Love and Tickling Conquers Everything!

Hhhmmm.... Well time for an update everyone!

So, I'm still living in the old Portuguese house with the other missionaries. God hasn't released me to leave, however, I often spend the nights with my friends in the Mafalala. I think Father still want's me here, and is using this time to teach me about honor, and how to honor ALL of the people around me.

So working with the street boys is awesome, though very tiring sometimes! I love them alot, even just now I got up to go let a boy come in and get some clean water to drink. The organization I'm working with, Masana, is a Mozambique run ministry that focus on taking boys off the street and back to their families. While it feels heart wrenching at times, we only let them come here during the day, unless of course, they are sick. This is because, most of them have run away from their families and if we made things to nice here, they would never want to return. Hence the organization focuses on long term goals, teaching the boys basic reading skills and Bible knowledge, preparing them to go back to their families. We then help their families financially so that their child can go to school and continue to live with them. Right now, two of the missionaries I work with are out in the bush near XaiXai, returning two boys, Felix and Denese to their families. It's a sorta happy sad thing-but mostly happy. Anyways, working with Masana is awesome but tiring. Sometimes boys will come up to you and just smack you right in the stomach... it's their way of getting attention. The best defense is to grab their arms and start tickling till they fall to the floor laughing. However, you still have to be careful as their teeth are amazingly sharp, and well used against older people that beat them up in the street. They are definitely crazy kids, but when you have one fall asleep in your lap or another come over and start cleaning your face calling you dad, there are no regrets.
One thing I've started doing is teaching one (and hopefully more soon) of the boy carpentry. We've been building bunk beds, and fixing things around the house. I have other projects to start one soon with him, I just need to get better at my communication in Portuguese with him! It can be the difference of cutting a board an inch too short!
I'm getting better at navigating through the mafalala (the slums of Maputo). I can now walk around there by myself without getting too lost, and know enough people there that if I get lost, they can send me in the right direction!  Tommorow, Sunday, we are going to have a small home church get-to-gether there, going to worship, pray, and build Spirit centered community right there in the Mafalala. I'm excited for what God is going to do. There have been several times where God's spirit has come down mightily, but I am praying for more of those opportunities as I sincerely believe that is the best fix for this broken country.
I went drving the other day. It's pretty crazy here as they drive on the left side of the road and no one follows any of the rules. But having two Mozambique friends yelling at you different directions while driving stick left-handed sideways one a road through the Mafalala is the type of experience I live for! So... Tudo Bom. All is well! I'm learning a few of the street whistles as well. I've nearly perfected the whistle you use for calling a boy to buy minutes for your cell-phone! And I'm getting better at barting with sleezebags in the blackmarket-though I did let someone get the better of me, selling me a broken tape measure. But that's life in Mozambique, you win some and lose some! And being white doesn't help!
Well, besides crazy diarrea, dance parties, drunk men knocking on your door at the middle of night, breaking into houses to sleep cause your buddy forgot his keys, and playing intense soccer games in the bottom of an old, out of use swimming pool, that's about all I've been doing here!
Please pray for wisdom working with the young men from the Mafalala and for increased encounters with God's presence. Also, that my stomach would get used to the water and food here! Blessings in Jesus, Miss you guys.

Corey/Freeman/Rasta/Jaman    :)

Rasta!

Well, I made it here safely. Twas a little crazy, like a 16 hour flight from Atlanta to Joberg, SA but I'm in Mozambique now! I had the priveledge of spending the night in the airport at Joburg with 4 other guys from SA, Congo, Tanzania, and Australia. The only place in the whole airport with a couch was this 24/7 KFC restuarant. We would almost fall asleep on the couch there and then a grumpy old lady would come kick us out. we would go walk around the airport for 5 minutes and then sneek back in until she kicked us out again! It was pretty funny, but not very good for sleeping!

So I'm here in Maputo. Mainly been hanging out with the street boys that come 4 days a week for a Christian street boy program called Masana. They have normal school and Bible lessons here. When they aren't learning they are playing soccer, beating me up, or both! Fortunately, one can dominate any boy trying to kill you by finding his sweet tickle spot and going for it! They are pretty fun boys, very cute, very dirty, and very funny. I love them a lot and wish there was some way that I could adopt them all and take them from living and sleeping from the street...

When I'm not with the street boys, I'm spending time with my good friends who do soccer ministry and live in Mafalala, aka the slums of Mozambique. Most of these are awesome men of God whom I met last time I was in Moz. They have been teaching me how to navigate through the city with all its twist and  turns, as well as how to speak Portuguese and Shangar, the local languages. One of the things I feel God directing me to do is to spend time studying the Bible and soaking in the Presence of God with these guys. They are key leaders in their comunity and if I can spend time discipling the ones that God puts in my path, it will have a great impact for the Kingdom.  

Right now I'm living in a really nice old Portuguese house that the missionaries who work with the street kids live in. However, I don't really want to be here much longer. I'm mostly likely going to go live in the slums with my friends, I'm waiting for them to have room. I'll still come and work with the street boys program during the day, I'll just be living in the Mafalala all other times. It's weird, and I don't like it but in Mozambique, its very common for missionaries to live in nice houses and treat missions like their job. I don't want to be a part of that, especially as I don't feel it's God's heart. Jesus said go into a house, and if they receive you, let your peace rest there. That's what I intend to do. I didn't fly halfway across the world to have running water and electricty! I'm hoping to get some carpentry tools soon and start teaching some of the street boys how to work with wood, Lord willing.

Anyways, that barely sums up the first week, but it's something! I've basically been adapting to the culture, learning what's going on, getting over jet lag, and allowing myself to be mobbed by the cutest little boys on planet earth. Please pray for wisdom, and that I can really at all times be walking in the Spirit. Pray for increased encounters with God's presence with the leaders here, as I've been sensing some spiritual dryness. Also please pray that I don't get malaria! Its pretty easy to do here! I'll try to upload pictures soon, but as of yet, I haven't really taken any!    Oh... and by the way, the title of this blog is my new nickname... universally known by everyone in the city!    Love you guys, blessings, ttyl.