1). The ocean - beautiful beaches, and the sound of roaring waves that put me to sleep each night
2). The stars - Gods amazing nightlights shine so brightly there. Especially the Southern Cross
3). Jokes from Mark - some good, lots not so good, but always entertaining
4). Fascinating stories from both Mark and Les - they need to write a book!
5). Fresh baked bread from the Xai Xai bakery
6). Hearing, speaking, learning Portuguese
7). Smiling African children. Particularly when they waved and hollered to us with glee when we drove by on the road to Bethel, as if we were celebrities.
8). Doing work that impacts people so positively and tangibly - building a school/church, delivering school supplies and clothes, sharing our testimonies and the love of Jesus.
9). Horses walking by the window at breakfast time
10) Whales viewed from the table at breakfast time
11). Morning devotions and prayer time...even at 6:30am...really!
12). Driving adventures:-)
13). Ice cold coke in a glass bottle. A simple pleasure.
14). African music and dancing
15). Being able to disconnect from the usual busy schedule, cell phones, internet, TV etc. and connect with God.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Africa Update #3
Here is what we did our last few days in Africa:
August 19-20:
On Wednesday we all finished projects around Bethel; alphabet cards, orphan skirts, teaching material prep and painting cabinets. Mary Lou again did what became her favorite task on the trip; making her now-famous "Mozambique Spaghetti".
On Thursday we were supposed to organize the store room, but instead we wanted to give a "gift" of sorts to Les. We asked Mark if we could organize and paint the kitchen in their house. Les and Mark are so busy working to serve others at Bethel and in the communities during their time there, that they have little time to do anything for themselves. Being a big fan of HGTV and the organizing and decorating home shows I was feeling quite prepared for this task! We cleaned and reorganzed everything to perfection, and finished it off with a nice coat of cheery yellow paint. It made such a difference, and we hope she will feel really blessed next time she is at Bethel by not having to worry about doing the work herself. The night ended with a braai (BBQ) with some of the staff members at Bethel. It was a nice time of getting to know one another.
Friday was our final day at Bethel. We made our special paving stone on a walking path that each team gets to design. I spent some final time on the beautiful beach and got my clothes soaked running in and out of the surf. We also had to do some final horse doctoring before we left (the nasty growth on the horse that I mentioned earlier was eventually cut off by Les, and Craig and Mark devised a good method to lift his foot up for on-going treatment so the horse couldn't kick the daylights out of everyone). We removed his bandages and made sure the wound was healing as best as possible.
After that, we packed an insane number of bags into the small back area of the truck and headed off.
We arrived in South Africa at dark, staying at the guest house that Mark's parents run across from the Kruger park, in an area called Marloth park. As we went to bed we could hear the roar of lions in the distance!
August 22:
Today was a full day of driving around the Kruger. Laurie and I left early with Mark and his 2 sons Michael and Charlie. Meanwhile, Les took Craig and Mary Lou to the doctor to get some medication for what turned out to be tick bite fever. After seeing the doctor they met up with us later in the park. It was an amazing day spotting all kinds of animals: Lots of elephant, giraffe, rhino, zebra, hyena, ostrich, crocodile, hippo, monkeys, warthogs, buffalo and lots more. We saw 3 of the "big 5", but were really hoping to see some lions. I volunteered to be the one to pray for lions:-) As we were leaving the park that night, Mark was teasing me that my prayers must not have been good enough because we didn't see lion. I told him to have a little faith!
August 23:
LIONS!!! We spent a leisurely morning at the Harper's lodge having coffee on the upper deck before having group bible devotions. The deck has a beautiful view of The Kruger park across the road where the crocodile river runs through. As we were watching the peaceful setting, suddenly a pride of lions came trotting down the hill to drink from the river and relax by the trees. Prayers answered! Praise God! It was so cool to see those lions in action, especially the big burly males, who normally just lazily lay around, but this morning were being quite frisky.
After our lion sightings and a great time of devotions we left for Nelspruit and the airport. It was hard saying goodbye to the Harper family who had been such terrific hosts during our time in Africa. They are such a wonderful and amazing couple, doing incredible work for the Lord in Mozambique. It was a great blessing to get to know them.
Our trip home was thankfully uneventful as we arrived back in Minnepolis on Monday afternoon to our awaiting families. It was so good to be home, and I have a new appreciation for how blessed we are here.
The Witchdoctor
Another side story from our time in Moz:
Andy was one of the parent chaperones of the South African team that was at Bethel. He shared his unusual story with us one evening.
He had been unsure if he wanted to come to Bethel on this trip. However, prior to making a decision about the trip he had a dream one night that he was supposed to come to Xai Xai to give a message to someone who was of importance and power in the community. This nagging feeling that continued after the dream could only be described as a message put on his heart by God. He needed to go to Xai Xai to pass along this message. The question for him was no longer whether or not he should go on the trip to Bethel, but rather who was this person in the community, and what message was he to deliver? He didn't mention his dream to anyone, as he felt it would likely be looked on as being a little crazy.
On day one in the village where we were building the school/church, Andy had a feeling that this was the community where the person was to receive the message. He looked long and hard at all of the people from the village, and had narrowed it down to three people. An older woman, an older man, and a younger man from the community. The next day he was still unsure who exactly was supposed to receive his message. He asked God to give him some sort of sign. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he saw only the younger man from the village. Wanting reassurance that this was indeed the man God wanted to get the message, he asked for a confirming sign. He turned his head in the opposite direction, and when he opened his eyes, he again saw the same man. Still not completely convinced he asked the Lord for yet another sign. When he opened his eyes, he saw only the same man off in the distance...and then the man turned around and looked at Andy straight in the eyes. He knew that this was the man.
Unable to speak either of the native languages, he turned to Les to help him translate his message to this man (still unsure of exactly what the message was to be, but putting faith in God that he would speak through him). Later on, Les let Andy know that this man, Francisco, was the leader of this community and, as is often the case of village leaders, the witchdoctor. It also turn out that the other 2 he had initially been considering as the message recipients, were his family members (his father and a cousin). Les and Andy went over to Francisco, and Andy began to speak the message the Lord was giving to him. "You must decide on a path. You can either continue following the dark path, or you can lead your people into the light through Jesus Christ. But you must choose". Les began to translate to Francisco in Portuguese, also adding in her own words. Although Andy couldn't understand a word of the conversation between the two, each time he spoke his words were the perfect extension of the conversation as if he knew exactly what was being said.
Les had been praying for weeks prior to this day, in hopes that Francisco would give up his witchdoctoring and ancestral worshiping ways so the community could grow and be strengthened. As an outsider, with a distinguished look and an authoritative but gentle voice, Andy was the perfect messanger to further press upon Francisco the importance and urgent need to make the choice to follow Jesus Christ.
Andy was one of the parent chaperones of the South African team that was at Bethel. He shared his unusual story with us one evening.
He had been unsure if he wanted to come to Bethel on this trip. However, prior to making a decision about the trip he had a dream one night that he was supposed to come to Xai Xai to give a message to someone who was of importance and power in the community. This nagging feeling that continued after the dream could only be described as a message put on his heart by God. He needed to go to Xai Xai to pass along this message. The question for him was no longer whether or not he should go on the trip to Bethel, but rather who was this person in the community, and what message was he to deliver? He didn't mention his dream to anyone, as he felt it would likely be looked on as being a little crazy.
On day one in the village where we were building the school/church, Andy had a feeling that this was the community where the person was to receive the message. He looked long and hard at all of the people from the village, and had narrowed it down to three people. An older woman, an older man, and a younger man from the community. The next day he was still unsure who exactly was supposed to receive his message. He asked God to give him some sort of sign. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he saw only the younger man from the village. Wanting reassurance that this was indeed the man God wanted to get the message, he asked for a confirming sign. He turned his head in the opposite direction, and when he opened his eyes, he again saw the same man. Still not completely convinced he asked the Lord for yet another sign. When he opened his eyes, he saw only the same man off in the distance...and then the man turned around and looked at Andy straight in the eyes. He knew that this was the man.
Unable to speak either of the native languages, he turned to Les to help him translate his message to this man (still unsure of exactly what the message was to be, but putting faith in God that he would speak through him). Later on, Les let Andy know that this man, Francisco, was the leader of this community and, as is often the case of village leaders, the witchdoctor. It also turn out that the other 2 he had initially been considering as the message recipients, were his family members (his father and a cousin). Les and Andy went over to Francisco, and Andy began to speak the message the Lord was giving to him. "You must decide on a path. You can either continue following the dark path, or you can lead your people into the light through Jesus Christ. But you must choose". Les began to translate to Francisco in Portuguese, also adding in her own words. Although Andy couldn't understand a word of the conversation between the two, each time he spoke his words were the perfect extension of the conversation as if he knew exactly what was being said.
Les had been praying for weeks prior to this day, in hopes that Francisco would give up his witchdoctoring and ancestral worshiping ways so the community could grow and be strengthened. As an outsider, with a distinguished look and an authoritative but gentle voice, Andy was the perfect messanger to further press upon Francisco the importance and urgent need to make the choice to follow Jesus Christ.
Orphans
A few interesting side stories came out of our activities that were reported on earlier.
Orphans:
One of the adult leaders from the South Africa group, Noel, shared his story one night following the two days we spent in a village building the school/church. Noel was orphaned at a young age, along with his brothers, and grew up in an orphanage in South Africa. His father had been abusive and left the family, and his mother sent them to an orphanage when she felt she couldn't care for them anymore. At the time, orphanage policy stated that no children could be put up for adoption until their birth parents had not visited them for a full year (to ensure that the parents had really "given up" on the child and were ready for adoption). Noel's mother visited them once a year, right before the year deadline was to come, so that the children were never eligible for adoption. Finally after years in the orphanage, he was allowed to be adopted at the age of 7. Upon coming to Bethel for the youth trip, Noel had many reservations about going into the village as he knew there were several orphans there. The thought of seeing and interacting with orphans would be too painful he thought. He decided to go to the village despite his reservations. At first he stood back from the children and observed, hesitant to interact. At one point he sat down on the ground to rest, and it was then that a young orphan boy sat down in his lap looking for some attention. Noel was so overcome with emotion and couldn't help but indulge the child with some love and attention. From that point on, his heart was opened up wide to the little orphans and he spent the entire day interacting with them, playing ball and giving them hugs and attention. By seeing the joy it brought the children and feeling the love back from them, he felt healed from his pain. God filled him with warmth and joy from this experience, and you could hear the excitement and encouragement in his voice upon telling the story. When we first arrived at Bethel, we were informed that in order to have hot showers in the morning, someone would need to get up at 4am to light the boilers (aka the "donkeys). Noel volunteered as he had said he could never sleep, and would already be up anyway. We wondered what kind of issues would turn at twenty-something year old into an insomniac! On the last day that the South African team was at Bethel, we all awoke to cold water in the showers. As it turns out, after the healing day Noel spent with the orphans, he was finally able to sleep.
Orphans:
One of the adult leaders from the South Africa group, Noel, shared his story one night following the two days we spent in a village building the school/church. Noel was orphaned at a young age, along with his brothers, and grew up in an orphanage in South Africa. His father had been abusive and left the family, and his mother sent them to an orphanage when she felt she couldn't care for them anymore. At the time, orphanage policy stated that no children could be put up for adoption until their birth parents had not visited them for a full year (to ensure that the parents had really "given up" on the child and were ready for adoption). Noel's mother visited them once a year, right before the year deadline was to come, so that the children were never eligible for adoption. Finally after years in the orphanage, he was allowed to be adopted at the age of 7. Upon coming to Bethel for the youth trip, Noel had many reservations about going into the village as he knew there were several orphans there. The thought of seeing and interacting with orphans would be too painful he thought. He decided to go to the village despite his reservations. At first he stood back from the children and observed, hesitant to interact. At one point he sat down on the ground to rest, and it was then that a young orphan boy sat down in his lap looking for some attention. Noel was so overcome with emotion and couldn't help but indulge the child with some love and attention. From that point on, his heart was opened up wide to the little orphans and he spent the entire day interacting with them, playing ball and giving them hugs and attention. By seeing the joy it brought the children and feeling the love back from them, he felt healed from his pain. God filled him with warmth and joy from this experience, and you could hear the excitement and encouragement in his voice upon telling the story. When we first arrived at Bethel, we were informed that in order to have hot showers in the morning, someone would need to get up at 4am to light the boilers (aka the "donkeys). Noel volunteered as he had said he could never sleep, and would already be up anyway. We wondered what kind of issues would turn at twenty-something year old into an insomniac! On the last day that the South African team was at Bethel, we all awoke to cold water in the showers. As it turns out, after the healing day Noel spent with the orphans, he was finally able to sleep.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
...and greetings to family!
From Kelli -
Just want to say hi to everyone, especially Mitch and the boys. I am doing well and having an amazing experience. Looking forward to coming home and seeing everyone. We all look forward to sharing our stories and pictures. Please keep praying for our team...several are suffering from tick/spider bites and side effects from malaria pills. Pray for our safety and well-being.
Lots of Love and God Bless!
From Laurie -
Hi Everyone, Just a quick note to say I'm thinking of you and doing well!! Mozambique is a strange mix of beauty and extreme, extreme poverty. I have never seen such extremes. Hope all is well at home. Thankful to be here and for this incredible experience. Much love to all!
From Mary Lou -
Hi Cec, Hope all is well with you. Doing well here - had to get off of malaria pills today - too many side effects...feeling better. Love being here...much accomplished. Please say "happy B-day to Ardiana tomorrow for me. Leaving for South Africa on Friday. See you Monday. Blessings!
From Craig - happy birthday Mom!
Just want to say hi to everyone, especially Mitch and the boys. I am doing well and having an amazing experience. Looking forward to coming home and seeing everyone. We all look forward to sharing our stories and pictures. Please keep praying for our team...several are suffering from tick/spider bites and side effects from malaria pills. Pray for our safety and well-being.
Lots of Love and God Bless!
From Laurie -
Hi Everyone, Just a quick note to say I'm thinking of you and doing well!! Mozambique is a strange mix of beauty and extreme, extreme poverty. I have never seen such extremes. Hope all is well at home. Thankful to be here and for this incredible experience. Much love to all!
From Mary Lou -
Hi Cec, Hope all is well with you. Doing well here - had to get off of malaria pills today - too many side effects...feeling better. Love being here...much accomplished. Please say "happy B-day to Ardiana tomorrow for me. Leaving for South Africa on Friday. See you Monday. Blessings!
From Craig - happy birthday Mom!
Update #2 from Africa!!!!
Africa Update #2
Wednesday August 12th – finished the windows projects and did some sanding and painting of cabinets at Bethel. Also got the opportunity to spend time on the beach – well worth the long walk down the sand dunes to get to the beautiful ocean side! God’s amazing handiwork!
Thursday August 13th - Spent our first day in the community around Xai Xai. Half of the South African team (we are here with them for the first week) went to one school. Our team went with the other half of the SA team to another school. The school there was a simple plastered reed shack with a cement floor and 2 benches. Most kids sit on the floor, and there is very little for the teacher to work with as far as supplies and teaching materials. The students included several orphans. All of them are dirty and in tattered clothes, but the outward condition can’t contain their childlike enthusiasm! We delivered new clothes to the students and also spent a lot of time playing various games with them, and just generally giving them as much love as possible. We also delivered a set of educational Legos for use in the classroom. One of the SA teens trained the teacher on how to use the Lego set, while Laurie was able to use her language skills to translate into Portoguese.
Friday August 14th – Today we spent all day at a village quite a drive away from Bethel to begin building a new School/Church. Half of the team began the building project by putting up the frame of the school (which will be about the size of an average garage). The rest of the team kept the kids of the village busy with games, songs, balloons (a big hit) and playing ball. We spent almost 9 hours on site playing with the kids as the others were digging and drilling – I am not sure which group was more tired. The kids at this location were in even worse shape than the other village we visited. Many of them are orphans, or are being cared for by their older child sibling. It is amazing to watch how well the older kids care for the younger ones, keeping them close and often carrying the young ones by strapping them to their little backs. After such a long day the kids really were warming up to us – laughing and playing with us with such glee. I held one small boy who was just smiling and laughing for no apparent reason other than that he was enjoying the attention so much. While we were playing with the kids, a group of the mothers of the village were standing back observing our team at a distance. By the end of the day one of the mothers joined Laurie and I as we rested under a tree. We played with her baby and bonded over being moms – even though we didn’t speak each others’ language. It was a great moment as we interacted with her and the other mothers (who eventually joined us) and felt their acceptance.
Saturday August 15th – Day 2 at the same village site. Today we mostly focused on finishing the school/church building. This entailed affixing the tin roofing and putting in the reed bunches that are wired around the frame for walls. The finishing touch was putting a cross on top of the building along with another cross at the door made of reeds. We wanted to be sure to claim this building in the name of Jesus Christ! Although the church/school will be run by a local pastor and his family, the village is run by the witch doctor Fransisco. Fransisco is in favor of building the school as it will be good for his community (he was even working alongside us). He understands the gospel and knows of the path to salvation, although he continues to be a practicing witchdoctor, and even trains others in witchcraft. Please help us pray that Fransisco will make the choice to discontinue his ways and follow Jesus Christ so he can lead this community into the light, rather than the destructive paths of ancestor worship and witchcraft.
At the end of the day the pastor and the witchdoctor said words of thanks for our efforts in building the school. It was a dream come true for the village, and they called us “angels sent by God”. As I was leaving I was embraced by one of the elderly women of the village who enthusiastically thanked me and kissed me on the cheeks as I got tears in my eyes. It was a wonderful feeling as we left the village, seeing the new reed school/church with the cross lit by the setting sun, knowing we were giving the village new hope and a place to learn and grow in Jesus.
Sunday August 16th – today we spent the morning at a church service in Xai Xai. It was a wonderful service and a terrific message, translated from Portuguese into English so we could all understand. Church was followed by time at the beach, with lunch at a beachside restaurant owned by friends of the Harpers.
Monday August 17th – This morning the youth group from South Africa left, so it is now very quiet! Les was injured in a fall down the stairs in the middle of the night (please pray for her continued healing), so we decided to spend the day at Bethel rather than the planned school visits. We found plenty to do while we encourage Les to rest (not an easy task!). Laurie sewed skirts that we will give out to orphan girls. Mary Lou did a number of organizing tasks. We all worked on writing out alphabet practice sheets to use for the school children. Once letters were written out, Les and Laurie came up with sentences in Portuguese or Choengana (the language spoken by many rural villages) for each letter. After that I drew simple pictures to help the kids remember the sentence meaning. These cards will be laminated so kids can practice writing and learning letter sounds and words. After our day of work we had dinner with the Harpers and some other missionaries who are working in Xai Xai. Only Les and Mark would agree to host a party of 10 for dinner, after struggling to get the water pump to work (we were without water for most of the day), and having a fall down the steps as Les did (not to mention that they had just said good bye to 30+ teenage guests just that morning). They have endless energy and hospitality!
Tuesday August 18th – Today Laurie, Mary Lou and I along with Les and one of the Xia Xia school supervisors did some school visits in the community. The first school was in a fairly well-off community (compared to the other we’ve seen), with children that were obviously from families that could care for them pretty well. However, the community is still in deep need, and there were several orphans that we met there. We handed out clothes to the children, had snack time, and did a craft with foam crosses and glitter glue. We also gave a testimony to let the children know that we were there to share Jesus’ love for them. The children were very bright and fun to interact with. A favourite thing of all of the children we’ve met (and some adults too) is to have their picture taken and then get to see themselves on the digital camera – a big hit every time!
At the second school, Les needed to drop us off so she could continue on to Maputo for a meeting. We also did a testimony about Jesus’ love, handed out clothing, had snack and craft time and did some singing. We also trained the teacher on how to use the Lego kit and dropped off lots of school supplies. Mark was supposed to pick us up at 3pm, but got a little lost so didn’t arrive until about 4. During that time the teacher was a wonderful host, laying out a mat for us to sit on and having the kids dig up some ‘manioc’ (a root like a potato) for us to snack on. We tried to be gracious and eat the manioc, even though it wasn’t exactly to our tastes!
Wednesday August 19th - We stayed at Bethel to do some more projects including window installation in the library/classroom (Craig); finishing the orphan skirts (Laurie, with Mary Lou inserting elastic); laminating teaching materials and the alphabet cards (Kelli & Laurie). Aside from the productive days of work, a highlight has been seeing the whales breech just off of the shore on several occasions. It’s almost too amazing to believe that these sites are right in front of us!
Coming up – Thursday will be a final day of work at Bethel to finish our various projects. On Friday around noon we will be leaving for South Africa to stay at Mark’s parent’s house for a few nights by Kruger national park. On Saturday we plan to do a safari in the park to hopefully see the “big 5” animals before we leave Sunday and arrive home Monday. Once I am home I will add pictures and final stories so check back next week!!
Wednesday August 12th – finished the windows projects and did some sanding and painting of cabinets at Bethel. Also got the opportunity to spend time on the beach – well worth the long walk down the sand dunes to get to the beautiful ocean side! God’s amazing handiwork!
Thursday August 13th - Spent our first day in the community around Xai Xai. Half of the South African team (we are here with them for the first week) went to one school. Our team went with the other half of the SA team to another school. The school there was a simple plastered reed shack with a cement floor and 2 benches. Most kids sit on the floor, and there is very little for the teacher to work with as far as supplies and teaching materials. The students included several orphans. All of them are dirty and in tattered clothes, but the outward condition can’t contain their childlike enthusiasm! We delivered new clothes to the students and also spent a lot of time playing various games with them, and just generally giving them as much love as possible. We also delivered a set of educational Legos for use in the classroom. One of the SA teens trained the teacher on how to use the Lego set, while Laurie was able to use her language skills to translate into Portoguese.
Friday August 14th – Today we spent all day at a village quite a drive away from Bethel to begin building a new School/Church. Half of the team began the building project by putting up the frame of the school (which will be about the size of an average garage). The rest of the team kept the kids of the village busy with games, songs, balloons (a big hit) and playing ball. We spent almost 9 hours on site playing with the kids as the others were digging and drilling – I am not sure which group was more tired. The kids at this location were in even worse shape than the other village we visited. Many of them are orphans, or are being cared for by their older child sibling. It is amazing to watch how well the older kids care for the younger ones, keeping them close and often carrying the young ones by strapping them to their little backs. After such a long day the kids really were warming up to us – laughing and playing with us with such glee. I held one small boy who was just smiling and laughing for no apparent reason other than that he was enjoying the attention so much. While we were playing with the kids, a group of the mothers of the village were standing back observing our team at a distance. By the end of the day one of the mothers joined Laurie and I as we rested under a tree. We played with her baby and bonded over being moms – even though we didn’t speak each others’ language. It was a great moment as we interacted with her and the other mothers (who eventually joined us) and felt their acceptance.
Saturday August 15th – Day 2 at the same village site. Today we mostly focused on finishing the school/church building. This entailed affixing the tin roofing and putting in the reed bunches that are wired around the frame for walls. The finishing touch was putting a cross on top of the building along with another cross at the door made of reeds. We wanted to be sure to claim this building in the name of Jesus Christ! Although the church/school will be run by a local pastor and his family, the village is run by the witch doctor Fransisco. Fransisco is in favor of building the school as it will be good for his community (he was even working alongside us). He understands the gospel and knows of the path to salvation, although he continues to be a practicing witchdoctor, and even trains others in witchcraft. Please help us pray that Fransisco will make the choice to discontinue his ways and follow Jesus Christ so he can lead this community into the light, rather than the destructive paths of ancestor worship and witchcraft.
At the end of the day the pastor and the witchdoctor said words of thanks for our efforts in building the school. It was a dream come true for the village, and they called us “angels sent by God”. As I was leaving I was embraced by one of the elderly women of the village who enthusiastically thanked me and kissed me on the cheeks as I got tears in my eyes. It was a wonderful feeling as we left the village, seeing the new reed school/church with the cross lit by the setting sun, knowing we were giving the village new hope and a place to learn and grow in Jesus.
Sunday August 16th – today we spent the morning at a church service in Xai Xai. It was a wonderful service and a terrific message, translated from Portuguese into English so we could all understand. Church was followed by time at the beach, with lunch at a beachside restaurant owned by friends of the Harpers.
Monday August 17th – This morning the youth group from South Africa left, so it is now very quiet! Les was injured in a fall down the stairs in the middle of the night (please pray for her continued healing), so we decided to spend the day at Bethel rather than the planned school visits. We found plenty to do while we encourage Les to rest (not an easy task!). Laurie sewed skirts that we will give out to orphan girls. Mary Lou did a number of organizing tasks. We all worked on writing out alphabet practice sheets to use for the school children. Once letters were written out, Les and Laurie came up with sentences in Portuguese or Choengana (the language spoken by many rural villages) for each letter. After that I drew simple pictures to help the kids remember the sentence meaning. These cards will be laminated so kids can practice writing and learning letter sounds and words. After our day of work we had dinner with the Harpers and some other missionaries who are working in Xai Xai. Only Les and Mark would agree to host a party of 10 for dinner, after struggling to get the water pump to work (we were without water for most of the day), and having a fall down the steps as Les did (not to mention that they had just said good bye to 30+ teenage guests just that morning). They have endless energy and hospitality!
Tuesday August 18th – Today Laurie, Mary Lou and I along with Les and one of the Xia Xia school supervisors did some school visits in the community. The first school was in a fairly well-off community (compared to the other we’ve seen), with children that were obviously from families that could care for them pretty well. However, the community is still in deep need, and there were several orphans that we met there. We handed out clothes to the children, had snack time, and did a craft with foam crosses and glitter glue. We also gave a testimony to let the children know that we were there to share Jesus’ love for them. The children were very bright and fun to interact with. A favourite thing of all of the children we’ve met (and some adults too) is to have their picture taken and then get to see themselves on the digital camera – a big hit every time!
At the second school, Les needed to drop us off so she could continue on to Maputo for a meeting. We also did a testimony about Jesus’ love, handed out clothing, had snack and craft time and did some singing. We also trained the teacher on how to use the Lego kit and dropped off lots of school supplies. Mark was supposed to pick us up at 3pm, but got a little lost so didn’t arrive until about 4. During that time the teacher was a wonderful host, laying out a mat for us to sit on and having the kids dig up some ‘manioc’ (a root like a potato) for us to snack on. We tried to be gracious and eat the manioc, even though it wasn’t exactly to our tastes!
Wednesday August 19th - We stayed at Bethel to do some more projects including window installation in the library/classroom (Craig); finishing the orphan skirts (Laurie, with Mary Lou inserting elastic); laminating teaching materials and the alphabet cards (Kelli & Laurie). Aside from the productive days of work, a highlight has been seeing the whales breech just off of the shore on several occasions. It’s almost too amazing to believe that these sites are right in front of us!
Coming up – Thursday will be a final day of work at Bethel to finish our various projects. On Friday around noon we will be leaving for South Africa to stay at Mark’s parent’s house for a few nights by Kruger national park. On Saturday we plan to do a safari in the park to hopefully see the “big 5” animals before we leave Sunday and arrive home Monday. Once I am home I will add pictures and final stories so check back next week!!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Update #1 from Africa!!!!
Hello everyone!! I am doing this update from the Harper's home on the hilltop at Bethel center. We are blessed here with an absolutely priceless view of the Indian Ocean. This is a peaceful place where you can feel the presence of God all around. We are settling into the routine here (not that there really is a routine) bit by bit. Here is a quick update of our time here so far (quick so I don't lose the internet connection before I publish!).
Days 1-3:
Had an interesting time getting here. A delayed flight to Atlanta left us with just minutes to catch our connecting flight to Johannesburg. Luckily we are a fleet group and got on board just in time. Upon arrival at JoBurg we were informed that our flight to Mozambique was overbooked, so we would need to stay overnight to catch a flight in the morning. We were pretty crabby about that whole matter until we arrived at the very nice hotel (paid for by the airline) and had a very nice meal (also paid for by the airline). We were also fortunate to meet a couple of other Americans, Amy and Stephanie, who also got bumped off of the flight. The next morning we caught our flight to Maputo and fortunately found our bags that had gone ahead the night before on our original flight (a absolute miracle in my mind - praise God!). From there we met Mark Harper at the airport where he informed us that his car was broken down and in the shop. I am now keenly aware of how blessed we are in America to have reliable, working vehicles as it seems to be a rarity here. We spent some time in Maputo - having lunch at the home of an American couple who spend several months in Moz, and getting groceries at the suprisingly well-stocked Shop Rite. Maputo is an interesting, bustling city -- a bit on the rough side, with shacks and rubble everywhere, but also many signs of modernization (both good- nicer schools for example, and bad - a significantly increased traffic problem). We finally hitched a ride with a youth group from South Africa for the long drive to Xai Xai and Bethel center. 48 hours, dozens of security check points and thousands of pot holes after our departure from Minneapolis, we arrived at our destination. The beautiful Bethel Center - where we had a nice meal and very good sleep!
Day 4
The day started early with our team's prayer and devotion time at 6:30am, followed by a breakfast of green oatmeal and coffee - both surprisingly delicious.
I immediately got the sense of the do-it-yourself nature of living out here when Mark asked if I, because I am a horse person, would be willing to help perform a little surgery on his horse who has a nasty growth on his leg. Catching the horse will be another story.
After a quick inspection of the horse, and determining that surgery performed by me, a non-vet with no medical experience, might not be the best option, we got to work on our project for the day -- window repair and installation. Half of the battle here is locating the proper tools for the job, and improvising when there aren't any. After some initial mishaps - including a gashed thumb for me, and sliced hand for Mary Lou (we are fine!) we got into a groove and finished replacing and caulking about half the windows in the girls' dormitory building.
After a full day of work we took a quick walk to get a better view of the beach, followed by a campfire cookout of Voorst (like brats) and marshmallows -a little like home for me! We also enjoyed time with Mark, listening to stories of he and Les' mission work and the trials faced by the Mozambican people. It is so moving to get a glimpse into their life and work, and feel like we get to be a small part of something much bigger than ourselves here.
Day 5
We are planning to finish the windows today, along with a few small painting projects. We are hoping for the opportunity to go into the community the next few days in the "bush" to work with the children at the school there. We see what the plan is as each day comes, so we will know more tomorrow.
All in all, we are so happy and blessed to be in this magnificent place serving the Lord and getting the chance to connect with Him and his people. Hopefully I will get the chance to post more updates soon!
God Bless!!
Kelli and the team
Days 1-3:
Had an interesting time getting here. A delayed flight to Atlanta left us with just minutes to catch our connecting flight to Johannesburg. Luckily we are a fleet group and got on board just in time. Upon arrival at JoBurg we were informed that our flight to Mozambique was overbooked, so we would need to stay overnight to catch a flight in the morning. We were pretty crabby about that whole matter until we arrived at the very nice hotel (paid for by the airline) and had a very nice meal (also paid for by the airline). We were also fortunate to meet a couple of other Americans, Amy and Stephanie, who also got bumped off of the flight. The next morning we caught our flight to Maputo and fortunately found our bags that had gone ahead the night before on our original flight (a absolute miracle in my mind - praise God!). From there we met Mark Harper at the airport where he informed us that his car was broken down and in the shop. I am now keenly aware of how blessed we are in America to have reliable, working vehicles as it seems to be a rarity here. We spent some time in Maputo - having lunch at the home of an American couple who spend several months in Moz, and getting groceries at the suprisingly well-stocked Shop Rite. Maputo is an interesting, bustling city -- a bit on the rough side, with shacks and rubble everywhere, but also many signs of modernization (both good- nicer schools for example, and bad - a significantly increased traffic problem). We finally hitched a ride with a youth group from South Africa for the long drive to Xai Xai and Bethel center. 48 hours, dozens of security check points and thousands of pot holes after our departure from Minneapolis, we arrived at our destination. The beautiful Bethel Center - where we had a nice meal and very good sleep!
Day 4
The day started early with our team's prayer and devotion time at 6:30am, followed by a breakfast of green oatmeal and coffee - both surprisingly delicious.
I immediately got the sense of the do-it-yourself nature of living out here when Mark asked if I, because I am a horse person, would be willing to help perform a little surgery on his horse who has a nasty growth on his leg. Catching the horse will be another story.
After a quick inspection of the horse, and determining that surgery performed by me, a non-vet with no medical experience, might not be the best option, we got to work on our project for the day -- window repair and installation. Half of the battle here is locating the proper tools for the job, and improvising when there aren't any. After some initial mishaps - including a gashed thumb for me, and sliced hand for Mary Lou (we are fine!) we got into a groove and finished replacing and caulking about half the windows in the girls' dormitory building.
After a full day of work we took a quick walk to get a better view of the beach, followed by a campfire cookout of Voorst (like brats) and marshmallows -a little like home for me! We also enjoyed time with Mark, listening to stories of he and Les' mission work and the trials faced by the Mozambican people. It is so moving to get a glimpse into their life and work, and feel like we get to be a small part of something much bigger than ourselves here.
Day 5
We are planning to finish the windows today, along with a few small painting projects. We are hoping for the opportunity to go into the community the next few days in the "bush" to work with the children at the school there. We see what the plan is as each day comes, so we will know more tomorrow.
All in all, we are so happy and blessed to be in this magnificent place serving the Lord and getting the chance to connect with Him and his people. Hopefully I will get the chance to post more updates soon!
God Bless!!
Kelli and the team
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