Christmas Week

This has been a Christmas week like no other. I never would have thought that I would be hot and sun burnt on Christmas day. I spent the week on Ilha with the Snider’s and another family, Roger and Lynne with their 2 boys, Andrew and Steven. They are friends of the Snider’s from Maputo. Also, Beverly came with them. She is Steven's teacher and a wonderful woman with so many life experiences. She has stories to listen to.

We left for the island after a short delay on Monday. 6 of us piled into the cab of Steve's truck and 4 boys climbed in the back with the luggage. In the second car the rest of the group fit in. I got to ride with Amani on my lap, I lucked out! This ride was our longest out of all of our trips to Ilha but fantastic. It was so nice to get one more trip out there. I can honestly say that our time spent on the island was a high light for me. It is like no place in the world. Pictures can even begin to describe what it looks like and the feeling of the place is... incredible. I meet several people there who were so kind and accommodating. There were 3 boys especially who were really fun. These guys; Miguel, George, and Labron James (or so we called him) made sure that we had all the jewelry that we could possibly need. They all speak English well and so that helped me a lot. They would go with me to pick things up or show me where to find things.

Miguel was particularly helpful on Tuesday when Mia and I wanted to go find some fabric to make dresses out of. He walked us all the way down to the market and got a good price for us and the back to the hotel. Our dresses turned out very cute. We got them on Christmas day and Mia was so excited she could barely wait for her dress to be done.

Wednesday we went on a boat ride to Goa Island. This is the island with the light house. We spent all morning there in the beautiful white sand and the cool ocean. Some of the family went on a walk to look at the light house again. I was in the water the whole time! That may have been a bad idea though. All of us got a little to much sun and made the rest of the day a little more painful. The rest of the day was at the pool in the shade as much as possible. Then for dinner the two families were going to have some time just with each other so we went to a new restaurant. There is no kitchen at the new place so we had samosas, meat balls, fish balls, potato salad and bread. As soon as it was ready to be brought out Steve got a call. It was from a good friend on the island. He was calling to tell us that dinner was ready and he would be waiting with his family on the beach to eat it. This caught us a little of guard so we hurried up and ate a little of what we had ordered and headed over to the beach. The amount of food that was prepared for us was incredible. It rivals the amount of food the Coatta family goes through on a holiday only there were about a 3rd of us. There were some interesting choices for dinner, everything from chicken to goat to fish and crab. It was quite the spread. The kids sat in the car the whole time, I believe they all had some sort of sun poisoning.

Christmas day was interesting. I woke up at about 4 because I was so hot and my burn was sore. I got to spend a lot of time in prayer and in my Bible. It was different but a great way to start my Christmas day. Christmas wasn't too exciting to be honest. I sat by the pool and played with the kids and talked with Beverly. At about 3 the decision was made to head back to Nampula, it was that or switch hotels. This time all 7 of us fit in to the cab. Kaleb, Lucy, Amani and I were in the back and Mia sat on Sarah's lap. We had 2 more passengers in the back. Miguel and his friend need a ride to Nampula so they hopped in back. Amani fell asleep almost right away and I can't tell you how wonderful a little sleeping boy feels in my arms. He was so sweaty and hot!

Now it is the day after Christmas and it is as hot as ever. The day has been spent doing laundry and packing the last few possessions. My bags are ready to go and waiting for the last few items!

This has been the most wonderful experience I could have ever had. I am so blessed to have had the chance to spend an extended amount of time in Mozambique and with a family who has become family.

Pictures: Rag curler night! Noisiest bugs/huge grasshoppers, and a teacher and her first grade class

It has been another week of Nampula, Mozambique and I am ready to come home. This week was our last week of school which makes everyone excited and a little unfocused. I had a lot of activities for the afternoons so this week passed right on by. I thought it would be a long week but now that it is happened I wonder where it went.

I was writing down all the things that I have learned and I can't even begin to put it in a list, it just goes on and on. The reason I was doing this is because I was asking God the question "Why?" And I know we don't need to know why before you do what you have been asked to do but I think that you can ask it after, to learn. So as I am making this list I know some of the reasons I have been here, in Mozambique a country most people have never heard of, for 4 months. I also know that I will not know the full impact of this trip for some time.

I will get back to my week though. Tuesday is where I think I will start. Well, Monday was Kaleb's 11th birthday so we celebrated with his favorite meal, Skyline chili and a brigidaro cake. On to Tuesday, we had a regular day of school and then I went to SIL, the school down the street for the missionary families, to hang out with Kelly. I spent about an hour with her and then had to get back for Portuguese lessons. I can't say that I learned much in class that day. I had Amani on my lap, he wanted to be part of the class, and the Stubblefields came over to say good-bye. I am really going to miss them. They have been great friends, I have learned so much from them.

Wednesday, Kelly and Angie invited me over to have dinner, watch a movie and sleep over. One strange thing was that I had to ask Steve to give me a ride. Do you know how weird it is to be a 24 year old who is asking for a ride to her friends house for a sleep over? It was like I was 12 again. We had fun though. We watched the movie "Maricle on 34th Street" and had popcorn and chocolate. It almost felt like Christmas. Kelly and I were shivering with goose bumps on our legs. It has been on the cool side here, 70. I know that does not sound cool to most of you but when you are used to 95-100 and super humid. I can tell you that the three of us spent a lot of time laughing and putting a puzzle together. I am really going to miss those girls.

Thursday I woke up at Kelly and Angie's apartment and got ready for my first chapa ride. I have been avoiding this the whole time I have been here. I don't know how to describe it to you, it is the public transportation. It is also turns out to be transportation for live and dead animals. Fortunately for my first time there were no animals and it was a nice chapa. The smell of it though can cause an instant headache. The ride is short from the apartment to our road so it wasn't too bad. I got home around 8:30 and we started school and the kids worked hard and were done by 12. It was raining hard and I had planned to go to the small market with Angie and Kelly that afternoon. We waited until the rain slowed and then hopped on another chapa to get back to the apartment to pick up Angie. By the time we headed out again to get to the market it was full on raining again. It was fun to be doing something adult like. Until this point I had just gone to their house or they had come here and we sat around because, truthfully, there is no much else to do. We went to the ATM and then to the market where Angie did most of the bargaining and then on our way back we passed a really clean, nice looking bakery. I treated the girls to natas which I will miss dearly and then we went to wait for the next chapa that could fit us all in. These chapas were much fuller then my first 3 rides, everyone was going home from work. The chapas are vans that are meant to seat 12 to 15. They seem to fit at least 20 in at a time. There is no spare room at all for anything! As we were riding back we realized that either the girls would have to ride to my street with me and then get on another chapa to ride back or I would have to see if I could get a hold of Steve to pick me up (this option is out because Steve forgot his phone) or I would have to ride the rest of the way by myself. I decided that I could make it but had the girls tell me about 10 times how you tell them to stop because there are no "marked" stops they just pull over whenever anyone yells. So they get out and I continue on. The chapa has now emptied considerably, it is me and about 6 men and they are all laughing about something. I am nervously watching out window to make sure I don't miss my stop. We are coming up to the road and I start to say "sida", I don't know what it means but I do know that they are supposed to stop. They are playing with me because they keep going, I say it again and again and finally I say loudly, "STOP!" and pull on the guys jacket. They are all having the time of their lives at my expense. It is ok thought I made it home safely and they got what they were looking for, a good laugh.

Friday was our last day of school. Fridays are test days and they normally go fast but the kids were so motivated to get out for the year that they sat down and got their work down in about 2 hours. I then spent the afternoon packing up the classroom and doing more laundry. The Kerns' invited me over for dinner so they picked me up at around 5. The Kerns are Stephan and Sharon and they have 2 boys, Cohen and Christian and are expecting their first girl in March. They are great people and have become good friends. They spent Thanksgiving with us and many other days. We had pizza for dinner that I got to help Sharon make and then we sat around and chatted while the boys put themselves to bed. That was funny, I guess they had never done that before but decided that it was time.

That has been my week. It was a good week, our last full week in Nampula. We will spend our next week and Christmas on Ilha with another family, friends of Sarah and Steve's from Maputo. I am very excited to be there and soak up all the sun I can before coming back to winter.

A couple quick prayer request. I am allergic to something here and have broken out in rash form on my face. It is so incredibly itchy I can barely stand it. Also, we are making the trip to Ilha all in a truck. The van was sold, an answer to prayer, so 7 will be fitting into a 5 passenger car, Mozambiquen style. Thanks so much!

So, I didn't know what to write about this week and I don't think I know yet so I decided to just start writing and maybe something would come to me... (Pictures, what the water looked like after our huge Saturday night storm, the kids winter in an African summer) pitures will come, internet problems again

It has been a crazy week; I will start with Friday, December 6 at around 4:00. Sarah and I were playing our afternoon game of Sequence when she asked me the strangest question, well it isn't a strange question but the time of it was. She asked, "What will be the first thing you will want to eat when you get home?" I thought and thought and came up with not a food but a drink, Diet Coke of course. But while I was thinking I thought, we still have 4 months till we go home, we aren't half way through our stay here and just last week the decision was made to move to Ilha de Mozambique. So, back to our game, we were playing along and Steve comes home from work and Sarah gets the biggest smile on her face, I know something is going on now, and says "I think you need to talk to Jean." I excuse myself for a moment and then return to hear Steve say, "How would you like to go home?" I was astonished. I guess it had been talked about but I wasn't counting on it because i had planned to be here and it is expensive to get a family of 6 back to the United States. It has been a week now since we found out and bought or plane tickets. For those of you who don't know yet I will be home on December 30th. Just in time for the New Year.

Since the news was given to the kids, the atmosphere in the house has been completely different. Everyone is happy, the girls are running around the house and laughing, Kaleb is saying that he will never say he is board again in his life; it is over all an excited group. Along with that though came a very long week of counting down the days to various events. We have a countdown for Kaleb’s birthday, now in just 2 days, Christmas, 12 days, and 15 days until we leave for home. Each day I try to think of something fun to do so all of us aren’t just sitting around waiting for the days to past. Monday the girls and I worked on picture frames made from beach glass. That was a fun project but it is hard to stick glass to glass so mine came apart, I am thinking that they won't make it to Minnesota. Tuesday Allison, Kelly and I planned on making a music video. We planned it all out, it was going to be so good but our video camera isn't working. Wednesday, I am not sure what I did at all. Oh yeah, the girls were jumping on the trampoline and there was ice that fell out of the freezer because the power was off for so long it fell. I got bowls of it and made snowballs and threw them at them. We then covered the tramp as best as we could with ice and they jumped in it. It was a precursor to Minnesota life. Thursday, Allison and Kelly stopped by again, we sat around and talked or didn't. We watched Allison do DDR on her computer and then they went home. Friday was a long day of school and then a really boring afternoon, not much to do, nowhere to go. Today, people were in and out buying things that Sarah and Steve are not taking back to Minnesota. It was fun. I got to chat with a lot of the people that I have meet while being here. Some of them I am really going to miss.

Then Allison and Kelly came over, yes for the 3rd time this week. After we had dinner we headed to my room to play games and chat. They are my saving grace this week. I had so much fun with them. We spent a lot of time laughing and Kelly is a teacher so we compared stories about past classes.

So, as you can see, I may live on the other side of the world but my week can be just as boring and regular as yours.

There is something that I have been working on and a conversation with Kelly tonight was helpful. I have been wondering what God has in store for me because I was supposed to live in Mozambique for 7 months and he is cutting it down to 4. Why? I am not supposed to ask why but it is so hard to wait to find out. I have had to remind myself a lot that God is in control! He knows what he is doing I just need to trust and obey. This is the phrase that Kelly used. She said that she just learned this lesson; it was a hard one but good. I have a feeling that is what I am supposed to take out of this time. I can't do anything to speed up the process and he may not let me in on what the next step is for a while. I know I am in good hands and I will trust that.

That is the thought I will leave you with because that is the thought that I am left with. May God bless your week!

Last week for the kids Bible. I had them pick out a verse that has to do with thanksgiving and then tell me why they chose that verse. Lucy's verse was 1 Thessalonians 5:18, I am going to start just before that in verse 16. "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is what God's will for you in Christ." When she chose this verse I knew that it was going to be the focuse of my week.

I have to admit that last week was hard. It was thanksgiving week. A week of preparing for an American holiday and a day that you spend with your family. I have to say that in my whole time here it has been hard and I have been homesick as expected but it wasn't until Thursday that all I wanted to do was go home. This is when I had to remember the verse.

Be joyful! I am with a fantastic family who knows how to celebrate national American holidays where ever they are. We had friends over that are so amazing in what they do and what they have deticated their lives to doing. i had the chance to talk with them and learn their family's traditions. One couple grew up in Brazil going to boarding school. Their memories of Thanksgiving are in a cafiteria with their friends and teachers. It was so fun to campare memories and learn how to celebrate our thanksgiving differently then we have before.

Pray continually! If I learn nothing other then this, which I know is imposible, I know I have come a long way. I have realized how pwoerful God is not nessisarily what he does but who He is and the presents he has in my life. He is always here. It is one of those things you need to experience. You can believe it is true and trust Him because He says He is here and he always keeps His promises but wow to experience it first hand is encredible. This amazing sence of pease and over whelming love comes over and I feel like I can make it through the day again! Prayer is the best way I know to make God a part of every minute!

Give thanks in all circumstances because it is the will of God! That could not have been stated any more directly. As a Christian, you strive to live a life pleasing God. Focusing on Him and what he wants you to do with your life. It seems as though he would like us to give thanks no mater where we are or what we are being asked to do. God provides in all places, in all times, so why not give thanks. I love thanksgiving for this. It is an amazing reminder of all the things to be thankful for. Just to thank Him for His presents, if that is all you have, is enough to get through the day.

So, that is what I learned this last week. On the day after Thanksgiving we headed out for Ilha, our favorite place to be. It was just as beautiful this time as every other. One of my firends, Ashlie,came with us. She was here for 2 months and had not left Nampula, she had not seen the Indian Ocean so I invited her to come with us. You should never come to Mozambique and not see the ocean. That is the most beautiful part of this country since there are no animals to see. I know, I thought that was wierd too. Back to Ashlie, it was really fun to have a friend with me. She was so amazed to see what she did and to experience it. It was my 3rd time there so I am more used to it. We took a walk so I could show her the beach and some of the homes. On Saturday we took the kids to the history museum. That is what the pictures are from. It is a house that hey redid and have many items that the kings of Portugal used as well as the first president of Mozambique. This island is so full of history you have to sit down and study it and then go experience it.

After the museum I went to pick up the dress I had made. It almost fits. It is acutally pretty good for a guy who didn't take any measurments he just had seen me once or twice. I may have to do some adjustments on it but over all it is nice. We left for home on Sunday and were back before dark. Ashlie left for the States on Tuesday. I am so happy that I have made many friends here. Especially Ashlie, she is a great person to sit down with and have a nice long chat!

Now it is on to live the next week that God has planned. Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement. I will write again soon!

A week on my own (almost)

The quote for this week is from My Utmost for His Highest. "We tend to rely on our own energy, instead of being energized by the power that comes from identification with Jesus." The verse that goes with this thought is "If the Son makes you free, you shell be free indeed." John 8:36. I read this in the midst of being at the house with the 3 oldest children for a week while Sarah and Steve went to Jo-berg to get Amani his final papers. That is a praise! Amani will be an American as soon as he steps on U.S. soil!

Back to being on my own… Sarah, Steve, and Amani left on Sunday, November 16, 2008. Sunday was an odd day. They left at about 10 and then the kids and I were left until dinner time in a quite house with not a lot of energy to make noise. At around dinner my friends showed up and livened up the house. Angie, Allison, and Ashlie all came to keep us company so that I could sleep at night and have Portuguese help during the day.

Monday was a hard day. The kids were tired as was I and they were missing their parents. They had decided before school started that they didn't want to be there so we were battling a little bit. We made it through the day with the help of Ashlie's loving presents and happy smile. For dinner we got invited to Terri and Brian's house just down the street. I helped us all to get out of the house and ready for the next day.

Tuesday was much better. We had fun at school and especially after school. The kids had decided a couple of weeks ago that they would like a strict schedule for school. I was happy to do that for them. So, we were starting school at 8:30 and were done by 12. If they had any school left it was then home work. I thought that sounded like a pretty nice school day. After a few weeks I decided that we would keep the starting time but be loose in-between. If they are having fun together outside I will let them keep playing, to a certain extent, then they will be ready for school again. We tried this on Tuesday for the first time and it was fantastic. They were playing a new game that they came up with on the trampoline and laughing and having a blast. It was good to hear them together. Tuesday is library day so we headed down to the school, SIL, to get some books and play with the other missionary kids in the area. I got to sit in the AC and chat with the other girls and ladies while the kids had fun making friends and working out some energy. This night would be my first test of dinner making alone in Africa. I made hamburgers. They were not quite American cheese burgers and pretty close. The night was finished with Allison singing us soon that were rewritten to work for Mozambique. The first on was written by a friend called The African Bug to the tune of These are a few of My Favorite Things the other she wrote to the tune of Good Morning Baltimore from the movie Hairspray. She rewrote it to be Good Morning Africa I will be recording her and bringing a copy home because they are so funny and the best way to explain this place.

Wednesday, Mia, Lucy, Kaleb, Ashlie, and I had another good day. Not too much special happened until we played Monopoly. Ashlie was talking about how she was going to lose and how she would be out of the game in no time. Well by the end of our 3 1/2 hour game she was killing us. She won with just one monopoly. After that I had my second try at dinner. This night we had spaghetti bolinas. It was really good with carrots and onions and mince. We had the new girl on the block, literally, join us tonight. Her name is Kelly, thank goodness she does not have an "A" name! She is so sweet and I am excited to get to know her. After a really boring movie we were all off to bed and expecting Sarah, Steve, and Amani early the next morning.

Thursday, I got a text at 8, expecting the travelers about that time saying they are delayed and they wouldn't be home till about 11. This was perfect, the kids could get their work done and spend the rest of the day with their American brother. It was an incredible greeting that they got when they pulled into the drive way. The kids went running and screaming and I think I did too! It was fun to have the girls over but wow! was it nice to have the whole crew back together.

The week started out tough be we worked it out. Do as my Mom says, have fun tell a joke and you will be much happier in school. Thanks Mom!

Next week is Thanksgiving and I am excited to see what it will be like in a new place with new people and new traditions from all different families. Let me start by telling you that I thank the Lord for the support I have coming from home!

(I didn't have any pictures from this week so I put some more pictures from Ilha, I hope you don't mind)

A lazy week

Philippians 4:4-7 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I know it is a lot but it has meant a lot to me this last week. I have had such a poor attitude about everything. I have been an expert in finding what I don't like lately instead of what I do like. So I was reading a book by one of my favorite authors, Karen Kingsbury, and these verses kept coming up. Each sentence in the verse hits home. Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS, not just when things are the easiest or when you have electricity that works or a critter less house or an air conditioner. Rejoice in the fact that He is with you, He is NEAR! I learned also that you can ask for anything. I may not get it, but I can ask for it. I feel so much better. I am happier this week with where I am and I am just trying to learn everything I can while I am here.

Not much has happened this week. I am sure many of you had a more exciting week then I did. The kids and I had school every day. We have now implemented a strict schedule. The kids made that decision. It is working out really well. We have a set amount of time for each subject and whatever they don't get done is homework. We started studying World War 2 this week and why the sunset looks pink and orange. They seem to be really interested in these things, that makes it easier on me.

Tuesday was a short day at school though. I got my first illness. It wasn't too bad. I couldn't describe it to you even if you wanted to hear about it. I was out for the whole afternoon and after a good nap and water I am almost feeling back to normal. If you could, please pray for no more illnesses and quick recoveries.

The kitties that one of the cats had are doing very well. The girls are loving it. They have an afternoon activity now. The back yard is now cleaned out, it was filled with leaves and garbage and branches. Now the girls love it back there. They have spent every afternoon building forts and houses for the cats. The first time we went out there to see the cats there was a huge spider (pictured). It was really pretty and our gardener told us that it was harmless. He said that there are a lot of other spiders that are much bigger near his house and you don't want to get bit by one of those.

US got a new president. I am sure you all knew that, at least I hope you did. Feelings on that, it is what it is and I can't change it but I can surely pray about it. One again I can ask for anything so let’s pray for the right and good decisions to be made in the next 4 years.

This afternoon was real fun. It rained for the first time since I have been here. Well... it sprinkled one other time but we were in the car. This was a real rain and the girls and I couldn't resist. We raced from the front door to the gate splashing in all the puddles then we jumped on the tramp. We were being so silly and it was a ton of fun. I love playing in the rain especially here, it is a great way to cool off. The girls were so happy to be out and playing and moving around. It was fantastic! I can't wait for the rainy season to really get underway. It will be hot but so nice to cool off with a good hard rain and everything will be so green.

That has been my week. As I said, yours was probably more eventful but it is what it is. On Saturday we are leaving for Ilha again. It will be a shorter trip this time; we will be back on Monday. If you could pray for safe travels that would be great.

Thanks for prayers! I appriciate it more then you could ever know!

Ilha de Mozambique

Pictures: First - the beach where we spent most of our time, second - I had just gotten my face painted with paste that the women make from rubbing a type of wood on a rock with water, third - the dancers, fourth - inside the room I shared with Kaleb, fifth - outside my room.

I don't know where to begin about last week. I spent the week in Ilha de Mozambique, translated to Island of Mozambique. It was like nothing I have ever seen or experienced. We were there because Steve had a conference so we went along to enjoy the Indian Ocean.

The Ilha is about a 2 hour drive from Nampula but it turned into three for us. As we were pulling out onto the road to start our trip, we were about 5 minutes from the house when a police pulled us over. I guess we had been speeding, I don't believe it, but that is what you get here. So to pay the ticket, first Steve had to go to their car with his license and get that ticket written up, that took a while. Then we were off to the station so he could pay it. It isn't that easy though. The guy who can take the money actually has to be there so we had to wait for a good 45 minutes. Then after he pays it we have to take it back to the officer who gave him the ticket so that they can sign it. It was an amazing process.

So we were finally on our way. I was a little nervous when we first got to the place we were staying because the outside looks like it has been through a beating. I realized though as I got to know the Ilha that it was beautiful because of what you can't see about it. Half of the island is old Portuguese houses that have been deserted and most of them are without roofs and many families live where one would have lived before. Several of the homes are being redone and I got to go into them. It is amazing the vision that people have, to see where they can take a broken building.

Everyday we did almost the same thing. I started my day with an early walk and greetings to almost everyone I saw. To give you an idea of how many people I would see on my walks, the island's capacity is about 5,000 people, right now there are about 15,000 living there. The difference between the people on the island and the people in Nampula, they are used to seeing travelers come and go and are more friendly. After my walk I would go shower do a little reading and then have breakfast. Then the kids, Sarah and I would pack up and walk to the beach. The beach was about a 10 minute walk depending on how fast the kids wanted to walk and how many people stopped us to chat.

We met a lot of boys that were somewhere between 15 and 25 years of age. They are the guys who sell all of the jewelry, so they follow you around and talk with you, well the good ones do anyway. The funniest thing about them is they ask around where you may be and them come and wait for you there. I got a couple necklaces. One was custom made by Megel. It is really cool. They make necklaces out of things that they find and one way is they find broken pieces of china and they make them into medallions. They are really pretty.

Back to the daily activities. After the beach we would come back for lunch and then head to the pool. We would stay at the pool, that was in one of the hotels, until around 4 and then head back to our rooms. I would shower again and then head out for dinner. For dinner I got to try a couple of new things. I had goat the first night. It really tastes like beef but the texture is different it is a bit mushy. I also had lobster, banana flower, and fried fish balls. I liked non of them except the banana. That was good.

One day we watched some dancers. That was fun. I like the singing that went along with the dance better then the dance itself. The women did a great job. Another night we went to Lighthouse Island. You have to take a boat there and that was a little scary but the island was worth it. It had a huge beach that we had all to ourselves and a light house of course. That was it thought. There was plants in-between the beach and the light house and a couple trees but it was a small island.

It was a fantastic week. I love the island. I was a nice break from Nampula. Speaking of Nampula, let's talk about how it welcomed us back. I believe that at least 5 cockroaches were killed between 7 and 11, the water didn't work, the drier fried, on Sunday morning a rat died on the onions and by Sunday night Sarah was diagnosed with malaria. I guess you could count the second to last one as a half blessing. First the rat died and second it died out in the open so we could get rid of it fast. The last one died where we couldn't, or thought, we couldn't get to it. Oh yeah, that was another delay before we left, we found the dead rat that we thought was in the ceiling it was in the electrical box and there were maggots everywhere. I heard it was disgusting. I chose not to go look at it.

I guess after reading that paragraph you may think that I don't want to be back in Nampula. I would say that your thoughts are right. That is my prayer request. Pray for an attitude change because I can't do anything about my location right now. Thank you all for reading and I hope to hear from you soon! God bless.