One Last Adventure...

We are home! Well, three of us at least.  Holly, Brette, and I made it home last night from South Africa at about 9:30pm.  We are very grateful to God for our safe flights, smooth transfers, and the time to really mull over what we had learned and been through over these last two weeks (and trust me, there was a lot! just ask any of us- we'll be glad to share).     

We flew back from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, to Detroit, and then to O'Hare.  While at Detroit (see picture above), our plane we were boarding found company with a large swarm of bees, so we waited while they moved our plane a few gates over, but we still made good time and made it back to Peoria by about 9:30-ish (Thank you Mrs. Benedict for driving!!)

We're so thankful for your prayers and support during these last two weeks, and we look forward to sharing with you what we've learned and have experienced!

-Joel Park

We're Baaaack!

May 30th, Evan and I left with Josh Beakley and seven other people from Samaria Mission to help set up the camp. Fifteen minutes into the trip, one of the truck's belt blew. Thankfully, it was not a sign of things to come: the camp set-up and overall week went very well, and we're very grateful to God for that. The rest of the team arrived Sunday afternoon.


Saturday, May 30th
Wild Animal Sightings: 1 Impala
While the rest of the team finished up with the Shepherd's Conference, Evan and I headed to Mozambique with 8 other guys to set up the camp for the next day. We got there at about 6 o'clock, set up enough tents for the 10 of us, had sandwiches, and went to bed.

Sunday, May 31st
Wild Animal Sightings: 1 Scorpion
We finished the camp on Sunday, putting up 14 dome tents, two bigger tents, showers, toilets, and the kitchen tent. Evan, me, and 3 others all went to get water from the nearby Limpopo River, and while we were gone, the rest of the crew killed a small white scorpion. By the time we got all the water, the rest of the BBC team, the fourth-year students from the seminary, and a small team from North Carolina had arrived (Unfortunately, the showers were not completed by then, so we still had about 40 hours-worth of dirt, dust, and sweat when they arrived).

The rest of the team left at 7:30am, much better than the projected 4am departure time. They arrived at Mbuzi at about 3:30, with over a two hour stop at the border: 45 minutes on the South African side, and about one and a half hours at the Mozambique side. At the S.A./Mozambique border, the difference is pretty distinct. It goes from paved roads and shiny metal fences to lots of dirt and wooden poles. Also at the South Africa side: the last normal bathroom. We unpacked, finished up with the kitchen stuff, had dinner, a short meeting, and went to bed to the sounds of roosters crowing, cows mooing, cow bells, and goat herds.

Monday, June 1st
Wild Animal Sightings: none
Domestic Animal Sightings: cattle, goats, dogs, roosters, cattle.
We woke up Monday morning to the sound of roosters crowing. About an hour or two before we had to get up at 6:45 (roosters, although commonly thought to crow only at sunrise, actually crow about 24 hours a day). We ate breakfast, had a devotional about Peter, and then started out on our first day of VBS. We were broken into groups between the hut-to-hut evangelism, men's ministry, women's ministry, and children's ministry. All of the Bethany team was on the children's ministry team, along with Rocky, Bongani, and Sefiri, three fourth-year students. Also during the week, two of the team would usually go on hut-to-hut evangelism in the morning.
The first day of VBS, Pastor Joel did a review all the way from Genesis to about Deutueronomy (note: pictures help!), and our craft was making egg-shakers. Typically, we had two sessions in the morning and afternoon to accomodate the school schedules, but on Monday, there was no school, so we did an impromptu session on the wordless book and made up a quick coloring craft on the spot- a wordless book made of paper with lines on it. :)
That night, we had an evening service right outside the camp, and introduced the team to the village. Timba, a fourth-year student, gave a sermon on Psalms 13, on turning suffering into praise. A lot of kids brought their egg-shakers. We then had a short de-briefing session, and went to bed.

A Typical Day in Mozambique...
6:30am - Wake Up/Hot Drinks
Hot drinks (tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and biscotti) are needed when it's about 35 degrees outside. This low temperature also makes it quite difficult to get out of bed, unless you were cold the night before anyway. Most of us found that socks, coats, and hats made the night a bit warmer. During the night, there are a number of sounds from the local animals, howling dogs, and roosters. Many roosters.

7:00am - Devotions
After most everyone's up, we started off the days with devotions. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were taught by Pastor William, who worked at the mission. William talked about the life and ministry of Peter, and how he was on mission with God, being used by God and being obedient to Him.
On Thursday and Friday, Joseph led the devotions. On Thursday, he talked about the cost of discipleship (Luke 9:57-62), and on Friday, he talked about trusting God. He talked about the life of King Asa in 2 Chronicles 14 and 15, and how it's possible for us to start well and end poorly

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8:00am - Breakfast, Dishes
After devotions, we had breakfast and clean-up, led by Amosse, a seminary student who was with us to help translate.

Ministry Starts
9:00am -Soccer and Games for little kids
Every morning, we had some time to play soccer with the older kids, and created entertainment for the younger kids. By the end of the week, three of our six soccer balls had holes in them from the poky bushes surrounding the dirt field, and the other half of the dirt field was in our shoes and socks. This time was good for just being with the kids, and they would always be ready to play when we came out of camp in the morning.

10:00...ish - Lesson
Monday- overview of Genesis to Deuteronomy, by Pastor Joel
Tuesday- Bongani talked about Joshua
Wednesday- Holly talked about David and Solomon and building the temple
Thursday- Sefiri talked about Jonah
Friday- Rocky talked about the prophets

11:00...ish - Craft
Monday- egg shakers (and unplanned worldess book craft)
We discovered that a lot of the students hadn't heard of the wordless book before, but by the end of the week, everyone (including the kids) had it down pat.
Tuesday- decorating cloth bags for the egg shakers
Wednesday- visors with wordless book colors
Thursday- woven paper cross
Friday- decorating T-shirts

If there's enough time - Game or more soccer

12:00-2:00pm - Lunch Break
Accompanied by lots of water and sunscreen reapplication... By now it's pretty hot and sunny outside, probably around 80 degrees.

Second Round of Children's Ministry
Since the school in Mbuzi has a half day schedule with two separate groups, we did VBS twice during the day. Monday was a little bit different because there wasn't any school, so we did an impromptu afternoon session on the wordless book.

2:00pm - Soccer (note the theme...)

3:00...ish - Lesson

4:00...ish - Craft

4:30...ish - Soccer, Showers, Down time

5:45...ish - Supper

6:30...ish - Evening Session, Students Preach
At about 6:30, we began the evening sessions. There were songs with dancing (we'll have to put up a video when we return- it's amazing), and then one or two testimonies from the students, and then a student would preach a sermon.

8:00 - Hot Drinks, Debriefing Meeting
After we came back in camp, we had coffee, tea, and hot chocolate to warm up, and had a short meeting with the entire team with reports on how well the different ministries went during the day.

10:00 - Lights Out/Generator Off

Saturday, June 6th
We woke up at 6:00, packed up as much as we could, had a short breakfast, and headed back. During the packing, we had a run-in with a mouse (the Americans actually handled that fiasco better...:), but thankfully nothing else. On our way back through Kruger, we saw crocodiles, elephants, monkeys, and LOTS of impala. We arrived back at the Beakley hotel at 4-ish.