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!

September 13 (morning)
Verse for this week; John 13:14 “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” I am here to serve and I am just beginning to see all the ways that I can serve the people around me.
I called my parents last night and they asked me why I disappeared for a couple of days. I was without Internet from Wednesday to Friday morning. I think that is really funny considering where I was. We were staying in a really beautiful hotel with showers that were clean and worked, but more importantly, A/C.
The Snider’s’ gave me a treat. They took me to South Africa to go to Krueger Park! It was the coolest thing I have done. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is a national park that you pay to drive through and can see all the animals that live in Africa. The neat thing about the park is that you are never guaranteed to see anything but as we are pulling through Steve asked me, “What do you want to see the most?” I wanted to see an elephant and a hippo. We pulled about one hundred yards into the park and there were giraffes standing right next to the road. Those are amazing animals! We pulled up about another hundred and there was a herd of elephants with their babies. It was the coolest thing!
I could go on and on about all the animals that we saw but I will just attach some pictures. There is one funny story though. The car that the Snider’s have is a van so the windows don’t open up in the back and you are not allowed to get out of the car so we were opening the sliding door and taking pictures. There was one opportunity though that there was a giraffe really close and on the other side of the van so Steve said, stand up through the sunroof. Sergio, a friend of the Snider family, had done it so I though no problem. I was trying to hurry and once I got up I thought Steve was accidentally closing the roof. So I asked him to stop trying to close it (in a not so quite voice). They kept saying, just take the picture. Needless to say, the whole was not a big as I had expected it, the giraffe started to run and my “dismount” was not a graceful as it could have been either. Either way, it was some good entertainment for the whole family.
We are now on our way to Nampula, the final destination. It will take us 5 days to get there. We are driving so I have a couple prayer requests. I would appreciate prayer for safe travels, patient and loving words to be passed, a servants heart, and homesickness. I miss you all so much and think of you often. Thank you for the prayers already said and for the ones you will say. I am so blessed to have you at home praying for this journey!

These last three days have been really great. Thursday; Sarah, Kaleb, Lucy, Mia, Amani and I walked around down town Maputo. This was an extra special event because the day before we stayed at home all day. It was nice to have a day off, we did school and played some games but after a day in the house it was great to get out.
Our destination was lunch at Surf which is a restaurant over looking the Indian Ocean. I ordered my own food for the first time, tosta de quejo with a coke light. That is a grilled cheese with a diet coke. It was really good and hit the spot. While we were there, Angie and Charlie came to join us. They are the couple that we stayed with the first week we were here. Several other mission families came for lunch as well, I have been meeting the nicest people here.
After lunch we sent the kids with Angie and Charlie to their house and Sarah, Amani and I walked home. We were just going to take a half hour and it took an hour. Sarah kept seeing people she knew on the street and I had to stop and get money. I used the ATM for the first time, it was a day full of firsts!

Friday we left the Schmidts in a car packed so tight and so full only a Mozambican would understand. Mia was in the back squished between the roof of the car and the language with a pillow for comfort. Amani was in his car seat and Lucy, Kaleb and I were all in the second seat. Steve had it good in the driver's seat but Sarah, she was holding 2 full laundry baskets on her lap. The picture at the top is of us in the car.

After we unloaded, the kids did about an hour of school and then off to lunch. At lunch I tried my first Mozambican food. It was samosas, they are a fried pastry filled with meat. The ones we had were filled with beef and spicy stuff but very good!

Our next event was the orphanage were the Sniders' adopted Amani from. Wow! That will give a person perspective. They kids there are so sweet and the babies are so small. I was holding a eight month old and she couldn't have been more then 10 pounds. You leave there wishing you could do so much to give those kids all that they need to grow up and be strong people.

Today, Saturday, has been just has wonderful! I went with the Sniders' to their friend's home to have breakfast. The Barbosas' are from Brazil and made us a Brazilian breakfast. They were called poa de quaju. They are little roles FILLED with cheese. I had so many, I couldn't stop my self! We were having so much fun and good conversation, breakfast lasted until 3 ;).

What a week. It finished with a Mozambican man named Key trying to teach me Portuguese. I am trying hard but languages don't seem too come easy for me.

This week has been great! We started school! I am teaching sixth, third, and first grade. The kids are all doing really well for never doing this type of school before. It is fun to teach all the grades because I am not repeating the directions a ton of times for the same assignment over and over. So far we have just done reading, math, and writing. We will start the rest of the subjects in Nampula.

The kids and I agree that it is really nice to spend about 3 hours a day on school work in stead of being in school for 6 and then having homework on top of that.

Enough about school.

It is Wednesday today and it is our last day at the home we are staying at right now. It is a beautiful home with a large kitchen, dinning room and living room. It has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. the porch raps around 2 sides of the home and there are more rooms in the back for people to live in. The people that live in this home are doing a mentor ship program and so that is what the rooms in the back are for. They are separate from the home. I think that is a really neat idea. All the future mentors are boys and are learning how to work and be leaders in the areas they will live in. All of them are Christians and that is part of work.

As we leave this home we are going to a place called the Oasis. They are not sure what it is like, Steve and Sarah have not been there for 4 years so they are hoping it is better then what it was. All i know about it is that they have been looking for other places to stay and this is the cheapest and has the most room. I think it will be an adventure like every other part of this trip. Steve says that this should be our last move before we head north to Nampula. We are going to leave for Nampula on the 12. Or that is the plan anyway.

The weather has been really nice. Except for last Sunday when it was 100 degrees and no breeze. The last couple of days have been around 9o with a nice breeze and cool nights. I hear it is only going to get hotter because we are entering the summer season and we are going north!

Here are my verses for today: Psalm 139:7-10 "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

I see my self on the far side of the sea, away from home.

As my first post I would like to start with a verse that has been with me so far on this trip. Isaiah 41:10 (this verse was recommended by the best sister EVER!) "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
I love this verse and what it does for me. It reminds me of who is in control of my life, who is taking care of me. It also reminds me that I am here to be strengthened and to strengthen others. It is my prayer that I can support the Snider's in every area that I can. That I help their children grow in there knowledge of not only math, reading and other school subjects but also of Christ.
I thought this would be an easy way to keep all of you up to date on what I am doing and where I am. I like this better then mass emails. I will also be putting pictures up so all can see.
I am excited to be able to share this experience with you. Thank you so much for having an interest in my life and for the prayers. They are very much appreciated!
I pray that the Lord will be with you in your daily activities and that He will show himself to you in a new way everyday. I know he is doing that for me!