Prologue

At the end of January, one of Brethren in Christ World Missions' (BICWM) missionaries, Steve Newcomer, invited me (along with John and JoLene Hawbaker from my office) to Africa for the Southern Africa Missionary Retreat which was being held at a camp near Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. John was the resource person (speaker) for the retreat. I was invited so I could gain some overseas experience for what I was discerning to be a calling to missions. My prayer was, "Lord, if you want me in Africa, I’ll go." Before long, the trip was expanded to the following itinerary:

30 March – 2 April: Beira, Mozambique
3 April – 8 April: Gorongosa Adventures, Mozambique
9 April – 13 April: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
14 April – 19 April: Maputo, Mozambique.

The first two weeks of my trip were work-related and for the final week I was taking a week of vacation to visit my long-time friend, Christina Miles, who was serving as a missionary intern with the Churches of God, General Conference (CGGC) Cross-Cultural Ministries. She had told me that I was going to visit her in Mozambique before she left in August 2012. When she told me this, I really wanted it to happen, but didn’t think that it would. I should have known better.

The following is an account of how God made it clear that He wanted me in Africa and what He wanted to teach me while I was there.