Igreja de Cristo Kapango

One of the churches planted by the Angola Mission Team is the church at Kapango.

When the mission team arrived in Huambo, Angola in 2011, several events led to this church sprouting up. Now it is self sufficient and is fully facilitated by local leaders. The team occasionally visits to encourage the people there, but they have pulled back to allow the church to grow on it’s own and started to focus their energies on a new church plant.

Robert, the boys and I went out to the neighborhood of Kapango the 2nd Sunday I was in Angola. We drove a while through town and then neighborhoods and then off onto a really terrible dirt road until I couldn’t tell if we were still on a road. All of a sudden Robert stopped the car and said, “We’re here!”

I looked around for a building, but all I could see was a makeshift pavilion with bright orange fabric for walls. These “walls” only wrapped around the midsection of the structure. The corrugated tin roof was not connected at the top with a 12” gap along what should be the ridge. This structure was mainly for shade, because it was not going to keep anyone dry.

There were several people already inside as we made our way to a bright blue plastic chair to sit. The worship songs began and sweet voices filled those fabric walls with such exuberance I pressed down the tears welling up.

I kept thinking how silly I already appeared with all my cameras (yes, plural), I could not start weeping for no apparent reason. But I couldn’t suppress the Spirit and how He was moving through the people there. The people around me are shouting for joy in Jesus with hopeful, sweet spirits. When it was time to pray, the leader asked the church to pray and they prayed, aloud, all together.

Curious children were laying on the ground to see under the fabric wall to find out what was going on. My head was spinning with thoughts of home, the juxtaposition of my church with this church, and just how amazingly wealthy home is.

Then the preacher asked Robert to introduce the woman with him that was not his wife--that would be me. Everyone laughed and I was welcomed with a song from the whole congregation.

Robert offered a word of encouragement for the congregation and asked for prayers of healing for Teague’s ankle. There was a song for the mamas, a song for the youth and several songs for the whole congregation.

The preacher brought the lesson in Portuguese, a translator spoke in Umbundu for the congregation and Robert translated for me. As much as I tried to concentrate on the sermon, I kept thinking, this church is here because my friends listened. They listened to God when He asked them to leave their friends and families and go to a far away land and plant churches.

They listened. They planted. God sprouted.  When it was over, everyone walked out in a line shaking hands until everyone in the church had shaken everyone’s hand. Small talk ensued. Chairs were taken back to storage.

Home in Huambo

My first night at the Meyers consisted of absorption of my new atmosphere and attempting to power through the 6 hour forward time jump. Robert had picked me up from the airport in Luanda (Angola’s capital) and we flew together to their hometown, Huambo. Normally they drive this distance, which would take 7-8 hours. But now the roads are so deteriorated it takes about 11-12 hours and much more wear on the vehicle.

We drove in the Meyers’ Land Cruiser from the airport to their house on mostly paved-ish roads, passing tiny motorcycles (motos) and women walking effortlessly with giant containers on their heads and babies strapped to their backs.

Within 25 minutes we were turning on a dirt road with enormous ridges and potholes.

Sprinkled along the side of the road were mud huts. Some had tin roofs secured with rocks. Others just had walls.

Eventually we arrived to a burgundy metal gate on a sandy cement wall.

A grinning man came out to open the gate. This is Manuel, the Meyers’ guard. He was so excited to see Robert and immediately greeted us in Portuguese.

Biruk and Efesson, the Meyers’ sons, as well as their two dogs, Navi and Diogo, also came out to greet us. I opened the door to the Land Cruiser and instantly understood how Teague had injured her ankle hopping down the 18” drop.

As I took in my surroundings, I was overwhelmed with the amount of work it has been for their family to be here. Robert built their house. This would be an accomplishment in the states to be sure. But here, where even plywood is in short supply and power is only as dependable as your generator, this is truly amazing. Biruk, the youngest Meyer, gave me the grand tour. He loved showing me all the trees Teague had planted, like Papaya, Avacado, Lemon, Mango and Banana.

He showed me the well his dad dug that was feeding their water silo. He showed me their two generators and their battery system. He showed me how they filtered their drinking water and turned on a pump to have showers (an upgrade, as of this year, from the bucket baths they were taking before).

All this was very normal for Biruk--a part of everyday life. Even to the point he didn’t realize some things to point out, like the mosquito nets around all the beds.

That evening, after a yummy meal of soup and homemade bread, we played Forbidden Island and watched I Love Lucy.

When I finally closed my mosquito net to go to sleep, listening to roosters crowing and dogs barking, my emotions mixed together. Thoughts of how very cushy and spoiled my life is mixed with feelings of admiration for the way Biruk and Efesson are growing up to live simply and with gratitude.