Relationship

The compound we are staying on has several poor villages surrounding it. Many of the villagers visit the compound daily to play with the children that live on it and to visit with all of us student missionaries. Iris provides lunch for the children of the surrounding villages 6 days a week and also provides schooling to the village children and teens. It’s at no cost to their families and for most it is the only schooling they will ever have access to.

A few days after we arrived (arrived on Saturday 10th), a young Christian Mozambican man named Alaska from a nearby village introduced himself to Susan and me. The next day he saw us and came over to talk again. We ended up spending a couple of hours with him walking down the beach as he excitingly taught us some Portuguese and Makua (the predominate native language spoken in this area). The next day we saw him again and he gave me a seashell that he had found. He wanted me to give it to Susan because she had gotten excited when she saw interesting shells on the beach the day before. I took it from him and told him that it would be very special to Susan and that she would appreciate it very much.

Today we had intended on going out to use the internet to finally let family know that we had arrived safely. As we were walking out the gates of the compound Alaska saw us and came over to say hello. He told us that it was his birthday. He then walked with us down the road to the hotel that has an internet café.

Once we had gotten to the hotel, Alaska looked at me with sad eyes and said, “I hate to ask you brother, but can you give me something so that I can buy chicken for me and take some home to my family.” I immediately felt sad because I began to wonder if that is all he was wanting from us. I thought we were developing a true friendship. We had been forewarned by the staff the day before that many of the natives are master manipulators and would befriend you with the hopes of getting money from you. So I told him to wait and that Susan and I would talk about it. Then we walked into the hotel to check on the internet which turned out to be unavailable. I came back a few minutes later and told him that we talked about it and that we were sorry but we could not give him any money, that we did not feel that it was the right thing to do. We had already intended on going to a little restaurant after using the internet so we decided to invite him to eat with us instead.

As we were walking the block to the restaurant, he was following a short distance behind with his head down. After a couple of minutes he walked up beside me and said in a low voice, “I am sorry brother for asking and offending you.” I smiled and nodded my head and said, “Come on, let’s go eat.”

We sat down in the restaurant and after looking over the menu, Susan asked Alaska what he was going to get. He asked if he could order anything. I smiled and said, “Well within reason” and asked what he wanted. He wanted chicken because it was his favorite. Our food arrived and we ate and talked. He told us that it was the first time that he had ever been in a restaurant like that before and only the second time he has had chicken. He is 23 years old, but very poor. We told him that we were honored to have taken him to his first restaurant. We enjoyed visiting with him and getting to know him better.

The whole experience got me to thinking later that evening about God. Before we came here, God told me that He had things waiting here for us. When we first got here I began to say, “Ok, God. I’m here. Give me what you have for me.” But after reflecting on what happened with Alaska, it got me to wondering if God was saddened because I didn’t just seek developing my relationship with Him before asking Him what He had for me.

Sometimes we look for the gift, but by doing so we completely overlook the giver and miss out on that deeper relationship with our Father. The gifts will come; the blessings will come. Our Father knows what our needs are. What’s on our Father’s heart, and what should also be on our hearts, is putting our relationship with Him first.

I have stopped asking for what God has for me and have instead chosen to start seeking that deeper relationship first. I want to know my Father more. That is what’s most important.