Lately...

So I'm working on this whole loosing weight thing.....And so far I've lost about 35 pounds!!! I'm super excited. I'm loving that clothes I haven't worn in a long time fit, and my jeans are getting looser and I even bought a reward shirt for myself!
But besides all that not much is going on. Same ole same ole staying busy with work and church. But I thought I could update a little and share some recent photos.


*live*love*laugh*

...words...

July 24, 2010

Woke up early this morning and the Lord showed me what he would like for me to preach to the people on Tuesday night and that is about the Potter and the clay. The Lord is the potter and we are the clay. We need to follow the Lord in everything we do and let him lead our lives. The scripture I will be using is in Isiah 64:8.In a couple of minutes we will be leaving for our mission area to get ready to do our different ministries. Today I get to teach both lessons. I will be teaching the children on how the Lord parted the Red Sea and the other is how the Lord provided food.

Well both children's lessons have gone very well. The children were very attentive and excited about what was talked about. The only hard part was trying to talk but having to stop so the interpreter could tell the kids what I was saying in their language. You know I think it is funny, just like in America we try to sleep in late on Saturdays, guess what?...they do the same thing in Africa. Sense we have been here we have been starting at 9 am but today (Saturday) we started at 11 am. We also found out from the headmaster of the school in Mozambique that the children are on break and that on Monday & Tuesday we need to start later and we can only have one lesson on those days because our interpreters have to head back home to go back to seminary. So that is ok because on Tuesday we will pass out all of the clothes we have that afternoon and have our lesson that morning.

The children at this camp and in the town we are at they are just so cute. I want to keep one as our child but I know that we can't. I also can't wait to see some of these children in FL Gators & Auburn Tigers gear on Tuesday. Speaking about football, myself and Alex taught the kids our teams fight songs. A couple of the children can even do that gator chomp!!! So COOL!!!

As I'm sitting under a tree waiting for lunch to get here I'm watching the children play soccer and play football. Oh wait...kicking the football like a soccer ball and little kids are playing with a dead bird and picking its' feathers and talking to it. They even know how to play Jacks with a hole in the ground and a couple of rocks. One of the children's toys that they made was a long stick and at the end of the stick is a metal frame of a truck. It even has wheels and mudd flaps and they made a steering wheel and the top of he stick makes sound like a real truck running and even have a car tag on it with numbers. Also they have sign that says Toyota on it. One child is even playing with a metal frame of an old bicycle and just letting it roll on the ground.

...more words from him...

July 22, 2010

Woke up earlier than normal because we had a big rainstorm that came through camp. But after that I was able to get and up and we went and had our group bible study. It was good it was talking about how we need to be like Moses and answer the call. We then had breakfast and we packed up and headed to where we will be teaching.
Everywhere we go from camp to our ministry areas we travel by land rover 4 wheel drive. It is a very bumpy road and my butt is starting hurt.


We started at camp with children's ministry first and the rest of the team does hut to hut. These kids are really attentive and hang on every word that we say. These children have only the clothes on their back and they might have had those for a year or more. They are very happy and just glad that we are here. They love pictures and acting out in front of the video camera. These kids are very cute and friendly.
For children's ministry we teach a lesson with the felt board and then we color a sheet, in which we let them use 2 or 3 crayons and let them color. It is amazing how they can color on dirt. After that we then pumped up the soccer balls and let them play. When we gave them the football they treated it like a soccer ball. Alex and I tried to teach them the game of football but they told us it was heard and wasn't fast enough. We just laughed! The group of children can speak some English but not very good. They also like us to say something and then they would repeat after us and just laugh.


Oh yeah...this morning I got to watch one of the kitchen people buy a live goat from one of the families that live around our camp. Well guess what we had for dinner....GOAT STEW...thank the Lord my wife bought and packed me a lot of junk food, so I don't have to starve.


July 23, 2010
Woke up with roosters singing around 6 am and read in the scriptures that the Lord will give us the wisdom to give the words to say. We then had a group devotion and then we had breakfast. For breakfast we had these huge pancakes, which were pretty good. Now we are sitting around getting ready to head to the camp to our different ministries. The last one as a group.


Well Children's ministry today was amazing!!!!! The children are really attentive and are just always very happy and are hanging on every word. They just want to hear more and more everyday! It is pretty weird that when you are teaching the children you have a herd of cattle that come by with their bells ringing and one of them relieves himself behind all the children and it was like nothing ever happened. These children are happy all the time. It don't even matter what is going on or how hot or cold they are, just happy to be here. I tried to teach the kids about Toy Story because they saw the pics on my journal and they just laughed as I explained it to them.
If I haven't talked about it before it is still very strange how when I go to the bathroom I go to a area around camp that is surrounded by plastic wrap and just a toilet seat with a hold in the ground and just to be honest with you while you sit there on the toilet it stinks really bad!! Oh well, it's all for the glory of God. Another fact about that it is in open air so instead of reading I can start at the sky. The showers are nice and warm. It is just weird because it is a sheet of plastic separating you and your neighbor and the children outside. But other than that it is like camping but with just a lot of dirt all around and that when you are in your tent or even outside in a chair you can just look out at God's awesome creation and see every cloud in the sky for miles without any buildings blocking them and the same is at night with the stars in the sky without all the city lights. You can see stars all the way for miles!!! God is just so amazing!

...his own words continued...

July 20, 2010

Still on a plane flying to Africa (took a long nap. We have finally landed in Africa at 5:30 pm, Tuesday Africa time.) They told us it is a 6 hour time difference bet
ween us and Africa. A man named Gordon picked us up from the airport and now we have our luggage and gear and now traveling to the church for the night and then we get up at 6 am to head to the camp. We have been told we will be taking a big truck and be riding in the back of the truck and crossing a river.
Well as for the can ride from the airport to the church we are staying at for the night...It is very strange that the driver is on the right side and there seems to be no speed limits and i gets really crazy when you wake up from a nap and see cars come the other way on the right side of the road. On our drive into town we were able to drive pass the stadium that the World Cup was played.
Well I'm going to try and get some sleep because we have an early start and a long drive to camp.

July 21, 2010

1st full day in AFRICA...Well woke up at 6 am to load up on the can and head to the border to cross over into Mozambique. On the ride over to the the border we were able to stop for gas and this small town was working on paving the road into their town. We got to tour a national park today on our journey to the border. The park is named Kruger National Park, in the park you ride on the road and real wildlife animals come very close...
We saw elephants, zebras, giraffes, alligators, deer looking things, and many other animals...



Now we are sitting at the border waiting for our missionary guest to come pick us up and take us into the camp. We waited at the border for about 20 minutes for passports to be checked and our ride. It was kind of weird at the border crossing because everyone there had lots of guns.

We left the border on a BIG truck that is able to go through a river. To get to where we are going to camp was a long trip down some long dirt roads. There were even tress and vines that hit us because the back of the truck which we rode in didn't have a cover. So i got a knot on my head from a big tree limb that hit me. Alex, Jeff, Keitha, and Myron have cuts on their arms from the vines and thorns.
After that long and fun trip to camp we got off the truck to unload and get our tents ready to move in. Their is dust everywhere literally everywhere.

Camp life:
It's cool to be able to sit by a fire and look up at the sky and watch the clouds move and see the moon. We have a big kitchen. I have no clue what I'm eating. Not eating much, mainly all the snacks you packed me. Bathrooms: you pee and poop in a hold in the ground that has a toilet seat. Shower: Ok but weird that it is all within the open air.

When we got settled into camp we had dinner and then left to go to where we will be working tomorrow and had a worship service and told them all that will be going this week. While we there it looks like no one will be there and then they all of sudden come out of the woods. I had about 30 kids just sitting around me like "WOW who's this guy?" After the service we left back for camp and had meeting and now I'm going to bed.

His own words...

July 19, 2010

Well today was an exciting but also a sad time today because I left the one that I LOVE and will be forever attached to not only physically but also spiritually. I know that God has put us together for a reason, and I see that everyday, and that is that we both have a call and that is to minister and work with kids.

Well with that said it is 9:12 pm Dothan time. AS of right now I am somewhere over the ocean at 30992 ft altitude on an airplane.

Pastor Ray Jones of Ridgecrest Baptist Church was on the same plane as us from Dothan to Atlanta. That was really cool. Well, the plane landed in Atlanta at the airport we picked up our carry on bag that didn't fit on the plane and headed into the terminal. Cool fact about the terminal in Atlanta, there is subway train that take you to the different terminals.
As we left to go and find where our next gate was we found it and then Jack and Jeff decided that we should eat lunch at TGIF. So we ate lunch and afterward we all went to that gate. We still had a six hour wait ahead of us. So instead of sitting and being bored us 4 young people went on a tour and to also go shopping for Myron who was looking for a passport holder.

The four of us found his holder. Talked about college football. Checked out all the electronic stores. Each bought a couple of magazines to share. Laughed a whole lot and just act like a bunch of high school or college students.


Finally we boarded the plane for a 15 hour flight to Africa. My seats in my row have Alex & Stephanie and me and across the aisle is Jeff. I have a 9 inch screen and I can watch all sorts of movies. The moves I have watched are Tooth Fairy, Ratatouie, Monsters Inc. They have just served dinner, but I have ate the snacks you have for me. I have plenty and that's all for now. I'm going to go to bed or I guess take a nap.

**That was Chuck's first journal entry from his trip to Mozambique Africa. I will continue to update day by day as if you are reading his journal. There are some funny and sweet stories to come. I will also add different pictures from the trip. So I hope you enjoying reading!!**

This is the day Chuck arrived home. I was so very happy to see him!!! I knew he was safe and well protected by a great God who gave him this opportunity to go. And yes he's already talking about next year!!!!!