Rob and Heather Blanks MOZAMBIQUE

Recently we found a thought-provoking answer to that question from no one less than an atheist:  Matthew Parris in “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God: Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem–the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset.” (see article)

It is indeed striking to hear an atheist call for a worldview shift from the African thought that breeds fear and oppression to Christianity:  “Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change.  A whole belief system must first be supplanted.”

Elsewhere is exactly where we’ve been as of late. Where is elsewhere, you may ask? The dictionary simply says it is some other place. Our other places seem to be getting more complicated these days. We have spent this past year as missionary appointees. A fellow appointee calls us the “wannabees.” We want to be missionaries, but we aren’t yet. We have been making steps toward the dream God has given us to serve the people of Mozambique, Africa. For us it has been a trying year of moving, traveling, parenting, sharing, working, waiting, hurrying, teaching, learning, questioning, doubting, praying and fundraising! For one week we left all this behind to join with other appointees, invited guests, staff, missionaries and alumni-each from their own places all over the world-at WorldVenture’s annual Renewal Conference.

Our first two days at the conference were spent in a prayer summit. We sat in a circle with no agenda except to be with God. God’s presence through prayer was just the place we needed to be. As we prayed, confessed to the Lord and to each other, we found ourselves shedding off our other places. We felt our hearts being realigned from the doing for, to the being with God. It was precious to pray with missionaries who have served and lived through excruciating circumstances and are still praising God, still loving God, and still turning to God. It built our faith to see their trust in God.

After the prayer summit, we experienced God’s presence through the teaching of His word. Pastor Mark Hanke’s messages from the life of Jeremiah were poignant. He challenged us to be sustained through God’s calling, through processing our life (fear, loneliness, anger, and hurt) in prayer, and ultimately through His sovereign grace. God, from start to finish, from calling to completion, will finish the work that He starts. It was good exercise for us whose thinking is “prone to wander.”

At times during the past year, we have found ourselves wandering to the less than noble place of wishing we were, well, elsewhere. Elsewhere like, already in Mozambique or back in a normal life. But elsewhere is not where God wants us. “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere,” Psalm 84:10a. God brought this verse to mind driving home from Renewal Conference. Psalm 84 describes worshipers anxious to be in the presence of God. His presence is described as a place of strength and protection. This was true for us as we were refreshed in His presence through prayer and through His word at Renewal Conference this year. Our places have changed and will continue to change as missionaries. We are grateful for the reminder that God’s presence in our lives is better than anything else. And that is news good enough to take all the way to Mozambique!

I wrote this recently for WorldVenture Connection, WorldVenture’s quarterly news publication for the home office, missionaries, and allumni.  

On a road trip recently, Heather and I listened to A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beahon, on CD–minus the first CD which was missing when we got it from the library.  I recommend this book for a glimpse into the horrors and depravity of the world of boy soldiers in Africa.  It will open your eyes, and may cause you to feel physically sick.  Warning, some of its graphic material would cause many R-rated action movies to reel.  

It offers a window into the world of syncretism–the mixing and matching of different parts of multiple religions.  In this case it is the mixing of Islam with Anamism.

Here is an example Ishmael gives us:  Ishmael has a very good memory, even photographic.  His good memory is no accident.  It comes from his grandfather who had a special Arabic prayer for good memory.  This prayer was written out with chalk in Arabic on a slate.  The chalk was then rinsed off the slate and the water collected in a glass.  Ishmael then drank the solution giving him great memory, which consequently helped him in school.

It is this type of syncretism that we will be facing in Mozambique.