Mozambique Trip Journal

Well, here it is - Our LAST & FINAL email from Mozambique as we spend the day sightseeing, shopping and debriefing at World Relief. We returned yesterday evening from an 3-day excursion to Chokwe & Mucathini. There we visited several programs & projects implemented by World Relief. The weirdest part of our trip there was the weather! We went from super-sweating in central Dondo to almost cold in Chokwe. It was so chilly there that we needed long sleeves and the ladies really wanted pants. There was a terrible hailstorm Monday night that left much of the area with large water puddles and lots of mud. It was the first hailstorm since 2000.

So here are the team's highlights from our mini-trip:

Steve: The hailstorm. 30-50 yr old Mozambicans haven't seen hail before, so the wonder of it all was amazing.

Joan: Visiting the lady with AIDS who was so somber as we chatted with her. But when we asked if she knew Jesus, her entire face lit up.

Allen: Pastor Carlos, a coordinator with World Relief, explained the family & relationship dynamics to our group while we waited in the electricity-less offices. That was very helpful and quite informative. He really knew what he was talking about.

Gail & Ernie: So blessed by Dr. Peter's servanthood as he worked alongside the locals. He does not like a lot of fanfare. He definitely is a servant leader.

Ernie: I watched Dr. Peter help the guy at Mucathini "mow" the lawn with the shears. And also the 3 orphans we visited later. Their home had landscaping. Unlike the other homes/huts around them. The oldest would take such a chance by doing something different.

Tim: To see the group in the World Relief room receiving the training - partnering with others - using the resources available.

Jeannie: Enjoyed the laides tea and meeting the various German missions people here.

Del: Making connections here in Maputo with a bible school leader and others, and being able to process things with Claudia monday night.

Mitch: Going through the corn fields in Mucathini. Watching the guy dance away as we drove off - we bought charcoal from him on the side of the road.

Rachel: Seeing some of the ladies I had met previously in Mucathini

Joanna: Talking to the young guys that my parents relate to.

Jamesie: Seeing the small group/discipleship model in action through World Relief efforts. That it is universal and it does work.

Tim again: Seeing the 25-30 yr old women going back to school.

Ok, we're done here. Tonight we relax and hang out as a team one last time as part ways with the Goods and with Joanna. It has been a wonderful experience and we really hope you all ask us questions upon our return.

Be praying for our travels. We love you!

Sunday we attended the church at Iris Ministries and had the opportunity, through what we believe is Divine Intervention, to visit the city dump. It's quite the experience.

"What made an impression on you today?"

Tim: The need for people to have an initial encounter with God was reinforced today. And seeing Zito today (Tanneken used to talk about this little troubled boy name Zito who she discovered at the city dump). It was tremendous to see how he has grown in stature and in maturity.

Ernie: the 8 yr old little boy at the dump without a mom or dad who has lived there all his life.

Jeannie: I could only eat 1/3 of my food off the plate for lunch, it was just too hot to eat with my fingers. so i gave the plate to 3 boys thinking they would put the plate away, but they dove into the food instead.

Gail: When Del reminded us at the dump what God did for us, by sending Jesus to earth as a man, what He gave up to be with us.

Del: The same thing as Gail. The image, the reminder that God gave me. It was so vivid. The sacrifice in a very real way. The transformation from being in a dump, a wasteland into living in an beautiful oasis-like setting is what Christ offers us.

Joan: What struck me was the dump and the city in the skyline. The contrast of it.

Allen: We weren't planning on going to the dump. but meeting Zito, to see the dump and how we met him. The whole thing seemed unreal. Definitely supernatural.

We hope to write again soon. We leave for World Relief sites & projects this afternoon and will not return until Wednesday afternoon. We should have time to reconnect with you thursday, but that's not a promise.
Continue praying for us!

We made it safely back from our mini-vacation safari in South Africa this evening Saturday). Friday afternoon we left for Komatipoort, the town where our amazing guest house was located. The cabins were beautiful, so luxurious it was like a dream. Besides the lovely accommodations, we had running hot water available for showers. That was a treat to many!

At 5:15 am we met the tour guides and safari trucks with sleepy eyes and great hopes. With a very early start, we were on our way to Kruger National Park. It was quite a chilly morning in the safari truck with our hour-long drive to one of the entrances of the Park. There is so much to tell you about what we saw and experienced, that this message will not do it justice. Our safari was wonderful and the photos and stories we will tell you later hopefully will make you want to come to Mozambique, just to have a mini-vacation at Kruger National Park. By the way, none of our photos will be as amazing as Joanna’s. Her images of the giraffes, and elephants and the sole lion we saw are incredible. We will show them to you when we get a chance!

Here are only a few responses to our highlights from our mini-vacation to South Africa:

Jamesie: Seeing God’s creative work and order in nature at Kruger. How can anyone look at a boulder perched precariously on a larger boulder and not believe in a creative, yet maseterful God?

Joanna: the baby giraffe. He was so cute!

Gail: Seeing the awesomeness of the animals in the habitat that God created. It is way different than what He put in our country. (Another highlight was the guest house!)

Ernie: Watching this young guy lose his cookies after being in the park all day. I walked up just as he bent over. I was the first one in our vehicle to see the first giraffe and the first elephant. That’s always exciting for me to be first. Oh, then seeing the lion towards the end of our tour when we weren’t expecting to see one after all that time. Finally looking at the banana tree farm along the way back to the guest house – it was just interesting to see.

Joan: Seeing the lion. I’ve never seen one in its natural habitat, so that was cool.

Well, we are starting our day at the church at Iris Ministries. We hope to spend some time with the orphans and then have another time of prayer at Steve & Rachel’s local church. We hope to write again soon!

Just letting you all know that we have left Tanneken and Dondo. We departed EARLY this morning, 5 am, for Beira, despite little sleep from a very full night. Steve & Rachel good greeted us cheerfully at Maputo Airport and we have been going around Maputo checking out some sites and eating lunch.

We just finished our lunch meal here at World Relief and are on our way back to the Steve & Rachel's apartment to leave for Kruger National Park in South Africa. We are spending the night there and entering the park EARLY in the morning. We are looking forward to the safari-type experience and promise to let you all know more when we return.

Well, we must conclude this message. It is after 2 and we must get on the road before too long. Be praying for us, for our safe travels on the roads and around the wild animals.

Joan: Seeing Lily (a little girl sick with cholera taken in by Tanneken while she recovers) stand up and walk around with assistance, and then watching her spoonfeed herself.

Gail: (everyday) God giving me the strength to endure and tolerate the heat, and not complain about it.

Ernie: buying the hand-carved elephant cane from the roadside vendor.

Allen: I got the curtain rods hung up with 2 broken drill bits.

Jamesie: having Chico & Fatima (2 ill orphans living in Tanneken's house) walk with me to the deaf school in the morning, despite them wrongfully taking me to Papa Rego's neighborhood first. The fact that they walked me without grumbling was humbling and inspiring.

Joanna: Seeing Gail & Jamesie walk around the corner in the afternoon to help paint the mural; Getting some alone time in the morning.

Mitch: Ernie telling jokes while we work, especially when I had a banana in my mouth and nearly lost it.

This is for now! We will write soon!

We decided to try something new with communicating to all of you. We started telling each other our daily highlights during our nightly talks. However, we failed to write down Monday's highlights and that was the biggest day for us all!
Tuesday was a day of not so exciting highlights.

Ernie: watching a kid climb up the coconut tree and stomping them down for us with his feet; then showing the photos to him of his work.

Tim: I didn't have to go to Beira! (this has been a daily occurance for him and Tanneken)

Gail: the real painter at the new house took my place painting - he basicially took the brush away from me and I lost my job.

Allen: the little children from the smaller villages on the walk back from the worksite to the house getting a kick out of the pictures I was taking.

Joan: I went to the market with Connie; it was fun watching Judith making the cookies/biscuits for us.

Joanna: I got the cat (Claudia's cat that lives at Tanneken's still) to jump on my lap; I was able to learn another song.

Mitch: I almost lost my "purse" at Shoprite - the guard wanted to take it away, but Tanneken told him it was my purse. Also, I touched an electric wire and had the worst jolt of my life.

Tanneken: How far along my house is coming.

That's it for tonight!

It has been several days since we last communicated with you, so we thought it best to send out another update to let you know how and what we’re doing. Our weekend was full of course, but so much happened, most of you will just have to wait until we return to find out better details. I will say that a visitor here should never walk to church without a local escort – it will take you longer without one! And you will miss the local living at its most honest.

It is Tuesday morning, and though we planned to have breakfast at 7 am, we didn’t finish eating until 8:15. And then we sat around waiting to start the day. We have learned that punctuality is not important here – nothing ever starts when it is supposed to and plans never happen the way you think.

Yesterday was a prime example of such. The team was spread out all over Dondo & Beira as we painted and primed Tanneken’s new house (Allen, Mitch, Gail & Ernie), taught art at the school for the deaf (Joanna & Jamesie), drove to Beira for supplies and the much needed rental car (Tim, Joan, Del & Tanneken). At 2pm, Jeannie, Joanna & Jamesie delivered lunch to the house crew, along with much desired water. (We have consumed at least 5-6 Liters of water a day! Though we’ve released most of it through our sweat.) Tim & Del finally arrived at the worksite at 4 pm after an afternoon of waiting and waiting in Beira at various places as they shopped for parts and picked up the rental car. We didn’t see Joan & Tanneken again until 730 last night.

(Just an aside here - Tim decided not to get the rental car last week when we arrived at the airport. So until yesterday evening, anytime we have gone anywhere in a vehicle it has been in Tanneken’s overly used, beaten up truck. The craziest part of it is how many people we can fit in the back! Keep in mind, our team here is 10 people along with Claudia and often a local Mozambican and some children are with us. We definitely aren’t worried about personal or intimate space on this trip.)

So now, the team is spread out again. Most of the men, along with Gail, are at the worksite. We hope to accomplish a lot today at the house. There is finally electricity so they will be able to use the power tools we brought along. Tim has a fairly extensive list of tasks he would like to see finished by the time we leave Friday. Be praying for us, as things NEVER go as planned. Some of the ladies are at the market, picking up items for lunch and dinner. This afternoon most of us will be together at the house working to finish those tasks.

Our health has been good. No one has been sick, though we have experienced minor headaches from the heat and low water availability since we’ve drinking so much of it. Our eating habits have changed slightly – not as much junk food definitely, and not nearly as hungry. But we are enjoying the local produce and loving the fresh bread from the market.

Well, it is time to close this message. We have lunch to prepare for the hard workers, and another art lesson plan to finish. We hope to send another message soon. Our love to all of you. Thank you for remembering us in your prayers!

Greetings Family & Friends,

We send this email with a grateful heart and very fatigued bodies. After traveling for the past 3 days (we departed Goshen @ 7 pm Tuesday night), we have FINALLY made it to Dondo! Our original plans called for us to arrive yesterday afternoon, but that was not the plans of South African Airways or LAM (Mozambique Airlines). We are relieved to be with Tanneken and the church family around her. They welcomed us with great love and a wonderful meal. Del & Jeannie, along with Joanna, arrived yesterday without nearly the complications we experienced. Today the Penners are having a day-overnight R&R visit in Beira with their missionary friend Claudia, so we have yet to see them. Of course, Joanna arrived with Tanneken and some of the children to greet us as we disembarked from our last plane. Seeing Tanneken made all of the delays and uncontrollable issues worth it! What a joy it is to be with her.

Part of the reason for our late arrival in Dondo was the 2-hr delayed flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg on Wednesday the 15th. We hoped we wouldn’t miss our Johannesburg to Beira flight, so we could avoid the intricacies of the Maputo Airport. But of course, we landed in Johannesburg at the very same time that our preferred flight was departing. After working with South African Airways for a few hours (maybe 2?) we were given overnight accommodations and three full meals at a 4-star hotel next to the Airport. That stay proved to be beneficial for some of us. I think it helped with the time changes, although there are some on the team that are still working on Indiana time…and we all would agree that the food at that hotel was superb; we even had ice cream!

We’ve talked about suffering and hardship while we have waited and waited and waited in airports. But we do not think that we have come close to it. Just several delays of the plans of man. That’s all that our inconveniences have been to us. None of us are upset or feel “put out.” We are truly blessed by this opportunity to serve Tanneken and the Mozambican people, and we look forward to the time we will spend with the Goods and World Relief in Maputo.

So tonight, we send this email with love to all of you. Please keep us in your prayers. We have benefited greatly from them so far! Our plans for this evening are to prepare our rooms and to let our bodies acclimate to the humidity and all the traveling. And lots of talking with Tanneken!

Love,

The Mozambique Team
Tim & Joan, Gail & Ernie, Allen, Jamesie, Mitch (and now joined by Del & Jeannie and Joanna)

and then we're off to Mozambique!

Am I ready? Not yet. I still don't know what I am going to wear on the extremely long trip over. I want to be comfortable, but not sloppy. and I just realized today that the shoes I bought for the trip really won't work well for me. Shoes for my funny feet are so hard to get and I am quite picky, as some of you know. I want something comfortable for walking and standing; cool in hot weather, but also can withstand dirt...What in the world am I going to do??? I originally bought a pair of Crocs in the Beach model, but they were a smidgen too short (my second toe is crazy long) and I also purchased some cute Keen slip-ons that feel great when I am moving around, but standing still was a little sore (I'm flat-footed too!). So hopefully tomorrow, I will be able to find something appropriate and comfortable so my feet don't kill me while I'm there.

Anyway, in preparing for this trip I have learned a lot about myself. I am going to miss washing my very long hair everyday. I am going to miss choosing colors from my vast array of makeup. and I am going to miss my very nice bed, even though I bought a very compact silk sleep sack from on ebayer which hopefully will be sufficient in Dondo on our single flat mattresses. But those things aside, I know this trip will be life-changing and inspiring in so many ways. I am looking forward to what the Lord has for me to do and who He has for us to meet. Yes, things are very different culturally, but we serve the same living God and that is what matters.

Jon will be receiving my emails to post, maybe we'll have some "guest" posters too. That way, you're not just hearing my side of the story!

Be blessed friends and family. And keep us in your prayers while we are traveling.

love & aloha, james