Angola Day 1

Day 1

Wow, what a day!!! Today was our first day to pass out nets to the people of Angola. We first visited the General Baptist Secretary of the Country of Angola and his first Vice-President. He graciously welcomed us and was quite moved that we would be willing to leave our country to come serve his people. He is already inviting us to come back! Because of the poverty of the country the needs are endless. Due to the overwhelming population and the traffic and lack of paved roads it is a 2-hour journey to get across town. We never travel the same path so its hard to grasp where you are or where you've been.

We returned to the community Terra Vermelha (Red Dirt) near one of the churches we visited on Sunday. This community came about as trash was dumped from the city and people would come and dig through the trash to find sustenance. They stayed and built their huts beside the dump so this is truly a city built amongs the refuse.

We split up in two groups , one at the Health Clinic and the other one walking door-to-door (there are a LOT of doors). We had 10 Angolan health workers from the local church to assist us. For each net distributed we explained its correct use, recorded their address and number of family members, number of children under five, as well as the GPS coordinates of each location. This will allow follow-up mission group to gauge the effectiveness of the nets. We were overwhelmed by the masses of people desiring nets and saddened by their desperate conditions. We had 400 nets to pass out today but within a few hours our quota had been delivered and people were literally screaming for them.

We did have the opportunity to share Christ's message with quite a few people. One man, Joao, came demanding that his family receive a net (he has 10 children). He was soon set in place by "Mama" Charlotte and while waiting his turn we had the opportunity to lead him to Christ. We prayed that God would use his assertive character as a positive force for Jesus within his community. Wherever we went flocks of children followed us. We used those moments to tell them the gospel story and teach them English praise songs.

Angola is a country torn by almost 30 years of civil war. Take notice of the picture of the young boy standing next to a bomb shell casing that was used as a crude decoration in his yard.

We finished up the day with the kids playing soccer with one of the balls donated by our church and passing out lollypops. Having learned from today's experience, tomorrow we look forward to passing out 600 nets and sharing the love of Jesus.

We are all doing real well and are in good health. Such things as frequent power outages, cold showers, and fumigating our rooms before bedtime have underlined the importance of flexibility in our vocabulary! We are cooking our own meals after discovering the high cost of eating out in Angola. So far Norm and Dave have done a good job. Bob, Leslie and Charlotte are responsible for the clean-up!!!

We are having an awesome experience sharing the love of Christ with this needy people. Your prayers are being vital to this mission and we continue counting on them.

In His service,
Bob, Dave, Leslie, Norm and Charlotte