Mozley's in Marietta

Tonight I went to a Welcome Home/Farewell Party in Marietta for my friends Mark and Jen Mozley. They are home on furlough and are full time Missionaries in Mozambique. On my very first day in Mozambique I walked out on my porch and above the sounds of hundreds of African children, I heard this booming voice, with a southern accent having a one sided conversation on a cell phone. At first I was impressed he had a cell phone and secondly the accent made me feel so at home, I knew this was a man I had to know. I soon found out he was from Dallas, Georgia and was married to beautiful Jennifer. He had been in Southern Mozambique a few years prior and they were actually married in a ceremony there. So he became my hook up on how to get communication to the outside world and he and Jen and I became the best of friends. They took me into town the very next day and I became the proud owner of a Mozambican Cellular (MCel) phone. I got a free T-shirt with that phone. I left it in Moz. Mark got one too and wore it all the time. It was an obnoxious yellow and you would see it all over town. Everyone else in Mozambique had the T-shirt too. It had a smiley face on it and said Diz Ola (Say Hello). So I got my T-shirt and phone and it felt like I had been into Tiffany's (http://www.tiffanys.com/) and walked up to the counter and bought the biggest bangle bracelet they had. People kind of crowded around and even the man behind the counter treated me with a different kind of respect. I assume not a whole lot of people just walk in and pay cash and walk out and don't ask questions. It was a type of respect that I didn't like. I didn't want to be different, I wanted to fit in. But I guess when you just HAVE to have a cell phone in rural Africa, you are going to experience it. Perhaps I should have just lived without one, but nothing brought me more joy and excitement than when that phone rang. So much happened to me there and to have people from home call me and there I was standing under those big bright stars on the coast of Africa, I just wanted to be able to share it and send some of it back to those of you. Plus, I will never ever as long as I live forget Carla text messaging me that she was going to have a baby. I was under my mosquito net and I cried for hours I was soooooo happy. You would think it would go away after three times, but it doesn't. So! I got a cell, it was probably $35US. Mark helped me. It had the coolest ringtones ever! I had it on the Ribbit ring tone that sounded just like a frog. We don't have phones like it here. So! Back to Mark and Jen...They are amazing. Jen stood up one time when Heidi asked for testimonies. I was expecting a small shout out to God about what He had done for her that day and I got one of the most amazing heart encounters of His love and redemption that I have ever experienced. She is wonderful. She is beautiful. She is captivating. So I went to their party in Marietta tonight. Here they are:

I was sitting under a Baobab tree with Jen when this was taken. I remember that little kid just came out of nowhere and sat in her lap. We never knew if they were girls or boys, but it wasn't too hard to find out. They knew we didn't speak their language so they wouldn't bother trying to talk and many were so young that they didn't say much. I would give them a made up name like "Virginia Louise" and rock them till they fell asleep or wet on me or saw something more interesting and would tottle away. This child had a really snotty nose and sneezed all over Jen. I think I even went to get a tissue. What was I thinking? This must have been early on. We quickly got over snot and used our capalanas for nose wiping (but I do still gag, just a little). We were supposed to be playing soccer with the kids. But there was absolutely no way I could even begin to keep up with these kids. If you throw them a ball, they drop it. But kick it to them? Watch out!The following is from their website http://www.liquidmyrrh.org/

Mark and Jennifer Mozley were called to Mozambique in a dramatic fashion during the last weekend of March, 2007. They sold everything to move to Africa! After first completing Iris' Holy Given Missionary Training School that same summer, they returned as staff for the October missions school. Currently they serve as Directors of Hospitality, accommodating over 650 yearly visitors to Iris Pemba.
Mark and Jen's heart is to serve the Mozambican nationals and help them reach their full destiny in God. They lead a weekly discipleship course for a group of young men. They also help facilitate village feeding, prison ministry and periodically teach in both the bible school and Iris Harvest College. They realize their highest calling is to love their Lord God with all their heart and out of that love, to serve one another (to put the first commandment first). Realizing that you can't love others without first loving yourself, one of their life messages is to help others discover the extent of God's love. Because of what God delivered them from, most of their messages center on purity, holiness and the love of God. They love to release the testimony of this amazing Jesus, leave the control in the hands of the Holy Spirit and watch the Father get all the glory.