaches we have here in Dondo, like praying for the sick in the hospital, preaching in the jail, and visiting the widows we care for, and they also got to visit two other children’s centers, one run by a blind Mozambican pastor and another by a dear friend of ours from Alaska. Overall it has been great having them here!
Our biggest prayer need for now would be that we be able to finish strong. We want to be able to do all God has for us to finish and accomplish before we head out. Most of our last month here I will be busy coordinating outreaches and work projects for the biggest short-term team we’ve ever had (29 people!) who arrive later this week. I’m really looking forward to working with them, I’m expecting them to be a big blessing to us and the base. For Jon, it will be a busy last month of trying to wrap up all of the classes he’s teaching and passing on all of his responsibilities to those who are staying. Speaking of which, that’s another prayer request, that more missionaries would join the work here in Dondo. Our leaders have been looking for replacements for us for some time now, but they haven’t found anyone qualified or willing to come here. So please pray for more workers!
God bless,
~Carla, Jon, and Kyran Reinagel
News from Moz... and some important information
Posted 29 January 2011
By Carla
Hello All!
First of all, we want to thank all of you who have supported, encouraged, and prayed for us over the years that we have been serving here in Mozambique. All of you are an indispensable part of our work, and we want you to know how grateful we are. As our partners in this mission we want to tell you that God is bringing a close to the Dondo chapter of our life. We have been praying about this for some time, and when we originally signed up to work with Iris we committed to 2 years in Dondo which will be up soon. We will be flying home to Missouri at the end of May, and at this point we don't really know what will come after that. In fact, the only thing we know is that we will be leaving! International missions is still very much on our hearts, so we don't plan to be in the States indefinitely, but we felt it was time for another season of training and learning. Our time here has taught us many things, and we realized we are woefully under-equipped for the ministry God has called us to. We might go back to school for graduate studies, we might learn how to do church planting by joining a young church, we might join an inner-city ministry in some metropolis somewhere... right now the options seem endless and God seems to be playing His cards close. Our hearts are fully given to ministry and the gospel, especially in foreign countries, and we plan on being back on the field in a couple years. Anyway, we thought you all deserved to know this ahead of time, and please be praying for us to finish strong here.
And now, on to the news! There are some places where it seems like the only thing that is constant is change. Dondo is one of those places. Here are some of the recent and upcoming changes (with a few pics):
Our new preschool opened up this week! There are now about 50 little 3-5 year-olds on base every morning, and boy are they cute in their little white uniform t-shirts and tiny backpacks! Most of them are the children of our workers or church members, and the parents are all excited to have this opportunity for their kids to get a head-start on schooling. The educational system in Mozambique is really lacking: too many students, not enough teachers, not enough teacher training, and too much corruption basically sums up the schools here. To have this chance to get some education before even entering the schools is a big deal for these kids. This is another project of Julie's, though most of her work was just in getting it set up, registering the school with the government, preparing the classrooms, buying all the supplies, etc. Now we're hoping it becomes less stressful for her as she can take a more background role and leave it in the hands of the two Mozambican preschool teachers.
Our new preschool students at the opening ceremony of the school!
Jon and I have both begun teaching classes in the Bible School for the first time. That has gone very well so far, my class is called "Our Relationship with God", which has been a great subject. I really pray my students come away from school here with more than just a head knowledge of the Bible, but a personal relationship with the Author of Life! Jon's class is about the attributes of Christ, and even in his first class he had a number of great questions and topics, where students were wanting to know how to separate the truth about Jesus as presented in Bible from the the teachings of cults. We both enjoy teaching, and right now I'm wondering why I didn't start sooner!
Me with my class of Bible students! Yes, I have to wear a white lab coat as my teaching uniform. Yes, it is very hot.
Jon has also started teaching some classes on how to take video and pictures and put together DVDs. We bought a camera for the base that he has been teaching a few people how to use, and twice a week they get together to see what they have filmed/photographed and learn how to do it better. He hopes the church will be able to use this as a small business venture, recording weddings, conferences, sermons, worship concerts, and events and then selling copies of the DVDs.
Jon converts our dining room into a classroom for his film/photography/computer class.
We will be welcoming back two missionaries this week, Calli, who was here Dec 2009-June 2010 and is coming back long-term, and Laura, who was here Jan-Mar 2010 and this time is coming for 6 months. Surprisingly enough, they'll be arriving in Dondo on the same flight this Saturday!
Calli works with the kids, and we are all excited to have her back! She's a fun Texas girl with a lot of spunk and really loves the boys here.
Laura is an artist from the same suburb of St. Louis as Jon's parents, and is a good friend of Jon's mom. She wants to start up an art school and will also probably teach in the Bible School.
Kyran is still a much-loved member of the base. He's 11 months old now, hard to believe he's so close to his first birthday! He can stand on his own for a little while, but he hasn't started taking steps yet. Pretty soon I'll have to do a more thorough job of baby-proofing the house as he gets more mobile! It has been very hot here, and almost every day he spends some time outside splashing in water basins to cool off. He still has some heat rash in spite of all I do to try to keep him cool, but as the weather gets rainier I hope it will be a little less ridiculously hot. (I know, it's strange to be talking about our heat while most of the people reading this are experiencing snow and ice!)
"Uh, Mom? Do you think we could get a bigger kiddie pool?" Kyran sharing his water basin with a friend!
Well, that's about all we have to report for now. Thanks again for your prayers, please keep them up.
Love and blessings,
~Carla, Jon, and Kyran Reinagel
Giving Thanks
Posted 20 November 2010
By Carla
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays, it really is good to be given a reminder to stop and think about all the ways my life is ridiculously blessed. Don't get me wrong, we do have hardships galore here, but that just makes it all the more necessary to occasionally step back and view the big picture and focus on the positive things instead of the negative ones. Jon said he'll write an update later about the news and things going on here in the past month-and-a-half since our last e-mail, but I feel like just talking about some of the things I'm thankful for…
First of all, I'm thankful for my wonderful husband and all the adventures we get to share. It's been a wild 3½ years of marriage so far, and I'm so glad to be blessed with a godly, humble, servant-hearted, talented, resourceful, and fun man to share all of life's experiences with me :-)
I am thankful for our precious little boy, Kyran, who has turned out to be the perfect little missionary baby. He sleeps well, eats whatever is put in front of him, travels without much complaining, and is very outgoing and loves giving people his biggest grins to brighten their day. Couldn't have asked for better! (I'm also extremely grateful for the healthy pregnancy and birth I had with him!)
Speaking of health, I'm very thankful that all of us have stayed relatively healthy. We've had the occasional cold, but none of us have gotten malaria or any of the other horrendous things you can catch here.
On that same note, I'm very thankful for the ability to video-chat with said family! I can't imagine doing mission work "back in the day" when mail had to be sent by ship and might take 3 months to get to us… I love that now we can even see each other's faces and our parents can watch their grandson growing up.
I am thankful for our parents and siblings who encourage us in our work and keep us sane :-). It would be so much harder to have a family that disapproved of our crazy lifestyle, so the prayers and support are so appreciated.
I am thankful for all of the people and churches back home who support us and pray for us. We couldn't be here without you guys!
I am thankful for the way God has provided for our every need, even when we've stepped out on blind faith so many times.
I am thankful for the friendships I have with the other missionaries on the base. We have so many good times with them, and they are life-savers in taking on responsibilities that were too hard or stressful for us last year, so that has made this year much better. We have started doing a missionary dinner night once a week, and those are great times of fellowshipping and praying together.
I'm thankful we don't need to leave the country every single month this year…
I am thankful for Domingas, the sweet young lady who washes our laundry. I had to do all of our laundry by hand the first year we were here, so I really appreciate the help and the friendship as we get to chat a bit whenever she comes over to do the wash (and she is thankful for having a job, it's definitely a win-win situation!)
I am thankful for our nice house on the mission base. When we originally imagined life in Africa we thought we'd be living in a mud hut with a dirt floor and an outhouse, but we have a great concrete house with tile floors and an indoor bathroom (with a HOT shower no less!), and it's even bigger than the place where Jon and I lived when we first got married :-).
I am thankful for all the cloth diapers people donated to us after Kyran was born. To use disposables here would probably double our living expenses!
I am thankful that even though there are only 5 big grocery stores in the whole country of Mozambique, we're close to one of them! There are lots of niceties we could do without, but it is, well, nice to have them. Speaking of which, I'm also thankful that said grocery store has turkeys, and that we'll get to buy and cook one for our Thanksgiving feast this week! Even though we're the only Americans on the base, we still wanted to celebrate with all the other missionaries, so we're going to introduce them to our traditions and have a good time :-).
What are you thankful for?
Some stories just need to be told
Posted 23 October 2010
By Carla
Last year we struck up a friendship with one of the Bible school teachers, Abel. He spoke English, so that was quite helpful in our first months of struggling to master Portuguese.
Abel grew up as a pastor’s kid, and as a young adult attended a Bible school run by Teen Missions. He stayed on there to become a leader and teacher in the same course where he had been a student. There was a local girl, Judite, who caught his eye, and though she was young he asked her to wait for him, and she agreed. Later on he had the opportunity to go to the USA, where he traveled around and preached at different churches all over the country. He kept writing and calling that special girl in Mozambique, and their relationship blossomed. When he got back to his homeland he married her.
Their first child was a little girl, but she was born very prematurely and only lived a couple days. Abel and Judite were heartbroken, and doctors told them they shouldn’t have any more children because Judite’s health was so poor and she was very weak. They refused to take that for an answer, and prayed fervently for another child, and a while later she discovered she was pregnant again. Doctors warned her that she needed to stay on complete bed rest the entire pregnancy to give her and this baby a better chance of living, so that’s what she did, with Abel waiting on her hand and foot. He cooked, he cleaned, he did all of his work and hers too (and Mozambican women work HARD!). When family and friends offered to help him, he refused, saying that it was a joy and not a burden to serve his wife like that, and that it was his expression of love to her. Their baby boy, Bethel, was born healthy and strong, and Abel decided to raise him like a Biblical Nazarite, keeping him set apart for the Lord. He never cut Bethel’s hair, but decided that at age 7 he would let the boy decide for himself if he wanted to continue in the Nazarite way.
At one point their relationship faltered, and Judite left for a while. When she came back to Abel, she had AIDS, but he still welcomed her back with open arms and heart. Shortly after that, they began taking in orphans and children in need, caring for them and becoming family for those who had lost theirs. Abel made minimum wage working as a Bible school teacher at the Iris base, but still managed to make ends meet for their growing family, which eventually included 25 orphans in addition to their precious Bethel. For many Mozambicans, when they take in orphans they treat them like slaves, forcing them to work hard and not letting them go to school or play, but Abel and Judite were a true father and mother to all the children they took in.
That was how things were when we met him in January 2009. In March, the leaders of the base suddenly left and we were found put in their place, and since we knew we were inexperienced we really wanted help and counsel. We asked Abel to be co-director with us; as a Mozambican he knew the language and culture better than us, as an older man (well, older than us anyway) he commanded more respect, and we were very blessed through our partnership. Over the rest of the year, we spent many, many hours with Abel, resolving worker disputes, meeting with government officials, praying about direction for the base, fellowshipping over pizza (Abel’s favorite food from his time in the States), laughing together over ridiculous situations, crying together when his mother passed away, and enjoying a close friendship.
Shortly before we left for the States to have our baby, we found out Judite was pregnant again too. I shared some of my prenatal vitamins with her, knowing her health needed all the help it could get. I looked forward to coming back to Mozambique and having our two little children grow up together as best friends. I crocheted a baby blanket for her while we were on our long road trips. I bought her some nice cloth diapers.
We were heartbroken to find out that just before it was time for us to return to Mozambique, Abel had been asked to leave Iris. There were many horrible accusations made against him, and the leaders over us decided he needed to go. Our base had a nasty history of leaders being taken out by lies and false rumors spread to damage good people’s reputations out of jealousy, so we’ll never know this side of heaven if what was said about him was true or not. Regardless, he was gone from our lives just like that. I never saw Abel or Judite after we got back to Mozambique. I never got to see their new baby girl, Marvelous, who was born right before we returned. I never got to give her the gifts I had brought.
After giving birth to Marvelous, Judite had bad hemorrhaging that continued for months. She grew weaker and weaker, and though we never saw them we occasionally heard updates on how she was doing. The last thing we heard was that she was in the hospital, but seemed to be improving after receiving a blood transfusion.
We just got the news that Judite died today. There are no words to describe the sadness, regret, and frustration that brings… I wish I had spent more time with her last year, we saw Abel every day but I should have made more effort to go to their house and spend time with Judite. I wish I could have seen them this year without causing a scandal on the base since nearly everyone here believed (or started) the bad rumors about Abel. I wish I could have been there for her when she was growing weaker, I wish I could have helped her in some way.
Life is so fragile, especially here. Thousands, millions, of people die in Africa every day, and no one in the rest of the world knows. I just felt like Judite’s story needed to be told. She was an amazing woman of God, soft-spoken and gentle, shy but generous.
I know there aren’t supposed to be tears in heaven, but I think I’ll have some in my eyes when I give her a hug when I get to see her there.
What? September is over already?
Posted 5 October 2010
By Carla
They aren't kidding when they say time flies! September was a crazy month of travel and busyness, and now things seem to be settling back down into a more normal pace (if there is such a thing as "normal" in Africa...).
As we already mentioned in previous e-mails, Jon went to England to apply for new visas for us, and we got 6-month multiple-entry visas with 3-month entries, which means we still need to leave every 3 months but that is far better than every month like last year! So our next time out will be in December, but we won't have to apply for new visas until March of next year. Considering what we've been through, that's a pretty good feeling :-). Jon's trip was a crazy journey, but he did get to see some old friends of ours while he was in England, so that was good. Kyran and I flew down to Maputo where we were reunited with Jon, then we traveled together to South Africa where we got to rest for a while.
While we were down in South Africa we met up with a friend from college (David Pollack and his mom, Lynn) who were came back to Dondo with us and visited for a week and a half, which was great. It's always so encouraging to have people we know come visit, and it was a good and stretching experience for them too. We made sure they had “The Complete Experience” in visiting Africa! They got to pray for the sick in the hospital, preach in the jail, teach in the Bible School, preach through two translators for church, shop in the biggest and busiest market in Beira, take the crammed public transport minibuses, eat beans and rice, wash laundry by hand, visit people’s homes, go without water and electricity for many hours (or days) at a time, buy fabric in a crowded store and take it to market to have a tailor make outfits, and on Saturday we gave them a break and went to the nicest beach around. Overall it was a blast having them!
I have been able to start back up with my English classes, which have been very well attended. I taught some last year, but quit when we were given responsibility of the whole base and I no longer had the time and energy for it. Now I have a little more free time, and everyone wants to learn, so here we go again!
We are in the process of trying to start up a preschool on base as well, which so far is just in the preparatory stage. We had another visiting team paint the classroom and now we have our construction workers making some tables and seats to go in it. We are also trying to get our clinic up and going. Here's a bit of Dondo history: one of the first directors of the base was a doctor from Holland, and he built a clinic on the base but after he left and there was no medical staff to run it, so it just sat there and we used it for guest housing. Now we're trying to turn it back into a clinic, we're working on getting it registered with the government, and we have a Brazilian doctor who has volunteered to come in two days a week to attend the community until we can find full-time medical staff. It's exciting to see new things popping up!
And of course we can't forget the Kyran update! The little guy turned 7 months at the end of September, and he is getting so big! Thus far he's been a great missionary kid by "eating whatever is put in front of him," whether it's really something edible or not... As of right now he can get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth; he hasn't fully figured out the motions required for crawling, though I'm sure he will soon!
That's about all the news we have to relate. Prayer requests are as follows:
Please pray for one of our kids, Marcos, who has been very sick for over a month now. He's lost a lot of weight (and he didn't have much to start with), and he's very weak. He has been staying off-base with some relatives for more attention and care, but he doesn't seem to be getting better. With the medical quality what it is we still don't know exactly what's wrong, all I've heard is they've determined he doesn't have HIV, which is good. Just pray for a quick recovery from whatever it is he has.
Please continue to pray for more missionaries to join us, as we are struggling with a skeleton crew again and it's going to get worse soon with some of our people leaving.
Thanks for the prayers!
~Carla, Jon, and Kyran Reinagel
Just like a waving flag…
Posted 7 September 2010
By Carla
This song was written by an artist from Somalia, and it does such a poignant job of expressing the sad histories of almost all African nations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Th7UH1-rU When I get older, they'll call me freedom It is such a sad but honest cry to the corrupt governments and outsiders that have stripped a continent that is so rich in resources to be the poorest area of the planet. Wars, colonization, slavery, selfishness, and corruption have touched and damaged nearly every country in Africa. However, this song was rewritten this year to be the anthem of the Soccer World Cup, which was held in South Africa just next door to us, and the lyrics to THAT version go as follows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBD9h0jUq3w&feature=related Singing forever young, singing songs underneath that sun We all say When I get older I will be stronger You're the champion of the battle, You refine us, make us pure gold In the streets we live Your mission, bring Your hope to all the children Adoration, it surrounds us, Every nation and tongue will join us Singing around the throne, singing worship to You alone Lets rejoice that You came to save And together give You praise We all sing When I am weaker, You will be stronger Love is Your banner over us like a flag Until You come back (3X) I just taught it to the boys today, and you should have seen their faces! Their grins were so big, that they could take this song they loved and now praise God with it! They laughed and were eager to learn it, so I printed out several copies for them. Hopefully soon I'll be hearing it often around the base :-).
Just like a Waving Flag.
[Chorus]
When I get older, I will be stronger,
They'll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag,
And then it goes back (3X)
Born to a throne, stronger than Rome
But violent prone, poor people zone,
But it's my home, all I have known,
Where I got grown, streets we would roam.
But out of the darkness, I came the farthest,
Among the hardest survival.
Learn from these streets, it can be bleak,
Accept no defeat, surrender retreat,
So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We're wondering when we'll be free,
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day,
It's not far away, so for now we say
[Chorus]
When I get older, I will be stronger,
They'll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag,
And then it goes back (3X)
So many wars, settling scores,
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor,
I heard them say, love is the way,
Love is the answer, that's what they say,
But look how they treat us, Make us believers,
We fight their battles, then they deceive us,
Try to control us, they couldn't hold us,
Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers.
So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We're wondering when we'll be free,
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day,
It's not far away, so for now we say
Give me freedom, give me fire, give me reason, take me higher
See the champions, take the field now, you define us, make us feel proud
In the streets our heads are lifting, as we lose our inhibition,
Celebration, it surrounds us, every nation, all around us
Lets rejoice in the beautiful game,
And together at the end of the day.
They'll call me freedom, just like a wavin' flag
And then it goes back (3X)
Since soccer is such a popular sport here, and since the song is quite catchy, our boys on the center were constantly singing it. I noticed when I let the kids borrow my guitar they had learned how to play it. While it isn't a bad song, it still made me a little sad because before this the only music they ever played was worship and Christian music, and now they were all gathering around the guitar to sing this soccer song together. So, since it does have such a catchy tune, I rewrote the lyrics to be my own Christian parody (more a parody of the soccer version than the original, and sorry, no YouTube link for it):
You're my freedom, You're my fire, Take me Jesus, take me higher
August come and gone
Posted 5 September 2010
By Carla
Hello all! Thanks to all who have been praying for us, I'll start with a couple testimonies and then move on to what still needs prayer: The two conferences in July and August were a lot of work, but a huge blessing. About 1,000 people attended the latter, and we had Heidi and Rolland Baker, Marc Dupont, and Georgian Banov as visiting speakers. The spiritual climate over the base shifted during that time, and we can feel a greater peace now than was here before, so praise God for that! Jon has been able to start up a small Bible study to disciple some of our workers, and I (Carla) have been able to participate in the jail ministry more often, leaving Kyran with the other missionaries (who are all very willing babysitters!). These opportunities have been such a source of life for both of us, they help us stay focused on why we're here in the first place—to make disciples and bring the gospel and hope to the needy. It is such a breath of fresh air from all of our administrative and otherwise "boring" duties! At the last jail ministry outreach that I attended, 12 men gave their lives to Christ, and it was so precious to pray with them leading them to the Lord. Now the prayer requests… The man taking us to court agreed to "drop" the case… if we pay him a bribe of about $700. We said we wouldn't pay, and now we're waiting to see what will happen. At this point, knowing more about Mozambican law, we know he has almost no chance of winning if the case does proceed to court – praise God! However, it is still a little stressful so please be praying that this situation will finally be resolved. It's so funny to us that we almost didn't come back because of this court case because we heard we could have been thrown into jail, but it's all been just scare tactics. Had we given in to those fears, we would have totally missed out on this year of ministry. Our visa / residency situation is still up in the air, though we do feel God is leading us to stay in Mozambique longer, so we're sure He'll make it possible somehow. As a last-ditch effort we are going to try and see if we find favor at the embassy in London, England. We have heard they are nicer to missionaries and that the process might actually be cheaper to go through them than to do it here in Mozambique, even including the flight to get there! So Jon is planning to fly to the UK this week, then I will travel with Kyran and meet Jon in South Africa next week (we still need to leave the country too since our current visas are expiring). We found out it is possible to apply for residency at embassies, so we will try that first, but if we don't get it we will see if we can get a one-year visa, which we heard London sometimes grants. Either way, please pray for lots of favor and that whatever the outcome, we get to stay in Mozambique as long as God wants us to be here! The two missionaries who left definitely left a gaping hole in our staffing, but those of us remaining are doing our best to fill in for them. They might be coming back, but it will be a while even if they do. Please pray especially for our fellow missionary Julie, Jon and I are doing our best to take on what we can but she has been left with a lot of new work that has been a little stressful for her. We also just found out that the "new" Brazilian couple is also planning on leaving in January (they had originally said they would stay for minimum two years, but changed their minds to just one year), and they will leave another huge vacancy as they have been very good with leading the church, Bible school, and evangelism outreaches. Please pray for replacements to come soon! In other news… I'm back full-swing in my hospitality ministry for the base. The conference time was hectic, with trying to meet the needs of about 50 foreigners in addition to the 1,000 Mozambicans! After that we had a team of 20 for a while, but things have slowed down a bit since then, which is nice. We have a team of 6 here now from South Africa who have been a big blessing, and they love keeping their schedule full so I've been staying on my toes! They have done projects with our kids, put on a leadership seminar for church leaders and pastors, gone on all of our outreach opportunities, and this week they're going to paint the new preschool that we're trying to start up. I enjoy working with these short-term teams, and we're looking forward to the visit of one of our college friends and his mom soon. I also want to start teaching English classes again soon, I did a little last year before we had a million responsibilities dumped on us, and all my former students have been asking me ever since if I would start the classes again. Those times were also a great source of joy for me, so I'm looking forward to getting back into teaching. Jon has been working on organizing the finances of the base (see paragraph above about "boring duties"), which passed through many people's hands while we were gone and needed some serious reorganizing. Though in the midst of the humdrum paperwork, yesterday the Iris airplane (a little 4-seater Cessna) crashed several hours from us, and Jon went out to the site to help with the crash inspection. The crash miraculously did not kill or seriously hurt the pilot (who was alone in the plane). The propeller had come off in mid-flight while the pilot was just starting his descent to the airport closest to us, and even though it was dark out he still managed to crash land in some trees in such a way that he was able to walk away mostly unhurt, though the plane was demolished. Jon had to drive through rivers and hours of rough riding over terrain that didn't even have a road to find the plane, all along the way stopping to ask locals, "Did you see a plane go down? Where is it?" to get directions. While he was driving back from the wreck site, he picked up a lady who had just been bitten by a deadly mamba snake and took her to the hospital, hopefully in time to get treatment so she may live. Another day in Africa… Kyran is still growing and is well adjusted to life here. He does great with all the attention he gets, and is flexible enough to roll with whatever our crazy schedule throws at him. He just turned six months old and has started eating solid foods, with bananas being his all-time favorite of what he's tried at this point. He's the perfect missionary kid so far! Thanks again to all of you who continue to hold us up, and please, well, continue! Also feel free to write us anytime, we love hearing from people back home. God bless! ~Carla, Jon, and Kyran Reinagel
Faithful
Posted 15 August 2010
By Carla
If You came back today Would You find me faithful with all that You gave me to do? How did I live day to day? Did the talents You gave me bring glory to You? Did I learn how to love the unlovely? Did I stop to help a stranger in need? Did I put others first, lay down my pride? Did I give myself completely? I want to be found faithful I want to hear You say, "My servant, well done" I want to be found faithful I want to see more of Your Kingdom come
Standing in the Need of Prayer
Posted 2 August 2010
By Carla
Dear Prayer Warriors, Wow, these are trying and challenging times. We are being stretched to lengths we didn't know we could reach without breaking. The Dondo base will be losing two of the new missionaries that just joined recently, and we don't know if they'll be coming back. They both worked in the area of the children's center, and we really don't have anyone to replace them now to work with the kids. We shared a "praise report" a little too soon in our last update, the former worker who wanted to take us to court has not dropped the case, and still wants to sue us with the ultimate goal of getting us kicked out of the country. He is also causing it to take much longer than we originally hoped to get our residency status, and in the meantime the government has raised the price for visas by over 300% and for residencies by 1200%. We've always trusted God for our finances, as we still do, but that is still very frustrating. We can't go back to leaving every month like we did last year, now it would be much harder since we have the baby. Our current visa expires in September, and we don't even know if we'll be able to get another one. Because of all these things, we honestly don't know how much longer we'll be able to stay in Mozambique. In the midst of all this, the other day I found my dusty copy of The Message Bible translation on the shelf. I started reading the Sermon on the Mount, and was struck by the phrasing of some familiar sayings reworded: "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule." Matthew 5:3 "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes" Matthew 6:34 Well, that says it pretty plainly. Another source of comfort recently has been a Newsboys song that goes: You are the Author of knowledge You can redeem what's been done You hold the present and all that's to come Until Your everlasting Kingdom Lord, I don't know where all this is going Or how it all works out Lead me to peace that is past understanding A peace beyond all doubt You are the God of tomorrow Turning the darkness to dawn Lifting the hopeless with hope to go on You are the Rock of our salvation Lord, we don't know where all this is going Or how it all works out Lead us to peace that is past understanding A peace beyond all doubt A peace beyond all doubt—that's what we need prayer for right now. That and guidance, with all these doors seeming to close it's hard to know if it is Satan closing the doors—meaning we should fight to break them down and stay in Dondo—or if it is God closing the doors—meaning we should move on. We don't want to give up too quickly if the war is against the devil, but we don't want to fight God either. We have no idea where to go from here or when or what the next season of our lives will be. We've always lived day-to-day on God's guidance, never knowing much in advance. Still, it would be nice for us to know the next step, so pray God will reveal at least that much to us. In the meantime, we are working on living in today and continuing to minister and serve, while trying not to think too much or worry about tomorrow, as Jesus said in Matthew 6:34. Anyway, moving on to other news. We just finished the first conference, put on by the Vineyard church, and it was such a blessing. Since we attend a Vineyard in the States, it felt even more like a family reunion (of course, we're family with the whole Body of Christ from all denominations, but this still was a little special), and it was great spending time with the pastors who came to preach and minister at the conference. In addition to powerful messages, they were also able to speak a lot of wisdom to us personally, and we were very blessed by their time here. The second conference is with Iris Ministries, and it is coming up August 11-14. In the last update I already shared some specific prayer requests regarding that conference, so I won't go over it again, but please do PRAY! Random testimony: We had a friend from the UK visiting for a few weeks, and one day she went to the hospital for our ministry there, and she was able to pray for a paralyzed man who regained feeling and movement in his legs! Praise God for that! Kyran is doing well, though he's been fighting a cold for a few weeks now. He's still the celebrity of the base, and is such a source of joy. He's strong enough to sit up by himself, though he's still working on balance. Thanks again for praying for us, keep it up! ~Carla, Jon, and Kyran Reinagel
Tenderhearted
Posted 2 August 2010
By Carla
Ephesians 4:31a-32 Philippians 2:1, 3b, 5 Colossians 3:12-13 1 Peter 3:8 God has been prompting me lately to keep a tender heart. You wouldn't believe how hard that can be. It's so easy to get hardened, calloused, bitter, and angry. Here's an example: Just the other day one of our workers came to the door asking Jon if we could "loan" him some money for his wife's school fees. I instantly shut down on the inside; last year we gave out hundreds of dollars in "loans," and only one person—one—ever paid us back. One Mozambican even advised us, "Don't give loans. Either give a gift or don't, but certainly don't expect anything to come back." Many of the people we "loaned" money to, we never even saw again after the "loan," and even if we did see them they never once considered paying us back. We're white, white people don't need their money back because they have an endless supply, so they think. I also grew bitter about using our personal money to give "loans" to the workers, because they already receive so much more in their salaries than most other people live on and they are allowed to get loans from the ministry. They are automatically upper-middle class citizens by having a minimum-wage job, because minimum wage is so high—they receive in about two months what most other people make in a year. This particular worker doesn't even have to pay for housing, because of a fluke of situation we bought him a nice house last year and he doesn't have to pay rent or anything (long story). I thought there was no way he could possibly need money above and beyond his salary for his wife's school fees, and I knew that what most people do is as soon as they receive their salary they'll spend it on nice clothes, cell phones, TVs, and other nonessential items, so that they can honestly go begging from the missionaries that they don't have any food in their houses and their families are starving, or in this case a deadline has come up for school fees, and all their money is gone. As Jon reached for my wallet and explained it was a "loan," I muttered bitterly, "There's no such thing as a 'loan'." "He said he'll pay back next month," Jon replied with what I considered gross naivety. "You don't actually believe that, do you? They always say that, it never happens," I said. "But I have to keep hoping," he responded. Somehow Jon has managed to keep his heart tender while mine has grown hard as stone. It's not just "loans" and money, either. I've grown so hard in my view of people in general. They're not really worshiping God. They just like having the microphone and being in the limelight. People don't come to the conference for spiritual reasons, they're just here for the free food. The evangelism team just uses the outreaches as a chance to hang out with their girlfriends. That kid is a kleptomaniac who is never, ever going to change. He will just steal and steal and steal until he gets caught and thrown in jail or killed one of these days. Even the pastors lie and steal every opportunity they get. They only became pastors because of the lure of power and money. I guess if they were a perfect people, God wouldn't have called us here because they wouldn't need the gospel. Still, it's so hard to forgive, forgive, forgive, and show mercy, mercy, mercy. So hard. "How many times must I forgive my brother?" Peter asked. "Up to seven times?" I'm sure he suggested the seven thinking it was quite generous. Not just two or three times, no, let's go extravagant and forgive up to seven times. I can keep count up to seven, and that is a lot of times for someone to blow it and still get off scot free. "No," Jesus replied, "Seventy times seven." Four hundred ninety times. By which, of course, He meant infinitely. Who is actually going to keep count of almost five hundred offences and at the last one be able to say, "Okay, last forgiveness! After this, you're through!" One time a friend and I had a running joke for a few weeks of how many forgivenesses he had left for his random offences against me, but when I lost count he still had four hundred seventy-something to go. Three of the four verses above mention tenderheartedness together with humility, which is obviously important. Pride doesn't want to forgive. Pride wants to keep a record of wrongs done. Pride hardens the heart against a repeat offender. It is a humble person indeed who can keep forgiving over and over and over again, and keep a heart tender enough to believe the best of everyone even still. To believe that they can change. To believe that when they say they'll "never do _____ again" that it's true. To believe that this "loan" will come back, that he's being honest. To not let bitterness set in. I'm not there yet. I'm still struggling, fighting, daily taking up my cross to keep a tender heart, to put others first, to believe the best. Two of the verses above tell us why we should forgive: "Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others." Boy, I'm glad God isn't keeping count of how many times He's had to forgive me. I'm sure I'm past even my four hundred ninety by now.
Get rid of all bitterness… Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate?... Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves… You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.
July Update
Posted 15 July 2010
By Carla
Hello everyone!
We have been back for 4 weeks now, and it’s been a whirlwind. After only 2 weeks in Dondo we left for Pemba, one of the main Iris Ministries bases in the north of Mozambique, for a leadership conference. It was a great experience, we got to hear our organization’s leaders express their heart and vision for the ministry and clarify direction for all the bases, listen to some great teachings, and meet the leaders from Iris bases all over the world and see the different works they are doing and hear their testimonies. We were also able to meet with our leaders and clarify some questions and miscommunications that had happened, which was so needed. On that note, please do pray for our communication, as it seems to be frequently under serious spiritual attack, with misunderstandings happening constantly. Somehow important information is always being warped; between missionaries, between missionaries and Mozambicans, between us and our leaders, everywhere. It causes lots of confusion and hurt and damage, and we really need prayer that it will stop. Overall the trip was a very beneficial time and well worth the two day journey over rough roads with a baby in the car (Kyran did great both ways!).
We have two conferences coming up that we are preparing for now. The first will be fairly small, with about 150-200 people attending, while the second will be huge, closer to 2,000-4,000 people. The base is all a flurry of activity getting ready—building fences and latrines and bath houses, fixing up visitor housing, planning for meals and clean up teams, and dozens of other details in preparation. Please pray that all the preparations will go smoothly, but more than that pray that lives will be changed at the conferences. The last time a conference was held in Dondo, God showed up in a powerful way and many people were touched. We want to see Him move like that here again! In our updates we try to share more of the positive things and testimonies, but Dondo truly is held in a powerful grip of darkness that we are constantly warring against. We are surrounded by witchcraft, animism, Islam, prostitution, theft, lying, and violence in our town, and even within the churches of Dondo there is lots of fighting, jealousy, sin, and slander. Satan has had a foothold here for a long time, and it feels spiritually darker than most places we have been. We know that God is so much greater, but we need lots of diligent prayer to change the atmosphere here—to break down the stronghold that has been established for far too long.
One praise report is that it we haven’t been taken to court yet and the possibilities of that happening are getting smaller and smaller. While we were in the states, we were given an order to appear in court over a dispute with one of our workers. When the judge found out we weren’t in the states, he told the prosecuting worker to wait until we got back to bring charges against us, but he hasn’t yet. Thank God for that!
Thank you for your prayers,
~Carla, Jon, and Kyran Reinagel
Every Word
Posted 28 June 2010
By Carla
So apparently I can write poetry in my sleep.
I just started reading a book about the civil war in Mozambique (1970's-early 1990's), and it is harrowing. It was nothing like the American civil war: two armies of soldiers, either volunteers or drafted, who meet each other in battle and fight until one side wins or surrenders. No. Here it was more like bands of raiders attacking innocent villages, raping women and girls, stealing everything of value (including all doors, windows, roofing material, electrical wiring, plumbing... everything), and killing the majority of the population and enslaving the rest to carry said stolen materials into neighboring countries to sell. The few who managed to escape would huddle in refugee camps throughout the country, dressed in tree bark since they had no clothes, usually starving and lacking clean water. Sometimes the rebel bands would even attack hospitals, killing the sick and injured, and even babies. No one was safe.
Even in my sleep last night I was haunted by some of the stories described in the book, the ruthlessness of the attacks. In my dream I was writing a poem about how I felt, and when I woke up I could remember most of it. Here it is...
Every Word
as I looked out
I started to sing
it was a song I had never heard before
yet I knew
every word
even though it had many verses
and even variations in the chorus
it was a sad song
played in a minor key
if you had come and stood beside me
you would also start to sing
though you, too, had never heard the song
we could sing in perfect unison
every word
how else but song can you describe
a battle with no heroes
where those who died—
were not soldiers
and those who lived—
will not live long
looking out across the scene
we would stand and sing together
in perfect unison
every word
for it is a song
called
Speechless
Heading back soon
Posted 4 June 2010
By Carla
Well, it has been a very long time since we sent out an update, so I guess it's time for one, ey?
It is so much fun watching Kyran grow, develop, learn, and figure out his world. He already knows it involves a lot of sitting in the car seat! He is a very healthy, happy, intelligent little baby who loves to study the things around him (especially ceiling fans and light fixtures), he enjoys books and bath time, and he's almost to the point of being able to sit up by himself! He's also a good sleeper, which is a mercy for his parents :-).
Kyran Jay, 3 months old
Thanks again for your prayers, they do change things!
~Carla, Jon, and Kyran Reinagel
December in Dondo... and coming home soon!
Posted 4 January 2010
By Carla
We hope you all had great Christmas and New Year celebrations! I finally figured out how to put pictures into my e-mails, so I hope you all enjoy this episode :-).
We had a busy month of December, and were blessed to have our team increase by even more than we had planned for! Right after the Iris mission school ended in early December, a couple from the States (Jason and Susan) and a lady from England (Isla) visited the base and all three decided to help us out! Jason and Susan are only staying short-term but will be taking Jon’s and my place as directors/finances/administration while we’re gone on furlough, which is a HUGE blessing! Isla went home to set everything in order and will be back in March/April to stay long-term, and will be helping our missionary Julie with the village-based orphan-care project. So our Dondo family is still growing! Thank you all who were praying for that, we were blessed beyond our imagination. The other new missionaries that we WERE planning on coming have been settling into their new roles very well, and it looks like they’ll be a great balance of talents and abilities to bless this place. The new girls from the States and Canada (Calli and Becky) are taking over the orphanage, and they are doing a great job connecting with the kids even though they don’t speak much Portuguese yet—but boy, the kids sure are learning English quickly! The Brazilian couple (Tatielson and Michele) will provide leadership for the church and Bible school, and their heart to disciple the pastors is amazing. It has been a busy month of training each of them up in their new roles, passing on all the responsibilities and answering the hundreds of questions that come up, but they are all doing an amazing job. Please pray for team dynamics between all of them, as right now none of the missionaries are bilingual (the Americans/Canadian/British only speak English and the Brazilians only speak Portuguese), so they will need a lot of divine help to facilitate unity and fellowship between each other. And also pray for quick language-learning ability!
Our Dondo family! (Plus some short-term missionaries and minus some kids who were visiting family for the holidays and minus one missionary who wasn't around at picture time, Julie). If you're interested: L-R Back row: Tatielson, Rui, Mariano, Chimuaza, Ron, Florentino (in the hat), Zacarias, Domingos A, Tony, Jon, Luis, Manuel, Jossias, Calli, Carla. Middle row: Jason, Nelson, Domingos C, Zito, Minezes, Joanel, Vito, Jan. Front row: Susan, Michele, Jose, Becky, Joao, David, Samuel, Ashlee.
Christmas was a busy time, Social Services (the branch of the government that deals with orphanages among other things) wanted to put on a big Christmas program for several orphanages in the Dondo area, and we were picked to host it! We had about 150 kids plus several of the local and national Social Services officials and even the mayor of Dondo! We did games with the kids, and then after a few worship songs, a short message, and the obligatory formalities, served a chicken dinner. I was impressed and touched that all the head officials and important people came down from the table of honor to personally serve the kids first before any of them ate, that was very contrary to the way things usually happen with people of their position!
That program took place a couple days before Christmas, so then on Christmas day we were able to have a more intimate family gathering with just our base—the missionaries, kids, and some visitors. We read the Christmas story out of Luke and Tatielson and Jon shared a bit about it, trying to make the message we’ve heard multiple times have new and personal meaning. It truly is amazing to think of God’s Master Plan to Save Planet Earth—have the Creator of the universe take on a physical, created body and be born as a baby in a smelly animal stable to an unknown, poor girl who everyone assumes has been immoral, and then to grow up as a normal human and die a criminal’s death. I’m sure none of us would have thought of that if we were trying to come up with a Master Plan! It is also a challenge to us to lay aside whatever we think is important and humble ourselves as far as necessary to connect with other people in order to show them love (Phil 2:5-8 and 1Cor 9:19-22). After that we shared communion together, remembering not just Christ’s birth but also His purpose for coming: to save us and to bring unity—unity across barriers of culture, race, age, and anything else that tries to divide and separate us. Then we had a great lunch and gave the kids some simple gifts, it was a good day.
Samuel reading the Christmas story from Luke.
Jossias opening his present! He's one of our brightest students, so he was happy to get the nice notebook :-).
It was interesting being in a culture that celebrates Christmas, but doesn’t really know why. Because of the Portuguese Catholic influence, it became a holiday on the calendar, but it’s more just considered a “Family Day”, and most people have no idea what it’s about. Shops have holiday decorations, fake trees, strings of lights that play “Jingle Bells”, and Santa hats, and families will have a chicken dinner and maybe give their kids gifts… but so few people know its origin as a holiday to remember the moment when God became man and dwelt among us. This year we were very busy with the official programs, training new missionaries, and getting ready to go on furlough, so we didn’t get much chance to share a lot with people about why we celebrate Christmas. Next year I hope to do more.
One of our kids, Minezes, in a Santa hat. We're glad he gets the chance to learn the REAL meaning of Christmas and not just the holiday hype!
Our New Years celebration was also good, we had a great time of worship and a powerful message from a visiting Brazilian missionary, then set off fireworks and had a campfire complete with marshmallows (which, yes, you can buy in Africa!). It’s crazy to think of all that has happened with us over the course of this last year, all the ups, downs, victories, frustrations, joys, sorrows, changes, stresses, improvements, setbacks… We have changed so much we hardly feel like the same people that came to Mozambique in January 2009. Now at the end of a year we are barely limping up to the finish line that will be our much-needed break. Please do pray for us in these last few days, it seems like every day a new big thing comes up that we need to resolve before we can go, and Jon especially is getting pretty discouraged by all of them. One of the biggest needs right now is we gave our passports to the Immigration office to *finally* get our residency status right before leaving, but the process is taking longer than they said (surprise!), and now we have less than a week to get our passports back before we’re flying out, and they’re still not done. PLEASE pray that they will finish VERY soon so that we don’t have to change our tickets or anything crazy like that.
Speaking of tickets, right now our travel plans are to fly to Maputo on the 9th and spend a few days at another Iris base (Zimpeto), then take a bus to Johannesburg, South Africa, to catch our flight home on the 13th. Please pray for safe, comfortable travel for us—at least as comfortable as a 7½ month-pregnant lady can be on looooong bus rides and flights! We are so looking forward to being with family and friends again, and hopefully we will be able to see most of you who receive these updates! We are also looking forward to the time of rest and refreshing, the arrival of the Little Reinagel (March 2 due date coming up fast!), attending the weddings of some dear friends, and the good food :-) (if we visit you, please don’t serve beans and rice… please). We already have our return tickets set for June 15th, so if you want to see us make sure you contact us before then and we’d love to get together with as many people as possible on this break!
Many thanks again to all of you who so faithfully lift us up in prayer, please keep it up in these last few days. This will be our last update this side of the Atlantic, next time we write it will be from home!
Blessings to you all as you start a fresh, new year!
~Carla, Jon, and Baby Reinagel
November in a Nutshell
Posted 6 December 2009
By Carla
Hello All, Wow, time flies. Already another whole month has passed since our last update, so I guess it’s time to write another one! November was a month full of variety: good, bad, and ugly. Some of the good included another kids’ camp that we put on, some of the bad included the death of a youth who grew up in the center, and some of the ugly included a good deal of sickness with almost all the missionaries :-P. But God is faithful through it all! The kids’ camp was another great success, this time some of our own youth were the leaders and we invited kids from other orphanages and churches to participate, and they had a great time! This camp we really focused on the Father heart of God, and helping them find their identity in Him. For this group of kids, most of whose fathers are absent, or abusive, it is so important for them to know God is not like their earthly father and He wants so much for them to know He loves them. The kids who visited from other centers were also really blessed, and when they left they were asking when the next camp will be! There was also a great time where we split up the boys and girls and talked about purity and relationships, and a lot of the kids received inner healing for their pasts and were equipped for better futures. Another good thing this month is there has been a huge shift in the attitude of the Mozambican leadership on the base. It all seemed to start when Jon was really struggling with insomnia—he couldn’t sleep at all at night, usually only getting tired enough to go to bed around 5 or 6 in the morning (so he would have to sleep half the day to make up for it). It was very frustrating, and in one meeting he asked the Mozambican leaders to pray for him to be able to sleep better at night, and by being vulnerable about this weakness it seemed like the others opened up more as well, and there seemed to be a shift in the atmosphere as there has been a lot more cooperation and less complaining, more prayer and less pressure, more gratitude and less griping, and ever since then it just feels like a healthier family working together. One Sunday the provincial pastor even got up in front of the church and encouraged everyone to be praying for the missionaries and just blessed us, which really means a lot to us because this base in particular has a long history of bad attitudes toward leadership and especially missionaries. It’s hard to express how huge this testimony is, but trust me, some spiritual stronghold has broken over Dondo and we are seeing, hearing, and feeling victories that are very encouraging. It’s not as obvious as a crippled person receiving physical healing and suddenly being able to walk, but it is just as powerful. Yet another testimony is we have new missionaries! Thanks to all who were praying, last update only one was confirmed and three were tentative, but now two are already here and the other two coming next week! We were thrilled to welcome back a girl from Canada who volunteered here 3 months earlier this year, and a lady from Texas who has a heart to work with our kids. We also have 3 short-term missionaries with us now, the boyfriend of one of the long-term girls and a great couple from Montana who are here for a few months. We are really blessed. While I’m on a roll with good stories, I got to have an ultrasound this month! The baby is very healthy, growing normally, kicking a lot, and we got to find out it’s a boy! It was exciting to see him, now just to get Jon and me to agree on a name… Being able to do the ultrasound was basically a miracle in itself—an American doctor friend called us in to let us know a German OB doctor was donating a new ultrasound machine to the medical university where he worked, and he wanted to learn how to use it but needed a test subject :-). Boy, was I happy to volunteer! The due date is March 2nd, and as of now I’m about 2/3rds of the way there. While it was tough being away from our families for Thanksgiving, we were able to celebrate here as the missionary family. We each contributed a few traditional foods (made the best we could with numerous substitutions), and we even found a turkey! We truly are thankful to be blessed as a team here, life is so much easier when you have great people to work with. As I mentioned above, one of the sad happenings this month was the death of João Guente, a youth who grew up in the center for several years but had been out of the center for about a year because he got too old to stay here (by law kids need to leave orphanages when they turn 18). He had tuberculosis, and it was so hard watching him grow weaker and thinner as the year went on. Finally he couldn’t even walk or feed himself anymore and was hospitalized, and while he was there one of our missionaries visited him while doing the hospital ministry. She said she was able to talk and pray with him for a long time, and that he repented of his sins and had a very powerful encounter with God. That week he passed away. While it was hard to see him go, it was good to know he’s no longer in pain and we are encouraged that he did have that opportunity to get his heart and relationship with God right first. Health was also a major struggle last month, in addition to the insomnia Jon had debilitating headaches and eye pain (among other random symptoms), one of the other missionaries had a throat infection and malaria at the same time, and I got a bad cold that lasted several weeks. Thankfully we're all better now--Jon has even been able to sleep normally most nights for over a week now! Unfortunately we did not get the year-long visa we had been hoping for, but we will be able to stay in the country until we leave in January! November was the first month since April that we didn't have to go out, and we hope we won't have to leave December either. Though this is another testimony as well, of the two new missionaries one got 6-months and the other got a 1-year visa before coming, which will be really helpful! We hope they won't have nearly as many nightmares as we have getting residency status. In closing, please be praying for: Okay, so my "November in a Nutshell" turned into a pretty big nut... Think coconut :-). We will be back in the United States mid-January until June - if you would like us to come and speak at your church / youth group etc, let us know! Thanks for your prayers! ~Carla, Jon, and Baby Reinagel
October in Moz
Posted 30 October 2009
By Carla
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you all for your patience in between our sporadic updates. We are doing well, still living through the roller coaster that is life on the mission field.
In the month of September we were able to go on a vacation that was funded by a very generous friend of Jon's dad, so we went to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and had a great time of refreshing. Even though we have had to leave every month for our visas, we are often as busy in those times away as we are in Dondo, so they don't really count as breaks, but this trip was amazing. We came back very rested, refocused, and ready to jump into all that life brings here (not to mention, the falls were spectacular!). With our visa situation, we are now in the process of trying to get a 1-year temporary residency visa which would be really nice to have while we work on our official residency status. Please pray that that process goes more quickly and smoothly than all of our previous efforts! We really need to be able to stay longer than a month at a time.
For some unknown reason the crime rates often seem to increase drastically toward the end of the year around here, which has spread some fear but also faith around our community. Our co-director Pastor Abel's home was attacked by a gang of 15 men with machetes, first they broke into another house on his property where some of the 23 orphans he cares for stay, but on finding nothing worth stealing they went on to the main house without hurting anyone. While they were trying to break down the door to the house where Abel, his family, and more orphans sleep he called us asking us to send help, but in the meantime one of the boys from the other house escaped and ran off to alert the police. One of the bandits saw him and chased him with a machete, but the kid managed to run faster and got away! That bandit came back and warned the rest of the gang that the police were on the way, so they all trooped off to attack elsewhere before the police showed up. Another miracle is that they didn't even think to check around the house for another entrance, and there happened to be a back door with a very weak lock that they could have easily kicked in with very little effort. Usually those gangs come in, kill or incapacitate the man of the house and any who might try to get in the way, steal anything of value, then split. Often a number in the gang will also stand guard at all the neighbor's houses and attack them in case anyone were to try to come out and help. Thank God He protected Abel, his family, and the orphans in his care! Ever since he has been so excited to be alive and to know God as his almighty protector, and he shares the testimony to anyone who will listen! In response to his call we did send about 10 of our Bible students to go help, but the bandits were already gone by the time the students got there so they just stood guard around his house for the rest of the night. About an hour later the same night Jon and I were woken up to the sound of gunshots very close to our house, and we found out the same gang had broken into one of our neighbors. At least 2 people were seriously injured by machete wounds, and last we heard they are still in the hospital. A couple days later another gang (or the same ones, we don't know) were trying to break into the house of Lovemore, our translator. He is a very short, quiet, sweet-spirited man who looks like he couldn't hurt a fly if he tried, but somehow he managed to bellow out and yell loud enough to intimidate the thieves so they ran off! We thought that was very out of character for him, but we were glad he thought of it and is still alive!
In addition to those violent crimes taking place all around us, we unfortunately had some of our older kids influenced by an outside youth to help him steal from our center. One night they broke into an uninhabited room in our visitors' center with a machete and stole some mattresses and blankets and threw them over the base wall and into the village, then a couple nights later (while we were still trying to figure out who did it) they stole again, this time a few mattresses from the little boys' room. The next day we caught the outside youth, and in his confession he said who had helped him from the inside. We were very saddened by their actions, and their showing that even after living in a Christian environment for several years their hearts were not changed. Both of the ones involved were some of the first kids taken into the center about 7 years ago, yet they both had long histories of problems like this and after being given dozens of chances and displays of mercy they were still hardened in their ways. Fortunately, both had family members who were willing to take them in. We hope and pray that their families will be a positive influence on them and that they will not continue to pursue a lifestyle of crime. Here in this culture, if a thief is caught by the villagers before the police get there to arrest him, the thief is usually burned alive in their system of mob justice. Even if they get arrested and thrown into jail for a short 1-2 year sentence they often still die in prison because the living conditions are so horrible. Both of these kids, after years of being shown mercy for their behavior, think that stealing things is just a game – please be praying with us that they will learn quickly and turn from their behavior before they are shown the full extent of the world’s idea of justice.
In other news, and on a more positive note, we have a new evangelism team formed of our kids. Ashlee, one of the missionaries here, has been discipling them every week and going out about every other weekend with them and releasing them to be leaders. It's so cool to see the kids leading worship, performing dramas, preaching, and praying for the sick and seeing miracles happen through them! Even the little 7-12 year olds have a place on the team and get to participate in everything. This is really the future of Mozambique--not missionaries, but godly Mozambicans raised up to reach their own people with the gospel!
Mid-September we had a friend from home, Chad, come visit for about a month which was a huge blessing. He helped around the base a lot, and also had some great ministry experiences, visiting churches, going to the hospital and jail, and sharing Bible stories in the marketplace. We were very glad to have him, and he is praying about whether God would have him do more missions work in his future! We were also blessed by the return of a British visitor who came earlier this year, she is always a joy to be with and a help to have around.
A while back some people donated some money specifically for something fun for the kids, so we used it towards a new basketball court! It was a long process that started back in June, clearing out trees and leveling the ground with shovels, but they finally were able to finish it this week! The kids love playing on it every spare minute they have now.
My pregnancy is still going very well, I'm a little over halfway now and have been relatively healthy and the little one is growing daily. I did have a bit of food poisoning a couple weeks ago, but praise God I got over it quickly and with no lasting harm done. We will be arriving in the States January 15 to get ready for the birth in early March. We're not looking forward to the cold weather, but it will be great to be with family for the big event!
We still don't know exactly how the base will fare without any of the experienced long-term missionaries here... We have one new person coming for sure, and 3 others are tentative but waiting on finances, but even if all 4 manage to make it they will all be new people with very little experience and training and it could make for an interesting year. Two of them are Brazilian and don't speak English, the other two are from the States and Canada and don't speak Portuguese... It's a good thing we have a few Mozambicans who speak both and can translate for them! Please be praying for the finances to come in for these missionaries.
Thanks again to all of you who stand in prayer with us, we need every one of you. Keep it up!
~Carla and Jon Reinagel
Ups and Downs...
Posted 4 September 2009
By Carla
Hello to all!
Well, it's about time for the August update, wouldn't you think? We've been thrown for a lot of loops this month, God is faithful through it all though sometimes we still struggle.
The hardest part was losing two loved ones within a week--on August 26 one of our boys on the center, little 11-year-old Domingos, died very suddenly of cerebral malaria, then on August 31 the director of the Bible School, Pastor Amos, was killed in a mini-bus accident on his way here to work. It has been rough dealing with these deaths so close together and comforting the family members of both. Please be praying, especially for the family of Amos (he had 4 kids and had taken in 4 more orphans), and the two little brothers of Domingos. We are comforted that they both knew and loved Jesus, but realizing just how fragile life is definitely gives new urgency to our work here. There have been 20-30 deaths in the family members of our kids and workers since we got here in January, but this is much closer to home.
In other news... We have started hiring some ex-inmates from the prison who got saved during our jail ministry times. It has been great to see their thankfulness at being offered a second chance in life and an opportunity to demonstrate the transformation in their hearts.
In July we mentioned that we would be going to Malawi in hopes of obtaining better visas... well, that turned into quite a headache, as Jon got arrested at the border (all other borders we've been to have private money exchange people and we use them all the time, but apparently at the Malawi border it's illegal and someone turned him in), the car broke down, AND we only got a 1-month visa! So that was a rough trip. Then in August we did South Africa again because our base finally got approval and money to buy a new vehicle (praise God), so Jon went car shopping in Maputo for several days and bought a bush-worthy yet comfortable SUV. It's nice to not be so restricted by lack of transportation! For a while we had NO working vehicles on the base, so we had to borrow the personal car of one of our workers multiple times. So anyway, visas are still a huge inconvenience, so pray with us that NEXT time we can get good ones!
The missionary situation keeps fluctuating, as two of the short-termers have left, one other has come in, a long-termer on furlough returned but will be moving off base soon, and the Brazilian couple that was with us earlier this year will be leaving to plant a base in another province. Their leaving is going to be quite difficult for all of us, especially since almost everyone else won't be here early next year for various reasons! Jon and I are going to have our baby (I'm due early March), one missionary is leaving to get married, one is going on her break, so... that will leave no one on the base for several months unless we get more help in quick! We are in the application process for one lady who is interested in joining us, and one of this year's short-termers may be returning, but we'll still be in a very desperate situation and in need of more missionaries. Please pray with us that God place it on people's hearts to come join us for that critical time period! The need is greatest from January through June of next year (any takers?).
Our children's leader, a very godly Mozambican named Joseph, put on a weekend "camp" for the kids at the end of July that was extremely successful. We invited some really solid youth from another church that we really like to come and be the camp counselors, and many of our kids were deeply impacted. Before the camp, most of them even admitted that they had become completely inoculated to Christianity--they had heard about God so long they had grown immune to the gospel and had never really considered how it affects them personally. One kid even said that he hated church, and every time he was forced to go the message would go in one ear and out the other. But the youth from this other church were able to demonstrate that God can be a real and present friend and father to them, taught them how to pray, and showed them that Christianity isn't as boring as they thought! At the end of the camp they put on an exciting, contemporary worship service that the kids were able to connect with. It has been so touching to see the transformation in many of the kids, even now a month later they are still staying faithful and showing that they were deeply changed. Ones that used to never come to church now don't want to miss a single opportunity to worship and pray! One evidence of the change is in how they are responding to the recent deaths--as they have turned to God and worship almost constantly when they are not in school.
Other kids news... we accepted a new boy into the center in August, a precious 13-year-old named Joanel. He came to the center after church one Sunday and begged us to take him in. His mother had died when he was 6, and his father was an alcoholic who beat him every night, and kicked him out of his home threatening to kill him if he ever came back. We got the police and social welfare involved while we investigated and found the story to be true, and Joanel stayed with one of our workers until the paperwork was complete for him to be accepted in the center. So far we see he has a very sweet spirit, is very humble, thankful, and obedient and never causes problems with the other kids. However, we feel it may not be safe for him to stay in Dondo with his father at large, as he has already come to the center angrily demanding to see Joanel and wanting threatening him even more, but thankfully the guards stopped the father at the gate. Please pray with us that we would know how to keep him safe, and also that he would be able to understand that God wants to be a Father to him but in a way completely different than his earthly father.
In summary... our praises include:
· The transformation in our kids and their newfound love for God
· The opportunity to provide employment for the released prisoners
· Our new car
· That we have stayed reasonably healthy, even in my pregnancy I haven't had any morning sickness
And our prayer requests are:
· Comfort for our kids and the family of the pastor who passed away this week
· Longer visas next time we apply
· More missionaries to help our work here, especially early next year
· That the kids who were changed in the camp would remain strong in their new lifestyle of faith
· That we would have wisdom in how to protect Joanel from his father
Thank you all who pray for us, please keep them up.
~Carla and Jon Reinagel
