Mills wrote on July 27th......

Hey Momma,

I am typing as a very tired and beaten person. We played soccer again with the locals for another 2 hours. We quit after me and this guy connected heads, my eye lid was gushing blood. It was awesome. The scar is just alright, but they thought I was a goner. Ha good times. I think they all want my shoes.

Gabe and I had a nice dinner, noodles and mushroom soup mix. mmmm. It turns out that I will not be preaching this Sunday. Gabe and I will pretty much be stranded when Theo and Mignonne leave for SA in like 2 weeks, and we are going to Muapula (sp?) so that we can get out while possible. It isn't normal to leave this much, but it will be neat to experience different parts of the country. We are leaving tomorrow (Friday) morning and will be back sometime Monday. Gabe and I finished a big job today
in the radio station. We put in this air vent box through the roof to get some ventilation into a recording room. We had to hoist this 65 pound box up and then nail it is level. We had to cut a hole in the roof which made things interesting. It's only a metal sheeted roof, but it makes it interesting to climb on the roof to the hole.

Gabe and I are planning on starting "The Journey" south around October 10th. We both said that those dates should be fine. Maybe later if possible, like the 17th of November, I think you mentioned that date. Gabe and I can start and figure out some things that we can do, I'm sure there is a lot to do, but ya'll are talking about coming for a good while. Maybe a week and a half or two weeks? Gabe and I were just saying that there are places to stay on Fish Hoek beach. If possible you should stay
in Fish Hoek just so your close. Your driver's licenses should be valid in SA, if you wanted to rent a car. Email Neil and ask him. He would be able to help you figure out logistics.

I got an email from Moultrie, which was really nice. I am going to try and respond to him before we leave in the morning. I also got one from Ella. It is so nice to hear from folks back home.

I get the same emails from Madeleine every week. I don't know if you forgot, but I like the CC emails if you get a chance.

Gotta run, talk to you on Monday.

for freedom,
Mills

Mils writes on July 23rd.........

Hey Dad,

We got back from Lichinga last night just in time to receive emails. I'm glad the trip went so well, and I'm also glad ya'll got the picture. Mom went kinda crazy and listed ll these things I need to take pictures off. Ya'll have to understand that I am taking pictures from the camera on my computer and making then 1/20th of their original size. Then the guys we send through in SA don't like it when we try and send pictures because it clogs up their system. Then on top of that It takes me 5 tries
to send a picture, which takes like an hour. I'm not going to send pictures. I may get one of Gabe and Aubi or something, but it won't be soon.

I am still preaching this Sunday, unless we go out of town with Theo, so I am going to sit down today and try and figure out about what. I'd appreciate your prayers. I'm going to respond to you and Mom's emails in this one to save time, I need to do some other things. Tell her the warts are bad, but I am treating them with Duct Tape. Tell her that ya'll can try
and send a picture if it is under 30 KB's but it will be a hassle.

There are two people staying in our house from SA this week. Marida and Jan, they are here for the Dutch Reformed Senate(the church here is part of the Dutch Reformed Church). In Lichinga we stayed and Jan and Bonnie's house, Jan is from Europe maybe and Bonnie is from the States. We took all of Theo and Mignonne's cows to them b/c Theo is moving to Pemba in Oct. They are starting a project to raise a herd of cattle. It was awesome to spend time with them and other missionaries for the weekend.
This one guy Keith from SA lives at the beach of Lake Malawi, the same place we went and camped while the team was here. He is a really funny guy, and he told us he had a stun gun in his car. I agreed the get shocked, for the experience you know. I have to say it isn't like the movies make it out to be. It hurts and leaves a bad burn, but it doesn't throw you on the ground or anything. I should have a nice mark for a while.

Love ya'll and I will email better next time.

Love Mills

Mills wrote on July 19th.......

Hey momma,

I trust ya'll are having a great time up in WV. It is way up from here. Thanks for those verses, especially the Greek for free/freedom, that is neat.

I think in my email to dad this morning I wrote a good bit about the guys from SA, they are a good bit older and are just stubborn. We all are really. That is so neat that people are really into the blog. How are ya'll doing it? Are you just taking the whole email or just excerpts? I'm glad people are interested in what is going on. Sometimes I could see if frustrating for people back home, or confusing at least. "Why isn't he out preaching everyday?" I could see someone asking that. The thing is
these people know the stories, they want to see us live it. It really keeps you in check hey?

We went and got bread today praise the Lord, and had fried egg sandwiches. I found a huge stash of vinegar which is a huge blessing because fried egg sandwiches get old. The vinegar is nice to spice it up.

I was playing with Simon and Amika, Theo and Mignonne's kids, and Simon loves Legos! What a blessing. I was sitting and building with him and he said something so profound. (Simon can speak 3 languages). He said, " You know, it doesn't matter how many Legos you have, when you play by yourself, it isn't as fun as playing with someone else". I looked at him and said Simon you are very wise, it takes a lot of people a long time to figure that out. I will have to find someway of getting him some Legos
of mine. He doesn't have a whole bunch.

Here is a funny story for you:
Yesterday Gabe and I rode into Muembe with Louis. It's about 35k's from Chiconono and is the nearest police station, if you can call it that. Louis needed to report his break in, not that it would really do anything. We took the 1987-ish Mercedes that Gabe and I replaced the clutch in. It's funny we drive over bridges that are made of trees laying over piles of stones. Someone drove off the other day and died. We were in a Mercedes. Haha. Anyways we got to the Police station and after a while Louis
came out and said we were ready to go, but one of the officers would come with us. We had been talking to a man earlier while waiting (he reeked of alcohol). This guy asked if I were a boxer, obviously because I am so strong looking(haha), but Louis said because I looked like Jean Claude Van Dam to this fella. To our surprise this same drunk guy walks up with an AK-47 and says he is ready to go! He was the Police officer to come with us. He was waving that gun all around. Louis said he had to spend
the night at his house and then take him back the next day. The way these police work is if they find out who stole it, and they always know, they will say, "for you to get this back for free, you must pay me this amount of money". Ha it can be frustrating.

Keep me posted on the tapes, should be interesting. Would you mind sending Gunkle the link to the Blog, I don't have it and he asked for it. Also when you have time, Parker can help, go onto Facebook. I have a link for my old blog, and you can change it to the new one. Let me know if you have trouble with it, no rush or anything, just as time permits. I know ya'll are having fun, and I hope you aren't getting on each others nerves or anything, just be reminded that I would love to be there with you
when you start to argue about something trivial. It will probably help me to get along with the siblings after I am back.

Love ya'll I'll talk to you soon. Hope the story entertained you, it was something to live through I tell you. I'll look forward to hearing how you set up the blog and all since I can't see it.

for freedom(eleutheroo)
Mills

Mills wrote on July 20th.........

Hey Dad,

I figured if I get a picture down below 30 kb's then i should be able to send it. I made it really small on my laptop, but maybe you could make it a little bigger without distorting it too much. Figured it was worth a try since you haven't seen me in a while. If it works I will get pictures of Aubi, Gabe, Louis, and Theo and the rest. I think they would have fun with the camera. I'm going to keep the file size low, but I'm sure I will have an email from ya'll waiting when I send this.

Love Mills

Mills wrote on July 19th.........

Hey Dad,

I'm sure ya'll are in WV now, and I hope you had a smooth trip. It's comforting to know that you won't be stranded or in the middle of nowhere(literally) without help. Haha we can drive 400 k's here and not see one car. You can understand why Louis has a welder and angle grinder plus all the tools he needs for a repair in his car. Makes me love AAA.

I looked at those verses in Hebrews and 1 John, it was extremely appropriate at the moment. We ate dinner with Theo and Mignonne and their 2 kids last night. Rabbit! What a treat! Oh It was so good. Two of the guys from that team who is teaching evangelism to the locals came over and we discussed some things. People who come in for 2 or 3 weeks kinda have a narrow view of things. They say, "Come, give your lives to Jesus!". And people come, out of politeness. Then they come back a yea later looking
to disciple the "Christians" and there isn't a single one. These guys came with a focus on child evangelism. They said, "no if we just teach them how to share the Gospel to children, then it will be effective, the power of God's word cannot be stopped". The thing is, if a kid goes home and tells his Muslim family he is a Christian they would beat him, and if he didn't recant his beliefs they would disown him. By that time the team is gone. So he recants and goes on with his Muslim life. It happens
with every team that comes. And every single one wans to argue that their way is different, that their alter call is somehow better than the last. What we try to tell them is that they need discipleship, they need accountability and support! These two guys said, "well what about this guy "the king", he said the sinners prayer with us, we told him it was a serious commitment and he knows it won't be easy". Theo taught this guy 4 or 5 years ago and his family and the community started to say what happened,
you were a Muslim leader, now we can't follow you. So he went back. He will do the same this time. I don't doubt the Lord's power, but it will most likely happen. It's frustrating, there need to be more missionaries showing people the Way. Thats what they want to see, they say if you live what you preach, then I will follow.

I told mom and just wrote one to MR, but our email may not be reliable. There is a new moon that has been giving us trouble. The weather can throw is thing off like crazy. That sounds good about just letting me know about the dates, I think I am realizing that no matter how long you come for, it won't be long enough. I was thinking about Josiah last night and this morning, I can't wait to see how big that stud is. Gabe said while we were praying that my eyes light up when I talk about him. I
believe it. I was just thinking about how much I want to teach him.

Love ya'll can't wait to hear how things are up in ole WV. When I was there in Dunbar many years ago, things were quite dull.

Sorry that was pretty long and vent-y, and my forearms are cramping!

love mills

Updates from Mills......

Dear Dad,
Last night, Monday night here, I started feeling bad. I had stopped taking my Malaria meds because it was bothering my stomach still. Missionaries stop taking it because of the side affects and cost. It's funny, they get used to getting it around once a year, and it gradually isn't so bad. I didn't get Malaria, but I was in bad shape till this afternoon. I think the Lord was telling me to quit being stubborn and take it. I was up all night
with a bad fever and just aching body. I'm feeling a lot better now.
Talk to you soon Love and miss ya'll

Mills

Mills wrote on July 16, 2007........

James Taylor can make a boy miss home like no other. I can't tell how blessed I was when "Going to Carolina in my Mind" played on a random borrowed CD on the way up. In the middle of Mozambique I had a nice reminder of home. We put the CD on our computer, and I was just appreciating it. I think it is for people from the Carolinas who are away from home. Mmmm James Taylor.

I usually have your email next to the new one I type in the screen, but I don't tonight. I'm going to do my best in response.

That really was an awesome encouragement about David. I have heard that a lot, about how he should have been in battle, but it wasn't a sin for him to be at home. I never really made the tie to my own life and where God is taking me.

It is kinda like Nutella, it's called Choc Spread. It is chocolate and macadamia nut spreads though. No peanut butter.

Loius got robbed today. 30,000 meticas and 150 USD, and a little SA rand. His gun was taken but found later outside a barn of his. While he and his family came in town for church we think 2 guys broke in. We will see how that turns out, he is pretty poor though, so it really is a big hit. Loius, Aubi, Gabe and I prayed tonight when he came into Chiconono. He prayed that he would not have a hint of bitterness towards the men, and that their hearts would be softened to the Lord. I was comforted and
prayed that the thief's would realize that we store up a treasure in heaven that they can never steal, but it is a free gift to them.

Satan is also working through a magician here. He is doing many horrible things, cutting his wife, and then removing the knife and her being fine. Coming up with money, then turning it to paper, then back to money and giving it to the people. Making sand and water into rice, and then feeding the people. He charges people 10 meticas and then lets them see. He has been in Muembe, and will likely come to Chiconono. We would go and pray against him, how awesome would it be if like in Acts where the
slave girl who was doing magic, lost the ability!

Wow, satan has such a foothold here. More reason for us to be encouraged. He obviously is not pleased with the work we are doing.

A team came from SA tonight. There are 7 people, 5 older men and 2 kids. It is so frustrating to us. They are under the impression that the Christians are afraid or don't know how to share the Gospel. The thing is, we/they, share the Gospel all the time. The Muslims believe in Jesus and his "good teachings", they just want to see it in our lives. They tell us that. We will sit in a teaching session all day tomorrow. Its frustrating to us. They want to teach all day, all week. We heard the guy talking
tonight, he is going to repeat the same thing we learn tomorrow every day. They kinda think the Christians in Chiconono are slow. I am done venting, and I say all of that so you can better pray.

Mills worte to his Grandmother on July 10, 2007......

Oh Sity,

You are such an encouragement and blessing to me. I am constantly telling
Gabriel stories of you and all the funny memories. I just sat down to a
cup of coffee and am about to fix lunch. The team from Stellenboshe
University just left, they left us with a ton of food! Tons of canned
fruit which is expensive here. Also Rusks; I didn't know what they were
till I was here. They are these really hard pieces of bread that you dip
in your coffee and tea. They are so good.

We usually eat a lot of bread, but recently the baker in Chiconono was put
in prison. We have resorted to scrounging off the team, and now they are
gone. Thankfully they left us with plenty of stuff to manage till he gets
out.

I'm glad things are going well at home, It's so funny being so far away.
When the team left today we carried about 10 big bags of trash to a burn
pile. About 50 kids from the village came and tried to open the bags. They
wanted to desperately to have the trash inside. Even the bags themselves
are valuable to them. We told them not to touch them and if anyone stole
something that none of them would get anything until he was caught. Sure
enough one boy grabbed something and ran. All these little boys
dragged him back and we made him go home empty handed. The team stayed in
a few big military tents, and we had the boys take them down and put them
away, then we let them sift through the trash for tin containers and
plastic bags. Things like that really are treasure for them because they
are so useful and rare. Then we burned the rest. They were so thankful to
have our trash, and they worked for it.

We are bricking a house here, that will eventually be a guest house. We
usually have 10 boys who come and help move bricks just so that they can
have a ride on the back of a car or in one. It's humbling to think that
people would work all day just do hop on the back of a truck.

Gabe and I are getting along well and we both have finicky stomachs! Will
you tell Moultrie to check his Email, and make sure he is keeping the file
size low. Thanks!

Love and Miss you,
Mills
>

Mills wrote on July 10, 2007.......

Hey Dad,
We just ate lunch with Aubi, he is one of the main guys at the radio station and is from Chiconono. He is pretty influential and wealthy compared to everyone else. We went to ask him a question and he invited us for lunch. We kinda had to eat with him even though we had already eaten. It was awesome, we ate ground up corn that was made into these patties. It was almost like grits that have sat out for like 30 minutes. Then we had this soupy bean mixture and something like cabbage all in the same
bowl. They eat with their hands, and it is kind laughed at if you use a fork. Aubi asked if I wanted one and everyone laughed. It was good though, a good experience and all. We are going to eat with him and his family twice a week.

It's funny the women are the hard workers in this culture. They go out into the field and gather the maize and other crops. A lot of the men can be lazy.

I got Emily Clay's email that was encouraging.

I'll be praying about November. Gabreil and I are planning a road trip. We are going to bungee jump Vic Falls in Zimbabwe and then work our way back down the coast till Capetown. When we leave here we are going to hitch-hike to Maputo (look how far it is on a map, 2800 k's)!!! Then we will probably work our way down across the border to Johannesburg and on to Cape Town. Then when we get to Gabe's car we will head for Vic Falls.

Those verses are encourging, I had to really look deep into the passages which was good. Especially with those ones the other day.

Love you, Mills

Mills writes on July 8, 2007.........

Dear Dad,

This is in response to your email, I am writing in on Sunday Morning here, so you may receive it Sunday night there, but who knows?

That sounds great about the email and the Blog, I won't be able to check it unless I can find internet in Lichinga. I'll make sure you know what emails to post. I'll try and give an update every week or so.

I'm going to try and explain the email to the best of my knowledge. We use radio frequnecy to transmit a binary version of the email we type. So I type an email, our modem converts it to binary, and we bounce a radio signal off the Stratosphere into a very small diameter of an area in South Africa. They then email it to you. The speed is very slow, and the radio we use is basically a glorified CB radio like the one in my car.

Please pass the email along to all the guys. Make sure they know not to include any pictures or links or anything. They need to keep the size low. Only text. Also tell them to put my name in the Subject because there are like 6 people who use the address.

Yes the Team from Fish Hoek left, but there is a team from Stellenboche University in SA. They are Africans speaking, and all white. It is really interesting. The language is a lot like German, but a lot of people in and around Cape Town speak it. Most of them speak pretty good English though. They will leave on Tuesday.

Gabe is mainly facilitating the Radio guys that are from Chiconono. He is teaching them to use the computers and all. I am going to try and help Theo, another missionary that lives next door to us, with the building projects. He is in charge of that. Weather is cold and windy, but it is winter here. We went to Lake Malawi the other day, only 60 kilometers away but it took 2 and a half hours. The water was cold to me, but to everyone else it was so warm. We snorkeled a little, and slept on the beach.

Food is good, lots of vegetables and bread. Chicken is a treat. I eat a good bit of cereal but it is kinda expensive. I can get a piece of bread for 2 meticas, and a box of cereal for 175. The exchange rate is about 26-28 meticas to the dollar. I would love a nice burrito right now. We don't get any cheese, but we have fresh milk everyday. Also our chickens lay eggs everyday, and we have fresh strawberries.

Thanks for the encouragement dad! Tell everyone I said hey and that I am missing them. I sent mom an email This morning (Sunday here) about a package. I haven't been feeling very well, I ate a nut last night in some pudding(cake) the Stellenboche team gave us. I ended up being fine after some Benedryl. Mainly I have been tired, so if you'd be praying for that.

Love you and I appreciate the emails!
Mills

Emily Clay wrote on July 3, 2007........

Dear Mills,

How very special to read these amazing details of all that God is showing
you on this trip. These kind of emails just light my heart up in prayer for
you, so know your time spent writing them is a wonderful encouragement to
pray and to be excited to know how much God loves His creation that He would
send you half way around the world that He might be known.

Bless your ever living heart for being sold out for Christ at such a young
age. It is challenging to me to see how you have chosen to live your life.
GO FOR IT MILLS! You are an awesome witness.

I have just read through Proverbs and am awestruck as to how the Lord wants
us to seek WISDOM. Am praying that for you as well as your other requests. I
suggest reading through Proverbs as you seek His wisdom. And remember to
also seek Him on exactly how we are to fear Him. I am doing the same. Such
safety AND wisdom in fearing God...

1.. Psalm 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his
precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.
Psalm 111:9-10 (in Context) Psalm 111 (Whole Chapter)
2.. Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise
wisdom and discipline.
Proverbs 1:6-8 (in Context) Proverbs 1 (Whole Chapter)
3.. Proverbs 9:10
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the
Holy One is understanding.
Also....
1.. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose
hope is in his unfailing love,
Psalm 33:17-19 (in Context) Psalm 33 (Whole Chapter)
2.. Psalm 34:7
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers
them.
Psalm 34:6-8 (in Context)
Travel with angels, dear friend.

In His Precious Grip,
Emily Clay

Mills wrote on July 7, 2007.........

Haha we have had an interesting past couple of days for sure. I just wanted to tell you that ya'lls emails are so encouraging and really uplift Gabriel and I daily. The reminds of home you bring really do warm my heart. The team is just about to leave. Ha they just came in from talking to Theo, one of the missionaries who lives next door. They need to leave in 15 minutes to make it in time to catch a ferry across the Zambeze River. If they don't leave here in 15 minutes then they will be a day late.
Things are pretty hectic, but God is good.

The subject of the message refers to two things.
Soreness: They were a group of students here from Stellenbosch University in Cape Town. It is an Africans University. SA has 11 national Languages and Africans is one of them. It sounds so much like German. Ya'll should look into the different languages it is so interesting. Almost all Africans folks speak English though. There were like 15 girls and 5 guys on the trip and we just played Rugby with them. Rugby is so big here it is ridiculous. We played 5 on 5 and Gabriel and I were the most athletic
on our team, which is awful. Gabe is recovering from Malaria, and I'm not in great shape. Needless to say we got destroyed. No one got hurt so Praise the Lord.

Bearings: We brought up a trailer that the church owned which was a bit old, but carried all of our stuff, plus a lot of extra fuel. We had 2 blowouts on the way up and had to repair a busted bearing. We worked on it today and tried to replace the bearing, but couldn't find another one to match. They are leaving the trailer and the car is stuffed. We worked all afternoon and took apart a all of the trailers in Chiconono. They are having to leave the trailer here because its shot.

I ended up finishing this email Saturday morning. The team left last night in a great hurry, and kinda left some stuff. Nothing too important. Gabe and I were hoping we could pick up a phone or something. I am having to wrap this up quickly because Theo's wife is going to send our email while we are out and about today.

I love ya'll a lot, and look forwar dot hearing how things are going. Did you send out the email to the contacts? How is everyone?

for freedom,
Mills

Mills wrote on July 2, 2007.........

From Chiconono with Love:

Hey ya'll!

Wow, I am in Chiconono now after a long few days of traveling. We left the Church at 7 am on Thursday, and drove through the night to Johannesburg to pick someone up and then kept going till we reached the border of Mozambique. We picked up Gabriel in Maputo, the capital, and then were on our way. After driving all that day we found a nice place to stay for really cheap; this opportunity to rest was well needed and it was just nice to lay down. We had 8 people in a "combi" or mini-van, and needless
to say, it was cramped. We drove all day the next day up into Mozambique working our way to the Zambezie river where we had to ferry across. After short delays we made it across and onto Macuba. (I think that is spelled right?) Late Sunday night early Monday morning around 1 we thought we were rolling into Lichinga, the major town nearest to Chiconono (2 and a half hours). Once we got there we realized it wasn't Lichinga and that we were in fact 6 or so hours away. We pressed on and made it to Lichinga
this morning (Monday). Then we had a 2 and a half hour drive to the particular village, Chiconono. The roads in Mozambique are awful. Pot holes plagued our tires, and we had two blowout on our trailer, and a roadside repair on a shot trailer bearing.

All of this being said... God has shown me parts of Mozambique that no one sees. I have an understanding about how many people live in absolute poverty and are happy! This people are lost in there sin so much that they can't see their right from their left. God is working my heart into loving these people and the arduous journey we took was only a way for me to grow closer to these people. Most people would fly into Lichinga after many other connections and miss the entire countryside. God is so
evident here; whether it be in the joyful face of a young child, or the change of an expression on an old man after a friendly thumbs up. God's creation screams out to him here, and nothing gets in the way.

Gabriel, the South Africa guy I'm going to be living with here and I have already become so close. The Lord has blessed us with such similar spirits in so many ways. Other than the fact that we are both stubborn, we both love working with engines and our hands, hiking, anything crazy like bungee jumping (which we plan to do in SA) ect. God was so awesome as to knit our hearts so closely before we even met and to give us the personalities that can live together and glorify him.

I'd love your prayers on,
Language barrier- Gabe and I are going to spend 2 hours each morning working on learning Portuguese and a little Yao. People here are blown away when you can simply say hello. If we make an effort to learn their language they understand we have something important to tell them.
Safety- as work on the project here we could really use the Lord's hedge of protection.
Health- Gabriel and I both eat a lot, and he has already made the change from a meat filled diet to one of vegetables, fruits, breads, local food and stuff we grow ect.
Wisdom- I just want the Lord to really teach me a lot, pray that he would give me wisdom on the issues Gabriel and I will be confronted with, and be able to discern what is best.

Sorry I had to send this in a hurry so that the stratosphere would be right to bounce our radio signal. I can explain later. Haha.
for freedom,
Mills