Our "Home"

Hubby washing dishes - we get warm water for dishes from the electric kettle.

Kitchen with my mini stove.

The Boys School Room

Our Bathroom - Note the washing machine:)

The Boys Bedroom with our constant companions, mosquito nets.

The Living Room
with Mozambican back breakers
(I mean couches) that came with the house.

Dining Room that is a shared room with the living room.

I thought I would share some photos of the house we rent here in Chimoio. We are grateful as it is the nicest place we have ever lived here in Mozambique.
Sure it needs work but what place doesn't?

Getting Creative

We have found that living in rural Africa often requires that you GET CREATIVE! This week I thought I would show you a few ways that we all have been getting creative.

• THE BOYS: Decided they wanted something else to do other then kick the soccer ball and climb the trees so they found an old rubber hose pipe and tied it up between a couple of our trees to create a swing. Now, that's creative!
  


• MYSELF: I was wanting something to celebrate with the kids to remember the Harvest Party's we usually attend. So, we baked some Fall cookies for the occassion and cut out and colored some pumkins from a cereal box.
  


• MARC: The dogs need a mid-day snack since they're so hungry in the evening they end up fighting. Marc decided to make a more cost effective snack then the very expensive dog food so he made doggie snackwiches out of cheap bread rolls with dog food stuffed in the middle. He froze the treats so the dogs have to work on chewing them rather than just swallowing them whole.
  

Post Election

Well the Election is over. Yesterday was very peaceful. Actually it was probably the quietest day we have had here in Mozambique. There were no chattering guards outside our fence, not many people walking by, hardly any vehicles driving by. It was strange how quiet is was but we are grateful. As far as we know or have heard there was no election drama, at least not on this side of town.

We have yet to hear any results although most assume the incumbent party, Frelimo will continue their rule. The government has until November 12th to declare the official winner. Or as many would say to fix the votes to favor the Frelimo. Regardless we do not yet officially know the winner. That will come later.

I am thankful that all has gone well and peace has reigned. And most of all I am thankful that Jesus Rules. Thanks for all your prayers!

A Brand New Mozambican

Today our friend Antonio, his wife Candida and their 1 month old baby boy came for a visit. Antonio worked with us at Teen Missions back in 2007 and was Marc's right hand man. He has truly become a friend. He is a gentle, sincere, God loving man. It is neat to watch him love his wife and express it which isn't the cultural norm here and to watch him develop as a new father. He is full of questions and soaks in any little bit of advice I give him from the importance of the baby nursing, his wife needing to rest and eat and drink enough, etc.

I thought you might enjoy some photos of this beautiful family. The baby was a darling. He has the cutest little fat cheeks and soft, curly hair. It was so good to see him thriving. When he was first born he was struggling to nurse and I really encouraged Antonio to help his wife keep trying and not give up. Surely if they had not been persistent and continued on this would be a very different story as there is no way they can afford to buy the cans of infant formula that the baby would have needed. So many little ones suffer from malnutrition and eventually death when they are unable to receive their mother's milk and the poverty stricken family's can not possibly provide the needed nutrition.

Our prayer is that God continues to bless this little family as they faithfully serve Him. He currently lives in a VERY simple 2 room place that is part of a building at the mission he works for but he has been building a house. He makes a tiny salary so although he has been faithful to put whatever he can afford into the house it is taking a while and seems as though it will take quite a bit longer. He began building this house before he even was officially engaged over 3 years ago. That is perseverance! Only wish we had the finances to help him finish it more quickly.

The Lonely Days...

Today is a lonely day. We have friends here and we are not alone but there are days when we feel alone. Occasionally, we have a great sense of missing "home" and all that is familiar and today is one of those days. We try to guard our hearts against discouragement and "feeling" like giving up but like everyone, anywhere in the world we have one of those days. Normally Marc and I are quite balanced. By that I mean that when one of us is feeling like giving up the other is the voice of reason in the wilderness saying "Wait a minute, let's be reasonable. No, we can not sell everything, jump on an airplane tomorrow and fly off into the sunset." But once in a while there are those days that both of us are ready to throw in the towel and it seems no one is being the voice of reason except the spirit of God inside of us reminding us of what He has determined for us to do. We are not our own. We have given the authority over to Him to make plans and design the purpose of our lives. Just every once in a while we need to be reminded of that. And every once in a while we need to miss our loved ones, our home, our familiar but then remember that we have been called here for such a time as this. We do not know the future but we do know who holds our future. Lonely is something I am sure Jesus felt. He has suffered it all on our behalf. I am sure He missed His father, missed His home. But he endured and walked His path in life. Wow, am I so grateful that He did. I do not feel guilty for being lonely. Instead I feel comforted in my loneliness by Him that brings all comfort. Thank you Jesus!

Building in the Bush

Jaynie, the Lady of the Trusses

The Termite Hill the boys conquered in order to build a fort.

Me getting my hands dirty.

Micah returning from the Squatty Potty

The house from the entry gate

Marc and Jacob hard at work.

Amazing texture and character in this "cob" house.

Today we went with our friends Jacob & Jaynie (American missionaries) to their farm that is about 45 minutes out into the bush to help them work on their house they are building. They have another couple visiting from Florida that also went with us. Thought I would share some photos.

They are building a cob house....for those that don't know what that is like I didn't before they told me it is plaster made up of sand, mud, cow manure and straw. It actually is very interesting and nice looking. They have harvested nearly everything they have needed; old bricks, straw, sand, rocks, and mud all from their farm. It used to be an old farm owned by a Portuguese man but has been abandoned for the last 30 years.

Today we worked on building trusses. They have to build at least 25 GIANT trusses so today was a lot of lumber cutting, measuring, hauling and nailing. The boys worked until lunch time but then decided they really NEEDED to build a fort on top of the giant termite hill nearby. We had a good day. We are tired and a little sunburned but glad we could help some.

To me it is funny living in rural Africa as you never know as a missionary what you will need to know or do. Today we were building trusses, were asked if we have any antibiotics on hand as a worker was suffering from a toothache and infection, and called by another missionary about what size needle to use so they could inject their dogs with medicine to prevent them from dying from an illness, and had to teach our boys about using the squatty potty. You just never know but such is life here and I love it.

Upcoming Elections

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION is coming up and the craziness of the campaigning that is going on all around us these days is entertaining. The last couple of days our town has been a buzz preparing for a visit by the President today to campaign. I knew something important was happening as a rough structure for a stage draped in red cloth was erected in the town center and helicopters were flying around, both of these are not the norms. Nearly everyone has some form of candidate advertisement plastered on their cars, carts, bicycles, bodies, store fronts, electric poles. Everywhere! Of course, it doesn't hurt that people benefit from their willingness to "support" their party through being given diesel, fuel, no harassment, etc. There are two main parties with a smaller third one officially a part of the election. The dominant party is Frelimo, the secondary is Renamo, and the much smaller third is the MDM (Movement for Democratic Mozambique-I think??). Frelimo has been in power since the end of the civil war which officially came to a close in October, 1992 but the first free election wasn't held until 1994. The count down is on....Elections are to be held October 28th. Please pray for a peaceful election and that the results will be fairly reported and accepted. We along with most missionaries in town plan on just hanging around home for a few days during that time because people become VERY PASSIONATE and it is better not to get caught in the middle of one of the crowds.