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.

On Holiday!

This week was another good week aside from the panic attacks the rat caused in me. The beginning of the week feels so far away I don't know if I will be able to remember it!

The first 3 days of the week were spent doing school work and just hanging around the house for the most part. On Monday night Terri and Brian, a couple that lives a few houses down, invited us over for supper. It was really good and Terri and Brian are amazing people. They are from Southern US of A and are hear studying the language so when they move to a village they will know all that they need to. I am glad they are not leaving until January.

Thursday was a glorious day in the Snider house, Steve came back from America. He not only came back but he came back bearing many gifts. He brought some Halloween candy and books and cloths, very exciting. We are all glad he made it back safe and is here to fight off the rats!

I almost forgot to tell you about the rat. I can't remember what night it was but Sarah and I were just sitting on the couch watching BBC Life and writing emails when a rat, a big rat came running through the dinning room and behind the TV. I jumped up on the couch and finally got the words out, "a rat!" Sarah went to get the brooms and we positioned ourselves on either side of the TV stand. By that time the rat had gone all the way around the room and through a couple rooms and back into the kitchen. About a half hour later he showed his face again. All I could do was say, "there it is again". I couldn't move I just looked at it. I couldn't believe it would come back through the room again! We were on our to getting up when it went back the way it came. At this point we went to made sticky traps which besides catching a lizard caught nothing. Not to worry though, Steve caught one of the rats this weekend and a another trap is out tonight.

On to this weekend. On Thursday I decided to go with Angie and Alison to Chocas. I left with Angie and a few other people on Friday night. The three of us, the three single girls, slept outside. I loved that. I got to sleep in a hammock, that was tricky business. Alison and I woke up early and went to the beach to watch the sun rise. It was so beautiful to watch it rise over the Indian Ocean. Later that day we went to the ocean to swim and play. It was so fun and so freeing to just run and "play" in the water. After lunch we had a tree climbing competition(that is what the some of picture are) then the whole group, about 17 people, got into the water and we played chicken and sward fight with noodles. It was a very silly afternoon. On Sunday I slept in a little and when straight for the water. We had lunch and a little fellowship then right back into the water. I met up with the Sniders' at Sunday night worship. I missed them so much, they are wonderful people and I am so happy to be here with them.

Nampula, week 2

Ok, here is the house I am living in. The first picture is of the outside of the house and my room is in the back on the white side of the house. If you are wondering what the large cement structure is, that is the long drop, where the guards go to the bathroom. This is my bedroom, I didn't get a picture of it but there's another bed in the room for a guest! The next picture is my bathroom, very spacious as you can see! The orange bucket is incase we run out of water. And the last picture is the classroom. This is a great room with a desk for each student and a big book case that is full of our books. I will be posting the next portion of the house soon!

Verse this week is from Isaiah 41: 10 "fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." This is the verse that the kids and I are memorizing this week for school. I thought it was a good one because of the events that unfolded last week.

Now it has been 2 weeks in Nampula and things are good. Steve left for the states on Tuesday so we are here without a man of the house. Honestly it is a little harder without him here. I am a little more jumpy at night. I guess I can't blame this on him completely though.

The first night Steve was gone, Sarah offered to let me sleep in one of the girls beds so that I could be on the same side of the house as them since my room is through the kitchen and the school room as well as a bathroom. I thought that I would be fine in my own room so at about 11:00 I headed that way. As I was about to go through the kitchen I decided to turn on the light so that I could just see what was ahead of me, see if there were any obstacles and then I was going to turn the light off. Well, right when I turned on the light I heard a noise above me, as I looked up a rat appeared and fell from the shelf. I tried not to scream as I jumped back because Amami and the rest of the family were sleeping not to far away. Unfortunately I woke Sarah, there was nothing we could do. The rat has shaken off his fall and run behind the fridge. That night I did not sleep well. I kept hearing sounds and waking up. So now I am sleeping in the girls room!

That was Tuesday night and since then we have been keeping ourselves busy with all sorts of activities during the day besides school. Oh, on Tuesday we also went to library at SIL which is the school for the missionary kids in the area. They have open library every Tuesday which is really nice. We got to meet some of the other mothers and were invited to a ladies lunch on Thursday.

On Wednesday though, our activity was to have guest over from Maputo. Some friends of the Sniders' were up doing some work and came over to have dinner. I can't tell you how nice it was to see familiar faces even if I had only seen them once or twice before. One of the men who came over, his name is Barbosa (sorry if I spelled it wrong), has been amazing for me. We had gone over to his house while we were still in Maputo a couple of times to have dinner with his wife and son. I don't know if I wrote about it but I have told many of you, he is the one who made us poa de quaju. They are little rolls that are mostly cheese. Everyone should have them at some time in their life. Anyway, he and I started talking and he was really encouraging and kind. I have been kind of over whelmed, I guess you could say because NOTHING is the same here as it is at home so my brain feels like mush. So the reason I am telling you this is he gave me lots of hugs (not nearly as good as your's, Dad but as good as it gets right now) and told me to call whenever I need to! What a guy!

Thursday: that is the day we went to the ladies lunch. That was good but overwhelming as well. Trying to remember all those names and faces to go with and who's kids are whose and who their husbands are. Even though it was over whelming it was nice to be with adults and to talk about what they are doing here and have time to pray. I am excited to get to know these women better! When we got home, the kids and I were walking down to a new friends home to see the puppies that are at there house. The puppies are 2 weeks old and are just starting to open their eyes. They are so cute, Lucy and Mia loved petting them. They are looking forward to going down to see them often. On our way to see the puppies we ran into two girls that were coming to meet us. There are 3 girls who live in an apartment who either teach at the school or are doing some language development here and they are my age. I am so excited to get to know them!

For dinner last night, we had home made tortillas. They are so good!


Friday morning started with coffee! It was our first real cup of coffee for about a month. Believe it or not but I thought it was good. It was a treat to have something familiar. During our wonderful cup of Starbucks coffee, Jamie the guy who works in the house, pulled down the mouse traps. He had caught 2 mice last night. I new he had caught at least one because I heard it scraping around in the night, but 2! Gross! he showed them to us and I was totally discussed!

The morning went on as normal. We had school and Kaleb and I went on our run. At 4:00 we all piled into the car and went out to Claire's house to got horse back riding. That was so fun. We just did a small ride because of the small kids and making sure that they love it before we go big. After riding I went over to some new friends house for dinner and a sleep over. They are some great girls. Angie and Allison are both from the states and have been here just over a year. Angie is a teacher at the school for the missionary kids and Allison works for the same orginization but does linguistics. She has the rare talent for learning languages easily. I had so much fun with them. We had dinner and talked and then watched a movie.

This morning they found out that thier gaurd was really sick and decided to take him some medication and money for food. Here, when you have a gaurd that is trust worth you keep him well. Also I should tell you that the guards are not for safety but for petty thefs. Any way to get to this guy we had to pick up his brother because he had a cell phone and could get us to the gaurds house then we drove a good 15 minutes through, what people call here, the stick villages verses the cement villages. When we got to the gaurds house his brother took us in and while Allison and Angie were explaning things to them the brother was translating into the tribal language so the wife could understand. Allison read a couple verses from Mark chapter one and then we prayed. That is an experince in and of it's self. Praying here, everyone prays at the same time, aloud. Just one more thing to adjust to.

After we got back Sarah picked us all up and we went to a BBQ out at Claire's house. It was a whole bunch of families and their kids. It was fun but I am ready for a night to just chill.

Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts. I am thinking of you too and miss you all. Please keep me updated on all the happenings of home!

One Month!

It has been a long time since I have written and I have a lot to write about. I have been here just over a month and in some ways I can't believe it has been that long already and in other ways it has been a long month. It has been a good month either way. I have learned so much about being away and being in a new culture. It is so hard to not be able to talk to anyone especially the kids.
Oh, wow! I think I need to start with a verse; "When I am afraid, I will trust in you." Psalm 56:3
What has happened this week? So much, so much!
I wrote to you about our drive north and all that happened along the way. We are in the house now and it is starting to feel familiar. I have my own wing of the house. It is a really big room with a really hard queen sized bed. There is a bathroom with a shower in between my room and the school room. The school room is a nice size with shelves and windows. the only problem with the windows is outside the windows. There is something dead out in the little "garden" and when the wind blows it really smells! Alberto, the gardener, is going to take care of that for us. Hopefully he will be able to do that soon.
I will post pictures sometime. I want to get things more put way so that you can actually see the room. The unpacking process is long and hard. I thought I knew that from all the moving I have done in the last 5 years but when you are moving one person verses seven it is really different.
I start school with the kids the second week we were here but it feels like we really just got started this week. I have been able to sit down with them and go over there lessons and talk about what they are learning. Just what a teacher is supposed to do!
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about church. That was an experience! The service was in English and then translated to Portuguese. Trying to hear that English was hard especially because it is not the pastor's first language. It was such a high energy service that I had no idea 2 hours had passed by the time we left. They said on the way out that it was actually short today. I can't imagine what it will be like in the dead of summer for hours on end. It was hot in there and it was only about 90 degrees outside. It is funny how your body can adjust to the temperature. This morning I was thinking it was cool and when I looked to see what the temp was it said 80, funny.
Ok, so I have told you a little about the house and moving and church and the weather. On to some interesting events.
Monday was a crazy day. Besides it being our first day of school here in Nampula, Steve left on a business trip and all sorts of things started to happen.
We have been having problems with the power staying on and getting water into the house. I think it is mostly worked out now but on Monday the power went off in the middle of the night. That was a hot night! No fans and no low windows in my room to let in the breeze.
Funny thing about my room that I forgot to mention. The Been's, the owners of this house, decided it would be a good idea to attach the guards "long drop" (toilet) to the outside of my room. Thankfully there has not been a strong wind to push the stench into my room and I have not had the pleasure of hearing any happenings either. Maybe I should explain a long drop. This one is just a blocked in space with a hole in the middle. They didn't put a roof on it or anything. Steve said he could fix it. I am not to worried about it at the moment but I could see it becoming a problem!
I mentioned power problems. Well it went out. It had been coming on and off for about an hour and then it just went off in the whole house. This was a little scary because of Steve being out of town and the power wasn't only off in the house but on the street as well. This makes guarding the house difficult for the guard. We were blessed because the power came back on an hour later as Sarah and I started to sing "The sun will come out tomorrow" as we said tomorrow the lights came on, WOW!

Today!
Today started out well. Kaleb and I went for our run and then we started school. Part of school was a field trip into town. The plan was to pick up some things we needed but also get familiar with the city.
We were walking around like normal, looking in shoppes and finding out where to buy things if we needed them. Then something happened. I was walking down the sidewalk with a Snider girl on each side when I hear Sarah yelling. A guy had been digging in the side pocket of her backpack and she was hanging onto his shirt. I wanted to help but I was in such shock that I couldn't move. There were other people around who were moving a little faster. One guy tried to knock the things out of his had and another was trying to trip him. I think he dropped what he had, a wet nap, and ran off with a shredded shirt, thanks to Sarah. He didn't get anything big so, not that we could do anything, we go in the car and headed to Shoprite, the grocery store.
After being a little rattled I thought, oh good we are going to a place I have been and I can kind of know what to expect. Well, I didn't.
We got out of the car and were in a mob. There were men surrounding us trying to sell there produce. Sarah decided to buy some carrots and we were on our way into the store.
While we were in the store, a man came up to us and said that our car was unlocked and there were kids inside. Kaleb ran out to check and thought the doors were locked so we just kept on shopping. When we went out to the car Sarah noticed that the 7o mts that were in the car were missing and the ipod that had been in the front.
The car had been lock, the people who broke in had used something in the lock to get it open.
When we got home Steve went to check out the car and that is when he had noticed that the car had been picked open and went to find out who it was and if he could find him.
This is a crazy story. Some men said they knew who and said they could help him fix it so they got in the car, 4 of them, and took Steve somewhere. He ended up in a witch doctor's home. The witch doctor offered to put a curse on the guy who did it and he would be killed in his sleep. This would have cost, not that he was thinking about it, 1500 mts (the exchange rate is about 24 to 1) to kill a guy.
To say the least, it has been a full week of all sorts of new experiences.
Thanks for your prayers, I really do appreciate them!
And for taking the time to read about my adventures in Mozambique!

How do I begin describing that last couple of days?

I guess I should start with Tuesday the 16th. On Tuesday Steve was planning to drive to a city, I would tell you the name but they all sound the same so I can’t, he thought was farther away than it was. So we got up really early and were driving but 5:30. We got to our original destination by 10 am and we all agreed that we shouldn’t stop, just keep going. Then next city that we could find a place to stay at we reached by 3. There was a discussion in the car. Do we drive the rest of the way to Nampula or do we try and find a place to stay here or sleep in the car? It was a unanimous decision to drive.

Ok, if you have ever driven in Africa you know that you shouldn’t drive at night. Those of you who haven’t are probably wondering why. This is why; to start the roads are a two lane highway, people going the same direction with in feet of each other. I was trying to describe how close you get to other cars to my Dad and I said that you are kissing mirrors with the passing vehicles. I made Steve laugh because I was leaning away from the passing cars like that would help us miss them.

Back to the road conditions, driving during the day is hard enough because of the width of the road and the lack of pavement. Well, the dangers all increase because you can’t see the road anymore. There are no street lights anywhere. And to make matters more difficult, there is a whole lot of road construction right now. There are constant detours. I think we were on more detours then roads.

As I am writing all this down I have to thank God that we made it safely. It is only because of Him that we are here.

In the midst of all of this we got to stay at the Snider’s friend’s house in Dondo. Her name is Janine and she is doing amazing things in Dondo. She has helped to start a preschool and elementary school, a farm and a bakery. There are so many things. She was showing them all to us and each stop I thought, there is more! She is an amazing woman, doing amazing things!

Some of the pictures on this post are of the kids at her school. They were so excited to see us. I think I got the most hugs ever just on that one day. The kids are so friendly; they just run up and give you a hug. The frustrating thing was that I could not talk to them. I want so badly to be able to converse with the people, especially the children here. That is one of my prayer requests, that I will be able to pick up on the language and start to understand some of what is being said to me.

The drive becomes even more fascinating as we pull into a small town to get gas. People were pointing us to the gas station they thought would have gas and it didn’t so Steve used the spare gas tank he had in the car. He had already used the tank once when we had rolled into a previous town on empty. That was so amazing that we made it. I just kept looking at the gage and praying. Anyway, we were at the gas station with no gas and guy came up to the car and said that he has gas at this house but we would have to give him a ride there. Steve said "Noa Obrigodo" and filled what he could. While Steve was filling the car a tire blew out. Thank God it didn’t happen on the road. There would have been no way for us to fix it. The last flat the car got, when Steve was trying to fix it the jack broke, I think I wrote about that, so beside it being too dark to see on the roads we wouldn’t have been able to lift the car to get the tire on.

The guys got the tire on and we filled up with as much gas as we could and were off. After this stop Nampula was only supposed to be an hour and a half away. God is really testing my prayer life because we had no more spare tires and no extra gas. An hour passed and we didn’t see any lights coming from a city, an hour and a half, no lights, two hours and finally we saw the lights to the city. Those were two of some of the longest hours I have experienced.

All this to say, that because of God’s amazing protection, we have made it to Nampula safe and sound and will move into the house on Friday the 19th. I will tell you more about the house another day.

Thank you so much for your prayers and love being sent my way. I would love to hear from all of you. I love you all and will write again soon.

September 14 (evening)

So today was another day of driving. We left from Luke’s house at about 9 and started towards Dondo where another of the Snider’s friends lives. Janine, she is fun. She has lived here since 2003. She came on a short term trip and decided to stay just like Robert, Luke’s friend. I will learn more about what she does here in Moz but for now all I know is that she hosts teams and works with schools here to train teachers. Janine was a principle of a school in Denver before she came here so she knows what she is doing.
Our journey here was not as uneventful as yesterday. Everything was going great, the road was smooth and the car was not bottoming out as often. The only thing was that Amani wanted to get out so he was upset. The road was smooth for a time and then random pot holes started to appear. They were in weird places and seemed to be hiding. One got us; it was so big that Steve would have had to swerve off the road into children. Before I go on, I just have to say how grateful I am to be riding in the car with a driver who can miss 99 out of one hundred holes in the road. So, anyway, one got us and we had to pull over. The tire got destroyed, there was about a 5 inch square flap ripped out of the tire. As Steve was changing the tire the jack broke and the car fell. Now we are in trouble. We are in the middle of nowhere and I don’t see any cars coming. I just started praying. Praying and praying! Steve started to fix the jack and got it put back together. Just as the jack was coming back together Sarah flagged down a truck. The guys used their jack and rocks to get the car high enough to put the spare on. Wow, can God answer prayer or what!
We got back on the road and were off. We made one more stop for gas and a new spare tire. We were in a town and all the kids and adults came to the car to sell fruit and nuts and just to look in the car. Steve used some of the kids to help him lift the car to get the spare back under, in its place. We made it the rest of the way without anymore big things happening.
We are staying here for two nights and seeing all that Janine does here. I believe after that we will have 2 more days of driving.
Thank you so much for all your prayers, know that I am having a wonderful experience and learning so much about myself and my relationship with God. I have experienced so much growth in 3 weeks, what else can God do. Praise Him every day for all that he does.
I love you and hope to hear from you soon!

September 13 (evening)
Okay, so I wrote that post yesterday (9/13) morning before we really even left Maputo. I am now at a friend of the Snider’s near Bara. We are about half way to Nampula but the traveling has not been easy. As you can see from the picture (on the next post this one is on our way to the beach) the pot holes are HUGE! We had to drive through a district that miss used their road funds and as punishment to that district they will not get any more money to fix it. So imagine driving down a road that has more pot holes then road. Some pot holes are so wide that the car has no choice but to hit it.
We are riding in a minivan that is really nice but so loaded down with luggage that there is no clearance between the wheels and the car. Every hole and every slight wave in the road the car bottomed out. I thought for sure that the car had gotten a flat tire at least 10 times on Sunday. God was amazing because we got all the way to our first stop without any problems at all.
Last night we stayed at a guy’s house that Steve had met in Maputo. He was staying at the Oasis and they got to talking and asked us to stay at his house. His name is Luke and he has been in Mozambique for about 5 years. He is handing out New Testament recordings to people in the bush. His story is so cool to listen to. Luke also hosts groups of people from America to help him pass out the New Testaments as well as bring them to him from America. He has a friend staying with him who just joined him in August. His name is Robert. From the way I understand it, Robert was just coming on a short term trip and loved it so much that he decided to stay and help. Their house was really amazing, there are no words to explain it. It is on the beach. You walk out the back and they have a little yard and a porch and then it is the Indian Ocean. I sat out there this morning and just looked. So amazing!
We arrived at their house at about 7, the kids did their home work and the Amani ran around like a maniac. We ordered pizza for dinner; I had the spiciest piece of pizza ever. It was so hot that my lips were swollen! After dinner we stayed up and talked for a while and I sat outside for some time. I slept so well that the sun did not even wake me up enough to roll over. Yesterday was a great day!